Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (71 page)

+++

Daniel checked Trapper to make sure the man
was dead. The beak-nosed mercenary’s eyes stared into
nothingness.

Lance was struggling to sit up. As Daniel
moved to help him, he saw blood seeping out of the big man’s mouth.
It didn’t look good for his new friend.

“Where are you hit?” Daniel asked in
concern.

Lance tried to answer but couldn’t speak. He
looked down at his torso as Daniel ripped the man’s coat open.
There were too many entry wounds to count. Trapper had done the
job.

Daniel reached into one of his cargo pouches
and pulled out a small first aid kit. Knowing the dangers of the
battlefield, he’d packed it himself long ago. He extracted a small
syringe and looked at Lance.

“This will help with the pain.”

Lance looked at Daniel with pleading eyes.
He knew he was going to die.

Daniel carefully grasped the larger man’s
arm and injected the powerful drug. The effects were almost
instantaneous. It was a special concoction he’d come across while
serving in Afghanistan. The Corpsmen and their Marines called it
‘sleep juice.’ It was used for the worst cases and only as a last
resort. There were some times when you just knew an injured warrior
was going to die. Better to let a man die in peace. The drug wasn’t
officially sanctioned by any of the military branches because of
its potency and the obvious ethical issues. After losing his
spotter in Afghanistan, Daniel had made himself a promise that he
would never let anyone suffer the way Grant had. Better to let a
man die in peace.

Lance’s features softened as the drug took
effect.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here,”
Daniel said softly.

Lance shook his head already knowing what
would happen. He would die in the cave. With great effort he
grabbed Daniel’s arm and spoke through gurgled blood,
“I’m…a…Marine.”

Daniel nodded solemnly and smiled at the
dying man. “You won your honor back, brother. I’ll make sure
everyone knows you died as a Marine.”

Lance’s smile filled the room. Daniel would
never forget the look of pure joy on the dying man’s face.

“Close your eyes, Lance. It won’t be long
now.”

The big man nodded and closed his eyes for
the last time.

“God be with you, my friend,” Daniel
whispered, as Lance exhaled his last breath.

The sniper silently asked God to watch over
Lance. Then he stood up, gathered a few items, and left in search
of Cal.

+++

Cal reached the end of the
trail and cursed. He was trapped. As he went to brace himself on
the steep rock wall, his hand slipped. Cal barely caught himself
before he slammed his head. He hadn’t noticed it as he approached,
but there was an opening. Looking closer, Cal saw that there was a
hole about three feet in diameter.
This
must be the hide
.

Hoping that there was something inside he
could use, he went head first into the alcove. The space was small.
Cal figured that it might be possible to fit two men in the tiny
cave. Luckily, there weren’t any traps awaiting his arrival. He
felt around in the dark for anything he could use as a weapon. His
hands finally found a stout stick. Cal picked it up and felt along
its length. It was barely two feet long with blunt ends. Cal
guessed that someone had probably once used it as a fire poker.

The thought gave him an idea. He reached
into one of his pockets and felt the butane lighter he always kept
there. His hope somewhat restored by the feel of the lighter, he
unzipped the parka and started to tear strips off the bottom of his
polypropylene undershirt. Cal wrapped the thin strips around one of
the ends of the stick. Just as he went to light the improvised
torch, the space went completely dark. The bear had reached the
cave’s entrance.

+++

After retrieving his gear from where he and
Lance had staged it, Daniel took off for the rendezvous point.
Daniel was glad that Cal wouldn’t have to deal with Trapper. Maybe
the rest of the insertion would go smoothly.

Chapter 32

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

5:22pm, September 28th

Daniel made good time getting to the
rendezvous point. He’d waited impatiently as the minutes ticked
away and still no Cal. Finally, Daniel made the decision to find
his friend. It wasn’t far, and he figured out a route that would
ensure the two Marines wouldn’t miss each other.

