by Eric Meyer
I obeyed the word of God, didn’t I? So what about those men about to die beneath a storm of high-explosive dropped from eight miles up in the sky? Stoner, Sara Carver, Greg Blum, Ivan, and his men, they will all die. Is that the word of God?
* * *
The insurgents left at Tora Bora were starting to panic. They listened in silence to Mahboob’s message and exchanged glances. One man stepped forward and raked him with a vicious gaze.
“A bombing raid, you are sure?”
“In less than twenty minutes the bombs will start to fall, there is no question.” He checked his wristwatch, “Fifteen minutes now. We don’t have long.”
“And our leader has left us?”
“He said he had a message from Allah, important work he had to attend to elsewhere. We are to remain and finish the job here. Kill the infidels.”
“And the bombs?”
“It is in God’s hands. We will be rewarded…in a future life.”
They stared at each other. Each man thought the same, not daring to say it. Until one shouted, “We should pull back a couple of kilometers and find a better position, where we can prevent the enemy from slipping past us.”
It took no more than a few seconds for them to work it out. Without another word, every man shouldered his rifle, and they filed out from their positions. After the first few seconds, they ran in a panicked headlong retreat for the previously prepared positions two kilometers from Tora Bora. They could block the enemy escape route, and be safe from the bombs. And they would live in this life. Paradise could wait.
* * *
“What the fuck’s going on?”
He hadn’t heard any shooting for several minutes and popped his head up to look around. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “They’re leaving, running.”
“Running?” Ivan joined him, “What spooked them? Something made them run.”
Sara joined them. She’d worked it out. “They must have captured Akram and forced it out of him. They know about the bombing raid.”
“Jesus Christ, we can get away from here! Let’s go!”
Her glance was contemptuous. “Ivan, aren’t you forgetting someone? Greg is in the cave. He’s hurt bad, and if we leave him behind, he’s finished. We’re going back for him.”
“Greg’s a dead man, you know that. Even if we do risk our lives by going back for him, he won’t live. He can’t live.”
“We’re going back,” her voice was hard and cold, “Believe me, Ivan, if you run out on us now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your miserable life. My father wouldn’t be impressed if he thought you’d left his daughter to die. I’m sure he’d find enough evidence to put you in jail for a very long time.”
“I haven’t done anything.” He even sounded like he believed it.
“You think he’d give a shit.”
Stoner interrupted. “Stop this. We’ll get him out and take him back before the bombers arrive. We can still make it.”
He started to run, and she followed him. A second’s hesitation, and Ivan ran as well, his surviving mercs close behind, loyal to the end to their paymaster. He reached the cave and raced inside. Stoner found Greg lying where they’d left him, and to their astonishment, he’d recovered consciousness. Although he looked terrible, his skin almost yellow, cheekbones thin and drawn, and his breathing as shallow as ever. He leaned over him.
“How do you feel, pal?”
His reply was a faint croak. “Like shit. Am I going to live?”
“Course you are. We all are.”
Sara knelt beside him, shot Stoner a reproving look, and then inspected the wound. She sniffed at the dressing. “You want the truth, Greg, it’s fifty-fifty. I can’t detect any signs of gangrene, but the infection is still bad. We’re going to get you out of here before the bombers arrive. We have to get away from this place.”
His eyelids flickered. “As long as it’s outside. If I die, I want it to be in the open air.”
“You won’t die,” Stoner said gently, not believing it.
He turned as Ivan came up behind him.
“We’re all gonna die.” He was trying to appear nonchalant, and failing.
“What do you mean we’re all gonna die. We’ll be out of here before the bombers arrive.”
He grimaced. “Too late, they’re early. They’re overhead. You can’t miss the sound of twelve B-52s, that’s ninety-six engines, and they make one hell of a racket. Any moment now you’ll hear the whine of the bombs falling. After that, you won’t hear anything at all.” He held out a hand, “So long, buddy, it’s been nice knowing you. Sometimes.”
