Tangled Pursuit (27 page)

She knew how close Jay was to her, and he was always protective of her. Now he was being removed from his job, and he didn’t feel good about leaving her behind and, in his mind, unprotected.

“Yeah . . . I guess . . . God, I’m sorry, Tal . . . ,” he choked out.

She smoothed locks of his long hair away from his sweaty face. “You didn’t do this on purpose,” she chided him gently. “I just want you out of here and in the hospital.”

“Linda’s gonna freak . . .”

“I’m handling that,” Wyatt reassured him in a firm tone, gripping his shoulder to emphasize his words. “We know your wife is pregnant. I’m already in touch with Major Dickenson, and he’s going to meet you at the hospital. Linda will not be told anything until you’re diagnosed. He’s not going to call her and scare her without any further news about your condition. Okay?” Wyatt looked firmly into Jay’s anguished eyes.

“Yeah . . . good . . . good, that will help a lot . . . thanks.” He licked his lips, closing his eyes.

Wyatt gestured for two of his SEALs to come over. “Okay, Jay, we’re going to get you on that stretcher. Hang in there with us.” He rose, going to Jay’s head while the other two SEALs carefully picked him up off the floor and settled him in the litter.

Tal got up, taking the other blanket and gently tucking it in around him. “Jay, everything’s going to be okay.”

He opened his eyes to slits. “P-promise?”

She grinned and nodded. “That’s a promise.”

The two SEALs lifted the litter between them. The other SEALs started out of the tunnel, their M4s up and ready to fire in case they ran into opposition outside the entrance. Sooner or later there would be Taliban crawling all over this area because Sidiq had been taken out. It was just a question of when it would happen.

Wyatt smiled down at Jay. “You’re going for a bumpy ride, but the morphine has taken hold, so you should be pretty comfortable on the way to the exfil spot.”

“O . . . okay,” Jay whispered, closing his eyes, “I can barely think . . .”

“You’ll probably go to sleep in a minute, buddy. Take care. I’ll come see you when we get back off this op, and so will Captain Culver.”

Tal swallowed and stepped back, watching the SEALs quickly take Jay out of the cave. Tears burned in her eyes and she turned away, taking quick swipes at them.

“Hey,” Wyatt murmured, walking over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “He’s going to be okay. Even if there’s a stone stuck in that duct, Jay will get the surgery he needs in time.” He cocked his head, catching her gaze, his hand tightening on her shoulder.

Tal could feel the energy, the warmth Wyatt was infusing into her. His hand was large and gentle on her shoulder, and right then, it was exactly what she needed. “Thanks, Wyatt . . . you were wonderful with Jay.”

“My doc side,” he teased. “Listen, I’m going out that tunnel, and I’ll be in radio contact with the helos and Drummond. Once we get Jay lifted off, you and I can sit down and decide what we’re going to do next as a sniper team. Okay?”

“I’ll go with you. There’s no sense in me sitting here alone for an hour. I need to do something . . .” Her worry about Jay was paramount. “Jay’s like a brother to me,” she admitted, her voice strained.

“I can tell that, and you’ve a right to be stressed by all of this stuff going on.” He released her and rasped, “Come here,” opening his arms to her.

Because they were alone, Tal turned and walked into his embrace. They couldn’t get close because they wore level-three ceramic plates in their Kevlar vests, but just the feel of his strong, caring arms moving around her shoulders was exactly what she needed. For a moment, Tal rested her head against Wyatt’s broad shoulder, feeling his fingers caressing her nape, sending warm prickles across her flesh.

Closing her eyes, Tal allowed herself the luxury of leaning against him for just a moment. Her heart was with Jay right now, but she was grateful for Wyatt’s comforting arms. Love welled up fiercely within her heart for this man. They were in one of the most dangerous situations possible, and he made her feel safe. That staggered her.

CHAPTER 15

W
YATT KNEW WHAT
Tal needed now, and he held her close, but as a friend, not a lover. He respected her closeness to Jay and knew how much she cared for him. He felt the same way about his own men. Wyatt suspected that Jay had saved Tal, and vice versa, plenty of times, and that made for a real, deep connection.

