Page 71 of Stand Fast

The world below them exploded in a blast of light and sound. Then a 70 mm rocket hit the center truck and detonated. The blast wave ripped through the air and ground, thudding against Zaid’s eardrums and compressing his chest. When he opened his eyes to look down, all three trucks were nothing more than twisted hunks of burning metal.

Bye bye poppy juice, and whatever the hell else had been in there.

Grim satisfaction tore through Zaid. He kept searching for a target, but the only men moving down there now were on fire as they crawled away from the wreckage.

“Let’s move out,” Hamilton ordered. “Blackhawks are coming in to extract us at exfil site delta. Everybody up.”

As one they turned north and started down the back side of the ridge. Zaid had only taken a few steps when gunfire suddenly erupted from the right. “Contact!” He dropped to one knee and took aim at the new threat.

The outlines of at least a dozen men appeared on a slight rise to the east. Two of them held something on their shoulders. No sooner had Zaid focused on them than two RPGs screamed over their heads, streaking toward the Apaches.

“Shit…” Zaid held his breath as the pilots took emergency evasive maneuvers and launched their chaff and flare countermeasures.

Blinding streaks of light split the dark sky, followed by two brilliant white fireballs and deafening booms as the RPGs exploded short of their targets. But one of the gunships was trailing smoke now. It dropped, then righted itself and turned to the west, limping away and losing altitude as it flew.

“Fall back! Move!”

At Hamilton’s sharp order Zaid pushed to his feet once more and ran after his teammates, heading north. Scattered shots rang out from the enemy force approaching from the east, but they were still too far away to do any damage.

Now it was a race. Zaid and his teammates were running low on ammo. They had to make it to the exfil site before the enemy got to them. The Apache could clear their tail no problem, but only if it remained on station until Zaid and the others made it to the Blackhawks.

A whooshing sound brought his head up. Through his NVGs he caught the streak of another RPG that had been unleashed.

“Get down!” he yelled, and dove to the ground.

A heartbeat later the terrain in front of them exploded in a hail of rock and dirt, shooting a small geyser of debris into the air. Then a telltale rumble started up.

“God dammit,” Zaid breathed, and scrambled to his knees as the ridge they were descending seemed to crumble beneath their feet.

Rock and earth gave way in a mini landslide set off by the explosion. He had no footing. His boots slid over the ground helplessly, unable to find purchase. He held a death grip on his weapon as his feet went out from under him.

Down he went, tumbling once, twice over the loose earth. A grunt of pain escaped him as he bounced on a rock, the sharp edge digging into his left shoulder with bruising force, but at least his helmet was still on.

Somehow he found his footing again and managed to stand up. A strong hand shot out and grabbed hold of the back of his uniform, yanking him to safety. Zaid crashed face first into a wide chest, bounced off, and fell to his knees. Panting, disoriented, he looked up into Maka’s taut face.

“You good, brah?” his teammate asked.

“Yeah,” Zaid managed, climbing to his feet once more. He was sore and banged up a little and his NVGs had snapped off somewhere, but otherwise good.

“Assholes got what was coming to them,” Maka spat, and spun to follow the others.

Zaid glanced over his shoulder to check the eastern horizon. His eyes barely picked out the silhouettes of bodies littering the ground from the enemy position. He didn’t know if they were all dead or not, but wasn’t waiting around here to find out.

“We’re on our own, boys. Both Apaches are returning to base.” Hamilton kept them moving at a fast clip. “Let’s get a move on.”

“Okay, Cap,” Zaid managed.

FAST Bravo hurried across the open terrain, heading for the incoming Blackhawks. But two hundred yards from their destination, they came to a sudden stop when another line of figures appeared on the top of a small rise in the distance.

Zaid’s stomach sank as he took in the number of enemy blocking their way, too far away for him to make out any faces or other details. His team was outnumbered at least two to one, they had limited ammo, and their fire support had just returned to base.

“Freaking hell,” Freeman snapped ahead of him. “It’s Nasar.”

Chapter Eighteen

“Did they get your message?” Jaliya demanded of Taggart as she ran with him toward the waiting helicopter. They were heading to the FOB where FAST Bravo and their NIU counterparts had launched from, trying to get a handle on what was happening out there so they could do something to help. But communications with the team had been spotty at best ever since the firefight broke out. “Do they know about Nasar?”

“Yeah. But both Apaches had to return to base due to damage. My guys are out there on their own, and they’re low on ammo. And we need to get them the hell out of therenow,” he growled.

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