“Got blowed up.” Mauk collapsed onto a barstool and leaned on the workbench.
“Cover the tunnels.” Slippy barked as he began to cut away DJ’s shirt.
Mauk sighed and closed his eyes but spun the barstool around and pointed his rifle towards the closest tunnel. “Any idea who’s still alive?”
He shook his head, “Bridger had me activate the jammer.” He began to cut at his pants when Mauk stood up from the barstool.
“He what?” He marched over to the other bench and scanned the area, looking for the jammer. “Where is it?”
“In the corner. Black box. Orange light.”
“Why the hell did you do it? No wonder the coms went dead.”
Slippy scowled at him. “Bridger ordered it. He had his reasons.”
“Fuck his reasons.” Mauk turned the jammer off then keyed his coms. “Bridger, you alive?”
He waited a moment then keyed the coms again. “Bridger, talk to me!”
“I’m alive.” They all spun and saw him stumble into the staging area. “Where are Lisa and Laughlin?”
“No fucking clue,” Mauk barked. “The coms were down.”
Bridger grabbed a half-drank beer from the counter and poured it over his head, washing away some of the blood. “They had radios.” He looked up at the trio. “We had to cut them off from the chain of command.”
Mauk huffed and crossed his arms. He opened his mouth to argue when a weak voice sounded in their ears. “Help.”
Bridger and Mauk stared at each other and Bridger keyed his coms. “Say again? Laughlin?”
“Help.” His voice sounded weak and both Mauk and Bridger felt their blood run cold.
“Go!” Slippy yelled. “I’ve got DJ—you go see what happened.”
Mauk scooped up his rifle and Bridger pushed through to the tunnel that Lisa and Matt had covered. Mauk slapped his shoulder. “How many left on your side?”
“No clue. You?”
“The same.” They slowed as they came to the first interchange. “Which way?”
Bridger pointed to the left. “Leads to the exit.”
Both men leveled their rifles and took their first step when they heard “Help,” again. Bridger froze and grabbed at Mauk’s shirt.
“That was behind us.” They turned but couldn’t see down the tunnel. The lights were out and the cable hung on the ground, severed. “Head on a swivel,” he whispered.
Mauk reached for the end of his barrel and flipped on the LED torch. He keyed his coms. “Laughlin, what’s your position?”
He glanced to Bridger, who shook his head. “He can’t hear us.”
Bridger slowed as they came to the next interchange and pulled his own torch. He shined it into the darkness and saw the dust still hanging in the air, bodies scattered across the ground. Both men heard the weak call for help and took off as fast as they could.
Mauk slid to a stop and shone his light on Laughlin’s still form. He was pale and clutching his chest, his belt tied tightly around his thigh. “Jeezus, Matt. What happened?”
“Shot.” He tried to swallow and choked on the dust. He patted his vest lightly and Mauk reached for the zipper. He pulled it slowly down and froze when he saw the level IV ballistic plate.
“Sweet Mary, mother of…” He cleared his throat. “Bridger.”
Bobby bent low and pointed his torch at Laughlin. “You’re a lucky son of a bitch.” He bent low and gripped the plate, sliding it out of what was left of the vest. The entire face had been bent back into a cone shape.
Mauk whistled low as Laughlin sucked in air. “Dude, I think your sternum is shattered.” He pointed to the dark purple bruise in the middle of his chest. “But you’ll probably live.”
Laughlin gave him a surprised look. “Probably?” he asked weakly.
Mauk shrugged. “Well, you have a hole in your thigh and your chest is crushed.”
“Tourniquet,” Laughlin wheezed.
“Yeah, I see that.” Mauk shook his head. “Let’s get you out of here.” He bent to pick up Laughlin when Bridger stepped between them.
“Where’s Lisa?” he barked.
Laughlin pointed behind him towards a pile of rocks. “Mario…took her.”
“What happened here?” Bridger asked, his eyes narrowing.
“He made her…drop her gun.” He swallowed again, his voice still wheezing. “I shot…the dynamite…with it.”
Bridger’s eyes narrowed on him. “You killed her?”
Laughlin shook his head gently. “She should…have…been clear.” He smiled at the pair. “Mario’s men…weren’t so lucky.”
Mauk turned and stared at Bridger. “Is there another way to that side?”
Bridger shook his head. “No. That was a dead end tunnel. It was going to be a dry goods storage eventually.” He stood and stared at the pile of rocks. Switching off his flashlight, he stared at the ceiling, praying that he wouldn’t see daylight.
“I’m taking him to Slippy. Then we’re calling an ambulance.”
“I think we’re going to need more than one.”
Near Quitman, TX
“Come in,” Lisa coughed and tried to catch her breath. “Bridger. Slippy.” She felt her chest shudder as she fought the urge to cry out in desperation. “Please, somebody answer me.”
“Radios are down,” Mario stated flatly.
Lisa turned her head in the dark, trying to locate him. “I’d hoped you were crushed under this shit.”
“Sadly, no.”
She heard him shuffle in the darkness, the sound of gravel and rocks sliding as he adjusted himself. “I seem to be unharmed.”
“I seem to be unharmed,” she mocked. “Fucking cockroach, that’s what you are!” She winced as the rocks shifted, adding more weight to her pinned legs.
Mario sighed heavily and she heard him move again. A moment later, a bright white LED light lit up his dirt covered face. “You have no idea what I’ve suffered.”
She scoffed as she twisted on the ground, trying to watch him. “Suffered? Oh, I can imagine how you suffered. Selling your poison to kids so you can ‘suffer’ in multimillion dollar mansions and drive your sports cars and…” she began to cough, the dust choking her.
Mario leaned against the wall and stared into nothingness. “You have no idea, do you?”
“No idea of what?” she barked, wishing she could claw his eyes out. “How it feels to betray your country? Your profession? Your OWN FUCKING TEAM!”
She regretted yelling
