Trinity: Military War Dog (22 page)

Panic snapped his eyes open. Heath glanced around. How long had he—?
On the ground. I’m on the ground
. On a knee. Heart and head still pounding. That was good then, right? Meant he’d only been out a few seconds. Right?
Please, let it be right
.

“You okay?” Hogan shouted as she ran past him. “I got her.”

“Yeah …” The answer proved weaker than his legs. Walking through pudding would’ve been easier. He trudged onward.

An Afghan male stepped out of the hut.

Armed. Aiming at Hogan.

A strangled yelp whipped out of her. She skidded, trying to stop, and landed on her rear.

Heath hauled in a breath as the guy shouted,
“Allahu Akbar.”

Heath’s breath backed into his throat. A million thoughts pinged off his addled brain: Where was Trinity? Was the guy alone? Had he killed Trinity?
I don’t have a weapon. I’m going to die. Hogan’s going to die
.

As the telltale crack of an M4A1 split his thoughts, Heath watched the guy fall to his knees. A dark spot spread over the tan tunic he wore. He flopped into the dust.

“Yes, indeed.” Candyman laughed as he trotted toward Hogan. “God
is
great. But maybe not his god.” He grinned at Heath and knelt to check his pulse. “‘Cuz I’m thinking my god—whoever he is—just won.”

Behind them, a team snaked into the house. Trinity tore out a few seconds later. Heath gathered her into his arms, his biorhythms off the chart. Face buried in her fur, he clung to the wriggling mass of energy. “I thought you were a goner, girl.” Once he’d regained his head, he ran his hands along her amber coat for injuries. Clean. Weird.

Boots crunched as a sergeant approached. “He shut her in a room.”

“Why didn’t he shoot her?” At the thought, Heath ran his hands over her body again, wondering if he’d missed something.

The sergeant shrugged. “Hey, I’m not a psychologist. And he’s dead, so I can’t ask.”

Heath nodded. The question was dumb. One they wouldn’t be able to answer. But he could thank the Lord for watching out for both of them. As he got to his feet again, he had one thought: I
don’t belong here…
.

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought that since setting down at Bagram, but this time a deadly danger hung over the words. He’d nearly gotten himself, Trinity, and Hogan killed.

Hogan came up next to him, arms folded. “You enjoyed that.”

But he couldn’t let on to his fears, not in front of the others. “What? Seeing you fall on your butt?” Heath grinned as he fed Trinity a treat. Had to play it cool. “One hundred percent.”

“Ha. Ha.” She nudged his shoulder. “I meant being back in action. You got so happy-slappy, you nearly did a face-plant.”

“Nearly. But not quite.” The five-second blackout … what if it’d happened after he made it to the building? If the terrorist pointed the gun at
his
head instead of Hogan’s? A shudder rippled down his spine. The others would’ve had brain soup for chow.

Yeah, he needed to distance himself. Squinting, he brought his gaze back to Hogan and saw in her wheat-colored eyes, something …
She knows
.

Would she call it? Tell him—or worse, tell Jibril—that he was unfit for duty?

It’d happened once before with a colonel who felt Heath had become more a liability than an asset. He’d yanked Heath, tanked him, and sent him packing.

I’m not going back
. Metaphorically or literally. But he had a responsibility. To Trinity. To the men and women around him.

Thunder streaked through the heavens.

Something went still in Heath. A knowing. A deep knowing. “That wasn’t thunder,” he muttered as he turned a circle—and stopped cold. In the mountains, a cloud plumed, thick, black, and angry.

Parwan Province, Afghanistan

Can’t breathe!

Someone had a hand on her throat. Darci jerked up—but saw nothing. She coughed. Again. No, not a hand. Smoke! The blanket of darkness smothered her. Her eyes watered. On all fours, Darci scrambled along the ground.

“Alice? Ba—” Another cough choked off the little girl’s name. Where was the girl? Darci had her in her arms when the explosion knocked her out.

Explosion. The geological survey team
.

She squinted, trying to see past the pillar of smoke. No-go.

Okay. She had to find Badria and get to lower ground, out of the small fire eating through one of the dense green sections of the mountains. Darci ripped off a stretch of her shirt and tied it around her face. “Badria! Where are you?” she asked in the girl’s language.

