Chapter 12
TWELVE
Undisclosed Location, Northern Syria
Two trucks with guys spilling out of the windows and crammed in the back—all of them carrying weapons—raced down the main drag of what probably used to be a town.
Dust kicked up in clouds under the wide night sky, obscuring their passage.
But the squeal of brakes was followed by shouts.
Slamming doors and orders given in a language Ash didn’t speak.
“More of them?” Kai sat with his back to the wall, jiggling his left foot from side to side relentlessly. For hours.
Ash lowered down under the window and ignored Kai’s boot, shifting so his buddy didn’t kick him. “Yes, more reinforcements just arrived.”
Ash glanced around again at the crumbling structure they’d taken refuge in when the situation turned deadly.
After yet another patrol passed by them, searching for where they’d gone, they had spotted a gunner on the roof of a building down the street.
That’s when they realized Jay couldn’t land anywhere near here without getting shot out of the sky.
Thankfully, they’d been able to make contact with the plane and told him to redirect to meet up with Adam and the others instead.
But then they’d been discovered, and had to navigate a mad dash to hide and not get shot.
Ash had seen enough out the window. “The first crew has been holding the perimeter since they spotted us.”
“I don’t like being pinned down,” Kai muttered.
“Does anyone?” Ash fired back, annoyed that Kai was annoyed, but also wondering what had the guy in this mood. “Shame we can’t call for air support, take them all out in a blaze of glory while we make a run for it.”
“Yeah. Shame.”
Ash rolled his eyes. “Adam said stealth, remember?”
“He said ‘any means necessary’ as well.” Kai shot him a glance. “I can’t believe he found the asset before we retrieved the drone.” The left foot quit jiggling, and the right one started up.
Ash said, “It’s not a competition.”
Kai made a pfft sound. “Says you.”
Ash looked at the tablet they’d been given by Earthnet, but he hadn’t moved in a while and neither had the drone, so it wasn’t connected—surprise. “Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you? You’ve been like this since you woke up.”
“One of my cousins sent me a photo.” Kai huffed. “Ailani with some guy from Oahu who runs a surf shop.”
Ah, it was woman trouble. “Maybe they’re friends?”
“You don’t do that with a friend.”
Ash winced. “Sorry, bro. She should be better than that, and it sucks that she isn’t.” Half his awareness listened to the men on the street. “We need to move now that night has fallen. We need to keep going if we’re gonna find the drone before Adam gets here.”
Kai nodded. “I’m ready to fight my way out of this. The situation isn’t going to get better with us sitting here.” He glanced over. “Just a girl like all the rest, right?”
“You’re mad, and cynical doesn’t suit you. But you don’t seem surprised.” Ash lifted up and looked out the window.
The men were concentrated across the street, which was where he and Kai had gone first before circling around—which had taken hours, carefully picking their way through streets and alleys.
He spotted a young guy and two women—one was older—shoved out into the street.
A gunman brought the butt of his rifle down on the young man’s temple and he crumpled to the ground. The older woman cried, while the young one clung to her.
Ash counted the men who’d arrived in those trucks and divided it by two.
No way he and Kai would be able to help, aside from filing a report when they left and hoping someone, somewhere, would send a unit to this area. As if doing that would save innocent people, or make the world better.
“You’re right, Ash. I’m not surprised. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have every right to be pissed. Ailani said she’d wait for me. Plenty of guys have someone at home waiting for them, but mine is getting hot and heavy with some surf shack bro in the front seat of his Jeep? Not cool.”
Smoke drifted through the window on a stagnant breeze.
“No, it isn’t.” Ash scrambled around and peered through the window. “They’re burning houses. They’re gonna try and smoke us out.”
“Makes sense.” Kai sighed. “That’s what I’d do.”
“And if you were them, what would you do to us in return?”
“Is this a quiz? Are you testing me?”
Ash shoved the side of his head, hoping to jog the guy out of his funk. “Get up. We’re moving.”
If it were him, he’d have half the men here searching for what Ash and Kai had come to retrieve, and the other half smoking them out.
Either way, they were very outnumbered. Even setting up a nest on a roof and taking them out one by one wouldn’t solve the problem—and it wouldn’t save these people from the lives they’d been born into.
He lowered the strap of the bag over his head so it rested across his back and checked his weapon. “Let’s go.”
Kai was up doing the same. He nodded once, and Ash went to the door. The far end of the hallway was open to the sky, but a rear room was still enclosed. No windows. No way to check what was beyond the door.
Kai tapped his shoulder.
Ash grabbed the door handle and opened it fast. Kai didn’t fire. After barely a second, he hooked out through the door with Ash behind him. Down the alley. Check the gap between buildings. Continue on. Sweeping all directions, listening for the sound of someone nearby.
Trying not to get distracted with the idea that these men had to have seen the drone go down.
Rather than finding it themselves, they were tracking Ash and Kai.
No doubt hoping that the two Americans would lead them to the bounty.
Probably thought they were active duty military guys, like a SEAL team.
Instead, they were going up against two Marine Corps grunts who washed out of their military careers and chose this life instead.
