Dead Six

Chapter 10:

Hurt

VALENTINE

Ash Shamal District

April 16

2345

Ash Shamal was the poorest of Zubara’s three urban districts, and the most dangerous. Parts of this district were hotbeds of Islamic fundamentalism, and the streets weren’t safe for Westerners, especially at night. Much of that was our fault. Since Project Heartbreaker had begun, it had stirred up a hornet’s nest on the poor side of town. The locals were outraged over Dead Six’s dirty work. Most of them seemed to think it was the Israelis. Certain people used this misconception to their own personal advantage.

By certain people I mean General Mubarak Al Sabah. The emir considered the popular general to be a threat, but for whatever reason couldn’t just have him shot. Word on the street was General Al Sabah’s faction of the army was making deals with local terrorist cells. Now, most of these so-called cells were just groups of angry, ignorant locals that claimed to stand against “Zionism” and “American Imperialism” and all that bullshit. In reality, they had no training, no equipment, no organization, and most of them weren’t eager to go off and die for the jihad.

That was, of course, until General Al Sabah started using his connections to equip and train the locals. He was slowly building a small army in Ash Shamal. They were, at best, poorly trained rabble, little more than cannon fodder. But we believed Al Sabah was going to make a move on the emir soon, and he’d need all of the help he could get.

Facilitating these jihadi militias was one Anatoly Federov, the Russian arms dealer Hunter had briefed me about. He supplied them with brand-new hardware from Russia and advisers on how to use the equipment. Al Sabah, in turn, promised to be a very powerful friend to Federov when he managed to overthrow the emir.

Dead Six had no intention of letting that happen. From what I’d heard, we had plans to kill both Federov and General Al Sabah himself. One thing at a time, though. In order to kill someone, you have to find them, and find a way to get to them. Powerful people surrounded by many heavily armed friends are notoriously difficult to get to, for obvious reasons.

That is, unless the powerful person’s disgruntled business partner decides to cut a deal with the people gunning for him in order to save her own ass.

Enter one Asra Elnadi. According to our information, Ms. Elnadi was an Egyptian-born businesswoman who had been educated in Paris. We didn’t know a lot about her history beyond that. We did know that for a few years she had been the business partner and lover of Jalal Hosani. Yet something went wrong, and Asra left Hosani in order to team up with Federov, taking a bunch of his business contacts with her. Federov became a major player in the Gulf; Hosani’s business stagnated, and he went from being a rising-star arms broker to a second-rate gunrunner.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or so goes the ancient cliché. Project Heartbreaker had brought a different kind of hell to Zubara, and people like Asra were scattering like cockroaches. Normally you step on the roaches as they run, but occasionally you make a deal with one to get to another, more powerful cockroach.

Okay, that analogy kind of fell apart, but you know what I meant. Through some unknown—to me, at least—back channel, Ms. Elnadi had managed to contact Dead Six and offered to squeal. She was afraid of us, sure, but she was more afraid of her current boyfriend. There was only one problem: despite her expensive European education and status as an international businesswoman of ill repute, Ms. Elnadi didn’t speak English. Furthermore, she had an intense distrust of men and apparently insisted on meeting face-to-face with a woman, one who spoke either Arabic or French.

The result of all this skullduggery and intrigue was that I found myself driving across town in a nondescript Toyota Land Cruiser, sitting next to Sarah McAllister in awkward silence.

We were taking two vehicles. Sarah and I were riding in the Land Cruiser, and would be the ones to actually make contact with Asra Elnadi. Tailor, Hudson, and Wheeler were following us in a van. The plan was for them to hang back until we arrived at the meeting, then fan out and provide overwatch as best they could. Asra wouldn’t be expecting Sarah to arrive alone, but we feared that too much of a show of force would spook her. If we lost her, we’d probably never find Hosani or Federov. If all went well, the only people she’d actually see would be Sarah and me.

“Shafter, Nightcrawler, radio check,” I said, squeezing the transmit button as I talked.

“Loud and clear,” Hudson replied.

“We’re almost there,” I said to Sarah, keeping my eyes on the road. I was tense, and not just because I was uncomfortable being around Sarah. Keeping a low profile for the mission meant that I’d be alone, at least for a short time, if things went south. It also meant that instead of wearing full battle rattle and carrying a rifle, I was in street clothes and a wearing a low-profile vest with thinner plates and less coverage. In a big backpack in the backseat was my FN Mk. 17 7.62x51mm carbine. With the short thirteen-inch barrel fitted and the stock folded, it could be concealed in a pack with a couple of spare magazines.

Sarah had barely said anything to me the entire trip. She wasn’t enjoying the ride any more than I was, but we had a mission to complete. We were both trying really hard to be professional.

“Are you armed?” I asked as I maneuvered the Land Cruiser through a roundabout.

Sarah seemed surprised by the question. “They gave me a forty-five.” Sarah, like me, was wearing an untucked, short-sleeved shirt over her T-shirt and body armor to conceal her weapon.

