“They’re hunting for her,” Reza said softly. “They’re backtracking now….”
Swallowing hard, Gabe watched them intently through his sniper scope. The tracker seemed confused, following tracks that doubled back and went in the direction they’d just ridden. “Bay was born in the mountains,” he told Reza softly. “Her father taught her to track. She’s creating confusion with her tracks. She’s trying to throw them off her trail by backtracking.”
“Call in the QRF?” Reza asked, his voice hoarse.
Gabe shook his head. “No…not yet. We have no idea where she’s at.” Or even if she’s hidden in the area somewhere nearby. His mind gyrated, recalling a night last year on another Hindu Kush mountain slope when Bay had been with him on a mission of mercy. They’d been set up in an ambush by the Taliban. He’d raced with her up a rocky mountain slope, hoping to evade and escape the enemy. She’d wanted to go hide in the tree-and brush-lined wadi, but he’d told her that would be the first place the Taliban would look. Instead, he’d taught her how to hide out in plain sight and not be seen. That was what snipers did so well.
He vividly remembered that freezing night out in the open in that rocky depression with her. Oh, God, let Bay have remembered that… He watched as the riders dismounted, a few of the soldiers holding the reins of all the horses. The rest of the enemy ran quickly around the wadi. His heart started a slow, dreaded pound. Had Bay remembered not to hide in a wadi? Or was she wounded?
“They think she’s in the wadi,” Reza whispered, sounding anxious.
“Yeah…” Gabe focused on the soldiers not only going into the wadi, but also running like gazelles along either side of it. If Bay was in there, they’d find her. There would be no escape for her. His mind tumbled over brutal choices. Call in the QRF? Two Chinook MH-47s would be bearing thirty SEALs coming in to meet this group with maximum firepower. But where was Bay?
Gabe couldn’t call in a QRF if he didn’t know where Bay was located. A firefight would sure as hell ensue, and she could be killed by friendly fire, a ricochet or by a Taliban bullet. And if he called in a B-52, which was circling on a racetrack at thirty thousand feet above them right now, a five-hundred-pound, laser-guided JDAM would blow all them to hell, but it could also kill Bay, too.
He felt bile gather in the back of his throat. He so badly wanted to do something. Anything. But he couldn’t. The sniper in him knew patience and waiting was the only answer to this unresolved situation.
He let out a painful, ragged sigh. “No…we wait.” Those were the hardest three words he’d ever spoken. Watching the Taliban crawl around the wadi, the light revealing more and more every passing minute, searching for the woman he loved. Bay was his life….
Bay, where are you, baby? I know you escaped. Where are you?
And he ruthlessly moved his scope beyond the wadi, looking to the north side of it, studying the rocky scree. And then, he patiently began to scan the south side beyond the wadi. His gut was screaming at him. He sensed Bay hiding south of the wadi. But where?
Suddenly, Gabe heard a triumphant shout from one of the Taliban soldiers hidden by the trees and brush within the wadi. Though unable to hear what was said, Gabe watched all of the soldiers race into the wadi, AK-47s unsafed, their muzzles up and ready to fire. Shit! Had they found Bay? His heart hammered wildly in his chest. Gabe trembled violently, controlling his raw emotions, watching the soldiers leaping and running to one, specific area hidden beneath the trees. Holding his breath, his hand tightened against the stock of his Win-Mag .300 rifle. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face. Watch. Wait. Just fuckin’ wait…
“They’ve found something,” Reza whispered tensely, an ache in his lowered voice. He moved the spotter scope, trying to discern what or who it was.
Gabe held his breath, hardly able to think, his heart in utter turmoil, gripped by icy terror. He wanted to cry. Five Taliban popped out on the south side of the wadi; one of them was waving something in his hand. What the hell? Gabe zeroed his sights in on the one man waving something white around in his hand. More and more of the soldiers gathered around him, shouting excitedly. They were like bloodhounds on the scent of their quarry. What the hell did they find?
Gabe adjusted the fine hairs on his Night Force scope, breathing slowly, trying to keep his backlog of emotions savagely controlled, in his kill box. If he gave into his emotions, he couldn’t do his job. He wouldn’t be able to focus and protect Bay.
