A Soldier's Heart Page 8

  The heat in hell had nothing on Afghanistan in July. Maybe if he could’ve stripped down to a pair of cargo shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, it would’ve been bearable. But only a fool would go on patrol without all of his protective gear, and Nick was no fool.

  The back of his neck itched. It had nothing to do with the ever present dust and grit that grated against his skin like sandpaper. No, there were eyes on them. Had been since they’d entered the city. A couple of well-placed shots had cut them off from the rest of the patrol. They were trying to circle around to catch up with the others.

  Nick scanned the surrounding area, constantly sweeping the buildings ahead, looking for some sign of who was watching them. In that neighborhood, it could be anyone from a mother worried about her kids to someone with his finger on the trigger.

  Leif stirred restlessly. “You feeling it, too?”

  “Yeah. Spence, do you see anything?”

  Before his friend could answer, a burst of gunfire rained down on them from the roof of a building half a block down on the right. A second shooter opened fire from a doorway on the opposite side of the street, catching them in the crossfire.

  Nick returned short bursts of fire while Spence drove like the maniac he was trying to get them the hell out of Dodge. Leif hopped on the radio, yelling to make himself heard over the racket. After calling in, he’d joined Nick in trying to pick off the shooters.

  “Hold on! This ride’s about to get interesting.”

  If more than two wheels were on the ground when Spence took the corner, Nick would happily eat MREs for the rest of his natural life. Not that he was complaining. His friend’s extreme driving style had saved their asses too often. The M-ATV lurched hard as it straightened up coming out of the turn.

  “Fuck yeah, that was fun!” Spence’s grin was a mile wide as he laughed and flung their ride around another corner.

  The crazy bastard was actually enjoying this. Nick shook his head. He loved the guy like a brother, but damn. They made it another two blocks before the shooting began again, this time from behind them.

  Leif yelled over the racket, “Ever get the feeling we’re being herded?”

  Nick nodded. The thought had occurred to him, but what choice did they have but to keep going? The street was too narrow to hang a U-turn and stopping sure as hell wasn’t an option. He continued to scan the area for more shooters and left the driving to Spence, who knew the streets in this area better than anyone. It was like the man had a built-in GPS system. He’d find a way out for them if anyone could.

  The gunfire was sporadic now with longer periods of silence between shots. The streets remained empty, as if the locals had been warned to crawl into the deepest hole they could find and stay there.

  “Think we’re in the clear?” Leif asked, still studying the rooftops and doorways for new threats.

  Before Nick could answer, the whole world exploded in fire and smoke. A sharp pain ripped up the length of his upper arm as their vehicle started rockin’-and-rollin’ on them. It went airborne and finally bounced to a stop lying on its side up against a building.

  With considerable effort, Nick managed to climb out. He retrieved his weapon and shook his head to clear it. The blast had left him deaf, and thanks to the cloud of dust and smoke, damn near blind. Nick found Spence more by feel than sight. He was lying face down in the dirt, with blood trickling from his ears and nose.

  Nick checked for a pulse. Thready and weak. Son of bitch, this was a major cluster fuck. He spotted Leif writhing in pain a few feet away. He crawled over to him.

  “Are you hit?”

  “My ankle. It’s busted up pretty bad.”

  If the bastards who’d been shooting at them weren’t already closing in, they would be soon. Nick needed to get Leif and Spence to somewhere safe and fast.

  He got down in Leif’s face. “Give it to me straight up. Can you walk?”

  After one look at the twisted mess that had been Leif’s right ankle, Nick didn’t wait for an answer. Neither of his friends could make it back to safety on their own, but which one should he help first? Spence was completely defenseless while Leif might be able to protect himself for a while.

  On the other hand, Leif was bleeding; already his coloring was piss poor. Nick crawled back to the rubble that had been their vehicle and pulled out the first aid kit. He bandaged the Leif’s damaged ankle as best he could, but he’d seen enough wounds to know Leif was going to need surgery and damn quick. His decision made, Nick crawled back to his unconscious buddy.

  “Spence, I’m going for help. I’ll be back for you ASAP.”

