The Rescue Pt. 06

She reaches over, takes hold of my hand and squeezes it. "Only if you're ready."

I give her a half grin. "I'm not sure I'll ever be ready but if I'm going to spill it to anyone, it's going to be you. I was supposed to be responsible for Ricky; I was supposed to be responsible for them all but it was Ricky that I failed. I promised him, promised his wife that I'd get him home and I didn't," I tell her holding onto her hand the way a drowning man would hold onto a life preserver.

"It was war Kenny. All of you knew the risks involved in what you were doing. What makes you more responsible for what happened to Ricky that say, Alex or Scott?" She asks.

"Because I had no one waiting at home for me, no wife, no family, not even a cat so when anything really risky came along I was the first one through the door. If I bought it out there, I'd get a nice plot in Arlington with few mourners to mark my passing but the guys, my guys had people counting on them to get back in one piece. That all changed that day we walked into this supposedly safe village and all hell broke loose."

"Is that why you punched out the superior officer?"

"He was the lead intelligence guy that told us we would have safe passage through to our target. Too bad he was looking at the wrong village. The truth of it is I think I was just angry and lashed out. Maybe I was looking to punish myself because of what happened I'm not really sure but I've heard a lot of theories."

She smiles. "Theories seem to be what shrinks are best at. I can't count how many I've heard about why I have insomnia. After awhile I just got tired of being prescribed this and that to make me "a happier person" and quit going to them. I'm interrupting though so go ahead."

"It's all right. Anyway Alex and I were in the lead vehicle, this rundown little Toyota truck we'd found somewhere. Ricky and Ramon were behind us in a Humvee with Scott and T. J. bringing up the rear in another pick up. We're about halfway through the center of town when something slams into the side of our pickup."

"An IED?" She asks.

I shake my head. "An RPG hit us, passenger side right at the engine block. Lucky for us whoever shot it was quick on the draw because if he'd have hit the cab neither Alex nor I would be here," I pause and take a drink of water.

"If you need a minute, its okay," She says in a voice so understanding that I honestly could break out in tears but I suck it up and continue.

"The truck flips and Alex and I are both knocked out either from the initial blast or from being thrown out. I wake to the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and men yelling just a whirlwind of chaos all around me. Some guys were trying to drag Alex away from where he landed and I shouted for them to stop. They weren't listening so I pulled my handgun, fired a couple of wild shots in their direction to get their attention. One spun around with his AK pointing towards me and fired..."

"And that was one of the scars I saw on you last night?" She asks and I shake my head.

"No, this guy had one hand on Alex and was trying to fire his rifle with the other, it just didn't work for him. I had collected enough of my scrambled brain together so this time my shots struck home killing them just as T. J. grabbed me. Scott and Ricky were laying down suppressive fire while he and Ramon drug Alex and me into this hut for cover. It was probably just a little bigger than this place but we crammed inside and took positions while Ramon sorted out our injuries. With the adrenaline flowing I didn't even notice that I had a piece of shrapnel in my arm until Ramon pointed it out to me when I was trying to get in the fight."

"Is the explosion what messed up Alex's knee?"

I nod. "A piece of shrapnel from the truck tore through it when the engine exploded. The doctors did what they could at the time but that wasn't much. Most of his ligaments and bone was just gone."

"This is where Scott gets hurt isn't it?" She asks.

I nod. "I figure he told you some of this before."

"What he remembers of it but as you know it's hazy for him."

"Yeah, I don't know how he survived that explosion. I thought he was dead man when that RPG exploded at his window but I've got to credit Ramon, if not for him Scott would have died that day too."

There's a brief respite as the server comes by and checks on us. I look up, give her a smile, and ask for my water glass to be refilled. As she's pouring, I notice two men enter the restaurant and they seem to be staring at our table but I think nothing of it. With the server gone I ask Michelle, "Where was I?"

"Scott was hurt and Ramon was helping him."

"Right, so we held that little hut for six hours before it was radioed to us that help was coming we just had to mark our location so when the jets flew over they didn't drop bombs on us. Seems we didn't run into a band of determined insurgents, we had a full force of Taliban fighters bearing down on us," I pause and finish my glass of water before looking at Michelle. "The next part's the hard part to talk about."