His heart stopped. Gabe groaned softly. The soldier was waving a battle dressing around in his hand. Gabe recognized it immediately. And then, his gut clenched so painfully he wanted to scream. The dressing was bloody. Bay’s blood? Oh, God, baby, where are you?
“No,” Reza muttered, his voice breaking as he recognized what was in the soldier’s hand. Mouth tightening, Gabe watched the men dancing around, triumphantly yelling and shouting over their find. A black-bearded man emerged from the wadi, giving orders, waving his arms angrily at them. Khogani. His entire body tensed, and Gabe ached with dread for Bay. Had they found her?
And then, the men dispersed, running down both sides of the wadi that stretched for such a long way. Gabe felt a little of his fear recede. “They haven’t found her,” he rasped. “They’re still searching for her…they found the battle dressing…that’s all….”
Reza’s voice was low with hope, with excitement. “Yes, that’s right. She must have left the dressing there? A decoy to throw them off her trail, perhaps? They’re going to search the rest of that wadi all the way down to the valley floor below.”
It hurt to swallow. Sweat was leaking into his eyes, stinging them. Gabe blinked rapidly, trying to clear his blurred vision. Looking again, he didn’t see any of the Taliban. None was in view. All of them had moved into the wadi. He felt a tiny trickle of relief, but not much. Bay was wounded. “Let’s look on either side of the wadi,” he roughly ordered Reza. “Bay knows better than to hide in an obvious place. You take the north side, I’ll take the south.”
For long minutes, the slant of sun slowly creeping toward the rocks and scree along the south side of the wadi, Gabe carefully looked at every last damned rock, discerning whether it really was one, or just Bay, blending in and looking like the surrounding area. He was a sniper. He knew what to look for; tiny telltale signs that might lead him to where Bay might be hiding was all he needed. Just one sign, dammit.
Just give me one clue, baby…just one…
And yet, if he couldn’t locate her, the Taliban trackers might not be able to, either.
“They’re coming back,” Reza warned him tightly, an hour later. They had searched the entire length of the wadi and come up empty-handed.
A tight grin crossed Gabe’s sweaty face, the sun now climbing higher. “Yeah, she’s not in there,” and he felt his heart fill with hope.
Good going, baby, you screwed them royal…
He managed a slight chuckle, watching the soldiers wearily climb up the three-thousand-foot-long slope toward where their horses stood on the goat path.
At that moment, he heard a cryptic message from Chief Phillips in his earpiece.
“Blue Dog online.”
His heart raced with hope as he made one click on the radio, to let Phillips know he’d heard the transmission. The drone was now on station directly above them! Quickly, Gabe whispered their GPS coordinates, asking for the long-range, delicate video camera on the drone to scan north and south of the wadi. Maybe, just maybe, an overhead shot would reveal Bay’s location if she was in this area at all. He looked over at Reza, who grinned widely, huge relief in his expression. Hope burned in his dark eyes, too.
Gabe watched, sweating heavily now, the sun hot at almost ten in the morning. The Taliban kept searching, kept looking, coming up with nothing. There was frustration and anger in all their faces. Bay had duped them. Khogani was yelling and waving his hand around at his weary soldiers.
Oh, baby, you’ve evaded them. God, I love you. Just hang on. I’m going to fi
nd you…
*
BAY SLOWLY AWOKE, flies buzzing around her, biting her exposed flesh. At first, she didn’t know where she was at. And then, she heard angry Pashto voices floating her way. Terror shot through her, fully awakening her. Adrenaline surged through her body, her breath changing, becoming ragged and shallow. Tensing, she felt pain shoot through her lower body. What time was it?
Her mind churned, receded and then clarified. It took precious time to focus, to lock in on this one question. As she looked at her watch, the dials appeared blurred. Blinking, her vision cleared. It was ten in the morning. She’d slept a long time.
Heart pounding with fear, she heard Khogani’s voice rising with shrill anger. It sent terror plunging through her veins. He was so near! Squeezing her eyes shut, Bay could barely breathe as the voices drifted closer and closer. Oh, God, was she hidden well enough? Had she dug enough dirt and rock out from below the overhang to completely disappear inside it?
