by Jeff Hirsch
“Let’s take it easy,” the sentry said. “I’ve got backup just down the line. Way more than you can handle, so just—”
Before he could finish, the man smashed his rifle’s stock into the back of the sentry’s head, just under his helmet. The sentry collapsed in front of me, and Bear barked wildly as four more soldiers appeared out of the darkness.
“Mark, shut that dog up,” someone whispered. “Now.”
The one with the rifle advanced on Bear and I threw myself at him, slamming my chest into his side and knocking him face-first to the ground. His knife shot away into the dark and then Bear was after him, snarling.
A gun barrel dug into my temple. “Call him off. Now.”
“Bear, get back.”
Bear turned, his lips revealing a row of sharp teeth.
“It’s okay,” I said, and nodded him away. Bear looked up at the soldiers beside me and backed off with a growl.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
It was a woman’s voice. No. Not a woman. A girl. Were these Fed soldiers?
“I… I’m camping,” I said. “With my father. Whatever you’re doing is none of my business. Just cut me loose and let me go. You’ll never see me again.”
The collapsed soldier’s radio squawked and a voice emerged, full of static. “Wolf Three, this is Den. We heard something up your way. Confirm contact. Over.”
There was a pause and then the barrel fell away from my temple, allowing me to turn and see my captors. There were four of them, but they weren’t soldiers. It was three boys and a girl. All about my age. The girl carried a sawed-off shotgun. All the boys were looking to her as the radio sounded again.
“Wolf Three, this is Den. Confirm contact. Over.”
“I know what to say,” I said. “Cut me loose and I’ll talk to them.”
The girl looked down at me, uncertain.
“If someone doesn’t answer, they’re coming here in force and we’re all dead.”
She glanced to the boy with the rifle and he took the radio off the soldier’s belt and held it up to my mouth.
“Cut me loose or I say nothing.”
The girl’s glare didn’t waver and neither did mine.
“Wolf Three, this is Den. We are in motion. Over.”
There was the distant sound of engines coming to life down the line, and the girl nodded at one of her friends, who disappeared behind me. When the zip tie binding my hands popped, I grabbed for the radio, but her friend held it back.
“Say the wrong thing,” the girl said as she leveled her shotgun at Bear’s head. “And you watch the dog go down before you do.”
I snatched the radio away from him. “Den, this is Wolf Three,” I said, deepening my voice and hoping the connection was bad enough to make it indistinguishable from their comrade’s. “I am alpha charlie. Repeat. Alpha charlie. Came across a stray dog, but the mutt ran off. All is on Path now. No need for assistance. Over.”
There was a deadly pause when we all held our breath. The engine-revving sound stopped.
“Wolf Three, this is Den. Understood.”
I dropped the radio in the dirt and fell to my hands and knees, panting, my heart thrumming in my ears.
“Okay, people,” the girl with the shotgun said. “The plan hasn’t changed. Take him and the dog and move.”
“You don’t need me,” I said. “I called them off. Let me—”
The shotgun rose to my forehead. “You go where I say you go. Now call the dog to you and move.”
Bear and I were pushed deeper into the Path side of the border until we came to a trench that had been dug into the sand. We dropped behind it. Bear stayed close to me, the tension in the air having cured his natural friendliness.
“Carlos,” the girl in charge said. The boy named Carlos slung his weapon and disappeared into the night.
None of them were in uniform, just ragged-looking hiking gear and scavenged weapons. The girl was an inch or so taller than me, with a square jaw and arms that were covered in rangy cords of muscle.
“Look,” I said. “Whatever you’re doing, you don’t need me to—”
“I don’t know you,” the girl said. “So if you think I’m going to let you and your mutt wander around in the middle of my operation, you’re crazy. If you’re good, we let you go when we’re done. It’s either that or you take a short walk out into the desert with Hector here.”