  Then he muscled Leif up off the ground and half-carried, half-dragged the poor bastard as fast as they could make it. The rest of their unit would be pouring into the area, looking for them. A minute later, he spotted them two blocks down and waved his rifle over his head to get their attention.

  Their medic hit the ground running. “What do we have?”

  “His ankle looks bad, but we’ve got to go back for Spence. I was afraid to move him.”

  They carried Leif the rest of the way back to one of the vehicles. Nick patted his friend on the shoulder. “They’ll get you to the medics. Save a couple of the prettier nurses for Spence.”

  Leif managed a small smile. “Like hell. Tell him he’s on his own.”

  “Get yourself patched up. We’ll be along soon.” He stepped back and checked his rifle for ammunition. “Let’s move out.”

  The medic stopped him. “You’re bleeding, too. We’ll get Spence. You go with the corporal.”

  No, not happening. He’d return for Spence even if he had to crawl. “I’m all right. Besides, I promised I’d come back for him. Wouldn’t want to piss him off. The man’s got a temper.”

  The medic didn’t much like it, but he nodded. “Lead the way.”

  Nick’s ears were finally starting to function again, and he could hear gunfire in the distance. Son of a bitch! He picked up the pace, doing his best to watch for hostiles as he led the charge back to where he’d left Spence. When they were a block short of their destination, the screaming thunder of another explosion sent all of them diving for cover.

  Before the echoes had died away, Nick was up and running, screaming Spence’s name. He was dimly aware of the rest of his squad joining him in the mad race to save their friend. Nick’s heart pounded loud enough to drown out the agonizing truth that he was too late with too little. The building next to where he’d left Spence was nothing but a smoking pile of rubble.

  He coasted to a stop at the corner. The horror of what had happened and what he’d done washed over him in waves. “Spence, where the hell are you? Come on, you dumb son of a bitch, this is no time for hide-and-seek.”

  Please, God, let him have regained consciousness and crawled to safety.

  But he hadn’t; Nick knew it in his gut just as he knew it was his fault. There was nothing left of their vehicle now except scrap metal. A huge hole had been ripped in the street right where Spence had been laying, and the building had caved in on itself, leaving the street strewn with rubble. While several of the men stood watch, Nick joined the rest digging in the dirt with their bare fingers, heaving aside rocks and jagged fragments of metal, looking and praying for some sign of Spence.

  Finally, the medic froze. He looked across at Nick and slowly lifted his hand. A set of bloody dog tags dangled from his fingers.

  “Aw, damn, Spence.”

  Tears streamed down Nick’s cheeks as he reached for the broken chain. He clamped his fingers around the small pieces of bloody metal and held onto the last piece of his friend with an iron grip.

  The medic motioned to the rest of the men. When they had formed up, he took Nick by the arm and tugged him back down the street.

  “Come on, Sarge, let’s go get your arm looked at. We’ll get you all fixed up.”

 
; Nick let himself be led away, but only because the longer they lingered in the area the more likely someone else would get hurt or worse. But they all knew there was no fixing this. Not today. Not ever.

  Spence was—

  A sharp pain dragged Nick back to the grassy slope of the graveyard. Mooch whined and licked the small mark where he’d just nipped Nick’s arm. The poor dog looked worried. How long had Nick been gone this time? Long enough to be damp from the rain that had started falling since he’d knelt in the grass. The dog shoved his head under Nick’s hand, demanding a good scratching that felt as good to him as it did the dog.

  “Sorry, Mooch. We’ll get going here in a minute.”

  He pushed himself back up to his feet and dusted off his pants, focusing hard on the moment. It was too easy to get caught up in spinning his wheels in the past. He needed to keep moving forward, if for no other reason than he had to make sure Mooch reached his final destination.

  Nick had something to say first. Standing at attention felt odd when he wasn’t in uniform, but the moment called for a bit of formality. He cleared his throat and swallowed hard.

  “Spence, I miss you so damn much. Wherever you are, I hope they have fast cars and faster women.”

  Then he sketched a half-assed salute and walked away.