"Ricky?"

"Yeah, Ricky and how I failed him."

"If you don't feel like now is the time to tell me..."

"If now's not the time then I'll never tell you because I'll be too afraid that you won't ever look at me again like you did this morning. You deserve to know the truth about what happened."

She reaches over and covers my hand with her other hand and smiles at me reassuringly before I continue.

"I went out to toss a colored smoke grenade on the roof of our hut to mark us and caught the two shots you saw last night. First shot got slowed by the Kevlar but still penetrates about an inch into my side. The second shot hits me and I drop out in the open losing my rifle in the process. Not that it would have done me much good anyway because I had no idea where the shots were coming from. Turns out, it was a sniper on a ridge overlooking the village. So I'm lying there bleeding, just waiting for that last shot to take me out when I look over to the hut and see Ricky break from cover. He's running right towards me; this damn kid who should be at home with his wife is breaking the golden rule. If a man's shot out in the open, you have to wait for cover to try to retrieve him. Either that or let him die but you do not go out there and get yourself killed too. I try to shout no or get back but nothing comes out, it's as if everything has slowed down. I hear a round ricochet off the wall behind him and then another and I start to think, this kid is going to make it, then..."

I blow out a breath and look down in shame just shaking my head. Michelle lovingly squeezes my hand.

"Kenny, it's all right."

After a moment I look up and can see tears in her eyes. She starts to say something else but I know if I let her I might not finish the story so I cut her off.

"He was about five feet away from me when the sniper got him. He was dead before he hit the dirt. He had a wife waiting for him at home, pregnant with a daughter that he'd never see and he died right at my feet. Trying to get to me, to save me and he died."

I pull my hand from hers. "It should have been me, laying there dead in the street not some twenty two year old kid."

"Kenny, don't say that."

"He had every reason to make it home. A family that loved him, a wife that was having his baby and I had nothing."

"You can't look at it like that. You're right that it isn't fair what happened to him but you can't keep blaming yourself for it. He made a choice same as you did, he chose to sacrifice himself for you, and you didn't let him die in vain. Look at all the people whose lives you've touched since then, all the people you helped that wouldn't have gotten it if you hadn't been around."

"All of you are strong people in your own right. If I hadn't been around most of you would have done all right for yourselves." I tell her but she shakes her head.

"If not for you, I'd be dead right now or wishing that I was."

"If not for me you wouldn't have ran to Australia and this whole thing might have been avoided by you all together."

"Argh, you can be so infuriating at times!" She says.

"And you're in love with me so what's that say about you?"

"Who said I was in love with you? Did I say I was in love with you? Just because I may have said it last night as I was passing out..."

"And why was it again you were passing out?"

"Exhaustion."

"Exhaustion, that's what you're going with? Not the passionate lovemaking?"

She nods her head. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

"All right, if you say so. Well we've still got a few hours to kill; want to take a walk on the beach?" Michelle looks down and shakes her head.

"I'd love to feel the sand in my toes but I'm not exactly dressed for the beach," She tells me.

"There are shops all around us so we can change that if you want?"

She looks around. "Kenny, I don't want to spend all your money. You can save it for a rainy day or something."

"It rained last night," I point out.

She smiles. "I remember. I think I'll have a special tingle every time it rains from now on," She pauses then socks my on my good arm.

"Ow, what was that for?" I ask rubbing my arm for affect.

"For being infuriating back there. You changed the damn subject so fast I nearly forgot I was mad at you."

"I'm good at that."

"I've noticed."

"Well what else was there to say?"

"You know I would have went to Australia whether I met you or not. You said yourself that it was a great opportunity for me."

I nod. "I did. Doesn't mean I liked that you were going."

"Why didn't you say anything then?"

"You said we were a mistake Michelle. What exactly was I suppose to say to that?"

"Before that. You knew about the Australia thing for a week before that happened, why not say something then?"

"And stand in the way of your dream? I might be an asshole, but I'm not a fucking asshole," I tell her.

