“Doom Zero One, we’re still taking fire. Outbound coms are down. We need urgent medivac and air support at Romeo One Two’s location.”
“Okay. Roger,”the voice on the other end responded,“Do you need me to move to your position to support your withdrawal?”
“Affirmative.”
“Roger that, Romeo Zero Three. Doom Zero One will be coming in hot in about one minute thirty.”
“Copy.” Lachie ducked as a bullet skimmed off the roof next to him, “Oh shit, the rounds are hitting almost right in front of us.”
“I know,” Johnno called over his shoulder, his submachine gun still firing off rounds. “The fuckers got closer while you were yakking with the yanks.”
A whistling sound warned them of danger, Lachie dove for Johnno, “RP—” He never got to finish the word. Their world exploded in a blast of flames and smoke before everything went dark.
* * *
Sludge, he was swimming through sludge. Who the fuck put mud in his bed?Lachie struggled to make it to the top.Where the fuck am I?He struggled to take a breath when the realization hit him—he couldn’t breathe. His brain told him there was a fist shoved down his throat, blocking his windpipe. Despite his fuzzy brain, he was telling himself not to panic. But hands gripping his wrists and the weight of a body lying across him, sent his fight reflexes into overdrive and he tried to launch himself upward, arms and legs swinging as much as he could as he fought his captors.
“Nurse!”
The man’s bellowing roar was confusing. Why the fuck would the Taliban be calling for a nurse? Despite the question in his brain, Lachie kept fighting, turning on his side, trying to dislodge the threat he still could not see through eyes that refused to open. A pinprick of pain in his ass warned him he’d been drugged. Knowing the drug would work through his system fast, like venom from a snake bite, just made him fight harder. Fuckers would not take him or Johnno.Johnno! Fuck!“Johnno?” Lachie tried to scream his name, but that fucking fist around his windpipe prevented little more than a grunting noise escaping. He could feel the sludge taking over in his brain, feel the tears pooling at the corner of his eyes before they dripped on his cheeks. Scorching the skin as they went, reminding him, as he went lights out again, that he failed. Failed to keep safe the one person he’d swore to always protect.
The next thought Lachie had was panic, like waking from a nightmare, he jerked awake. Immediately a voice shushed him. “It’s okay, buddy, you are in a hospital.”
Definitely male, no way a woman has that much gravel in her voice.
“I’m gonna call the nurse to see if we can take the tube outta your throat,” the voice told him. “If you understand me, nod your head.”
American!
Lachie nodded his head. Okay, Yanks, he could deal with, but where the fuck was Johnno and his team? Around him he could hear the slight squeak of metal, as if the man had stood out of a chair. His ears strained, listening for the one voice he needed to hear more than any other.
“It’s only me.” The man’s voice was closer, near his head, “I’m only pushing the buzzer for the nurse.”
Once again Lachie nodded. He could do little else. He tried to remember how the hell he got here, but everything was blank… blank scared him shitless. But he would never show it. He forced his eyes open to slits, watched as the huge man sat down on a chair near his bed. He wasn’t sure how tall he was, but his impression was this dude was huge. Broad shoulders and a longer than military regulation haircut told him that this man was more than likely not officially military. Was he CIA? Some private outfit? Eh, those questions didn’t matter. What did, was that why the fuck was he sitting next to his bed? He didn’t know him. Lachie wanted to ask what was going on. Had so many questions, but argh, what he now knew to be a tube in this throat prevented all of that. He watched the man suspiciously as he opened his mouth as if to talk, but before he could the door of the room opened.
“Ah, our patient is awake, I see,” the nurse said as she entered the room, “Good. Let me check some vitals and then maybe we can take that tube out and find out who you are, shall we?” She didn’t wait for Lachie or the man to speak but went about her business before the words she said filtered through the sludge to his brain.Find out who you are?What the heck? He was Lachie McDonald. Damn it, how did these people not know this? Where the hell was Johnno? He’d sort this shit out for him. Lachie was going to boot his ass and call him a slow poke before he allowed him to pull the curtains around the bed so Johnno could kiss him stupid in privacy.
He forced himself to keep still, to wait until the nurse was done, and the tube removed. Some people said having a tube pulled out was like gagging on dick. Lachie could tell them that was not fucking true. Nope, dick tasted a hell of a lot better and didn’t hurt… well unless he wanted it to.
The man waited until the door had closed behind the nurse, before he pulled a device out of his pocket and switched it on.
Lachie stared at the little black box and raised an eyebrow. His vocal cords hurt. Despite the sips of water and ice chips the nurse had provided him with, his mouth felt like he had been eating sand.
“It’s kinda a dual-purpose thing,” the man answered Lachie’s unspoken question, “White noise and a signal jammer.”
Okay, whoever this man was, he wasn’t a civilian, maybe he was CIA?
“My name is Rock.” The man held out a hand in a universal request for an introductory handshake, “I’m here to make you an offer.”
Offer? Lachie shook his head. Nope, the only information he was interested in hearing was about his team. “Johnno, my team?” His voice was raw, hoarse as fuck, but at least in his head the name sounded clear. He just hoped this Rock understood it.
Rock sighed and sat back into the chair, placing one ankle over the knee of the opposite foot. The leg of his camo pants pulling up enough to show the end of a holster strapped against his skin. “Your team and the other Commandos successfully neutralized the insurgents before arranging the evacuation of the wounded.” Rock said. “The fighting was intense, and a number of your team suffered serious injuries, including one soldier whose jaw was blown off.”
Shit. Not what he wanted to hear. Lachie squeezed his eyes shut. He had known there were casualties before he’d gone on that suicide trip with Johnno.Don’t ask, if he doesn’t say it, it didn’t happen.Lachie’s guts were telling him there was a reason his man and his team weren’t here. His need to know that his man was safe won out over the dread pooling in his stomach. He needed to know, “Johnno?” he asked again.
“Your company sergeant major suffered extensive leg injuries. Our gunships ran out of ammo.” Rock picked at the skin on the side of his thumbnail, “Your long-range patrol vehicles did too, including for the Javelin anti-armor missiles and machine-guns.”
Yeah, he knew the operation had been a shit show, thank you very much. “Johnno?” he croaked again, before fishing another ice chip out of the plastic cup and putting it in his mouth. Pushing the ice to the right side of his mouth. He needed a filling in one of the molars there. The ice hitting the exposed nerve gave him a jolt of pain. Reminding him to brace his heart as he watched Rock's mouth open. He already knew what was going to come out of it.Don’t say it, please don’t say it.
