“Any sign?” The whispered question was so silent Jacob was unsure the man had actually spoken.
He shook his head slowly and signed. Last signal. Joseph left two markers. When third hits satellites should get a response. No response, we get out of here. Doc won’t last.
Chief’s hands answered. The movement almost indistinguishable in the moonlight. His eye… gone. Infection killing him. I carry him out. You get brothers safe.
Jacob looked at his friend. I carry Doc. We all brothers.
Chief huffed, the indignant sound the only thing disturbing the night.
Fucked up. You shouldn’t be here. Be home with wife.
Bullshit. You did what trained to do. Jacob knew how the man felt, but he couldn’t allow any of them to wallow in regret.
Jacob worried the most about Adam. Initially, Doc responded to rest and the small amounts of antibiotics they had in the emergency packs. Holing up until he became stronger had been the best option. Now? They had to get out. The trauma to the man’s head and face were beyond their field expertise. They had tried. God knew they had tried. His left eye? Gone. The human eye shouldn’t be opaque white. The man languished in and out of consciousness. When coherent he didn’t speak. Twice he had signed, Let me die.Fuck that. Jacob glanced to his left watching as Joseph dropped down an embankment and disappeared against the rocks.
Jacob sensed more than knew his brother sat perfectly still. He considered the chances they took with the signal. The patrols were tenacious now. They weren’t the run of the mill lackey’s from some religious extremist’s camp. These scouts were trained, highly organized and well-funded zealots. The satellite arrays would pass in the next three to seven hours. If Tori had half the expertise he thought, she would recognize Jacob’s call for help. Three days, three different letters. J.T.K. His initials. Hell, it was every one of the King siblings initials.
Jacob’s body tightened as he heard rock against rock that was not the shift of the earth through erosion or nature. His eyes flashed towards his brother. Both he and Chief were flattened and should be indistinguishable in the night landscape. The grey-white glow from the moon reflected off the bare granite of the trail and showed the un-level surface that stood between him and his brother. Another scraping. Closer. Louder. Boot? Yes, a boot against sand and granite.
The source of the sounds appeared from the darkness and walked slowly past Joseph from the right. Two men, heavily armed, stopped and carefully examined the area. The men were edgy. The night sounds stilled. Not even the sound of crickets penetrated the tension. The patrol searched the terrain. Not operatives or local boys. These men were inexperienced and had no idea how to accurately read the night landscape. The large one looked right past Jacob and Chief, and neither realized Joseph was crouched within three feet of them. They moved slowly, as if tracking something or someone.
The enemy worked up the path to just before the rock hiding the opening of the cave. Jacob watched as Joseph drew his knife in deadly silence. Jacob had complete faith in his brother’s lethal skill with a blade. It had been Joseph’s primary weapon on each of his assigned assassinations.
When the men passed him and Chief, Jacob moved forward; the sole of his boot testing the ground under him careful not to make a sound. The whisper of cloth from his movement was indistinguishable from the patrol’s own clothing. Closer. As each carefully calculated action moved him forward, his persona changed. He moved silently, positioning himself to kill; his focus on nothing but the men, the targets. With gruesome experience, Jacob knew Joseph worked as he did, blending into the environment. Joseph became one with the shadows keeping to the darkness. Jacob crept ever closer.
Doc’s low moan was the catalyst that launched the attack. Jacob’s hand covered one man’s mouth. His razor sharp blade sliced through skin, muscle, tendons and arteries. Joseph’s simultaneous attack nearly severed his enemy’s head from his body. Tonight this kill meant their survival and both Jacob and his brother were survivors. Jacob felt, rather than saw, the bodies drop at his feet. Silently, he and Joseph coordinated the removal of the bodies—the dead weight too much to carry far in their diminished condition. When they finished camouflaging the bodies, nothing in the area would lead a patrol back to the cave entrance.
Jacob watched as Joseph backed away, once again becoming a part of the landscape. The patrol had carried no communications equipment, which meant they camped close by. The weapons were old but in good condition, and the extra ammunition they recovered would come in handy. Someone would come looking for the men. The only question was when. Jacob gazed into lightening sky. See the signal, babe. Please see the sign.
