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“Another three or four miles. Maybe less,” Dev said.
“Can you go any faster?” Jase studied the distant figures. So far, no sign the troops had spotted them.
“You want to blow out a tire?” Dev said through what sounded like clenched teeth. “If so, I can go faster.”
“Nothing’s changed in the distance,” Jase said. “I think we’re okay so far.”
It was probably five minutes before they disappeared around the curve of the mountain. Jase leaned forward, studying the mountain rising on three sides. They were hidden for the moment. And if they were very lucky, they’d find a small pocket where they could park the Humvee, out of sight of anyone passing this point.
As Dev drove closer to the base of the mountain they faced, Jase and Cody watched their left. Finally, as Dev slowed the vehicle at the base of the scree slope, Jase leaned to his right.
“There,” he said, spotting the darkness. “Looks like a cave in there.”
“You two go check it out,” Dev said. “I’ll turn this thing around so I can back in if there’s room.”
Jase leapt out of the Humvee, ready to stretch his legs after the long drive. Cody did the same thing, and both of them rested their hands on their sidearms as they approached the cave.
Both of them listening intently as Jase stood beside Cody. The silence was complete. He glanced at Cody, who shook his head. Nothing.
They pulled flashlights from their packs and shone them on the black hole in the mountain. It was a cave, big enough for the Humvee. Jase walked toward the space, taking one side of the cave. Cody prowled the other side.
The cave widened as they moved deeper into the mountain. Plenty of room. The perfect place to stash the Humvee. Jase looked at Cody. Cody nodded. Gave a thumbs-up.
They trotted out of the cave and Jase hurried to the driver’s side of the Humvee. Dev rolled down the window. “Plenty of room back there,” Jase said. “Back it in, and we’re good. It’s like it was made to hide this bad boy.”
The tension in Dev’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank God.” He jerked his head toward Cody, who stood at the mouth of the cave. “Go stand with Parker while I back in. Don’t want to crush you. Not accidentally, anyway.” He shot Jase a smirk.
Trotting toward Parker, Jase watched as the huge vehicle backed slowly into the cave. If not for its headlights, which had come on in the darkness, he wouldn’t be able to see it.
Finally, when the motor stopped and the lights switched off, Jase couldn’t see a thing. The sunlight reached only a few feet into the cave but made it impossible to make out any shapes in the thick blackness.
When the engine cut out, Jase trotted toward the car, followed by Cody. Both men took their M4A1 carbines out of the back of the vehicle and slung the large, heavy guns over their shoulders. Each man also grabbed a couple boxes of ammo and stuffed them in their packs.
Now Jase was comfortable. He felt naked without his weapon, especially with the possibility of Tangos showing up.
Dev slid out of the driver’s seat and grabbed his own weapon and extra ammo. Once all three of them were armed, Jase looked at the other two men. “What’s the plan?”
“We obviously can’t extract her during the day,” Cody said. “Not with that crowd of nasties out there. So I guess we stay in here with the beast and get some sleep. Wait for darkness to climb that scree slope and pull her out.”
Jase pursed his lips. Shook his head. “She’s alone in that cave, knowing the Taliban are close by. Worrying about whether they’ll find her.”
“I don’t like it either,” Dev said. “But we can’t help her climb down during daylight. Might as well send up a flag that says, ‘Look! CIA agent escaping’!”
Jase took a deep breath. He wasn’t looking forward to being alone with Laila in that cave. He’d thought about her far too often since she’d been deployed to the village, and every time he pictured her, the same punch of lust hit him squarely in the chest. Laila Burke was already too hard to forget, and the last thing he wanted was to interact with her again. But he needed to put aside his reluctance to face Laila and do his best for her.
“I’m the best climber of the three of us,” he said. “I’ll go up that scree slope and find her. Stay with her until dark, then help her down the mountain. Then we can flip off the Tangos as we drive back to Kabul.”
Cody nodded. “Works for me.”
Dev shook his head. “Nope. Too risky. If one of that rabble saw you on the scree slope, all of us and Laila Burke would be screwed.”
“What if the Taliban go into that cave next to her for ammo or weapons,” Jase tossed back. “You want her there, alone, with nothing but a Glock 44 to protect herself?” He shook his head. “Oh, wait, it’s not just the Glock. She has a knife strapped to her leg, too. So she should be good.”
Dev snorted, then studied Jase for a long moment. “If you stay at the top of the scree slope, right at the line of cave openings, it might work,” he finally said. “They might not see you. People don’t look up when they’re searching for threats. They look at eye level.” He frowned. “I know you’re a good climber, but can you handle that loose scree? Can you walk along the top of that slope without dislodging a bunch of rocks?”
“Yeah, I can handle the scree,” Jase said. He just wasn’t sure he could handle his reaction to Laila. “And if there’s a problem, I’ll slip into one of the caves. They won’t see me.” Dev was right. It would be risky. But he didn’t want to leave Laila alone in a cave. Not when there were Taliban in the area.
Finally Dev said, “Okay. Give it a shot. But come back if it’s too dicey. If you think they’ve spotted you. Or even if you just get a bad feeling.”
“Will do,” Jase said. He reached into the Humvee for his pack. Grabbed a few extra MREs, along with extra bottles of water, and tossed them all in his pack. “I’ll let you know when I find her,” he said. “You call Mel and fill her in on the details. We’ll talk after it’s dark tonight and the Taliban are gone.
“And I’ll take a few bricks of C-4 and some detonators. Might as well get rid of those weapons while I’m up there. We’ll blow them as we drive away.”
“Great idea,” Cody said. He opened the back of the Humvee and pulled out four bricks of C-4, four detonators and the electronic trigger for them.
Jase stuffed them into his pack and slung it over his shoulder. Then, with a last wave at Dev and Cody, he walked out of the darkness into the growing sunlight. It wasn’t as bright as it would be later in the day, but he was still taking a chance by climbing up to Laila.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled on a pair of lightweight climbing gloves and took the first step up the slope.
