Chapter 11 The Rescue #2
His arm went around her shoulders. Instinctive. Necessary. The only way he could stay upright. They were close now. Closer than they'd been in that compound. Close enough that she could see the pain in his eyes. Could see the three days of torture written in every line of his face.
Close enough that when he looked at her, really looked at her, something passed between them that had nothing to do with the mission and everything to do with the moment in that compound when their eyes had met and the world had shifted.
"Knew you'd be trouble," he said. The words came out half-slurred but there was something in his tone. Something that might have been humor if they hadn't been in a basement in Mosul with gunfire getting closer.
"Right back at you," Mara replied.
Kira moved to his other side, taking some of his weight. Between the two of them, they got him moving toward the door. Slow. Too slow. But moving.
The corridor was still empty but that wouldn't last. Nadia had the stairs covered, weapon up, tracking sounds from above. The gunfire had intensified. Delta was meeting resistance. The building was turning into a war zone.
They reached the stairs. Steele looked up at them like they were a mountain he didn't have the strength to climb. His breathing was labored. His face was pale under the bruising. He was running on empty.
"Can you make it?" Mara asked.
"Don't have a choice."
Fair point.
They started up. One step at a time. Steele's weight heavy between Mara and Kira. His leg dragging. His breathing getting worse with each step. But he kept moving. Kept pushing. Kept refusing to quit.
Halfway up, his leg gave out completely. He went down, taking Mara with him. They hit the stairs hard. Steele grunted in pain. Mara felt something in his chest shift. Broken ribs. Had to be. Moving wrong and making everything worse.
"We need to carry him," Kira said. "He's not making it up these stairs on his own."
Mara keyed her radio. "Shadow Veil to Delta Six. We have the package. He's alive but non-ambulatory. We need exfil support."
Hawk's voice came back immediately, the sound of gunfire loud behind his words. "Delta Six copies. We're engaged on the second floor. Can't break off. You'll have to get him out on your own."
Of course they would.
Nadia came down the stairs and between the three of them they got Steele upright again. This time Mara took most of his weight, one arm around his waist, his arm around her shoulders. Kira supported his injured leg. Nadia took point with her weapon.
They made it to the top of the stairs. Through the emergency exit. Into the Iraqi night.
The exterior guards had abandoned their patrol to respond to the breach. The south side was clear. For now. But that would change the moment someone realized their prisoner was escaping.
Sloane's voice crackled over the radio. "Extraction vehicles are sixty seconds out. Get to the rally point."
The rally point was a hundred meters west of the building. Might as well have been a hundred kilometers with Steele barely able to walk and guards about to realize what was happening.
They moved. Fast as they could. Which wasn't fast enough. Steele's breathing was getting worse. His weight was getting heavier. He was fading.
Fifty meters from the building, gunfire erupted behind them. Guards pouring out of the north entrance. Responding to Delta's breach and finding Shadow Veil escaping with their prisoner.
Rounds snapped past. Too close. Nadia returned fire, controlled bursts that kept the guards from rushing them but didn't stop the pursuit.
Thirty meters to the rally point. Mara could see the vehicles now. Headlights off. Engines running. Winter behind the wheel of the lead vehicle, ready to move.
Twenty meters.
More gunfire. This time from a different direction. Delta engaging guards on the upper levels. Covering fire that gave Shadow Veil the seconds they needed.
Ten meters.
Steele stumbled. His leg gave out completely. He went down and this time Mara couldn't hold him. They both hit the ground. He rolled onto his back, gasping for air, his face twisted in pain.
"I can't," he said. The words came out broken. Defeated. Like he'd finally hit the wall and there was nothing left. "Can't do it."
Mara looked at him. At the man who'd stayed behind so she could escape. At the operator who'd bought her time with his own blood. At the person whose face had haunted her for three days.
"Yes, you can," she said. She grabbed his vest and pulled him close. Their faces inches apart. His eyes unfocused with pain. Hers burning with determination. "You told me to run three days ago. Now I'm telling you. You don't get to quit. Not when we came all this way to get you."
Something flickered in his eyes. Recognition. Understanding. Maybe something else.
Kira and Nadia got him upright again. Together they dragged him the last ten meters to the vehicle. Winter had the door open. They shoved Steele into the back seat. Kira climbed in after him, already pulling medical supplies.