“Okay,” I said. “If the shit hits the fan, fall back to the truck and let me cover you. If I get hit, get in the truck and leave without me.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Mike, you don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do. You’re a mission-essential asset. It’s my job to get you in and out of there alive. If it gets bad, you grab our target and get her out. If you can’t do that, leave her with me and get yourself out. This is how it works. Okay?” She briefly looked like she was going to argue with me, but simply nodded.

Asra Elnadi insisted that we meet in a freight yard near the Ash Shamal docks. She told us that she’d be coming alone. This simplified things for us a little, as we’d only have one person to exfiltrate. Nothing complicates a simple extraction mission more than the would-be extractee showing up with an entourage of friends and family.

Using a GPS unit in the truck, I navigated my way through a labyrinthine maze of old warehouses and stacked shipping containers. The Ash Shamal docks were one of the busiest ports in the Persian Gulf, and the surrounding facilities were huge. They were also uncontrolled. There were no fences, no cameras, no access control points, and as near as I could tell, no security. The harbor police occasionally did patrols through the docks at night, but those patrols had fallen off as violence had risen in the district. The police in the Zoob were probably either sympathetic to General Al Sabah’s fermenting revolution or didn’t want to get killed in it.

It was just after midnight when we finally arrived at the predetermined meeting point. It was a large, open area surrounded by walls of shipping containers stacked four and five high. There were a couple of small buildings and a long, metal sunshade, under which dozens of forklifts and utility vehicles were parked. Along the rear of this concrete pad was a massive warehouse. The area was dark, save for lights on the front of each of the buildings.

I killed the headlights as we slowly rolled into the open, noticing an Audi sedan parked between two forklifts. “Xbox, Nightcrawler, I think I have eyes on the package. Where are you?”

“We’re almost in position,” Tailor replied. “Okay,” he said after a few moments. “I can see you.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m on top of a stack of conex boxes to the south of you. Gotcha covered, nice and quiet.” This meant that Tailor was providing overwatch with a suppressed rifle. It was too dark for me to see where he was, but from on top of any of the stacks of containers he’d have a commanding view of the area, especially using the thermal scope Frank had pulled out of the armory.

“Nightcrawler, Shafter,” Hudson said. “We’re just around the corner. We can be on top of you in a couple seconds.”

“Roger that,” I said as I got out of the truck.

I looked over at Sarah. “You ready?” She nodded again, not looking at me. I reached into my pocket and took out a flashlight. I flashed it at the Audi three times, paused for a few seconds, then flashed it a fourth time. The Audi’s headlights flashed back at me five times. The dome light came on briefly as the driver’s door opened. A slender female figure climbed out of the car and closed the door behind her.

Sarah and I approached slowly. I stayed a few paces behind Sarah and scanned the area. Even though I had Tailor watching me and some backup, something was bothering me. I felt vulnerable.

“Stay here,” Sarah said. “I’m going to go talk to her.” She then keyed her own radio microphone. “Xbox, I’m making contact with the package now.”

I waited for him to acknowledge Sarah before speaking. “If this takes too long, I’m going to grab her and throw her in the truck. If she tries to get back in her car, draw down on her.”

Sarah looked a question at me. “Hunter’s orders,” I said. “She’s coming with us whether she likes it or not. I was told to shoot her if she tries to run. So you need to make sure she understands that the only way she’s getting out of this alive is if she does what you tell her. If she gets cold feet, I’ll put a slug through her. If I don’t, Tailor will. Clear?”

“Yeah, clear,” Sarah replied, walking away from me. I didn’t know what the hell she was being so touchy about. The fact that Asra Elnadi was a woman didn’t make her a good person. She was a black-market arms dealer who sold weapons to terrorists. If she hadn’t come to us first, she’d have probably ended up dead when we went after Federov. Maybe it was a chick thing.

I was standing about fifty feet away from Sarah when she addressed the target in Arabic. I constantly scanned the surroundings. I was gripped by a sense of unease that I just couldn’t shake. Was it because of the previous night, or was it something real?

“I’ve got the package in tow,” Sarah said over the radio, sounding relieved. “So far so good.”

I activated my microphone again. “Xbox, Nightcrawler, you see anything?”

“Negative,” Tailor replied. “It’s quiet. Why? Something up?”

“Just a bad feeling.”

“Hang on,” Tailor said. “I just had a door open. . . . There’s a couple guys walking up some exterior stairs.”

It might not be anything, I thought, just somebody working late, but it didn’t make me feel any better. I couldn’t see anything moving in the darkness. “Xbox, where?”

“Two hundred meters due north of you. They’re on a catwalk on that three-story warehouse. Shit, they just walked behind something. I lost them.” I could see the building in question but couldn’t make out any details from here. There was a long pause as Tailor searched through his scope. “They were carrying boxes or something, but it’s hard to see details through this thing.”

Sarah seemed to have our contact under control and was gently leading her my way. I wished she’d hurry the hell up. Asra was babbling away, nervous. The arms dealer had a high-pitched voice. Something she said seemed to spook Sarah, and they started moving quicker. She sounded nervous over the radio. “The package thinks she might have been followed.”

My attention focused back to the warehouse. I’d just caught a tiny flicker of movement at the top.

“Okay, I got visual on one of them again. He’s setting down his box.” Tailor sounded uncertain. “Wait. Shit. It’s a weapon, I say again, he’s got a weapon. Get out of there, Nightcrawler! Engaging!”

