did they know our every move? Where were the missing North Rock men? And who the hell was behind all of this?
Nothing made sense, and that was not something Blackstone was used to. We were the untouchables, but here we were stranded on enemy ground with one soldier barely hanging on to his life and three others missing. What a Goddamn shit show!
I shook my head back on straight and tuned in to the task at hand.
“All right, Daniel, time to move.” I lifted him carefully, and the armor cradled his head while we started the hike toward our rendezvous spot.
It took me two hours, with four stops, to give Daniel a break from the pain that pulled him in and out of consciousness. It was true we were trained to block out someone else’s pain along with our own in order to get the job done. But this was something else. Seeing your second father near the edge of death tested my limits as a soldier.
“I know, sir,” I whispered, hearing him groan, hoping he could hear me to know he wasn’t alone. “Did Cole ever tell you about the time we both got trapped in that basement hole in TJ?” I grimaced at the memory as I pulled him over a stump. “I had only been on the team about six months, and we’d just arrived in TJ for a mission. Remember when we found Senator Lee in that crate in that storage room? God, I hated that guy.” I let my mouth run. “He always wanted something other than what Abby was making for dinner, and Mark always wanted to sit next to him to score extra food.” I chuckled. The senator was an ungrateful ass. “Well, anyway, that night we had to clear several houses. Cole and I entered from the back, and once we hit the kitchen, the floorboards gave out and we dropped into the basement. The hole was clearly set up for us, and of course our radios were shit, so we had to wait for the team to find us.”
I stopped to take a breather and to listen and scan my surroundings before I crossed a well-used path. I was happy when we were hidden by the undergrowth again. Quickly, I used my shoe to cover the marks from the stretcher.
“Where was I?” I thought for a moment. Sweat rolled down my face, and I swiped it away, refusing to acknowledge that my body burned hot in more than one place. I needed to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. “Oh, right, so, the way the basement hole was, we couldn’t get a footing to get out. We used our weapons like pickaxes, but nothing worked. We had no choice but to hunker down and wait.” I shuddered at the thought. “As much as we felt like we were stuck in a giant coffin, it gave me time to get to know Cole better.”
I moved a branch out of my way and dodged the hole that could have broken my ankle in half.
“Given where we were, he told me about how when he was eleven, he and Mark were playing in the woods and they fell down that old well that was just off your property. They tried everything to get out, but it was no use. The walls were as slippery as butter. Mark started to get a little panicky with the small space and all, and Cole had to assure him that you would find them. That you could track and find anyone on this Earth. Night came, and then morning, and when daylight came, a shadow loomed over their heads, and there you were with Zack and his grandfather. He said he smiled at Mark as if to say, ‘See? My dad always comes through.’”
I found myself getting a little emotional, so I waited a few beats to clear my tight throat. My neck felt like it was on fire, and the back of my shoulders was bothered by the fabric of my shirt. I would kill for a couple of Tylenols right now.
“He shared a few more childhood memories, some from the early years when he joined the Army, and some recent ones. And you want to know who they all included?” I glanced over my shoulder again. “You,” I assured him. “And to be honest, sir, most of our stories include you. So,” I lowered my voice a little, as we were approaching