Hector was tall with a shaved head and massive shoulders. He stood behind her, grinning, one hand balanced on a hunting knife that hung from his belt. I let my head fall against the berm behind me, cursing under my breath. The girl reached her hand back and one of the boys handed her a pair of binoculars. She lifted them and looked out toward the road.
“Hitting the checkpoint is useless,” I said. “They’ll just have a new crew here by the morning.”
The girl said nothing, continuing her scan. I turned onto my stomach and looked over the berm. The lights of the checkpoint were about a mile to our east. The road cut across the desert right in front of us.
“Something else is coming, isn’t it?”
Her eyes flicked over to me and I knew I was right.
“A supply truck?”
“Look, just keep quiet, and when we’re done you’re free to go, okay?”
I scanned the landscape again, counting off soldiers and vehicles. A plan started to form. “That promise isn’t going to do me much good when you’re all dead.”
She dropped the binoculars to glare at me. “You remember that short walk I mentioned?”
I scooted closer to her through the dirt. “I’m guessing from the way you’re set up, you figure on sending these guys to flanking positions on either side of the checkpoint and then hitting them all at once when the supply truck is stopped. With that plan, you’ll last about two minutes.”
“We have the element of surprise.”
“Which is what will buy you the two minutes. I’ve been living with a Path special forces unit for six years. Trust me. You can’t take them all on at once; that’s what they expect you to do.”
Carlos reappeared and crouched on the other side of her. “Target’s five miles out, Nat.”
Nat nodded and he melted into the dark. She examined the terrain a moment, gnawing on her bottom lip, and then turned to me.
“And so what don’t they expect?”
I locked eyes with her. “If I help, you take me with you back to Fed territory and then help me get transport east.”
“You’re not in a great position to make a deal.”
“Fine, stick to your plan. I’ll wait here while you all get killed.”
“Nat,” Carlos said. “Time to move.”
Nat’s eyes narrowed on me, sharp as spikes. “Deal. Now tell me your idea.”
Nat listened, and once I was done, she waved everyone in. The three heavily armed boys gathered around her.
“We all know how important this is,” she said, speaking slow and calm and looking her men in the eye just like I had seen Path commanders do before an operation. “Our friends are counting on us, but we gotta remember that this isn’t hero time. This is working-together-and-doing-our-job time.”
Each boy nodded solemnly.
“Now,” she continued, glancing over at me. “We’ve got a little change in plan….”
• • •
Minutes later I was kneeling in the middle of the highway with Bear at my side and Nat’s prone body lying in front of us. I had pulled Wade’s truck nose down in a ditch around the bend in the highway, out of sight of the checkpoint. We were lit in the yellow blinking hazard lights.
“You ready?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Nat said. “I’m suddenly wishing I had taken drama class instead of metal shop. You sure this is going to work?”
I shrugged. “They say no plan—”
“— survives contact with the enemy. Yeah, I’ve heard that one too.”
Nat peered down the road, then tucke
d a length of hair behind her ear.
“So you were really living with Path special forces? And now you’re a runner?”
“Name’s Cal,” I said. “The dog’s Bear.”
“You named your dog Bear?”
“Yeah, he—”
Two lights appeared in the western dark. Nat sucked in a breath and held it. I leaned over her, my hands on her arms, my face close to hers. Her eyes were closed. Bear whined and I rubbed his head to calm him down.
The supply truck strained up a hill and then its lights were filling the roadway around us. I had the sick feeling of being a spider in a web. Part of me hoped they’d swerve around us and keep going.
“Almost here,” I whispered in Nat’s ear.
“Showtime.”
The truck was a three-axled monster with a boxy cab. There were two shadowy forms inside. There was no going back now, so all I could do was hope there wasn’t extra security hiding in the rear of the truck. When it was less than fifty feet out, I jumped up and started waving my arms over my head. Bear ran to my side, keeping up a steady stream of barking.
The truck didn’t slow. Thirty feet. Then twenty. What if they had been told to not stop for any reason? My heart pulsed, but then their air brakes squealed and they came to a halt just a few feet ahead of us. Engine rumbling. Headlights beating down at us. There was a pause and then the doors opened and boots hit the ground. Nat was right. It was showtime.
