Hatcher flinched as Ivy reached toward his face with a swab.
“There’s a lot of blood.” The man’s expression was apologetic. His lips were pulled tight in a flat smile that was more of a sympathetic frown. “Just let me clean it off and make sure none of it’s yours.”
The swab felt cool, even as it stung. The smell of alcohol scraped his nostrils. It perked him up a bit. A slant of sunlight stabbed through a net of leaves and fronds, flashing in his eyes. It was almost dusk.
Almost dusk meant almost dark.
There was too much information to process and not enough information to process it with.
“That looks better. Lemme give you a quick exam and we can get out of here.”
Hatcher locked his eyes on Ivy’s, then fixed his attention back on Woodley. One piece clunked into place.
“That’s not the plan, though, is it?”
Woodley said nothing.
Ivy paused. “What do you mean?”
“Tell him the truth, Woodley. Tell them all what we’re really here for. Because I’d like to hear it myself.”
“Hold on, now. I haven’t lied. I told them after we rescued you, Phase One of the mission would be complete. That’s the truth.”
“But you didn’t tell them extraction wasn’t until Phase Three, did you?”
“No,” Ivy said. “He didn’t.”
“He sure as hell didn’t,” Garza said. “Next thing up was supposed to be evacuation.”
“Guys, I’m just following instructions, same as you.”
“That’s a load of horseshit and you know it. You may be an ass, but you’re not a dumb one. If the mission was to rescue a captive, trading me, you could have staged an assault right after the exchange. You could have attacked the camp. You could have done it a dozen different ways that would make a hell of a lot more sense than this. And you would have told them that, so Keegan or whoever was calling the shots had to give you more.”
Woodley tilted his head to the side and rolled his eyes. But his embarrassed smirk gave it away.
Another piece clicked into place. “You put a tracker on me. Where? My boot?”
“Yes.” Woodley nodded, letting out a weary sigh. “Good call. In the heel.”
“And you couldn’t let me in on it because they knew I’d refuse, because the plan was stupid and risky and unnecessary. And because I would know if they asked for me by name, there were factors in play that make this whole operation a very, very bad idea. And you couldn’t tell the others because they would also point out there was no need to delay the rescue and would have to be let in on the real mission.”
Ivy turned his head back and forth between the two men a few times. “What’s the real mission?”
“They needed the people who took me to lead them to something,” Hatcher said. “Isn’t that right?”
“Well, golly gee fucking willickers, Hatcher…” Woodley tossed a hand up and let it drop, slapping his thigh. “You might as well give the whole briefing, if you know so much.”
“No, that’s about all I got. I have no idea what they were wanting these guys to lead them to. But I can tell you that whatever it is, we don’t want to be anywhere near it.”
Garza stepped closer. “It was bad enough we find out about Hatcher after the fact, Woodley. You didn’t tell us about any other mission, you son of a bitch.”
“Yeah,” Zorn said. He was the biggest of the group, with pale skin and a corn-fed look that at the moment was turning a shade of red beneath his crew cut. “Why don’t you fill us in before you’re grabbing your ankles and yelling BOHICA?”
“Everybody just calm the fuck down, okay? Jesus. Now that we’ve liberated our asset, the next phase is supposed to be the easy part. All we have to do is kill some animal. A big dumb thing the locals are afraid of.”
Hatcher took a breath. “Animal. What kind of animal?”
“Natives call it Kongamoto. Some sort of giant bird. They’re very superstitious about it, scares them to death. They practically worship it, like some demon god or something. If things are still going according to plan — and there is no reason to think they aren’t — they’ve led us to where it nests. All we do now is perforate it with a few hundred rounds and we can get the hell out of Dodge.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Scout’s honor. Look, as much as it pisses you off to hear it, I really am just following orders. We’re supposed to kill the bird and get our asses out.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why? For fuck’s sake, Woodley, the ‘why’ is always what matters. So, why the hell does the US government, or even just some rogue bureaucrat, want us to kill this thing?”
“What can I say? It’s all political. You know, do a favor for this leader, have a chit to call in later… Who knows? I’m just a worker bee, here.”
“Political? That’s—” A piercing screech ripped through the air before Hatcher could finish. The trees shuddered silently as every other sound seemed to disappear. The echo throbbed several times before fading away.
The ensuing silence was finally broken by Garza. “What in the name of Jesus tap-dancing Christ was that?”
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say it was Kongamoto, whatever the hell that is.” Hatcher turned to Woodley. “We need to get these men outta here. Right now, like this damn minute.”
“Let’s just get a grip, okay? Whatever it is, I doubt it’s fucking bullet-proof. I mean, show some sack, all of you. We’ve got enough firepower to cause an extinction event. What the hell do we have to be afraid of?”
“What did they tell you?”
“About this thing? It’s supposed to fly. Maybe like a pterodactyl or something similar. Possibly related to a bat. But it should be an easy target. It’s big. Should be hard to miss.”
“How big?”
“They weren’t sure. Size of a small plane, they guessed.”
“A plane?” Garza threw his head back and did a half-pirouette. “You’re talking about a dinosaur, for Christ sake!”
“They assured me it’s just an animal,” Woodley said, snapping the words. “All we have to do is put some rounds in it. What the hell, people? Going up against armed militia, you don’t bat an eye, but shooting some animal that can’t fire back makes you piss your pants?”
Hatcher looked through the trees, eyed the dappled golden glow starting to recede. “Woodley, I’m not going to say it again. We need to get everyone out of here. Now.”
“In case you hadn’t guessed by now, you aren’t actually in command here, Hatcher. I know you’re pissed, but everything really is going according to plan. Except that, maybe, you forced our hand a bit earlier than I’d have liked.”
Hatcher struggled to control his anger, most of it at himself. Of course, he hadn’t actually been in command. But they needed him to think he was, so that he wouldn’t have the luxury of sitting back and analyzing Woodley for tells, so that he’d be too wrapped up in the feeling of responsibility for the team to look for the indicators he’d otherwise so easily have spotted.
“Now, Woodley. It’s getting dark. I don’t have time to argue with you about it.”
“Darkness is what we’re supposed to be counting on. The thing won’t show itself in full daylight. We have state-of-the-art NVDs and FLIR. It should be like shooting ducks at a carnival.”
“Listen to me. You don’t understand dick about what’s going on. If they wanted me, and specifically me, this isn’t just some animal we’re dealing with. This has nothing to do with being gutless. This is about being an idiot. A soon-to-be dead idiot, at that, if you don’t shake the shit out of your head and start listening.”
Woodley held Hatcher’s gaze for a long moment. There was a cloud of doubt in those eyes. Hatcher could see the man thinking, weighing his options, working through how it would play out. Wondering if maybe he’d misread the situation.