Forged in Ash (A Red-Hot SEALs Novel)

by Trish McCallan

  “Rawls!” Cosky roared.

  Although he already knew it was too late. There weren’t enough tricks in their corpsman’s medical bag to pull the bastard through. Jillian’s aim had been perfect. She had driven the blade straight between the ribs and toward the descending aorta. If by some damn miracle the blade had missed the aorta, it would have pierced the vena cava. Either way, he’d bleed out in a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds.

  The bastard they’d pinned their hopes on was a corpse. Their best hope was that Rawls could keep him alive long enough to answer some questions before he rattled off his last breath.

  “What the Goddamn motherfucking hell,” Mac bellowed, his body stiff with rage as he stalked toward Jillian.

  In one long stride Wolf rounded the chair, caught Jillian around the waist, and pushed her behind him. Backing her into a corner, he planted himself in front of her.

  Mac stopped, scowled at Wolf’s impassive, inflexible face, and without saying another word, turned around and headed toward Cosky.

  Rawls squatted in front of Pachico, who was just sitting there, staring down at his chest.

  “There’s hardly any blood,” Faith whispered. Her gaze was riveted on the knife handle and the slowly spreading tide of red seeping out around it. With each second, her face turned paler, until her freckles stood out like flecks of gold. “Maybe if nobody pulls it out, we can get him to the hospital in time.”

  Pachico’s head slowly rose. From the stark look in his brown eyes, it was obvious he realized what the scientist hadn’t—he was already bleeding out inside.

  Rawls shot to his feet and turned to Kait, who was standing rigid and white-faced across the room. “Kait—”

  Cosky knew immediately what his buddy had in mind. “No!” he snapped, stepping forward to block Kait’s path in case she had any bright ideas.

  Shoving his hands through his hair, Rawls wheeled on Cosky. “Goddamn it, she can save him. Look what she did to your knee. Look what she did for your eye.”

  “No,” Cosky reiterated even louder, although it was more for Kait’s benefit than Rawls’s.

  The wound was too major, life threatening. It would take an enormous amount of energy to heal something that severe. There was no way in hell he was letting Kait channel that much energy and risk frying herself for that scumbag.

  “What are you two babbling about?” Mac said, shooting Cosky and Rawls a disgusted glare. He kicked the bound feet until Pachico’s dull brown eyes lifted. “You’re tapping out, buddy. Now’s the time to make things square with whoever the hell you believe in. Who signs your paychecks?”

  An ugly, amused light muddied the brown eyes below Mac. “You poor bastards don’t have a clue who you’re chasing. I’ll let you have the pleasure of finding that out for yourselves.”

  Rawls swung to Cosky. “Christ Cos, if we lose him, we lose our best shot at finding out who set us up, who killed McKay. Goddamn it, we lose the teams.”

  Cosky’s jaw tightened as the truth of Rawls’s words sunk in. From Zane’s account of the mission, the scientist they’d rescued in the lab had provided some new leads. But that’s just what they were—leads. There was no way of knowing whether they’d pan out.

  Pachico, however, he had actual names.

  He had answers.

  Her eyes on his face, Kait took a couple of shaky steps forward and touched Cosky’s arm. “We could try—”

  Looking down into her pale, willing face, he simply shook his head. There was no hesitation. He’d rather risk his career, his life on the teams—than her.

  Rawls turned to Kait.

  “I can’t help him,” she said, before Rawls even opened his mouth. She didn’t look at Cosky, but he was certain she was thinking the same thing he was. To heal a wound of this magnitude, she would have to supercharge her gift, which she couldn’t do without Cosky’s help.

  Zane’s gaze bounced between Cosky and Kait, like he knew something was going on, but, shrugging, he turned to Pachico and crouched. “It does you no good to hold out,” he said in a reasonable voice. “Who is pulling the strings? Where did they take the scientists from the lab?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Pachico said, his voice thinning. “They’ll find you.” His breathing grew labored and spotty. “Sooner than you think,” he gasped out as his eyes glazed.

  Cosky frowned. What the hell did that mean?

