CHAPTER 28
Renee was falling forward, away from the mountain. She could see the black expanse of the valley below her, and a jolt of adrenaline shot up her spine. The rifle swung wildly on its sling as she tumbled downward. With a sharp jolt, she was suddenly left dangling in thin air.
It took her a second to realize she wasn’t falling, and when she finally looked up, she saw Mason hanging out over the ledge. One of his hands held on to a protruding rock, while the other was stretched over the edge and locked on to the drag strap sewn into the top of her kit.
Mason yelled to Zeus, “Hold my feet.”
He could feel himself slipping, but he refused to let go of Renee. The Libyan grabbed his ankles and struggled against the combined weight.
The American had wanted to do nothing more than to set up the laser designator and call in the strike, but he knew he’d never be able to live with himself. Zeus had shrugged when he stowed the designator in his pack and set off to find Renee. It was a matter of blind luck that they had seen her fall into the shallow depression. Luckily, they had found a way down, and just as he was about to get her attention, he saw her stumble and pitch off the cliff.
“Pull my legs,” he yelled over his shoulder.
Zeus set his heels in the shaky gravel and pushed hard while keeping a firm grip on his friend. Mason could feel his belt buckle digging in the dirt as he inched away from the edge, pulling Renee with him.
Finally, she was able to get a foothold and support her own weight. Grabbing Mason’s forearm, she used her free hand to climb back onto the rocks.
“Holy shit, I thought you were dead,” Mason panted as she collapsed next to him.
“Me too,” she said weakly.
Mason dropped his pack and pulled out the SOFLAM for the second time that night. After screwing the tripod into the bottom of the laser, he set it up on a rock and centered the reticle on Barnes’s men. Once he had an acceptable sight picture, Mason hit the button, which “painted” the target. The designator beeped once, telling him it was locked on.
After ensuring he had the remote switch in his pocket, he zipped his pack and tossed it over his shoulder. The laser would toggle itself on and off to conserve batteries, but they needed to be able to use the radio to call it in.
“We can’t stick around here any longer,” Zeus said matter-of-factly.
“Renee, we have to go,” Mason said.
She was staring down at the final stages of the assault and ignored him. There was almost no fire coming from inside the perimeter, while Barnes’s men fired and maneuvered until they were within grenade range.
“Renee…,” he said again, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“I know,” was all she said.
They had four kilometers to cover to get to their extraction point. Mason had marked their last position on his GPS and moved quickly to get out of the jammer’s range. He’d placed Renee in between him and Zeus, and periodically he checked over his shoulder to ensure she was still moving.
He’d known the woman for less than a day but was impressed by her resiliency. Mason had never been a misogynist, mainly because women had raised him, but he vividly remembered the first time someone introduced the issue of women in Special Ops. The general consensus of his team had been that women had a place in the kitchen or in the bedroom. It had been a joke then, but Mason had serious reservations about letting them into their warrior community.
Renee had managed to prove him wrong in less than a day.
The woman had more balls than most men he’d met, and the fact that she hadn’t broken down after what she’d witnessed in the valley told him everything he needed to know. A part of him already felt a deep connection with her, but the warm feeling seemed wrong, and he tried to push it out of his mind.
They slowly descended a steep grade that gently leveled off onto the low ground. With the mountains behind them, Mason checked the radio, depressing the talk button. It was static-free.
Motioning for Zeus to halt, Mason took cover behind a jagged mound of dirt and stone and brought the radio up to his mouth. Using his left hand, he pulled the PEQ-1’s remote targeting device out of his pocket and hit the arm button.
“Steeler Base, this is Steeler 7, be advised we are clear of the objective and target is painted.” He held the radio to his ear and waited for a response.
“Steeler 7, this is Steeler Base. Good copy. Continue to primary extraction point. Be advised, Reaper is on station.”
“Roger that, Steeler Base. Target is hot, I say again, target is hot.”
“Stand by, Steeler 7.”
Mason looked around at nothing in particular as he waited. Both Renee and Zeus were pulling security, leaving him free to deal with the radio.
“Steeler 7, Steeler Base, rifle on two Hellfires, how copy?”
“Good copy. Be advised we aren’t going to be able to provide damage assessment.”
“Roger, continue to exfil, Steeler Base out.”
Mason stowed the radio and moved to Renee’s position. He hoped the fact that two missiles were on their way might ease her mind.
“Missiles inbound,” he said.
She didn’t take her eyes off her sector, and the only response she gave was a slight nod of her head.
“We need to move out,” he said after a moment.
Mason had expected some reaction, but she hadn’t given it to him and he knew that the two missiles hurtling toward their target would never be enough to matter. Neither one would ever know if the Hellfires had even hit their targets.
“We’ll get the guy who did this,” Mason promised.
He wasn’t sure why he told her that but knew she needed something to focus on. Mr. David knew who’d led the team into the ambush, and he was going to tell them whether he wanted to or not.
Renee got to her feet, and when she looked at him, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Her impassive face might as well have been carved out of marble. Standing in the darkness, she waited for Mason to lead them out.
Renee paused and looked wistfully at the rock face towering over them. Men like Barnes didn’t die from missiles. Good men were all too easy to kill, while evil men seemed to pass unscathed as they doled out their violence.
She greedily devoured the moment, noting the stillness of the air and the light scent of raw earth and musty vegetation. She savored the stinging void in the pit of her stomach and the accusing voice that blamed her for the men’s death. The misery would be her fuel when tired and her blanket when cold. Renee willingly shouldered the burden, and as she turned to follow Mason, she set her mind to a day when she would lay it beside Barnes’s lifeless body.
Lowering her head, she resolved herself to put one foot in front of the other until that day finally came. She was so deep within herself that she almost didn’t hear the low, rolling explosions of the Hellfires detonating on the back side of the mountain.
CHAPTER 29
Renee hadn’t said anything during the helicopter ride out of Pakistan, and Mason was worried. She’d stared out the small window and idly toyed with the necklace she wore until they landed. When Mr. David met them at the flight line, there was pure hatred in her eyes, and Mason had thought it best to send her and Zeus to their assigned rooms while he briefed the new boss.
“Well, that was a failure,” Mr. David said once they were alone.
“I told you what was going to happen, but you CIA fucks think you know everything. There is something bigger going on here, and you wasted a lot of good men to find out what I already told you,” Mason replied angrily.
“Anything else you wish to get off your chest?”