Page 47 of Lethal Pursuit

It hadn’t been loaded?

The stunned surprise on his face registered only for a split second before Maya’s shot rang out. The bullet hit Khalid high up in the left shoulder, jerking his upper body backward. A spray of blood went up. He let out a roar and clapped a hand to the ruined joint, falling to his knees in the dirt. The useless revolver lay at his feet. Fifty yards behind him, two more men rushed toward him from the rear.

And still Maya stayed where she was, preparing to take another shot. Wanting to finish Khalid.

Jackson fully understood why she wanted to kill him, but the guy wasn’t coming after them for the moment, so they needed to haul ass and take every second they had if they were going to get away. He lunged over and grabbed the back of the medical duffel with one hand, hauling her upright. “Run, Maya!”

She didn’t. Just shook him off and took aim. She fired once more, even though Khalid was so far away the chances of hitting him again were minimal. He jerked to the right, but not in time. She nailed him high in his left arm this time. He screamed and pitched to the side. Already off balance, he tumbled over the edge of the rise and down into a wadi below.

Jackson didn’t need to see more. “Go, go!” he shouted to her, gripping Haversham’s back and legs, turning to sprint toward the trail.

Maya was already on her feet and running. Seventy-five meters up the hill, he spared a glance back to see the remaining men coming up on Khalid, still lying huddled in the wadi. The two newcomers spun and trained their AKs on them, but the shots sprayed low and wide, plowing into the ground behind them.

Jackson’s heart slammed against his breastbone. “Move it,” he growled, right on Maya’s ass. He shoved a hand against it to help propel her upward, prepared to drag her over that crest at the top if need be.

She hung in there, the strain obvious on her sweaty face and the medical duffel bumping against the back of her injured ribs. Together they scrambled to the top of the rise, keeping alert for any insurgents or booby traps ahead. Once there, the trail broke into four different ones. Jackson scanned the horizon for a breathless second. Should they head west toward the Afghan border? Or south and eventually back into the foothills in the hopes of finding a way to contact friendly forces?

Maya barely paused to catch her breath, gasping, “He told me northwest from here.”

“Who?”

“Dunno who he was, but I think he was American. He talked in English with no accent,” she said in a rush.

So who the hell was he, and why was he sending them farther upinto the mountains? It didn’t make any sense, though Jackson was grateful for the help. But how did they know they could trust him? When Maya took a step to the right on the trail that led northwest, he reached out a hand and caught her shoulder. She glanced back at him in surprise.

He had way more training in escape and evasion tactics, not to mention combat experience, so as of now that made him the expert, despite his inferior rank. She knew it. “I’ll take point. Follow in my footsteps. We’ve gotta cover our tracks best we can so no one can follow.” Even though a blind man would be able to follow them with the spatters of blood Haversham’s wound was leaving behind. The sooner the sun went down, the better.

Her jaw tensed but she gave an almost imperceptible nod as he passed her. Jackson shifted Haversham on his shoulders. “You still with me?”

“Yeah,” he gritted out, sounding like he was ready to puke from the pain.

Guy was a solid bastard, felt like he weighed a ton. With the lack of food and water, Jackson was already feeling the exertion, even though they weren’t at a high enough altitude to make the air seem thin. They had to keep moving. Every step they took put distance between them and the men who would surely be coming after them. The approaching darkness was a blessing, to a point, but without night vision capability, they wouldn’t be able to travel far across this rocky terrain.

“I’ll take the sidearm now,” Jackson said, and it wasn’t really a request. He hated moving out here blind without a weapon. Made him feel naked and exposed.

She didn’t even look at him, her gaze sweeping the trail they’d just climbed. “I’m good. Our six is still clear.”

Fine, he told himself. She’d accepted his expertise, and he had to carry Haversham. At least she was a good shot. Curbing the instinct to argue, he picked his way across the trail, choosing sturdy rocks as stepping stones to keep footprints and tracks to a minimum. He figured they had an hour or two tops until the sun set, and before then he had to find them shelter and water if possible.

Part of him was still struggling to grasp that they were actuallyfree. He planned to keep them that way, no matter what it took.

If he’d been alone he would’ve gone much faster, but he didn’t want to outdistance Maya and leave her vulnerable. He trimmed his pace and kept an eye on her progress. She was done in but still going, pale and sweaty and in desperate need of rest and fluids.

“Gotta keep moving for another couple of hours,” he told her and sucked in a lungful of air, ignoring the slight tremor in his legs and the burning ache in his back and shoulders. “Few more klicks and we’ll find a place to rest for the night, but we’ve gotta be on the move before sunup.” It would be better to hole up during the day and move at night, but waiting wasn’t an option, considering the desperate shape Haversham was in. They’d just have to be damn careful whenever they moved.

“I can make it.”

“I know you can, honey.” He’d seen firsthand how much shit she could handle and had absolute faith in her. She’d risked everything to spring them from their prison—now it was his turn to lead. He’d get them safely back to friendly lines or die trying.

SIXTEEN

THEY HIKED FORwhat seemed like hours before Jackson deemed them safe enough to find a place to stop and rest. By then, Maya was moving on autopilot and had been for a long time. She walked in a kind of numb haze, her legs carrying her without any conscious thought on her part. Jackson was still going strong. He’d only taken a few short breaks during the climb, though he had to be exhausted from carrying Haversham, who was still conscious and in a shitload of pain. Would have been kinder if he’d passed out for at least some of the trip.

“We’ll camp there for a bit,” Jackson said in a low voice. He indicated a space beneath a natural overhang in the rock that he’d already gone ahead to check out. Jackson had left Haversham with her while he doubled back and conducted a listening halt to ensure they were really alone out here.

The thin crescent moon gave just enough light for her to pick out their hide in the darkness. She took the lead and once inside did a sweep for snakes and scorpions with her boots. That done, she pulled off the medical bag with a relieved groan, gingerly slipping her splinted wrist through the left strap to let it fall at her feet.

Her chest felt tight, every breath difficult. Her ribs were killing her and there was a constant throb in her wrist and left cheek, but the sheer fatigue was the worst part. She’d never been so tired. During the in-house SERE course, the instructors had told Maya’s class they’d be surprised at how much punishment the body could take, and they were right. Maya couldn’t believe she was still going, but then, freedom and survival were pretty damn incredible motivators.

---