Operation Summer Storm (13 page)

Around them stores of ammunition exploded. Summer felt the heat from the explosions against her face as they ran. Shrapnel kicked up clouds of dust and dirt as it landed on the ground around them. Smoke was everywhere as more and more buildings caught fire. She stumbled as the smoke stung her eyes, blurring her vision and making her eyes water. With each new explosion she feared they’d be cut down by shrapnel at any moment but Tate refused to let any of them take cover. Pulling them back up to their feet when they stumbled, he pushed them onwards.

“Keep running—we’ve got to make that chopper,” he shouted over the chaos and destruction raining down all around them. Cries of pain echoed and followed them through the once quiet compound.

Summer ran behind the two nurses. She knew from the exhaustion written on their faces they were drawing on what little reserves of energy they had left. The further they got, the more frequently they stumbled and each time they fell it took longer to stagger back to their feet. She hoped they could hang on just a little bit longer. They were so close to getting out of this hell hole—just a little bit further..

Summer squeezed her eyes shut against the sting of acrid smoke, and stopped to wipe her eyes with the corner of her shirt. Turning to get her bearings she realized they were close to the Generals hut. A flash of inspiration hit her in those brief few moments and she knew she had to act fast. Casting a quick glance ahead she saw Tate up front leading the little group toward the fence line and knew it was now or never.

Discussing this with Tate would be pointless—there was no way they had time to argue about it. She had to find Willow and she knew where to start looking. With a final glance at the retreating backs of the two nurses, Summer made a quick detour, slipping into the shadows.

The door was open and Summer cautiously stepped inside, covering her mouth with her shirt as the flames and smoke almost chocked her.

The room was on fire and the flames were rapidly growing, licking at the walls and windows. She saw a body slumped on the floor beside the far window, and realized it was the General. His cold eyes, now stared sightlessly into the flames lapping at his heels. Knowing the General lie dead only a few feet away from her was enough to give her the creeps—she wasn’t hanging around here a moment longer than she needed to. Dragging her gaze away, she reminded herself that at any moment someone could run through the door and shoot her. She quickly searched the room until she found what she’d came back for—shoving it under her shirt she left the hut.

Keeping to the shadows she kept low and headed back the way she’d come. She froze as a dark form stepped out in front of her, too fast for her to turn and run.

The young soldier’s eyes glittered with a mixture of hatred and fear. He sprung at her. Summer barely had time to scream, closing her eyes and waiting for the pain of a bullet ripping through her chest. When it didn’t come, she opened her eyes and found the soldier slumped at her feet.

“Move,” the command reached her, seconds before the large body of a mercenary materialized before her and she let out a sigh of relief, running to his side, “Willow isn’t here,” she shouted over the roar of flames and fire.

“What?” he yelled back, searching her face.

“Willow isn’t here. They’ve taken her somewhere else.” Summer shook her head adamantly. “We can’t leave without her.”

He stilled for a moment. She saw him processing this new information, sorting it out in his head and re-assessing his plan. Grabbing her hand, he turned abruptly pulling her along behind him.

Tate led her toward a section of fence where a hole gaped and herded her through, pointing toward the mountain before them. “Follow the others and wait for us at the top.”

He handed Summer a long canister about seven inches long. At her puzzled look, he briefed her in a firm tone. “It’s a signal flare,” he showed her how to pull off one end and fit it over the other which had a firing pin on the inside. “Aim it into the sky and strike with the palm of your hand to launch it,” he told her. “Set it off up there as soon as you hear the chopper.”

Summer hesitated, turning to face him, “I’m not leaving without her,” she yelled in order to be heard above the chaos happening all around them.

“Just get them up the hill,” he shouted back, “and set off that flare. I’ll be right behind you. I’ll figure something out but we have to get out of here first.”

She stared after him as he disappeared back into the smoke before shaking herself out of it and turned to start up the mountain. It didn’t take long to catch up with the women and she hurried to help support Anna who’d become too weak to walk.

