H.J. nodded, a slight twitch evident in her right cheek. Gibbons ripped open a medical-dressing package and began to wipe the blood away. Blood trickled downward from a shallow stab wound on the side of H. J.‘s left breast. Her vacant face betrayed no emotion when Gibbons finished a couple of minutes later and then helped her button the shirt. She had yet to speak, but Duncan noticed her hands did not shake.
“Gibbons, make it quick,” Duncan said.
She looked at the dead rebels. A growl, like a cornered mountain lion, erupted from her throat, startling the four men. She pulled the knife from Gibbons’s scabbard, turned, and with a movement too quick for Duncan to stop, slashed the throats of the two dead Algerians nearest her.
From outside came the sound of running feet.
“H. J.” let’s go,” Duncan said.
Gibbons reached up and gingerly took his knife back, wiping it on one of the dead men’s shirts before he slid it back into the scabbard.
“Let’s go, aye, Captain,” she said, her voice a monotonous slur.
Beau led the way as he ran out of the house and turned downhill.
Ahead, two rebels were in a hand-to-hand fight with Monkey. The gorilla like SEAL held one by the neck with his massive right hand. He backhanded the other rebel as the man charged. Monkey freed his knife.
The other rebel regained his feet and leaped onto Monkey’s back. Beau rushed forward and with his butt of his rifle knocked the man off Monkey’s back. The rebel in Monkey’s grip kicked the SEAL. Monkey shoved the razor-sharp weapon, blade up, into the rebel’s stomach and jerked upward. Beau dispatched the other with one shot. Monkey jerked his knife to the right before he pulled it out. He held the man’s face close to his so he could look directly into the man’s eyes as he died.
The glazed shroud of death creeped across the eyes. Monkey, expressionless, pushed the dead rebel off the knife.
“I wonder where they go,” Monkey said.
H.J. walked unsteadily outside behind Duncan and Judiah.
“Down, ma’am!” Gibbons shouted as another attacker appeared on the other side of the wall. He roughly shoved her aside.
A single bullet seemed to miss H.J. as she catapulted off the side of the house from the force of Gibbons’s push. Duncan shot the rebel. Gibbons put two more bullets into the body.
“Let’s move. There’s more rebels here than was in that truck,” Duncan said. Fighting from where he had left Colonel Yosef reached his ears.
At least the colonel and his Guardsmen were still alive.
H.J. slid down the white wall, leaving a trail of blood against it as she came to a sitting position. “You know, Captain, this is not making a good impression for my first time out as a SEAL,” she said weakly before she passed out.
“Beau, you and Chief Judiah bring the lieutenant.” He gestured to Gibbons. “Stay here and guard the road. As soon as Colonel Yosef and his men come through, you follow them down. We’re going to load the truck!”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” Gibbons shouted.
They moved down the hill. Beau and Judiah held H.J. between them, trying not to further aggravate the bullet wound. Beau pulled the shirt up and over the wounded right shoulder, covering H. J.“s breast, exposed again when she passed out.
“Yo mama!” shouted Gibbons as he shot a rebel coming out of a side street further up.
Mcdonald rolled to the left as a hand grenade landed near him. It exploded harmlessly as the machine-gunner raked the building from where it came.
A single sniper from a window nearer Gibbons’s position began firing at the petrol station. Gibbons scrambled six steps further to the right to line up for a clear shot. He licked his finger, touched the far sight of the carbine, and fired. The rebel’s hands flew up. The gun went twirling out of the window and into the brush below as Gibbons’s bullet tore through the man’s chest. The sniper fell backward into the building.
Duncan leaped the wall and helped Helliwell to his feet.
“Come on, Bud. Enough rest time.”
“Damn, Captain, I was just getting comfortable. I’m okay. I can walk.” He stood, weaved slightly, and pulled himself over the wall.
“Mcdonald!” Duncan shouted. “Help Ensign Helliwell to the truck!”
Helliwell fell.
“Hurry!”
“I’ve got him, Captain,” Mcdonald said. He slung his MG60 across his back and pulled the ensign up.
Draping the good arm around his shoulders, Mcdonald more pulled than helped Helliwell to the truck. Sounds of combat near the crest of the hill reached them.
Duncan began a stiff-legged run back up the hill just as Colonel Yosef and his men poured over the top. He passed Beau and Chief Judiah carrying H.J. between them.
At the crest, Colonel Yosef and his Palace Guard fanned out to fight a rear-guard action as they retreated toward the truck.
Duncan crouched beside Yosef. “I see you brought them with you.”
“Is Bashir ready?” Yosef shouted between gasps for breath.
“They’re loading now. What have we got?”
“At least two companies of revolutionaries. They were enjoying the fruits of temporary marriages when you disturbed them. We have to go before they bring up the armored car.”
“Armored car?”
“Yes, armored car — a Russian BTR-60. It attacked our position on the other side. It can’t get through the narrow alley, so they’ll have to back it out to turn it around. I give us five, maybe seven minutes before we have more company than we can handle.”
“Cannon?”
“No, only a machine gun in a front-mounted turret. Has to turn to fire anywhere other than the front one hundred twenty degrees. Eight wheels for all-terrain.” “Oh, that’s good,” said Duncan, rolling his eyes. “Probably eight-wheel drive, too.”
Yosef gave Duncan a quizzical look. “Good? I don’t think so, Captain!” These SEALs are crazy!
Shots interrupted before Duncan could explain. Yosef rose and fired several bursts at a group of Algerian rebels, who ran back into the alley. Yosef yelled for his men to fall back.
The rapid beeping of Bashir’s truck horn sounded behind them. The truck pointed away from the conflagration. Everyone on board yelled and made rapid motions for the men to hurry. Mcdonald and Monkey crouched at the tail of the truck with their MGs pointed uphill.
Yosef waved frantically to his men. “Hurry!”
“Come on, Gibbons! Let’s haul ass!”
The remaining SEALs and Guardsmen ran down the hill. They leaped at the tailgate of the truck, and Bashir’s relatives pulled them aboard.
Monkey and Mcdonald blanketed the crest with machine-gun fire as a wave of rebels poured down it. With the machine-gun fire, they poured back up it.
Duncan shoved his way to the front. “Let’s go!” he shouted, slapping his hand repeatedly on the cab of the truck.
The truck lurched as Bashir gave it gas, slowly picking up downhill speed away from the attacking force chasing them. Duncan worked his way along the bouncing truck bed to the back. Guardsmen and SEALs fired at the rebel force. The truck wheeled around a corner and headed out of town.
Five minutes later they were bouncing along a dirt road that led into the desert.
“You know, Colonel Yosef, we are driving further and further from the coast and our transportation is out there.” Dun can pointed north toward the ocean. “And unless we get President Alneuf out to sea soon, none of us may leave this place.”
“I know, Captain. Survival sometimes means taking whatever opportunity is available at the time and hope the next choice improves your chances.”
“Well, this one definitely didn’t,” he replied, rubbing his temples.
August, less than forty-five days to retirement, and here he was fighting for his life instead of preparing for a new one. He hoped he lived long enough to enjoy some of the fruits of a military retirement.