The Life We Lead: Ascending

by George Nagle

  “Matt,” James continued, “give him cover from the side and as far as you can see. When that exit blows, wait two more minutes and then evacuate, regardless of who is back or not. Major and everyone else, continue to provide fire on the main parts for nine minutes, set up the torrent gun on auto fire, and evacuate. Make no exceptions. Evacuate! Calvin and Ben, you’re coming with me. Ben and I are switching to channel 2 on the headset if you need me. Matt and Paul monitor both channels.”

  Silence met James’s words before the major said in a slightly hoarse voice, “We have the orders.”

  James grabbed the general map and flattened it. “Calvin, strip down. Ben, I need you to get to this point with …”

  “What? What do you mean?” Calvin was still sobbing, clearly confused.

  “Listen to me. We don’t have time for you not to listen. Follow my exact orders or I swear to God I’ll leave you and your damn brother here! You want to save his life, then do what I said now!” James was furious with focus, rather than anger. There was no wiggle room in the plan.

  Calvin did as he was told and stripped off his clothes.

  “Ben, you need to get to this point in the corridor. We can travel together until here. On my mark, you will hear a grenade go off. Count to five, pull your pin, and throw past this door. Then hurry back to this intersection.”

  James turned to Calvin. “Calvin is going to run past this door.” He pointed to the middle corridor near Raymond. “Calvin, you keep running and meet up with Ben at this intersection. Ben, if he’s being pursued, take them out. No matter what, Calvin and Ben, once you meet up, get out. Any questions?”

  Both shook their heads no.

  They were off, Paul following so he could set the timers.

  Ben and James moved quickly, securing the hallway to get where they needed to before the split with Calvin in the rear. Then they split, with Ben heading on a path toward the office and James and Calvin using back paths to get toward the middle hall.

  “Looks like they’re all at the main structure,” called a voice over the headsets.

  “Calvin, sprint down that hall. When you get to this opening,” James indicated the small hall that led to the room Raymond was in, “pause for a heartbeat. I’m hoping you’ll have someone coming to investigate. If they see you, they’ll mistake you for Raymond and give chase. The path winds enough that they won’t have a clean shot until you meet up with Ben. You just keep going until you’re out with Matt and Paul. Matt, don’t shoot Calvin as he comes out.”

  “Copy,” said Matt over the headset.

  “Ready, Calvin and Ben?”

  Calvin nodded as Ben said, “Roger that.”

  “Here we go.” James tossed a grenade as Calvin took off.

  Calvin hit the small hallway about five seconds after James’s grenade went off. Within two seconds, Seim and Fang were barreling down the hallway after him. As they did, a second distant explosion could be heard, though it was louder, over James’s headset.

  “Transport units one and two, head out,” came a voice on the headsets.

  James had planted one of the stick explosives and timed it to go off just as the major and others should be pulling out completely. He sprinted down the main corridor, then slowed as he approached the room Raymond was in. He entered and did a fast sweep. He saw a door ajar on the other side of the room, near where Ben’s grenade had gone off.

  James had underestimated the size of the room and everything in it. Apparently the cameras had just a central focal point on the rack. He heard a gunfire exchange over the headset, as well as faintly in the distance, then silence.

  “James, they’re clear, two down. No eyes. Repeat, we have lost visual,” Paul said.

  Calvin and Ben were out, but Ben’s grenade had apparently done enough damage to lose the video feed, though James did not know that was the reason it was now off.

  James didn’t wait to hear more. He made his way over to Raymond, holstered his gun, and undid his wrist restraints. Raymond undid his own waist restraint with trembling hands while James released his ankles.

  James spoke into his headset. “Ben, can you come back to the intersection where you just met Calvin? I’m sending Raymond out.”

  “Copy,” said Ben.

  “No activity on the outside perimeter,” came a voice on the headsets that sounded like Kevin’s, who apparently was giving the small updates on progress that actually James appreciated even though he hadn’t thought to ask for them.

