Page 70 of Covert Mission

“Hold on, man.” I grip the young guy’s shoulder. “They’ll get you fixed up soon.”

His face is twisted with pain, but he clasps my hand. “Thanks for getting me out of there.”

“No need. I’m glad you’re going to be fine.”

“Beast!” I recognize the voice instantly. I squint into the blinding lights looking for Evan. I locate him a hundred yards from us.

I look at the medic. “You guys need me?”

“No.” He shifts his focus to my arm. “You need to see us for stitches when we get everyone out of here.”

“It’s just a scratch.”

As I’m moving away, the medic yells, “A scratch my ass. Get that looked at.”

Evan’s holding pressure on another bad injury when I find him.

“What can I do?”

He shifts for a better angle on the gaping bicep wound on a twenty-something local kid. “Got any more clotting bandages?”

I draw a pack out of my cargo pocket. “Need anything else?”

“Have you seen Truck?”

Dammit. “Not since we climbed up here.” I stand up and look across the chaos.

Evan says, “He was with us, but I didn’t see him come out.”

“Fuck. I’ll go look.”

I move toward the back of the building where we were trying to move some debris when a partially standing wall collapsed.

I find Scout and Justice instead. They are working a long piece of wood under a section of roofing material. It’s obvious they are making a lever.

There is a swarm of people around them, all working on the same piece of debris. Some of them are trained extractors, others volunteers.

“Beast, can you help here?” Scout motions for me to join him.

I climb over some broken wood to access him. “Have you seen Truck?”

With matching expressions, they look up at me.

Scout looks across the people around us. “No. I haven’t seen him in a while.”

Justice shakes his head and mutters, “I wish we had our coms gear.”

We’d all had to turn our own gear off so it didn’t interfere with the official radios.

My worry burns hot. I need to go looking, but I’m not walking away with these two working so hard to move the section of roof. “What are we doing here?”

Scout fills me in. “Everyone is trying to get some space under this. If we make enough room, they can put in the airbags and lift it.”

Justice wipes his brow with his arm. “Mother, it’s hot.” He shifts and repositions his hands on the lever. “They think the live victim can be reached this way.”

I shoulder in. “Move over, let me help.”

We’re working the board into position when one of the extraction members climbs over to us. “Okay, guys. Are you ready?”

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