The Soldier's Mission (11 page)

She heard more shots, felt Paco's hand on her arm. He held the truck steady, cycling around and around, ducking his head now and then, then lifting up to glare into the mirrors. Rising up, Laura tried to see behind them.

“Don't move, Laura. Stay down!”

How could she possibly move now? Laura became frozen in a numb kind of panic. But inside that panic, her heart beat with a fierce need to stay alive. She wouldn't let this happen. She wouldn't let Paco give his life for her here on this dark road out in the middle of nowhere. And so she fought to hold on, fought through silent, screaming prayers, the touch of his hand guiding her.

It was only seconds, but in Laura's mind, this dizzying trip into the dark night went on and on. She could hear Paco's gruff complaints, see the control in his stoic face, and feel his fingers gripping her, holding her as the windshield shattered. Then she felt a piercing pain as the truck jolted up into the air, causing her to bounce up and right into the windshield, even while Paco managed to hold on to her arm.

Finally the groaning truck came to a shuddering stop, the sound of tires grinding into dirt and rock and shrubs sliding over Laura's ragged nerve endings with a hissing protest.

The shots had stopped. The truck rattled to a loud stillness. Her heart pumped and pushed inside her body, her breath came fast and furious and mingled
with Paco's rapid breathing next to her. While the pain tried to pull her deeper and deeper into the darkness.

And still, his hand had never left her arm.

Through it all, Paco had held on to her.

P
aco tugged at her. “Laura? Laura, are you all right?”

She nodded then lifted the jacket. “Paco?”

He saw the blood, a bright red stain moving over her sweater. Then he saw the hole in the jacket. He looked up, his gaze slamming into hers. Her face was pale in the moonlight, her eyes whitewashed with fear. And pain.

She'd been hit.

Still holding her, he reached into the bucket seat behind his seat and grabbed his gun, placing it on the dash. Then he felt around for the first aid kit.

“Hang on. Laura, do you hear me? Hang on.” He touched two fingers to her neck, prayers screaming in silence inside his head. He had to do something. He had lots of supplies, but nothing to stop this kind of bleeding. Throwing the kit back behind the seat, he pulled on her sweater and saw the tiny bullet hole piercing her left upper shoulder.

“I'm okay,” she said, grabbing at her sweater. “It's just a little cut or something—probably from the glass. Let's go. Just go.”

“I can't go until I know how bad you are.” He pulled a
T-shirt out of his duffel. “Can you hold this tight against your wound?”

She gave him a feeble nod. “Uh-huh.”

“Where does it hurt?”

“Everywhere. Mostly my left arm.”

Paco did a quick scan of her body, touching on her head, neck and shoulders and working his fingers on her legs. “No other injuries that I can find.”

“Nope. Just a bump on my head and a hole in my arm.” She swallowed, her eyes closing in a squint of pain.

“I'm going to lift you,” he said, gently reaching behind her. “So I can see if the bullet went through.”

She nodded, gritted her teeth.

Paco reached behind her, his arms around her shoulders. “Hold on.”

She moaned as he lifted her forward and let her fall against his chest. “There's no tear in the seat and you're not bleeding on your back.” He might have to dig the bullet out. “Okay, I'm gonna lay you back against the seat.”

Slowly, he leaned her down. Her head loped back and she closed her eyes again. “Laura, try to stay awake. Stay with me, sweetheart.”

“Tired.”

“I know. But I need your help.”

She opened her eyes. Her pupils were dilated and she would go into shock soon. Meanwhile, the hit man might be approaching them right now.

“I need you to hold this shirt and press it against the wound. Okay. Pressure, lots of pressure. You hold on to that while I see if it's safe.”

She didn't respond but she let out a moan as he
carefully shifted her head against the seat and put his jacket over her. Moving away to grab his gun, he opened his door and jumped out, taking a fast glance around the deserted road and nearby woods.

“Laura, I'm going to call Eagle Rock and then I'll make sure the shooter is gone. Eagle Rock can send the chopper to get us.”

She moaned but he felt her hand move and watched as she pressed the wadded up shirt against her shoulder.

Paco looked down and saw blood covering his shirt. Laura's blood. For just a minute, he felt a buzz inside his head, could hear the drone of helicopters, the shout of soldiers, while he remembered holding a man in his arms, watching him die.

Shaking off the flashback, Paco made a vow. “I won't let you die, Laura. Do you hear me?”

She moaned again.

Hurrying, he grabbed his night vision binoculars then crouching low, moved around the wheelbase to view the damage and their location.