He felt an overwhelming sense of loss. They’d come so near, to fail in the final minutes. Then he looked down at Greg. “We’ll take him outside. That was his wish, to die in the fresh air.”
Ivan shrugged. “All the same to me. Let’s get him out of there.”
The two men carried him outside, while Sara made sure he didn’t brush the rough rock walls as they progressed through the tunnel. The last five mercs were in the cave entrance, and they stood aside to let them through. They placed his body down gently and waited. Stoner looked up to the sky and saw the contrails high in the sky, too high to see the bombers. And then the whistling noise as the first of the bombs began to fall. He put an arm around Sara and held her close.
“So long.”
She kissed him. “In another life, Stoner.”
They waited, hearing but not hearing, seeing but not seeing. The first of the bombs landed two kilometers away with an ear-splitting crash. Ivan stared into the distance, and when he spoke, his voice was filled with disbelief, “What the fuck, I thought they were hotshot pilots? Don’t they know how to drop bombs?”
The noise was colossal, and the ground shook like an earthquake was in progress. The thunder of huge bombs exploding two klicks away, and all they could do was watch and wonder at why they’d missed. Could they survive? When would the bomber crews realize their mistake and switch their attention to the real target? But it didn’t happen, and after what seemed like an eternity, the noise stopped, and there was just the roiling smoke in the distance. The earth stopped shaking, and they stared at each other, astonished they’d survived.
Sara was the first to recover. “We must find Akram. He can’t be far away.”
“Find his body, you mean.”
She rounded on Ivan. “He could be alive. Why don’t you do something worthwhile and help us look?”
She strode away with Stoner. He shrugged and joined her. They walked warily across the open ground. No one shot at them, and when they climbed into the rocks where the enemy had been shooting from, they were empty. Just bodies, spent magazines, and cartridge cases as evidence they’d been there. Sara and Stoner found Akram almost immediately. He was badly injured, smeared in blood, but alive. And conscious.
She knelt beside him to examine the wounds, searching for strips of cloth to stop the bleeding. He looked up at Stoner.
“What happened with the bombing? I thought they were supposed to flatten the caves.”
“They were. I’ve no idea what went wrong, but I’m not complaining. Do you know where Tarzi and his men went, why they pulled out?”
“Tarzi left with Evers. His SUV was parked not far away. When I told him about the bombing raid, he didn’t hang around.”
“Do you know where he went?”
“Evers told me, although why, I don’t know. He came to kill me with Tarzi’s dagger, but he cut the ropes wrapped around my ankles and wrists, and said they were heading to Jalalabad.”
“Jalalabad? Why there?”
“He didn’t say, but I’d guess he has contacts in the town. He’d need a place to hole up while he licks his wounds. You know his men retreated two kilometers to the west, right underneath where they unloaded those bombs. Someone in the Air Force had good intelligence. Those insurgents will be dog meat by now.”
“We’ll go and check. Then we need to get to Jalalabad, if that’s where he’s go
ing. My business with Mohammed Tarzi isn’t finished.”
“Nor with Wayne Evers,” Ivan scowled, as he approached with Gorgy Bukharin at his side. He looked down at Akram. “How're you feeling, buddy?”
“I’ve been better, but I’ve been worse.”
“Good to know. We’ll get you fixed up. You’ll be back at work in no time. I need you.”
“You’re all heart, Ivan.”
“Yeah, that’s me. How many drug and arms traffickers have health protection plans?”
“You don’t have a health protection plan.”
“Yeah, I do. Anyone that attacks one of my men is next in line for a bullet. Stops them trying again.” He grinned, “How healthy is that?”
“It’s good to work for a boss who cares.”
“Damn right it is. I’ll get my men to carry you. There should be some trucks parked not too far away, and we’ll get you to a hospital for medical treatment.”