“Thank God!” I exclaimed. “Thank God you stopped. Please help us. I don’t know what’s wrong with her!”
Two soldiers rushed into the pool of light; one had a sleek MP5 rifle and the other was toting a black shotgun. As soon as he saw them, Bear ran up and began prancing around their feet and barking eagerly. For once his instincts were perfect. If he had been a bigger dog, they might have already been shooting, but the last thing the soldiers expected was his tiny whirling excitement. They looked from him to us and back again.
“Back,” one of the soldiers said. “Get back.”
“Bear! Come here! It’s okay. He’s harmless.”
Bear backed off with a yip but stayed between us and the soldiers, dancing around, his claws clicking on the asphalt.
“What are you doing here?”
“We were camping with our dad,” I said as Bear spun. “He said we had to get on Path, but we wanted to go home, so we took the truck, but then she just collapsed on the way back. I don’t know what happened. Please help us!”
“Take the dog and step back from the girl,” the soldier said. “Now!”
I took Bear by his shoulders and pulled him away. “Just help her. Please. Come on, Bear.”
The lead soldier slid his MP5 around behind him. “Keep an eye on the boy, Turner,” he said as he knelt by Nat’s body. Turner put the shotgun on me as his partner eased closer to Nat.
“I don’t know what it is,” I said. “She won’t wake up. She’s had seizures before. Maybe—”
Nat began to whisper, rolling her head back and forth. “I’m sorry… I don’t… the truck just… Dad…”
The lead soldier leaned in to hear her better and that’s when Nat started moving. One hand grabbed his wrist while the other swept Carlos’s handgun out from beneath her. The soldier jerked back, and Nat used the momentum to get both of them standing. She turned his arm behind him, then jammed the gun into his side. Turner pivoted to get a bead on her, but Nat swung her man’s body between them as a shield.
“Put it down or he’s dead!” she ordered. “Do it now!”
Turner hesitated and that was my chance. I sped in on his blind side and ripped the gun out of his hand.
“Okay,” the leader said, his hands up. “Let’s all just take it easy here. You gotta know this ain’t gonna happen, girl. There is an entire outpost right ahead of you. Taking our rig isn’t going to do you a bit of good.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Nat said, stripping his MP5 off over his head. “Now, on your bellies on the side of the road. Move.”
Nat got them down and I pulled out a handful of plastic zip cuffs I had taken off the first sentry. I bound their hands behind them and stepped away. Nat pressed her pistol into the leader’s skull, but I batted the weapon away before she could fire, earning me a deadly look.
“There’s no need,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Nat climbed up into the driver’s side while Bear and I took the passenger seat. She handed me the shotgun.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Get down, Bear.”
Once he was safely in the wheel well, I leaned out the window and fired three blasts into the sky. Boom. Boom. Boom. The shock of it sent a painful jolt through my wrist. Bear yelped at my feet, pushing himself farther into the darkness. Nat angled the MP5 out her window and peeled off a stream of fire. I grabbed the radio mic off the dash and keyed the channel open.
“Den, we are under attack. Repeat — we are under attack.”
I nodded to Nat and she put the truck in gear, accelerating around the corner and onto the straightaway.
One of the Path Humvees had abandoned the checkpoint and was racing toward us. I found myself wishing they’d stop and turn back, but it was too late. There was a flash from the side of the road as Hector fired his RPG. The smoke trail streaked toward the side of the vehicle, but at the last second the driver gunned the engine and swerved. The rocket slammed into the dirt on the other side of the road and went up in a cloud of fire and sand. The Humvee kept coming. The turret gunner was in his place, hands on his weapon.
“What do we do?”
“Keep going,” I said, trying to control the panic in my voice. “As far as they know, we’re on their side.”