Sniper. “Understood, moving!” I said, breaking into a run. There was no cover where we were. We had to get out of there. “Sarah!” I yelled, digging the Land Cruiser’s keys out of my pocket. “Get her in the truck!”

“I heard him!” Sarah said, grabbing the package by the arm and pulling her along. Asra balked at this and began chattering at Sarah. She seemed like she wanted to know what was going on. There wasn’t time for that. I caught up with the two women, took Asra by the other arm, and hauled her roughly back to our Toyota.

She struggled and bitched at me. I looked over at Sarah as my left hand went to the butt of my gun. “Tell her that Federov is coming for her, and if she doesn’t get into that truck right now I’m going to fucking shoot her.” Sarah conveyed my warning to Asra. The arms dealer’s eyes went wide, and she complied with my command. I hurried for the front seat. Muffled cracks echoed across the storage yard; Tailor had started shooting.

“Xbox, do you have—” But a deafening bang cut me off. Bits of metal flew from the hood of our truck. I lurched to the side and threw myself to the pavement behind the car. The next bullet exploded through the engine block, destroying it. Asra started screaming. “Out! Out!” I shouted, crawling toward the women. Windows shattered as huge bullets lanced through our ride.

Sarah reacted quickly, getting as low as possible. I reached up, got a handful of Asra’s suit jacket, and yanked her to the ground. We were pinned. The sniper had something huge, and by the rate of fire, semiautomatic. Our Toyota wasn’t cover, it was just concealment.

“Got one. Shit! Can’t spot the other guy. Shot’s blocked. Moving!” Tailor shouted.

A hole as big around as my fist punched through the Toyota’s side panel. The bullet dug a divot into the ground, launching stinging asphalt bits. If we ran for the nearest conex, not all of us would make it, but if we sat here, we were as good as dead.

Asra stood, panicking, trying to flee. Sarah knocked her down before I could. A bullet whined through the space she had just filled. Sarah threw her body on top of our package to hold the struggling woman down.

This day just kept getting better and better. The sniper had disabled our vehicle first so we couldn’t run. The only reason we hadn’t been hit yet was luck.

“This is Shafter. We’ve got multiple vehicles inbound from the east at a high rate of speed. We got more company!”

“Copy!” I said. Another heavy slug plowed through our truck, showering me with shattered safety glass. “Hurry!”

“Got you, fucker,” Tailor gasped as he opened fire. The gun was suppressed, but the supersonic bullets cracked by over our heads. “He’s down! I got him!”

I rolled over. Sarah was still on top of the flailing woman. “Are you hit?” She shook her head. Asra was in shock, covering her ears with her hands and babbling like an idiot. “Shut her up!” Fluids were pouring from our perforated truck. More bad guys were inbound. It was time to go. “Shafter, we need extraction, now!”

I scanned nervously out the window as we raced away from the scene of the shootout. This was exactly why we always tried to use multiple vehicles. The colonel was going to be pissed that we’d lost another one. Wheeler was driving, Hudson was riding shotgun. Tailor was in the back of the van, scanning out the rear window with his rifle in his lap. Sarah and I were in the back, too, as was our guest. Asra Elnadi was still prattling on about something.

“What’s she saying?” Hudson snapped.

“She says she’s very sorry. Federov must have had her tailed, and . . .” Sarah scowled. “Mike, she says you’ll regret roughing her up, and that she’ll complain to our superiors and have you punished.”

I looked over at her incredulously. The arms dealer was an attractive woman of about forty. Her mascara was running badly. She glared back at me with an indignant look that said don’t you know who I am?

I made a face at her and turned toward Tailor. “What took you so long back there?”

“There was a crane in the way. I couldn’t get a shot. I had to run a ways.”

“If you didn’t smoke so damn much, you’d have gotten there faster.”

He turned around and grinned at me. “You ain’t worth that!”

Conex containers were flying past as we sped out of the port, pulling onto a main road. Wheeler had been trying to keep our speed reasonable, so as to not draw attention to us, but he floored it now that we were in the open.

“Damn it. A bunch of sedans just pulled out behind us,” Tailor snapped. “They’re on us.”

“They weren’t in visual range,” Wheeler said tersely. “How’re they following us now?”

“She’s been bugged,” Hudson said. Asra shrieked at me as I ripped her purse away, but sure enough, I found the little tracking device a second later. I passed it forward, and Hudson tossed it out his window. Too bad they had a visual on us now, which meant we either had to lose them the old-fashioned way, or shoot it out. “Pat her down, Sarah.” Sarah didn’t complain, but Asra Elnadi certainly did. “Tell her that she can either let you do it, or I will.” Once that was translated, it finally shut her up.

We raced south, toward the main part of town. There was more traffic here, which we could use to our advantage. “I’m going to get on the parkway,” Wheeler said as he took the turnoff. It made sense. It was way too easy to get lost on the backstreets. Hudson was on the radio with Control, trying to get us some help. Several sets of headlights were gaining rapidly on us. They’d followed us onto the parkway.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Wheeler suddenly applied the brakes. Traffic had slowed to a stop.

