Page 98 of I Promise You
He doesn’t break.
I look away and at every other SEAL in front of me.
“We’re going west,” I finalize.
Even when I say it, something tugs at my clarity. I am sure. I am always confident, but uncertainty tingles in the back of my mind for the first time.
We discussed a plan to execute the mission. We grouped up after I told them we were headed west and to follow Paul’s orders.
So here we go, following my brother’s plan, walking on the edge of a mountain, headed west with tension thick, and our minds set to kill.
We walked a couple more feet closer to Omar and his crew of followers.
I’m quiet as always, observing every little detail I can see through my night vision, and the aura rises with ominous anticipation.
We walk tactically, each step well accounted for. Paul and I lead our teams in the front. Every other operator trail behind us, and we’re so close to our destination.
But then I catch something moving to my left, and I stop in my tracks on the side of the mountain, but Paul keeps walking in front of me.
It moved as fast as it came, and I glare at a tall tree where I last saw this dark shadow move like a figure.
Another deer?
Then I feel something touch my neck.
It couldn’t be wind because nothing else moves when I study the landscape. No trees or leaves sway with it, but I feel something airy and wintry...like a breath, on my throat.
That’s when I hear a familiar snap that echoes deep, the devastating sound bouncing off the mountains when it rang, howling like a ghost, and then it stops.
A shot was fired.
And then another shot rings out, sending Paul spinning, and then another one.
My soul shatters when I realize what the fuck just happened.
But the shooting doesn’t stop, and everyone takes cover.
I drop to the ground, my chest hitting the floor to make sense of what’s happening.
“They saw us coming! They have us pinned!” Lopez informs me before he starts radioing air support.
“Grim, get the fuck back, you’re going to get shot!” It’s Rooker.
“Is Alvarez okay? Where the fuck is he?” Kane shouts into the mic, panicking.
I want to cover my ears when every single man on this mission tonight screams into my ears with worried, shaky tones, demanding me to give them an answer.
Shut up. Shut up. Shut the fuck up, and let me think!
I dare to look forward, tilting my head off the dirt, and I see Paul on his back, wide-eyed to the sky, gasping for air.
“Don’t do it, Grim. Don’t you fucking do it,” Rooker barks at me. He knows me too well. They are all a couple of feet away from us with cover. A luxury Paul and I don’t have.
I jump off the floor, sprinting as bullets spray in our direction. Dirt and rocks explode into the air all around us. I pull him away from where he is lying. I drag him back behind a rock that sits nearby. He weighs nothing to me, when adrenaline lights me up and our lives on the line.
The boulder gives both him and I just enough cover.
I expect him to groan as I drag him to cover, but no…it’s choking, I hear.