"So eloquently put," she jokes.

"I have a way with words."

"You do when you want to. So it's established that no matter what I would have gone to Australia correct?"

"Correct."

"I still would have met Justin, probably fell for his line of crap even more and ended up right there in the Aid Station where I would have been murdered or worse all because there was no you around to come and save me. And don't try and argue that my family or the Voss's would have hired someone to come and find me either. Even if they did, they wouldn't have been you and probably would have been killed or gave up before ever finding me."

"But not me."

"No, not you. Shot and bleeding nearly to death you kept coming until you kicked open my cell door and freed me. You know, Yacine asked me who I pictured when I heard all hell breaking loose in the compound and who I knew was going to be there when my cell door opened. It was you."

"It was me all right; slumped against a wall, bleeding out. Not exactly the heroic ending they show in the movies."

"Maybe not but this is real life, that was a real bullet and you were real lucky."

"I can't argue with that."

"No you can't."

"I've heard those things before, what you were saying about not letting Ricky's sacrifice be in vain. His wife said it to me while I held his baby girl. Maybe I was too messed up to get it then or just hurting too bad at the time but now... now I understand."

"Good." She says. "My hand still stings from hitting you, I'd hate to have had to do it again."

I take her hand and gently kiss it. "That better?"

"It's a good start."

"You still would have gone to Australia to swim with Great Whites?" I jokingly ask and let my eyes drift over to the two guys that came in.

They still seem quite interested in us.

"It was a..."

"Great opportunity, I know. Just seems a little crazy to me."

"You're the one that played Hide and Seek with one in the open ocean without a cage."

"That was not by choice," I tell her distracted by a gut feeling that something with those guys isn't right.

"I don't know, I think you might have planned the whole thing," She says.

"You, uh... ready to get out of here?" I ask her.

"Sure?" She answers sounding a bit confused.

I take her by the hand as we get up and pay for breakfast. A glance over her shoulder lets me know that the two guys that set off my alarm bells are getting to their feet as well.

"Damn," I mutter.

"What is it?"

"I want you to casually glance over your right shoulder like your flipping your hair or something and tell me if those two guys look the least bit familiar."

Instead of flipping her hair Michelle reaches back over her shoulder as if to scratch an itch then turns back to me. I know the answer by just the look on her face.

"It's them, the guys that were looking for us in the village. Kenny what do we do?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm working on it."

"They're coming out," Micah informs Trent as the pair watch from the van out front.

"Team One follow them discretely we don't want them spooked. I'll give the signal when to move in. Standard snatch and grab right into the van so be ready. Team Three hold your position in the room in case something goes wrong on our end. You're our back up Three if all goes well we'll rally at the warehouse. Everybody copy that?" Trent asks.

"Copy," Comes the quite response from team two.

"We copy," Martin of Team Three answers.

Micah nods irritated that his command has been usurped by the CIA jack off that brought them into this. He bites his tongue and waits until Trent gives him the word to start the van.

"Let's keep our distance. Grayson is good so I don't want to give him a chance to escape."

"I got it. This ain't my first rodeo."

"Tell that to your men that you sent into the diner. He's already spotted them."

"Bullshit, my guys are good."

"Obviously he's better. Watch him and see how he keeps glancing back, making it look casual?"

Micah watches for a moment noticing Grayson's movement's. "Fuck, he does have them. Now what's the play?"

"He has them but he doesn't know about us yet. Start moving in but slowly so he doesn't spot us. That alley up there will be a perfect spot to snatch them up," Trent tells him then turns on his microphone. "Team Two get ready to move in. There's an alley way about seventy yards ahead, that's where we'll make our move."

"Copy. On your call," Jay states not letting his eyes drift too far from Michelle's ass. "You and I are gonna be real close friends later on."

"You do have a plan right?" Michelle asks doing her level best not to glance back at the men that are following us.

"Working on one, there's an alley up ahead that if we..." I start to tell her but spot a van that seems to be shadowing us as well. I come to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What?" Michelle asks.

"I should have seen this coming," I mutter more to myself than to her.

"Seen what?"

