Shadows of War

“Maybe we should stop down the road,” he told Kerfer. “You guys go through the field and surprise them.”

“Too much trouble. Let’s just get across.”

“Listen, if they blocked the road — ”

“No shit, Major. I talked to the head spook before I came up here. They have their UAVs back on line, and he says the only vehicle there is your shot-up van. So just play through. All right? Fuckin’ relax. You’re with the Navy now.”

Zeus took a breath.

“Intersection in like zero-two minutes,” said the other SEAL, studying his GPS.

“Better kill your lights,” said Kerfer.

“I can handle it.”

“Relax, Major. I’ve done this before.”

“So have I.”

Kerfer gave him a skeptical look.

“I was in Afghanistan just last year,” said Zeus. “I commanded a Special Forces A team.”

“Then untwist your panties, loosen your grip, and get this thing moving a little faster.”

* * *

Mara leaned against Josh, half sleeping. It was going to be so good to get back to Bangkok and have a bath, she thought, a real bath.

They hit a hard bump. She lifted her head, then started to lean back.

Sleep would be nice.

As she closed her eyes again, the truck began skidding sharply to the left. She was thrown against Josh, nearly bowling him over.

“I’m sorry,” she started to say, when the truck flew back in the other direction and he was thrown on top of her.

* * *

“Faster!” shouted Kerfer as the two Chinese soldiers came out firing from behind the wrecked van ahead.

Little Joe rose and leaned out the passenger-side window with his gun. He fired a grenade at the van, then began emptying his rifle at the soldiers at the other side of the intersection. Kerfer spun his rifle around and bashed the windshield. The glass crinkled but didn’t break.

“Scumbag Chinese,” he said, hitting it again in a second spot. “Don’t even make a goddamn window right.”

This time the glass broke, most of it falling straight down on top of him. He spun his gun around, rose in the seat, and began firing.

Zeus swerved hard to take the turn. Even though the truck was going only about twenty kilometers an hour, it rocked hard on its chassis, nearly leaving its wheels as he turned.

They were past them. Safe.

Almost.

“Watch out in the back!” yelled Kerfer. He pushed up through the windshield, onto the truck, looking toward the rear. Three soldiers came running from the side of the road. He fired at them, but it was impossible to tell whether he had got them or his men in the back had.

The lock on Little Joe’s door gave way and the door sprang open. The SEAL flew out with it, then lost his weapon as he scrambled to stay aboard the truck. Kerfer tossed his own gun back in the cab and reached over for his shooter, swinging him back in.

Little Joe howled as his arm was caught against the door frame. Zeus hit the brakes.

“What the hell are you stopping the truck for?” screamed Kerfer.

“Get him in.”

“I didn’t tell you to stop.”

“Just get him the hell in.”

The helicopter they’d heard earlier buzzed toward them from the east, its searchlight augering through the darkness toward their hood. Kerfer tilted his gun upward and fired. As he did, the woods on both sides of the truck lit up with gunfire.

* * *

Jing Yo, rising from the ditch where he and his men had hidden themselves, zeroed in on the front of the truck as the helicopter came overhead. The truck suddenly stopped, hesitating for a moment before starting backward.

“Fire! Fire!” yelled Jing Yo.

His men, posted with regular army troops from the scouting group that had occupied the area earlier, began complying. The truck jerked backward, then disappeared in fog.

Smoke. A grenade — several grenades, covering their retreat.

“Keep attacking!” yelled Jing Yo.

The helicopter was above, but not close enough to blow the smoke away. The truck wheeled to the side and crashed into something.

Bullets flew back toward the Chinese troops. A tremendous fury rose from behind the trees. In the confusion, the jungle seemed to be exploding on its own, branches and even trunks flying around as the human enemies emptied their weapons against each other.

“Don’t let them get away!” yelled Jing Yo. “They’re retreating!”

Across the road, Ai Gua rose. He brought his gun up to fire, then fell, hit by a bullet. Sergeant Wu ran toward him.

“No!” yelled Jing Yo, but it was too late — a grenade launched by the Americans exploded nearly in the sergeant’s face.

Jing Yo started toward them. Something hit him hard in the shoulder, spinning him downward. His head lost its weight; he tasted the bitter water of pain and felt the admonishment of his mentors, the stern glance of the monks who had overseen his studies.

“You will try harder,” they told him.

Their words seized him, and he struggled to his feet to rejoin the battle.

* * *

Josh pulled M? beneath him as the truck shot backward. The canvas top above them seemed to disintegrate into flying lead. The SEALs scrambled toward the tailgate, pushing over him, but the truck was still moving, lurching from side to side. It slammed into something hard. Josh and M? slipped into someone; before he could react, the truck spun back the other way and jerked down into a ditch.

Josh felt himself being pulled or pushed out. He grabbed hold of M?.

“We’ll be all right, we’ll be all right,” he told her, the words an incantation.

“Down, Josh, down!” yelled Mara, pulling him from the truck.

Josh shoved himself out, curling M? in his arms as he fell. He clung to her tightly, trying to spin so he would land on his shoulder. To his surprise they landed in water, sinking in a big splash before bottoming out. He jerked upright, then fell back under the surface, once more trying to spin to his side to keep M? from getting hurt. This time he was only partly successful, and heard the girl yelp as he pushed back to his knees. The cry reassured him — she was still alive.

“This way, this way!” yelled one of the SEALs.

Josh got to his feet and began following in the direction of the voice, wading through the calf-deep water.

“Come on,” said Mara, taking hold of his side. “Go! Come on!”

“I have M?,” he said, starting to run.

“I know. Come on.”

A light lit above, an illumination flare shot by one of the Chinese ambushers. The gunfire stoked up.

“If I die,” Josh told Mara, “take the video to the UN.”

“You’re not going to die,” she said. “Run!”