The truck had landed in a ditch just off the road near a big hilly pasture. They'd cut a path through the bramble and bushes, but he didn't see or hear anyone coming. Not a sound of footsteps or motors running. Whoever had shot them must have thought he'd finished the job when the truck careened off the road. Or was hiding out there, waiting to see if Paco and Laura were still alive.

Paco looked at the left back deflated tire, remembering the sound of gunshots and tires squealing. At least he'd managed to avoid hitting a tree head-on.

He had a few cuts and bruises. But Laura had been
shot. He did a quick scan with the binoculars and seeing nothing, prayed their attacker was long gone.

Grabbing his cell, he hit buttons and waited, his breath coming in great huffs, until he heard Kissie on the line. “I need help. We've been hit and Laura's injured.”

“Got it,” Kissie said. “Give me your coordinates.”

Paco rattled off the location, remembering the nearest mile marker and the road number. “Hurry, Kissie.”

“We're firing up the chopper right now. Eli and Shane will be there soon. And we'll get a doctor out here to meet y'all when you land.”

Checking the area once more, Paco made sure no one was lurking in the woods. He couldn't leave the truck so he got back in and slid close to Laura, lifting her head with his hands. “How you doing?”

“I'm alive,” she said, her words weak and slurred. “I want to go to sleep.”

“Soon, baby, soon. Help is on the way.” Frantic to keep her awake, he said, “But let's talk while we wait.”

“You don't like to talk.”

That was a fact but right now, nervous energy had him more than willing to spill his guts.

“I don't mind talking to you, Laura. Not now anyway.”

Paco tried to make her comfortable. As long as he could hear her soft breath, he knew there was hope. So he clung to that hope as tightly as he clung to her hand in his. And then, he started talking.

“You know, up on that mountain in Afghanistan, I held a young soldier's hand just like this.” He stopped, swallowed the bile of grief. “It was his first mission. He
was twenty-one years old. Just starting life, Laura. So young and so confident. He died right there in my arms and there was nothing I could do for him. Nothing.”

“You did your best,” she said on a ragged whisper.

Shocked that he'd blurted that out, Paco prayed for the chopper to come before he said too much. But the dark night and her ragged breathing kept him talking. “They all died, Laura. All of them but me. I don't understand that.”

“I know,” she replied in a tightly held breath. “I know, Paco. All in your files. Can't explain. God has a plan for you.”

“And what is that plan?” he said, his words harsh in the still truck. “What kind of plan allows for everyone I cared about to die and leave me like that?”

Including her? Did God intend to take Laura from him, too?

“You have more missions,” she said, her words drifting off as her eyelids fluttered. “Important missions.”

“But what about all those young men? Why didn't they get to live for one more mission? Why didn't they get to come home?”

She lifted her hand toward him then dropped it away, the look in her eyes full of longing and hope. “Look not to your own understanding….”

“Laura, Laura, don't go to sleep.” He listened then let out a breath. “Laura, I hear the helicopter. Eli and Shane are here.”

But Laura didn't hear him. She'd passed out.

 

“What's taking that doctor so long?”

Paco paced the confines of what they called the war room then turned to stare out the window, his gaze
scanning the many outbuildings and fences around the secluded, sprawling compound. “We should have heard something by now.”

Shane Warwick walked up to him, putting a hand on his back. “Relax, Warrior. Dr. Haines is one of the best and we have a complete medical wing in this compound. He'll do everything he can to help her and right now, he's probably thinking about what's best for Laura. She might need surgery.”

Paco whirled to grab Shane's lapels. “We can't take her to a hospital. They'll come after her.”

“No hospital, old boy,” Shane said, gracefully lifting Paco's hands from his jacket. “We have the equipment here, if need be. And Dr. Haines served in Iraq. He knows all about triage and operating in a field hospital.”

Paco stared down at his hands, realizing he'd almost attacked his best friend. “I messed up, Warwick.”

Devon Malone, Brice Whelan and Eli Trudeau were all in the room. Devon stepped toward them. “You didn't mess up, Paco. You were on your way here and you did everything you could to save her.”

“We were so close,” Paco said, reliving the nightmare of seeing that blood flowing out of her body. “So close.”

“You're here now for sure,” Eli said. “You're safe,
mon ami
.”

“I don't care about being safe,” Paco retorted. “I want Laura safe and healthy again. I don't get why anyone would come after that woman.”

Brice shot a look at Devon. “Man, just how deep are you into this mission?”

