by J. L. Drake
“Hey,” he stood slowly, “everything okay?”
I heard footsteps behind me, but I didn’t take the time to look.
“Twenty-nine red fires,” I blurted, and his face dropped. “Does that mean anything to you?”
“Where did you hear that?”
“Davie,” I took a step toward him, “I’m vetted, and this is my job. What does it mean?”
“It’s one of Blackstone’s code terms,” Dell chimed in from behind me. I didn’t even turn; I just kept my eyes on Davie. “We use them, like, when we’re talking to North Rock.”
“They change them up.” Davie spoke up now, knowing it was okay to do so. “Each day is a little different. That’s a Tuesday term.”
“But it’s impossible.” Dell rubbed his head. “No one knows this stuff but us. It’s our only form of protection.” He pulled out his phone and went to make a call.
“I need a radio. I need to reach the guys, right now.”
“Um,” Davie hesitated, “Sloane, you can’t just—”
“Here.” Savi was by my side with a huge satellite radio, already pushing some buttons on the face of it.
I gave her a nod of thanks and held on to her arm while it rang.
“Black.” John’s voice burst over the air waves.
“John.” I took a moment to get my words in order.
“Sloane?” He sounded completely different. “Why are you calling me here? What’s happened?”
“John, I need you to hear me.” My heartbeat raced at the sound of the propellers. “Twenty-nine red fires.”
Silence.
“John, they know your codes!”
“Sloane,” his voice lowered, “that doesn’t surprise me. They have one of our radios, so they are bound to hear our code words. They can say them, but they’d have no idea what they mean.”
“Don’t they? Then how do you explain them being one step ahead of you? How do you explain that when Cole gave the order over the radio on that mission where you ran into Brick, they knew to spread out and do exactly what you did? It’s all on the video. Somehow, they know and understand what you’re saying! What your plan is!”
I reached forward and handed Daniel, now in the kitchen, my cell phone and watched as he and Dell witnessed what I did.
“Please, John, I know this is crazy, but listen to my gut on this.” I took a breath and glanced at Savannah’s red eyes. “I would bet my life with you on this. They know. They know.”
Daniel came to my side and reached for the phone.
“She’s right, John. I just saw the video. Esteben gave the order to circle around you right after Cole gave the code. You need to contact Chamness now, because you all are heading into an ambush.”
“Copy that.” Cole’s voice crackled through loud enough for me to hear it. “Tell Sloane…” I couldn’t hear the rest.
“Tell Sloane what?” Savi asked before I could.
Daniel held on to the island while he muttered a prayer for the boys. Their mission just went from bad to worse, but at least now they had a fighting chance.
He turned to us. His face was drained of color, but a little relief showed in his eyes. “That you’re now fifty-eight.”
“What does that mean?”
Savannah broke out in a smile. “It means you’re one of us, and you can’t leave.”
I let out the air I had been holding in one big rush and let Cole’s kindness that I did have a place here wash over me, even if it was just for a moment.
Daniel pulled up Frank’s name in his contacts. “Now we just need to figure out how the hell they’ve cracked our codes.”
Chapter Twenty-One
John
Our entire team stood motionless, each lost in our thoughts. The only thing that proved our existence was the fact that we would catch our balance whenever the chopper took on turbulence.
It was difficult to process that the enemy could speak our language, that they knew our secrets, that they could open us up, leaving our belly exposed to attack. It explained so much, but it brought even more questions.
“All right.” Cole slipped into colonel mode, and I knew we were back on track. We spent the next forty-five minutes listening to his new plan of action. It was intense and quite possibly would be the wildest, most unrehearsed attack we’d ever tried.
But this was what we did. We planned for the unexpected, got in and got out by any means possible.
Cole didn’t switch channels when he placed a satellite call to Chamness, and I could only imagine the thoughts running through Chamness’s head when he saw his phone light up and heard those two simple words, words that would make any commander freeze on the spot.
“Black Mirror.”
We have been compromised.
We all watched as Cole’s eyes stayed locked on the bar across from him. If one of the cartel knew what that meant, we’d know Chamness was a mole. There was a missed beat or two of silence, then his words came back over the radio.
“Copy that.”
Cole ended the call and continued to explain the plan. We would attack backward and work our way toward the start.
Once we were briefed, we each replayed our parts over and over again until no uncertainty was left. Sometimes we’d sign each other questions about who was where and when instead of breaking each other’s concentration with the use of the radios.
We had made good progress into Mexico, and I used the drone of the chopper’s engines to focus my thoughts. I turned to Cole and switched to a private channel.
“I never shared my sister’s recovery with you guys because I didn’t want you to have to carry it.” I had no idea why I was bringing it up right now. I guessed I just wanted to go into this war with a clear head.
Cole slowly turned to look at me. His face carried a level of stress that was to be expected from a leader.
“I think it’s fair to say we all would have done the same thing.”
“All right.” I gave a tight nod and went to switch the channel back when he held up a hand.
“What you carry on your back, we can carry together.”
Mark, who must have been reading our lips, gave a nod in agreement. I knew they were right, but I was my own worst enemy, and guilt was rooted so deep I couldn’t see past it until now.
