With an unceremonious cough, the engine died. She tried to start the snowmobile again. The tank was bone-dry.
She hopped off, checked the forest behind her, then unloaded the gear, jamming what she could into the pillowcase she’d taken from the farmhouse.
That poor family. Halverson now wore the mother’s clothes, which smelled like laundry detergent. She slung the survival kit over one shoulder, the pillowcase over the other, then started toward the river.
At this time of year the ice should be thick enough to support her, she thought. If she followed the river, her GPS said she’d reach another broad plain offering no cover, but more forest lay on the opposite shore. However, getting to that better cover meant crossing the river and placing herself in the wide open.
Her whole life had been a risk, and there were very few she hadn’t taken, save for the one with Jake.
She paused at the very last tree before heading down onto the snowy bank. She took a long pull from her water bottle, stowed it, then thought, I got this.
For a few moments, it was eerily quiet. Just the sounds of her breathing and snow crunching faintly beneath her boots.
Then she heard it: a humming in the distance. Was that an engine?
“Outlaw One, this is Hammer of Tampa Five Bravo, over.”
Sergeant Raymond McAllen, who was seated just behind the pilot’s chair inside the Ka-29, had already been notified by radio operator Friskis that Major Alice Dennison was calling, so he put on a headset and adopted his all-business tone to answer, “Hammer, this is Outlaw One, go ahead, over.”
“Outlaw One, I’m sending you updated GPS coordinates for your package. We picked up the survival beacon about ninety minutes ago, over.”
“Outstanding. At least it’s a rescue now and not a recovery, over.”
“Roger that. However, be advised that mechanized infantry forces are homing in on that location. Intel from one of our drones indicates two BMP-3s, over.”
“Roger that, Hammer. Coordinates just received. Stand by.” McAllen got on the intercom. “Khaki, you looking at that GPS?”
“Yeah, I got it,” he said, tapping a finger on his own unit’s screen. “I think we’re about thirty minutes away.” He leaned forward and rapped a knuckle on a gauge. “But look at this fuel. She’s leaked a lot, come down fast. We’ll be riding on fumes.”
“All right.” McAllen switched to the radio. “Hammer, this is Outlaw One. Note we’re approximately thirty minutes out from the package, but we’re nearly out of fuel. I put in a request for an exfiltration helo over an hour ago, but haven’t heard anything from our CO. Can you follow up, and we’ll send an updated GPS of our location at that time, over?”
“Roger that, Outlaw One. Understood. I’ll check on that pick up and get back to you. Hammer, out.”
The lights inside the chopper flickered. They’d been doing that sporadically for the past fifteen minutes, leaving McAllen’s men even more restless.
Since the noise was so loud in the troop compartment, McAllen got the team’s attention by raising a fist, then he traced a big 3 0 on the back of the pilot’s seat, mouthing the words: thirty minutes. He gestured going down to snatch up the pilot.
Each man flashed a thumbs-up, then each went back to checking his weapons and inspecting the rest of his gear.
“Hey, Sergeant,” called Khaki. “These GPS coordinates… you know where she is right now?”
“Do I want to know?” he asked, his tone already darkening.
“She’s crossing a frozen river.”
“Why?”
“There’s a huge wooded area on the other side. Only good cover around.”
McAllen swore through a deep sigh. “Well, that gives us two problems: if she’s still on that river when we get there, then we’ll be out in the open.”
“But we’ll be quick.”
“And if she’s not,” McAllen went on, “it’ll be interesting trying to find her in the woods while you hang back with the chopper, which might run out of gas before we find her.”
“These are the things we think about but do not say,” said Khaki. “Got some good news, though: I think we can intercept her before she reaches the tree line.”
Just then, several blinking lights shone on the cockpit panel and the chopper began to lose power.
“What is it?” McAllen asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Khaki.
The pilot was speaking so fast that his words became a blur, like the ground racing by at just a thousand feet below, then nine hundred, eight hundred.
“He’s talking about that electrical problem again,” said Khaki. “But I’m not sure what he means. I don’t know all the technical terms in translation.”
With a jolt, the power returned, and the rotor spun back up hard, the fuselage shuddering a moment before they began to regain altitude.
Khaki glanced back at McAllen and beat a fist twice on his chest, as if to say, heart attack averted.
McAllen nodded, then told the pilot in Russian that he’d buy him a lifetime supply of vodka if he could keep them aloft until they reached their destination.
The pilot rolled his eyes and in broken English said, “I will make deal. But you will take me with you. I want to see America… before my government takes over everything.”
McAllen exchanged a look with Khaki, then said, “Well, my friend, you’ll get your wish, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before a Russian flag is flying over the White House.”
“Or flying over the Canadian Parliament,” added Khaki.
The pilot laughed under his breath. “Gentlemen, I think you should prepare for some cold days ahead.”
Sergeant Nathan Vatz and Band-Aid took the truck along a dirt road running parallel to the wooded area opposite the airport terminal. While that section of forest was thick, it was only about a thousand yards wide, cut into a perfect rectangle when the airport had been constructed.
“All right, this is close enough,” said Vatz, bringing the overheating truck to an abrupt stop.
They hustled out and skulked their way into the forest, threading between clusters of firs and pines, their limbs drooping with snow. Intermittent cracks of gunfire boomed ahead.
At the next tree, Vatz signaled for the medic to crouch down. “How many frags you got?”
“Three.”
“I got two. Now listen very carefully.”
Vatz unfolded his plan, then studied the medic’s face. Was there any sign of fear? Would this guy lock up at the most dire moment? Damn, if only Vatz had spent more time training with these guys. Well, the medic had made it this far and had even taken all those extra qualifications courses. Sometimes you had to let go and place your trust in the machine that produced operators of the highest caliber.
“Sergeant, are you all right?”
Ironic. Maybe Vatz was the one who couldn’t be trusted.
“Sergeant?”
“Yeah, sorry, just going over it again in my head.” He called up Black Bear, let him know what was happening, and the assistant detachment commander said he and the men inside were ready.
Vatz proffered his hand to Band-Aid. “Let’s go get ’em.”
The medic shook vigorously. “Hooah.” Then he trotted off, working to the north side of the woods to place himself in a flanking position of the enemy.
Meanwhile, Vatz kept low, shifting as gingerly and stealthily as he could straight toward the enemy position. He came within fifty yards of the Russians, his breath shallow as he settled down beside a tree.
His binoculars told the story. It was a full squad all right — at least ten troops visible. One Russian shouldered a rocket launcher, either an RPG-7 or a Bumblebee, but they were probably saving that as a last resort. They would’ve blown up the terminal already. They probably had some mortars as well, definitely two machine guns, plus the usual assortment of rifles, pistols, and undying love for the Motherland that had been brainwashed into them during training. They hadn’t wasted any gas. They were masked up, as was everyone inside the terminal. So it was what it was: a standoff.