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“Say it with me, buddy. Whiskey, Alpha,” he whispered the last word with me, and I knew I nearly had him. His arm started to lower as the last word was said, “Tan—”
Bang!
Brown’s eyes widened and went blank as his rifle fell from his hand. Blood poured from the hole between his eyes. I lunged forward and grabbed him as everyone around us screamed.
“What did you do!” I screamed at Hill, who held his Beretta in his hand. A loud ringing in my ears took over as I looked down at my fallen brother. I took him in my arms and watched as the life drained out of him. “No!” I roared and pressed against the hole in his head to stop the blood. I had to save him. Hill shifted, and I saw him move his gun from Brown to the mother and kids. I jumped up and moved into the line of fire.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I screamed as I hoped to hell he’d turn the gun on himself. I fought the urge to look back at my fallen brother, but I knew he was gone, dead on a dirt floor just minutes away from leaving this endless fight.
“Can’t have witnesses,” Hill said as he stared at the family.
My head spun as I tried to take in what was going on.
“Please! No!” the mother cried, her palms out to Hill as her daughters buried their faces in her skirt.
“My team’s going home without our Captain. He was killed because of you.” He swung his head to me. “You and your idiotic decision to save that fucking kid.” Hill glared at me with hatred in his eyes. “You’ll return home, a hero, most likely get a fucking medal, and look what it cost you.” He spat at Brown’s body, and a red tide of rage took over my body, and along with it a strange sort of calm.
“Lower your weapon, Hill. That’s an order.” My tone was unrecognizable even to me. Suddenly, he lowered his gun, and with one last look at the woman, he ran out the side door.
Moore suddenly appeared and tried to process what the hell just happened. Suddenly, people were running in all directions and gunshots could be heard off in the distance.
“Brown?” Moore dropped to his knees and took a moment to grasp that our friend was gone. I stood there and looked at the terrified woman. The mother held my gaze for a moment then nodded as if to show she understood my grief then she scooped her girls into her arms and fled. Another shot could be heard, and Moore jumped up and grabbed my arm, “Taliban! We gotta leave him.”
“No! Grab his feet.” I couldn’t leave my friend. Moore took both my shoulders and made me face him.
“It’s the kid or Brown’s body. You choose.”
That snapped me back from the spiral I was in. I ripped open Brown’s jacket, tore his tags from his neck, and grabbed his pack.
As we ran back the way we came, I saw the kid standing by himself, crying. He was alone and terrified. Rivera had abandoned him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hill toss something over a fence, but I didn’t have time to think.
“Here!” Moore caught the pack, and without missing a stride, I scooped the kid and raced toward the truck Moore had bought us. We flew out of there with dirt spewing behind us.
We barely had time to think as the Taliban closed in. Bullets flew, and I lay down and used my body as a shield to protect the boy.
The moment the truck slowed near the field, our guys opened fire at the approaching Taliban. We jumped down and raced like hell toward the chopper. We only had minutes before they would overpower our men. I tossed the kid to a man on board and dove in with him. Once we were all inside, we lifted into the air while bullets sprayed like hail. I prayed the chopper wouldn’t take a serious hit.
Hill spoke quickly to Rivera and Dustin while I settled down the terrified kid.
I didn’t take my first real breath until we were out of range of the RPGs the Taliban were setting up as we hauled ass out of there.
My head spun as it tripped over the memories of the past fifteen minutes.
“Captain Beckett!” An officer handed me a pair of headphones. “Is everyone accounted for?”
I swallowed back the pain in my chest as I looked over at Moore.
“Affirmative.”
“Can I see that kid’s face?” He pointed to the boy, so I peeled him off my chest so he could see him.
“Well, shit, you found him.”
“Found who?”
“That’s Imdad Jaber’s son.” My face dropped as I digested what he’d just told me. Jaber was the leader of the province of Takhar and one of our biggest allies. “He was taken by the Taliban three weeks ago. He just disappeared into thin air. Jaber is currently in Washington with the rest of his family for their own protection.” He smiled wide, but I couldn’t. How could he know what we’d just left behind? He patted me on the back and spouted, “Well done, Captain.”
Moore looked at me and shook his head. His sorrow mirrored my own. He held up his thumb and little finger to indicate a phone to ask what was up. He was too tired to even try to read our lips. I just pointed and looked down at the kid, and he nodded. I gave him a big smile to show it was at least something positive.
