Absolution (21 page)

Somewhere above the thick cloud cover, a B52

bomber and an AC130 Spectre gunship patrolled, waiting for clearance to unleash their onboard arsenals. At the SEALs’ location, the CCT would have the aircraft in a holding pattern until he called them in for the strike. Handy guys to have on a mission.

Sam came back on the radio. “Be advised, pilot has been cleared to drop his JDAMs.”

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“Roger that.” Should be a hell of a show, he thought, huddling deeper into the crevice he lay in.

The wind raked over him with icy claws, the temperature dropping with each minute. Snow fell in a filmy curtain, already accumulating on him and the ground. So much for any hope of the weather cooperating. Those bombers better drop their payloads before conditions worsened to the point poor visibility and wind speed made the air strikes impossible. The minutes stretched out as he lay there shivering, his hands growing numb.

In the distance, streaks of light lit up the night sky, then a series of big, hard explosions shook the ground, the shockwaves rippling through the earth.

Geysers of dirt and rock spewed up into the air near the SEALs’ location. Any minute now Dec would lead his assault team down to take care of any enemy survivors in the area.

Another light show, then a massive set of explosions a few clicks away toward Rhys’s position.

Even at that distance the concussion pounded against Luke’s eardrums and rattled his teeth.

Shouts came from below as the men in the cave ran out to see what was happening. They pointed to the huge clouds of debris rising into the sky, their voices both awed and frightened. Luke held the laser steady and waited, bracing for the inevitable impact.

Seconds later he caught the high-pitched scream of the 2,000 pound JDAMs and shielded his eyes from the incendiary flash.

The initial explosions knocked him backwards and slammed the breath from his lungs. The massive shockwaves blew out, hitting his body like a tidal wave, then a series of secondary explosions followed, telling him they’d hit the ammunition stores. Luke gritted his teeth and rode it out, the pressure squeezing his skull and ribs. In the sudden stillness that followed, his head rang, and it took a 167

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few moments to hear anything but the throb in his ears. Bits of debris rained down on him, covering him with dirt and pieces of gravel. Snatching out his binoculars, he checked the area. The cave was gone.

All that remained was a black crater and the colossal tower of smoke boiling into the air. No sign of the enemy, and he wasn’t surprised. JDAMs were goddamn powerful weapons.

“This is Scorpion One, confirming target destroyed.”

“Roger that,” Sam said. Rhys reported the same.

“Cobra team leader confirms the same,” Sam added, meaning Dec and his boys had taken care of business on their end.

Good. All they had to do was link up and clear out any remaining enemy forces. “Copy that.

Checking target area now.” Using the face of the cliff for cover, Luke got down the rock face as quick as he could and closed in on the smoking, blackened hole.

There was nothing left. The only signs he found that anyone had been there were the torn pieces of clothing he passed, their owners blown out of them from the concussive force of the strike. Nothing moved around him, the only sound the crackle and snap of flames burning what was left of the cave and everything inside it. He found scorched mortar tubes and some twisted RPGs, but no other weapons. No sign of Tehrazzi, or if he’d been there at all.

Stepping out into the open, the wind howled around him, stealing the breath from his lungs.

Snow lashed at his face despite the scarf and goggles. Leaning forward to battle the force of the wind, Luke trudged onward. A few hundred meters outside the mouth of the cave, a blackened corpse lay on its back, startling white teeth standing out in its open mouth, like the man was screaming at heaven for allowing him to die this way.

Sucks to be you, buddy.

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His radio crackled to life. “Signals interceptors reporting enemy radio transmissions confirming heavy casualties,” Sam said. “Also, the aircraft are returning to base due to low visibility.”

Well, at least they’d been able to get the strikes in first. “Roger that. Moving to RV point now.” If he could see, that is. He only had a few clicks to cover, but if this blizzard kept up it would take him half the night to make it there.

Minutes later his teeth chattered and his muscles shuddered in an effort of keep him warm.