The hum of the chopper settled back over us as we waited for the command to drop.
When the engine throttled back, we moved to stand in line, and Mark’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I did the same to Mike in front of me, until we were all connected as one.
In as one, out as one. No one left behind.
I watched as my brothers disappeared into the unknown, below the belly of the beast. We never knew what awaited us on these missions, and for sure no one knew what awaited us this trip. All we could do was keep to our training and not get killed. It was times like this that made you realize just how important our training really was. It was the only thing that kept you alive—that and complete faith that your brothers would do the same. I checked the satellite phone that was tucked into the side pocket of my gear. Cole told me to take it since our radios were unreliable at the best of times. This was a trip where no errors could afford to happen.
Just before I went for the rope, I clicked on my music on low, and Backbone by Kaleo poured through my radio. I knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to play music, as it would hinder one of my senses, but I knew I needed this to settle my adrenaline. I loved the last three minutes of the song, and I listened to that as I watched the chopper disappear in the blackness above me.
My knees absorbed the impact, and I made quick work to find cover. Mike signaled, and I returned an affirmative, and we raced together down the pathway to our second point. Dawn would be on us soon, and that meant we were going to be easy to spot. I thought about each of my steps, careful not to step on any branches or twigs. As I pressed forward, I would pull back each branch and press it behind me for Mike to take hold. When I let go, I knew he would do the
same and ease each branch back to its original place behind him. We worked well as a team. I led, and he trusted my actions.
We hit an area where we had to run flat-out for quite a distance before we came to the base of a cliff, our next challenge.
“Time?” Mike asked as we each filled an old t-shirt full of rocks and flung it on our backs. People might think we were crazy for adding more weight on such a steep climb, but we were about to climb a hundred-foot cliff that jutted out over water. We all knew from the pain of training in the past that if you fell, it was like hitting cement. If we dropped the t-shirt before we hit the water, it would break the impact for us. It gave us at least a hope in hell of not landing on solid concrete water.
“We’re under.” I grinned, holding my wrist up to show him my watch, and went for the first ledge to haul myself up off the ground. “Let’s shave more time off.”
“Ten-four.” Mike chuckled next to me. He and I took pride in the fact that we were fast.
Just like on the path we had taken to get here, every move was thought out before we went on to the next.
It wasn’t lost on me that we were now chasing the sunrise, and we were about to be targets on the side of a cliff, so we had to move as fast as we possibly could. Anything metal was tucked away so light couldn’t reflect off it and give away our location.
The sun soon found us and made it easier to see where we needed to make our mark in the rock in case we needed to drop our rocks to break our fall into the water. Two hours into the climb, that same cold prickle inched its way up my back, in spite of the sweat that ran freely down through the goosebumps. Something told me we weren’t going to be alone for much longer.
“What?” Mike looked up at me. “I know that face.”
“I’m not,” I looked around the best I could, “sure.”
“Dammit, you and Trigger have that same Spidey sense when shit is about to get real.” He moved up to my level, and once he got his footing right, he used his shoulder to push his sunglasses up on his forehead to eye me better. “Okay, do your one with nature thing and tell me if we’re about to get—”
Zip! Zip! Zip!
Suddenly, bullets sprayed down all around us, echoing off the adjacent mountain. Rock dust created a momentary protective screen, just long enough for Mike and me to know what we needed to do. He used all his strength to push off from the rock and leaned into the fall.
I’d dropped from worse heights, but staring down at a gun barrel within a sniper’s range was slightly different.
My fingertips scraped the ledge as I let go. I used my feet and pushed myself farther out. Somehow, my mind went back to my music, and that wonderful sad loop of instruments seemed incredibly fitting as I watched the flashes of orange light above me like a spectacular lightning show.
As I dropped lower, I turned my head to the rock to watch for the scrape mark we’d made so if the unthinkable did happen, we knew when to…
I twisted, reached for the knot that held my rocks, and let them tumble ahead of me. Using all my muscles, I prepared for the impact. My heels took the brunt of the hit, and I kept my arms tucked in tightly, but my elbows still got a blow. Bones could be healed, but the phone was our only reliable resource, for us and our team.
Water rushed in my nose and tried to haul me down to the bottom. Every single instinct I had told me to hold my breath and swim forward.
I kicked hard and beat my arms through the adrenaline that coursed through me. As much as I wanted to surface to find Mike, I was just happy all my limbs were still intact, and my lungs still held life-giving air.
When I started to see black spots, I pushed to the surface, and the moment my head broke through, I did a quick sweep of the shoreline.
A familiar quiet bird sound caught my attention, and I squinted to see Mike embedded in some shrubs at the bottom of the cliff. I gave him my own quiet tweet back before I ducked under and swam over.
“You good?” I asked softly as I tugged the satellite phone out and breathed a sigh of relief to find it intact.
“Yeah. You?”
“Better now.” I belly crawled up into the shrubs next to him to catch my breath. “Well, that was a waste of a climb.”
“Never a waste.” We chuckled like the adrenaline junkies we were. “The others made it to the rendezvous point and, since he’s scratched the idea of us ever getting up to the lookout point, Cole wants us to join them.”