“Oh, God, what now?” I asked in frustration. Then I saw the flashing lights. Zubaran security forces had set up a checkpoint. Two police cars were parked there, along with an army APC, and the road had been funneled down to a single lane in the center. Camouflaged soldiers and blue-suited police officers were stopping each car, checking the occupants. One car had been pulled off to the side to be searched.

This was new. Our antics had been causing the Zubarans some serious problems, but this was the first time we’d run into a random checkpoint.

“It’s the damned curfew!” Wheeler said, looking around anxiously. There was nowhere to turn off. They’d placed the roadblock such that anyone pulling onto the parkway would be committed, and flipping around would bring us right back to the pursuing mobsters.

“They’ve stopped,” Tailor reported from the back. “They see the cops too.” At least Federov’s men weren’t stupid enough to start a gunfight with the police right there, but we were trapped. “We’ve got to go through. Hide your guns.”

They were still searching that one car, and it appeared they only left room enough to search one at a time. We might get through this. Other cars were being waved through with just cursory examinations. But then again, we were a carload of obvious Westerners. Dead Six had provided us all with forged documents for just this contingency, but if the car got searched and they found our weapons, we’d have a serious problem.

“Let me do the talking,” Sarah suggested. She was the only one of us that spoke the language.

Hudson thought about it for a second and then struggled to maneuver his bulk between the seats so Sarah could get up front. It was rather difficult for him, but finally we got Sarah into the passenger’s seat before we were close enough for the troops at the checkpoint to see us.

It took forever for the line of cars to move forward. The soldiers ahead seemed to be as unmotivated as third-world armies normally were on this kind of duty. We had a good chance of breezing right through this. As an added bonus, we’d be long gone before Federov’s men could make it through. There were over a dozen soldiers and cops manning the checkpoint, but only a few of them seemed to be engaged in doing any actual work. The rest stood around shiftlessly, smoking or talking to each other.

Tailor stashed his rifle under a blanket. “Everybody stay calm, but if this goes south, lay down as much fire as you can. Wheeler, drive right between those cop cars and get us the hell out of here. Sarah, your job is to make sure we don’t have to do that? Got it?”

Sarah just nodded. Hudson was sitting on the other side of Asra now, looking really uneasy. He and Wheeler had spent a lot of time manning checkpoints in Iraq, and I figured he’d much rather be on the other side of the roadblock right now. “Wheeler, be cool, man. Just be cool.”

A few minutes later it was our turn. Wheeler rolled his window down as a soldier walked up to the van. The soldier was young, but he seemed like he was on the ball. He kept one hand on the pistol on his belt as he scowled at the carload of Westerners. The back of the van was dark, and had no windows. He didn’t seem to have a flashlight.

The soldier said something. Wheeler just smiled and passed over his papers. Sarah responded in Arabic, but the soldier snapped back at her harshly. He either didn’t like being addressed by someone he wasn’t talking to, or he didn’t like being addressed by a woman. He studied Wheeler’s papers intently, looking for any discrepancies. It was just our luck that we’d found one of the only people in the Middle East who gave a shit about doing a good job. Even better, he spoke English.

“Americans?”

“Yes, sir,” Wheeler responded, cheerful as he could be. “We’re working on the natural-gas pipeline for Zubara National Energy.”

The soldier nodded but seemed suspicious. “What is your business in Ash Shamal? This is a dangerous place for Americans at night.”

Wheeler had already thought of the cover story. “We had to pick up some diagrams at the Ash Shamal branch office. It took longer than expected, and I got lost in the dark.”

The other soldiers were all sitting on their asses, but many of them had rifles close at hand. The cupola on top of the armored car was manned and equipped with a machine gun. The car ahead of us pulled away, giving us a clear shot to freedom. Wheeler’s eyes flicked nervously forward. The young soldier was nodding as he thought about Wheeler’s story.

“Foreign criminals are murdering people in this part of the city. There was a shooting down at the harbor. Do you know anything about that?”

“No, sir,” Wheeler replied cautiously.

“No?” The soldier asked sarcastically, and leaned farther in. Sarah tried to speak to him again, but he ignored her. Damn it, why wouldn’t he just let us go? His gaze lingered on Asra and her smeared makeup. Then he studied me and Hudson for a moment. My carbine was in the backpack between my legs. I moved one hand to the sliding-door latch. The soldier removed his head from the window and addressed Wheeler loudly. “Step out of the car. All of you, step out of the car.”

“Officer, can’t we—” Wheeler began to speak but stopped as the soldier suddenly yanked out his pistol and stuck it in our driver’s face. “Whoa! Hey, man! Relax!”

“Out of the car!” the soldier shouted. The other soldiers and police officers looked up in confusion. The APC gunner swung the machine gun around so it was pointed at our van.

I didn’t have my own window. I could only see the soldier’s extended gun hand now. More troops appeared behind us, curious at the commotion. They tried to look in through the tinted back windows. Tailor reached under the blanket. Sarah was shouting something in Arabic. The soldier was shouting back at her. Somebody banged something hard against the opposite side of the van. Asra flinched so violently that it made me jump.