As they reached the summit, Summer settled them into the cover of the foliage which surrounded the clearing. They sat to catch their breath as they waited for Tate to reappear. She searched the sky and strained her ears for the sound of an approaching helicopter. When it finally came, she followed his instructions.

Closing her eyes, she pointed the relay baton looking object into the dark sky above them, then hit it hard against her palm. Making a short FFFFFSSSS sound, a brilliant green glow lit up the sky above them—pointing out their location to anyone in who knew how many kilometers. She just hoped the helicopter pilot would be the only one following it to them.

The dull green beast hovered above them, the deafening sound of its rotor blades drowning out the sound of the battle raging behind them. Trees blew about in a frenzy of outrage.

With dust whipping around their faces, the women crouched low as they waited for the helicopter to touch down before making a run for the open doorway. Helping Anna and then Michelle into the aircraft, Summer turned back to search for any sign of the men.

The pilot looked at his watch and tapped it with a stern warning, “I’ll give them five minutes and that’s it lady,” he called back at her.

Biting her lip, she wondered what could be keeping them. As five minutes approached, the pilot made moves to lift off and Summer panicked, “Do you know where to take them?” she yelled over the choppers roar.

The pilot gave a nod of his head and Summer made a decision. “Get them out of here.”

“Aren’t you getting in?” he called out to her as she ran backwards away from the rotor blades.

“No, I’m staying.”

She saw him shake his head, but he obviously wasn’t about to risk his own hide trying to talk her out of it. The chopper rose and Summer turned her head away to protect her face. The helicopter pulled away, swinging in a low arc, before disappearing into the darkness, and Summer pushed away the horrible, empty feeling of abandonment. Then steeled herself, there was no way she was going to fly off and leave her sister stranded here, all alone and terrified.

Sinking to the ground, she huddled behind a tree with a clear view of the direction they’d come up the hill from the camp and waited. She didn’t have long to wait; four figures materialized out of the darkness, running toward her. Waiting until she was positive they were friendly and not soldiers from the camp, she stepped out to meet them. Without stopping, Tate spun her around, hooked her under the arms and kept running. They needed to get clear of the area, before re-enforcements arrived. She didn’t argue or put up a fight as there was no way she wanted to be caught by a bunch of angry rebels. She did her best to keep up with the men as they ran, although finally she had to call for a stop as a cramp ripped through her side and doubled her over with the pain.

“I’m okay,” she moaned, breathing heavily. “I just need a minute.”

“We’ll stop here for a few minutes but I want to get some more distance between us and them before daylight,” Tate told her quietly. “Think you’ll be okay?”

Summer managed to nod, as she leaned over, her hands resting on her thighs, taking deep breaths. When the stabbing pain eased, she stood up and nodded that she was okay to keep going. By the time the first wisps of light touched the sky, they’d made enough distance to keep Tate happy and were able to stop for a proper rest.

“Do you think they’ll have people out looking for us?” Summer asked Del as he sat beside her with his eyes closed, black and green paint still covering his face from the raid on the camp.

“Hopefully they saw the chopper leave and figured we were on it.”

“Which leads me to the obvious question…why the hell weren’t you on it?” Tate snapped, coming over to stand over her.

“Willow was taken from the camp two days ago. The agreement was: we find her and get her out. I’m not leaving without her.”

“Well, I have some bad news for you sweetheart. We don’t have any way of finding her from here. It’s going to take at least a week to get any intel back and first, we have to figure out how the hell we’re going to get home.”

“I know where she is,” Summer said quietly.

Four sets of eyes zoned in on her immediately.

“Tréago has her.”

Tate shook his head slightly, “Yeah, we figured but it doesn’t help us much; he could be anywhere.”

“Well it can’t be far. He drove to the camp earlier.”

“We don’t have the equipment on hand to just pluck him out of the jungle.”