Bay tried to pull the exposed toe of her boot even tighter against her tucked body. Fear sizzled through her as she thought of the Taliban discovering her. She pressed her hand hard against her trembling lips. She didn’t dare make a sound. Not one.
*
GABE FOLLOWED THE progress of the soldiers as they fanned out across the scree slope, still searching for Bay. Where the hell had she hidden? If he couldn’t find her, they wouldn’t either. Maybe… He knew what to look for and although they were trackers and familiar with their own territory, they still had not located Bay. His heart squeezed with pain, with fear, as they slowly moved around, looking at rocks, looking for anything that might lead them to where she hid.
“Blue Dog bingo.”
Gabe’s eyes widened. His heart lurched. That meant the drone had located Bay! Oh, Jesus…where? Where?
He clicked the radio once. They were too close, and any speaking could alert the Taliban to the position of their hide. His mouth grew dry as Phillips gave the GPS coordinates. He clicked acknowledgement, his hands trembling. He slowly moved his GPS unit across the goat path, watching the tiny red laser beam hum over the landscape, numbers tumbling and turning. His breath jammed in his throat. There, twenty feet away from where a Taliban soldier stood, was where Bay was hidden.
Dammit!
Gabe had studied that one spot so many times before. His gut told him it was a good spot to hide. And Bay had. Oh, God, she’d done it right! She’d remembered his lessons. A shudder of powerful emotions worked their way through him. Relief, love for Bay, love for her incredible courage and bravery under such terrible, life-and-death circumstances. She’d remembered. She’d learned. He was so damned proud of her.
Gabe quietly laid the GPS unit aside, giving Reza a hand signal to train his spotter scope on the area he indicated. Quickly, he turned his own scope on the scree. Where the hell was Bay? It was all rocks. He could find nothing to indicate her presence.
His heart thundered unrelentingly as the soldier drew closer and closer to her hide. He was looking around, being careful, being thorough. Gabe had him in his sights. His finger softly brushed against the two-pound trigger, waiting…just waiting.
Gabe knew if he discovered Bay, he’d shoot the bastard dead before he could warn the others of her hide. And then everyone would hear the bark of the Win-Mag and come running straight at them. And then, he’d have nineteen men rushing to kill him and Reza. At least the focus would be off Bay. Gabe’s mouth compressed. He settled his breathing, steadying, slowing his heartbeat.
He felt more than saw Reza draw up his own sniper rifle, ready to fire. The Afghan was a damned good shot, and between them, they might stand a chance if attacked. Gabe knew, though, if he killed the one soldier stalking Bay’s hide, the entire group would instantly know where they were hidden.
Quickly, he pulled all twelve mags from his H-gear, laying them out in neat rows so he could reach for a fresh mag, slam it into his rifle and keep on firing. Ninteen Taliban against two of them. His lips drew away from his clenched teeth.
Good odds for a SEAL sniper. Bring it on…
As the soldier stopped and looked around, he scowled. Gabe watched his every expression, saw confusion in his face. Just then, he heard on his radio, “QRF on the way.” Relief washed through him, but Gabe knew that as soon as they heard those Chinooks coming loaded to the teeth with SEALs ready to take the battle to them, the Taliban would instantly react. And Bay would be in the middle of it all.
Gabe sweated heavily, watching the soldier halt at a lip of a slight depression. He was right on top of Bay’s hide. Would he see her? His finger moved solidly but lightly against the trigger, waiting. Just waiting…
The soldier stiffened, peering down into the depression, his mouth popping open in disbelief.
Shit!
He turned to yell a warning. Gabe caressed the trigger. The Win-Mag bucked savagely against his right shoulder. He watched as the pink mist of the bullet slammed through the soldier’s head. The man crumpled, never getting to cry out Bay’s location.
“Son of a bitch, Reza, get ready to fire….”
The Afghan watched through his scope. “Bring the fight to us. She’s unarmed,” he whispered tightly.
Gabe watched as the shattering sound of the rifle’s bark echoed loudly across the area, alerting their enemy, throwing down the gauntlet at them. Every Taliban’s head snapped up in their direction. That was just as well because they could fight back. Bay couldn’t. He sensed she was wounded, hurting. How badly, he didn’t know, but it scared him as little else ever would. Gabe wanted to leave his hide, run that thousand yards and get to Bay’s side, help her. Protect her, but dammit, he couldn’t.