"There's a van over my left shoulder that's following us. They'll pull in front of us when we get to the alley and toss us inside."

"How do you know?"

"That's what I would do."

"Okay, then we adjust the plan."

I nod. "It's gonna involve running," I tell her.

"All of your good plans do," She reminds me trying to make light of the situation but I can tell she's scared.

"There's also a part that you aren't going to like."

"I'm not leaving you. I can't."

"You can and you will Michelle."

She looks towards the men that have stopped following and are now just watching us then to the van that sits blocking the street garnering an angry shout from a scooter driver that's trying to leave.

"Not if I have a better plan," She says.

Grabbing my hand she yanks me towards the guys that's getting off his idling scooter to yell at the driver of the van.

"Sorry!" Michelle shouts as she pushes him out of the way and hops on the scooter. "Kenny!" She tosses me the guys helmet that was on the seat and I grab it by the strap. The two guys that were following are now running towards us intent on stopping our escape. I swing the helmet and catch the both of them with a glancing blow across their faces.

"Get On!" Michelle shouts.

I jump on the back and barely have a chance to grab on as Michelle hits the gas and bounds up onto the sidewalk.

"Hold on!" She shouts as she makes a quick turn into the alleyway.

Inside the van Trent is looking on incredulous that his plan went straight to hell in such a short amount of time.

"Follow them you moron!" He shouts at Micah who stomps on the gas leaving his two teammates and the driver of the scooter in his dust.

The alleyway is short and Michelle hangs a right onto the street that it opens onto.

"Now what," She asks me.

"Why are you asking me, you're the one with the plan?"

"My plan went as far as grab scooter. Feel free to add to that anytime," She tells me as the wind whips her hair about.

"First, let me get this on you." I tell her as I slide the helmet into place.

She makes sure it doesn't block her vision as I tighten the strap.

"With your knack of getting concussions, shouldn't you be the one wearing this?"

"Probably but you're a hell of a lot smarter than me. Gotta protect that brain of yours."

"You say such sexy things to your girlfriend, you know that?" She jokes and I can't help but smile that she's trying to make light of our running for our lives.

I hear the squealing of tires behind us and glance back. The black van seemingly explodes out of the alleyway before making the right and tearing off in pursuit of us.

"Damn it, they're coming."

"Could really use that plan now," She responds.

I look ahead and see that road up ahead is free of traffic meaning that the van can run us down in a matter of moments if we stay on the street.

"Left!" I shout seeing a small passage between the next two buildings.

Without questioning me, Michelle makes the left and somehow keeps us upright as one of the handlebars clips the far building. People in the alley dart left and right trying to avoid the blonde haired maniac that passes them shouting "Sorry" in English. The angry yells that were being shouted in are wake change to cries of shock and terror accompanied by a screeching of metal as the van makes the turn into the alleyway.

"I don't suppose that's going to stop them for long huh?" Michelle says slowing a little. As soon as the last syllable is spoken a shot rings out from the head of the alley burying itself in the concrete wall about a foot from my head.

"Go!" I shout as more shots ring out.

She hits the gas and speeds off down a side alley leaving the slow van in our dust.

"What now?"

"We've got to lose these guys. See if you can find a cop somewhere."

"Any suggestions on how I'm supposed to do that?"

Before I can answer the van comes hurtling out of the alley and more shots fill the air.

"I don't think you'll have to do much other than keep us alive until they get here," I answer her.

"Sure, give me the hard job why don't you?"

I almost make a joke out of that but when I look over my shoulder and see a second car join the van in its pursuit of us I stop myself.

"Looks like I didn't hit those guys hard enough at the restaurant," I tell her.

She glances back. "If you have a prayer for getting us out of this mess, I suggest you use it right about now."

It's not long before the wail of sirens begin filling the air and somehow Michelle has managed to keep us from getting run down and shot by both vehicles.

"You're doing great!" I tell her just before a police car shoots out of a side street right in front of us. Michelle manages to dodge it only clipping our taillight on the front of the cruiser. The van fares worse as it smashes it's the front end of the police car. The second car is following so closely that it piles into the back of the van.