poor bastard breathe.
Just as Brodie was about to say something, she pulled Mercer up by his T-shirt.
Mercer looked half-drowned, because he was, but he also looked compliant.
Brodie steered the drifting boat closer to the riverbank where the water was only a few feet deep, and Taylor intersected with Mercer in tow. They wrangled him onboard, and Taylor completed the hog-tying as Brodie started the motor and turned the boat upstream. Good-bye, Camp Tombstone.
Brodie asked, “You okay?”
“I got bit by something, but the water was refreshing.”
“I don’t think Señor Kyle would agree.”
“He was being stubborn.”
“He should thank you for bringing him home alive.”
“We’re not actually home yet, Scott.”
Brodie steered toward the opposite bank, away from the fishing platform, which was still ahead of them. He glanced at the platform. If they could get around the next bend in the river, they were safe from AK-47 fire. But if anyone from the camp spotted them going upriver, Mercer’s men would surely follow the river on foot, and if the river made more bends that those guys knew about, it was possible for them to intercept the boat at some point. But if they knew that Señor Kyle was onboard, they probably wouldn’t fire on the boat. Or… they’d decide that killing the gringos was better for them than trying to rescue Señor Kyle. Hard to get into the heads of men like those who had seen too much and done too much. For them, there was no line that they had to worry about crossing.
Brodie said to Taylor, “You took down a Delta Force guy.”
She didn’t reply.
Brodie looked at Mercer lying hog-tied across the narrow bench seats—just as he’d imagined him in his Mission: Accomplished fantasy. Now that it was reality, Brodie almost felt sorry for the poor bastard, who’d gone through hell—who’d been a soldier once, and had served his country.
Taylor seemed to know what Brodie was thinking and said, “You were right. He didn’t betray his country. His country betrayed him.”
Brodie nodded. That sounded like the last line in Captain Mercer’s attorney’s closing argument.
They passed the fishing platform and continued upstream to the mudflat, which looked as deserted as when they’d left it.
They came to a bend in the river and lost sight of the mudflat and the fishing platform.
Not home free, but a phone call away. He said, “Hope you still have that sat phone.”
“High and dry.” She pulled the phone out of her bra.
Brodie said, “This is a good time to call Worley.”
“It’s never a good time to call Worley, Scott, but it’s a good time to arrange a flight out of here.” She handed him the sat phone. “You do the honors.”
He took the phone, but before he dialed, he said, “We did it, Maggie. Couldn’t have done it without you.”
“My next partner will appreciate me even more.”
Brodie smiled and dialed Brendan Worley. He pictured the Otter landing on the jungle airstrip and taking them away to someplace where he could get a hot shower and a cold beer.
He glanced at Mercer again. Would Brendan Worley be happy to see Kyle Mercer alive and well? Probably not.
So maybe home was not a phone call away.
The phone rang, and continued to ring.
CHAPTER 46
Brodie shut off the sat phone. Worley would, of course, think it was Mercer calling from that number, and for some reason Colonel Worley didn’t want to speak to his old partner in crime. He looked at Mercer lying face down across the seats, hands and legs hog-tied, gag in his mouth. The situation had changed since that last call.
Worley didn’t know that. But Mercer did.
Taylor said, “Call Dombroski.”
Brodie twisted the throttle and the boat picked up speed. “You always make the most important call first. The call that can get you home quickest.”
“Dombroski can call Worley.”
“Dombroski can talk a battery dead.” He opened the gas tank and pulled out the dipstick. “Fuel’s a problem too.”
“What’s the good news?”
“Haven’t seen a croc in awhile.”
“Do you think we can drink this water?”
“Ask Mercer. He drank a lot of it.”
Taylor put her hand over the side, scooped up some water, and looked at it. “It has bugs and stuff in it.” She dumped it. “Maybe it’ll rain.” She added, “This is a rain forest.”
Brodie remembered the Iraqi desert. Now and then they’d get low on water, and water became everyone’s obsession. It’s the little things that you take for granted—like food, water, and ammunition—that become critical when they’re gone. He said, “We’ll drink it if we have to,