Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
But I already knew why not. She was right, she wasn’t like me. She was good, she followed the rules. She’d probably never gotten so much as a parking ticket. I couldn’t ask her to live on the run. It’s not a life I’d wish on anyone.
I tried to look away but her eyes were begging me right back, asking their own why?
Why couldn’t I just give up the gold. Why did I need it so much?
I wanted to explain. I wanted to tell her it was about proving something to the guys who threw me out of the Marines. That it went back further than that, that I’d been trying to prove my entire life that I was something more than just a poor kid from the wrong side of the tracks. But I couldn’t put any of that into words. Olivia was the one woman who left me tongue-tied. So, I just said, “Okay. Okay, Doc.”
And I turned and walked away so she couldn’t see the pain in my eyes.
Outside, everyone was waiting with their gear, watching the sky for the first sign of the chopper. A morning mist was rolling across down the sides of the valley and spreading out over the treetops, and as the sun crept over the horizon, it lit it up gold. It looked like a giant was spreading out some magical comforter made of dreams. It was unspeakably beautiful.
“There,” said Cal, pointing. I strained my eyes but couldn’t see a thing. Then, at last, I made out a black speck in the sky. As the speck grew, we started to hear the clattering drone of the chopper’s blades. No one ever described it as a pleasant sound, but every soldier loves to hear it, because it means you’re going home.
The chopper grew until we could see Gantz through the windshield. He was thirty feet from us, descending towards the lawn, when a shot rang out.
Everyone whipped around, checking all directions. “Contact east!” yelled Danny, firing into the trees. I looked that way and saw cartel members swarming out of the forest.
“More! South!” yelled Cal, and he started firing, too. They were coming at us from two directions. How did they find us?!
Another shot rang out and a white spot appeared on the chopper’s windshield. I was close enough to JD that I could hear Gantz on his radio. “They’re shooting at me! Jesus fuck fuck, they’re shooting at me!” Suddenly, all of Gantz’s bravado was gone: he sounded like a scared kid.
The chopper stopped its descent and rose into the air.
“Gantz! Get down here! We’ll cover you!” snapped JD. He started firing, too. All of us were shooting now. Cartel members were running out of the trees on three sides of us, trying to completely surround us. We formed a circle, facing outward, with the three doctors protected in the center.
I could hear Gantz panic-breathing over the radio. The chopper kept rising. It lurched, turned…and started to speed away.
“Gantz!” JD yelled. “What the hell are you doing? You can’t just leave us here! Gantz!”
But the chopper was already shrinking into the distance. JD stared at it in disbelief.
Danny backed up to him, still shooting, never taking his eyes from his rifle’s sights. He nudged JD with his elbow. “We can’t stay here,” he said. “They’re going to cut us off.”
JD gave the chopper one last glare and then nodded. He jerked his head west, the only option left. “Into the jungle. Run!”
I grabbed Olivia’s hand and towed her with me as we raced for the trees. We’d nearly reached them when I got a feeling I hadn’t had in a long time. When you’re in a team, you develop a sort of sixth sense. I don’t know if it’s hearing the footsteps of the others around you, or the little glimpses in your peripheral vision; hell, maybe some of it is people’s scent. But if you spend enough time with a bunch of guys, the team gets this vibe and you can tell if it changes.
We were one short.
Cal, Danny, JD, Colton, three doctors, and me. Where the hell is Bradan?
I spun around and saw him, standing motionless on the lawn, right out in the open. His gun was down by his side, and he was staring at a stone fountain, of all things. As I watched, a bullet that must have been meant for him took a chunk out of the side of the fountain. Bradan didn’t even flinch: he just stood there, frozen.
Goddammit. I pushed Olivia towards Danny. “Take her,” I told him. Then I raced back across the lawn, wincing as bullets hissed by me.
I sprinted up to Bradan and grabbed his arm. “Come on!” I yelled. “Go!”
He turned to look at me, but he didn’t see me. It reminded me of Olivia, waking from her nightmare. He was somewhere else.