“I’m heading back to Jbad,” Stoner said, “I don’t like the idea of Tarzi and Evers running around loose in my hometown.”
“We’re going the same way, so you can follow us. Unless you can think of a half decent hospital this side of Jalalabad.”
“Nope.”
“I thought not. When we’re done, I’m going looking for Evers. The bastard’s going down.”
“Not a problem. By the way, don’t forget our deal. I’ve helped you out, and you’re going to help me with my business problem.”
“Sure, sure, I’ll look into it as soon as we get back.”
They walked away from the caves. In a valley protected by rocky cliffs, they found the abandoned vehicle park. Three trucks remained in a useable state. A stray bomb had struck the valley during the raid, and the massive blast had destroyed the remainder of the vehicles. Sara traveled in the rear of a truck with Greg and Akram, while Stoner took the wheel with Gorgy in the shotgun seat. Ivan’s mercs clambered into another truck and they started out in convoy, heading north.
After the first kilometer, they came across the devastation of the bombing raid. What had once been rough, mountainous terrain was flattened, almost like a First World War battlefield after weeks of heavy shelling. They never saw any survivors of the insurgents who’d sheltered there. Just a few rags, bent and twisted metal that once could have been a rifle, and here and there, a part of a limb, and in one case, even an intact head, with no visible signs of damage.
They drove on, bumping along the rough track, skirting the deep craters and cascades of stone that all but blocked their progress every few meters. At the top of the rise, they passed Greg’s GAZ, and Stoner made a silent vow to retrieve it and return it to the farm in Mehtar Lam. No matter what happened to Greg. Live or die, the Russian jeep belonged back at home. After two hours they cut the Torkham to Jbad road and picked up speed.
Another hour, and they stopped outside the ER entrance of Jalalabad University Hospital. They took Greg inside first, while Ivan and his men carried Akram in. Stoner paid the staff a small bribe to give him priority. The physician in charge, a man he’d seen often inside Ma Kelly’s, took one look at him and shook his head, sucking in air through his teeth.
“I can’t save this man. He’s too far gone. I suggest you notify his next of kin.”
They were alone, after they’d taken Sara to get a wound to her foot fixed up. Ivan and his men were waiting in another room with Akram, and Stoner felt a deep anger well up inside. After everything they’d done, and the guy was pronouncing a death sentence, but he quelled his fury. It wouldn’t help Greg.
“How much?”
“How much? What do you mean?”
“How much to give him everything he needs and make sure he pulls through.”
“I can’t…”
“Ten thousand dollars, U.S.”
“Sir, I can’t…”
“Twenty thousand, and a lifetime free pass to Ma Kelly’s.”
“Lifetime? You mean it?” His eyes lit up.
“Lifetime. Any girl you want.”
“Nurse! Get the off-duty medical staff in here at once. I want every free doctor, nurse, and theater technician to report to me in the next five minutes.”
He raised an eyebrow to Stoner. “We’ll do everything we can. It is our duty to save this man. Although I can’t guarantee anything.”
“The offer is conditional on his survival.”
He answered quickly, “We’ll save him.”
He nodded his thanks and went to find Sara. He waited until they’d dressed her injured foot, and he helped her outside, into the truck, and drove her to his home. Inside Ma Kelly’s they had a surprise. Ghulam Samar, the goatherder who’d helped them, was sitting at a table, talking to Ma. Her expression suggested she’d found a kid on whom to shower her motherly instincts.
“Ma, we’re back.”
She looked up, as did Ghulam, and the kid gave out a loud cry and rushed toward them. Hugged both of them and dragged them across to the table. Ma Kelly grinned a welcome. “Good to see you back, Stoner. You, too, Sara, what about Greg?”
He told her that he was hurt bad, but he was being looked after at the hospital. They could only wait. Ghulam had an application form on the table, and he saw them looking at it. “It’s for me to go to school, Mr. Stoner. Miss Kelly said she’d help me with the fees.”
