Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

Jen

" I updated the others with our location. The other Apache is here, and the Green Berets are close," Nick told me.

Nick looked over and reassured me as I lifted off, "They're smart. They know that we're not far behind, but this wasn't a defensible position. Shep will seek the high ground, and dig in around the rocks. We'll get some altitude and he'll signal to us."

He was right, and I was grateful that he was keeping his cool. Nick hadn't been wrong before. Neither of us were used to flying rescue missions like this, and we certainly weren't usually the troops on the ground pulling soldiers to safety. We were playing the part of the Apaches and the Green Berets right now.

Typically, we came in, picked up the injured and left. Panic was riding on my shoulder, ready to take over.

He wouldn't panic, I reminded myself. Neither would we. That calmed my nerves and my determination took over. It didn't matter what our usual job was. Today it was to find and rescue Mark and Artie. I'd take out anyone in my way.

The Chinooks carrying the Beards were coming into view now. Soon after the A-10s and UAVs would be here. We needed to provide enough cover—or distraction—to keep Mark and Artie alive until the Beards could get into position.

"Dustoff, Jaguar eight, status?" Ty came over the radio. I could hear the urgency in his voice.

"We found the crash site, but they're not there. They must have headed into the mountains. We have multiple vehicles converging on the crash site. They know that they're down there, too." Laura and Brady couldn't take out the insurgents hiding amongst the rocks, not without knowing where our guys were. They could accidentally hit Mark and Artie.

"We'll set down by the crash site and head into the hills. If any vehicles get past Archer flight, we'll handle them." Ty was saying this as a challenge to the world to try to fuck with them. He was ready to burn the whole world down to find his friends.

The panic was a thing of the past now. We might not have found him yet, but he wasn't alone. They weren't alone. We were going to find them, or burn this whole valley to the ground.

A burst of machine gun fire had me stopping my scan of the hills and looking behind us. It was Ricochet. He was sitting in the door gunner seat opposite of Karolyn. "What is he shooting at?" I barked over the intercom.

Karolyn answered, "That truck we passed is catching up. He's firing in front of them, trying to scare them off."

"Good, keep denying them access to the crash site. Fuck, they're definitely reinforcements for the others." I switched the radio to Laura's frequency. "Laura they're not with the helo, they must have moved up to the rocks. We have hostiles moving in on the crash site, need you over here." The remaining Apache had moved off in the opposite direction as us, searching that area.

The trucks would be the perfect target for Laura and Brady to focus on and it would keep the number of enemies down in the area.

"We heard your update with Jaguar. We're on it."

I jerked back on the controls, causing us to climb higher and slow down. Then I pressed on the right pedal and put us into a slow, hovering spin. "Karolyn, Ricochet, Nick, eyes out into the hills. He's seen and heard us by now, look for movement, signal mirrors, flares. Anything.

We were two-thousand-feet above the ground now, well above small arms range. It was safe enough to fly slow, I stopped the hovering turn and started doing figure eights in the air, scanning the hillside.

Laura and Brady screamed past below us, and my smile was vicious as they lit up the first truck. It looked like a Fourth of July firework show gone wrong, in all the best ways. The second truck had flipped a bitch and was desperately trying to outrun the murder bird. Fucking idiots. They had zero hope of escaping. They'd signed their death warrants the moment they'd gotten it in their head to come after one of our own.

Turning my attention back to the mountain, a light caught my eye, a flash. It was a signal mirror. "There they are!" I shouted on the intercom. Relief flooded me so hard that my whole body warmed. I tipped the nose into a dive and headed for them.

They were behind some rocks on a steep edge of the mountain. "They must be part mountain goat to have gotten that high up," Nick commented. "It's too steep to land there."

I scanned further down the hillside below them, movement, five or six hostiles. They were the other passengers from the trucks at the crash site. They were pursuing Mark and Artie, and it was an ongoing firefight. Now we were low enough we could see muzzle flashes.

I glanced back as another truck approached the crash site. Shit. Laura and Brady were doing their best, but there were too many insurgents out here now. Where had they all come from? They were approaching the crash site from different areas. He had company now, two more trucks, each with men in the back. "We're not going to land," I told him. "Karolyn, ready the hoist."

"The hoist has a weight limit, it's not meant for two-" she warned.

I cut her off, "I know its limits. It'll hold long enough for us to bring them up the ridge, to a flat surface. Get that cable lowered at least fifty feet down. We don't have time to discuss it." I got back on the radio. "Laura, we found them. We're going in to hoist them off the rocks, there are hostiles below them, give us some breathing room."

"Contact," Laura called back as an acknowledgement. I stole a glance out the window in time to see Brady firing off rockets. I turned my attention back to Mark and Artie, I could see them easily without the signal mirror now. I slowed down and came to a hover fifty-feet above them. Deja vu anyone? Of course the last time this had happened, Mark had been the one in the Apache watching my ass. This time, it was Laura and Brady. I wasn't worried. I knew with them watching our backs we were safe.

"Ricochet, keep a steady fire down the ridgeline, keep their heads down." A burst of machine gun fire was his acknowledgement. I held us steady as the hoist dropped to them

I knew this wouldn't be a repeat of the last time. Mark and Artie would be clipped in almost immediately. Karolyn called out, "I got a thumbs up, they're connected."

I pulled up on the controls so hard that we rocketed straight up. I didn't let off until we were clear of the rocks. "Scan the top of this ridge, before we set them down we need to make sure we don't have company."

The top of the ridge didn't exactly flatten out, it was still rolling hills, but the jagged rocks disappeared. I found a smooth enough place and hovered over it, slowly lowering down until Mark and Artie were on the ground. I slid to the side a few feet and kept coming down, making sure I didn't land on top of them.

They quickly got inside the helicopter. I could hear them shouting to Ricochet and Karolyn. There wasn't enough time for me to stop and check on them, to see how they were. There were still hostiles in the area, and unless the Beards had gotten to them they'd be heading up our way. I didn't plan on being here when they arrived. The Beards, A-10s, UAVs, and Laura and Brady would make sure the assholes were taken care of quickly and efficiently. My job was to get these two back to the base so they could be checked out by the medics.

Before taking off, I looked over my shoulder to make sure they were strapped in. It was too loud to say anything to them, but I needed to at least see him. Mark leaned forward and put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He smiled and the look he was giving me was filled with gratitude. A wave of heat rolled through my body, melting my heart. His smile said it all. Just seeing him again was enough, but I knew we had so much more in store for us.