The Captain turned to look at him witha frown.“Christ, then he’s just picking us off as we cross thisway.The fucking bunkers are in that direction, and everyone willbe heading that way.”
The report of a .50 caliber rifle rangout almost at the same time they heard a man cry out in pain justto the left of their position.
“Go, stop anyone elselooking to cross this section of the base.Stop as many as youcan.”Sam moved in order to make it to the sentry tower in thenorth-west corner of the base.
“What are you gonna do?”the Captain asked.
“I’m gonna take out thatsniper, and make sure our guys can get to where they need to go.The damn armory is on the other side of this kill spot.”Itwouldn’t be the easiest shot he’d ever taken, but he’d makeit.
Respect and admiration flickeredacross the man’s expressive blue eyes.“A sniper and a medic huh?That’s one hell of a combination.”
Sam grinned back at the man.“I’m amember of Sniper Team Bravo.”The Captain’s brow rose, and Sam knewhe recognized the name.“The whole damn team is one hell of acombination.”And with that Sam had taken off.Ten minutes later,he had taken out the sniper and his spotter with two precise roundstaken in quick succession.
Sam would spend the next few hourstaking care of any wounded he came across and helping to protectthe base.As night fell, he made his way back to the armory insearch of more ammo.It was here that he ran into the army Captainagain.He was standing near the door to the armory, loading anothermagazine of ammo into his sidearm.He was covered in blood andseemed to be bleeding from a wound to his upper rightshoulder.
“Sooner or later, you aregoing to have to get that looked at,” a man Sam had failed tonotice said.He was standing just off to the Captain’s side, weaponout, his eyes scanning the area continuously.
“I will, just not now,”the Captain growled in a tone Sam had heard Dev use on more thanone occasion, and it was usually when he was hurting or pissed off.Or, as Sam suspected was the case in this instance,both.
“Well, don’t blame me ifyou bleed out,” the other man muttered, and Sam grinned.Whoeverthese men were, they had a camaraderie that Sam shared with hisBravo teammates, and it was one born out of mutual respect andtrust, and having fought side by side.
“Why don’t you let me takea look at that?”Sam said as he stepped out of the shadows.Helifted his hands when the other man’s weapon swung on him and hestood stock still until the weapon was dropped.
“Hey, Sniper!”the Captainsaid with a grin.“That was one hell of a shot you tookearlier.”
“Thanks,” Sam said as hestepped closer, pulling his kit from his back.“Looks like you tookone, too, Captain.”The man made a scoffing sound, while his friendseemed to sigh in frustration.
“Yeah, he did,” the otherman said, and when he moved closer Sam’s heart sped up at how hothe was.“The bullet’s out, but we didn’t have any bandages to puton and the fool won’t sit still long enough for me to applypressure.”
“Hey, I am standing righthere,” the Captain groused.“You two are talking about me like I’mnot standing right in front of you.”
“It’s all good.”Samlaughed as he unzipped the back and pulled out what he needed.“I’ll slap a dressing on it that has a hemostatic agent embedded init.It will sting like a bitch, but it will stop thebleeding.”
“Hell, I’ll take the painjust to stop his damn complaining,” the Captain said with a flickof his head in the other man’s direction.
“And if the bleedingstops, then I’ll stop complaining,” the other man said with a lookof genuine affection in his eyes when he looked at the Captain, andSam started to get the feeling there was more to the relationshipbetween the two than just camaraderie.“Win–win!”
Sam worked quickly, cleaning the woundand applying the bandage, but the Captain didn’t even flinch.“There you go, sir.I think that will hold until you can get to theinfirmary and have it checked out properly.”
“Thanks.”He rolled hisshoulder as if testing the movement then thrust out his hand.“Captain Nick Jones, and this is Senior EOD Technician AidenGeorge.”
“Corporal Sam Wilson,” Samreplied, before shaking both men’s hands.He refused to acknowledgethe small ripple of awareness that moved through him at doingso.
“Nice to meet you,” Aidensaid with a warm smile.“Although, personally I would havepreferred to meet you on a less stressful occasion.”
Sam grinned and nodded in agreement.“Yeah, but that wouldn’t be Afghanistan, right?”
The three of them laughed, but a dog’ssharp bark from the armory brought them to silence.Aidenimmediately drew his weapon and moved to place his back against theconcrete wall of the building behind them, before dropping to oneknee, his weapon out in front of him.Sam and Nick both drew theirweapons and moved to cover both flanks, the two of them movingsilently into cover.
Aiden then slapped a hand to histhigh, and a dark blur shot out of the armory and moved to takeposition between his legs.Sam wasn’t surprised to see it was adog.Aiden was a member of the elite Explosive Ordnance Divisionteam, and they worked with highly skilled dogs that were trained toscent explosive devices.
“Aiden,” Nick saidquietly, and Sam waited, his eyes continually scanning the area tothe right of them.
“Three, maybe four,heading to the southwest bunker.”Aiden’s voice was so low Sam hadto struggle to hear what he said.When Sam moved to look in thedirection Aiden was, he couldn’t see a damn thing.
Nick cursed.“That’s where we’ve putthe visiting dignitaries.Fuck!That means this attack is notrandom.If they know we have some senior military officials onsite,they might be looking to nab them, hoping for leverage.”
Sam had no clue what Nick was talkingabout, but moved to the armory and quickly restocked, grabbing ammofor his sidearm and his rifle.When he stepped out, both men werestill in position.“I’ll take the high ground.I am of more use ata distance with my rifle.”
