there. That was his way of coping in a dangerous situation, and all members of the team just let him carry on.
Their enhancements made them predators any way you looked at it. Hunters. They were very good at their jobs. They looked like soldiers. Doctors. Officers. But they were much more than that, and anyone in close confines with them felt the difference sooner rather than later. All of them could smell the fear the helicopter crew was giving off, and that fear had nothing to do with flying into a hot zone. No, Barry and the crew were used to that sort of danger—they just didn't like their passengers.
Draden couldn't give a rat's ass if he was liked or not. He had a job to do. They were going into enemy territory to bring out the wounded and make certain they stayed alive until they got them back to the hospitals.
The helicopter set down with a jarring thump and Draden was out fast, running with his fellow teammates in the dark toward the southern tip of the tree line. Deliberately, they'd choosen to fly in at three in the morning, when their enemy was least likely to be as its sharpest. The sound of the rotors was loud in the night, something that couldn't be helped either. They just needed a few minutes.
The terrorist cell had set its trap with live bait. They knew the terrain and had chosen it carefully. The MSS had the advantage, especially when the Indonesian government had wounded soldiers waiting for help. They knew the authorities would send their elite and it was a chance to mow them down.
Draden fanned out to his left while Gino Mazza went right, both flanking the others as Joe went down on one knee and flashed the tiny blue light in each direction three times. They received a response from the west. Instantly they were up and running again toward the returned signal.
Thirty feet from the thickest brush, they spread out even farther, running in absolute silence as only GhostWalkers could. Joe, Malichai, Diego Campo dropped down, their weapons ready, while Draden and Gino continued forward. Draden slipped into the cover of the brush, a place he was at home.
He found their contact ten feet in, crouched down in the thick buttresses of a dipterocarp tree. “How many wounded?” Draden asked, his voice a thread of sound.
“Fifteen.”
Draden gave a mental shake of his head. Fifteen wounded was a lot of wounded. They had room in the three helicopters, but maybe not the time to get them all in. “Can anyone besides you help get them to the choppers?”
“Two others.”
That wasn't good either.
“Enemy?”
“No idea of their numbers. They seem to come and go. At least we think they're gone and the moment we move, they open fire.”
Draden nodded. “Any of you sick?” The Ranger shook his head. “The only one to go near the village was Dr. Henderson, and he was in full hazmat gear. We stayed out of there. Henderson wants the village burned.”
Draden turned and signaled the others in. They came like wraiths, sliding out of the night in complete silence. Draden gave them the number of wounded telepathically while Joe tapped his watch.
Move fast, gentlemen, we don't have time to triage here. Get them into the choppers.
Joe didn't sound alarmed, but Draden felt it nevertheless. They had about eight minutes, and getting to the wounded would eat up at least a minute or two.
He was already on his feet, so they followed their contact through the thick forest to the small dip in the terrain hidden by brush and the buttresses of wide tree trunks. The Kopassus looked grim—two dead, three of them badly wounded, but guns steady as rocks. One was still standing and ready to pack out his teammates, already gathering their weapons. The Rangers were in similar straits—one dead, the others in various states of badly wounded, or just broken and bloody. Those with lighter injuries were gathering up their teammates to pack them out. The WHO doctor, clearly in bad shape, staggered as he stood. None of them looked as if they could walk more than a few steps.
The GhostWalkers were all business. Gino took the worst Ranger, slapping field dressings on his wounds to keep him from bleeding out while they ran to the choppers. The Kopassus followed with one of his fellow team members. Joe took a Ranger and Diego a Kopassus. Malichai took the civilian. One of the Rangers