All four men leaned over the side and began firing. Nate, Shane, and Wally were all on semiautomatic, choosing their targets carefully. Tim had the machine gun, so he was laying down hate, strafing the boat as it approached. Men instantly began falling off the skiff. The driver made a lame attempt to turn away from the unexpected fusillade, but it was no use. He took a round in the chest from Shane and fell overboard with his accomplices. Within ten seconds the boat was void of human life and slowly sinking into the sea. The other skiff turned around and hightailed it out of the area.
“Fucking right, lads!” Wally yelled, and they all cheered. The crew cheered as well.
Nate laughed as Tim chest-bumped him, still holding the machine gun in one hand. There were several high fives and slaps on the back as they celebrated their victory. It was the type of fight they all loved. In Afghanistan it was a far ambush, in Iraq it was rooftop fights. The kind of situation where there was less risk to friendly forces and the enemy was easily overwhelmed by superior firepower and skill. Nate was elated. That was, until he turned to check on Ana.
She was fine, at least physically. But she was standing by the containers with a shocked look on her face, shaking. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She said nothing; she simply stared at him with anger and disgust in her eyes. He handed the AK to Wally and walked over to her. “Ana?”
“You killed them,” she said, shaking her head. “And you’re… celebrating!”
Nate was confused. “They were pirates,” he said simply.
“I know they were pirates,” she said testily. “But you slaughtered them, and now you all are carrying on like you’ve just won a football match or something. What is wrong with you?” She turned to leave.
“Hey,” Nate said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. “What do you think was going to happen if we let them on board? They’d have taken the crew hostage, maybe killed us, and done God knows what to you.” Ana ripped her arm away.
“You can justify it however you want,” she spat back. “It doesn’t mean you have to carry on like barbarians.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means you enjoyed killing those men. How are you any different from the terrorists you spent your time fighting in the military?” She turned and stormed off into the superstructure. Nate looked back at his teammates, who were now staring at him, just as mystified as he was.
Tim shrugged. “Women.”
Nate looked back after Ana as she disappeared through the door.Whatthe hell was happening?He looked down at himself and remembered he was shirtless. He could see how it might have looked, him bare-chested and Tim with his wild beard, shooting like mad men and cheering. But she wasn’t getting the full picture, and he was damned if he was going to let her think less of them for what had just happened. He followed her back up into the cabin area. Her door was closed, so he knocked.
“Go away,” she said from inside.
“Ana, come on. I just want to talk. Will you open the door?”
“I don’t want to talk.”
He sighed. “Can I at least get my shirt back?”
There was a rustling sound from inside the cabin, and then Ana opened the door and handed him his shirt. She was now fully clothed in her own attire.
“Look, Ana, I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “You’ve clearly got some pent-up aggression from whatever happened in Yemen all those years ago.” The statement caught him by surprise and slightly pissed him off.
“You think this has to do with Yemen?”
“Well, obviously something happened there that you guys don’t want to share with me.”
Nate clenched his jaw in frustration. Things had been so great between them, why was this happening now? His anger was building.
“You know what? You’re right. I’ve killed a lot of people. But that’s not why I got into this business. And what you saw out there? That’s a byproduct of a decade of using violence as a tool. Yes, there is a side of me, a very primal and violent side. It’s one I’ve suppressed for the last few years. But it’s a part of me, and it’s what’s kept me alive.”
She said nothing, simply stared at the floor.
“It’s also what kept you alive back in the souk,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Off the Coast of Yemen
The Next Night
