Chapter 9
The hair on the back of Aspen’s neck was sticking straight up and had been for the last fifteen minutes.
Her platoon had been tasked with clearing three streets in a neighborhood on the west side of the city.
Derek’s platoon was clearing the area a few streets over.
And she had no idea where Kane and his team were at the moment.
She supposed they were doing the same…going house by house searching for Akhund.
The locals weren’t exactly thrilled with their presence, which was nothing new, but today they seemed especially hostile. She wasn’t sure why. But the men she was with were on edge, obviously feeling the anger and hostility in the air just as she was.
Derek had been pushing both Ranger teams especially hard all afternoon.
He’d pulled rank on Sergeant Vandine twice, ordering him to stand down when he’d questioned his orders.
Even though they were both platoon sergeants, Derek had been in his position longer than Vandine and unofficially outranked him.
Between the growing discord between the platoon sergeants and the less-than-receptive welcome by the citizens as they searched for Akhund, Aspen was on high alert.
Apparently the Army had gotten notice that the Taliban leader had many supporters in this area of the city, and it was likely one or more of them were helping to hide him from the American authorities.
Taking position in the entrance of a small alley between two three-story buildings, Aspen held her rifle at the ready as sergeants Holman and Buckland flanked the doorway of yet another dwelling.
Sergeants Hamilton and Vandine pounded on the door and announced who they were in Pashto.
They ordered the occupants to open up and, when they didn’t, warned that they would be entering.
Sweat dripped down the side of Aspen’s face.
Between the body armor and the Kevlar helmet she was wearing, along with the backpack full of medical gear she always carried, she was sweltering in the heat of the late afternoon.
Her hands gripped the rifle tightly and her gaze swept the immediate area, looking for trouble.
There were three other men from the Ranger team nearby, all watching the backs of the team members who were about to enter the house to search for Akhund.
But before the four men could get inside, all hell broke loose.
Eight men wearing black pants and shirts ran around the corner at the end of the street, yelling at the tops of their lungs and firing automatic weapons at the team at the same time.
Without hesitation, making sure none of her team were in her crosshairs, Aspen fired back.
The sound of gunfire was loud in the otherwise quiet street.
One of the men coming at them went down with a scream.
Most of the platoon joined Aspen, the alley becoming a temporary haven for her team.
Except for Vandine and Holman. They were pinned in the doorway of the house they’d been about to enter, no longer able to run for safety.
Their best bet was to hunker down in the shallow space of the doorway until their team could clear the road.
The next minute and a half was chaotic and Aspen operated on autopilot. This wasn’t training. The bullets flying through the air were real. The danger of dying was real.
Not letting herself think about that, Aspen lay on the ground, hugging the building as she peeked around the corner. The Taliban fighters shooting at them had taken up defensive positions and were trying to pick them off one by one as the platoon attempted to shoot from the alley.
Aspen didn’t feel much of anything when the man she’d carefully aimed at, waiting for him to peek from behind a wall he was using for shelter, fell into the street with one of her bullets between his eyes.
She heard Vandine cry out when he was shot, and then her team yelling that Holman had also been hit.
“We can’t wait anymore! Cover us!” Vandine yelled from his position in the doorway.
Without thought, Aspen helped lay down a barrage of gunfire to give their platoon sergeant time to get both himself and Holman to the alley, where the rest of the team was still hunkered down.
When they got within ten feet of the alley, Aspen whipped the rifle strap over her head, laid her weapon down, and rushed into the street to help the two men.
When Vandine grabbed Holman, she’d assumed the younger man had the more serious injury, but the second she saw her platoon sergeant, she knew she’d been mistaken.
Vandine was white as a sheet and the entire front of his right pants leg was soaked with blood. Too much blood for the wound to be anything other than arterial. If she didn’t do something fast, the man was going to bleed to death right in front of her.
Aspen was wearing a headset like the rest of the Rangers, and she immediately reported to the team—as well as Derek’s team, who had to have heard the gunfire and were probably on their way to the location to assist. “We’ve got two down. We need backup to extract.”
