Part 25 (1/2)

Jersey put the HumVee in reverse and floored the accelerator pedal. The rear wheels spun for a moment and then took hold, and the big truck backed itself off the jeep.

As Jersey was about to s.h.i.+ft gears, a pistol shot sounded from off to the side and she felt a burning in her right shoulder. ”G.o.dd.a.m.n!” she cursed, thinking, Not again.

Coop whipped the barrel of the big fifty around and let off a burst in the direction the sound had come from, though he was able to see nothing.

He stopped firing when he heard an earsplitting scream of pain and anguish from in front of him.

”Got the b.a.s.t.a.r.d,” he said.

”Not before he got me,” Jersey said, her voice growing weaker from the front seat.

”s.h.i.+t!” Coop said, and climbed over the seat next to Jersey.

”You all right, babe?” he asked gently, his eyes narrowing at the dark stain on her s.h.i.+rtsleeve barely visible in the starlight.

”Don't call me babe . . .” Jersey said, and fainted.

”Sorry about that, darlin',” Coop said as he grabbed her under the arms and pulled her into the pa.s.senger seat. He took off his belt and hurriedly tied a tourniquet around her upper arm.

Turning back to the steering wheel, he put the HumVee 264.

into gear, and began to drive off away from the jeep. He could see several sets of lights in the distance as then-pursuers turned around to come back after them.

Making sure not to touch the brakes and give their position away with brake lights, Coop gunned the engine and raced away into the darkness and safety.265 As Coop drove the HumVee as fast as he could through the darkness, his attention was divided between checking Jersey to make sure her bleeding had stopped, and following the progress of the three remaining vehicles that were still on his trail.

Since they were able to use their headlights, they were slowly gaining on him, even though he drove a zigzag course through the desert.

His heart almost jumped into his throat as he pa.s.sed a dark object coming toward him out of the darkness, until he saw it was one of the jeeps from Tehran. He caught a quick glimpse of a woman driving and a huge bear of a man in the pa.s.senger seat that could only be Harley Reno.

When they pa.s.sed, Coop raised a fist in salute, and thought he saw the gleam of Harley's teeth as they flashed past, also running without headlights.

Moments later, Coop heard the rapid chatter of an MP-10, and saw in his mirror one of the pair of headlights following him veer sharply to the side and overturn, the headlights now vertical instead of side by side.

He chuckled to himself, thinking, good ol' Harley.

After another minute, a large fireball erupted into the 266.

night sky as another of the chasing vehicles felt the sting of Harley's wrath.

Coop slowed and turned in his seat to see the final pair of headlights change direction and head back toward the road and the convoy of troops heading toward Tehran.

As dawn sunlight began to tinge the eastern horizon with shades of orange and gold, Coop stopped the Hum-Vee and got out of the car. He ran around to the pa.s.senger door and flung it open, slipping inside to check on Jersey.

Still unconscious, she moaned as he gently removed his belt from around her arm to check on her wound. Slipping his K-Bar a.s.sault knife from its scabbard, he sliced through her s.h.i.+rt and peeled it down over her chest.

There was a small hold in the front of her right biceps, and a slightly larger hole in the rear part of her arm where the slug had exited after plowing through the muscles of the upper arm.

”Thank G.o.d they're using steel-jacketed bullets,” Coop mumbled to himself, thinking the wound would've been much worse with lead-tipped bullets.

He squeezed around the edges of the wound, checking for any signs of arterial bleeding, which would mean he'd have to reapply the tourniquet.

There was only a slow oozing of dark blood-a good sign.

Jersey's head rolled to the side and her eyes blinked open. She stared down at her exposed b.r.e.a.s.t.s and then glanced up at Coop, whose eyes werefirmly fixed on her shoulder wound.

”Hey, partner,” she croaked through dry, chapped lips. ”You trying to get a free look?”

He glanced down at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s once, and then s.h.i.+fted his attention back to her wound. ”What?” he asked scornfully. ”You think I'd waste my time scoping out those little things?”

267.

267.

He shook his head, a slight smile on his lips. ”h.e.l.l, I've seen better b.r.e.a.s.t.s on a chicken, my dear.”

Jersey managed a low chuckle. ”In your dreams, mister.”

And then she groaned as he wrapped a piece of her s.h.i.+rt tightly around the wound, pulling it tight to stop the oozing of blood.

”How bad is it?” she asked, not able to see in the early dawn light.

”You won't be shooting any a.s.sault rifles for a few weeks,” he answered, ”but you should be able to play the piano again.”

”That's good,” she said, her voice growing weaker as she began to feel faint again. ”I've always wanted to play the piano.”

As she slipped back into unconsciousness, Coop slipped his own s.h.i.+rt off and began to put it on Jersey.

When his eyes drifted downward, he smiled to himself. ”Coop, ol' boy, you're a d.a.m.n liar,” he mumbled. ”Those are really nice b.r.e.a.s.t.s!”

Just as Coop finished b.u.t.toning his s.h.i.+rt around Jersey, the jeep containing Anna and Harley drove up. Harley and Anna jumped from the vehicle and ran to the side of Coop's captured HumVee.

”Hey, thanks for the rescue, guys,” Coop said.

Anna moved to Jersey's side. ”How's Jersey?” she asked as she noticed the dressing on Jersey's arm.

”She got hit in the arm, looks like a through and through wound that missed the bone,” Coop answered.

They all looked up as another series of explosions from the direction of the road into town occurred, accompanied by the sound of automatic-weapons fire that carried a good distance in the thin desert air.

Harley grinned. ”Looks like the mobile troops are do- 268.

ing a pretty good job of slowing the convoy down,” he said, rubbing his jaw.

Coop glanced skyward. ”Yeah, an' dawn's just about here. The reinforcements oughta be landing soon.””Why don't you take Jersey on back to the city where one of the medics can take a look at her?” Anna said. She looked over at the road and the long line of terrorist trucks in the distance. ”Harley and I have some unfinished business over there.”

”Will do,” Coop said, and he got back in the driver's seat.

”Take it easy on your approach to town,” Harley advised. ”Remember, you're driving an enemy vehicle. We wouldn't want our boys to take you out without knowing you're one of us.”

”Don't worry,” Coop said, holding up the tattered remains of Jersey's BDU s.h.i.+rt. ”I'll wave this like a flag as soon as I get close enough.”