  When Zane reached out to shake him, he was unresponsive.

  Rawls pressed his fingers to the thick neck. Silence colored the room. After a few seconds, he stood up.

  “He’s gone,” he said, frustration stamped across his face.

  Cosky turned away from the accusation in the blue eyes. There wasn’t even an ounce of regret over his decision.

  “Motherfucker.” Mac turned furious black eyes toward the corner, where Jillian stood backed up against the log walls, and Wolf’s thick body shielded her. “You were looking right at her. You must have seen the knife. You could have stopped her.”

  Wolf stared back impassively. “She had every right to take his life. He took five of hers.”

  Swearing again, Mac gripped the back of his neck and spun in a tight circle, like he was trying to walk the rage off. “Nobody is debating that, damn it. But we needed to talk to him. We needed fucking answers.”

  Crossing his arms across his chest, Wolf shook his head. “He would never have answered your questions.”

  Mac scowled back. “You don’t know that. We had his life to barter with, which makes damn fine incentive.” Suddenly Mac tilted his head, and studied Wolf with suspicion.

  “Did you get anything out of him on the trip here?” Cosky asked.

  “Nada,” Zane said with disgust.

  “Or maybe that was your whole fucking plan,” Mac said sharply. Bracing his feet, he pulled back his shoulders and stalked close to Wolf, the hostility radiating from him. “Maybe you let her kill him because you didn’t want him talking. Maybe you’re neck deep in this shit and this invitation to your castle was nothing more than a smoke screen to keep us close and make sure we didn’t latch onto something.”

  “Tei’yoonoh’o.” Pure contempt throbbed in the word.

  And then suddenly Wolf frowned. Going very still, he cocked his head, as though he were listening to something.

  Zane turned to Rawls, who was still standing there, staring down at their dead hostage. “Don’t beat yourself up. Nobody could have saved him.”

  Stiffness claimed Rawls’s lean frame and Cosky knew he was thinking that Kait could have.

  Zane slapped Rawls’s shoulder and froze, his hand clamping down.

  Cosky recognized the fixed, rigid expression.

  Jesus Christ, unbelievable. The bastard was having another one of his visions.

  “Ah hell,” Rawls said. He glanced at Cosky and worked up a poor excuse of a smile. “Still, I suppose it’s my turn in the headlights.”

  Yeah, right—Cosky swore. Chances were Rawls wasn’t the only one in the line of fire. Wolf’s strange behavior suddenly came to mind. He glanced over at their host as Zane shuddered and dropped his hand.

  Wolf was still standing there, unusually still, a distant look on his face.

  “What did you see?” Cosky swung to Zane, urgency stirring.

  Something was about to go down. He was sure of it. To have two men equipped with a sense of knowing, and both hitting on something at the exact same time. Yeah, that wasn’t a coincidence.

  Suddenly, Wolf shook himself; spinning, he grabbed Jillian around the waist and half carried her across the room. “Everyone out of the house,” he said, as he threw open the door. “Out. Everyone.” His voice rose to a shout. “Kait. Move.”

  The last time Wolf had ordered Kait to vacate a house, the condo had exploded.

  His adrenaline spiking, Cosky caught Kait’s shoulder and pushed her toward the door. “Move. Move. Move.”

  Spurred by the urgency in Wolf and Cosky’s voices, Amy grabbed the scientist�
�s elbow and propelled her forward. Cosky and Rawls brought up the rear. They sounded like a herd of bison as they raced across the porch and down the stairs. The staircase shuddered beneath their speed and combined weight.

  “Head for the trees,” Wolf yelled, gesturing toward the blue-black sphere arching into the night sky directly across from the kitchen porch.

  “The vehicles are—” Mac shouted.

  “The trees,” Wolf roared.

  For the first time ever, Cosky heard frustration in the deep baritone. Rage.

  Faintly, in the distance came an eerie whop-whop-whop.

  Cosky’s breath caught. The sound was intimately familiar.

  “Fuck,” Mac breathed. He reached out and shoved Amy forward. “Run, damn it. Run.”

  The whop-whop-whop grew louder as they raced for the trees.