Paco stared across at them, taking in the worried
looks on their faces. “How deep do you expect me to be?” he asked, his hands on his hips.

Brice's smile was tight-lipped. “‘Consider beauty a sufficient end',” he quoted.

“And what does that mean?” Paco shot back, in the mood for a fight, not Whelan's sappy poetry.

“It's Yeats, actually,” Brice said, his eyes solemn.

“I don't care who it is,” Paco said. “You never make any sense, Whelan.”

Eli clapped Paco on the back. “I think what this moonstruck poet is trying to say is that you're fighting for more than good over evil. You have never been one for theatrics or skittishness, Warrior. But you're obviously highly wired right now.”

“Meaning?”

Devon shot Brice and Eli a warning look. “Meaning, you're either not ready for this mission or you've become emotionally involved with the subject. Or both.”

Paco's pulse raged inside his body. “The
subject
is a nice woman who only wanted to help
me
. And now look at her. She's been shot!” He crossed his arms at his chest. “And as for me, I'm ready and willing since I was forced to take this on in order to protect her. We've had a couple of really bad days, so yes, I'm wired to the gill, boys. And I failed at protecting her, in spite of my best efforts. That tends to make a man skittish and
involved.
”

“These people would have found her one way or another, Paco,” Shane said. “They obviously want something from her. And the way I see it, she came to you at precisely the right time. If you hadn't been there to help her, she indeed might be dead already.”

Kissie came into the room, followed by a young man. “Paco, this is my son, Andre. I sent Andre back to the wreck sight to look for evidence and clean things up.” She turned to the tall, muscular youth. “Andre, tell them what you found.”

Andre, his head shaved and his smile full of apology, handed Paco a card. “It's a business card, sir. It has Ms. Walton's information on it. Found it a few yards from where the truck landed.”

Paco grabbed it. “And let me guess. It has another verse from Revelations etched invisibly on the back?”

Kissie nodded. “It does indeed. From chapter eleven, verse seven, just part of the verse: ‘The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.'”

Kissie touched Andre on the arm. “Go on back, son. Stand by and watch out for Miss Walton.”

He gave Paco a shy stare then left the room.

Paco's brain buzzed with all that he'd been through and the implications of the verses he'd read. His gaze swept the room. “I think someone is declaring war on CHAIM. And they're using Laura to do it. How deep do you think I need to be into this mess now, gentlemen?”

Shane stared at the card. “We're all in it now, Warrior. In too deep to turn back.”

Paco nodded. “Thank goodness I at least got Laura here alive.”

Dr. Haines came into the room. “And she should stay very much alive because of your efforts.”

Paco pushed toward the doctor. “How is she?”

Dr. Haines took off his glasses and cleaned them on his lab coat. “Well, she's resting now. I cleaned and
debrided the wound and did a thorough search for any internal damage. Based on the X-ray, I found bullet fragments in the wound but the bullet didn't go all the way through. She probably got hit when the bullet shattered the windshield—I'd say a high-powered rifle did the job. I think I got it all, but I've given her antibiotics for infection and a pain pill to keep her quiet through the night. And I wrapped the wound to staunch the bleeding.” He held up a hand. “However, if she runs a fever or presents any other signs of infection, I suggest you get her to a hospital as soon as possible.”

Kissie touched Paco's arm. “I could take her into Austin and have her checked out and back in no time.”

“I don't want her to leave Eagle Rock,” he replied, warring with himself on how to handle this. “Doc, are you sure she's gonna be okay?”

“As long as infection doesn't set in, I think so. But again, I can't predict that. She's blessed it was a clean wound. But she'll be weak and sore for a couple of days since she got a bump on the head and she was tossed around, too.”

“Can I see her?”

The doctor nodded. “Just briefly. She's exhausted and she needs to rest so her body can heal.”

Sally Mae Barton entered the room, her eyes gleaming. Married to CHAIM founder Gerald Barton, Sally Mae has once worked for CHAIM. And the woman didn't pull any punches. “Mercy, let the man see her. We've dressed more wounds around here than a Civil War widow, I reckon. And we've got Selena Whelan here. She's a nurse. We'll watch over Laura, Dr. Haines. You
have my word on that and we won't hold you accountable if anything does go wrong. Which it won't.”

The doctor looked skeptical. But he didn't protest. “Okay then, I guess I'm done here.”

“I'll show you out, Dr. Haines,” Sally Mae replied with a sweet smile. Then she turned to the others.

“Kissie, take Luke to see Laura. And the rest of you, get back to work on solving this case. We have a celebration coming up.”