Page 114 of Duty Preserved

The rounds hitting our building reduced, but the sound of gunfire outside increased. I slid back toward Sarah with my rifle aimed at the door and listened.

Gunfire, but from outside the farmstead. Disciplined and coordinated, spraying across the groups of men who had been advancing on our building. Controlled bursts from multiple angles, catching Nasser’s men in the open spaces between the buildings and the vehicles.

For a second, my brain couldn’t place it. The fire that had been pinning me shifted. The shooters were suddenly orienting toward a new threat, driven away from their positions.

Then a voice carried across the farmstead.

Zayn. Calling positions across the compound. Short, sharp commands, directing fire with the cadence I’d drilled into him on the training ground. “Alpha hold, bravo advance. Bravo hold, alpha advance.” I could hear them coordinating a full assault.

Then, as they closed in, individual voices barely audible over the sustained gunfire they were unleashing.

“Set.”

“Moving.”

“Move.”

Then another. And another. Ranger after ranger, their voices cutting through the gunfire as they closed on the farmstead.

Every one of them. They were all here.

My head dropped back against the wall. My eyes burned, and I couldn’t breathe for a reason that had nothing to do with the firefight.

I didn’t tell them to come. I didn’t ask.

I used the opportunity to lean out of the doorway and provide fire support. With the combined fire coming from me and the rangers, Nasser’s crew was forced back and eventually fell apart.

I crossed the doorway and dropped beside Sarah. She grabbed my arm with both hands and didn’t let go.

A man bolted from one of the lit buildings and was driven to the ground by a burst that kicked up dirt at his feet. He threw his weapon away and put his hands behind his head. Another stumbled out with his arms raised. Zayn commanded them down, and they went down.

“Zayn! Zayn! We’re in here!”

Zayn was the first ranger through the door. He swept the room with his rifle up, then saw Sarah and me. He gave me a big grin.

“I need you to watch over Sarah. I have to go get Andrew,” I said.

“Yes, sir,” Zayn replied.

Two more rangers came in behind him. I looked at Sarah. She was safe. She was in good hands.

I ran for Andrew.

He’d dragged himself behind a water trough. One hand clamped over his left side, the other still wrapped around his rifle. Blood on the ground beneath him. His face was white, but his eyes were open.

“How bad?”

“Through and through. Left side.” He pulled his hand away and looked at it. “Missed the lung. Probably.”

“Probably.”

“Probably is good enough, as long as it didn’t hit my liver. I need that.” He tried to push himself up, and his face contorted. He dropped back. “Who the hell is doing all that shooting out there?”

“The rangers.”

He let his head fall back against the trough. Something close to a laugh came out of him, broken and wet. “Of course they are.”

I grabbed gauze and chest seals out of his med kit and sealed up his wounds. I flagged down two rangers to come get him. When they arrived, I went back to the building where Sarah waited.