Tactical Strike (22 page)

Then another. “Contact, seven o’clock!”

Ryan skidded to a halt behind Diamond Dave, who swore under his
breath and took up a defensive position. Ryan dropped to one knee, instinctively
reaching for his sidearm. Sporadic shots rang out ahead in the distance. The
hair on the back of his neck stood up.

Candace
.

Poised there without being able to see what lay on the other
side of that ridge, the true horror of the situation registered. In racing west
to avoid the enemy, they’d run right into a fucking ambush instead.

Chapter Seventeen

“Everybody down!”

At the sharp command Candace hit the ground and brought the
muzzle of the M4 up, heart racing. The ODA team were tensed ahead of them, ready
to fire.

Oh shit, this was really happening.

She swallowed back the lump of fear that had lodged in her
throat, mentally reviewing everything she knew about shooting. One of the
soldiers glanced over at her, waved her backward. Staying low, she belly-crawled
back to where most of her crew was with Gillespie and the badly wounded SF
soldier at the casualty collection point.

Bertoni crawled up beside her, holding another M4 he must have
gotten from the wounded SF guy. “See anything?” he whispered, scanning the area
restlessly.

“They’re close. You take the right, I’ll take the left.”

He nodded and moved slowly away. Forcing herself to take slow,
deep breaths, she got into position, chambered a round and waited, gaze glued to
the edge of the trail she was responsible for guarding. She had the advantage of
being set in position to fire. If anyone came through that gap she’d drop the
person where he stood.

Nobody moved. Her shaky breaths created puffs of vapor in the
freezing air.

Tense seconds ticked past, drawing her muscles so tight her
joints hurt. So many questions careened through her mind. How many fighters were
they facing? From which direction was the attack approaching?

If this was the main body coming at them, they wouldn’t be able
to hold them off for long. The only ammo came from the ODA team, and to her
knowledge they only carried a standard combat load, which they’d partially used
up over the past thirty-six hours. What they needed was air support to take out
a good chunk of the enemy on the ground, but with limited visibility it would be
near impossible for any fast-movers to help. Her stomach sank.

A shot rang out to her left. Instinct made her swing the barrel
of her weapon over, just in time to see one of the SF guys fire another
well-placed double tap.

Then an eerie howl rose up, raking along the length of her
spine with a chill far colder than the air temperature. The enemy was
attacking.

More shots rang out in rapid succession. The ODA team shouted
commands back and forth, taking aim and firing at intervals, stopping only to
reload. Candace licked her lips and stared at a gap ahead of her, bracing for a
fight.

The SF soldier on her right fired twice. Grunted as he fell
back, blood trailing from his forearm.

Her skin grew clammy as she waited there, unsure of what to do.
But then the soldier rolled back onto one knee and resumed shooting. The volume
of fire increased again. A flash of movement in front of her. Time went into
slow motion. A head and shoulders appeared, the man’s fierce, dark gaze zeroed
on her.

Ready and waiting, Candace squeezed the trigger. The first shot
missed, but the second hit him in the face. He dropped out of sight.

The slam of her heart was almost deafening. She could feel her
body vibrating, a high-frequency tremble like a tuning fork. Another head
appeared in the gap, that spine-tingling howl rising on the breeze. She fired
again. He dropped. Two more targets popped over the top of the rock. She fired
three times before they both disappeared.

Slowly she realized the howling had died away. Was the enemy
regrouping? The ground team had more wounded now. She didn’t know if they could
hold off another wave.

“Contact, one o’clock!”

Shit, they were coming again. Candace cast a frantic glance up
the trail. She couldn’t see Ryan anywhere. Was he okay? Wherever he was, she
hoped to God he was calling in for air support.

* * *

Ryan keyed the radio to reply to the ANA team’s call
that had just come in, wanting to make sure he’d heard right. “Say again?”

“Nasrallah and his men are retreating to their bunker.”

This voice was different, the accent heavier. They had two
members who spoke English? “Copy that. Stand by.” He motioned for Diamond Dave,
who came trotting over.

“What’s up?”

“ANA team has survivors. They’re reporting Nasrallah is
retreating into the caves.” Ryan licked his lips. He had the authority to direct
CAS and other air-to-ground fire, but for this he needed the team leader’s
authorization. “I can put a two-thousand-pound JDAM on their location right now,
but it’s gonna be tight.”

