Rusty

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The screams woke me up, but this time they weren’t a result of my recurring nightmare. I flew to my feet and jogged to the door.

“What’s up?”

My teammate on night duty during this mission answered, “Some disturbance outside. We’re checking it out.”

“How’s the target?”

“We’re still waiting to hear,” he answered.

“Fuck.”

“My words exactly.”

“Any news from the command center?” I asked.

“Nothing. If we don’t hear anything in the next couple of hours, we’re gonna have to move. She won’t last much longer and as it is, we have to get through the border with her in this state. It’s not gonna be smooth.”

“We’ll have to storm the building.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan as of right now. Tonight. We’re trying to find a doctor to help us.”

I scratched my head. “Our supplies can’t do the trick, huh?”

“Not with what we can tell. Her injuries are too severe.”

One of the guys returned with a report of what was happening. “They just killed a woman for information on where we’re hiding. We can’t stay here much longer.”

“Okay. Tonight, at dark. We stick to the plan,” our commander, Thompson, said.

“What about the doctor?”

“While you were napping, we sent out a couple of guys to work on that. They should be back soon.”

And they were, with a physician in tow, who was sympathetic to our cause. He had a vehicle which would transport us to the border. If all this would work, we could make it out safely tonight.

“You do know you could die doing this?” I asked the physician.

“I risk death every day at the hands of the extremists, so what does this matter?”

Thompson walked over to us and said, “You could come with us. Your ticket to freedom.”

He shook his head. “I have a family. They would kill them all.”

My fellow soldiers and I shared a glance. This was something we were familiar with, as the extremists often did this to the sympathizers.

“They will probably kill you anyway. Once they figure out who aided us in our escape, they’ll also kill your family,” I said.

“My family is already on their way out of the country, and I will be joining them.”

“Where will you go? Let us help you,” I insisted.

“Don’t worry about me. We will be protected.”

It wasn’t so much what he said, but the way he said it that made me leery. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. We’d been trained to pick on these kinds of nuances. And why was his family already on the move? Was he really going to help us or lead us into another ambush? I pulled my commander aside.

“How much do you trust this guy?”

“Why?”

“Something about what he said makes me itchy. Not only that, the dude is shifty as hell.”

“Aw, shit, Garrett. I need more than that.” His eyes drilled into mine, so I explained my intuition about his family. It was just too convenient for him to show up like that. After giving it some thought, he radioed Wilson. “Base to R1, how did you vet our healer?”

“R1 to base, local contacts. Over.”

“R1, were they trusted, over?”

“Base, in the past, over.”

“R1, return to base. Over.”

“Copy that, base. Over.”

A few minutes later, Wilson showed up. Thompson questioned him, and we then decided our good doctor couldn’t be trusted. But at this stage in the game, we had no other choice but to use his skills, not to mention, he provided the wheels. We would change the route, and he would accompany us across the border.

The sun sank, and we waited impatiently. One of us was to remain with the doctor while the rest of the team would surround the building where the two hostages were held. We’d drop the guards, do what we were trained to do, and extract our targets. With precision, we should be out of the country within hours.

“Garrett, you got our link to the other route established?”

“Done,” I said.

“You make sure Wilson has a clear path out of here when we leave. He’ll be staying behind with Dr. Traitor. The good doctor won’t know about the change of plans until we veer off the main road.”

“Yes, sir.” I went to talk to Wilson. Then we waited. The thing about being on these missions was you had to find the patience to get you through the waiting game. If you allowed it, it would destroy you. And that could ruin the mission.

When our time was up, Thompson made his required speech. “Knights, as members of Gold Squadron, it’s my duty to remind you that this is a no-fail mission and as so, it is unrecognized by the US government. Should you be captured, there will be no rescue. This is a full assault mission. Spare no one but your team, the targets, and yourselves.”

Then we filed out. The building was only a couple of blocks away. As we left, we were reminded of our radio silence.

We surrounded the building and quietly took out the guards. It was a simple matter really. What wasn’t simple was how the damn entrance was wired when we blasted it for entry. We didn’t expect it to light up the way it did. It notified the entire fucking city and nearly took us out with it. Taking out the occupants wasn’t an issue, nor was grabbing the two hostages, although the woman was in bad shape like we expected. Getting out of town was going to be an issue because every damn human within a mile had heard the explosions go off.

We spared not one second. The wounded woman would have to wait for any kind of medical attention because our radio silence was broken.

Thompson called to Wilson, “Rovers to base, evac needed now.”

“Copy that. ETA in five.”

“Rover to base. Make it two.”

“Copy that.”

We worked with expert efficiency and Thompson radioed our location to Wilson. We heard the shouts coming toward us from a distance.

“I’m not sure if we have time for Wilson to get here.”

“Rover to base.”

“Base is approaching.”

“We’re coming toward you. The crowds are restless.”

“Copy that.”

About then, the van pulled up and we loaded in. Now it was round two. The doctor was in the back to assist the patient. I was in the passenger seat, on the comm link via satellite.

“Rover to command. Set our course,” I said.

“Rover you’re clear, head straight for four blocks but then you’ve got issues.”

“Command, give us the turn when needed.”

“Copy that.”

With all the chatter in the car, I was afraid I’d miss something, so I yelled over my shoulder for everyone to stay quiet. About that time, the radio crackled to life again.

“Rover, you’re gonna head east at the next street. Follow that until you head out of town.”

“Copy that.” I checked my map to see where it would take us, and it looked like we’d be headed in the wrong direction.

“Command,” I said. “You sure about that?”

“It’s the only way. They have every other route blocked. We’re gonna circle around the masses and then get you back on track.”

“Copy that.” I turned to Wilson. “You heard that. Let’s do it.”

“Got it.”

Somehow, we made it to the border. It took forever and when we got there, our friendly doctor ranted about how he wanted out of the van.

“No can do, buddy,” Thompson said. “After we hitch a ride on the winged bird, you can either drive back or walk, but not until then. Unless you want to tell us how you knew about us.”

He looked like he was about to shit himself.

“Yeah, we figured your ass out.”

His mouth slammed shut and we didn’t hear another word out of him. The good thing was, he did our hostage right. Without his help, she may not have made it. He had supplies in the van that we didn’t.

A few minutes later, our bird arrived to carry us to Bagram. A medic hopped out, and we carried the wounded asset on board, and then we loaded up. Luckily, the woman was going to make it.

Thompson looked at the doctor and said, “Last chance to come with us.”

He shook his head, got out of the back, and walked around to the driver’s side. That was the last we saw of him.

“Do you think they’ll execute him?” I asked Thompson.

“Don’t know. He helped us, but you never know what those people will do.”

The bird took off and we safely landed as we all decompressed.

“Man, glad that one’s over,” Wilson said.

“Hey, good job driving. You must’ve had a van in your previous life,” I said, fist bumping him.

“Yeah. My wife’s. I have three kids, dumbass.”

“I have van envy now.” I waggled my brows.

“You’re such a dick.” He laughed.