Page 63 of Lethal Pursuit

“Nah,” he said between breaths. “I’ll take a good rubdown from you later, though.”

The thought made her smile. If she could be this ill and look like she did and he still wanted her to touch him, that had to be a good sign.

Next time she opened her eyes, Jackson had crested the small hill and had paused to rest a moment.

“Just down there in that clearing,” Sandberg told them, pointing to the LZ.

Now that the end was in sight, Maya’s heart was filled to bursting with hope. So close. It was hard to believe this whole nightmare was almost over. She raised her head, scanning the sky and straining to listen for the throb of incoming rotors. Nothing but the soft sigh of the wind came back, the sound of Jackson’s ragged breathing.

He kept shifting her repeatedly over the final few hundred yards, the muscles in his back and shoulders quivering beneath her. She rubbed a hand absently over his sweat-soaked chest in apology and gratitude for all he’d done for her.

At last they reached the clearing, and he set her down beside a thin, scraggly bush. She huddled into a ball on her side and wrapped the blanket around her to stave off the worst of the shivers, while he dropped to his hands and knees beside her, exhausted. Sweat poured off his face, no matter how many times he swiped his arm across it.

Sandberg set Haversham down and dropped his ruck, and the Sec Def immediately tore into it, handing both men a bladder of water Tarik had given them. Jackson drained a good amount of his before opening his eyes with a sigh and offering it to Maya. She took it and had a few sips, relishing the feel of moisture in her dry mouth. Her stomach was in knots from being exposed out here to await the CSAR team.

“How much longer?” Haversham asked Sandberg, propped on to one hip with a pistol in his hand. He hadn’t released it since they’d left the village.

“Twenty, twenty-five minutes,” he answered, still sucking in air.

Maya had no idea how he and Jackson had found the endurance to carry them so far in these conditions. She took in her surroundings, unable to let her guard down. They were in a natural bowl that provided some protection from the wind should it pick up. It was wide enough that a few helicopters would have no trouble setting down inside it. When they came, there’d be more than one. With the Sec Def as one of the extractions, they wouldn’t be taking any chances with his safety. Wouldn’t surprise her if an entire SEAL team showed up to get them. She wouldn’t mind seeing some SEALs right about now.

Jackson was on one knee holding his weapon at the ready, watching the surrounding hills. No one said anything, all of them too tired and edgy to bother trying to make conversation.

When it seemed like way more than twenty-five minutes had passed, a distant sound disturbed the air. She glanced up at Jackson to see if he’d heard it too. He was tense, focused on the sky behind her. She twisted around, grimacing as it pulled her ribs. Was it their ride? Her heart rate accelerated, anticipation rising sharp and painful in her chest.

A minute later the sound increased, and it was unmistakable. The heavy beat of a rotary wing aircraft. Then Sandberg pointed. “I see it.”

Everyone followed his finger. There in the distance, Maya picked out a black speck in the clear blue sky. A moment later, the speck split into three.

Oh yeah, the cavalry had arrived. The elation sweeping through her brought tears to her eyes.

She was on her feet without realizing it, shading her eyes with her hand. Part of her wanted to jump up and down and wave her arm like a maniac. She felt like a shipwreck survivor who’d just spotted their salvation. Then a series of cracks rent the air. For a moment they didn’t register.

She swiveled to find Jackson reaching for her, his face tense. “Get down!”

Jesus, someone was still out there shooting at them.

She dropped to her knees and then her belly as Jackson slid up beside her. He pressed her head down untilher cheek dug into the dusty ground. With her head cranked to one side, she got her first glimpse of the figures rushing down the hillside toward them. Fifty men at least, maybe more.

“Shit, they’re surrounding us,” Haversham muttered, returning fire.

Maya glanced the other way to see more coming at them from that side. She cast a desperate glance up at the incoming helos. They were close. Would they be able to land and stay there long enough for her and the others to get aboard?

The shooting took a sudden uptick in volume. She lay flat next to Jackson while he and Haversham fired at the oncoming enemy. Within thirty seconds, Jackson set down his weapon. “Out of ammo,” he muttered, cursing under his breath.

Her stomach knotted. Before she could answer, something exploded a few dozen yards in front of them. Jackson covered her head and torso with his own while debris pelted them. That eerie howl of the militants rose up over the noise of the firefight.

“I’m out!” Sandberg shouted.

They were surrounded and out of ammo. The sound of the rotors grew louder. Maya’s heart lodged in her throat. Icy needles pricked her body. Jackson lifted off her and she shifted to get to her knees, but he stopped her with an arm around her back. “Stay down,” he yelled in her ear, holding her close. Unable to run though every instinct demanded she flee, she closed her eyes and clung to him, praying for help.

Bullets impacted closer, closer until she could feel them whizzing past her, thudding into the ground around them. The distant helos were still too far away.

She was holding her breath, praying for a miracle when the deafening roar of twin engines suddenly split the air. A half second later, the bark of powerful guns eclipsed everything else. Daring to open her eyes, Maya lifted her chin to see an Apache attack helicopter rise out of the valley beyond the cliff’s edge and spray the attacking enemy with fire. Moments later another one appeared on its left, rising out of the abyss. It opened up its guns with a loud rattle. After about a minute of firing, they fell silent. Her earsthrobbed in the sudden quiet.

Screams from the wounded enemy filled the void, but that eerie howl that signaled an attack was gone. She didn’t dare look behind her or to the side as the big Chinook looming above finally came in for a landing, two Black Hawks flanking it. The Apaches gained altitude and resumed making controlled bursts at the remaining attackers. The instant the other birds touched down, soldiers poured out of them.

Dozens of them. Big men with scruffy beards and scary-ass game faces, come to send these bastards to their maker. SEALs or Delta from the look of them, maybe some of both.

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