Chapter 20
"Incoming!" yelled Viper, so named because he was lethal with an M110 sniper rifle. At over a thousand yards, there was nobody better. "Take cover!"
They ducked, seconds before a rocket-propelled grenade hit the bunker they were hiding out in. The force threw Phoenix back against the concrete wall, knocking the air from his lungs. The searing heat made his skin blister. He coughed and groaned, pain lancing through his skull.
"Phoenix? Phoenix, wake up!" urged a distant voice, garbled and indistinct. It wasn't anyone from his unit. It was Ellie.
"Ellie?" he mumbled, but the roaring flames were too intense, engulfing the bunker and driving out the oxygen. He struggled to breathe, his vision darkening at the edges.
"We've gotta get out of here," Viper yelled from somewhere far away. Strong hands grabbed Phoenix under his arms and lifted him up off the dirty floor. Grunting with effort, Viper dragged him out of the burning bunker and into the blinding daylight.
Phoenix shut his eyes against the piercing brightness that sent stabs of agony through his head. The world spun violently. "Need... to... rest," he slurred, his words barely audible.
"Sorry, buddy. We've got to get you somewhere safe. We're under heavy fire here."
The distant rat-a-tat of machine gun fire echoed in Phoenix's ringing ears as Viper carried him across uneven desert ground pockmarked with dry bushes and shrubs. They skidded to a halt behind a small rise where there was a modicum of cover. Here Viper laid him down, but Phoenix barely felt it, drifting in and out of awareness. His head throbbed mercilessly, feeling like it would split open. Why was everything so bright?
He tried to open his eyes but saw only blurry, disjointed images—Viper laying down covering fire, another guy chucking grenades like he was in a school food fight. Nothing made sense.
"Duck!" yelled Viper as another explosion rocked the ground nearby. Fragments of dust flew into the air then coated them in a fine, yellow mist.
Phoenix coughed weakly, every breath sending sharp pains through his ribs. He forced his eyes open again to find Viper had been replaced by Ellie, her long brown hair shot through with gold in the sunlight. She was so beautiful. He reached out a trembling hand to touch her, to make sure she was real, but she seemed to slip away into the haze.
"Ellie?" he croaked, his voice ragged.
"Oh, thank God you're awake." Her words sounded muffled, as if underwater. "Don't worry, help is on the way."
He tried to sit up, but his head exploded in blinding agony and he collapsed back, darkness threatening to pull him under again. Where was he? The rocking motion beneath him suggested a boat. But what was Ellie doing driving it? And where was the rig?
Fragmented memories slowly surfaced through the fog in his brain. The IED. The deafening explosion. The shock of cool water closing over his head.
"Boomer?" Phoenix choked out, forcing himself into a half-sitting position despite the waves of dizziness and nausea.
Ellie shook her head, her face blurring in and out of focus. "I'm sorry. He didn't make it." Her voice cracked with a strangled sob, then she took a shuddering breath as if barely keeping it together. "The others got away on the second inflatable, but I couldn't find Boomer anywhere…" More broken sobs escaped her. The boat jerked unsteadily as she fought to control her emotions.
"What?" The news hit Phoenix like a physical blow. She was fading in and out of his vision now, surrounded by sparkling spots and stars. He recognized the signs of a severe concussion, his brain struggling to process what he'd just heard. Boomer was dead?
The world tilted and spun sickeningly. Phoenix gripped the side of the boat, fighting a powerful wave of nausea. He leaned over and retched, but nothing came up except bitter saliva.
Ellie's hand gripped his shoulder, anchoring him. "Are you okay? You were nearly blown up. There's a deep gash on your head. I think you have a serious concussion."
"I've had worse," Phoenix mumbled, but a small, distant part of him knew that wasn't true. He'd never felt so disoriented, so untethered from reality.
"Here comes a rescue boat." Ellie's voice broke through the mental fog, laced with tentative hope as she nodded towards the horizon.
He stared in that direction, willing his eyes to focus, but all he could see was a blurry, undulating line of blue. "You sure?"
"Yes, can't you see it?" She pointed into the distance. "Over there."
Shielding his sensitive eyes against the intense sunlight with an unsteady hand, Phoenix squinted at the horizon. He knew from experience that the disorientation and light sensitivity would fade in a few hours, assuming there was no internal bleeding. He just had to hold on until then.
Gradually, a dark shape materialized in the distance. He stared at it, unblinking, as it slowly sharpened into the silhouette of an approaching boat. But something about it felt off, warning bells sounding dimly in the back of his muddled mind. His instincts, honed by years in the elite naval unit, whispered that this was no rescue vessel.
"It's going too fast," he said faintly, the words slurring together.
"What? It's coming to see if anyone needs rescuing."
