Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“Ain’t that the truth,” Johnson said with a snort that doubled as a laugh.
“Zip it, guys, I’m going up.” The place we suspected they were being held had no good approach angle because it sat in the middle of a valley. We would be spotted from any angle so I put my climbing skills to use and went up a tree that would allow me to see the house without being seen. The guys fell silent as I made my way to the tops of the trees high above, waiting to hear from me. “In position.”
“What do you see?”
“Smoke from a chimney so someone is there.” At the last check, there’d been no heat signatures and no signs of life so this was good news.
“Any movement yet?” Palmer whispered the question but I could hear him moving around, getting in position just in case.
“No.” I pulled out night vision goggles with a heat seeking capabilities and aimed them right at the squat two story structure. There they were. “Occupants confirmed. Four armed and two friendlies, at least, and two more unknowns. Shit.”
“Two unknowns,” Johnson asked. “There was no mention of possible other friendlies.”
I heard the frustration in his voice and I felt it too, because suddenly this all had that shit show feeling. “They don’t appear armed so that’s my assumption. Friendlies.” Which presented more problems than solutions for our rescue mission.
“Reyes capture images and get down.” Wozniak was leading this mission so I did as I was ordered and started the trip back to solid ground. It was slow going because near the top the tree was small and the wind had picked up.
“Coming down now.” In the distance a mechanical sound tore through the air and I picked up my speed, not sure what it was until I was half way down. A chopper. “Hear that?”
“Yeah, we heard it. Get your ass down here now Reyes!”
“Roger that.” My arms and legs moved faster down the tree as the chopper grew closer and closer. Eventually it was right above us and then came the sound of bullets. “Cover! Take cover,” I yelled because there was no longer a need for quiet. We’d been made or betrayed, either way it was the shit show I feared and it was here.
I looked down, guessing I had maybe fifty feet before I hit the bottom but it was a stupid mistake because that one moment of hesitation gave a bullet just enough time to find my shoulder. “Fuck!” The pain came a moment later and I tried to slow down my breathing and press my body as close as I could against the tree and away from flying lead.
“Reyes,” Wozniak shouted into the radio. “Reyes.” He called my name a few more times but I took my time, moving slowly towards my radio to answer.
“I’m here Woz and I’m hit.”
“Shit. Hang tight!” I heard distant mumblings but I couldn’t tell if it was on the radio or because I was so close to the ground that I could actually hear my team.
I couldn’t hang tight, not as long as those bullets continued to rain down on us or they’d turn me into shredded cheese. Slowly I moved my right arm behind me to unhook the harness. The ground had better hiding spots and from there I could return fire. With the harness disconnected I could move a hell of a lot faster towards the ground.
Too bad bullets moved faster and one grazed my back, slicing through my jacket, shirt and skin like it was warm butter. The last thought I had before I hit the ground was that I shouldn’t have disengaged that damned harness.
“He lives!” Palmer’s deep raspy voice was the first thing I heard when I woke up in a stark white room that looked suspiciously like a hospital. A very familiar hospital.
“Palmer why am I staring at your ugly mug?” But then immediately on the heels of that question came another, more pressing one. “Did we get Hilty’s kid back?”
Palmer nodded and ran a hand through his dark brown buzz cut. “The son took a bullet during ex-fil but he’s been patched up and sent home to the media circus.”
My entire body relaxed in relief that my actions hadn’t screwed the job and cost innocent people their lives. “That’s good. Why aren’t you in a luxury hotel somewhere?”
He snorted a laugh and shook his head. “Somebody had to look after your sorry ass and I drew the short straw.” The smile on his face took the sting out of his words. “How are you feeling?”
“Don’t know. What’s wrong with me?”
“Seriously?” I nodded. “Guess you really did hit your head hard.” Palmer told me all about my graceless fall from the tree. “When we got to the base of the tree, you were out cold and all tangled up like a pretzel. Got you in a chopper to good ol’ Germany and sent the rest of the crew on home.”