“I’ll jump off, Sam. I swear I will. If you’re not there, I’ll come back for you—” Tears filled her eyes, and her body began to shake.
Hollis turned her toward the helicopter. “Run. Low. Go on!”
She glanced back at him, then began running through the grass toward the helicopter, turning her head back to him every few strides.
Hollis watched her silhouette getting smaller against the distant helicopter, then turned toward the cabin and found himself face-to-face with Alevy.
Alevy watched Lisa disappear into the night, then looked at Hollis. “Go ahead, Sam.”
“I’ll get Burov.” Hollis moved past Alevy and headed back toward the cabin, Alevy beside him. Alevy said, “At least she listens to you. She never listened to me.”
Hollis didn’t reply. The sound of gunfire was closer now, and Hollis could see green tracer rounds streaking through the woods, though most of them were impacting in the trees.
Hollis and Alevy sprinted the short distance to the open door of the cabin and dove onto the floor. Brennan said, “There are a lot more of them now. They’ve fanned out into the woods and are moving tree to tree. They’re playing it cautious, but they’ll be here in about ten minutes.” Brennan added, “If they break out of the tree line over there by the clearing and see the chopper, we have a problem.”
Alevy nodded. “We have to slow them up a little.” He grabbed an AK-47, poked the muzzle through a window, and fired long bursts into the nearby trees until the thirty rounds were expended.
The firing from the woods slackened for a few seconds as the Border Guards took cover. When the firing picked up again, Hollis noticed that most of it now seemed to be directed toward the cabin. He could hear the thud of impacting rounds on the far side of the logs, and an occasional green tracer sailed through the shattered windows, hit the opposite wall, and glowed briefly before it burned out. Overhead, tracers ripped through the sheet metal roofing, and the rafters began to splinter. Brennan said to Alevy, “Maybe you want to hold off on that until you see the whites of their eyes.”
Alevy reloaded another magazine. “Okay, Bill, you take Burov and get to the chopper.”
Hollis said, “No, Dodson goes first. I’ll take Burov.”
Alevy nodded to Brennan.
Brennan gave his sniper rifle to Alevy. “You can track them through the night scope, and the muzzle makes no noise or flash. Use this until they get closer. Then use the AK’s and the stuff in the bag.” Brennan added, “Better yet, let’s all get the hell out of here.”
Alevy raised the sniper rifle above the windowsill, aimed at a muzzle flash, and fired off a round. He said, “I have to wait a bit longer for Bert. See you later.”
Brennan was kneeling beside Dodson now. “He’s got an okay pulse, but he’s really out.” He put Dodson over his shoulder and moved toward the door, which was not in the direct line of fire from the woods. “Okay, see you on board,” Brennan said with no conviction. He charged out the door, and Hollis watched him as he moved rapidly away from the cabin toward the clearing and disappeared in the darkness.
Hollis dropped down on one knee beside Burov and checked his pulse and breathing. “He’s okay. Worth taking.”
Burov stirred and tried to raise his head, but Hollis pushed him back. Burov mumbled through his swollen lips and broken teeth. He spit up blood and gum tissue, then said in Russian, “You…” He opened his eyes. “You… Hollis… I’ll kill you… I’ll fuck your woman.”
Hollis said in Russian, “You’ll live, but you won’t feel much like fucking.”
“Yeb vas.”
Alevy moved beside Burov and said to him, “Do you know where you’re going, Colonel? To America. Lucky you.”
“No… no…” Burov raised his tied hands and swung weakly at Alevy.
Alevy removed a spring-loaded Syrette from his pocket and jabbed it into Burov’s neck, releasing a dose of sodium pentothal. He said to Burov, “You can send postcards to Natalia.”
“You bastard.”
“Look who’s talking.”
Burov seemed to notice the sound of gunfire. “See… they are coming for you.”
Alevy said to Hollis, “Well, Sam, it’s your turn. Take your prize home.”
Hollis replied, “Why don’t you come along? Mills is dead.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Come on home, Seth. You deserve it. Lunch at the White House.”
“I’ll give the orders, General Hollis. Get moving.”
Hollis and Alevy looked at each other a moment, then Alevy said, “The sleeping gas will pop in a few minutes. I’ll be all right. You’d better go.”
They heard the sound of running footsteps outside, and they both grabbed rifles as a voice called out, “I’m coming in!”
Mills dove headfirst through the open door and rolled into Burov, who gave a grunt. Mills sat up on the floor and caught his breath. “They’re close. Less than a hundred meters.” He looked at his watch. “Jesus… time to go.”
Hollis noticed blood on Mills’ hand and on his neck. He smelled of burnt gasoline, and his clothes were singed. “You hit?”
“I’m all right. I got away from the car before it blew. Well, are we waiting for anything?”
“Just you,” Alevy replied. “You take Burov. We’ll cover you with smoke.”
“Right.”
Hollis lifted the unconscious Burov onto Mills’s shoulders as Alevy tore open the black leather bag and removed a smoke canister. He stood to the side of the door and peered around the jamb. “They’re damned close.” He pulled the pin on the canister and flung it out the door. The black smoke billowed and began drifting southward with the wind toward the advancing Border Guards. Alevy took a CS gas canister from the bag and flung that out also. The CS riot gas hissed into the air and wafted along with the smokescreen. He said, “Okay, Bert, see you in a minute or so.”
Mills stood in a crouch near the door with Burov on his back and watched the ground-blinding smoke roll away from the cabin into the tree line. The sound of a man gagging could be heard above the sporadic weapons’ fire. Mills said, “Good luck.” He held on to Burov and ran from the cabin, the smokescreen behind him. Hollis lay in the doorway with an AK-47 and fired a full thirty-round magazine in a sweeping motion across the tree line, getting little fire in return. He glanced back toward Mills and saw he had disappeared.
Hollis rolled back into the izba and sat with his back against the log wall. As he reloaded, Alevy knelt by the window and fired long bursts into the black smoke. Spent shell casings clattered to the floor, and the smell of burnt cordite filled the cabin.
Hollis said, “Okay, Mills and Burov are on board by now. You want to go first? I’ll cover.”
Alevy glanced at his watch. “No, you go first. We have a few minutes.”
Hollis moved toward the door, then looked back at Alevy.
Alevy smiled. “Go ahead.”
Hollis could hear the sound of the helicopter turbines coming from the clearing. “He’s going to leave. Come with me.”
Alevy sat with his back to the wall beside the door but didn’t respond. Hollis thought he looked very relaxed, very at peace with himself for the first time since Hollis had known him. “It wasn’t sleeping gas that you dropped from the helicopter, was it?”
Alevy replied, “No, it wasn’t.”
“Nerve gas?”
“Yes. I used Sarin. Tabun is good too, but—”
“Why? Why, Seth?”
“Oh, you know fucking well why.”
“But… Jesus Christ, man… nearly three hundred Americans… the women, children—”
“They can’t go home, Sam. They can never go home. They have no home. This is their home. You know that.”