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But I wasn't here to quit. I hadn't come this far and long only to be forced to return to the darkness.
If I couldn't give myself to my country, I would have nothing more to do with this life.
I had no one to return to.
Except the land that I called my own.
I would never rest easy until I was at the gates, doing everything I could to keep the four walls of my home safe.
It had been the longest journey from there. I'd crossed sunsets in deserts with a parched throat and aching muscles.
I'd pushed through snow-capped mountains, blizzards in my vision, praying my team would be safe.
That was the thing about SEALs. You came as an individual unit, but once you survived BUD/S and Hell Week,you were a family.
There were very few instances in life when people who made it through that kind of inferno didn't end up becoming friends.
A fortnight before Holden's visit to Kabul, the Unit Two NSWG commander, Neptune, told me about our new mission.
The Secretary of Defense, along with his core team and other flight crew, had been taken hostage and flown to Kandar. Communications had come to a standstill.
Which meant we had to act. The time for words was gone.
I got our team together. Paladin, Thunder, and Falcon were all with me. It should have felt like it always did.
We'd neutralize the targets and come home with a clean sweep victory.
But this time around, something kept nagging at my innards, telling me I was walking into the jaws of an open-mouthed Oceanic Whitetip Shark.
Duty came first, though. My emotions were always secondary.
So, against the echoing of my heart, I prepared our team as we got into the helicopter and headed for Kandar.
We landed at the command base. It was acre after acre of reinforced steel, complete with guard towers and the essentials, including a medical unit.
The Naval Special Warfare Group Two commanding officer, Neptune, briefed us before the op officially began. He was the man I'd report to.
"My elite." He let his soul-searching eyes travel across the room. "You are here for one reason alone. Get Jacob Holden out of Red Circle's grasp."
Red Circle. That was what we called a high-priority target. In this case,Omar.
Omar Wazir was an Afghan Pashtun.
But the key determinant of his identity was his ruthlessness. He saw himself as a god leading a holy war against the infidels.
"This man is driven by an agenda. And it serves one goal—to create an Islamic caliphate stretching across the Middle East and beyond.
"Taking Holden hostage is step one in his long list of plans.
"Now, team. A man with a brutal reputation is often considered unhinged. Omar uses this to his advantage. I want you all to know he is no madman.
"He is a shrewd strategist who knows how to exploit the diplomatic weaknesses of his enemies. And he has a loyal base. This is who you are up against, not a single person but an entire world of people loyal to him.
"Omar Wazirisyour modern-day dictator."
Omar's loyalist base was what kept him going.
His supporters helped and extended his cause, and he'd built an intricate network of spies willing to die for him.
