24. Zach

TWENTY-FOUR

Zach

My heart raced as I watched Luca track the helo his fingers flying over the controls.

"Sierra Three?" I asked. The piercing scream of the Sikorsky engines cut through the airwaves, followed by an abrupt silence. Luca's brow furrowed as he lost sight of them, and he shook his head.

"Sierra Three, come in," I called, my voice tight. But there was no response, just a deafening quiet hanging heavy in the air.

A knot formed in the pit of my stomach, a sinking feeling of dread settling over me like a heavy weight.

"Do we have a location?" I asked Luca, who was flicking through screens and talking to Sierra Base.

"Nothing."

"A fucking helicopter went down, we should have something. "

"It's called the wilderness for a reason," the sheriff said next to me.

I rounded on him, and I didn't have to warn him to shut up; he subsided and slunk back to sit next to a hyperventilating mayor. The two of them had arrived an hour ago, demanding we cease operations, and fuck, I'd been dealing with that all while Kai was out there putting his life at risk.

Was Kai dead? The thought was a dark shadow threatening to engulf me. To lose a team member was hell, but worse… to lose Kai? That wasn't worth contemplating. Five minutes passed, ten, then Luca cursed.

"We have a location," he announced. "And movement near the crash site."

"Kai?"

"Hostiles. Ten."

"And Kai?"

"I can't see his tracker."

Dread threatened to consume me, and no matter how hard I tried to suppress it, I couldn't face the thought of Kai dead. But the fear gnawed at the edges of me as Luca tried over and over to connect.

"Keep trying," I urged Luca, my voice strained. I needed to know, to hear Kai's voice crackle through the static, to confirm that he was still out there. "I'm heading for the crash site."

Luca stood. "Not on your own. Shadow Team has notified Canadian special forces, and CSOC is now holding twenty miles away."

"Get them to the crash site." If there was a chance of finding Kai alive, then I was taking it.

"Zach!" Luca tried to stop me.

I sidestepped him and sprinted down the front steps and into the trees beyond, starting the ATV and plugging in the last coordinates we had. Luca's voice came through the comm in my ear telling me to keep my head on a swivel and that he was calling backup in.

As the ATV roared to life beneath me, a surge of adrenalin coursed through my veins, making me dizzy until I calmed my breathing.

With a sharp turn of the handlebars, I tore through the dense underbrush, my heart pounding as I raced the clock to get to where we'd lost contact with the helo. The forest blurred past me in a confusing mess of dark shapes, branches whipping at my face as I pushed the ATV to its limits, and the ground I covered seemed to take forever. What if I was too late? What if Kai was already gone? The thought sent a chill down my spine, but I refused to let it deter me.

Focusing all my energy on the task at hand, I pushed the ATV harder, determined to reach Kai before it was too late. With each passing moment, my imagination filled in the gaps, telling me he was already dead. I imagined a life without him, and it terrified me .

"Hostiles have left," Luca advised. With Kai? Without him?

I didn't see the smoke, but I smelled it as I barreled on, and finally, I burst through the trees into the wreckage of the helicopter lying twisted and broken before me, scorch marks and bent trees evidence of how hard it had hit the ground. My heart sank at the sight, but I pushed aside my fear and leaped from the ATV, sprinting towards the wreckage with reckless abandon.

No one would be alive if they'd been trapped inside, but when I drew closer, half terrified of what I'd see, it was obvious the cockpit was empty. Maybe he'd been thrown clear? Maybe he was trapped under the wreckage?

"Sierra Six, Luca?"

"Sierra Six, copy."

"Tell me you've located Kai's tracker?" The only thing left to track was his HK because the shoe tracker wasn't active yet. A tracker didn't mean he was alive, but if I found his HK, then I might find him. Or at least… No, I can't think about finding him dead.

"Nothing."

Hope disintegrated, as I had to abandon the ATV because the tangled undergrowth was too dense to navigate with the vehicle. I took the flashlight, had my gun out, and moved forward on foot, my senses on high alert for danger or any sign of Kai as I circled the burning wreckage .

With each step, the hope of finding my partner was slipping away.

"Sierra Three! Call out!" I shouted. Nothing. "Sierra Three!" Still nothing. "Kai!" I called out desperately, my voice echoing into the night.

But there was no answer, just the eerie silence of the forest closing in around me. As I trudged onward, my mind raced with possibilities, each more terrifying than the last.

Then, a glimmer of hope. A faint voice crackled through my radio.

"Sierra Two? CSOC is heading for the compound. Sending coordinates."