He wondered, as he held an exhausted Tal and pressed a light kiss to her temple. Was she afraid that she’d once again lose someone she cared about?

Finally, Tal loosened her grip from around his waist and took a step back, lifting her chin, studying him in the cave’s deep silence. “Thanks, Wyatt,” she whispered. A faint smile tugged at one corner of her mouth, and she reached out with her gloved fingers to touch his cheek.

“It’s been a tough twenty-four hours for you, Tal,” he acknowledged, taking her hand and gently squeezing it. Like her, he wore thick, protective gloves in this freezing climate.

She flushed a moment, then said, “It sure has, and it’s not over yet. I guess we’d better get going.” She picked up the M4 that Jay had used, placing it in her gloved hands. “I want to make sure Jay gets out of here okay.” She grabbed her helmet and placed it on her head.

Nodding, Wyatt pushed her gently ahead of him. “Go,” he said. “I’ll bring up the rear.” Because he loved her, and he always wanted to have her back. They quickly moved down the tunnel that would take them into the outer world. The wind was icy and gusting as Tal pulled down the NVGs from her helmet rail, where they sat until she needed them. She looked to the left, seeing the SEALs ahead of her, moving quickly. She heard Wyatt telling the last SEAL in line by radio that they were coming up on his six, or rear, so he wouldn’t think they were Taliban sneaking up on them.

Through her NVGs, she could see the SEALs moving steadily down a narrow goat path with Jay on the stretcher between them. They were silent, although with this wicked north wind slamming into the Hindu Kush, no one could hear anything. It was a good thing they all had earpieces in place and their mics close to their lips.

She forced herself to focus on getting to her destination. Tal was winded, chilled, and glad to stop two thousand feet lower, just inside a grove of trees, as she began to hear the sounds of helicopters coming their way. The men had laid Jay on the ground, and she knelt down on one knee near his head, making sure he remained covered. Wyatt had come over, spoken to Jay, and made sure he was as pain-free as possible, giving him a second dose of morphine. That, he promised Jay, would make him sleep on the flight to the hospital. Jay was semiconscious anyway, the morphine working already.

The two Apaches flew overhead, prowling the darkness, their thumping blades reverberating and echoing harshly off the mountain slope as they used their infrared to detect any body heat near the assembled group below them. If there was body heat in the vicinity, they’d use the .50-caliber Gatling gun beneath the carriage of the Apache and destroy the enemy.

After the Apaches made several passes, they allowed the Black Hawk medevac to land. Tal leaned down, kissing Jay’s sweaty brow, squeezing his hand, and then moving quickly out of the way.

Everyone knelt inside the grove, their heads down, their backs to the ninety-mile-an-hour gusts kicked up by the Black Hawk as it landed on its tricycle gear in the clearing. The buffeting nearly knocked Tal over, and she gripped a small pine tree trunk to stop from toppling headfirst into the floor of wet pine needles. Jay was swiftly loaded on board, the crew chief directing them with sharp, quick hand gestures.

Then the door was slid closed and locked, and the medevac lifted off with the spotter. The Apaches continued to prowl, like the air wolves they were, in a circular pattern around the medevac until it was in the air, and then all three helicopters
thunked
away to a higher and safer altitude.

The gusting wind died down, and Tal slowly rose to her full height. She saw Wyatt go over to Drummond and speak privately with him for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the rest of the SEALs prepared to go to a lower altitude on the mountain. They were going to look for caves at around one thousand feet and see if they could hide in them until a camel caravan came their way.

If none did, a drone would be assigned to watch the caravan coming their way, sending the awaiting SEAL team updated information. The SEALs would wait until the caravan ambled across the border. The team had a seven-day supply of food, so they were in for the long haul, just like Wyatt and Tal. They would then follow that caravan to see where the fertilizer was dropped off.

Wyatt walked over to Tal after making sure his team was ready to hump the rugged trail for at least another four thousand feet down toward the valley floor far below them. Tal remained by a huge pine tree, allowing the trunk to protect her a bit from the icy winds. She waited patiently, her mind swinging from worrying about Jay to contemplating where they might find another hide.

“Ready?” Wyatt asked, coming over and standing near her.