  When the scientist stumbled over the uneven ground, Rawls swooped down and caught her around the waist, slinging her over his shoulder.

  By the time they reached the sheltering branches of the forest, the sound of the blades beating the air echoed through the valley.

  They crouched beneath the pine boughs just past the tree line and watched the sky.

  “How many?” Amy asked, scanning the tops of the trees. She held a gun in a two-handed professional grip.

  “One.” Mac reached behind him and pulled a gun from beneath the belt at the small of his back.

  Cosky, Zane, and Rawls did the same.

  The clicking snick of clips being ejected and inserted filled the air.

  “How did they find us?” Kait asked, her face a creamy blur as she knelt beside Cosky, her cheek almost resting on the bark of the tree trunk.

  Good question. The bird had shown up on the tail of the Seattle crew.

  They’ll find you. Sooner than you think.

  Pachico’s dying words whispered through his mind.

  “You guys scanned him, right?” Cosky asked, already knowing what their answer would be. Of course they’d checked him for trackers. This wasn’t the first party they’d been invited to.

  “What the fuck do you think?” Mac snapped, sounding insulted. He shifted on the mat of pine needles beneath the shadow of a massive pine and glanced toward the circular driveway in front of the cabin. “We need the damn cars.”

  The trees surrounding them blocked the moonlight—which shielded them but affected their own vision.

  “Forget the cars,” Wolf snapped, stroking a soothing hand down Jillian’s shaking back as the helicopter broke into the space overhead.

  Cosky hissed as the bird dropped down. It was a Huey.

  He hadn’t seen a Huey in forever. His first few training jumps had been off a Huey’s deck, but soon after, they’d been pulled from commission.

  “If it’s full,” Cosky said tightly, “we’re looking at fifteen pairs of boots on the ground.”

  A spitting, hissing sound broke over the night, followed by an arch of light, and the cabin exploded.

  Wolf didn’t make a sound. But his body went rigid.

  “Oh, Wolf,” Kait said in an anguished voice. She reached for his shoulder, but he stood stiff and silent beneath her touch.

  Another arch of light and the cars exploded.

  A damn good thing they hadn’t headed for the cars.

  “We’re screwed,” Zane said grimly. As they watched, the bird was set down and a swarm of men hit the ground, their bodies dark against the hissing, spitting orange flames clawing at the dark sky behind them.

  “We should fall back into the woods. Use the trees for cover.” Amy’s voice never lost its calm rationality.

  “It’s too dangerous,” Cosky said, glancing at the pitch-black forest behind them. The trees were ghostly shadows lurking in the darkness. “There’s no light. We’ll be tripping over everything, which will lead them right to us. If they have night gear, we’ll be sitting ducks.”

  The moon was hidden behind a bank of clouds. What little light filtered down from the sky didn’t penetrate the forest canopy.

  “We’ve got eight boots on the ground,” Wolf said. “And they’ve got night vision devices.”

  Shit.

  Grim silence fell.

  They watched the team fan out, their dark bodies clearly visible against the backdrop of the writhing, flickering flames. They were obviously searching the perimeter of the burning cabin for survivors. The building site was ringed by trees. Maybe they wouldn’t bother searching past the cleared area, which meant a lot of area to cover.

  “Our best bet’s to take cover in the trees,” Wolf said in a whisper. “Few men are trained to look up. It will give us an advantage if they come this way.”

  Cosky looked up, scanning the trees surrounding them. There were several with lower branches that could be used for climbing.

  The cabin was fully engulfed, the flames scratching at the dark sky. The roar, as the fire consumed the cabin, was growing louder and more urgent with each second of life.

  “We need to move now,” Cosky said. “The fire will mask the sound of branches breaking.”

  “Wait until the last man is past the first tree,” Mac whispered. “Take out the target closest to you and then move out.”

  Cosky and Zane exchanged disgusted looks, like they needed a lesson in the basics. And whether Mac wanted to believe it or not, Wolf and Amy were hardly amateurs.