I had no sense of where I was, but the nav said I was three miles away from the mines, and I trusted Luca to tell me if I couldn't push, that he'd warn me if I was about to stumble on the hostiles that had been at the crash site and left. As I approached the rendezvous point, my heart raced with a mix of anticipation and dread. The CSOC team was waiting for outside the target area, and I quickly reported to Captain Halliday, who had been briefed and was assessing the situation with a cool, calculating stare.

"Captain, I need to go in," I said, my voice tense with urgency. "I have to find my partner."

Captain Halliday regarded me with a steely gaze, her expression unreadable. "Is there any sign of the friendly being alive and in there for a rescue? "

I hesitated, the weight of uncertainty pressing down on me. "No, but…"

Before I could finish my sentence, Captain Halliday raised her hand, silencing me. "We don't operate on ‘buts,' we operate on facts and intel."

I nodded, swallowing hard. "Yes, ma'am."

There was a tense standoff as we locked eyes, each of us unwilling to back down. But then, after what felt like an eternity, Captain Halliday must have read into my desperate need to do something, because her expression softened. She nodded, turning to her team and talking low before facing me again.

"Our primary objective is recon and assessment. We do not engage unless absolutely necessary. Understood?"

I nodded again, my resolve strengthening. "Understood, Captain."

With her approval, the team sprang into action, breaking into threes to infiltrate the target area, each team member hyper-aware of our surroundings as we crept closer to the target. The terrain was rugged, the air thick with tension as we advanced through the darkness, and every rustle of leaves or twig snap set my nerves on edge. But I forced myself to stay focused, to block out the fear and doubt threatening to overwhelm me.

As we reached the outskirts of the compound, Captain Halliday signaled for us to halt, her fist held up. We crouched low, blending into the shadows as we surveyed the area ahead.

I could make out the outlines of buildings and structures, the faint glow of lights casting eerie shadows across the landscape, no different to what I'd seen when I'd done surveillance. My heart pounded as I searched for any sign of movement, any clue that Kai might be nearby.

"Stay sharp," Captain Halliday whispered. "We don't know what we're walking into—this is a retrieval."

I nodded, my grip tightening on my weapon as we prepared to move forward. With each step, the tension mounted. A faint sound caught my attention, a low rumble in the distance that set my pulse racing. I glanced at Captain Halliday, but she shook her head, indicating it was nothing to worry about, but something wasn't right, and I couldn't shake the feeling we were walking into a trap.

As we edged closer to the compound, the noise grew louder, a deafening roar reverberating through the night air. And then, without warning, the ground beneath us erupted in a violent explosion, sending shockwaves rippling through the earth.

I was unbalanced, flat in the dirt, my ears ringing as debris rained down around me. I could see Captain Halliday shouting orders through the smoke and dust, and it was hard to hear over the chaos .

"Move! Get to cover!" she yelled, her words lost in the cacophony of destruction.

With adrenalin coursing through my veins, I scrambled to my feet, my training kicking in as I sprinted for the nearest shelter. Bullets whizzed past me as I dove for cover, my heart racing as I fought to regain my bearings.

In the midst of the chaos, one thought consumed my mind: find Kai. No matter what it took, I had to find and bring him home. And as the CSOC/hostiles firefight raged around us, I took the first opportunity to get inside.

I headed down the first corridor, no idea of where I was going, making a mental note of direction, and finding the comm room, a tall man—Yuri—handcuffed to a ring in the floor, and fuck…

My heart sank at the sight of Kai crumpled on the floor, blood staining his clothes. Without hesitation, I rushed to his side, my fingers trembling as I checked for a pulse. Relief flooded through me when I felt the faint beat beneath my touch.

"Kai," I whispered, my voice choked with emotion. "Hang in there, buddy. Help is on the way." I levered an arm under him, and he lurched to stand.

"Zach…"

"I help!" Yuri demanded. He rattled the cuffs, and Kai coughed.

"Friendly," he managed with a sense of urgency .

I scanned the room, searching for any sign of a key or a way to free Yuri from his restraints. My eyes fell on a set of keys lying on the desk nearby, but if I let this man go, what next? He worked for Kozlov, he?—

"Friendly," Yuri repeated what Kai said, frowning, rattling the damn cuffs again.

Keeping my gun on him, I grabbed the keys and unlocked the handcuffs. He took Kai's other arm, supporting him. There was no sign of other weapons, and between the three of us, we only had my gun. Not a good start.