The sniper staged his gear and put on his
skis. He tried to raise Cal on the radio. There was no answer, so
Daniel got his bearings and took off in Cal’s direction.

+++

Cal had managed to light his makeshift torch
and look around the small cave. There wasn’t anything else he could
use as a weapon. The bear had at first searched the trail thinking
that Cal had jumped off the side. It didn’t take the grizzly long
to figure out that his target was right behind him in the little
recess.

Man and beast had traded
swings and shouts of anger. The huge animal couldn’t fit in the
hole and Cal couldn’t deliver any damage with his measly
torch.
Whoever said bears are afraid of
fire was full of shit
, Cal pondered angrily
as he took another ineffective swipe at his opponent.

Despite the claymore mine explosion and
being riddled by Cal’s rounds, the bear didn’t seem to be slowing
down. Occasionally he would step back and lick his wounds, only to
come back at Cal’s hideout with renewed vigor. Cal knew it was only
a matter of time before a claw came far enough in to deal a deadly
blow.

+++

Daniel heard the bear long before he saw it.
He could only hope that Cal was on the delivering end of the wrath
in the beast’s tone. It sounded like something from the pits of
hell.

Following the bear’s cries, Daniel made his
way along the ridge.

+++

The bear smelled something in the wind. It
paused briefly and cocked its ear, straining against the howling
storm to hear anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. The creature
stood back on its hind legs and sniffed the air. The smell was
gone.

It turned back to the cave and gave in to
its primal instinct. The mighty mammal roared deafeningly as it
knew it would soon have its prize.

+++

Daniel had eased himself down onto the
narrow path. It wasn’t hard to pinpoint the location of the bear
from all the noise it was making. Gazing through the white
downfall, Daniel finally saw the brute. It alternated sticking each
arm into the hole almost like it had found a gigantic bee hive
filled with honey.

Daniel knew at once that it was Cal the bear
was after. He could even see a flicker of what he assumed was a
torch coming from the small entry. Daniel couldn’t understand why
Cal hadn’t just killed the grizzly.

The sniper couldn’t get a good shot from his
precarious position, so he went with another option. He started
yelling.

It took the enraged bear a second to hear
him over the blizzard. Even when he did turn around, he couldn’t
pinpoint Daniel’s location. The beast sniffed the air again trying
to find what had now claimed his interest twice.

Daniel watched quietly as
the bear searched. He yelled again and locked eyes with the mighty
animal. It seemed confused as to what it should do.
Go after the new human or stay with the one
cornered in the hole?
While it was
deciding, Daniel watched in amazement as Cal climbed out of the
hole, took the quick steps to the edge of the ravine, jumped into
the swirling wind and disappeared below.

The bear turned just in time to see Cal
jump. Much as a child quickly loses interest in a toy, the bear
forgot about its first prey and set its angry gaze on Daniel.
Daniel watched in amazement as the gigantic fiend deftly maneuvered
its way along the narrow path. The Marine turned and ran back up
the trail. He could only hope that Cal was still alive. Right now
he had to deal with the enormous grizzly.

+++

Cal tried to keep his descent as close to
the ravine wall as possible. He had no idea how far the fall would
be, so he kept trying to grab hold of something. The descent was
painful as he hit branch after branch and then twisted his knee
slamming into a rock only to be thrown down the wall farther. Cal
worried that the drop would never end. As soon as he thought it,
the ground greeted him with a painful thud. He lay there for a full
minute, listening for the bear that he was almost sure had jumped
after him. The animal never came.

Cal rolled over onto his
stomach and pushed himself into a sitting position. He tested his
limbs, amazed that, despite a few bumps and bruises, nothing
appeared to be drastically wrong with him.
I think I just used up another one of my nine
lives
.

He got to his feet and
steadied himself against a large boulder that he’d just missed
coming down on. Cal knew he couldn’t climb back up, so the only way
to go was through the ravine.
Hopefully
Daniel took care of Trapper
, Cal thought as
he started walking.
This is gonna be a
real pain in the ass without my skis
.

