Page 12 of What I Should Have Done

To everyone and everything else in this tiny fortress tucked in the middle of nowhere, I didn’t exist.

Peering through my scope, I barely caught the shadows that danced across the blackened sky as five figures slid like death down the side of the dune. And then they were gone like stars at dawn, my view obstructed by the building.

Tipping my head ever so slightly, as steady as the ocean waves that drummed against a beach, I scanned the area through my scope. Other than a scorpion darting beneath a boulder, there was nothing.

“All clear, Phoenix, over,” I radioed. The signal that I had eyes out here so they could enter.

“Roger, Crow,” Dom answered, and then there was silence again.

I inhaled deeply. Despite the stuffy summer heat that had dried sweat against my skin, goosebumps erupted in place of the moisture. How deceiving the jaws of death were out in the desert. If the sun didn’t wrap its hands around the meaty soul of life during the day, it was the abrupt change to absolute ice at night that was to be feared.

“What’s your status, Tank?” Dom asked through the radio, his voice low and steady, piercing through the radio, signifying Ford wasn’t with him.

“Nothing. We’ve literally found nothing,” Ford answered with a click.

“Repeat, please, over,” Bernie’s higher-pitched voice responded.

The hairs on my neck stood up. Every inch of nerves on high alert. There should’ve been targets inside the building. The Black Box was supposed to be in there with a team of men. That was the purpose of this entire mission—eliminate all UNSUBs, acquire the Black Box, and return to base.

“There isn’t even a scrap of paper left, Phoenix,” Ford said, his words shooting through my ear.

“We don’t see much dust on any of the tables, so they were here recently. There’s some boot prints and sand on the floor, but there’s nothing else, over,” Mikey explained. My stomach curdled with nausea. What was going on?

“Same with what Matrix and I have found,” Bernie responded.

Silence.

Not even that scorpion could be found anymore.

“Get out, now,” Dom suddenly cut through the absolute stillness. The urgency in his voice sent a visceral reaction of shivers through my skin. “Report, Crow.”

“Still nothing for me as well, over,” I answered quietly, scanning my surroundings again. It seemed even the breeze had stilled. Not a grain of sand shifted.

Something was wrong. Something had gone wrong before we’d even arrived.

But how?

Through my scope, I saw the building door crack open an inch, right as I heard it—

That all too familiar rumble of an engine.

But there was still nothing in my scope. “Hold up, Phoenix, I hear something,” I whispered through the radio.

“Copy that, Crow,” Dom replied, and the door remained still as they waited for my report before emerging.

The clatter of pistons firing roared louder and louder, yet as I continued to scan the surroundings, there wasn’t a single puff of smoke or cloud of sand rising in the air.

“Is that a fucking engine?” Mikey’s electronic voice entered my ear softly.

“Report, Crow,” Dom replied.

“That’s the thing,” I whispered cautiously, packing the gun tighter into my shoulder. “I don’t see anything. And I mean nothing.”

And then the rumbling cut like a light switch being flipped off.

The silence settled in the valley once more, a dome of tension tightening its grip on the death awaiting us.

I stood by. The team remained still, not moving a muscle.

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