Time was running out. We were surrounded by chaos, gunfire echoing through the room as the firefight raged outside. I had to act fast if I wanted to get Kai out of there alive, and the friendly who was not my responsibility. My mind raced ahead to our next move. "We need to get out of here."

Together, with Kai's body limp between us as he tried to walk, we made our way towards the corridor I'd come in on. The firefight outside had intensified, the sound of bullets thudding into walls around us as we rushed through the compound.

As we stumbled into the night air, the relief of escaping was short-lived as we faced a new threat. Kozlov stood before us, his weapon aimed at our heads, and at his side was Indigo, her eyes glinting with malice.

"Looks like our luck just ran out," I muttered .

Indigo stepped forward, a knife in one hand, a gun in the other, and a wicked smile playing across her lips. "Yuri?" she sneered. "Traitor."

I tensed, readying myself for whatever came next. Yuri moved with lightning speed. In one swift motion, he tackled Indigo, and they grappled for her weapon, which fired between them, the sound of the gunshot echoing through the night air as Indigo crumpled, a pool of blood spreading beneath her.

My eyes widened in shock as I watched the scene unfold before me. Now Kozlov stood in front of us covered in her blood and seething with rage.

Kozlov spat a curse at Yuri, his voice laced with venom, and he took a step toward us, but before Kozlov could get close, Yuri turned the gun on Kozlov, his expression cold and determined.

"Is over," he declared, his voice steady as he pulled the trigger, and Kozlov fell beside Indigo. Yuri surveyed the scene. Around us, the firefight slowed and then stopped. "Is. Over."

CSOC was there, someone calling in a medic, and I sank to the ground with Kai.

In the dim glow of the security light, I saw the worst of his wounds: cuts, blood, and burns. "Kai," I breathed, overcome with emotion at the sight of him.

"Hey," he rasped, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'm not dead."

I eased him away from me a little, taking in the blood, and the flare of humor in his eyes that clouded as he groaned in pain. He was everything to me, after all this time, with his big stupid heart and his reckless ways. "I love you, asshole," I snapped, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.

Kai's response was to try and laugh, but he couldn't. "Love you," he whispered.

The medic arrived. Triage was brutal but fast, and as we made our way back to town, with no helo exfil possible, the journey was slow when, despite our best efforts to cushion the ride, the CSOC jeep's jostling exacerbated his injuries. Yuri stayed with Kai and me, silent and watchful. Kai had called him a friendly, clearly trusted the man, or knew enough not to want to kill him outright, so I had to go with that, not to mention he'd taken out the bad guys. As dawn lightened the sky, we arrived back at the rented house, the CSOC medic and team slipping away until it was only the three of us. The town's doctor was waiting along with the sheriff and the mayor, huddled together at the kitchen table, their faces drawn with worry. As soon as they saw me, the doc hurried over, and the mayor was on his feet, but I held up a hand to stop Thomas from talking and getting in Doc's way.

I helped Kai to the living room, Luca hovering and Yuri sitting on the stairs, his gun between his knees. The field diagnosis had been a broken rib, dislocated shoulder, and a bad cut to his head—hence the bleeding. I passed over what they'd said and Doc opened his bag, ordering Yuri to clear a space for him to work.

Someone yanked me out of staring at him, and I whirled on whoever had pulled me—the mayor. He was shouting at me about his town, about protection, but I shoved him away, ignored him, and instead focused on Kai.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked, before the muscle relaxant or pain inhibitor Doc used would kick in.

"Ask Yuri. I'm blurry."

Yuri said something, and Luca stepped in front of him, barking questions in Russian. Yuri blinked at him, then answered, and for a good few minutes there was this explosion of syllables that meant nothing to me. At last, Luca turned to me.

"Yuri is Kozlov's nephew." I stiffened, but Luca held up a hand. "Yuri has been playing the long game to take his uncle out, but to kill him meant kill-orders on Yuri's family would move into play, so he's fixed it so it looks like Kozlov double-dealt on the guys who he was delivering to. To a group that got his family to safety, in exchange for the drugs. Only, and I think I'm translating this right, the shit hit the fan when Kai turned out to be a good guy, and Yuri couldn't kill him and return to base to keep his cover to take out Kozlov and Indigo, so it's all Kai's fault. Yuri's pissed that Kai made him jump out of the helicopter first, also Kai is a pain in his ass and talks too much."

Luca rolled his eyes, and Kai cursed.

I took a moment to lean down and kiss Kai's hair. He yawned as whatever muscle relaxant had been jabbed into him did its job.

The doctor stared up at me. "He'll live."

Damn right, he would.

We loved each other, and there was no way I was letting him die.