Bright blue eyes bored into his. “How tight?”

“Danger close,” Ryan confirmed.

The team leader’s gaze shifted toward the enemy position,
obviously weighing the risk with the benefits. Finally he answered. “Do it.
We’ll get everyone else clear.”

“Copy that.” As Diamond Dave swung away to issue more commands,
Ryan called up the B-1 pilot to advise him of the situation. “Stand by for
target coordinates.” But first he needed eyes on the target.

Kawaleski stayed on him like a shadow while he rushed back down
the trail to a decent vantage point. Just as the ANA member had said, the enemy
appeared to be pulling back to their hiding spot. Using his range designator and
GPS, he plotted the coordinates then relayed them to the pilot. It helped that
their target was fixed rather than moving. “This is a danger close target,” he
stressed. Once the call back came through, Ryan made him verify the coordinates
twice before giving consent. “Roger that. You’re cleared hot.” He and Kawaleski
turned as one and ran like hell toward the others to put as much distance
between them and the warhead as possible.

The other team members scrambled to get the air crew and
wounded out of harm’s way. His and Kawaleski’s boots pounded over the ground as
they ran.

Ryan’s heart was in his throat as he approached the others.
“Danger close, air strike inbound! Get down, get down!”

Everyone instantly hit the deck and covered their heads with
their arms. Two men flung themselves on top of Candace to shield her.

There was no warning. The silence suddenly exploded with a
gigantic boom as the bomb detonated. Ryan’s feet left the ground. He hurtled
through the air for an endless moment and crashed onto his back just as an
enormous pressure wave ripped through the air. Ryan grunted as it swept through
his body, sending a searing pain tearing into his ears and lungs. The blast wave
hit next, spraying sharp bits of rock at him. Something hit him in the face,
sliced it open. Blinded by blood, choking on it, he rolled to his side. He was
dimly aware of a rumbling vibration in the ground, debris piling on him. Before
he could put it all together, darkness closed in.

The next thing he knew, someone grabbed his shoulders. Shook
him. Fighting to open his eyes, he blinked through the blood covering him and
through one eye made out Candace’s terrified face bending over him. He tried to
lift a hand to touch her, reassure himself that he wasn’t dreaming. Thank God
she was all right.

He blinked again, feeling like he was underwater. Her mouth was
moving. She was saying something but he couldn’t hear her past the deafening
ringing in his ears. One of her hands moved up to his face, pressing hard. He
hissed against the fiery burn and tried to turn away, but she held fast. Finally
her frantic voice broke through the fog in his head.

“Ryan! Ryan, say something.”

Struggling up onto his elbows, he gazed past her to the huge
cloud of black smoke rising high into the leaden sky. “Did we get them?”

* * *

The enormous explosion slammed Khalid to the ground,
knocking the wind out of him. He instinctively covered his head with his arms as
the debris pelted down on him. Close by he could hear someone screaming. When
the ground settled he rolled painfully to his knees, cradling the right side of
his ribs. To the west he could see a towering cloud of smoke and debris
billowing into the sky. He followed it to the ground, where a huge smoking
crater now replaced the spot where Nasrallah and his men had been hidden.

For a moment, all he could do was stare. He could hardly
believe it had happened.

A flood of euphoria rushed through his body as he realized what
this meant. He’d done it. His rival was dead.

Trembling with excitement, Khalid took a moment to glance
around him. The stolen radio he’d been holding while he spoke to the American
who’d ordered the air strike lay smashed against a pile of rocks. Around him the
Afghan traitors lay dead, soaked in their own blood. All except one, who was
shot multiple times in the chest and belly. He was still screaming, trying
desperately to drag himself away.

Retrieving his rifle, Khalid stalked toward him. The young
soldier froze in terror, a frightened whimper spilling from his lips. He raised
one trembling, blood-stained hand to ward Khalid off, beseeching him to spare
his life.

Curling his lip, Khalid spat at the man’s feet. “Traitors will
suffer the same fate as their infidel handlers.” He fired once, hitting dead
center in the man’s forehead.

He dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

Making his way back to where his men waited, Khalid found
himself smiling. The old men had conducted themselves well, earning martyrs’
deaths by sacrificing themselves to the American team and allowing Khalid to
execute this ruse. Now his younger, stronger soldiers awaited him, and the enemy
still had no idea what he’d done. But they would soon enough. And when they came
for him next time, he would be ready.

From this moment on he and his true mentor Rahim would finally
wage this war the way it should have been fought all along.

* * *

Candace couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Staring
down at Ryan in shock, unable to speak, she blinked. She was holding what looked
like half of his cheek in place. There was blood everywhere, in his eyes, nose
and mouth. And all he could say was,
Did
we
get
them
? She couldn’t tell yet if he was hurt anywhere
other than his face. “You got them,” she forced out, still scared out of her
mind, scared shitless because she was holding his face together. “Are you hurt
anywhere else?”

He frowned. “Don’t think so.” Despite her resisting hands he
half sat up to shove away some of the small rocks that had covered his legs.
Okay, as far as she could tell there was no other significant injury anywhere
else. “Any more shooters coming?”

“No, we’re clear, thanks to you.” Still holding his cheek in
place, she raised her head to look for one of the medics. “Gonzales, I need help
here!”

He came running over a moment later and forced Ryan to his
back. “Stay still, brother. Nothing to worry about down there now but a bunch of
dead guys.”

Secondary explosions started going off at odd intervals.

“You hit their weapons cache too.” She let out a shaky laugh.
“You don’t do anything half-assed, do you?”

Ryan relaxed and looked up at her, sliding his gaze over her in
concern. “You okay?”

“Fine.” Though for a second she’d been sure her eardrums had
burst when that bomb went off. Ryan had been much closer. Too close. That blast
could easily have killed him from the concussion alone, rupturing his skull or
lungs. He had to have a concussion at least. She threw an anxious glance at
Gonzales.

The medic brushed her hands out of the way to get a better look
at the wound on Ryan’s face, checked his eyes. “You pass out?” he asked
Ryan.

“Maybe for a second.”

“It was longer than that,” she argued. God, the way he’d been
lying there in the aftermath of the explosion, she’d been sure he was dead. It
made her shake all over just thinking about it. Her teeth began to chatter. She
bit down hard to stop it.

The medic calmly finished his exam and sat back on his heels to
dig around in his kit for something. “Well, you won’t be quite so pretty after
this, but considering how close that JDAM hit I’d say you’re lucky to still have
a face at all.”

Ryan grunted, flinching when Gonzales pressed a gauze pad to
the wound. “Jesus, did you put acid on that first?”

“Nah, that comes later, before the stitches.” He gestured for
Candace to put her hand back in place. He must have seen how pale and shaken she
was because he looked right at her while he spoke, his voice low and soothing.
“He got his bell rung pretty good, but he’s okay. Head and facial wounds bleed
like hell, so it looks a lot worse than it is. Make him keep pressure on this,
and someone will stitch it up when they can.” When she nodded, he patted Ryan’s
shoulder. “Okay, bro, get your sorry ass up and start moving. Our ride home’s
inbound.”

Oh,
shit
yes. They were finally
getting the hell out of here. The staggering wave of relief made her dizzy. Her
legs were shaky and weak when she climbed to her feet and reached down to help
Ryan.

He put his hand in hers and allowed her to help him up,
wobbling for a moment as he found his bearings. “It’s okay, I’m good to go,” he
told her.

She didn’t believe him. He looked like a victim in a slasher
movie, blood all over his face and staining the front of his ACUs. Her hands
were covered with it. “You can lean on me, you know.”

Despite the pain it must have caused him, he grinned. “I know I
can.” He eyed his M4 still slung around her back. “You are somethin’ else,
Ace.”

Despite the tumult of emotions battering her, she smiled.
“Thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should. I meant it as one.” He winced.

“Stop talking before you make it worse,” she told him.

Ryan nodded in reply.

The team leader came up to them just as they reached the crest
of the hill. “You look like shit,” he said to Ryan, grinning so wide his teeth
showed. “Gonna make it?”

“Think so. Any word from the ANA team?”

He shook his head. “All dead. Two of our guys went down there
to confirm.”

So many deaths. Candace pushed it all away and pressed into
Ryan’s side, his arm draped across her shoulders. She suspected he didn’t really
need the help and was only leaning on her to maintain the physical contact
between them. That was fine with her because she craved it too.