Page 119 of Over the Edge

To trust them or not?

He swore some more. The two of them had known exactly what they were getting into when they embarked on this mission of theirs. He had to let them play this out.

But his thumb still hovered over the transmit button of his satellite phone.

It was rare that he got a front row seat to an assault like this one. Usually, the Reapers were in the thick of it. Honestly, it felt weird to sit here doing nothing. But he and his team weren’t officially here, and they were watching out for their own to leave the hot zone.

“I’ve got movement. Coming out of the northeast building,” Axe reported.

Call zoomed in his spotter’s scope on the structure, but an explosion whited out the low-light feature. He swore and lifted his binoculars to his eyes.

By the time he got focused in, nothing was moving.

“What did you see?” he asked tersely.

“Two people ran out. Headed east toward the compound wall. One returned to the structure, and two exited, for a total of three souls.”

“Three?” Hope leaped in his chest. Had Trevor and Anna found Kenny? Had they pulled off the impossible?

He estimated the distance to the compound. From here, it was about a hundred yards. In their gear, his team could cover that in about thirty seconds. Except for Jojo. He could probably do it in freaking half that.

“Watch the walls. If Trevor and Anna got Ken, they’ll climb out.”

“Got em!” Lily called. “Their ropes are wiggling. They should top the wall momentarily.”

“Let’s move in,” Cal ordered. “In case it’s them. But maintain cover.” Meaning they would move in such a way as not to draw any attention to themselves. With so many trigger-happy fighters out here, none of whom would identify them as allies, it was the only choice they had.

“Yesss,” Axe hissed beside him as two figures appeared on top of the wall, splayed out flat.

Lily transmitted, “I’ve got hostiles running toward the wall inside the compound. I’ve got the shot.”

“Take it,” Cal bit out.

He brought his weapon to bear along with all the other Reapers. It would be a close shot over the wall, but he’d made tighter shots. They all had. “Fire at will,” he ordered.

In a matter of seconds, they dusted the half-dozen white-robed men sprinting toward the figures on top of the wall.

It was all Cal could do not to break into a sprint as he watched the three figures crawl over the wall and drop to the ground. No surprise, the trio was pinned down by all the weapons fire and held position at the wall until a lull in the explosions.

The Reapers continued to ease forward as Trevor, Anna, and presumably Ken, moved toward the north side of the compound. Good call. It was the quietest spot in this all-out assault. The threesome paused, and then commenced belly-crawling away from the wall.

“Cover them,” he bit out into his throat mike.

The Reapers spread out in a horizontal line as they advanced down the slope and reached level ground. He picked up speed and the team matched him as he ran in a half-crouch toward his people.

A dozen men in native clothing burst around the northwest corner of the compound, retreating and shooting back toward the west side of the valley.

As one, the Reapers opened fire, mowing down Haddad’s men from behind.

Crap. Surely, the Spec Ops guys over there would come around the corner to check out what had just happened. The Reapers had to get their teammates and bug out of the kill zone, fast.

“Run!” he shouted.

Anna lurchedas a group of hostiles burst around the corner to her left. She rolled onto her side and commenced firing. But just as she did, a tremendous barrage of lead opened up from somewhere north of her. The hostiles went down all at once.

One of the downed locals rolled onto his side and brought up his rifle to shoot back, but she double-tapped two rounds into the man before he could pull the trigger. He went limp, and this time he stayed down.

“Incoming,” Ken called weakly. “From the hill.”

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