Chapter 5 - The Ambush
The blast struck beneath the reconnaissance element with enough force to tear the silence apart.
Jenna remembered the flash, then pressure, then rock and dust moving through the air. Her headset snapped sideways. The ground rose beneath her and threw her behind a low stone shelf.
When sound returned, it came all at once.
Automatic fire from multiple directions.
RPG impacts against rock.
Men shouting positions.
Radios fighting for the same space.
The enemy had prepared overlapping fields of fire. They had waited for the team to enter the exposed ridgeline, then triggered the device beneath the formation.
Two SEALs were lost immediately.
Three others were scattered across the slope.
Marcus landed behind a slab of gray stone with damage along his left side. His armor had saved him from the worst of the blast, but his gear was torn and blood darkened the fabric beneath it.
He tried to move.
Pain dropped him back down.
His medic was across terrain now controlled by enemy fire. The helicopter could not land while the ridgeline remained exposed. Fighters were already maneuvering uphill to close the distance.
Jenna crawled through dust and broken rock toward him.
Marcus saw her and shook his head.
“Stay back.”
She reached the stone beside him.
“You’re losing blood.”
“No kidding.”
“Can you stand?”
“I can shoot.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
A round struck rock above them, spraying dust across Marcus’s shoulder.
Jenna checked the terrain.
The surviving members of the element were pulling toward a secondary position. A narrow route descended behind the ridge, protected from most direct fire, but it was steep and too rough for a litter.
Marcus weighed more than two hundred pounds with gear.
He saw the calculation on her face.
“Don’t.”
Jenna removed nonessential equipment from his vest.
“We’re moving.”
May you like
“You can’t carry me.”
“Then help until you can’t.”
