“They won’t know we’re here until they’re right on top of us,” said Jose.
“We won’t know they’re here until they’re right on top of us!” said Nathan. “I can’t see a damn thing, even with night vision.”
“Jeremy said we can set up observation posts next to the road, fifty yards in each direction,” said Jose. “It’ll give us enough time to spring an ambush.”
“You’re going to send people out in this?” said Keira. “I thought you said it was a bad idea.”
“If they stay close to the road, they can find their way back,” said Jose.
“It’ll work. We did it in Afghanistan,” said David. “The insurgents always tried to hit us during the sandstorms. With our thermal imaging gear, it turned into a turkey shoot.”
“We don’t have that kind of gear, so we’ll have to rely on the element of surprise for our advantage.”
“You’ll have to station the teams uncomfortably close to the road,” said David. “They may only get a chance to hear the vehicles pass.”
“Jeremy has a few ideas to help with that,” said Jose. “I think it’s time we started to block the window openings. We might be here awhile.”
Jose said something to David, and the car stopped.
“Did he just turn off the car?” said Keira.
“We can’t keep it running,” said Jose. “We’ve sucked way too much dust through the engine filter already.”
“What about circulating the air?” she said. “I can barely breathe as it is.”
“The best we can do is leave a few cracks open to let the air flow through,” said Jose. “We can’t risk a mechanical failure.”
The car seemed to Nathan to get warmer immediately after David shut the engine off. This wasn’t going to work for Keira. Maybe they would be better off hiding outside, in the lee of the riverbank, sheltered from the wind and sand. The air quality couldn’t be any worse than inside the SUV, and the cartel wouldn’t be able to find them. They could tie a rope or some kind of line to the vehicle. If the storm cleared, or Jose decided to leave in a hurry, they could find their way back.
Nathan was about to make the suggestion when a powerful spotlight cut through the sand choking the air behind them, illuminating the cabin. He twisted in the seat, seeing the silhouette of the rear SUV in the bright light.
No time for a committee decision. He fumbled for his rifle with one hand while feeling for the door handle with the other. With the handle in his grasp, he turned to Owen.
“Buddy. Grab on to my vest and don’t let go no matter what. We’re leaving,” said Nathan, flinging open the door. “Keira. We’re going.”
“Nathan!” yelled Jose. “Get back inside!”
He stood on the road and slung the rifle over his shoulder, feeling behind him for Owen. Once he had a solid grip on Owen’s hand, he started to walk forward into the darkness. Jose continued to yell, along with David.
“Keira!” he said over his shoulder.
“I’m with you. Right behind Owen,” she said.
Nathan moved quickly away from the SUV, slowing down when the yelling started to fade. He had no idea how far away the riverbank might be, or if he was heading directly toward it. The road had twisted back and forth several times since they’d left the highway. A quick look over his left shoulder told him that the spotlight hadn’t followed him. They were out of the line of fire for now. That was all that mattered. Jose’s vehicles might be bullet resistant, but he’d heard the deep crunch of explosions in the distance. Not even the Marine Corps fielded rocketproof vehicles. He knew that firsthand.
“Nate. Where are we going?” said Keira.
“Anywhere but back there,” he said, stopping for moment to check on his son. “How are you doing, buddy?”
“I’m scared,” said Owen. “I don’t like this.”
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “We’re gonna find the river and hide along the riverbank, out of the wind. We’ll be safer there.”
“Nate,” said Keira. “I don’t hear any shooting back there.”
Nathan searched the blackness, already unable to see the vehicle they’d just escaped. The rear vehicle was barely visible in the spotlight’s beam. He did find it odd that a battle hadn’t broken out on the road. Maybe they could wait here for a little while.
The spotlight swung in their direction, penetrating the sand and scrapping any thoughts about staying in the open. He pulled on Owen’s hand, urging them toward the river.
“Let’s go,” he said. “Away from the light!”