“Negative,” came Derek’s voice over the radio. “It’s a distraction ploy. We’ve got Akhund pinned down over here. We need all able bodies to get to our location ASAP to make a perimeter. He’s not going to get away from us again!”
Aspen blinked in shock. Maybe Derek hadn’t heard her. She tried again. “I repeat, we’ve got two men down. Injuries are serious. We’re pinned down and can’t extract.”
“And I repeat,” Derek said nastily. “Our first priority is Akhund! Anyone who can walk needs to get their asses over to our position. Now. That’s an order!”
Aspen looked at the five uninjured men of her platoon. For a second, they all stared at each other in clear disbelief.
“Did you copy?” Derek barked over the radio. “We need more boots on the ground over here. The second you all join us, they’ll give up. Let the medic do her job and the rest of you get your asses over here. We’ll be back to get her and the others in minutes after we find Akhund!”
Aspen heard Vandine groan and turned her attention to him. He’d slumped into the dirt in the alley and was barely conscious. Holman wasn’t as bad off as their platoon sergeant, but it looked like his right hand had been shot off.
Between the time she’d looked down at the two injured men and back up, the remaining Rangers had disappeared.
She stared at where they’d been standing just moments before, in shock. She couldn’t believe they’d left. Fuck.
Moving quickly, Aspen dragged Vandine farther back into the alley.
She glanced nervously at the other end, where anyone could come up behind them, and swallowed hard.
Shouts rose from the street, and she quickly ran back where she’d left Holman.
She wished she had time to treat his hand, but they’d all be dead if he couldn’t hold off the Taliban fighters.
She shoved her rifle at him. “Vandine’s bleeding out. I have to put a tourniquet on him. Can you hold them off?” she asked.
Holman looked at her from where he was sitting on the ground and something intense passed between them.
They both knew their chances of living through this were slim, especially now that they’d been left on their own.
But neither was giving up. Holman was a Ranger, the toughest of the tough.
He reached out with his good hand, his left one, and nodded.
Aspen put her hand on his shoulder for a brief second, then ran back to Vandine.
She couldn’t believe Derek had abandoned his fellow soldiers. He hated her with a fervor that was completely irrational, but she knew he respected the others on the teams. Today, he’d put his desire to catch Akhund above everyone.
She threw herself on her knees next to Vandine and shrugged her medical bag off her back.
Reaching into a pocket on her pants, Aspen pulled out the combat application tourniquet she always kept there.
She grabbed the K-BAR knife out of the holster on her vest and sliced Vandine’s pants from thigh to where it was tucked into his boot.
The blood was pulsing from a hole in his inner thigh. With every beat of his heart, blood pumped out. He literally had minutes to live if she didn’t stop the bleeding.
Dropping the knife, Aspen wrapped the CAT around Vandine’s upper thigh, put the end through the clip and, with one hand, quickly and efficiently turned the windlass rod to tighten the tourniquet. Thankful for the one-handed ease of the device, she looked toward the other end of the alley…
And swore when she saw two men peek their heads around the corner.
Without thought, she reached for Vandine’s rifle. With one hand on the CAT, still tightening it, she awkwardly aimed toward the other end of the alley and fired two shots. Thankfully, the men she’d seen pulled back and didn’t return fire.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she muttered. She might be able to get the tourniquet on Vandine’s leg and stop the bleeding, but they were sitting ducks in the alley. Eventually the Taliban fighters would come for them.
“Take the rifle and you and Holman get the hell out of here,” Vandine told her in a shaky voice.
“Fuck you,” Aspen told him.
“That’s an order,” her platoon sergeant said.
Aspen ignored him and concentrated on locking the windlass into place. The CAT would hold until she could get her patient to an operating room. She had no idea if he’d lose his leg or not, but at least he wouldn’t bleed to death in this fucking alley.
“Mesmer, did you hear me?” Vandine asked.
Aspen looked into her platoon sergeant’s eyes.
They hadn’t always gotten along. She thought he wasn’t assertive enough, especially when it came to Derek.
He let the other man talk him into making decisions that she didn’t think were especially good for the team.
But she wasn’t going to leave him here to die. No fucking way.