  James stood, pulling out his pistol. His instincts were telling him he’d been here before, and it had been bad.

  James saw the door open out of the corner of his eye to his left and fired.

  Yan, also firing, took cover behind some barrels while Raymond hit the floor and crawled toward the exit.

  James pulled out the other gun and kept up blind gunfire. “Go, Raymond! Follow the hallway and make the first left you can, then run till you find Ben. Ben, get him and yourself out. Do not come back in. This is going to plan.”

  That was a lie. This wasn’t going to plan at all. Yan had come back too soon.

  Raymond fled. James managed some cover on the other side of the X-shaped cross, and saw another exit on the other end of the room. Still, there was a lot of open space to cover.

  Just then, an explosion went off in the hallway, signaling that the major and team should be moving out. James needed to get moving too, as he didn’t know where the kid was. He was out of ammunition, and the explosion was as good a distraction as anything.

  James decided it was all or nothing time. He pulled the pin in his last grenade and stood as Yan fired his last bullet. It grazed James’s left arm, causing him to spin slightly, and he saw that Yan had something in his other hand.

  Both men threw their objects at the same time and dropped to the ground.

  As Yan went down, he hit a button on the wall. This released an iron gate, blocking James’s escape.

  Boom!

  Yan’s flash bang collided with James’ grenade, and they went off together. The force of the shockwave acted like a huge hand, slamming James into the gate, and the explosion blocked the door he’d originally come through.

  Yan hit the far wall and was pinned under a barrel, knocked out cold.

  Everything hurt. There was no sound, or maybe it was just one constant sound. James couldn’t tell. An intense heat was coming from a roaring blaze to his left. As he rolled to his right, his blurred vision saw a shadow on the other side of the iron gate.

  Just as James began to come out of his daze, so did Yan. All James could hear was a ringing sound as his eyes struggled to adjust. He felt a vibration to his right as he watched Yan. Visibly gushing blood, Yan managed to semi-stagger out the door he’d come through.

  James was groggy. He couldn’t use that door. The team was blind to whatever Yan was doing. He could be lying in ambush. What was that annoying vibration behind him?

  He rolled to his right to see that the gate was rising. Xavier, naked for some reason, was pulling a chain rope, raising it.

  A boy.

  James corrected himself.

  No, the boy.

  He rolled under the gate and staggered to his feet, and Xavier came over to brace him.

  “We have to go, now,” James said, and they made their way to the door.

  James was quickly recovering, but his ears were still buzzing. “Guys, we are coming now; do not blow the exit. Repeat, do not blow the exit.”

  James could not hear his own words. The explosions in the room had blown out his headset, but he was too disoriented to realize it. He had also lost a sense of how much time he had.

  “Repeat, do not blow the exit. Anyone copy? Hello? Do not blow the exit!”

  James’s shouting attracted attention in the hallways. Distant voices approached as Xavier pushed James on.

  They reached the intersection where Ben had retrieved Calvin and Raymond. They’d taken two steps down the path to the exit when the explosion w
ent off.

  “Damn it! I said do not detonate the exit!” James was emotional. He was about to die. Xavier was shaking, and he had been so brave.

  James closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to focus, not react, but fear flooded him. Fear meant death. He had never feared death; why did he fear it now?

  An image of Carissa came over him. He had that sensation of a warm breath of wind on a slightly hot day that he always associated with her. His mind flashed on how they’d met and their first date and …

  James’s eyes snapped open. He grabbed Xavier and went left. The voices were getting closer, but James knew he was right, or perhaps praying that he was.

  He found the small dark side hall behind the baths and hit the mini-light on his belt.

  “Stop!” the boy said. “We can’t go that way. It is a bottomless pit with the howling monster!”

  “Xavier, trust me. It isn’t, and we have to go.” James pulled the boy behind him. He took his last remaining explosive stick and placed it in the ceiling arch of the hallway. He quickly tied an end of the rope he had brought onto the large pipes on the floor at a bracing bracket and fed the other end into his belt loops.

