“In my personal choppers, yes,” the general confirmed with a nod. “Oh, and I got another report on the way in. The other choppers have finished cleaning out the rest of your base, people, and whatever else they could load aboard. Soon’s we’re done here, we’re out.”
Connor nodded. “And double-time it,” he added to David.
The other nodded and moved off.
“What about our pilot?” Connor asked. “Last I heard she was being escorted out, but had been ordered to shut down her radio.”
Olsen nodded. “Security measure,” he said. “Our airstrip is still secret, and we’d like to keep it that way as long as we can.”
“Of course,” Connor said. “I just want to make sure she’s taken care of.”
“Oh, she will be,” Olsen promised. “We treat our pilots very well, and from what we saw tonight she’s definitely one hell of a pilot.” He shook his head. “One hell of a plane, too. That has got to be the damnedest patchwork job I’ve ever seen on an A-10. I’m surprised the thing’s still flying.
Whoever your mechanic is, he’s a wizard.”
“He is all that,” Connor agreed. “And before you ask, you can’t have him.”
Olsen grinned. “We’ll see. Anyway, like I said, we’re on tight numbers, so grab your people, grab your butt, and get all of it aboard the choppers.”
“Yes, sir.” Connor turned and started to walk away.
Olsen’s hand snaked out to touch his arm.
“You did good today, Connor,” he said quietly. “Right now, everyone knows that. But they’ll forget. People always forget.”
“That’s fine,” Connor said. “I’m not in this for the glory.”
“I know you’re not,” Olsen said. “I’m just saying that when the rest forget, don’t you forget, too.”
Connor gazed out at the quiet city around them. The city where so many people had died tonight.
“Don’t worry, General,” he said quietly. “I won’t forget. Ever.”
It took Kate a good half hour of work, plus nearly a third of the medicines and bandages in her field kit, to put Sergeant Orozco back together. But when she was finished, she had the satisfaction of seeing his eyes flicker open.
“Sergeant?” she called gently. “Sergeant Orozco? Can you hear me?”
The eyes closed, flickered again, and then opened all the way. For a long moment he stared up into her face, his forehead furrowed with questions or confusion or disbelief.
“It’s Kate Connor, Sergeant,” Kate said, wondering how much the morphine was fogging his brain. “We were here this morning.”
“I know,” Orozco said, his voice weak but with no signs of disorientation. “What are you doing here now?”
“We came to help,” Kate said. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get here sooner.”
Slowly, Orozco turned his head, his eyes taking in the devastation and death around them.
“How many?” he asked.
Kate felt her stomach tighten.
“You’re the only one we’ve found alive.”
For a long moment Orozco lay silently. Kate watched him, wondering if he was going to slip off into unconsciousness again. Then, finally, he stirred.
“I’m not feeling much pain,” he said. “Morphine?”
Kate nodded. “I have more if you need it.”
“Maybe later,” he said. “What’s the damage?”
“Not as bad as it could have been,” Kate assured him. “You had a through-and-through in your upper left arm and another slug in your shoulder. I got it out. There were also several grooves in your left forearm, which I sewed up, and you took a grazing shot across your right hip.”
“Right hip, huh?” Orozco said, frowning. “I didn’t even know about that one. How mobile am I?”
“Well, you won’t be going on any long hikes for awhile,” Kate said. “Fortunately, you won’t have to. Now that you’re stable enough to move, I can call for a litter to get you to the chopper. A few weeks in rehab—”
“Whoa,” Orozco interrupted. “Chopper?”
“The Resistance has arrived in force,” Kate told him. “We’re going to be taken to one of their bases.”
“A base with generals and admirals and everyone?” Orozco asked.
“Probably,” Kate said. “And that’s good. It means they should have everything we’ll need to get you on your feet again.”
“Glad to hear it,” Orozco said. “I hope they find someone they can use it on. You’d better get going. Thanks for patching me up.”
Kate stared at him.
“What are you talking about?” she asked carefully.
“We’re taking you with us.”
“I don’t think so,” Orozco said, a sudden bitterness in his voice. “It was people like your precious generals and admirals who brought Judgment Day down on the world in the first place. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I’ll ever work for them again.”
“But you can’t just stay here,” Kate protested. “Where will you go? What will you do?”
“I’ll survive,” Orozco said. “I’m a Marine. That’s what Marines do. If you can spare me a little food and water, I’d appreciate it. If you can’t, that’s fine, too.”
“Sergeant, you’re not thinking clearly,” Kate said, putting some firmness into her voice. “You’re alone, you’ve lost a lot of blood—”
“Your generals are waiting, Ms. Connor.” Orozco cut her off.
“Then look at it from my position,” Kate said, switching tactics. “I’m a doctor. How can I just walk away and leave you here alone? Or never mind me. What’s John going to say when I tell him I left an injured soldier behind?”
“You’ll tell him first that I’m not one of his soldiers,” Orozco said. “And you’ll tell him second that you didn’t have a choice.” His right shoulder twitched.
And Kate looked down to see the man’s bloodied hand gripping the butt of the Beretta belted at his side. “You wouldn’t,” she said, looking him squarely in the face.
For a moment he held her gaze. Then, almost reluctantly, his eyes drifted away.
“No,” he admitted. “But you never know what a crazy man’s going to do, do you?” He looked over her shoulder, toward the huge mound of stone rubble she and the others had had to climb over to get into the building.
“Did a good job on that archway, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did,” Kate said, conceding defeat. If he truly didn’t want to come with them, there really wasn’t any way she could justify forcing him to do so.
Her earphone crackled.
“Barnes: get your squad together and bring it in, double-time,” John’s voice came. “Don’t bother stopping by the staging area—we’re leaving whatever’s there behind.”
“Got it,” Barnes said. “On our way.”
“Time to go?” Orozco asked.
“Yes,” Kate said, unfastening her ration pouch from her belt and laying it beside Orozco. “This is all the food and water I’ve got with me, but there’s more in a sort of long house two blocks west of here. It’s on the street where—”
“I know the place,” Orozco said. “Passed it once or twice.”
Kate nodded and stood up.
“Last chance.”
Orozco nodded. “Better get going.”
“Right.” Kate hesitated, then unclipped her medical bag and set it beside the ration pouch.
“Good luck.”
“One other thing,” Orozco called after her.
She paused and turned back.
“Yes?”
“There were 280 people who died in here tonight,” Orozco said, his voice dark. “I’d consider it a personal favor if you and Connor would take out a Terminator for each of them.”
Kate swallowed, her throat feeling tight. “We’ll do our best,” she promised. “And we’ll think of you with every single one of them.”