Kai’s chest hitched, and Ash caught him fighting the urge to cough. Smoke filled the air now, drifting between structures. Ash could almost feel the heat of the flames, even though they were on the other side of the street. Definitely trying to burn us out.
A door creaked up ahead. Beyond it, maybe half a mile away, he heard someone scream and the mad scramble of a group of people making a run for it.
Kai slowed to take cover behind a crate. Ash saw them emerge, a woman and two children. They spotted him, pulling up short. One of the kids let out a squeak. All of them carried what looked like pillowcases, bundled with stuff they deemed essential.
Ash checked the next alley between the structures and waited while two guys passed at the far end. He turned back and waved them out, then they moved on—Ash in the lead, Kai bringing up the rear, and the woman and children sandwiched in between.
The woman said something, and Kai responded in the same language, then said to Ash, “She has a car up ahead. Couple of rows down. She said we can’t have it.”
Ash froze, and one of the kids bumped the back of his legs. The woman whispered harsh words.
He lifted his fingers to the side, where Kai would see, and told him two men were coming down the next alley.
Ash prayed the shouts and blazing fires would cover the pop of suppressed gunfire and stepped into the alley, squeezing the trigger and watching the two men hit the ground.
Behind him, Kai said, “No, don—”
Ash spun back to see the woman and kids make a run for it. He glanced at the alley once more, then he and Kai were following her. Making sure she made it to her vehicle—though it probably looked like they were chasing her.
One of the kids took a tumble. Ash got there fast enough to scoop her off the ground. The woman kept running, dragging the little boy with her.
Kai fired behind them, shooting at someone.
The woman ducked between two doors leaning against a structure.
When the kid squirmed to go after her, Ash set her down.
She scurried in, and Ash followed them, discovering an ancient gray compact car covered with a tarp.
The woman climbed into the driver’s seat.
Okay, then. He figured they could give her a fighting chance to get her children out of here.
Ash ducked back out into the night, the bright glow of structures on fire lighting the night. Spreading fast.
Inside the garage, the car engine coughed and turned over.
Kai ran to him. “They’re right behind me.”
“Upstairs.” Ash raced at a ladder on the side of a nearby house and scrambled to the roof, then rolled to lie on his back while Kai came up behind him. “We need a vantage point if we’re going to cover their exit.”
“You should’ve given them candy bars and convinced them to take us with them.”
Ash just shook his head and heard a crash. “She drove through the door.”
The car engine coughed again, then caught and sped down a narrow lane between structures.
Ash was pretty sure he heard an animal cry as she careened away from here with everything in the world that mattered to her.
But the obstructions in the lane slowed her, and the brake lights swerved before she hit something else that sounded like a metal trash can.
Then someone yelled.
“They’re coming after us,” Kai said.
“And she might have trouble ahead of her.”
Ash looked where Kai indicated and got the two men in his sights, aiming down over the lip of the roof.
No way would these bad guys catch up to the woman.
She was in a car and they were on foot, but if she ran into a big-enough obstruction, they might reach her.
He didn’t want to know what they’d do to appease their anger that she’d had the audacity to try to escape.
Kai fired two shots, taking both men down.
Ash spun his aim and saw a pickup truck race from the blazing structures to the lane where the woman was fleeing.
He fired at the driver through the windshield.
The truck swerved and hit the corner of the makeshift garage where the car had been, breaking through the side in a way that caused it to topple over against this one.
The whole building shook and started to list to the side. “Time to get off this ride.”
Ash clambered to his feet, and a bullet sang past his ear. He ducked down on one knee—no cover to be found—and twisted to fire back.
The guy who’d shot at him fell off the side of another roof and hit the ground with a thud.
“Jump.” Kai ran to the edge of the building and leaped across to the neighboring roof.
Ash heard another shot whiz past him, ducked his head, and followed. Kai fired at the insurgent, whoever he was, then kept firing. Ash skidded onto the roof behind him. Kai spun, running with him to the next roof. They jumped simultaneously.
Ash landed, rolled awkwardly, and came up. “Ladder.”
“Go.” Kai held aim on the alley below, covering Ash while he scrambled down.
Ash returned the favor, and Kai landed beside him. “Up for a run?”
“Yup.”
They raced away to the south, turning a corner every few rows and heading south again on a new path parallel to the first. Zigzagging their way to the far edge of the “town” such as it was. This was where the drone had landed—but where was it?
They couldn’t check every building.
Nor could they go up against every bad guy in the vicinity.
Ash ran to a quiet pocket that seemed like someone’s back patio. The house looked dark and empty, but who knew if there was anyone hiding back here. He leaned against the wall, breathing hard, while Kai kicked a patio chair that wasn’t more than a frame and a few strips of plastic that remained.
“Keep watch.” Ash dug out the phone-sized device and refreshed it, hoping for a connection this time. “You think Earthnet can track us with this thing?”
Kai shrugged. “Long as these guys can’t, who cares?”
But the whole server farm job had been about the program learning from them. What if this was just another task given purely so it could see what they’d do? Playing with their lives like this was a game.
The phone chimed.
Connection established.
Ash’s brows rose. “I’ve got it.” He turned around, watching the screen rotate. Positioning him on a map and pointing the way to the drone. “It’s close.”