  “Xavier, I need you to do what I tell you. Go stand at the edge of the pit,” he ordered the boy. “When I come, I need you to climb on top of my chest, put your arms around my neck, and bring your knees as close to my shoulders as you can. Then hang on tight. Do you understand?” James asked.

  The voices were right on top of them; whoever it was would be hitting the main intersection any second.

  “Yes,” the boy said, and hurried to the edge.

  James set the timer for fifteen seconds. He hit the start switch to begin the countdown and ran. He got down on his knees and leaned back like he was trying to limbo.

  As Xavier climbed on his chest, James found the edge of the pit with his heels and slowly leaned back before turning off the light on his belt. He began moving gingerly down the wall of the pit just as the individuals chasing them appeared at the end of the small dark hallway. He rushed to slide out of view and slipped a little.

  He regained some steadiness, but Xavier had started to squeeze harder, his body covering James's mouth and nose so that he couldn’t inhale or exhale.

  James’s brain, still a little out of whack, processed that he couldn’t breathe. As in the past when he’d almost drowned, he thought, You can only survive three minutes without oxygen.

  Suddenly, he recalled that he only had a total of two minutes after the exit had been eliminated to get out, and certainly some of that time was gone. They had to go faster.

  As the last set of explosives went off, James slipped again. This time, he didn’t recover. He used the momentum of the slip to swing his weight to try to land and roll, then let go of the rope. This sudden motion created a small breathing space, and James turned his head into the pocket of air with a deep exhale.

  They fell about fourteen feet. James landed hard on his back and tried to roll, which was difficult with the boy on his chest. Xavier’s head knocked into James’s, giving him a double impact, but adrenaline was doing its job.

  James got up, pulled Xavier to his side, and spun around. There it was, partially blocked by a boiler system. The exit door that Joseph had mentioned at the football match was framed in light from the outside. The small gap around the edge was creating the howling sound Xavier described and he had heard earlier.

  James grabbed Xavier and ran at the door as hard as he could, intending to bust it open. It opened easily, and James fell flat on his face. Xavier helped him up.

  “How …?” Xavier started, but James said, “Come on!”

  They sprinted around the corner just in time to see a set of taillights dip down, driving away from them.

  “Damn! Come on!” screamed James, now moving perpendicular to the fortress to get away from it. They had three minutes before this place was going to meet two F-14’s. He doubted they could run far enough, as beat up as they were, but they had to try. Then the sound of an engine came from their right.

  “Run!” James screamed to Xavier, thinking the jets were early, but his hearing was still off, and he was wrong. It was Matt in the van. James and Xavier changed course and raced toward him. Matt swung wide and came alongside, while slowing down. James and Xavier jumped in the open sliding cargo door without Matt stopping.

  James fell to his side in the back of the cargo van next to Xavier and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. Slowly, he opened them. He would have time to feel the satisfaction of completing this challenge soon. Right now, he needed to tend to Xavier, who was shivering uncontrollably.

  James grabbed his coat and sat up against the side of the van with his legs crossed. He called Xavier over and gave him the coat to put on. He had the boy sit on his lap and began to vigorously rub him down, hoping to minimize the chance of him going into shock.

  “Um, James,” said Paul softly. “Why is this kid naked? I mean, none of the others were.”

  James looked at Paul as if to say “Really? Now?” He gestured toward the twins, pulling attention away from Xavier as he rubbed Xavier’s back and shoulders to create heat. “The real question is, why are they naked?”

  Paul handed Xavier some pants that were way too big for him, but that at least covered him up.

  “They haven’t stopped crying yet. We tried to get them to. Just starting to treat some of Raymond’s burns when we swung back to get you,” said Ben.

  “I gave you all strict orders to leave. Why did you come back?” James wasn’t being stern or a jerk about it. It was a sincere question, and the guys knew it. His tone was laced with gratitude.