Then there was a gunshot. The Calm slowed everything down. I looked just in time to see the soldier’s gun move down out of recoil. Wheeler said something unintelligible. A small amount of blood splattered against the interior of our windshield.

“Drive!” Tailor shouted. The rear glass shattered as he opened fire through it, killing a soldier. Another gunshot roared through the van. Sarah had pulled her .45 and fired out the driver’s side window, right past Wheeler’s face. I slid the side door open and brought my carbine up even though the stock was still folded. The soldier that had been questioning us was hitting the pavement, a hole between his eyes. I pointed the carbine up at the gunner in the cupola and fired five or six times. The first shots missed but at least one went home, dropping the gunner down into his hatch in a puff of blood. I shifted to the next target, a police officer who was clumsily trying to draw his pistol. Two rounds went through his chest. The soldier next to him was trying to bring his rifle to bear, which had been slung across his back. We began to move as I popped off three more shots. I watched the soldier collapse to the ground as we sped by.

Tailor kept firing at the checkpoint through the back window, forcing the troops to keep their heads down as we made our getaway. He flipped around as I slid my door closed, noticing the blood on the inside of the windshield. “Who’s hit? Wheeler? Sarah?”

“I’m fine!” Sarah shouted.

“I’m okay,” Wheeler hissed, concentrating on the road. “Asshole shot me in the arm.”

Tailor turned back around. “Get us out of here.” He went back to shooting.

Asra had been screaming. I hadn’t heard her over the gunshots. “Shut up!” Hudson bellowed at her as he moved up between the front seats. “Let me drive,” he said. “Let Val look at that, man.”

“I’m okay!” Wheeler snapped. “I’m fine! Let me drive!”

Tailor dropped the empty magazine out of his carbine and looked over his shoulder. “Val, we—” He was cut off as the van swerved violently to the right. Tires squealed, and we were thrown around the cabin.

When I looked back to the front of the van, Sarah was reaching over, holding the steering wheel. Wheeler was slumped forward and wasn’t moving. Just like that, he was gone.

It took us over an hour to get to the safe house, even though it wasn’t all that far from the port. The Zoob had already been in a heightened state of alert because of our exploits and the subsequent spike in terrorist attacks. A shootout at the docks and another at a police checkpoint had put the city on lockdown. We had to go very far out of our way to avoid more checkpoints.

Two vehicles were waiting for us at the safe house. One of them was driven by two of Colonel Hunter’s security men. They grabbed Asra Elnadi and drove off with her before we even got in the door. The other, a van, was driven by Hal and one of the other medics.

Other than some cuts and bruises, I was unscathed. The same went for Tailor, Hudson, and Sarah. Wheeler was dead. The bullet had struck him in the bicep, traveled through his arm, and entered his chest through the armpit opening of his armor vest. He hadn’t even known that he was dying. There was nothing we could have done for him. My shirt was sticky with his drying blood.

After the four of us had been seen by the medics, we assembled outside by the garage. Hal backed his van up to the open garage door and gave us a body bag. Together, and in silence, Hudson, Tailor, and I stripped Wheeler of his equipment. When that was done, Tailor and I stood back while Hudson quietly said a few words to his old friend. We then carried Wheeler’s body to the medics’ van. It was the closest thing the affable former army paratrooper would ever get to a proper funeral.

“Tailor?” Hal said, approaching us after a while. “Hunter wants you to come back for debrief.”

“What?” Tailor said, sounding agitated. “We had kind of a bad night.”

“I know, but he wants you to come back. Valentine, McAllister, he said there’d be a car for you two sometime tomorrow.”

Sarah seemed suddenly uncomfortable. “Wait a minute. Don’t they need me to debrief Asra?”

“You’re not the only one that can speak Arabic, you know. Besides, you’re exhausted. You’re in no shape to do any work tonight. Tailor just has to give a report. Then he can go to bed.”

“Why not just bring us all back?” Hudson asked. He hadn’t spoken in a while. “They need someone to stay here and watch the house or something?”

“Well, there’s only one extra seat in the front of the van,” Hal said. “And . . .” he hesitated. “I didn’t figure anyone would want to ride in the back with Wheeler.”

“I will,” Hudson said. “It’s no problem.”

“You sure, man?” Tailor asked.

“Yep,” Hudson said. “Wheeler and me, we zipped six of our soldiers into body bags last time we were deployed. We carried them away. Stayed with them for as long as we could. I’ll ride with him one last time. I owe him that much. He never would’ve come over here if it wasn’t for me.”

“Okay,” Hal said quietly. “We need to get going now.”

“There any food in this place?” I asked. Hal just shrugged. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just need to get some sleep.”

“Take it easy, bro,” Tailor said as he climbed into the van. It disappeared through the gate, leaving Sarah and me standing alone under the stars. We had the big house all to ourselves. Awkward . . .

“Mike, I’m sorry about Wheeler,” she said as we went inside. “Are you okay?”

“I just need to take a shower.”

“Me, too,” she said. Fortunately, the big house had two bathrooms, so it wasn’t an issue. The medics had brought fresh clothes for us to the safe house, so we wouldn’t have to run around in blood-stained khakis for the rest of the night.

