Choke Point

NINE

Raindrops the size of golf balls — or at least 30K swore they were that big — blasted into the windshield, blinding him for a second before the wipers cleared the glass –

And there they were: muzzle flashes accompanied by the thudding and pinging of rounds off the Hummer’s front end.

‘You gotta be kidding me!’ 30K shouted. ‘How’d you miss these guys with the drone?’

‘It’s too high, too far ahead,’ Kozak cried. ‘And the rain’s screwing me up! Heat sources gone cold!’

30K hit the accelerator and barked into his Cross-Com, ‘Ghost Lead, ambush! Pushing on through!’

Kozak had already set down the drone’s remote and was lowering his window to get his rifle pointed in the right direction. At the same time, he shouted to their gunner, who was already directing a broad bead of suppressing fire on the trees. ‘Hey, dude, get some fire right in the road ahead of the truck,’ Kozak told him in Spanish. ‘Right on the road!’

30K knew exactly what Kozak was talking about. The odds were high that the rebels had planted a pressure-activated IED in the road; perhaps they’d missed the first one and the rebels had opened fire anyway, but there could be more, and the man on the .50-cal could trigger the next bomb before they struck it. If the rebels had set up a trip wire, it’d be more difficult to spot in the rain.

30K juked right, keeping the Hummer tight to the trees, sideswiping a few branches that scraped across the side mirror and door with a screech that sent Kozak hollering and yanking his rifle back inside. ‘What the hell?’

‘IEDs, man,’ 30K answered. ‘Trying to stay off the path!’

‘Little heads-up first?’ snapped Kozak, who then set down his rifle and picked up the drone’s remote. ‘Shit, shit, shit! Signal’s gone!’

Ross had an elbow balanced on the door and squeezed off three bursts with his HK, driving two rebels standing beside some trees back into the brush. He estimated the ambush force at no more than fifteen or twenty, and they rolled past them within a handful of seconds.

He ducked back into the Hummer, closed the window, and got back on the team net. ‘30K, you guys all right?’

‘We’re good!’

Ross switched frequencies to Captain Jiménez, who was up in the cab of the M35, and asked if his people were okay.

‘Two men were hit, one seriously. We’re very lucky. There could be more ambushes ahead.’

‘Roger that. Stay sharp. Ross, out.’

‘Don’t get closer than that,’ said Pepper, pointing to a bullet hole in his side mirror. ‘That guy was looking to trim my sideburn.’

‘No shit,’ said Ross, his heart still wrenching in his chest.

‘They’re calling ahead to their buddies, saying we’re on our way.’

‘Maybe not,’ countered Ross. ‘First thing I did was hit ’em with an EMP grenade.’

‘I thought that was a frag.’

‘Nope. Pulse wave should’ve knocked out their radios and cell phones, and maybe even deactivated any IEDs they’d planted ahead.’

‘Let’s hope so.’

‘Ghost Lead, Kozak. I’ve reestablished contact with the drone. Good thing is, I got something. Have a look at this.’

Multiple images appeared in both Ross’s Cross-Com and his tablet computer, grainy footage taken by the drone’s camera along with FLIR images that showed the outlines of dozens of personnel strung out near the mangrove-fringed riverbank, along with several flatbed trucks and old jeeps whose engines still glowed. Behind them stood several structures, no larger than the shacks they’d encountered at the first outpost, but these had satellite dishes mounted on their roofs. Range was about four kilometers away.

Then something else caught Ross’s attention. He did a double take, and Kozak, seeing it too, zoomed in with the camera.

‘Boss, you see that?’

‘Can you zoom in even more?’

‘Trying.’

Ross drew his head back. ‘Oh, yeah, Kozak, I see it now.’