Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“Barry Clarke has a broken arm and hand. Arm on one side, hand on the other.”

“Nice,” Malichai said. That was at least two mobile, if Jack’s hip was really fit enough to allow him to run.

“Tim Barrens went down with a shot to the head. He’s been in and out for some time. Mostly out, but when he comes to, he knows he’s a soldier and he’s with us and has to stay quiet, so he’s comprehending things around him.”

Malichai was already working on Jack, cleaning him up and setting up a bag of fluids to hydrate him as quickly as possible. He would need some of these men on their feet, fighting and willing to keep going, although they’d dug in and defended themselves so far in the face of an enemy outnumbering and outgunning them.

“You were a very welcome sight,” the leader continued.

“Tell me about your wounds,” Malichai instructed.

“Name’s O’Connell. Braden O’Connell. I took a hit, a through and through, on my thigh. I was lucky, it didn’t hit anything that’s killed me yet, although I’m very weak.”

That alarmed Malichai. He cursed under his breath. Would the kid have lasted so long if the artery was nicked? Regardless, he was probably bleeding internally.

“I wasn’t certain but didn’t want to move around too much just in case. I see to everyone as best I can, but I’m no medic.”

“When are they coming for us?” Jack asked.

Immediately there was silence. Even the guns of the enemy had fallen silent. Malichai felt the eyes of the soldiers looking at him. Trusting in him. He sent them a small grin and continued to finish cleaning up Jack before moving on to Barry.

“Well, Jack, the deal was, I jump out of the helicopter and fix you up so you could get your superhero ass in gear and carry us all back home.”

The others grinned but no one pointed out he hadn’t answered the question. No one asked again. As far as Malichai could tell, Barry’s left arm had suffered a clean break. Someone, most likely Braden, had splinted it. He’d done a good enough job that Malichai wasn’t going to mess with it. He examined the wrist. There was a lot of bruising and swelling. Again, Braden had splinted it, but it was obvious Barry had continued to use it in an effort to help defend their position.

Malichai stabilized it and then wrapped it. “You’re going to need fluids as well, but we’ll set up after I’ve examined the others.” Barry wasn’t too bad off as far as life-threatening injuries went. He’d lucked out.

Tim lay quietly. Too quietly. Malichai swore under his breath and put his hand over the man’s open eyes, slowly lowering the eyelids. Tim was dead. The headshot had quietly killed him, probably in the late evening hours and no one had been aware, leaving him to “sleep.” He turned to look at Braden. Braden knew. He saw the gesture and the way Malichai had dropped his head down and briefly closed his own eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, mostly to Braden. The soldier had tried to keep them together and alive since their team leader was gone. The helicopter carrying these men had been shot down during their extraction. The other one carrying the rest of their team had thankfully gotten away.

“He was a good soldier. A good man,” Braden said, emotion crossing his face. He struggled to contain it. “And a very good friend.”

The others looked over at Tim and then at each other. “How’s Jerry, Rubin?” Malichai asked deliberately, wanting to keep their attention on the living. “Full name, by the way, is Malichai Fortunes, and that’s Rubin Campo. Just dropped in to see how you boys were doing and get you ready to come home.”

Heads swiveled toward Rubin. Rubin had always been a man of very few words, and he lifted his gaze to Malichai, giving what amounted to a death stare. Malichai gave him a faint grin in return.

“He’ll be ready to travel in a couple of hours. He needs a transfusion and he’s badly dehydrated. I’ve already got lines into him and am giving him the blood we brought for him.”

“What about his leg and arm?” Jack asked.

Rubin shook his head. “A better question is, what about his life? We’ve got the enemy coming straight at us in the morning. The helicopters will have to set down right above us on the ridge. We have to be able to get him up there without losing him. We’ll need all of you.”

“No way can a helicopter land up there,” Braden said. “You see those bunkers on your way in? They have heavy artillery. I mean heavy. They’ll take out the helicopters every time.”

“That’s where we come in.” Malichai took pity on Rubin. “We’re going to make certain they can’t shoot down our birds as they come in to get you.”