After my shower, all I wanted was to get some sleep, but sleep just wouldn’t come. The longer I lay there, the madder I got that I couldn’t sleep. I rolled over, then rolled over again. I was too hot, so I cranked up the air conditioner. Then I was too cold. Then my foot itched. Then I had to go to the bathroom. Then . . .

“Fuck!” I snarled, throwing my pillow across the room. “Goddamn it!” I stood up and began to pace around in the darkness. The clock on the nightstand said 4:45 and I was still awake. I stormed across the room, picked up the clock, yanked the cord out of the socket, and threw it against the wall. It smashed into pieces of broken plastic.

I stood there, breathing heavily, ridiculously mad but unsure of what I was mad at. I just wanted to go to sleep and forget things for a while.

Wheeler was dead. Yesterday he was there, today he was gone, just like that. I had no one to talk to, nothing to distract me, and no alcohol to numb me. All I could do was sit there, awake when I should be sleeping, thinking about how I’d watched my friend die and what I could have done differently. It was killing me.

There was a quiet knock on my door. It was Sarah. “Mike, are you okay?” she asked. Her voice was slightly raspy, like she’d been crying.

“Yeah, I’m . . . yeah . . .” I said, even though I was anything but okay. Sarah opened the door a little bit and peeked in at me.

“Can I come in?”

I sighed. “Sure,” I said and sat down on the bed. I turned on the stupid-looking lamp that sat on the nightstand. Sarah was wearing the same short shorts and T-shirt she’d been wearing the first time she came into my room, our first night in-country. It was strange, but she looked a little older now.

“You broke your clock,” she noted. “And you look like hell.” I became suddenly self-conscious and looked around for my T-shirt.

“It’s been a bad night.”

“I know,” Sarah said. She crossed the room and sat down next to me. “I’ve been in my room crying for an hour.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, looking over at her.

“I don’t know why I was crying,” she said. “I don’t feel anything. I didn’t feel anything when Wheeler died. I didn’t feel anything when I killed that solder. I didn’t feel . . .” Tears welled up in Sarah’s eyes, and her hands started to shake. “I didn’t feel anything at all.”

“That’s normal,” I said. “It’s adrenaline. You’re going through adrenaline dump right now. Makes you crazy.”

“How do you do this?” she asked, wiping her eyes. “I saw you. You shot those three guys dead like it was nothing. It took like four seconds. I mean, oh my God, how do you do it?”

I shrugged. “It’s what I do. It’s all that I do, I guess. I try not to think about it.”

“I just want to go home,” Sarah said, sounding like she couldn’t cry anymore. “I hate this country.”

Me, too. “But, hey, we’re alive. Right now that counts for a lot.”

“Thank you,” she said. Sarah then yawned widely.

“You should get some rest,” I suggested. “You’re exhausted. I am too.”

“I know,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I just don’t want to be alone right now. This big house is too quiet.” Sarah looked down at her lap for a moment, then back up at me. “Is it alright if I sleep in here?”

“What?” I said, surprised. “I mean . . . sure. If you want.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” she said more sternly. “I just don’t want to be by myself. Okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I’m sure,” I said, trying to sound reassuring. “Lay down.” Sarah thanked me again, gave me a small kiss on the cheek, and slid under the covers on the right side of the bed. I turned the lamp back off and laid my head on the pillow. This time sleep quickly overtook me.

It was daylight out when I awoke. My clock was still smashed on the floor, so I wasn’t sure what time it was. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as the events of the night before came back to me. I relived, in my mind, watching Wheeler die, and I quietly swore to myself.

There are always doubts when a teammate dies. You question yourself, and your confidence is shattered. Did I do everything I could? Was there any way it could have been avoided? Did something I do cause him to get killed? The hardest thing to do after losing one of your own is to go back into combat again, burdened with the knowledge that your surviving teammates are all counting on you. I’ve known guys that could never get over that hurdle, and I’ve seen it end careers.

In my case, that wasn’t really an option. There was nothing I’d have liked more than to simply quit and go home, but it seemed like the only way to go home early was in a body bag.

It was then that I noticed something warm and soft pressed against me. Sarah, still asleep, had wrapped her arm and one leg around me. She quietly slept, her face a few inches from my right ear, her auburn hair splashed across the pillow.

God, she’s beautiful. Sarah opened her eyes then, as if my thinking about her woke her up.

“Hey,” I said, looking into her eyes.

“Hey, you,” she replied. “You make a good pillow.”

“I’m glad you think so. I can’t feel my right arm.”

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said with a little smile. “You want me to move?”

“Not really,” I confessed. “This is . . . nice. A nice way to wake up.”

Sarah agreed. “Yeah,” she said, squeezing me a bit tighter. “So tell me. Why is it every time you almost get your ass shot off you end up in bed with me?”

I had no idea how to answer that. I just looked at her, mouth slightly open, and she giggled. “Um . . .”

“Yes?” she asked.

“Because you’re the Queen of Crazy Town?” I suggested tentatively.

Sarah gently pushed my face away and laughed. “I can see where I gave you that impression. What time is it, anyway?”

I shrugged. “My clock is still broken.”