Nat laid on the gas, but in the next second I was proved wrong. The gunner in the Humvee leaned into his turret and squeezed off a stream of fire from his .50 cal. The rounds ricocheted off the roadway, chiming against the hood and shattering a headlight. Nat’s side-view mirror exploded in a shower of glass and metal. She clapped a hand on her shoulder with a gasp but urged the truck faster.
The gunner let go another salvo. This time he walked his fire over to us, tearing up the roadway before a string of bullets tore into a corner of our engine block. There was a screech of twisting metal and then I braced myself as the truck went into a spin, pinwheeling down the highway until our back end smashed into the side of the Humvee. The mass of the truck sent the Humvee skidding off the road and we all came to a dead stop. There was broken glass everywhere, and smoke was pouring out of our truck’s ruined engine.
I ducked to check on Bear and found him cowering but unhurt. By the time I was back up, Nat was already diving out of the truck.
“Nat!”
I grabbed the shotgun and followed her. The Humvee was half on the road, half in a ditch. The gunner was slumped over his weapon, unconscious. Nat had her rifle up and was stalking toward the vehicle.
“What are you doing? Nat, let’s go!”
The driver’s-side door flew open and a soldier leapt out, his sidearm out and zeroing in on Nat. I lifted my shotgun, but before I could even get it leveled, Nat squeezed off three rounds. They hit the soldier in the chest and he crumpled onto the road.
There was a clatter as Nat’s rifle hit the asphalt. She stumbled backward and to the ground, her legs sprawled out in front of her. She had gone chalk pale, mouth open, her eyes fixed on the dead soldier bleeding out into the road. He was young. Nineteen or twenty with the broad features and blond hair of a farm boy.
An explosion down the road rocked the ground beneath us. The checkpoint was now engulfed in flames. Black figures circled it, spraying the remaining Humvee with gunfire.
“Nat,” I said, my voice shaking along with the rest of me. “We have to go. Someone must have gotten a com out in the middle of all of this. More will be on the way.”
Nat didn’t respond, didn’t move. She just stared at the boy. His eyes were glassy, lifeless. I dropped the shotgun and grabbed Nat, turning her toward me and s
haking her hard by her shoulders.
“We have to move. Now!”
Nat pushed me away and rolled over onto her hands. Her back heaved and she vomited into the roadway. When she was done I helped her up and we went around the truck to get Bear. He jumped into my arms, shaking, and I held him tight.
“Come on,” I said to Nat. “We’ll meet up with the others and walk across the border.”
Nat was bent over her knees. She shook her head. “No, we need what’s in the truck.”
“Nat—”
“I’m not doing all of this for nothing!”
Down the road, Carlos and the others were already on their way back to us. The fire raged behind them, lighting up the sky for nearly a mile. Even if no one got a signal out, the Path was going to see the fire and send help. We didn’t have much time and certainly couldn’t afford to walk out.
“Start unloading,” I said. “Fast.”
I left Bear with Nat and ran into the dark toward Wade’s truck. When I got there, the hazards were still going, flashing yellow in the ditch. I got in and cranked the engine, but then it was like my brain locked down. I sat there, my hands on the wheel, the engine idling. My fingers were ice-cold. I kept seeing that dead soldier’s eyes, blank as a doll’s.
The world outside the truck was spinning madly, a flickering show of darkness and flames. I closed my eyes and breathed deep, but it did nothing. I bit down hard on the side of my lip, and the world snapped back into focus. I spit blood out onto the road and got moving.
By the time I got back, a fire had started in the supply truck’s engine. Flames overwhelmed the front of it, but Nat and the others had the cargo laid out on the road. Cardboard boxes and wooden crates were stacked four feet high. I brought Wade’s truck to a halt and they packed all they could into its bed.
“Move over,” Nat said. “I know the way.”
I shifted over to the passenger side. Nat let Bear in, then got behind the wheel. He was shaking badly, his tail between his legs. I pulled him close to me and he curled up, burying his face in my leg. Nat made sure Carlos and the others were in the bed and then drove away.