“What the hell are you doing?” Floyd asked.
“We’ll never outrun them in this,” I replied. “We need to be smarter.”
Our driver stopped and I jumped out, Floyd following my lead.
“Keep going,” I told the frightened officer, who drove off down the road, eager to get away from men pointing guns at him.
I indicated to Floyd to move. He did so reluctantly. We ran into the forest, clutching our guns.
We tracked back, picking our way through the trees as fast as we dared. We were halfway to the border post when we saw the Volkswagen and the Lada speeding past along the road; almost certainly carrying the Russian paramilitaries who thought they were hot on our tails.
We ran on.
“You’re not crazy enough to suggest what I think you’re going to suggest, are you?” Floyd asked.
“So you’ve thought of it too?” I replied. “We’re a couple of pilots. Their commander said the bird was airworthy. Why drive when you can fly?”
Floyd scoffed.
We slowed as we neared the clearing. Our escape had thinned the personnel surrounding the chopper. There were now only three guards and the pilot, and all of them had their attention fixed on the border post expectantly. With the chopper now fixed, they were ready and waiting to take to the air whenever the rest of the unit returned.
I signaled Floyd to move to their rear and we crept between the trees. When we had the chopper between us and them, we broke cover and ran across the clearing. The side door of the Hind was open and I could see the pilot through the gap on the other side. He must have sensed movement because he turned and looked me square in the eye.
I raised my gun, but he shook his head fearfully. I recognized the look of an honest man who did not want to die.
He said something urgent in Russian and started running for the border post. The remaining paramilitaries followed, all four men racing away. I guess the pilot had told them they needed to help their comrades. If so, he wasn’t lying.
Floyd and I jumped through the side door, scrambled into the cockpit, slid into the pilot and co-pilot’s seats and fired up the engines.
I looked to my right and saw the paramilitaries turning around, but it was too late. They managed a couple futile shouts and pointless shots before I took to the air. Thirty seconds later, after we had climbed past three thousand feet and were speeding north through the valley, Floyd turned to me and smiled. I responded with a wide grin.
We were heading home.
Chapter 67
The Mil Mi-24 Hind was fully fueled and packed with weapons and equipment. Floyd went through the gear bags while I flew north, tracking the contours of the valley. If the mountains had been beautiful when we’d been touching death near the summits, they were even more magnificent now viewed from the comfort of the chopper and in the knowledge that we had come through a situation where survival had seemed impossible. We were alive and on our way home, and that thought alone was all the warmth and rest I needed.
“I’ve found a satellite phone,” Floyd said, joining me in the cockpit.
I recited one of the few numbers I knew by heart, and he dialed.
“Go ahead,” he said, handing me the phone.
He took the controls. I removed my headset and held the phone to my ear. I heard a long and distant ringing tone.
“Hello?” Justine said. Her voice sounded weak and strained and I knew from that one word that she thought I was dead. “Hello? Who is this?”
“It’s me, Jus,” I replied.
There was nothing but silence and I didn’t know if the line had cut out.
“Justine?”
“Jack?” she replied in disbelief. “Jack?”
“Yeah. It’s me,” I said, and felt a lump rise in my throat. “I guess Dinara and Feo thought we’d been—”
“They said you were dead,” she interrupted tearfully. “I thought you were gone.”
“I’m not,” I responded. “We managed to escape.”
“We? Is Joshua Floyd with you?”
“Yes,” I said. “He’s with me. We’re coming home.”
“Is Beth there?” Floyd yelled at me above the sound of the chopper.
“Did you hear that?” I asked.
Another pause, but this time I knew the line hadn’t gone dead because I could hear Justine sobbing.
“Jus?”
“She’s gone, Jack,” she replied. “And the children too. They were taken.”
“I see,” I said flatly. “Can you connect us to Dinara?”
“Uh-huh,” Justine said, before putting me on hold.
“Is she there?” Floyd asked.
I shook my head. “Justine isn’t at the safe house.”
His smile fell. Could he sense something was wrong? I felt terrible lying to him, but until I had the full details I wasn’t going to share the bad news. It would only lead to worry, and there was nothing either of us could do about it from here.
“Jack?” Dinara sounded astonished.
“Dinara,” I replied. “You bailed on us.”
“I’m so sorry, Jack. We saw you...” Her voice trailed off.
“I’m kidding,” I said. “You did the right thing. Where are you?”
“Kabul,” she replied. “Getting ready to go back to Moscow at first light. Where are you?”
“Kom Valley, near Kamdesh,” I said. “Heading your way. Wait there. We’re a couple hours out. We’ll meet you at the airport.”
“OK,” Dinara replied. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Jack.”
“Me too,” I scoffed. “Justine, are you still on the line?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Can you arrange transportation home from Kabul?” I asked.
“With pleasure.”
“And send Dinara a full report on what’s happened in my absence, so I can get up to speed,” I said carefully, so Floyd wouldn’t become suspicious.
“Absolutely,” Justine replied.
“I’ll see you soon, Dinara,” I said.
“We’ll be waiting for the luckiest men in Afghanistan,” Dinara responded before hanging up.
“Jack,” Justine began. “I... When I thought you were... I realized how much you...” She was having trouble getting the words out.
“I know,” I said, when it became clear she couldn’t continue. “I love you too.”
“Uh-huh,” was all she could manage.
“I’ll call when we get to Kabul,” I said.
I hung up, handed the phone to Floyd, and put on my radio headset.
“Everything OK?” he asked, his voice tinny in the headset.
I nodded and gave him a thumbs-up. I hated being less than entirely honest, but I needed to find out exactly what had happened to Beth Singer and the children before I could figure out how to get them back.
Chapter 68
Justine stared at her phone. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Had she imagined it? She went to her call list and found the most recent number. She checked the duration of the call. She definitely hadn’t imagined it.
Jack was alive.
She jumped off the bed and punched the air. She’d never believed people did that in real life, but she was fizzing with energy and had to find some way to release it. A little over five minutes ago she’d been lying on her bed in the darkest of moods, mourning the loss of the most important person in her life, and now the world had burst into new and vibrant possibility with the news of his survival.
She went to the window. She wasn’t sure if she ran or hopped or jumped. It didn’t matter. She was buzzing. She’d never felt like this before. It was as though she had been reborn. She’d lived another life, a grim existence of loss and trauma, and it had been destroyed by a single phone call. She pulled back the drapes to reveal the Manhattan skyline illuminated against the dark winter’s evening sky. She hit the glass with her palms, and pounded out a little celebratory rhythm. She was on the forty-second floor of the Langham Hotel. The people on Fifth Avenue beneath her looked tiny. She felt a moment of pity because whatever grief or heartbreak they’d suffered in life would be with them always and they’d never know what it was like to have those feelings lifted from them.