WHISKEY (Dark Waters #2)

Chapter 1-2

I heard voices, and they seemed to be arguing. I knew they were close and only needed to go a few more yards before they would get to the spot where we’d been earlier, and then they’d soon be right on me. I had a very short window to get out of there. I moved carefully and eased my weight out and over the side then rappelled quietly down the mountain, staying as close as I could to the rock face.

Just as I slid into the water, I reached up and, with Moore’s nod, gave the rope a sharp tug at the same time as he threw a rock as hard as he could in the opposite direction. It hit farther up on the side of the mountain. The diversion worked, and the men fired their weapons in the direction of the sound. I prayed they didn’t hear the rope as it smacked hard in the water. The last thing I needed was to have them discover the rope that would lead them right to us. It sank under the water, and I gathered it quickly to me. I held my breath and kicked toward the direction where the men hid in the wet plants that grew up from the muddy bottom. I slowly coiled up the rope as I went so none of us would get tangled in it and looped it on my belt.

I led them in a slow, measured swim away from the cliffs. I was sure the others struggled as I did as we moved through the dark, murky water. I worried that something would either grab us and pull us down or we’d hit a booby trap hidden underneath. It came with great difficulty to push the thought that both countries’ waste poured into the river.

Finally, I found a ledge where I could get my feet under me. There was a spot where the brush grew out over the rocks, and we could get ourselves under it. That was where we spent the night. If it wasn’t for the cover of the brush, and the dark water to conceal our whereabouts, we’d surely be dead.

Hours later, the sun lined the mountaintops, and we drank in what was waiting for us if we dared move. There must have been at a least seventy Taliban members crawling over the mountainside we’d rappelled down. They scoured the hills looking for any sign of us.

I glanced at Brown, who’d barely moved all night. His eyes were cast straight ahead, and he seemed to be in a trance.

I slipped back into my head, too. It was all we could do. That, and pray they’d move on soon.

I remembered my parents’ faces when I Skyped them on the night I got word that our special “volunteer” mission was about to ship out. They’d thought I was about to return home with the rest of the US troops. They had music on and held sparklers when the call connected. I felt horrible when I shared my news with them, but I knew their life just wasn’t for me anymore. Not now, anyway, maybe never. They’d respected my decision to stay and tried hard to hide their disappointment and fear.

My sister, Shelly, was the only one who allowed herself to show she was pissed. She held up her daughter who was now nearly a year old and shook her head at me with tears. She told me I’d missed so much of her life already. I promised her this would be the last mission, but I knew the truth. If I was offered another, I wouldn’t hesitate to take it, and I thought she knew it, too. I was a soldier. I was meant to make a difference here. There was no end date on freedom for these people. I stayed because that was all I knew how to do. I just had to survive.

Shouts pulled me from my thoughts, and we watched as the Taliban started to cheer and hoot. They held their weapons in the air and jumped around. A few ran back up the slope.

“You think they found Flex?” Hill hissed to Rivera, who shook his head. I hoped to God they hadn’t found the other team, but they’d found something, and it was time for us to move.

We were used to all types of elements as soldiers, but it didn’t help that wet boots and slippery rocks made your ankles and knees ache. Mind over matter was what kept me going, but two hours in and Brown was dragging, so I drew back and checked in with him.

“How’s the hip doing?” Brown had taken a pretty bad hit to the hip a few nights back when we were outed, and I noticed he now had a bad limp.

“Fine.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment like his head was in a battle.

“Four days from now, I’ll buy the first round at some dive bar with greasy burgers and fries.” He nodded, and we walked a little farther in silence. His eyes twitched when I looked over at him, and I decided I should give him a little reminder of our pact we made when we joined. “Whiskey.”

“Alpha,” Moore huffed over his shoulder.

“Tango,” Brown answered in a low voice, and I felt a little relief come over me.

“Good.” I squeezed his shoulder. “Not much farther.” Hill glanced back at me with a scowl. He and Brown often seemed to butt heads. I knew they’d gotten into it back in the States over some girl. Hill was used to getting the women. I never asked about it because, frankly, I didn’t give a flying s**t as long as they did their jobs.