Now the enemy was like an angry hive of disturbed wasps moving straight toward them. It would take the QRF at least half an hour to reach them. Gabe knew the odds, and they weren’t good. During that half hour, they’d have to fight, kill and not get killed themselves. And they probably would not survive it, but he was going to take as many of the bastards as he could with him before that happened.
The QRF had Bay’s position, and they would swoop down, find her, take her to safety. That was all Gabe cared about. He loved her. He’d felt her love in every caress of her eyes on him, in every touch of her long, beautiful healer’s fingers softly skimming his body. He’d found love when he never thought he ever would. And he was all right with dying, because Bay had entered his life, breathed her love into his badly wounded and scarred heart. Gabe’s only regret was he’d never be able to tell her again how much he loved her.
“Rock it out,” he growled over at Reza. Gabe keyed his radio, giving the chief the present situation. And then he settled down to start taking the fuckers out, one bullet at a time.
Reza fired first. A soldier screamed, his AK-47 flying out of his hands, yanked backwards by the .300’s bullet slamming through his body.
Gabe saw Khogani shrieking at his troops, pointing to where they were hiding on the knoll across the goat path. Teeth clenched, he aimed for the bastard’s head. Khogani was going…right…now…. And he fired. The rifle bucked, the harsh bark of the fired bullet surrounding him. He watched the bullet fly true in a classic head shot. One moment, Khogani was shrieking at his men, the next, half his head departed his body, dissolving in the air. The leader crumpled into a heap on the goat path. The soldiers kept moving toward them, bloodlust in their faces, their screams of fury pounding and echoing around the area.
Bullets were flying into their position. They spit up dirt into geysers, snapped past Gabe’s head. None of it bothered him. He turned his cold rage and funneled it into picking off soldier after soldier with his sniper rifle. He was going to get even with every last one of these bastards for touching Bay, for hurting her. Dammit, every one of these sons of bitches was going to hell under his rifle’s muzzle. He had three hundred rounds, and he intended to use every last damn one of them to take the enemy out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
BAY HEARD THE boom of a Win-Mag .300. She
gasped, jerking, oblivious to her pain. And then, an AK-47 fired in answer. They each had their own distinctive sound. She heard two more booming sounds from two Win-Mags. Those were SEAL sniper rifles! Two of them! Gasping, her eyes widening, Bay couldn’t believe her ears. They were here! SEALs! Gabe…
Pushing hard, Bay groaned and tumbled out of her hide, rolling into the rocks below. She landed on her back, the AK-47 gripped tightly in her hand. She panted in pain, her eyes blurred and then clearing. Two SEAL snipers against how many Taliban? Her mind cleared for a moment, and she could think. Actually think!
The blue sky above her looked so peaceful, a sharp contrast to the angry screams of Taliban. Gasping for breath, Bay turned over and dug the toes of her boots into the rocks, pushing her head carefully up and over the ledge of the depression to take a look.
Bay could see Taliban charging across the goat path toward a small hill no more than fifty feet away from it. She noticed the wink of the Win-Mags, their roar taking their bullets to the fury of the enemy attacking them. Two SEALs against so many Taliban! Breathing raggedly, Bay glanced down at the AK-47 in her hands. She knew how to use one. She’d been trained to do it. Hands shaking, she pulled out the magazine. It was full.
Lifting her chin, ignoring the excruciating pain tearing through her lower body, Bay pressed herself against the side of the hide to gain stability in order to shoot accurately. The SEALs wouldn’t survive no matter how good they were as warriors. In her heart, she knew Gabe had to be one of those snipers. She knew with every sobbing breath she took, he had not abandoned her! He’d come after her. He’d found her!
A fierce, overwhelming love for him welled up through her, calming her. Lying the AK-47 down on the rocks to steady the barrel, she pointed the muzzle at the backs of the soldiers charging the hill. Bay set the selector to single shots. She only had one magazine. And she had to make every shot count. She leaned her shoulder into the metal stock, focused though the iron sights on the nearest Taliban and fired.
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