“Well . . . they’ll call before they send a car,” Sarah said. “We could be here all day. They’re trying to limit traffic outside the compound during daylight hours or when the roads are busy. You know, because of the checkpoints.” Sarah trailed off and exhaled heavily.

“Listen,” I said. “You did good out there. You weren’t trained for that kind of job, but you held it together. You did what you had to do. No hesitation, nothing. I’m impressed.” I really was.

“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better.”

“I’m not,” I said sternly. “Your quick thinking is probably the reason more of us didn’t get killed. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. She kissed me sweetly.

Smiling, I turned toward her a little and gently brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. She closed her eyes as I caressed her cheek. Her right hand slid up to my shoulder, pulling me closer to her. I scootched over a bit and kissed her, deeply. She made a very soft, pleasurable sigh and ran her fingers through my buzzed hair.

I rolled onto my back, pulling Sarah with me. Straddling me, she only stopped kissing me for a moment and pulled her shirt off over her head. She leaned forward again, kissing me passionately, her hair tickling my face and my neck.

Sarah and I made love for a long time, and, for a while, I was able to stop thinking about all the things that were bothering me. Like how horrible it was that we were fooling around like a couple of high-school kids on prom night just hours after we watched one of my guys bleed to death. Or how I treated her the night I got drunk. Or what was going to happen between us after this. However it played out, it was going to be complicated.

At that moment, though, with her in my arms, I didn’t worry about any of that. I was alive, goddamn it, and so was she. For the time being, that was all that mattered.

VALENTINE

Fort Saradia National Historical Site

April 18

1230

I stepped into my room and closed the door behind me, looking down at the sheet of paper in my hand. Hunter had given it to me after Sarah and I returned from Safe House 5.

It was a BOLO, or “be on the lookout” alert, passed down from Gordon Willis. The photocopy was about a young woman named Jillian Del Toro. She had been an intern at the US Embassy in Zubara, on loan to the State Department from the Department of Agriculture. She was a low-level employee but apparently had access to one James Fiore, the assistant ambassador. Fiore had been killed by the enemy after the US Embassy was evacuated. According to the dossier I’d been given, Jill Del Toro was apparently selling embassy secrets to General Al Sabah’s intelligence people and had gotten Fiore killed.

Del Toro was still at large. She wasn’t considered dangerous, but she was a traitor, and Gordon wanted her brought in, dead or alive.

I studied the picture of the young woman. Miss Del Toro was twenty-five years old, fresh out of college. She was beautiful, with dark hair, bright eyes, and a very pretty face. Maybe it was just me, but she didn’t look like a traitor. I was probably being naïve, I thought, but something about this whole thing didn’t sit right.

Of course, very little of what was passed down from Gordon Willis sat right with me. I tossed the BOLO on my bed and sat. As I did so, I noticed the strange key that I’d found in Adar’s safe, still sitting where I’d left it.

I reached over and picked up the ancient-looking trinket and examined it again. Turning the knob on the base caused dozens of tiny pins to pop out of nearly invisible recesses in the object’s shaft. I twisted the knob the other way, and the tiny pins smoothly disappeared.

Sarah and I hadn’t really gotten any sleep, and I was tired. I was off for the rest of the day and decided then that I was going to take a nap. Before I could lie down, there was a soft knock on my door. The door opened and Sarah stepped into my room, quietly closing the door behind her.

“Hey, you,” she said, smiling widely when she saw me. I felt a smile appear on my own face as I stood. She met me in the middle of my room, stepping into my arms and kissing me.

In some subtle way, Sarah was a different person to me now. At first, she was just some chick I thought was hot. Then we talked a bit, and then we slept together. But now we’d been in combat together, bled together, buried a friend together. We were more than friends and lovers now. We were comrades.

“Hey yourself,” I said, not letting go of her. “What’s going on?”

“What’s that in your hand?” she asked, indicating the strange trinket I was holding.

I held it up. “I don’t really know, but watch this.” I twisted the knob again, causing the pins and teeth to reappear. Another twist of the knob retracted them.

“Wow,” Sarah said, taking it from my hand to examine it. “Where’d you get this? It’s pretty.”

Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable. “I found it the other night,” I said, sitting back down on my bed. “It was in a safe in Adar’s house.”

Sarah looked down at the trinket, apparently not bothered by where I’d gotten it. “Why didn’t you report it?”

I shrugged. “Hunter didn’t ask about it, so I figured they weren’t looking for it anyway. It’s just some doodad I found. I’ve collected a bunch of crap since I’ve been here, you know. Besides, I forgot about it. That was kind of a bad night.”

The expression on Sarah’s face changed subtly. “Yeah, it was,” she said. All at once I felt butterflies in my stomach. Something was bothering her. “We need to talk about that,” she said.

I sighed, lowering my eyes. “Okay.” I patted the bed next to me so Sarah would sit down. “So let’s talk.”

“You hurt me,” she said, crossing her legs as she sat down. “I came in here trying to help you. You screamed at me, swore at me, and told me to get out.” Sarah’s voice was perfectly calm as she spoke. I felt like curling up into a ball.