+++

Daniel glided along the path until he came
to a small section that looked just big enough for him to lie on.
He skidded to a stop and moved into a prone position on the
snow-covered ledge. It would give him the best stability to fire
his rifle if he was lying on the ground. The bear wasn’t far
behind. Daniel knew he would only have time to fire one shot. With
minimal visibility, the window of opportunity was finite. He could
only see ten feet down the path.

He settled his breathing and searched for
the bear through the rifle site. The mammoth beast broke through
the blinding snow not twelve feet from the prostrate Marine. Daniel
aimed at the animal’s head and fired.

Chapter 33

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

7:35pm, September 28th

“They should be here by now, Top,” Brian
commented.

MSgt Trent tried his radio again. They
hadn’t been able to establish contact with Cal or Daniel for hours.
He’d found out from Gaucho that the two men had gone off to find
Trapper. The normally optimistic Trent was starting to fear the
worst.

“I don’t know if there’s much else we can do
but wait, Doc. I’ll bet they just got distracted catching
snowflakes or something.”

Trent’s attempt at humor fell flat against
Brian’s anxiety. It wasn’t like the two Marines to be late for
anything. Brian was usually the one catching flack for not showing
up fifteen minutes early.

“Anything from Gaucho?” he asked.

“I just talked to him. He and his boys are
waiting for us at the next checkpoint. Says they haven’t
encountered any bad guys.”

Brian nodded and looked back down the
ravine. “Where are you guys?”

+++

Cal was slowly making his way up the ravine.
Not wanting to walk on the possibly booby-trapped trail, Cal’s
travel was further hindered by frequent holes, rocks and bushes
hidden beneath the winter snow. If he had his skis, he would have
glided right over them. But with only the boots on his feet, the
going was slow and painful. He’d aggravated his knee worse than
he’d thought in the fall. Each step brought a shooting pain up his
right leg.

At least he still had his map and compass in
his pocket. For some reason, that thought made him push harder. He
knew where he was going. Now all he had to do was get there. Cal
strained his way up the mountain, thinking of Neil as he went.

+++

The buyers had just arrived at Ponder’s
compound below the peak of Battleship Mountain. They were escorted
in by a cadre of Ponder’s most loyal soldiers. He waited
impatiently behind his desk, sipping from a large glass of Jack
Daniels. He already had a few lines of coke earlier to keep his
energy levels up. It had been a long couple of days. Ponder hoped
the wait would soon be over.

The head buyer was shown into Ponder’s
office. He was a man of average height and build. Ponder knew the
man was from somewhere in the Middle East as evidenced by his
complexion and facial features. He hated dealing with Arabs or
Muslims or whatever they called themselves. They were all beggars
or thieves in his opinion, but in this case they were his meal
ticket.

Nick Ponder extracted himself from his chair
and moved to greet the emissary. “Welcome to Wyoming!”

The smaller man bowed slightly and smiled.
“Thank you, Mr. Ponder. My name is Benjamin,” he said with a slight
British accent.

Ponder knew it couldn’t possibly be the
man’s real name, but he didn’t care. The two men shook hands and
took a seat on opposite sides of the desk. Ponder waived for his
guards to leave the room. He waited until the door was closed
before speaking.

“Did you bring the money?” Ponder asked,
trying not to sound too anxious.

Benjamin raised a black case and set it on
the desk. “Cash denominations in Dollars and Euros, along with gold
and diamonds, as per your instructions. The balance of the purchase
price will be deposited into your overseas accounts once we have
confirmed delivery with my superiors.”

Ponder nodded and inspected the contents of
the briefcase. It was only a small fraction of his fee, but still
tantalizing. He fought the urge to drool as he fingered the small
bag of diamonds.

“When may we see Mr. Patel?” asked
Benjamin.