house for a shower before heading into work. That’s just a rough approximation, he’s pretty careful to vary his exact time and route. This is what we know for sure-security personnel are coming to watch the house at 0700, so we need to get you inside within that window.”
Vic nodded. A cold breeze swept across the Virginia Piedmont and he zipped up his jacket, feeling the comforting bulge of the Colt Delta Elite 10mm in the holster at his hip. Four hours to go…
“They were supposed to be on horseback, were they not?” the corporal asked.
Harun nodded, standing there on the bank of the stream. The mangled grey carcass stretched on the rocks below them was recognizable as a horse, but only if one used their imagination. “The river may have already done our job for us,” he observed, a trace of regret palpable in his tones.
He and the corporal descended the rocks until they stood beside the body. It had been a magnificent animal, he could tell that much.
Whatever the truth, they were at the endpoint of the journey. No human was in sight. At some point along the way, rider and horse had parted company. Finding that point was going to be the key.
Harun turned, waving to the eight men that had accompanied him on his search. “Back in the helicopter. We’ll take to the air once more.”
His pants were dry at least. It amazed him how confidence-restoring that alone was. Thomas laid down the rifle and moved back to Estere’s side, placing a hand against her forehead. She was still feverishly warm, slipping in and out of lucidity as the morning had progressed.
He reached inside his pouch for the TACSAT, once again thanking whomever had possessed the forethought to make it waterproof.
The call was picked up on the second ring, a burst of static as the encryption sequence finished.
“Where are you?”came Hamid’s voice. “We were expecting you to be at the rendevous by now.”
“Listen, we nearly drowned crossing the river and now we’ve got an Iranian attack helicopter breathing down our necks. Is that reason enough for you?”
“Take it easy, Thomas,” Hamid replied, his voice low and urgent. “I’m not the enemy. Just calm down and tell me where you are.”
“Near as I can tell, we’re about ten, eleven klicks from the border, holed up in a cave.”
“Are you mobile?”
“Yes. We’ve still got one horse, but my guide is suffering from hypothermia. I’m not sure she should be moved in this fever.”
“Leave her, Thomas.”
He heard Estere moan and looked over to where she lay, turning helplessly on the blanket. He had needed to dress her, like one would a baby. “I can’t.”
“Excuse me? Thomas, you know how important those vials are. They’re more important than any one of us. Now I’m going to press my men as close to that blasted border as my orders will let me. Meet us there. Follow protocol.”
Protocol. The cold, hard rules of tradecraft. They hadn’t been designed for situations like this, Thomas thought, ending the call. Protocol be hanged. He wasn’t going to leave her. He had promised…
“Where’s Parker?” Davood asked, coming up as Hamid shoved the TACSAT back in his pocket.
Hamid told him as the two men walked back to the Humvee. “Sergeant Obregon!”
“Yes?” Obregon asked, poking his head out the door of the vehicle.
“What do we have in the way of antiaircraft capability?”
Make a wish. The thought struck Thomas with astonishing absurdity. A memory from an old girlfriend. Eleven minutes past eleven. The time for wish-making.
He had only one. That they might reach the border alive. Estere moved restlessly in his arms as he lifted her into the saddle. “Where are we going?” she murmured, turning her flushed face toward him.
“Home, baby. Home.”
“America?” A light shone ever so briefly in her eyes. “I’ve-I’ve always wanted to go there…”
“You’ve got it, girl,” he whispered, forcing cheer into his voice as she drifted back into the grasp of the fever. “America.”
The helicopter flew over the streambed at treetops level, the rotor wash churning the water into a frenzy as it passed. Rocket pods hung from pylons on either side of the fuselage, a four-barreled 12.7-mm cannon protruding assertively from the chin of the gunship.
A killing machine. A hunter…
Lights out, the sport utility vehicle slowed along the road and then came to a stop near where they stood. Illegal, yes, but that was better than the alternative of blowing their mission.
Vic watched as a young woman stepped from the driver’s seat, into the Virginia night. Dressed in sweatpants and a light jacket, there was nothing in her appearance to attract attention. She looked like any one of a thousand soccer moms in the Mid-Atlantic region.
“Are we still go-mission?” she asked, coming up to the pair of men.
Vic nodded. “You’re to tail Nichols on his run. Are you armed?”
“You know it.” She opened her jacket to reveal a subcompact Kahr 9mm holstered close to her torso. “We’ve got what, two hours?”
“Right. Then we earn our pay…”
The Ranger beacon had been deployed, and Thomas saw it as a flashing symbol on the screen of his TACSAT. They had six kilometers to go.
He bent forward over the neck of the horse, holding Estere in front of him, an arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
Trees covered the slope of the mountain, shielding them from hostile eyes above. He urged the horse forward at a breakneck speed, winding in and out between the trees, jumping over fallen logs on the slope. He could still hear the helicopter in the distance. Looking for them. Hunting them down.
He felt the Kalishnikov dig into his back and wondered at the futility of the weapon. No time, no way to fight. In the age-old question of fight or flight, their fate had already been decided.
Flee…
Harun was in the open door of Mi-24 as it swept low over the trees, cursing angrily. Forests were not uncommon in the southwestern Alborz, but having his prey flee into one was a bitter pill. That they were in there was not in doubt. Not according to the words of BEHDIN, the faithful one.
