“I don’t like this, Goose.”
Goose remained quiet.
“I’ve seen men get religion on the battlefield before.” Remington spat the word as if religion was a disease. “A guy sees his buddy get hit next to him. Sees a mortar dig a crater only a few feet away. Gets left out pinned down on a busted op too long. That will change a man’s perspective.” He paused. “They say there are no atheists in foxholes.”
“I’ve never seen one,” Goose replied.
“A guy who isn’t sure God is going to get him out of a jam is a guy who’s sure God is ignoring him or punishing him,” Remington said. “Then he feels like he’s jinxed. The guy who figures God is going to save him forgets about trying to save himself. The guy who figures God is out to get him thinks the next bullet has his name on it.” He paused. “Either situation makes for a bad soldier and an even worse Ranger.”
“Over a third of this unit disappeared yesterday morning, Captain,” Goose said. “Nearly that many more people were killed during the SCUD launch. These men can’t undergo something like that and walk away unchanged.”
“So they decide to get baptized, give their souls to God.”
“Entrust their souls to God,” Goose corrected.
“Semantics.”
No, sir, it’s not, Goose thought. But he knew the captain wouldn’t understand.
Remington nodded at a group of Rangers passing by them only a few feet away. “Now that they’re walking out of here, I’ve got to wonder if they’re thinking they’re bulletproof or that they’ve paid up all their dues for a one-way trip to heaven.”
“You’d have to ask them.”
“I don’t want either of those reactions from them,” Remington said. “Give me a man who’s afraid of dying and wants to make sure the other guy dies first. That’s a good Ranger.”
Goose disagreed but didn’t say so. A good Ranger was a man who got a dirty and dangerous job done as efficiently as he could to save the lives of loved ones and innocents.
“That’s why I freed Dean Hardin,” Remington said.
Anger flared through Goose. “Captain, that man is a thief, and he tried to kill me.”
Remington shook his head and looked away. “That’s not how he tells it, Goose. Hardin says you came up on him from behind and surprised him. He had a knife in his hand and he accidentally nearly gutted you. He says he was keyed up from the helicopters crashing and raining down all around you.”
“And you believe him?”
“You can’t walk up behind a man on a battlefield without giving him some kind of warning, Goose.” Remington looked at him then. Accusation showed in his eyes.
“Hardin was stealing from a dead Marine, Captain,” Goose said.
“Hardin says he was salvaging resources.”
Goose couldn’t believe it. “Money from a dead man?”
“Money is one of the best resources a scavenger can find,” Remington said. “It converts to any size and works almost anywhere.”
“Sir,” Goose protested, “those men were our reinforcements. Most of them were little more than kids.”
Remington swore. “Goose, listen to me. I know for a fact that you’re an organ donor, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, how do you figure on giving someone a heart or a lung without being dead? A kidney or an eye you can maybe spare because you’ve got a pair. But let’s face it: as a donor you’re worth more if you’re dead.”
Goose didn’t say anything because he knew where the captain was headed with his logic.
“Those dead men that Hardin took money from were donors,” Remington said.
“Was that how Hardin put it, sir?” Goose asked.
“That’s how I’m putting it now, Sergeant,” Remington said. “And that’s how I’m putting it in my report.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I wanted you to know why I countermanded your orders to hold Hardin. I also talked him out of pressing charges against you for striking him. He’ll be with me during the evac.”
“Yes, sir.” But Goose knew that wasn’t the only reason Remington was telling him about Hardin. Hardin was also a man to hold grudges. There was talk, never proven, of a man Hardin had gotten crossways with and ended up killing. When Goose had turned up the scuttlebutt, he’d gone to Remington. Remington had said that men like Hardin, guys who were natural-born predators and survivors, always gathered stories around them. Some of them, the captain had said, were even started by the predators themselves.
“We’ll be in Sanliurfa tomorrow morning,” Remington said. “We’re going to assess the situation and see if we can hold the city, but that will only be a diversion to allow refortification of Diyarbakir.”
Goose had figured that would be the case. With the Rangers at Diyarbakir, they’d be able to attack from behind any invading Syrian troops that got deeply into the country and marched on Ankara. For the time they were there, Sanliurfa would also act as a frontier fort where they could arrange hit-and-get missions to disable Syrian cav and missile units.
“You remember the CIA agent you rescued yesterday morning?” Remington asked.
“Yes. Icarus.”
“I’ve had men in Sanliurfa—”
“Perrin?” Goose knew all about Perrin.
Remington nodded. “—and they haven’t found this agent.”
“Maybe he was one of the ones who disappeared.” Goose had heard about losses in nearby areas as well.
“Possibly,” Remington nodded. “In the meantime, I find it interesting that the CIA is in the area looking for a rogue agent at a time when something as unexplained as the disappearances take place.”
Goose considered that. He hadn’t thought about the CIA being somehow involved with the disappearances.
“When you get to Sanliurfa, take a look around. See if this guy turns up.”
“I will, sir.”
Remington pulled his shirtsleeve back and checked his watch on the inside of his wrist. “Get back to camp, Sergeant. When this thing goes down, I want you where I can
