Page 60 of Theirs to Treasure

“I got a call two months later. I had to go and identify her body. She’d been found in an alley. She had OD’d. I killed her, Sam.” She wasn’t sobbing like she had been before. She acted like she had something to atone for. Sam watched as tear after tear dripped down her face. He couldn’t stand it.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I promise.” There was that phrase again.

“You don’t understand, Sam. I did what I had to do. I did kill her. And I would do it again. It took me a lot of years to learn to live with this and make my peace with it. I did the right thing. All I have to do is look at Sarah and Becca to know I did the right thing. Sam, I did the only thing I could in a really bad situation. That’s how I can promise you it’s going to be all right.”

Then this magnificent, strong, and beautiful woman cupped his cheek and leaned up to kiss him with tear-slicked lips, and he drank her in.

Chapter 23

“It was different for me.” Sam started his story. He could see it clearly in his head. “I was in charge. It was my job to make sure we all came home alive.”

Josie rested her head against his heart, not saying a word, just snuggling closer, so that she could listen. “We were on a road we had driven countless times, but we were cautious. Just because we had done it before, didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous. We were behind another Humvee, and we watched as it hit an IED that had been planted overnight. It was a big one. The truck flew up almost a foot, and we knew the troops inside were going to be in bad shape, if they weren’t dead.” Sam could see it clearly in his mind’s eye. The three men and one woman in that vehicle had been under his command. He’d been driving the second vehicle. He slammed on the brakes and told the others to stay put. Then he went to see if there were any survivors.

Sam had told them to stay in the vehicle for a reason. It was obviously an ambush. If there was an IED, there were going to be snipers. The others stayed back to cover him, as he ran a zigzag pattern to get to the injured rig.

It always amazed Sam just how much blood could come out of the human body. It was like a scene out of a horror movie. Mac and Rhonda were past saving, but Leroy and Nathan were still alive. Nathan was conscious.

“I’m trapped, Sam!” Nathan was yelling, deafened from the explosion. Sam checked out his friend and saw that the front seat had him pinned against the interior of the Humvee. When he tried to pull the top seat away from the wall, the bottom pressed into Nathan’s injured legs, causing him to groan in pain.

“Stop!” Nathan yelled. “Go see about Leroy.”

Sam moved back, and when he started to pull Leroy out, the man screamed. He had a bad head wound. It was a wonder that he was even conscious. No wonder he was screaming. If they didn’t get him to a MASH unit quick, he wasn’t going to make it.

“You have to take him, man. Getting me out is a two-man job,” Nathan gasped.

Sam gave a sharp nod. “Don’t go anywhere.” Sam said to his best friend in the Marines.

“You think you’re real funny, don’t you, asshole?” Nathan gasped out a laugh, just as Sam had hoped.

Then Sam dragged Leroy out of the destroyed Humvee. The first sniper bullet rang out as he hefted Leroy over his shoulders. He pushed the radio mic on his shoulder. “Phil, cover me, I’m coming back. Dan, find a crowbar. We’re going to need it to pull out Nathan.” With that, Sam started the zigzag pattern back to his Humvee, praying that Leroy would make it, and that they would be able to get Nathan out of the damaged vehicle.

Almost to the rig, Dan darted out in front of him, crowbar in his hand. Sam sped up. He ran around the back side of the Humvee and dumped Leroy into the backseat, ignoring his screams of pain.

“Phil, do you have a bead on them?” Sam yelled, wanting to know about the snipers’ positions.

“Lieutenant, they keep moving position. I think there are three of them, on the roof across the plaza.” Sam looked up, and then ducked as a bullet whizzed by his head.

“Ah, fuck!” Phil yelled.

Sam turned to see what had so upset Phil. Looking over, Sam saw Dan lying in the dirt. Half of his head was missing.

Another bullet pinged the windshield of Sam’s Humvee.

“I got him!” Bret called out, referring to one of the snipers. Now they were down to just two snipers shooting. Sam decided that he’d try to get back to Nathan. When he turned to tell Arnold, the man grabbed his arm.

“Look!” Arnold pointed to the wreck, and Sam saw men dragging Nathan out of the ruined Humvee, while surrounded by four more insurgents.

“Ah, Jesus, he’s still alive,” Phil groaned. It was every soldier’s worst nightmare. Sam couldn’t believe how badly this day had turned out. The last two soldiers who’d been caught in this village had been held and tortured for days, before being filmed giving a confession that they were American spies intent on killing Afghan women and children. They were then beheaded on camera, for the soldier’s families to see back home in the States.

“Bret, keep trying to take out those goddamn snipers. Arnold and Phil, the three of us will try for the men holding Nathan,” Sam ordered.

As Bret kept shooting, the two insurgents who weren’t holding Nathan knelt, pulled out automatic rifles, and fired at them. Sam watched in horror as Arnold was hit in the shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Arnold yelled. But Sam knew he wasn’t. Phil read Sam’s intention to retreat, and he begged him to keep trying.

“We’ve got to save Nathan. Lieutenant, Arnold is fine.”

Maybe, but Leroy wasn’t. Sam had to get them out of there! He took one more look at Nathan as the insurgents dragged him away, trying to think of another solution.