“Look, we’re here now. We’ve got to be close, it makes no sense to go all the way back to your base and then turn around and come back here again. Besides, after all that time they’ll have managed to re-group, and re-supply, and they’ll be ready for another attack.”

“It’d be like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack,” he argued.

“What if you had an aerial map of the area? Would that help?” she asked.

“Well darlin,’ unless you can magically pull one outta’ your ass, we’re shit outta’ luck on that score as well,” he snapped.

Summer held his angry scowl as she reached down the front of her shirt and watched his expression melt into one of disbelief, “I haven’t mastered the arse pulling technique just yet—I’m obviously not as talented as you. This is the best I can do.” Summer handed over the flattened and folded map she’d gone back to rip off the Generals desk earlier. Even though she’d only caught a glimpse of it in the hut, the camp’s location had been easily recognized in the photo.

Tate spread the large photo on the ground between them and the men clustered around it, carefully scanning the picture-digging out other maps from their gear to work out coordinates.

Summer snagged a pack nearby and laid back, using it as a headrest. The last twenty-four hours were taking its toll on her. Now that her body had stopped pumping adrenalin around in order to keep her moving, she felt the effects of the increased activity and injuries she’d sustained along the way.

Del pointed to a blob on the picture, “That could be it; looks like some kind of small compound. It’s close enough to the camp to make it drivable.”

“Hey, what else you got shoved down that top? Any beer?” Tupper asked, making to come over and take a look.

A smile touched Summer’s lips and she shot him a stern look. “Nope. Sorry; all out.” Her eyes drifted closed as she listened to the low murmur of the men throwing around ideas and sketching out a rough plan. She’d leave them to it and just rest her eyes for a few minutes…

* * * *

Tate glanced over at Summer, her head resting on his pack and thought how peaceful she managed to look as she slept. A wave of relief had washed over him when he came through that doorway and saw her waiting for him. That instant, when he’d held her tightly against him, he’d known the true meaning of the word grateful. He’d never been more grateful to see anyone in his life.

He’d never experienced emotions like the ones he’d been experiencing over the last twenty-four hours. On a mission he was focused—personally detached. He had to be. To keep a clear head, you couldn’t worry about your emotions—not if you wanted to get the men you were responsible for out in one piece. Today he’d been bombarded by every emotion known to mankind. He worried about how she was; he worried about his calculations. He battled an urge to just walk in there, a one-man army, scoop her up in his arms, and carry her off into the sunset like some Hollywood hero. Dropping his head into his hands, he squeezed his eyes shut and fought to get his wayward thoughts back into alignment.

“Here, drink this. You look like you need something stronger, but coffee is all we have,” Del said, dropping to his haunches beside his friend and flashing him a consoling smile.

“Thanks,” Tate murmured, reaching up to take the brew and staring into its uninviting depths with little enthusiasm.

“Pretty impressive,” Del said, taking a seat on the hard ground and hitching his head in Summer’s direction.

Tate’s frown furrowed once more as he followed Del’s gaze. “She was damn lucky she wasn’t killed, risking her life for a stupid map.”

“It’s her sister, man. You’d do the same.”

“She’s a liability. This whole damn mission is screwed up. She keeps changing the rules,” Tate muttered.

Del gave a chuckle and tossed the remains of his coffee. “Maybe we’ve been out of the loop too long. You’re starting to forget what a real mission is like. When was the last time you remember one running like clockwork?”

“The sooner this one’s over, the better as far as I’m concerned,” he growled. He just hoped they stayed alive long enough to see it through.

Chapter Nine

They’d been making slower progress, mindful of possible patrols out searching for them throughout the day so Summer had an easier time keeping up. The aerial map picked up a significantly sized compound that seemed a likely place to start searching for Willow. It could all be a wild goose chase but considering the clues they had on hand, it made sense that this would be the place Tréago had holed up in.