Scooting along the route she’d taken, she searched for the small form, praying the little one hadn’t survived the slaughter of her family to end up dead.

Her fingers traipsed over the rocky edifice. Forcing herself to recall what she remembered of the shape, Darci crawled, afraid she’d plunge down a drop-off she hadn’t noticed before. Though determination held her fast, her priority had to be getting out of sight. If a gust of wind cleared the air, she’d be visible. Whoever had taken down the chopper would no doubt be looking for anyone escaping.

Darci dropped down a two-foot ledge—her ankle wobbled on the uneven surface. She shifted, then realized—a leg!

She traced the body. Too big for Badria. “Alice?”

A small groan. The legs moved. Arms. “Wha …?”

“Are you hurt? Is anything broken?”

Coughing, Alice shifted onto her side. “No … I don’t think so.” In the haze, Alice’s face appeared close. Her thick black hair tumbled free of the binding she’d had it in before the blast.

“Where’s Badria?”

With more coughing, Alice shook her head. “I don’t know. She was with you.”

An urgency gripped Darci she couldn’t shake. “We can’t leave her.” She wouldn’t leave the girl behind. “Help me find her—but stay low.”

Wide brown eyes watered and turned red. Not from crying but from the smoke and ash eating the sky and oxygen.

Rocks and sharp shards digging into their knees and palms, they searched the surrounding area. But to no avail. Darci’s heart pounded. She couldn’t leave the girl. Not the way—

She stilled.
Not the way, what?
Her psyche warred with her past.
Not the way Ba left my brother
.

Slumping back against the mountain that rose several feet over them, Darci tried to catch her breath. This wasn’t about her family. This was about a national—no,
international
crisis. If China was up to no-good here in Afghanistan, it could unseat everything.

Then, as if an invisible hand reached down, the cloud of smoke shifted to the east.

And before her, thirty or forty feet down, a hunk of twisted metal lay scattered over the remains of what used to be their camp. Small fires pocked the flat space. Gathered in a northwestern corner, about twenty shapes.

Darci pulled back. Too many fires still burned, stirring up ash and smoke, making it impossible to see who was down there. Who among their team had survived. She’d need to get closer if she had any chance—

“What’s going on?” Alice whispered from behind.

“They’ve rounded up survivors.” Darci scooched forward, her boots too loud for stealth. She slowed and made deliberate efforts to lift and place her foot with each step.

As she rounded a corner and hid behind a boulder, something in the southern corner, near a large piece of wreckage, caught her eye. A flash. Where was that coming from? She scoured the black, charred remains—

There. Again. Another flash.

She narrowed her eyes and leaned in. A shadow? No! A burst of relief shot through her. Not a shadow. It was Toque. Covered head to toe in ash and soot, he crouched next to the belly of the downed chopper. Had he rolled in the ash?

Another flash. A thought niggled at her brain. Was he sending her messages?

Pay attention, Darci
.

Patting herself down, she searched for something to let him know she was listening. Wait. No. If she did that, the attackers would see her. She looked down. Against her North Face jacket, her hand would stand out. She gave the move-out signal.

The glare of whatever he was using scorched her eyes. But she forced herself to read the message. It came through:

E-T H-E-L-P-D-O-N-T-L-O-O-K-B-A-C-K.

… et help
. “Get!”
Get help. Don’t look back
.

She relayed her understanding, but … she didn’t understand. What did he mean, don’t look back?

As if in response to her question, Toque rose and stepped around the hulk.

No! You’re exposed!

Hands raised, he shouted at the enemy. Gunfire erupted.

“No!” Darci lunged forward but just as fast threw herself back down. Rocks exploded around her.

She’d drawn their attention. Her pulse thundered through her chest, reverberating off what she’d just seen. No. He couldn’t be dead. He might’ve been a spook, but if anyone had a chance to help the team, it would’ve been Toque.

Something tickled her back. Something small, spider—

Darci whirled.

A pair of beautiful brown eyes stared out from a small hole. Badria! The little girl pushed aside some rock and rubble. On her belly, she wiggled backward, waving Darci to follow. As the girl cleared the opening, Darci saw it—

A tunnel!

            Sixteen