“-so I figure we’ve got enough luck to get paid for this.” Allen paused. “And no matter how you look at it, we’re going to have to go north in order to keep from encountering the Syrians.”
“The target may still be alive,” Heinrich pointed out.
“Then he’s not going to be that way for long.” Allen slung his rifle over his shoulder, grabbed extra canteens from the Land Rover, and set off into the brush.
Grumbling and cursing, his pack of wolves trailed at his heels.
31
Outside Harran
Sanliurfa Province, Turkey
Local Time 0829 Hours
Goose lowered his weapon but didn’t put it away. “What kind of trouble?”
“The guys who shot us down are going to come looking for us,” Icarus said. “I know some of them. Their leader, for one. His name is Marcus Allen. They’re all stone killers.”
Reflecting on the explosion outside the helicopter, Goose knew the attack had come from the ground. There’d been no Syrian aircraft around, and they’d been far enough ahead of the enemy ground troops that he hadn’t believed they’d accounted for the attack.
“How far back are they?” Goose asked.
“Six, seven hundred yards.”
“You saw them?”
“Yes.”
“And they’re hunting us?”
“If they aren’t yet, they will be soon.”
“What kind of vehicles do they have?”
“Both their vehicles are disabled. They’re on foot.”
Goose nodded. “Gives us a chance. How do you know them?”
“They work for Alexander Cody. And for Nicolae Carpathia.”
“Where did you get that information?” Goose wasn’t happy with how little he knew about the situation they were all in.
Icarus shook his head. “We don’t have time for a question and answer session. If they catch us, we’re dead.”
“If the Syrian army catches us, we’re dead.” Goose gazed back to the south. “We don’t have anything but trouble all the way around us.”
Icarus glanced at Miller. “How’s he?”
“Just knocked out. I was about to wake him when you came up on me.”
“We need to get him up and moving.” Icarus shifted his arm and grimaced.
“How’s the wing?” Goose asked.
“Broken elbow.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. I’ve had a broken elbow before.”
“We’re all lucky we didn’t get real busted up coming down through those trees.”
Icarus grimaced. “Not lucky enough.”
“How many men back there?”
“Seven.”
“They’re all the same as this Allen you mentioned?”
Icarus nodded.
“What kind of training have they had?”
“Allen and some of the others were in military and spy organizations.”
Tension washed over Goose. It was a long way to Sanliurfa. “You got anything for pain?”
Icarus shook his head.
Goose rummaged in his medical pack. “I got some stuff in here that should dull it.” He took pain pills from the kit and passed them to Icarus. Goose took a couple himself to ease the throbbing in his knee. He also followed up with some anti-inflammatories to help with the swelling. His knee already felt incredibly tight.
He broke an ammonia capsule beneath Miller’s nose and got him up.
Local Time 0839 Hours
Goose chose a course that would keep them within the trees. To the right, out in the massive open area, the Syrian armor rumbled past. As he limped through the trees, Goose watched the tanks, APCs, and field artillery roll along amid dust clouds. He felt guilty that he wasn’t going to be at Sanliurfa when the Rangers there needed him most.
“Goose,” Miller said, looking anguished, “it’s my fault we’re down here. I should have been holding on better. If I had been, maybe I wouldn’t have knocked us all off the helicopter.”
“If the guy who fired the rocket launcher at us had shot a little straighter,” Goose said, “none of us would be here right now. You can’t fault yourself, sir. This thing-it just turned out the way it did. Can’t go back and change it now. Our job at this point is to get back to our unit as soon as we can and hope they’re still holding their own.”
Miller nodded and kept trudging along.
None of them could forget the men who combed the forest behind them.
Local Time 1017 Hours
Goose called for a breather while they were on the side of a hill. They took cover between rocks and a copse of trees. Overhead, the sky had turned dark with the threat of a sudden storm. The wind had picked up, and the air had cooled slightly. Goose hoped the rain came soon and that it wasn’t just a false promise as it sometimes was in Turkey. If it rained, it might slow the Syrian assault on Sanliurfa.
“Hydrate or die,” Goose said and drank from the tube to his LCE. “Don’t try to conserve water. Drink your fill. As hard as we’re pushing ourselves, we’ve got to keep fluid in our systems. Isn’t going to do anyone any good to drop halfway there while holding on to a full canteen.”
Miller sat wearily on a rock, breathing hard. Even the constant physical conditioning the army required clearly hadn’t prepared him for the long march through rough country. He made himself drink.
“The chaplain is struggling to keep up,” Icarus said softly.
“I know that,” Goose said.
“Allen and his men are gaining on us.”
“I know that, too.”
“Given our present rate of travel, they’ll catch us within the next hour.”
Goose nodded. “I’m going to have to do something about that.”
“What?”
“I’m going to whittle the odds down a little.” Goose stared through the binoculars he carried. The forest was thick, but every now and again he caught a glimpse of one of the men who pursued them so relentlessly. “How are you holding up?”
“I can make the walk,” Icarus said. “I’ve had to do worse things.”
“Then why don’t you take the chaplain further on.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Stay a little while. Set up a few surprises for those killers.”
Icarus was silent a moment. “Don’t underestimate those men, Goose. They’re very dangerous, and they won’t hesitate a moment to kill you.”
“Then neither will I,” Goose replied. “You two best get started. I’ll catch up to you when I can.”
“Even with that bad knee?”
Goose grinned with false confidence. “I don’t know what you’re seeing, buddy, but I’m genuine GI. A hard
