Guns were still firing as Shane began to regain consciousness. Then he became aware of movement - his own movement. Someone had a hold of his arms and he was being dragged face-first along the sand, none too carefully.
Someone was speaking, but Shane could not make out the words. His mind was too foggy. It sounded like, "Yagottgopookngetntrounow."
Shane groaned as his forehead bumped against the ground. Whoever was pulling him stopped and turned him over. Shane blinked a few times. The bright sunlight made it hard to see. He also realized that he could no longer hear any gunfire.
"He okay?" That voice sounded familiar.
"I think so," said someone else. Hands probed the wound on his head and he hissed in pain. "Doesn't look too deep. And doesn't look like anything's broken."
"Tha's ol' Spooky for yer," said a third voice. "Gotta damn hard head."
Shane groaned in recognition. "It had to be you guys? There go all my karma points in one shot."
He heard Captain Nowicki laugh. "Would you believe I volunteered us? None of the other units were particularly thrilled about chasing down some spooks lost in the desert." He crouched down, blocking the sun, so Shane could actually see him. "You think you can stand? I'd like to get us out of here in case these guys managed to call for air support."
Shane started to nod, but that just caused an intense headache. "Just help me up," he said. The words were barely out of his mouth before he was being pulled to his feet. He tried to take a step, but it was so unsteady, he almost fell again. Whoever had pulled him up grabbed him before he fell.
"Y'all needs some help there, Spooky." Before Shane could protest, Deakins was pulling Shane's arm over a shoulder. "Let's get ya ta the chopper."
In the back of his mind, Shane had a niggling feeling that he was forgetting something. Then it hit him. "Wait . . . Salim. . . ." He raised his head very gingerly toward Nowicki. "In the rocks . . ." He watched as Nowicki and two other soldiers headed into the opening in the rock formation. Nowicki poked his head back out a moment later and motioned for Deakins and Shane to come in.
"Our friend doesn't seem to want to come out," Nowicki said. "Nice bit of improvising there, by the way. We wouldn't have spotted it except we're picking up your transponder signal."
Shane's brain struggled to process everything Nowicki was saying, but he caught the bit about Salim. He let Deakins help him inside the rock opening to the edge of the pit and he looked down at Salim. I must look like hell, he thought, as he saw Salim's reaction. In very halting Arabic, Shane told Salim to let the soldiers help him out.
The soldiers helped Salim out of the pit and led him out of the cave. Shane remained, leaning against the rocks, his eyes closed, while Nowicki and Deakins proceeded to pick up all traces that anyone had been there. Shane had no clue why they were even bothering, but he did not protest. Instead, he opened his eyes, tested his ability to walk and found that, although he was still rather unsteady, he no longer seemed at serious risk of falling.
While Nowicki and Deakins finished in the cave, Shane stepped back out into the sunlight. For the first time, he noticed the bodies strewn around the sand. The Iraqi lieutenant was closest. Shane walked over to his body and looked down. The man stared up through lifeless eyes and Shane saw that his uniform shirt was stained with blood.
Shane felt nothing.
He turned toward where Malik had been and saw that the young agent's body had not been moved. Shane took a few steps over to it when Nowicki appeared next to him.
"That your man?" Nowicki asked.
Shane nodded. "He was injured, so they shot him. He probably wouldn't have survived anyway." That thought did not make Shane feel any better. Just a few minutes faster. That's all it would have taken.
Nowicki seemed to know what Shane was going to ask before he did. "We got here as fast as we could. We couldn't pick up your signal in the air very well and didn't want to do anything that might show on Iraqi radar." He put a hand on Shane's shoulder. "Sorry. It's never easy to lose a man."
No, it's not. But Malik wasn't the first agent Shane had lost on a mission and probably wouldn't be the last. That still doesn't make it any easier.
Nowicki motioned for Deakins to carry Malik's body, then took Shane's arm and helped him toward the helicopter. "Come on, Donovan," he said. "Let's get you out of here so you can go home."