“Glad to know the radios are working.”
Mike grunted in agreement as we started yet another long journey to meet up with the rest of our unit. I didn’t like being on low ground. I was wired to be up on a ledge somewhere looking down. It unsettled me not being able to see what was around me.
“How’s the family settling in to the mountain?” I whispered to Mike, needing the distraction as we hit our rhythm in a slow, careful jog. We both dodged a makeshift trap the cartel had set in hopes someone would fall through into the barbed wire below, and we both kept our eyes on where we were putting each step as we went.
“Couldn’t be happier.” He let out a long sigh. “I loved being home, but man, I didn’t miss the humidity.”
“How’s Keith with leaving Nan?”
“Leaving?” He tossed a smirk back at me. “When she heard Keith was moving and the baby wasn’t going to be born there, she got hold of Frank and arranged to have her stuff moved to a place just down from Dan and Sue’s. Said something to him like, ‘What’s a little old lady going to do? Give up the location of her grandson and family?’”
“What?” This was the first time I’d heard about that.
“Oh, yeah, I believe the next thing she said was, ‘Besides, ski asses are the best to gawk at.’”
I had to fight the laugh that wanted to escape my throat.
“She’s pure comedy. What did Keith have to say about that?”
Mike slowed slightly to avoid another hole, and I cursed as I jumped around it.
“He was all for it. He can’t get enough of Nan. Guess he recovered from that texting hiccup a while ago.” He chuckled. “He was more than happy to have her come along.”
I laughed harder at the memory of Nan sexting her grandson accidentally and the pure horror that Keith went through. Mark even got Doc Roberts in on the fun, and he made him agree to a mandatory psych meeting.
“Oh, did Mark ever have a—” My sixth sense had me reach forward to grab Mike’s arm, and we both ducked, as he had caught sight of something too. He turned slowly to sign, and I motioned for him to veer off in the opposite direction while I stayed low and slowly made my way deeper into the forest. I crawled forward silently. Every sound was heightened inside my head as my body wove in and out of the brush and grass until I reached a hollowed-out tree trunk and I pressed my back up against it.
Click, click, click. I sent the others a message via our version of Morse code. Three quick clicks and two short told me Cole understood.
With my entire body hidden from view, I stayed put for hours, hyperaware of the cartel as they ran by the path that was only about ten feet from me. We must have stumbled on to their main route, and I knew better than to try to budge from my position while they were on the move. Each time I even thought about it, another cartel would come racing by. Mike had checked in and said he was taking cover not far from me. He was stuck in the same shit luck situation I was. By the time the sun had moved across the tree line, we were still holed up tight.
“Country?” Mike’s nickname for me whispered over the radio just as I had done another sweep of the path in a vain effort to find any escape.
“Yeah?” I whispered.
I closed my eyes, pissed I stumbled into their territory and hadn’t seen the signs.
“I have Tripper in my sights. At nightfall, he’ll head toward your room.”
A sense of relief rolled over me. Mike could see me, and I was to head east at nightfall. Okay.
“Ten-four.” I lifted my rifle and scanned the horizon until I heard th
e triple click on the radio to show Mike’s position.
Darkness swept its cover over us, and I checked my watch. I’d wasted thirteen hours sitting here, and it was time I moved.
Voices suddenly found their way to me, and I desperately scanned the area for the thousandth time. Bullets sprayed across the ground, kicking up bits of dirt. Some came so close to my knee it spasmed, and I nearly bolted. Only my training held me in place as I tried to figure out how they knew I was there. I desperately scanned the trees around me and, sure enough, spotted a camera. Shit! There was one high above me a few yards away. I never would have seen it, except in the dark I could see a small light blink from it. Squinting, I wondered if there was a live feed attached to it or if it was one they would have to revisit later. If so, I wondered just when that visit would come.
Shit! I tried to become as small as possible and held my gun close to my chest.
“I can hear your heartbeat, soldier,” a voice said nearby through his thick accent.
Slowly, I clicked my radio to put the word out to Mike that I was okay.
“That’s fine,” he called out. “We can wait. We are very patient men. We will do just like before and remove you each one by one.”
I could hear laughter from some other men, and I felt my fingers get twitchy against my gun. I knew better than to move. They fired more shots in the opposite direction from where Mike and I were, and I began to realize they couldn’t know exactly where we were or even if we were there. Two more hours they taunted with stories of how they’d killed some of my North Rock family. Maybe it was true and maybe it wasn’t, but regardless, it ate away at my soul, and I longed to jump up and blast the smiles right off their faces.
Many scenarios went through my mind about how we could get out of this, but their camp just continued to grow. As more cartel arrived, our situation worsened by the minute. A few started to horse around, and one guy practically fell inches from my boot. Like the classic scum they were, meth lined their veins, and discipline was nonexistent. The sound of a flint striking, and the distinct smell of cheap cigarette smoke filled my nostrils. Holy shit. I didn’t have to see him to know he was there. My fingers tightened on the trigger, and just as I was about to make my move, Chamness’s voice called out over his radio.