Jacob walked back into the depths of the cave. Jared’s gun leveled at his chest as he entered the area draped off with blankets. The small smokeless fire in the corner took the frosty chill off the ten-by-ten foot enclosure.
Jacob squatted down and fished the last of the pain-killers out of the medical pack and flicked it towards his brother. “Give him another half tablet of morphine.”
“What do we do when it’s gone?” Jared caught the bottle in midair and popped the top. He split the narcotic tablet with his knife blade. “We have two and one-half pills left.” He put the small pill in Doc’s mouth and carefully lifted the man’s head, encouraging him to drink water from a canteen.
“Not going to be an issue soon.”
Jacob felt Jared’s gaze sweep him, examining him. Jacob saw when Jared took in the blood that covered his uniform. “Whose blood?”
“An ISIS patrol that got too close.”
“Joseph? Chief?”
“Holding the perimeter. We found no comms, so the pair weren’t far from reinforcements. Others will come looking for them when they don’t report back. Could be in a couple minutes, could be a couple hours.”
Jared rubbed his ankle. Jacob noticed. “You going to be able to hang if we have to bug out?”
“Yeah…but I’ll slow you down.” Nodding, Jared’s gaze lingered on the man lying at his feet. Lifting a wet rag, he wiped the sweat from the medic’s brow. “He won’t make it.”
“Tori will figure it out. The satellite barrage passes soon. The images will take two hours to get to her. We could have a team here in less than eight hours. If nothing happens by the morning, we pull up stakes and carry our man out. No other choice.”
“Leave me here with Adam. We are the limiting factors. I’ll stay with him until he passes and then work myself out.” Jared sat back against the wall and put his hand on the dying man’s shoulder.
“Not happening.”
“But…”
“No!” Jacob hissed. “You are my brother. He is my best friend. Neither of you is staying. End of discussion.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tori opened her eyes to white acoustic ceiling tiles. Oh, shit. A bright light flashed in her eyes.
“Hello there. I have to be honest. That is the first time someone passed out on me when I told them they were pregnant.” The chubby face of Dr. Carter leaned over Tori and smiled.
Struggling to sit up, Tori blinked rapidly. “Pregnant? But I can’t be. I didn’t go off the pill until a couple days before he left. Doesn’t the medicine have to leave my system or something?”
The doctor helped Tori to the chair she had recently vacated. “Huh? Is that so? Well, Mrs. King, your physician should’ve told you birth control pills aren’t a one hundred percent guarantee.”
Tori gaped blankly at the doctor. Snapping her mouth shut, she shook her head. “They aren’t?”
The doctor chuckled. “Let’s do an exam, get you on some prenatal vitamins, and check your glucose. That fainting thing? Not medically recommended.”
Tori nodded and cleared her throat. “Ah...that was probably a combination of stress, lack of sleep, lack of food, and the fear I was dying.”
Dr. Carter chortled and shook her head. “Well, you’re healthy. The stress, lack of sleep, and lack of food you’ll have to start managing. You are,’t just looking out for yourself anymore. Your body will feed on itself to support your baby. You need to take care of yourself and your little one.”
The doctor turned towards the desk. “I’ve already put a script in for the prenatal vitamins. The nurse will come in and do a blood draw before you leave and we can schedule your OB appointments with Dr. Julius, who works with this practice. Unless you have another OB in mind?
“No, that’ll be okay. Is there any way to tell how far along I am?” A thousand questions swirled in her mind.
“We can do an ultrasound. I have that scheduled for…yes, here it is…Wednesday at 9:00. Dr. Julius will want you to do a history for her before that and then she’ll do an intake exam. You will probably be here for a couple hours.”
Tears. Rivers of tears fell from her eyes and she did nothing to quiet the torrent. Dr. Carter looked up. “Mrs. King, are you alright?”
Tori smiled widely, suddenly radiantly happy. “Yes, ma’am, I’m better than alright. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying.”
Once again, a friendly chortle preceded the doctor’s smile. “Hormones. Get used to it.”