Nathan took a several dozen carefully planted steps before feeling the ground slope away. The light still pointed in their general direction, but it didn’t have the power to reach them through the swirling murk.
“I think I’ve found—”
His son bumped into his back, knocking him off balance. He teetered awkwardly on the edge, letting go of his son’s hand before he fell. Nathan skidded through gravelly sand before his right foot hit something solid, tumbling him forward onto his side. Mercifully, his descent ended there, with no discernible injuries.
“I think I found the riverbank!” he yelled. “Get on your hands and knees and crawl backward down the ledge.”
“Nathan!” Keira cried. “I hear voices up here!”
“Hurry up!” he said, scrambling up the slope to reach them.
“We’re trying!” said Keira.
He felt a smaller boot, which he guessed was Owen’s. “Is that you, buddy?”
“It’s me, Dad! They’re getting closer!”
“Who’s getting closer?” yelled Nathan.
His wife screamed, “Get your hands off!”
“Keira!”
His wife’s yelling stopped too quickly. Nathan held on to Owen’s boot with his left hand, trying to unsling his rifle with the other. He’d just managed to wiggle the rifle free when his son’s foot was yanked away.
“Owen!” he screamed, aiming the rifle into the darkness. “Owen!”
Shit. Shit. Nathan had nothing to fire at, not that he would shoot if he did. What could he do? He could only think of one way to proceed. To know for sure whom he was taking down. He dropped the rifle, pulled the serrated combat knife from the sheath on his belt, and began clawing his way up the riverbank.
He stayed quiet when he reached the top, listening for signs of struggle. Nothing. He was edging forward with the knife held in front of him when a pair of strong hands grabbed his wrist, immobilizing the knife, while another pair wrestled him to the ground from behind.
“Nathan!” said a vaguely familiar voice. “God damn it, Nathan. Chill the fuck out. We’re on your side. Keira and Owen are fine.”
“Where are they?” he said, fighting to shake free. “Who are you?”
“It’s Sergeant Graves. I’m kind of hurt you didn’t recognize my voice.”
It all came back to him in an instant. Graves had operated the armored vehicle’s countermeasures systems when they had been attacked by Cerberus on Interstate 8.
“I remember,” said Nathan, letting go of the knife.
The grip on his hand released as soon as the knife hit the ground.
“Where are Keira and Owen?”
“They’re close,” said Graves, pulling Nathan to his feet. “We didn’t know how you’d react, so we kept them quiet.”
Nathan sat up. “You could have just announced your presence. Would have been a whole lot easier.”
“We could barely see your outline with the thermals. Cantrell didn’t want to risk the possibility of you shooting first and asking questions later.”
“Staff Sergeant Cantrell? He’s here, too?”
“At your service,” announced a nearby voice. “I have your wife and son right here.”
“I can’t see any of you,” said Nathan.
Someone bumped into him.
“Dad?”
“Hey, buddy. You had me worried there for a minute.”
“I though
t Mom was dead,” said his son. “I thought you were dead, too.”
He grabbed Owen and hugged him. “We’re fine, Owen. Just like I promised.” He felt Keira’s arm on their son’s shoulder. Nathan pulled her in tight and held both of them for a few moments.
“You all right?” he whispered in her ear.
“As long as we don’t have to get back into that SUV.”
“I had something a little more robust in mind,” said Cantrell. “Let’s get you and your family inside my vehicle. David should be there already.”
“Clean air?” said Keira.
“Purified. Filtered. Smells like the mountains,” said Cantrell.
“Sounds good to me,” she said.
They started back, following the spotlight like a beacon.
“Staff Sergeant,” said Nathan. “How did you find us?”
“A little birdie told us you took a detour.”
“You have an informant in one of the SUVs?” said Keira.
“No. Nothing like that. I can’t really talk about it,” said the Marine.
“Did you come through Wikieup?” said Nathan.
“You didn’t hear us?”
“Jesus,” replied Nathan. “Sounded like a small war going on out there.”