  “Matt spotted you in the mirror just as we came out of a little dip. We thought it was still fair game to rescue you and be the big heroes,” said Paul, and the awkward tension broke. It wasn’t really funny, but it was good enough to relieve the intense emotion everyone was feeling. Even the twins managed to smile between sobs.

  They were just passing the outer marker for where the EMP force field would become ineffective when they felt a vibration beginning to intensify.

  Matt hammered the gas as hard as he could. “Here they come, boys!”

  The two F-14’s came in hot and heavy above them. Their speed shook the van as they passed and then a phenomenal explosion sounded. Through the back windows, they could see huge flames shooting up as the van raced away, unharmed.

  “Here,” said Paul, handing a headset to James.

  “My boys say it was a clean hit.” It was the major. “They dropped two sets on the fortress itself and another set right into the cliff, which cracked right off and buried the whole thing.” His voice steamed with satisfaction.

  “Any signs of survivors? And is the other problem handled?” James asked.

  “That’s a negative on survivors. Besides, where they going to go? It’s an hour or two drive to anything, and without any supplies, that isn’t happening. And a big affirmative on the other problem. Glad we got you out,” the major said in a softer tone.

  “Thanks, Ian. See you and the others at the safe spot.”

  James wasn’t worried about the evil enemy somehow surviving in an unrealistic way. That was crap you found in the movies. The major was right. No one could survive that blast.

  During the forty minute drive, and with Paul’s help, Ben addressed various medical issues with Raymond, Xavier, and James. James insisted on being treated last, though he needed the most attention. His lower back was messed up, and he probably had a bruised rib or two, along with a concussion, but the bullet had just nicked him and could have passed as a scratch.

  Xavier was doing fine, once the cut on his forehead was attended to.

  The twins were the biggest mess, mainly because of their emotional state. When they finally got dressed, James realized something.

  “Raymond, those are your clothes!”

  Raymond looked down at himself and said indignantly, “What the bloody hell is that s
upposed to mean? Course they are my clothes.”

  “What I mean is, they’re the clothes you had on earlier. The ones they made you strip off,” James said, looking at him eagerly.

  “Right, did you think I should run about naked for the rest of me life?” Raymond asked in the same indignant tone.

  “Leave him alone!” Calvin glared at James fiercely, protecting his twin.

  Paul tapped James on the left shoulder. “Looking for this?” He held up the hard drive.

  “Yes!”

  “Apparently he grabbed his clothes as he made a run for it,” Paul whispered. “Who would’ve thought he’d have that much presence of mind, huh?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As they joined the others around the black SUV, James saw everyone else for the first time since the mission had begun. No one looked the worse for the wear, aside from some scratches Haiden, Keegan, and Rocker had endured from some of the kids in the process of moving them. The kids were very shaken up obviously, but no one was hurt.

  It was time to address the other problem, but first James wanted to make sure they had enough room to transport the children semi-comfortably, that everyone knew where the location outside of Osh was, and that Joe was all right.

  James found Joe with Kevin and Jason. As he peered inside the cargo van, Jason told him, “He was fighting with two guys. By the time we got cleared to extract him, he was cut bad. We gave him some morphine to stop the pain.”

  Kevin slid back so James could see Joe’s stomach. It was drenched in blood.

  Joe was very pale and taking short rapid breaths. James knew he didn’t have the time or tools to save Joe’s life.

  “Kevin, can you go look at the twins please. Thank you, Joe, for your help.” He grasped Joe’s right hand in his left.

  “You saved my life, man. I can’t thank you enough,” said Jason in a mournful voice.

  “Help children,” Joe gasped. “Save their life. Kill evil people that hurt them. He knows.” Joe pointed accusatorily at the Black SUV with his left hand. “He have other pouches with papers. He knows,” Joe said, fainter. He slowly closed his eyes.