Already he couldn’t feel his toes in his boots. The snow came down so thick it was like a white sheet.

Turning his back to the wind, he pulled out his map and compass, though he was rapidly losing the ability to make out exactly where he was. Best he could do was head southwest toward the general vicinity of the RV point and hope the weather cleared up so he could find the rest of the team. As he stuffed the map into a pocket of his assault vest and started to pull out his cold weather gear, he caught nearby voices and got into firing position. He raised his rifle, finger ready on the trigger. He couldn’t see shit right now, but someone was out there. Was there another cave out here that they’d missed?

“Over there!” someone shouted in Arabic, the disjointed voice floating eerily out of the darkness.

Luke tensed. Had someone spotted him?

Unwilling to take the chance that they hadn’t, he edged closer to the cliff in the hopes of cutting the wind so he could hear better. Only the howling of the wind came back.

He keyed his radio. “Th-this is S-scorpion One.”

Ben’s voice came across loud and clear. “Go ahead Scorpion One.”

“C-can you c-confirm enemy con—”

A sudden blast close to him knocked him to the 169

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ground. Cursing, he dropped the radio and covered his head while debris pelted him. When it was over, he raised his head and squinted into the darkness.

He hadn’t heard a goddamn thing, which could only mean one thing.

Someone had a good idea of his location and had fired a mortar round at him.

Shit. He hated mortars. Couldn’t hear the fuckers coming, and if he did he was dead because it was too late to get away.

Ben came back over the radio, asking for clarification, but Luke didn’t answer. Last thing he needed was to break radio silence again and give his position away if the enemy was close enough to hear him. Another round went off to his left, closer this time. It knocked his back into the rock hard enough that he let out a growl of pain. Two more landed, in rapid succession. Luke’s heart hammered in his chest. How the hell could they see him in this shit?

He couldn’t move without being sighted, and no telling how many fighters were out there waiting to welcome him with a spray of bullets from their Kalashnikovs. Hating that he had no other option, Luke felt along the base of the cliff until he found an opening large enough for him to fit in, then dumped his heavy ruck and squeezed his body into it. He wedged himself in good and tight, the rocks digging cruelly into his flesh. The wind shrieked through the crack he’d just come through, cutting into his body like icy knives. Every so often, more mortar rounds went off, shaking the cliff. No way Dec’s team could reach him in this, and he wasn’t going to get any help from the Air Force until the storm died down.

For now he was stuck here alone in this freezing stone sarcophagus, but it was either this or get blown to hell.

Trapped in the cage of rock, he fought to calm 170

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his racing heart. He’d always hated being confined, especially in the dark. Might have something to do with how his father had locked him in the broom closet when he was a kid.

The blackness closed in on him, fueling the claustrophobia that threatened to suffocate him.

Closing his eyes, he took slow, shallow breaths because his chest was squeezed too tight in the tiny space to get a full one. Back when he’d first joined the SEALs, the shrinks had informed the cadre of this deep seated fear, and they’d done everything humanly possible to capitalize on it in an effort to either get him past it, or make him ring out. SERE

training had damn near killed him—two days and three nights shut up tight in a windowless room too small for him to lie down in. But when he’d come out he’d done everything he could to make them think he was unaffected. From there, he’d finished at the top of his class and risen quickly through the ranks.

Though he’d never liked locking out of a sub after that, he’d managed to control his physical and mental reactions to being trapped in a confined space. The trick was to think of something else until it was over.

Staying still with his arms at his sides, he let his mind drift to a happier time and place. He had to go back more than twenty years to find one, but he still had them all, tightly locked away in the tiny corner of his heart still capable of feeling emotion.

They were all of Emily and Rayne. He filed through them, and settled on one in a warmer setting. Emily, on their honeymoon in Bermuda.

