Page 79 of Breached

I let out the breath I had been holding.

“Fox Two to Fox One, I sure could use Guardian. We’re headed north, and we’ve got at least five on our heels.”

Shit!

“Copy that!” I answered and made the call to West to send the drone over to him and Mark. I rolled Armondo over the edge of the cliff in case anyone came by.

“Second border is breached. All teams move to the house.” Cole’s voice boomed through the radio, and gunshots could be heard in the background. “I repeat, second border is breached, code red, all teams move to the house!”

I grabbed my bag and secured my NODs back in place, then began to climb straight up the face of the mountain as fast as I could, not having time to run the switchbacks. I dug the toe of my boots in and gripped any ledge or rock that would hold my weight. Every time I shifted my weight from foot to hand, I saw Nicole and Chase for a hair of a second. Drops of rain started to pelt the top of my head and shoulders, and I knew my time was limited without the proper equipment.

I tipped my head back and knew Mother Nature wasn’t pleased with the war raging below. This land was sacred—wild and respected long before men like us ever bled on it. Now, blood soaked into her soil while explosions tore chunks from her mountainsides, and smoke rolled through the trees like an illness.

I couldn’t blame her for being angry. We’d brought death into a place that once knew only peace. But now things were off balance, and the line between good and evil had to be settled one way or another.

“It’s the only way,” I said out loud.

Just as I neared the top, bullets began to ping off the rock. Tiny bits of granite hit my body, and it felt like little needles to my skin.

Zip! Zip! Two bullets struck just above my left foot, and I almost lost my grip. My fingertips were the only thing keeping me from plummeting to my death as I desperately moved my feet around to grab another toehold. I thought of Mike and John and how they’d live for a moment like this. Finally, I was able to get my boot in a small crevice, and I hiked myself up a bit and gained a new position on the wall.

I inched toward a small outcrop of rock and got myself on it, then I took a breath and waited to see where the shots were fired from. A second later, another one pinged. I saw it seemed to be from directly below me.

Zip!

Son of a bitch, that one was close. I reached into my bag for a five-second trigger grenade, pulled the pin, and dropped it.

Boom!

Screams found their way to me, and I quickly shimmied up the rest of the way in case they started to shoot again.

Solid ground felt amazing, but I didn’t waste any time and jumped to my feet. I raced into the tree line, through the thick forest, all the while scanning for anything that didn’t look like it belonged. I stopped briefly at the movement above and saw some ravens. They bounced around the treetops talking away among themselves. I had always admired those birds. They were fine with us using their forest; we’d made our peace with them over the years. We often left shiny rings or coins for them to find as gifts to show our gratitude.

The rain hit like pellets, hard and fast. Thunder rolled over the Montana timber, mean and low, vibrating through the earth and into my boots. The rain added to the spring runoff turned the forest floor into a slick mess of mud and pine needles. Every step I took was a calculation, and every breath was measured.

I kept low and stayed light on my feet, using the spongy moss whenever possible to conceal any possible footprints. I didn’t know if I had taken out the enemy behind me.

The house was less than a mile out. Through dense lodgepole and blown-down trees, my hike had been transformed into a maze, and my shirt was soon glued to my skin as I held my rifle tight against my chest. My heart beat against my chest as I ran—slow and calm—but loud and hard. With my knees bent, my arms locked in position, and my eyes inside the NODs to my gun scope, I scanned every surface I could spot. Each step was thought out and calculated.

My sixth sense was suddenly activated, and I froze. I slowly looked over my left shoulder, and I saw a pine tree branch moving, then it settled back into place. I wasn’t alone.

Sinking into the low brush, I gave a wide berth between me and whatever was hidden out of view.

Rain then poured down so hard that it blocked all noise, removing one of my key senses. I was thankful for my cap, as it blocked the water from my eyes, but the intensity of it forced me to squint through a curtain of water.

“No te muevas,” a man grunted from behind me as he pressed the tip of his gun into the back of my head, and three scenarios of how I was going to play it flickered through me at once. “Turn around and show me your face.” He spoke in English.

I let my weapon fall to my side, where it hung by its strap around my waist, and raised my hands in front of me. I shifted my weight to the balls of my feet as I stood and turned.

He held up a photo that was in a plastic Zip-lock bag and grinned. “Agent Paul.” He smirked. “You just made me a very rich man. Bruno is going to love showing his new wife your death video at the wedding.” He laughed, and I saw red.

I grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head, blinding him. Holding his shirt, I kicked him in the stomach, making him stumble backward, losing his balance. I wrapped my arms around his waist and football tackled him back against the side of the mountain. The air shot from his lungs from the impact, and I used that moment to reposition him under a wall of muddy water pouring down from above. The stream was as strong as a fireman’s hose as it flowed down from above.

I punched him three times quickly in his ribs as he gasped and fought to get out from under the water. I knew his lungs would spasm from the blows, so as that happened, I forced his head back and let the water flow hard directly into his open mouth. He kicked and wrenched about, but the pain and lack of air was too much for him. His brain was telling him to breathe while his lungs filled with water, yet he still fought. His hands clawed at me, but then finally, he went limp and I lowered him to the ground. I looked up at the sky and thanked Mother Nature for helping me take him out. I stripped him of his weapons and radio, and as I did, I heard a voice.

“I have eyes on the house,” someone said in Spanish over the radio. “I see one soldier in a hallway.”

Shit. I knew exactly who they were looking at.