Mara turned back to cover their retreat. Saw guards pouring out of the building. Saw muzzle flashes in the darkness. Saw Delta's team extracting from the north side, moving toward their own vehicles.
"Go!" she shouted at Winter.
The vehicle lurched forward. Mara threw herself into the passenger seat as they accelerated. Rounds punched into the rear panel but missed anything critical. The armor held.
Behind them, the building was chaos. Guards firing at anything that moved. Delta's team laying down suppressing fire as they extracted. The whole operation turning into exactly the kind of violent mess they'd been trying to avoid.
But they had Steele. That was all that mattered.
Winter pushed the vehicle hard, taking corners that threw everyone sideways. In the back, Kira was working on Steele. IV line already in. Fluids running. Her hands moving with practiced efficiency even while the vehicle bounced and lurched.
"How is he?" Mara asked, turning in her seat to look back.
"Alive," Kira said. "That's about all I can say right now. He's got significant blood loss, infection in the leg wound, at least three broken ribs, possible internal injuries. He needs a hospital. Real one. Soon."
Steele's eyes were closed but he was conscious. Mara could see his chest moving. Could see him fighting to stay present even though his body wanted to shut down.
"Steele," she said. His eyes opened. Focused on her face. "Stay with us. You hear me? You don't get to check out now."
"Bossy," he muttered. The word came out slurred but there was something in his tone. Something that might have been humor if everything hadn't hurt so much.
"You have no idea."
His mouth twitched. Might have been trying to smile. Hard to tell through the pain and the swelling and the blood.
"Knew you'd be trouble," he said again. Like it was important. Like he needed her to know he'd recognized something in that compound three days ago. "Saw it in your eyes."
"What did you see?"
"Someone who doesn't quit." His breathing was labored. Every word cost him. "Someone worth dying for."
Mara's chest tightened. "You didn't die."
"Not yet."
"Not ever. We didn't come all this way to lose you now."
He looked at her for a long moment. Like he was trying to decide if she meant that. Like he was trying to figure out if the woman who'd left him behind was the same one who'd come back for him.
"Why?" he asked.
It was a simple question. One word. But it carried weight. Mara knew what he was asking. Why come back? Why risk everything? Why coordinate with his team and breach a fortified building and extract him under fire when the tactically smart thing would have been to walk away?
She could give him the tactical answer. The one about debts and honor and not leaving people behind. The one that made sense on paper and didn't require her to examine what was happening in her chest.
But looking at him now. Seeing his eyes on her face. Feeling the weight of the last three days. She couldn't lie.
"Because I couldn't stop seeing your face," she said quietly. "Couldn't stop hearing your voice. Couldn't stop thinking about what happened in that compound. And I needed to know if it was real or just adrenaline and chaos."
His eyes held hers. "And?"
"Still figuring that out."
Something passed between them. Understanding. Recognition. The acknowledgment that whatever had started in that compound wasn't finished. That they'd have to deal with it. Eventually.
But not now. Now he needed medical attention and extraction and safety. Now she needed to focus on the mission.
His eyes drifted closed again. Mara turned back to face forward, watching the Iraqi landscape slide past through the windscreen. The road stretched toward the rally point where they'd transfer Steele to Delta's custody. Where this part of the operation would end and the next would begin.
Her radio crackled. Hawk's voice. "Delta Six to Shadow Veil. We have clean exfil. All personnel accounted for. En route to primary rally point."
"Shadow Veil copies," Mara replied. "We're five minutes out. Package is stable but needs immediate medical evacuation."
"Copy that. Risk is ready to receive. We'll take custody at the rally point and transport directly to base medical."
Transfer custody. The words hit harder than they should have.
Made sense tactically. Delta Force could get Steele back to Erbil Air Base where military doctors could treat him properly.
Shadow Veil couldn't exactly walk an American operator through base security.
Their part in this was done the moment they handed him over to his team.
But the thought of letting him go, of watching Delta's vehicles drive away with him in the back, felt wrong in a way she couldn't articulate.
Behind her, she could hear Kira working. Could hear the quiet sounds of medical treatment. Could hear Steele's labored breathing evening out as the IV fluids and pain medication started working.