“We have to. She’s dead. There’s nothing you can do for her now. Come on now,
Sarah took a deep breath and jerkily nodded her head. She gently lowered Anita’s body to the floor, and I extended my arm. Sarah grabbed it, and I pulled her to her feet.
“Come on, we have to get out of here,” I urged. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” she answered, sounding more collected. She brought her slung carbine around and grasped it in her hands. “I’ll be okay. Let’s go.” I nodded and led the way back into the hall, heading for the stairs.
“Wait!” Sarah cried. “The Colonel! He was in his office!” She turned and ran down the hall to Hunter’s office without waiting for me. I swore aloud and followed.
Hunter’s office door was lying on the floor in the hall. Sarah stepped on it as she crossed into the room. I coughed in the smoky air as I followed. The office was smashed. Part of the ceiling had collapsed and fallen right on Hunter’s desk.
“Mike!” Sarah was kneeling on the floor next to the pile of rubble that had come from the ceiling. Colonel Hunter was trapped under the debris. It had all come down right in his lap, smashing his chair to the floor and crushing him.
“Colonel!” I crouched down next to Sarah. “Jesus,” I said, surveying the damage. It was bad. Hunter was broken and bleeding. A massive pile of blocks and rebar had landed on his abdomen. Only one of his legs was visible under the rubble.
“Valentine?” Hunter asked weakly, blood tricking from his mouth.
“I’m here, sir,” I said, leaning in so I could hear him over the noise of the fighting outside. “We’re gonna get you out of here. Hang on.”
“Bullshit,” Hunter wheezed. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere. You . . . you get her out of here, you hear me, boy?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied solemnly.
Hunter coughed up a small amount of blood. “You know I was supposed to leave last night? All of us were. Not you guys, but the support staff. I said no. I told Gordon I wasn’t leaving until all my guys got out. I think maybe that wasn’t such a good idea,” he said, somehow managing a raspy laugh.
“What happened, Colonel? That boat was a Zubaran gunboat. It strafed the docks, killed a bunch of us.” Sarah gasped as I told them that. “What the hell is going on?”
“Gordon Willis sold us out,” Hunter said quietly. “He . . . he told the hajjis where we are. Made a deal with somebody. Same thing with that raid on Montalban’s yacht. That was his own idea, not a sanctioned hit. Gordon’s playing both sides. Son of a bitch sold us out.”
My eyes narrowed, and my hands clenched into fists. I was so angry I was shaking. I closed my eyes for a second and tried to remain focused.
“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. “
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