He nodded. “That’s a good idea, son. Ma, this kid did real good. Anything he needs, you let me know.”
“I will. Where’re you going now?”
“Up to my apartment.” He yawned, “I need food, a shower, and anything else I can get. It’s been a hard one. Tomorrow, I have another job to take care of. I need to find a guy by the name of Mohammed Tarzi, and his pal Wayne Evers.”
“Wayne joined up with Tarzi? Impossible.”
“Maybe so, but it’s true.”
“The treacherous bastard.”
“In spades. Has either of them been here?”
“I haven’t seen them.”
“Okay, I’ll start looking for them tomorrow.”
“And if you find them?”
“I have a remedy that’ll stop it happening again.”
“A fifty-caliber remedy?”
“The same. Let’s go, Sara. We’ll see you later, Ghulam.”
“Thank you, Mr. Stoner.”
They left them and walked up the staircase to his apartment on the third floor. Ma had been busy. The door was repaired, and inside the detritus of his weeks of louche living had disappeared. No empty booze bottles, no takeaway food cartons, or dirty plates. Everything neat and clean, and when he went into the bedroom, it was the same. Sara came in behind him.
“This looks comfortable. How’s the bed?”
“Want to try it?”
She grinned. “I thought you’d never ask. I need a shower first, and then I’ll try the bed. Is the shower big enough for two?”
“Er, yeah.”
“Good, you can sponge my back.”
Afterward, they slept for the whole night and half the next morning. She was awake first, and when he opened his eyes, he could smell fresh coffee, eggs, bacon, and toast. Just slightly burnt. They said little as they worked their way through breakfast. He didn’t feel much like conversation. Not this morning. There was a single priority on his mind. Greg Blum. As soon as they were dressed, he went outside with Sara. They climbed into the Jeep Wrangler parked nearby, and he drove to the hospital.
His friend was surrounded by almost a score of medical staff. The physician looked exhausted, and he’d clearly worked non-stop. But he also looked cheerful. “We’ve done everything we can, Mr. Stoner, and he’s responding well. A week to recover, and he may be able to go home.”
“Can we speak to him?”
“No, he is sleeping, the best thing to aid his recovery. Tomorrow, maybe.”
“We’ll be back then.”
“Yes. The lifetime pass?”
“On the way, with the money. I always keep my promises, Doc.”
; “Of course. Not that it makes any difference.”
“Of course not. See you tomorrow.”
They drove back to the center, and he braked to a halt outside Ma’s. They went in the back way, up the stairs to his apartment. Someone had broken open the door, again. They’d been inside, and the place was a wreck. He swung around as footsteps sounded on the staircase, reached for a gun, but it was Ma.
“Stoner, you had a visitor.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Who was it this time?”
“Cops. That Captain Hosseini, he was with three other men. One looked just like him, a sergeant.”
“His cousin, I know him. What did they want?”
“You. They said they were going to search the place, and you can see what they did. The Captain left a message. Said to remind you about the warrant for your arrest, and now there’s a new batch of charges. Someone swore out a complaint against you. He said it was multiple murder.”
“Did he say who made the complaint?”
“Mohammed Tarzi.”
His smile was icy, and his expression even colder. “We have outstanding business, me and him. Did he say where Tarzi is staying?”
“No.”
“Okay, I’ll find him. Sara, I have to go out.”
He strapped on the Desert Eagles and strode out the door. Halfway down the staircase, he heard her coming behind him. “You can’t do this alone, Stoner. I can help you.”
“You could get yourself killed.”
“So could you. That’s why I’ll be along to watch your back.”
He sighed.
Women, I’ve never understood them, and arguing is like trying to divert an avalanche.
When they got to the Wrangler, she asked him where they’d start looking.
“I think I know where to find Captain Hosseini. But first, I must see Faria. Just in case anything goes wrong, she has to know about Greg.”