The road is treacherous and our guide isn’t exactly trustworthy, but we’ve made most of the journey without any trouble. Whether or not we find the missing soldier, my tour here is almost through. I’ll head home for Texas and start a new chapter of my life. I can’t even imagine right now what that’ll be like.

“Any of you watch Wedded?” Mike asks me. “I’ve got a guy in my ear bud talking his ass off about it when we need coordinates.”

“Tell him to fuck off,” Savage mutters.

“I’ve seen the show,” I carefully say. “Dakota Rogers, right?”

“I guess,” Mike shrugs and continues into the perilous desert. In the near distance is a compound. This, supposedly, is where the missing soldier is. Let’s hope.

“He won’t shut up about it,” Mike continues. “I guess the guy proposed. They’re getting married. Man, I miss cable.”

“Wait,” I stop dead in my tracks, despite the need to push on. “She’s getting married?”

“Yeah, to some Wall Street guy. Can you believe it?” he laughs. “That’s a disaster waiting to happen. I don’t know why people sign up to be on shows like that.”

I feel my heart drop. No, it fucking explodes. It bursts in my chest and I’m left speechless and destroyed. Fuck the AK-47’s and IED’s we have to watch out for. They’ve got nothing on this feeling of heartbreak. Dakota, you never knew how much I cared for you.

When we get to the compound, we circle around the entrance quietly. The man that was our guide looks at us and smiles. “You’re on your own,” I hear him say. Then, he’s gone. Seriously, it’s just like that. When the dust settles, we have no idea where he is.

“Alright,” Mike leans in. “There’s about eight men on guard. We have to be quick and silent. Savage, I want you in there first. Then, it’s me. Payton, I want you getting our guy and getting the fuck out of here. I’ve sent coordinates to a helicopter. They’ll pick us up.”

“I’ll blow them to smithereens,” Savage says, holding his gun out in front of him. He smiles and shows off his plaque-ridden teeth. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready for anything. I feel exhilarated.”

“Let’s just get him out of here, okay?” I make sure my weapons are loaded and feel my heart crashing against my ribs. “I’d rather not get a bullet lodged in me.”

“Why’d you join up then, brother?” Savage laughs.

“Alright, enough horsing around. Let’s do this,” Mike says steadily. “On my count. 3, 2, 1. Go, go, go!”

We storm in the compound, one after another, weapons against our shoulders, eyes steady and straight. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I’m whispering to myself over and over again.

A few rounds sound off and bullets are flying around me. One hits the dirt in front of my boot and I dive out of the way. A bullet rips through the spot I was just standing in as I find cover behind an old, rusted car.

“Two guys at three o’clock!” Mike yells.

Savage jumps up and starts screaming wildly, rolling against the dirt. He takes aim and takes the two out. I pop up behind him and throw a flash bang into a room where I suspect other guys are. I hear screaming and the guys come running out. Mike takes them out, left and right.

From another room, more men come out. They almost have me cornered, but I take out my knife and throw it into one of the guy’s leg before he can shoot. Savage comes to the rescue, taking out his pistol. Soon enough, he’s firing with both weapons and the guys fall to the floor.

The whole compound is suddenly empty. The soldier is close. He’s in the center room. Though, there’re lots of corridors in the hallway connecting to it, a lot of places to hide. “Here goes nothing,” I mutter.

“I got you,” Savage says, right behind me.

I decide to make a run for it. I run as fast as I can through that hallway and I’m basically holding my breath. As I reach the end, I feel something hot go straight into my gut. I fall forward and hit the dirt. I feel the same thing in my back. It’s swift and silent and comes out of nowhere.

“Bastard!” Savage screams and unloads a barrage of bullets. I twist my head up to see what happened. A man falls next to me. He’s dead and holding a big blade. I see my blood on the knife.

“Am I dying?” I ask. I see the missing soldier in my peripheral. He’s chained to the bed and he doesn’t look too good. But we’ve found him. He’ll get home safely. I’m not sure how I’ll fare in the end.

“You’re good,” Savage says, applying pressure on my wounds. I can feel my blood seeping out from me. It feels cold and unsettling. The pain is double with Savage’s weight on me. “Just hold on, we’ve got you.”

His eyes look worried. Mike comes running behind and yells, “Shit!” He quickly gets the silent soldier and helps him out of the bed. “We’ve got to move. Fast! There’s more of them. They’re outside, coming from the mountains. If we don’t hurry, they’ll have us surrounded.”

“What about him?” Savage gestures at me.

Mike’s eyes crease with strain. “Fuck,” he whispers to himself. He looks at my wounds and shakes his head. “Leave him. He won’t make it.”

Savage looks at me and grinds his teeth. “God dammit,” he says. He wraps my wounds as best as he can. Quickly, he bandages me and sighs. “I’m sorry, man. Captain’s orders.”

And they leave me. They leave me to fucking die out here.

* * *

I crawl to safety. I don’t know how I do it, but the adrenaline that’s left in my body helps me get to safety. I crawl directly out of the compound and see a big bush in front of me. I fall into it, getting out of the way, as at least twenty men come running into the compound.

The bush is covered in thorns and they’re pressing into my skin, popping through. I see the helicopter flying low in the air, I shoot a flare into the air. I don’t give a fuck if it alerts the terrorists. I refuse to be left to die.

Savage is climbing into the helicopter when he sees it. I watch him physically fighting off Mike’s hand to pull him in. He drops onto the ground and comes running toward me. “Dammit!” he cries. “Forgive me. I can’t believe I almost left you behind.”

“All is forgiven,” I manage to say, but the pain is immense. He flings me over his shoulder and somehow gets me to safety. Inside the helicopter, they give me morphine and fresh bandages, stitching my wounds. I can see the compound fading in the distance and the bright lights from Pakistan shine in the horizon.

“You’re okay,” a medic tells me. “We’re getting you back to a hospital now. Just stay put.”

I grab at my notebook, despite the medic trying to stop me from moving. “I have to do this, dammit,” I tell him. “I won’t let you stop me.”

I grab my pen and start writing:

Dakota,

In case I die, I need you to know one thing. I love you. I’ve loved you right from the night we met. Things have gone wrong out here. So wrong. We found our guy, but I’m hurt. Came from nowhere. They say I’ll be okay. I had to write you. I just… I just hope you get this letter.

Love, Payton.