didn’t they take the chopper out while we were on it?” Rapp shouted over the sound of gunfire starting to pound the walls around the window Coleman was beneath.
“Maybe we caught them by surprise.”
“You mean the force dug in around a burned-out village in the middle of nowhere?”
Coleman looked back at him through his face mask as chunks of shattered wood and rock rained down on him. “It does seem a little far-fetched.”
“But they forgot to put men to the west.”
“You’re thinking ambush? That they’re driving us there? Why? If they want us dead, why not just surround us and do it?”
The answer was pretty clear: Sayid Halabi. The son of a bitch was holding a grudge. He didn’t want to kill Rapp, he wanted to capture him. He wanted to throw him in a hole and spend the next five years working him over with a set of pliers and a blowtorch.
And if that was true, it was their ticket out of there.
“We’re going east,” Rapp said into his throat mike.
Not surprisingly, Joe Maslick’s voice came on the comm a moment later. “Did you mean west, Mitch? The heaviest fire is coming from the east and it’d leave us climbing toward shooters controlling the high ground.”
“You heard me. East. Come right up the middle of the main street on Scott’s orders. Leave your hazmat suits and face masks on. I repeat, biohazard protocols are still in effect. Understood?”
The response sounded hesitant but there was no question that Maslick, Wicker, and McGraw would follow his orders to the letter.
“What are you thinking?” Coleman said as Rapp slipped up next to him and took a quick look outside. The flames had managed to find fuel and the smoke was combining with the condensation on his face mask to make it hard to see.
“Halabi figured I’d come and he left men with orders to capture me. But they don’t know which one of us I am because of the suits.”
“So we’re going to charge a bunch of guys dug in above us because you think he ordered them not to kill you?”
“You got it.”
Coleman looked up at the missing roof and the flames starting to lap over it. “That’s a lot to hang on a hunch.”
Rapp nodded and moved to the door. “I’m going. If I’m still alive in fifty yards, follow me.”
Before Coleman could answer, Rapp slipped out and started sprinting along the edge of the street. Incoming fire was intermittent and, as he’d hoped, always led him by a few yards, trying to drive him back. Another rocket was fired and he was forced to drop, but it struck a building well ahead. Halabi’s men were playing it safe. None of them wanted to go back and give their dear leader a bucket containing what was left of the prize he so desperately wanted.
Rapp leapt back to his feet, charging through the scattered flames left by the RPG and starting up the slope on the east side of the village. He could make out five separate guns all sparking in the darkness ahead of him. Despite that, he fought his natural instinct to zigzag and vary his pace. Unpredictability was a good strategy when faced with an enemy that wanted to kill you, but counterproductive when facing an enemy dedicated to near misses.
He heard gunfire erupt from behind him and looked back to see four figures in hazmat suits falling in with him. The guns in front went dark, as did the sniper going for long shots from the south. Halabi’s men had finally figured out what was happening and were having to recalibrate.
Rapp put the shooters to the north and south out of his mind for the time being. He could see lights coming on in his peripheral vision and assumed they were headlamps being used by the men as they ran to reinforce their comrades to the east. They were hundreds of yards away, though, crossing moderately difficult terrain. It was unlikely that they would figure in the fight over the short term.
Human figures rose up from the earth about fifty yards ahead, their outlines just visible in the moonlight as they began to charge. Based on the way they were holding their rifles, it appeared that they were planning to use them as clubs.
Completely insane, but pretty much what Rapp was counting on. While these men were a serious step up from the average terrorist psychopath, they were still ISIS. And that meant they’d follow the man