“That’s just what it was. The cartel had at least fifty guys out there waiting for you with RPGs, heavy machine guns—all kinds of crazy shit. Everything but thermal-imaging scopes. We put them down pretty quick.”
“Good,” said Owen.
“We’ll drive through again and mop up anyone that survived the first pass. You’re welcome to control the gun turret, Owen. Just like a video game,” said Graves from somewhere to their immediate left.
“Yeah. That’s not going to happen,” said Keira.
Interestingly, their son didn’t protest.
“You all right, bud?” said Nathan, squeezing his hand.
“I just want to go home,” said Owen in a quiet voice.
“Me, too,” said Nathan. “When we get to Las Vegas, we’ll work on finding a new home.”
“I don’t want a new home.”
“I know, sweetie,” said Keira. “But we can’t go back to California right now. We’ll make our new home big enough for Grandma and Grandpa. How does that sound?”
“And a pool,” added Nathan.
CHAPTER 60
David crouched in the rear compartment of the Marine armored vehicle, leaning against one of the automated harness systems and taking deep breaths of the purified air, forcing it out of his nose to clear his nasal passages. The effort was futile. He’d taste this dust for days.
“Good to see you again, Captain!” yelled Corporal Reading.
He was seated in the vehicle systems operator position, behind the driver, operating the turret remotely with a joystick. The center screen embedded in the back of the driver’s seat displayed a slowly panning thermal image of their surroundings. No wonder they’d been able to find Nathan so easily. They had probably tracked him with thermal imagery all the way to the river.
“Back at you, Reading,” said David. “What have you been up to for the past few days?”
“The usual. Riding around the desert.”
“Did you get Artigas back to his family?”
Artigas had been killed during the ambush along Interstate 8 a few nights ago. A 50-caliber sniper bullet had essentially decapitated him, dropping his headless body into the AL-TAC during the ferocious firefight that followed their crash.
“We got him on a plane back to Pendleton before the battalion towed a new vehicle out to Yuma. They sent us out right away.”
The Enhanced Counterinsurgency Platoon had lost a third of its Marines in the ambush on Interstate 8. They were one of the tightest groups of Marines that David had ever served with. The archetypal band of brothers. He’d been too distracted with Alison’s death to properly absorb the greater impact of the night’s loss on the platoon.
“Sorry about Arty,” he said. He was sorry about all of them. “Is this the rest of the platoon?”
“No,” said Reading. “We got absorbed into the rest of the company. Cantrell kept me and Graves together.”
“And decided to babysit your asses, too,” said David.
“Shit. You gotta keep a close eye on Graves, man. He’s all shifty down there, looking at his screens.”
“He’s a shifty mother, that’s for sure,” said David. “I heard he’s mean on the remote trigger, though.”
“Aww . . . you didn’t, sir,” said Reading. “You didn’t go there.”
“Just repeating what I heard. I’m sure the Marine Corps isn’t planning on outsourcing the turret gunner job.”
“I can’t shoot what I can’t see. They need to give me some thermal imaging up here.”
“I don’t know. Sounds like they outsourced you already,” said David.
David was back in his element—where he truly felt he had always belonged. The temptation to stay here was overwhelming. The Marine Corps had been his calling, until a 50-caliber sniper bullet had altered his life by taking Alison’s.
The rear hatch mechanism clanged, activating a series of powerful blowers. When the door swung open, most of the sand and debris was blown clear of the opening.
Nathan helped Keira and Owen into the cramped compartment, lifting himself inside behind them. Staff Sergeant Cantrell poked his head in through the hatch.
“Captain Quinn, I need to debrief you before we head out,” he said, disappearing into the darkness.
That didn’t sound good. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt contrived to pass muster in front of the Fishers.
“Be right back,” said David. “I hear the Fisher kid is pretty good at video games. He might be in competition for the turret job, too.”
“A young Marine in training! I can live with that!” said Reading.
