Chapter 3 - Six Hundred Yards
Three years earlier, the mountains in Kunar Province were black against an even blacker sky.
I was on a ridge six hundred yards above the evacuation point, lying behind a rifle while dust scraped my lips. Below me, my spotters—Luke Mercer, Mateo Ruiz, and Owen Park—watched a narrow road through thermal optics.
They weren't boys playing at war. Luke was a father who mailed silly drawings to his daughter. Mateo could fix anything with wire and bad language. Owen kept a folded picture of his mother inside his sleeve.
At 2:14 a.m., a convoy appeared where our intelligence said no convoy should be. Two contractor trucks followed a vehicle carrying a radio code reserved for friendly forces.
“Vance,” Luke whispered into my headset. “Those aren't ours.”
“I see them.”
One truck stopped beside Captain Thorne's helicopter. Through my scope I watched Thorne speak to a man in a tan jacket. The man passed him a hard case. Thorne handed over a packet in return.
“Photograph that,” I told Owen.
“Already recording,” he answered.
Then muzzle flashes erupted from the far road. Whoever controlled the convoy knew exactly where my team was positioned.
“Extraction, we're compromised,” I transmitted. “Three personnel at Point Echo. Request immediate pickup.”
Thorne's reply came back flat. “Negative. Aircraft overweight. Abort.”
“There are three men on the ground.”
“I know how many there are, Lieutenant Commander.”
Below me, the helicopter lifted. There were empty seats visible through the side door.
“Thorne, return. That's an order from the mission's overwatch lead.”
He cut the channel.
I slid down the ridge toward my team while shots splintered rock around us. Mateo was hit first. Luke tried to carry him. Owen dragged a wounded civilian from the road, refusing to leave her in the fire.
I reached them with one magazine left and a broken radio antenna. Luke pressed a recording chip into my glove.
“Make sure June knows I didn't run,” he said.
Then the hillside lit up with another volley.
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When I woke in a field hospital two days later, Luke and Mateo were dead. Owen was listed as missing, presumed dead. The chip was gone.
And Thorne had already received a medal.