Tal could feel his body heat, his solid male power, his absolute confidence. They had their NVGs down and in place. The goggles made his grim, bearded face look flat, green, and grainy, but they didn’t disguise his determination to get this mission under way once again.

They switched to a private radio channel where they couldn’t be heard by his team.

“Any ideas on where you’d like to set up a new hide since it just got compromised by those Apaches?” Wyatt asked.

She shrugged. “Not yet. I’m sure those snipers across the border are interested in why those birds suddenly appeared. They were probably shocked that they didn’t head for the border to blast those bastards who are sneaking into this country with their Hellfire missiles.”

“Keeps ’em guessing. Where to, darlin’?”

They both knew without saying a word that from then on their lives would be on the line. It was professional-to-professional all the way. Their personal relationship would stay on the back burner until—if—they got back to base. Their survival depended on it.

“I’ve been in the lower scree area on this mountain before.” Tal pulled out her handheld computer, pushed up her NVGs, and quickly brought up a map of the area. Turning it around, she handed it to him. Wyatt frowned, studying it.

She pointed with her gloved finger at the map. “It’s a series of what I call cave pearls. There are caves strung together by a series of interconnecting tunnels. In one of them, there’s water where we can get cleaned up and get a water resupply. All we have to do is drop purification tablets into it and we’re set for however long we remain here. The actual hide would have to be found on the slope outside that area.”

“Okay. That looks to be roughly two miles north of here at about four thousand feet. Got a goat path in mind?”

“I do,” Tal assured him, shutting off the computer. All of Jay’s spotter equipment was with her. Wyatt could use it. Slipping her handheld device into a Ziploc to keep it dry, she pushed it into one of her cammie cargo pockets. “Follow me.”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll take care of your six.”

She turned to go, Jay’s M4 in a chest harness across her Kevlar vest. “Thanks,” she murmured. She wanted another rifle in case they got into trouble. Jay wasn’t going to be needing it anyway. And Wyatt had his M4. Tal felt better having an extra rifle with them.

“Besides, I like watching you walk, so this is almost as good as a banana split, under the circumstances.” He grinned mischievously.

Tossing him a look over her shoulder, Tal muttered darkly, “At a time like this, you’re mentioning a banana split? You’re unbelievable, Lockwood.”

“Yeah,” he laughed softly, “I know. But my view is a helluva lot nicer than what you have to look at in front of you.”

Tal gave a low laugh. “Okay, let’s go!” Wyatt knew how to break tension. He was the team clown, for sure, but right now she more than appreciated his teasing because it allowed her to ramp down and focus. She pulled out her compass, got oriented, and then took off down a nearby goat path heading due north on the slope of the mountain.

T
HE GRAY SKIES
on the eastern horizon found them in their new hide. They’d located it at three thousand feet on the north slope facing the long, flat valley by the border. Tal had seen several possible locations, but none was stellar. This was the best of a bad lot. She was worried about the mountain with its risks, like the overburden of loose gravel and rock above them.

An earthquake—the possibility of which was always there—could shake loose the soil and rock hanging clifflike two thousand feet above the scree slope where they had placed their hide. If that wedge-shaped cliff came crashing down, they could be suffocated to death in their hide. There were a lot of trees growing on top of it, and both she and Wyatt wondered if their root systems would be strong enough to hold back slippage, if an earthquake occurred.

When it got a little lighter, while she was putting the final touches on the inside of their rocky hide, Wyatt left to scour the surrounding area.

The sky was lightening as Tal lay on her belly, her Win-Mag on a bipod in front of her. She’d lifted the covers on the scope, her left arm resting in front of her chest. Having taken off the heavy, miserable Kevlar vest, she’d put it aside. Her right hand fiddled with the three dials on her sniper rifle. She heard one click on her radio. It was Wyatt returning.

With day about to break, she and Wyatt needed to stay out of sight. She didn’t even hear him until he was sidling up to her, taking off his camouflaged boonie hat. She watched as he drew out a plastic bottle of water, chugging down the contents.

Wiping his mouth, he put the empty bottle aside. “I’ve scouted about one-tenth of a mile in every direction from our hide,” he said in a low voice. “I can’t find any recent landslides from that overburden above us.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

“Good to know. See anything else? Any goat trails nearby?”