Whiplash

Da

How long had it been since he’d done something like this? He couldn’t even remember doing it in Dreamland.

After ten yards he still didn’t have much of a shot. The perimeter fence was in the way—he worried that if the grenade struck it, the shell might bounce back at him.

His best alternative was to shoot through the fence. The machine gun continued to fire, blasting away at the pen. Da

He was almost to the fence when he saw someone on his left.

One of the Sudanese soldiers crouched on the ground, staring at him with wide eyes, the outline of his body black against the background of the flames of the gas tank near the entrance to the camp.

The eyes showed surprise, and a question: Are you going to kill me?

Da

Da

The machine gun stuttered on, the gu

The fence gave way as Da

His recklessness fled. But he was trapped now, unable to do anything but continue his attack.

The fence tottered forward but didn’t fall. Da

He could see the machine-gu

Not only was the launcher’s trigger heavy, but the rain and exertion had stiffened Da

“Hera! Go!” yelled Da

HERA POKED TARID TO MAKE SURE HE WAS STILL ALIVE. HE groaned.

“Come on,” she said in Arabic. She pushed herself under him, then levered him upward, half dragging and half ru

“Who are you?” muttered Tarid in Farsi as they reached the fence.

Hera told him in Arabic that she was there to rescue him.

“Why?” he asked, this time in Arabic.

“I’m with Kirk.”

“And who’s he?”

“A bigger fool than you are,” she said. “He thinks he can make money off of this.”

She’d practiced the answer; they wanted Tarid to think it was being done for money, the only motive an arms dealer would embrace.

Hera pulled him from the pen, rushing toward the hole in the perimeter fence. She saw a body at the foot of the trench as she neared the minefield, but didn’t realize it was McGowan.

There was nothing she could have done if she had.

Tarid felt his strength and senses returning as they started through the minefield. Adrenaline started pumping again. A bullet had slapped against the fleshy part of his right thigh, burning and causing a great deal of pain but, as bullet wounds went, very little damage.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked Hera.

“Outta of this crap,” she said.

“You’re with the American CIA?”

“There’s a laugh,” she said. She switched to Greek, telling him he was an ignorant jerk. Then she switched over to English.

“Are you CIA?” she asked. “Is that why Kirk rescues you?”

“Me?”

“You are pretending to be Iranian. That’s not true, is it?”

“I am Colonel Zsar’s lieutenant,” Tarid insisted, going back to Arabic.

They reached the end of the minefield. Two other prisoners were sitting nearby. Hera let Tarid slip to the ground. The field was littered with prisoners, some wounded, others too scared to move or unsure where to go.

McGowan was supposed to be out with the prisoners, directing them to run south while waiting for Tarid. They were going to help him get farther away, then play it by ear.

She couldn’t see the other trooper. She’d been assigned to hold by the perimeter fence in case there was a counterattack. If she wasn’t there, the others would be trapped inside.

“Mac?” she yelled, turning around. There was no answer. She yelled again and called for him in Greek.

Tarid collapsed to the ground. With his wounded leg, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Wait here, you,” Hera told him in English. “I return soon.”

DANNY MADE HIS WAY BACK ALONG THE PERIMETER FENCE.

“Where’s Tarid?” he asked the Voice.

“Beyond the minefield.” The computer gave him the GPS coordinates.

“Flash, Hera, we’re out of here.”

“I’m coming out,” said Flash.

“Hera?”

“I’m at the perimeter fence. I’m holding.”

“Good. Copy. Boston, get to the rendezvous point.”

“On it, Chief.”

“Nuri?”

“We’ll keep them occupied,” said Nuri. “See you soon.”

“Copy that,” said Da

Their mission was accomplished, but Da

She was still inside.

“Is she alive?” he asked the computer.

“Unknown,” said the Voice.

The computer could locate people, and make judgments based on their movements, but it didn’t have the power to diagnose life or death. She hadn’t moved in several minutes, adding to its uncertainty.

“Lead me to her,” Da

BOSTON LED HIS THREE MERCENARIES BACK FROM THE rocks and trees where they’d taken shelter. Though the brush had been torn to pulp, no one was hurt. They jogged back to the truck, got in, and drove south and then back west, circling around the camp across the fallow fields before meeting Flash at the rendezvous point on the road west of the camp.

“Where’s McGowan?” asked Boston. He was supposed to be there, too.

Flash shrugged. “I don’t know. He should’ve been at the fence when we came out. I got out late and thought I’d find him back here, but I don’t see him. I haven’t heard him on the radio the entire operation.”

Neither had Boston.

“Hey, Colonel, you know where McGowan is?” he asked over the radio.

“He’s with me,” said Da

TARID LAY ON THE GROUND, TRYING TO WILL AWAY THE PAIN of the bullet crease on his leg. He saw the vehicle down by the road, perhaps twenty yards away, and knew it must be Kirk’s.

So Kirk expected to be paid for helping him escape? Was it a reward or a ransom?

Whatever it was, he wasn’t getting it.

Tarid turned to the two men sitting nearby. They were staring into the distance, shell-shocked but unhurt.

“You two—come with me,” he said as he struggled to his feet.

Neither man moved.

“There’s a village north of here. Two kilometers,” said Tarid. “Saad Reth. I have a friend there who can help us. Come with me.”

One of the men blinked. That was the only acknowledgment that they had heard him.

“If you help me get to Saad Reth,” said Tarid slowly, pacing his Arabic, “I will make sure you are rewarded. One hundred euros apiece.”

The offer of more money than either man had handled in a lifetime stirred them to action. The man who had blinked was the first to rise. He helped his companion up, and together they started following Tarid, who was limping but moving along quickly.