A while later, something in my gut warned me, yet again, we weren’t alone. I held up my hand to warn the others to get low.

My heart pounded in my chest and my fingers flexed on my weapon when I heard the pound of horse hooves.

“Dammit,” Moore groaned, “there’s got to be at least seven of them.”

“Possibly eight, and probably more.” I squinted at something slung over the back of one of the horses. In a last-ditch effort for help, I cupped my mouth and sent our signature signal through the mountains in hopes my echo would find the ears of our fellow soldiers. It was a deep wolf howl that went high at the end to ensure my team knew it wasn’t an actual wolf. The idea was to stand out against nature without drawing too much attention from the enemy.

“Should we drop?” Hill hesitated, and I glared at him. He looked at me then turned away and did his annoying habit whenever he was unsure of combing his hair with his fingers. Moore called it his Kenickie move. Moore’s thing was to always reference movies. I guessed everyone had something. I shrugged it off and concentrated on Hill.

“If you drop your weapon, I’ll shoot you myself,” I snapped. We would never surrender, especially to such animals.

The men pointed their guns at us as they approached and circled us with whistles and shouts. We moved into a circle, backs to each other, and kept our weapons held high. If this was it, we’d go out swinging.

“I will soon live like a king,” the leader of the pack said in Pashtu. “Round them up and bring them back to camp,” he ordered.

“We won’t be going anywhere with you.” I let him know I spoke Pashtu as well. They warned us not to let the enemy know if we could speak their language. That way, we could eavesdrop if captured, but today I didn’t care. They wouldn’t get their bounty because we’d fight to our death.

“Ah,” he smiled and tilted his head at me, “you speak my tongue?” He spoke in English. “Good. You should know I always get what I want. So, do yourself a favor and get moving.”

One of his men pointed a gun in my face, and I shoved it upward so hard I could hear the c***k as his nose broke. He fell backward and flew over the horse’s ass, tumbling to the ground. The leader shook his head and nodded at another man who went to stab me, but I stepped out of his way and grabbed his arm, twisting it at the elbow. It snapped, and he cried out as his knife fell to the ground.

“Enough!” he ordered, and they all pointed their guns at me. “Fire!” They hesitated for a split second, I was sure because of the bounty on our heads that was about to be lost, and then fate suddenly was on our side.

Bullets whipped through the air, and the men jolted in their saddles then fell to the ground near our feet. I popped two in the leader’s head as he tried to ride away. I raced after the horse and grabbed the reins. We could use the horses to give our feet a break. As I circled back, I grinned at the familiar face.

“Heard your call.” Captain Flex stepped out of the shrubs. He signaled for the others to join him.

“Appreciate the timing.” I shook his hand.

“Finally,” Hill grunted as he approached and motioned for Rivera to follow. “I couldn’t do another day here.” I wanted to punch his face in for his lack of respect.

Moore rolled his eyes at me, and I looked away, happy that they were leaving so I didn’t have the urge to give him a black eye. I hated being down two men, but we’d be better off without those two.

“Who’s that?” Dustin, one of Flex’s men, pointed to the body draped over the horse I held by the bridle.

“Don’t know.” Hill moved forward and went to investigate. He poked the bulge with his rifle, and the body jerked. “He’s alive, whoever it is.”

“Untie him,” Flex ordered.

“Copy that.” Hill loosened the ropes around his arms and legs and let him fall to the ground with a thud. Hill pulled off the blanket he was wrapped in and roughly ripped the sack off his head. “Oh, s**t, it’s a kid.”

The young boy, maybe nine years old, blinked at the sunlight while tears streamed down his cheeks. He sat up when he saw us and wrapped his arms around his knees for protection.

I bent down and removed his gag and inspected his cuts. He studied my clothes then looked up at me with confusion.

I handed him my water and urged him to drink some. He hesitated at first but took it and swallowed back a good amount. His wrists were bloody, and his neck was rubbed raw, which told me he likely had been on the back of that horse for quite a while.

“Hungry?” I spoke in Pashtu, and when he didn’t answer, I switched to Dari. He nodded, and I handed him a protein pack.

