“Take this,” Hunter said. He pushed a small object into my hand. It was a thumb drive. “Everything on Project Heartbreaker is on here. I’ve been doing some homework. Everything I found out about Gordon’s double-dealing is on here, too.”
“What do I do with this, sir?” I asked. The thumb drive had Colonel Hunter’s bloody thumbprint on it.
“Give it to the right people,” the colonel replied. “Find someone you can trust. Be careful. This is a lot bigger . . .” Hunter’s voice trailed off. He coughed up more blood.
“Colonel! Stay with us!” Sarah cried.
“This is bigger than you know,” Hunter whispered, his one eye staring at me intently. “There’s something else, too, not on the drive. Another project. Like Red, only bigger this time.” Hunter trailed off again. His breathing was ragged now. Blood bubbled out of his nose. “Project Blue’s ready. You’ve got to . . .” His words tapered off, too faint to hear.
Hunter was almost gone. “I can’t hear you. What?” I asked urgently.
Suddenly he grabbed my armor and pulled me close with surprising intensity. “Evangeline!” he hissed. Then his grip relaxed. His eye unfocused. “Find—” He coughed, painful and wet, gasping for air as his body shut down.
Colonel Curtis Hunter died before he could finish that sentence. I quietly swore to myself before gently closing his eye. I pocketed the thumb drive and stood up.
“What was he trying to say?” Sarah asked.
I shook my head. “I hope it’s on this drive. I hope it’s not for nothing.” I stepped across the room and looked out the window. My remaining teammates had fallen back to the supply building behind my position. They were being pushed back to the docks. Enemy troops continued to pour in around the disabled tank, spreading out through the motorpool as they entered the compound. There was literally a heap of dead Zubaran militiamen all around the tank, but more kept coming, stepping over their dead comrades. General Al Sabah was using the local radical militants as cannon fodder.
Sarah huddled close to me. “What are we going to do?” There was fear in her voice.
“I still have the phone Ling gave me.” I was scared too. “If we get out of the compound, we can contact her. She said the deal was still on if we needed her help. We can—”
Before I could finish that thought, the entire compound was rocked by a huge explosion. The concussion hit my face through the shattered windows. A section of wall just down from the gate was blasted high into the air. I turned and shoved Sarah to the floor, covering her with my body as pieces of the wall rained on the compound.
I risked another look out the window. Through the new hole in the wall, dozens more soldiers streamed into the compound, a lot more Zubaran regulars, supported by some kind of wheeled armored car. They had to be hitting us with a company-sized element, if not bigger.
Sarah shook her head. She grabbed my hand and held it tightly. “We’re . . . we’re going to die here, aren’t we?”
I stood there helplessly watching as the Zubarans pushed my remaining friends back even farther. The compound was being overrun, and they weren’t taking prisoners. I looked down at the floor, then over at Sarah. I nodded slowly as my last hope died.
Sarah closed her eyes for a second while she took a deep breath. “Promise me you’ll stay with me until the end,” she said, looking into my eyes.
“I promise,” I replied. “I won’t leave you. No matter what.” Tears welled up in Sarah’s eyes as she leaned forward and kissed me. I stepped back and steeled myself. “Are you locked and loaded?”
Sarah pulled back the charging handle on her carbine slightly, checking the chamber. “I’m ready.”
“Stay behind me. Stay low. Move when I move, stop when I stop. We’re going to circle around the backside of the building and link up with our guys on the other side. Let’s go,” I said, leading the way out of Hunter’s office. Zubaran soldiers were running past the admin building, one floor down from where I was. I didn’t have much time before they entered the building. It’s a strange feeling, knowing you’re running off to your own death.
I didn’t make it three steps before my phone rang.
Chapter 20:
Rain
LORENZO
It had begun to rain, giant, stinging drops falling like some sort of biblical vengeance.
I was pulling myself around the back corner of the brig when a Zubaran armored car came through a breach in the wall. Soldiers in desert camouflage scurried through behind it, firing wildly at anything that moved. Muzzle flashes were coming from everywhere as Dead Six returned fire.
Really. Not. Cool.
Deaf in one ear, every inch of me hurting, and with two broken fingers, I crouched in the shadows and called for help. “Reaper! Come in Reaper! This is Lorenzo. Come in, damn it!” I shouted into the radio.
“Lorenzo! You’re alive! Get out of there. The army is attacking!”
No shit. “Status?
Carl responded. “The road’s blocked. I can see five armored cars. There’s a company-sized element hitting the compound now, mix of regulars and militia. You’ve got an unknown number of troops sitting in reserve about a click off the gate.”
“What about the dock?” If I could get out the back way, I could swim for it.
Reaper came back. “There’s a couple patrol boats out there now.”
Something whistled off to the side and exploded against Building One. The army was launching RPGs. I ran a few feet to the side and took cover behind a low wall. Hunkering down, I watched the battle between Dead Six and the army unfold. The Americans were putting up a fight, taking defensive positions around the buildings, but there seemed to be an unending stream of fanatical fighters pouring in. Bullets were flying in every direction, some leaving visible trails, the rain was so thick. A few Dead Six ran past, carrying heavy weapons, but they were too preoccupied to notice me hiding in the mud.
“What’s your status?” Carl demanded.
I had broken at least one rib, if not more, and one lung felt like it was full of burning hydrogen instead of air. “Oh, I’m doing just swell. But the exit’s blocked.” Just as I said that, the armored car exploded, lifting and flipping its turret on a pillar of fire and throwing fragments fifty feet into the air. “Damn! Really blocked. I’ll think of something.”
“Lorenzo, be careful.” It was Jill. She sounded terrified.
“Get off the line!” I snapped. There was no time for sentimentality. Off to my right, several grenades exploded around the parked cars, shredding some of the Dead Six personnel. One of the Americans, badly injured, stumbled, confused, in the direction of the enemy, raising his empty hands in surrender and was shot dead on the spot. They weren’t taking any prisoners. “Reaper, can you keep L.B. in the air in this weather?”
“Yeah, chief. It’s all-weather capable.”
“I need you to be my eyes. I’m at the east wall, by the old brig, uh, Building Six.”
“Lots of heat blooms from the explosions. Wait. I see you.”
I had to get out of here. The army was bottlenecked with that APC blocking the hole in the wall and a tank burning in the main gate. As long as they kept trickling through, Dead Six could hold them, but I didn’t want to be out here in the open when either side started getting desperate. Dead Six personnel had moved out of the dorm to hold the gates, so they should be empty. “I’m going to take cover back inside the apartments. Let me know when I’ve got company.” Both sides of this battle would kill me, so it was time to do what I do best in situations like this. Hide.