He shook his head and instantly regretted it as the world lurched sickeningly. Swallowing hard against the rising bile, he fought to string the words together. "No, she's riding too high, moving too fast."
He sensed Ellie's hand tighten on the tiller, the boat's speed decreasing fractionally. "What are you saying, Phoenix?" Fear crept into her tone.
The mystery boat was about seven hundred yards away now and closing fast. Phoenix strained to make out the figures on board, but they remained frustratingly blurry, wavering in and out of focus.
"Anyone else onboard?" he asked, relying on Ellie to be his eyes.
She peered at the approaching craft. "Yes, I can see two men. They're both standing at the helm."
"Two men, for a rescue? I don't think so."
"They could've been nearby and saw the explosion," Ellie suggested, but doubt colored her words. "There might be more in the back that I can't see."
It was possible, but the way the boat raced towards them, a predator scenting blood, made Phoenix's gut tighten with certainty. This was no rescue party.
"Turn around," he instructed, forcing the words out past gritted teeth.
"What?" Confusion and fear battled in Ellie's eyes.
"Turn around," Phoenix repeated urgently, his voice rough with pain but steeled with grim determination. "We need to get out of here. Now."
"But they've already seen us," Ellie protested weakly. "And we don't have enough fuel to go far."
Phoenix locked eyes with her, his gaze intense despite the foggy double-vision. "Doesn't matter. Just turn us around. Hurry."
With hesitant, jerky movements, Ellie spun the inflatable into a wide 180-degree turn. The mystery boat was faster and more maneuverable, but there was still a quarter mile of open ocean between them. A slim lead, but it would have to be enough.
Phoenix slumped back, fighting to stay conscious as pain pounded through his abused skull. "Floor it," he managed through clenched teeth, praying they could outrun whoever was on their tail. "Get us out of here."
The little dinghy shot forward, its hull rising out of the water as it gathered speed, then lowered as they opened up again. The wind whipped up their hair, and Phoenix fell against the side of the boat, feeling like a herd of elephants was parading around inside his skull. "Keep going and don't stop until I tell you," he managed through gritted teeth.
"Who are they?" Ellie asked, a tinge of hysteria in her voice.
"I'm not sure, but that's not a rescue boat."
"Why would they want to harm us? Surely, they're here to help?"
"I don't know, Ellie, but you have to trust me on this."
He could hear the uncertainty in her voice, but she didn't slow down.
A loud bang rang out, like a firecracker. "Get down!" Phoenix yelled, reacting instinctively despite the pain lancing through his head.
Ellie ducked, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Are... Are they shooting at us?"
More shots rang out, the sound echoing across the water.
"Just stay down and keep going!" Phoenix shouted, fighting to stay conscious as the world tilted and spun around him.
"Oh, my God." Ellie's voice was almost hysterical. "Why are they shooting at us?"
Phoenix couldn't answer that. He could only pray they had enough time to outrun the hostile vessel, or that it would redirect to the site of the explosion to scavenge off the doomed oil rig.
Risking a peek over the side, he saw the speedboat gaining on them, only four hundred yards away now.
More shots were fired, the distinctive rattle of automatic weapons sending a chill down Phoenix's spine. This wasn't good.
"Keep going," he shouted at Ellie, who had gone white with fear. She huddled down in front of the outboard motor, both hands clutching the tiller in a death grip. Despite the terror etched on her face, Phoenix was impressed at how she'd managed to keep it together. He'd seen civilians panic under far less provocation.
Three hundred yards.
Bullets whizzed through the air and fizzled into the sea around them, kicking up small geysers of spray. Thankfully, it was hard, if not impossible, to hit a fast-moving target, especially one bobbing up and down as well as surging forward, from a speeding boat. Phoenix knew this from experience, having tried it several times himself. As long as they maintained some distance, they should be okay for a little while longer. But he also knew something had to give. Eventually, the pursuing speedboat would catch up to them, and then it was game over.
Phoenix's mind raced, desperately searching for a way out of this nightmare, but the pounding in his head made it hard to think. Black spots danced at the edges of his vision, threatening to pull him back into the void. He blinked hard, fighting to stay awake, to stay focused. Ellie needed him. He couldn't pass out now.
The roar of the speedboat's engine grew louder, like an angry hornet's nest. Phoenix risked another glance back, squinting against the glare of the sun on the water. The gap had closed to two hundred yards, the figures on board now clearly visible. Two men, both armed, their faces obscured by dark sunglasses.
Phoenix's heart sank. These were no amateurs out for a joyride. They had the look of trained professionals, the kind who wouldn't stop until they finished the job.
Another burst of gunfire ripped through the air, the bullets zipping past so close Phoenix could almost feel their heat. Ellie screamed, the sound piercing through the fog in his brain. He had to do something, and fast, or they were both dead.