They’d spent the morning playing in the azure water, snorkeling while he’d showed her the wonders of being underwater. She’d been like a child, delighted and curious about every single thing he’d pointed out. He’d loved watching her enjoyment, and the fact she felt completely safe because he was with 171

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her. As a SEAL, he was most at home in the water, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone in for pleasure. His mind played back the memory of that day like a movie on a screen. Em had worn a silver bikini that showed off her cleavage and taut stomach with devastating effect.

She’d climbed out of the water after their snorkel and splashed through the waves, tossing him a mischievous smile over her sun-kissed shoulder, her eyes as green as the palm fronds swaying in the breeze along the beach. Drops of water gleamed on her naked skin and in her hair like jewels. She’d led the way to a secluded spot tucked against the cliff, and sank down onto the thick towels she’d spread out. When he’d stretched out next to her and pulled her into his arms to kiss her, she’d melted like ice cream in the sun. He could still taste the salty-sweet flavor of her lips.

Outside his stone prison, the wind rose to a screaming crescendo, the force of it pounding mercilessly against his eardrums until he thought they might explode. Uncontrollable shivers wracked him, so strong he felt like he was having a seizure.

Damn, he couldn’t move enough to rub his limbs, and he couldn’t reach the extreme cold weather gear in his ruck. Even if he could it wouldn’t do much in these conditions. He needed to find shelter and build a warming fire before hypothermia set in, but until those mortars got quiet he couldn’t even do that.

At least Emily was okay, securely locked into the compound with Ben and the security team. She was probably reading somewhere right now.

Doubtless she’d still be awake, no matter how exhausted the chemo made her, because he knew damn well she wouldn’t go to bed until she found out he was okay. Luke huddled deeper into the crevice and held on, shuddering so hard his bones hurt.

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himself that she was safe and warm.

There were countless things he wanted to say.

So many things he wanted to ask her. They filled his head in a screaming crescendo of regret and pain. He remembered lying next to her in his hospital bed, listening to the sound of her soft breaths, fighting the need to reach out and draw her close as he’d imagined many times over the years. One embrace would tell her much more than his words of apology ever could. She’d always been able to read him. If he touched her that way again, she would understand what it meant.

Please let me get another chance.

He vaguely realized someone was trying to reach him over the radio. Struggling to focus, he grabbed it with his flapping hand and lifted it the few inches the rock wall allowed so he could key it.

Sam’s voice came through, urgent. “Luke? Luke do you copy?”

He was shaking too hard to be coherent, but he had to answer her somehow. He had to make sure Emily knew he was alive so she could be at peace.

And if these were his last words to anyone, at least he’d die knowing he’d given her this last measure of comfort.

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Almost three in the morning and Sam and Ben were still monitoring their equipment in the other room. Seated next to Bryn in the media room watching a chick flick, Emily snuggled up beneath the throw blanket she’d pulled over them. She didn’t hear a single thing the actors said; she was too full of turmoil. She didn’t know where Luke was and no one had told her, but she was terribly afraid something was wrong.

You’re just being paranoid. You always felt like
this when he got called out on a mission.

She angled a glance at Bryn, staring at the screen, but Emily knew she wasn’t paying attention to the movie either. Wherever Luke was, Dec was out there, too.

Bryn had apologized profusely for her untimely interruption the night before, but Emily wasn’t mad.

She was starting to wonder why she’d ever thought her and Luke could take a crack at reconciliation.

The universe sure as hell wasn’t supporting the cause any.

Bryn shifted beside her, covering a yawn. She laid her head back against the back of the couch.

“God, I’m so tired. You must be done in, too.”

She was, but she’d never sleep with this feeling of dread crawling around in her gut. “Go on up to bed,” Em told her.

Her friend shot her a “get real” look. “Not until I know they’re okay.”

Craning her neck around, Emily checked the coms room. The door was closed but the bar of light 174

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coming from under its edge told her the others were still up. Were they working on anything, or were they just monitoring the situation? Even if they didn’t have direct contact with Luke, they must know what was going on.