back close behind, Edo low-crawling right along with him toward their rear security.
“I have an out,” he whispered, guiding the rest of the team to the rock behind him.
Devan and Farkus helped form a perimeter around their wounded leader as Eli went to work assessing his patient, running his hands up and down Reece’s body feeling for severe bleeding and massive injuries. As he went to check for breathing, Reece’s eyes opened wide.
“I’m okay. I’m okay,” he said coughing.
“Quiet, brother,” Eli responded. “You just took a round to the chest. Must have hit your head when you fell.”
Reece’s hand went to his chest and felt the pieces of ceramic plate that had split into fragments, absorbing the bullet’s impact just as it was designed.
“Well, this thing is useless now,” Reece observed, struggling out of his plate carrier and tossing his magazines to Eli. “Where’s my rifle?”
“Here you go, boss,” Devan said. He’d grabbed the Echols Legend on his crawl back to the rock.
“Thanks. Okay, what do we have?”
“Shooting stopped right after you were hit. Looks like they were set up with IEDs, mines, or an antipersonnel explosive device of some sort. We must be out of their line of sight here, but I’d wager they are maneuvering on us right now. That shot that took you was accurate. I’d guess they have NODs and suppressors, possibly IR lasers.”
Shit.
Devan turned in toward the former SEAL commander. “Edo will let us know when they’re coming.”
Raife and Hanna were to the west. Extract was a few hours out to the east. They were pinned down on an enemy island where their adversary held the technical and tactical advantages.
Think, Reece!
Take a breath. Look around. Make a call.
He looked at the men around him. They were all there to help Raife and Hanna, but they wouldn’t have put their lives on the line unless Reece had asked. He looked back at the rifle in his hands, wood stock, NightForce optic, similar to what his father had used in Vietnam, only more accurate. That was it: Vietnam.
“Bring it in!” Reece whispered, the others scooting in closer so they could hear the combat-tested leader.
“Do you still have your flare guns? The ones we were to use in a loss of comms emergency extract to signal the bird?”
Heads nodded around the circle.
“Okay then, we are going to take their advantage and even things up. The Vietnam guys who taught me had to fight at night without night vision. They had to turn night into day. We’re going to do the same thing, but we have to do it fast.”
Hands were already going into kits and removing the small nautical flare guns Thorn had given them before they departed.
“It’s not like the 40MM flares we had in the Teams but it’s all we have. I’m going to move to high ground just north; that hill we passed a couple hundred yards back. If my map study is correct, it should put me in a position slightly above theirs. If they flank us or start coming in, let the dog go and start putting up those flares and engaging. If I can get to high ground, I’ll fire my flare and start putting them down. Time it right; we only have about five seconds per flare, so this is going to happen fast. How many flares per gun?”
“Two,” Eli answered.
“Okay, I’ll initiate with one of mine. As one flare goes out, put up another. Do not put two up at the same time; it’s going to be close as it is. If they are moving in on us, we will have them in an L ambush.”
“Let me come with you,” Eli pleaded.
“Negative. You stay here. I need three of you on the guns and one of you putting up those flares. Besides, I work better alone these days.”
Reece looked around the circle, and though they couldn’t see it, he smiled. He was a sniper. And he was going to high ground.
CHAPTER 75
REECE PUSHED HIMSELF FORWARD at a full sprint, no small feat over snow-covered ground in the dark. He hadn’t been shot in the back yet, which meant the enemy couldn’t see him.
An even darker shape appeared out of the darkness; the hill was just to his left. Reece veered toward it and began to climb. It was steep enough that the snow only held to the more horizontal ledges. His feet slid out from under him as he worked his way up the scree, thin pieces of rock causing