“He’s one of them, Beckett.” Flex came up next to me and stuck the barrel of his gun in the kid’s face. “We need to keep moving.”

“He’s a child.” I pushed the tip of his gun away. “Just because he looks like them doesn’t mean he’s one of them.” We learned that lesson day one of being there.

“Just shoot him and be done,” Hill huffed.

“You shoot him, and you’ll have me to deal with,” I grunted, and he waited a beat before he stepped back with a curse.

I looked the kid over and noticed his clothes were expensive looking and his satchel had beadwork on the side. It was unusual to see such items on a typical Afghan child.

“Wait here,” I told him and pulled Moore and Brown aside. “I think this kid is someone important.”

“Because of his clothes and the bag?” Moore looked at the kid. “Maybe. But s**t, Beckett, that’s extra baggage.”

“He’s a kid.” My gut screamed at me to take him with us.

“He could also make us an even bigger target.” Moore shrugged.

Brown rubbed the back of his head nervously. “He could be carrying drugs or maybe even be a mole. f**k, this entire thing could have been planned for us to take him. They’re most likely watching us right now.” He looked wildly around.

I shook my head. This wasn’t Brown’s typical thought process, and even Moore gave him an odd look. He was slipping. The three of us had been ridiculously close growing up. I knew Brown better than he knew himself, and right now my brother needed to get the hell out of this place. The signs were all there in his eyes and in the constant movements he made. Yes, those tics were a dead giveaway that he needed help. I knew we had to get him home fast.

I stepped back and turned to face the others.

“Let’s vote. Take the kid, or leave the kid?”

“I think I speak for my team when I say, leave ’im. We aren’t going to get sucked into another of your volunteer f**k-ups.” Flex looked at the guys, and they all nodded in agreement. “We aren’t far from where the truck’s waiting, but I’m not taking a kid.”

I turned to Brown, who shrugged but hit my shoulder to indicate he’d side with me. Moore nodded to imply the same.

“We need to leave before they come.” Brown looked about, worried. “We need to go,” he repeated.

I turned to Moore so only he could hear. “Go with them. I need your ears. Meet me at the last check. We’ll take the horses, and you go in the truck with the others. Get settled at the house but don’t let your guard down. Safe place or not, keep your eyes open.”

“You sure?” His face twisted as his eyes went to Brown. I knew he wasn’t sure it was a wise idea to leave me with just Brown, but Brown needed one on one, and so did the kid.

“Yeah, keep Anderson and Gail close, but yeah, go.” I didn’t trust that the others wouldn’t sell me out and trap me somewhere. I trusted Moore with my life. I knew he’d have my back, especially with the other two guys.

“Be safe.” He fist-bumped me and raced to join the others. I knew they’d get to the rendezvous well before we would, but I wasn’t going to leave the kid here. The horses would help as long as we could keep out of sight of the Taliban.

I crouched back down in front of the kid and rubbed my chin. I knew we didn’t have a lot of time to get out of there. We were too exposed, but I needed a minute.

“Where are your parents?” He shrugged, and I could see his cheeks pink up. “Are you hurt?” He shrugged again, and I looked at his bare feet. I leaned back, untied and wiggled a boot off one of the dead men. I held it to the kid’s foot, but it was way too big. I looked around and spotted a smaller size and tugged them off the guy with a hole in his chest. I handed them to the kid, and he slipped them on without hesitation.

“We need to move, okay?” I patted his head, and he nodded but looked unsure. I peeled back a small Velcro flap on my jacket and pointed to the flag on my arm. “I’m not here to hurt you.” He hopped to his feet then stumbled to find his footing. He’d hung over that horse too long. I scooped him up and sat him on the back of the horse then jumped up behind him on the saddle. Brown mounted up but looked a bit awkward on the horse. I knew we’d make better time on horseback. We just needed to be extra careful. I kicked hard, and we took off toward higher ground. I checked back, and Brown seemed able to follow. I hoped he wouldn’t fall off the damn thing. His face was a picture of concentration, and it almost made me laugh. I was glad I’d ridden a bit as a kid.