  He clasped Kait beneath the elbow and lifted her to her feet. They split into teams—male and female. Kait and Cosky, Rawls and the scientist, Mac and Amy, Jillian and Wolf. Zane scaled the tree by himself.

  With Kait’s shapely ass climbing carefully above him, Cosky followed her up the tree. The bark was rough in places against his hands. Sticky in others. When they found branches sturdy enough to perch in, they settled down and waited.

  Through the tree trunks they watched the fire climb higher and higher, until it seemed to rail at the night in a frenzy.

  The insertion team regrouped in the clearing, beyond the chopper’s blade. They huddled together, obviously discussing something. Cosky urged them to return to the Huey. Instead, they turned, fanning out again and heading directly toward the stand of trees they’d taken refuge in.

  Son of a bitch.

  They could not catch a break today. One of the bastards must have seen something. A flash of movement, a swath of clothes.

  As still as possible, and far too aware of Kait’s equally still body above him, Cosky waited. The preinsertion tension felt different this time. Denser. Deeper. More edgy. With Kait’s life hanging above him, there was so much more riding on the success of this particular operation.

  Kait didn’t move a muscle, didn’t make a sound as the first arm of the insertion formation passed silently beneath them with assault rifles cradled in their arms. Cosky held his breath, urging them to continue on. If they looked up, the game was over.

  But Wolf had been right. The bastards obviously hadn’t been trained, nor had enough experience to suspect danger raining down from above. He counted the targets off as they ghosted beneath.

  Four. Five. Six. Seven.

  Their formation was fairly tight, which put all eight of them within range of his team above them. They’d definitely seen something to send them so tightly grouped into this neck of the woods.

  But it was the mark of tadpoles. It left the entire insertion team vulnerable at once.

  Of course, just how vulnerable they were depended on how accurate the shooting was from above. As soon as the shots sounded, those bastards would know where they’d taken cover. If they didn’t kill every damn last one of them almost immediately, they’d regroup and target the trees. If that happened, Cosky and his team would be facing heavy casualties.

  Cosky sighted on the eighth target. The asshole was still too far out and moving cautiously, his rifle sweeping from side to side. As long as he kept that horizontal sweeping going, they were fine. But if the bastard looked up…yeah, best not to go there.

  Come on. Come on.

&nbs
p; When the Tango passed beneath his branch, he held his breath. Kait must have held hers too, because he didn’t hear anything above him. At least he didn’t have to worry about her freaking out and getting them all killed.

  Respect touched him. She had the nerves of a SEAL.

  Which was saying a hell of a lot.

  He waited until the Tango had cleared his tree by a dozen steps or so, steadied his aim, and gently pulled the trigger. His target hit the ground instantly.

  The shot ruptured the silence and echoed through the trees. Their quarry turned and sighted up, but it was already too late. On the heels of his shot, five more rang out and the Tangos up front went down. And stayed down. Unmoving.

  The two middle—unlucky bastards—spun, their heads and rifles rising.

  They’d finally figured out the danger was lurking above. But Cosky had already lined up his second shot. He took down the man closest to him, and shifted his aim toward the last Tango.

  Before he had a chance to squeeze the trigger, a volley of shots rang out and the bastard lurched to the left and crumpled.

  His heart in overdrive, a cold sweat slicking his back and shoulders, Cosky waited. The trees remained silent. They waited some more. When nothing stirred, Cosky glanced up at Kait, held his palm up in the age-old wait here signal, and as silently as possible eased himself down from the tree. If a previously unidentified Tango still lurked, Cosky would be a bull’s-eye in a shooting rink.

  But they needed those night vision devices.

  Not to mention the assault rifles.

  He caught sight of Mac, Zane, and Rawls as their boots hit the ground, and headed for his target in a crouched run.

  They quickly ransacked the bodies, stripping off the night vision devices and assault rifles. Cosky was about to rise when shots broke out from the far right.

  As he hit the ground and rolled behind the nearest tree, he heard the solid thunk, thunk of someone taking hits.

  His heart levitated up his throat. His temperature spiked. Blood pounding furiously through his veins, he glanced up the tree he’d stashed Kait in, instinctively finding the white blur of her face.