“I was drunk,” I said after a moment. Sarah’s eyes flashed. I raised my hands in surrender before she got too upset. “I’m not using that as an excuse,” I said quickly. “I’m really not. It’s just a fact. I had a bad night. Seeing that girl . . . it just . . . I was still in shock. I couldn’t handle it. It doesn’t matter, though. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Like you said, you were trying to help me, and I pushed you away. I’m sorry. I’m not just saying I’m sorry, either, I really mean it. I . . . I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Well, you did,” she said coldly, fidgeting with the key in her hands. I started to say something, but she interrupted me. “But you know what? It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay, but it’s okay.”

I gave her a sidelong glance, not really sure what to say. Sarah laughed, lightening the mood in the room just a little bit. “Have I mentioned I’m crazy?” she asked.

“I gathered,” I said, allowing myself a half smile.

“I’m also confused.” Sarah exhaled heavily and continued fiddling with the key, trying to think of what to say. “After the other night, I think I got it,” she said. “I mean . . . Jesus Christ, I killed a guy, and I cried my eyes out. You go out and do that every day, and they just expect you to keep on doing it and not break down. You broke down, didn’t you?”

I looked down at the floor, lowering my head just a little. “When I saw that girl, I . . .”

“I know,” Sarah said quietly. “I know. It really bothers you when men hurt women, doesn’t it?”

I was surprised by the question. “I guess. I mean . . .”

“I can tell,” she said. “Even when you were dragging Asra Elnadi along, you were very careful with her. You probably didn’t even bruise her arm.”

“I would’ve shot her if she ran,” I said levelly. “Just like I was ordered to.”

“I know,” Sarah said. “It would’ve bothered you for a long time, though, wouldn’t it?” I nodded my head slightly. “I read your file. I know about your mom. That had to have been awful.”

I had just been a teenager when she’d been robbed and murdered by some random meth-heads. “It was, but it’s been a really long time.”

“I didn’t get you at first, you know,” she said. “I mean, you’re cute and everything, but I didn’t think you’d be good for much more than a roll in the hay.”

“You think I’m cute?” I interjected, trying to deadpan.

“Shut up,” Sarah said, grinning and giving me a little shove. “I’m serious. I didn’t think we’d . . . you know . . .”

“Yeah,” I said. “This is kind of intense, isn’t it?”

Sarah nodded. “But I get it now. I know you guys are under a lot of pressure out there. I mean, oh my God, look at how many people we’ve lost already!”

“Sarah—”

“I’m not finished. That doesn’t change what happened. I came here to help you. You yelled at me and made me feel like a piece of shit.” Sarah’s cool words hurt me like I was being stabbed. “And I need to know where we stand, right now. Because if this is how you are . . . I’m sorry, I mean, I know what you’re going through now, but if this is how you are, I’m not going to be a part of it. I spent three years in a bad relationship, and I’m not going through it again.”

I was quiet for a few moments as I tried to figure out what to say. The thought of driving her away terrified me. The thought of trying to build a relationship with her, in the middle of war, also terrified me. I wasn’t sure which scared me more. Sarah gave me a hard look, swallowed, and spoke again. “Mike, if you want me in your life . . .”

“I want you in my life,” I said awkwardly. “You’re just . . . you’re amazing. I can’t even tell you. I—”

Sarah gently placed a finger over my lips, silencing me. “It’s okay. I just needed to hear you say that. Thank you.”

We sat together, quietly looking into each other’s eyes for a long time. Butterflies danced around in my stomach, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Right then I knew that I was falling in love with her. It was an amazing feeling, and it scared the hell out of me. I didn’t even know if either of us was going to make it out of Zubara alive.

As I looked into her eyes, I asked myself, is it worth the risk? I realized that I’d already made my decision, even before I asked the question. This woman had seen me at my best and at my worst, and she still wanted to be with me. What kind of fool passes that up?

I took the silvery trinket from Sarah’s hand, opened the chain, and gently hung it around her neck. She’d said it was pretty.

“Are you giving me this thing? Too cheap to buy me a real present?” She laughed.

“I found this thing that night,” I said awkwardly. “So . . . I’m giving it to you, as a promise of a fresh start.”

Sarah crinkled her brow at me. “That is so cheesy, but really sweet too. So yes, I accept your token of apology.” She laughed again. “Oh, I almost forgot. You’re off for the next three days at least.”

“The next three days? Are you serious?”

“I talked to Hunter for you. I convinced him you and your chalk need a break. So you don’t have anything to do for the next three days but lounge around the fort and relax.”

“What about you?”

“I have a briefing I have to be at in . . .” Sarah glanced at her watch. She wore it upside down, so that the face was on the underside of her right wrist. “Four hours. I don’t have anything to do until then.”

“I can think of something,” I said coyly, knowing I sounded more dorky than suave.

“Oh really?” Sarah said, sounding coy herself, as she moved in to kiss me again. “Sounds interesting . . .”

Some time later, Sarah and I lay together in my bed. She was asleep in my arms. Her hair smelled like strawberries. She was a quiet sleeper.

I don’t know how long I lay there, holding her in my arms, thinking about things, before I feel asleep. What chance did Sarah and I have in this place? What else could I do? Could we get out somehow? Even if I could find a way to escape Zubara, would I be able to convince Sarah to go with me and leave everyone else behind?