Runaway Heart by Harper Logan

Author:Harper Logan [Logan, Harper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

12

Mark

Machine gun fire rang out through the smoke. The truck had turned over. I was trapped inside.

I could smell the smoke as much as I could see it, acrid, burning, turning the world gray. And heat, immense heat. There was a fire somewhere close to me. I just couldn’t see where through the smoke.

And suddenly something was pulling me backwards, dragging me across the ground. Oh God, my back hurt, like it was on fire itself. Why was I—

“Lieutenant Riordan? Sir? Are you alright?”

Hernandez’s eyes swam into view and as soon as I saw them, everything snapped into focus. We’d been hit. Our convoy had been traveling through a remote pass in the mountains, an area we were sure we’d cleared the day before. But we must have missed something. An IED maybe.

It didn’t matter now. What mattered was finding the rest of my men. Hernandez helped me drag myself to my feet and survey the scene. Christ, it was carnage. The forward truck was in flames, the one I’d been in had flipped upside down, and the third, where Hernandez had been riding, was on its side.

My heart broke when I thought of the men in the first vehicle. Nothing but a burned out shell remained. But there wasn’t time to mourn them now. As men crawled out of the third truck, I threw myself forward toward my own. There were three more men in there.

The smoke felt thick enough to touch, like I should be able to part it with a knife, as I lurched back to the vehicle. Shit. I could hear groans. Polakowski and Freeman in the back. I couldn’t even see them. Something had crushed the body of the truck down around them, trapping them inside. There had to be a way to get them out. Maybe with more men.

I turned to Sergeant Liu up front. He’d been driving and was, thank God, more accessible. His eyes were closed but he was groaning as I approached on all fours, trying to keep myself low and not breathe in too much of the smoke.

“Liu, Liu, can you hear me?”

Liu’s eyes flickered open, dazed. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, hoping the pressure would help him focus, before I realized his arm was crunched against the ground at an unnatural angle. God, no wonder he was groaning.

“Liu, I’m going to get you out of here, I just need you to stay with me.”

“Sir, is that you?” Liu’s brow furrowed as he tried to focus on me. “Oh Christ, sir, it hurts. Have we been hit? Oh fuck.”

“It’s okay, I’m going to get you out. Just stay with me.”

“Sir, you’ve got to back up, it’s not safe.” I heard Hernandez calling behind me, but I ignored him. I could get Liu out, if I could just reach in and—

“Sir, we’ve got to move, the fire could—”

“Not now, Hernandez,” I shouted, and then put him out of my mind. I turned back to Liu, his crumpled form pushed up against what had been the roof of the vehicle, now lying against the ground.

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