“He’s not going up in that turret,” said Keira.
“I was just kidding,” said David, squeezing by Nathan and his family.
When David dropped to the road behind the AL-TAC, he shut the rear hatch and pulled the locking mechanism down to reactivate the cabin’s pressurization system. He wished he could see the look on Keira’s face when she took her first breath of purified air. She had been on the verge of a complete meltdown in the SUV. The rest of them hadn’t been too far behind her.
“Staff Sergeant?” he yelled, edging around the vehicle.
“Right here,” said Cantrell, activating a flashlight a few feet away from him. “I have Second Lieutenant Gedmin with me. We’re part of First Platoon now.”
A second light pierced the sandstorm, illuminating Jason Gedmin’s face.
“Hey, Jason. You inherited some shit-hot Marines,” said David.
“They keep reminding me,” said Gedmin.
“They tend to do that. Might be their only flaw.”
“It’s good to see you, David. Details were kind of sketchy about what happened on the way to Yuma,” said Gedmin. “I’m really sorry about Alison.”
David sensed a hesitation. Like Jason, he wanted to say more. He didn’t want to go down that road every time he talked with one of the Marines. It wouldn’t be healthy for him right now.
“Thank you,” said David, hoping that would be the end of it.
“David,” said Gedmin, “Staff Sergeant Cantrell made an observation while bringing Mr. Fisher and his family back from the river.”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know how to say this without sounding callous.”
“We’re well past the point of pulling any punches here,” said David. “What is it?”
“He doesn’t know that his father is dead,” said Gedmin.
David was pretty sure he’d misheard the lieutenant’s statement. Whether it was the last thing he expected to hear, or it simply didn’t make sense given the recent call to his own father, Gedmin’s words skipped by without making an impact.
“What was that?” said David.
“Colonel
Smith called the lieutenant over satcom about ninety minutes ago and told him that Nathan’s dad had been killed. That’s how we found you. Your dad called Major General Nichols to let him know that you’d be out this way. He told Nichols the bad news at some point. Nobody was sure if you or Nathan knew. Apparently not. Nathan thinks he’s meeting up with his dad in Vegas.”
“Are you sure? I talked to my dad about two hours ago,” said David. “He didn’t say anything.”
“Colonel Smith was very specific about the details,” said Gedmin. “Nathan’s father was killed in Missoula at a friend’s town house. Your dad and brother-in-law killed the team responsible for his death. Nathan’s mom is safe.”
“That’s why they were late getting out of Missoula,” muttered David.
“Smith diverted us from the Lake Havasu area toward Highway 93. He even used one our ELINT drones to find you. They picked up a conversation over an encrypted handheld frequency that led us here. Just so happens the quickest way to 93 was through Wikieup. Bad news for the cartel. Good news for you.”
“Yeah,” muttered David. “Good news and bad news.”
“Sorry,” said Gedmin.
“No. You guys saved our asses. I’m the one that should be sorry. I appreciate you sticking your necks out like this.”
“It’s our pleasure, sir,” said Cantrell. “I just wish we could have rolled through the same motherfuckers that hit our convoy, instead of those cartel rats.”
“Me, too,” said David. “I’ll tell Nathan. Give me a little space.”
“No problem,” said Gedmin. “One other thing. I’m uncomfortable bringing these mercenaries on board the AL-TACs with their weapons. Can you smooth that over with them? I’d be happy to store all of their gear externally.”
“Jason. Do me a favor. Cut them a break. This is the same group that saved what was left of my ECI platoon on the interstate. They’ve been fighting and dying for us since then. You can trust them.”
“I can live with that,” said Gedmin. “I’ll get them loaded up.”
“Thanks again, guys,” said David, waiting for them to disappear before opening the back hatch. He took a flashlight from his vest and waved it inside. “Nathan. Jose needs to ask you some questions about our meet-up in Las Vegas. Shouldn’t take more than a minute.”
Rogue State (Fractured State Series Book 2) Page 30