Page 54 of Eight Years (The Trident Trilogy 1)

I look around the room. I see a few pieces of fruit and bread on the counter. They look fairly fresh. He’s probably telling the truth.

I look at Mason across the room. “We’re done,” I say as I walk toward him.

“What do you want us to do about him?” Mason asks.

“Well, he can’t walk, so he’s not going to tell anyone until Yusef visits next, and hopefully, we’ll have Yusef by then. And, he probably doesn’t have a phone.”

“No phone,” Bryce says from behind me.

Of course, they cleared and searched the room before I got here. I forget how thorough these guys are.

“So, we just leave him?” Mason says.

“We just leave him.”

As I walk away, the old man says in Bosnian, “You look just like her. She was a whore, too.” I try to recover quickly, but he can see that he surprised me, and that makes him smile.

“You will burn in hell just like she did,” he says.

I turn around toward the door, a knot forming rapidly in my stomach. “Probably,” I say without looking back. “I’ll see you there.”

I need to collect my thoughts for a second, but we start immediately back up the mountain. Of course, we do. Can’t take a break or anything. We’re doing double time up the mountain. My quads are sore, and I’m so thirsty, but Mouse’s back is still moving, so I’m still moving. The guys seem a little more wound up than usual. I didn’t know that was even possible. But, their usual hyper alert is on overdrive.

“Roger that,” I hear Mason say from somewhere behind me. I don’t have a headset on, so I can’t hear what they hear. Just the replies.

“That ridge.” Mason points to a place just above us. “Hawk, take her.”

What’s going on? Is the helicopter meeting us somewhere else? I know we’ve only been climbing for about fifteen minutes. We can’t be at the original landing zone yet. Hawk grabs my vest and half pulls and half lifts me to the ridge, and shoves me down behind it. He squats down beside me and says, “Stay down. And, when I say move, you move.”

My eyes must have said yes because he stands back up and rests his rifle on the ridge while his leg forcefully pins me against the rocks. I suddenly hear a loud bang, and then all hell breaks loose. It sounds like fireworks are exploding all around me. Not up in the sky, but right beside me. The sound is deafening. Rocks fall on my head. Dust swirls violently around me. I feel like I’ve suddenly been swept up into the eye of a tornado.

Hawk’s leg is vibrating against me as he fires his gun, slamming me into the rocks repetitively. Something hits my head hard. The pain surges through me like someone has stabbed me. I think I hear myself yelp through the noise that suffocates me. Curling into a ball against the wall, I cover my head and start rocking back and forth. Everything is exploding and vibrating around me. Suddenly, Hawk yanks me up by my vest.

“Move!” he shouts as he throws me up the path.

Somehow, Mouse is in front of me again, or someone is, and we are triple timing it up the mountain. My adrenaline has suddenly made all the soreness and pain in my body go away. I feel like I could run at this pace for days. We keep climbing. The guys are yelling and the guns keep firing on us from behind. I’m not fully registering what’s happening. I feel like I’m watching it from above. I just concentrate on the body in front of me. It’s still moving, so I’m still moving. As we round yet another switchback, I suddenly see the helicopter just landing in a valley ahead of us.

The guys pick up the speed. It’s too much for me. I feel myself falling. I’m headed for the ground when I feel Hawk grab me and throw me over his shoulder without breaking his stride. The helicopter blades are so loud. I feel like they’re inches from me. Hawk shields my head with his massive hand and passes me off to Mason like he’s a quarterback handing the football off to his running back.

Mason pulls me into the helicopter. He has me between his legs with my back resting on his chest. One of his arms is around me, and the other is pushing my head away from the guns that are still firing at us. The rest of the guys are firing back. As we get higher and higher into the sky, the guns fade off into the background, and everything goes quiet.

I really don’t remember the helicopter landing or walking to the transport. Or if I even did walk on my own. But, here I am, sitting on a bench, strapped in and ready for takeoff. I look around. The guys are all up, taking off their gear. We must already be in the air. I look down at myself. My protective vest is already off. My helmet is gone. I don’t remember taking it off. My head is hazy, and my eyes feel like they’re leaking. I reach up to wipe my face and pull my hand away to see blood. Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me. Shock, I realize. I think I’m in shock. I’ve seen it happen to people. It happened to me when my dad died. I think this is what it felt like. I can’t remember.

Not moving, I stare at the blood on my hand when Mason is suddenly there. He kneels in front of me. “Hey. You okay? Here. Look at me. Look right in my eyes. That’s good. Now breathe. You’re okay. Just breathe.” He’s talking so fast.

“Ty!” I hear him yell.

Then Ty’s kneeling in front of me, too.

“She’s in shock,” Mason says.

Nailed it, I think to myself, or I might have said it out loud.

Ty and now Bryce have gotten me out of my belt and are basically carrying me back to the medical area. They lay me down on a stretcher. Ty is putting something on the area that hurts on my head. Trying to stop the bleeding, I guess.

“Hey Mills, focus on me for a second. Okay? Here I am. Over here,” Bryce says.

Yes, I see you, Bryce. You’re like a foot from my face. Again, I’m not sure if I’m saying that out loud or just thinking it. His face looks blurry.

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