with anything he had done. Maybe it was something else.
Maybe, like his father, Harvath was always trying to push himself just a bit further than anyone else was willing or able to go.
Whatever the answer, it didn’t seem to matter much as he saw the first mercenary approach and he readied his rifle. Then, when the shot presented itself, he took it. And the moment he did, everything around them exploded.
The Wagner mercenaries had done an excellent job figuring out exactly where he and Christina were taking cover. As their rounds slammed into the overhang and the large rocks that acted as its wings, sharp chips went flying in all directions, hitting both Harvath and Christina in the face. It was like standing behind a revved-up jet as someone dumped a box of razorblades into one of the turbines.
Sticking the barrel of his weapon through a space between the rocks, he pressed his trigger and sprayed his assailants with a ton of lead.
It forced the mercenaries back, but only for a moment. Before he knew it, the barrage was back on and he and Christina were dodging bullets and more flying pieces of stone.
He was beginning to grow concerned about their ability to battle their way out of this. He could fight, but he could only kill what he could see. Their position provided only a few vantage points. And Christina, as tough and as willing as she was, didn’t have the training to go up against ex-Spetsnaz soldiers. At best, she might be able to hold them off by firing in their direction, but only until her ammo ran out.
The mercenaries were incredibly adept at using the trees for cover. Harvath had yet to put one down. Every time he actually caught sight of one and took a shot, his target disappeared—and not the way he liked, as in a spray of blood. Nevertheless he kept shooting.
With Christina keeping an eye on their flank, he worried about being overrun from above. He couldn’t pop his head out to look uphill without possibly getting it blown off.
At the same time, he knew what he had heard. The Wagner helicopter had hovered up the slope and it hadn’t done so to admire the view. Any second, men were going to pour over the overhang—or worse, they were first going to send a grenade.
Seeing movement again in the trees to his right, he fired and blew through the last two rounds in his magazine.
Letting the spent magazine drop to the ground, he inserted a fresh one and called Christina over to him.
“I need to poke my head out and look uphill,” he said. “When I do, I want you to spray all of the trees over there. Just swing your barrel back and forth and keep shooting. Can you do that?”
Christina nodded and when Harvath gave the signal, she stuck her rifle out and began firing.
As she did, Harvath peered over the overhang and risked a look up the ridge. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare—multiple Wagner mercenaries were quickly closing in on them.
Without proper cover or concealment, there was no way Harvath would be able to repel their attack.
They couldn’t stay here. As dangerous as it was to move off into the trees, it was more dangerous to stay put and wait for their position to be overrun.
Helping Christina swap out magazines, he explained to her what they needed to do and prepared her for how to make it happen.
He would give her the biggest head start possible and hold them off as long as he could.
He told her to run, and not to stop running until she couldn’t hear the gunfire anymore.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’ll be right behind you.”
She knew that wasn’t true. He was going to stay and fight in order to buy her time to get away. She was afraid he wouldn’t make it. She didn’t want to let him do that.
“We can both run,” she said.
“No,” Harvath replied. “There isn’t time. You need to go. Now.”
Another volley of gunfire tore up the rocks around them. Harvath spun and fired back.
When he turned back around, he said, “We’ll do it like before. When I count to three, I want you to run.”
He was just about to start counting, when a pair of mercenaries appeared atop the overhang behind him.
“Look out!” Christina screamed.
CHAPTER 70
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One moment the mercenaries appeared on the overhang and the next moment they fell down dead at Harvath’s