Part 49 (2/2)

PAYBACK

We collapsed back to Shark Base.

As soon as we got there, I shed my gear and put my back against the wall, then slowly lowered myself to the ground.

Tears started flowing from my eyes.

I thought Ryan was dead. Actually, he was still alive, if just barely. The docs worked like h.e.l.l to save him. Ryan would eventually be medevac'd out of Iraq. His wounds were severe-he'd never see again, not only out of the eye that had been hit but the other as well. It was a miracle that he lived.

But at that moment at base, I was sure he was dead. I knew it in my stomach, in my heart, in every part of me. I'd put him in the spot where he got hit. It was my fault he'd been shot.

A hundred kills? Two hundred? More? What did they mean if my brother was dead?

Why hadn't I put myself there? Why hadn't I been standing there? I could have gotten the b.a.s.t.a.r.d-I could have saved my boy.

I was in a dark hole. Deep down.

How long I stayed there, head buried, tears flowing, I have no idea.

”Hey,” said a voice above me, finally.

I looked up. It was Tony, my chief.

”You wanna go get some payback?” he asked.

”f.u.c.k yeah I do!” I jumped to my feet.

A few guys weren't sure whether we should go or not. We talked about it, and planned out the mission.

I didn't hardly have time for it, though. I just wanted blood for my guy.

MARC

The intel put the bad guys in a house not too far from where Ryan had been hit. A couple of Bradleys drove us over to a field near the house. I was in a second vehicle; some of the other guys had already gone into the house by the time we arrived.

As soon as the ramp dropped on our Bradley, bullets started flying. I ran to join the others; and found them stacking to go up the stairs to the second floor. We were huddled together, facing downward, waiting to move up.

Marc Lee was at the lead, above us on the steps. He turned, glancing out a window on the staircase. As he did, he saw something and opened his mouth to shout a warning.

He never got the words out. In that split second, a bullet pa.s.sed right through his open mouth and flew out the back of his head. He dropped down in a pile on the steps.

We'd been set up. There was a savage on the roof of the house next door, looking down at the window from the roof there.

Training took over.

I scrambled up the steps, stepping over Marc's body. I sent a hail of bullets through the window, flus.h.i.+ng the neighboring roof. So did my teammates.

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