He turned to his partner. “STAY.”
With a final rub along Kane’s neck, he stepped over the sandbags, planted his rifle to his shoulder, and ducked into the shaft. He crawled until he was at the last corner of the crooked corridor. He kept hidden out of sight, peeking around the bend with his rifle extended. He quickly dowsed his headlamp and flipped the scope to night-vision mode. With his eye to the scope, he waited.
The first Spetsnaz appeared, peeking out from the straight passageway, bathed in the moonlight flowing from the open door behind him.
Tucker laid the crosshairs between the man’s eyes and squeezed the trigger. The blast stung his ears. He didn’t need to see the man crumple to know he was successful.
Tucker ducked away and retreated as the bullets peppered down the shaft, likely fired blindly by the second soldier in line. He knew the enemy dared not lob or fire a grenade into such a confined space, or it risked collapsing the very tunnel they had come to find and ruin any chances of reaching the prize. As far as they knew, this was the only way inside.
Still, he never trusted the enemy to think logically.
Especially with one of their comrades dead.
So he fled on his hands and knees.
If nothing else, the ambush would give the others pause, force them to move slowly, but it wouldn’t last long.
He reached the end of the tunnel, regained his feet, and hopped over the first sandbag wall. Crouching down, he ruffled Kane’s neck and did a quick inspection of the gas can and flare. Satisfied, he headed back over the series of sandbag fences.
As he hopped over the last one, a booming cry echoed from the far side of the Cathedral.
It was Christopher, calling from the mouth of the shotgun tunnels across the way.
“Tucker . . . watch out!”
40
March 22, 12:18 A.M.
Groot Karas Mountains, Namibia
Kane let out a deep snarl, leaped to his feet, and took off across the Cathedral floor, heading in Christopher’s direction. For the shepherd to break his last command to stay could only mean one thing.
An immediate and real danger.
Tucker stared down the length of the dark Cathedral.
At the other end, a star glowed, marking Christopher’s headlamp.
Between here and there lay a gulf of darkness. Kane vanished into it. Tucker lifted his rifle’s scope and used its night-vision capabilities to pierce the blackness. Out there, he watched a figure dashing between the stalagmites. Kane rushed at full sprint toward the shape. The jittering flight of the other was difficult to track through the forest of tall rock.
Then the shape cleared a stalagmite, her face perfectly caught by the scope for the briefest instant—then gone as she dodged away, doing her best to stay in cover, knowing he was armed.
Anya.
Free.
How?
He caught another brief glimpse, watched her lift an arm, the flash of gunmetal in her hand, a revolver, the Smith & Wesson he had given to Bukolov.
Then gone again.
New movement to the left.
Kane.
Then he vanished, too.
Next came the gunfire.
Three shots in the dark, each muzzle flash an incendiary burst through his scope—followed by a strangled yelp that tore his heart out.
He watched a small shape skid across the floor, back into the glow of his headlamp, and come to a stop.
Kane.
Anya lunged out of the darkness, vaulted over the body, and came running straight at him, firing. Her first shot went wide. He shot back. Rock blasted behind her, his aim thrown off by the sight of Kane on the ground.
Undeterred, she fired again.
He felt a hammer blow on his hip that sent him spinning, pitching backward over the sandbags. He lost the rifle. He rolled, tried to rise to his knees, and reached for the weapon.
“Stop!” Anya shouted.
She was standing at the sandbag wall. The revolver was pointed at Tucker’s head, only three feet away. He ignored her and lunged for his rifle. She pulled the trigger. He heard the click. Nothing else. He had counted out her five shots, the limit of that Smith & Wesson model he had given Bukolov.
Not the usual six-shooter, Anya.
He grabbed the rifle, swinging it up—but too slowly, thinking he had the upper hand. He turned in time to see the revolver flying at his face, catching him across the bridge of the nose, momentarily blinding him with a flash of pain.
She threw herself over the sandbags and bowled into him.
They went down, her on top.
Tucker saw a glint of a black blade—one of the old Boer bayonets he had spotted when he first descended into the cave. She drove it in a sideswipe for his throat. Both as defense and offense, he head-butted her, his forehead striking her nose. The plunging bayonet struck the stone behind his head instead of his throat.
He rolled her, straddling her. He clamped her wrist and twisted until she screamed.
The bayonet dropped.
He snatched it and held the point to her throat.
She stared up, showing no fear.
Not of death, certainly not of him.
From their long journey together, she knew he couldn’t kill in cold blood—no matter how much he wanted to.
A flick of her gaze was the only warning.
A shadow hurdled the sandbags behind him. The heavy weight struck his back, catching him by surprise and slamming him down atop Anya.
The shape tumbled off his shoulders and gained his four legs, wobbly, panting, dazed. Kane’s lips curled in fury, his eyes fixed to his target. Even barely moving, his partner had come to his rescue, never giving up.
Tucker stared down at Anya.
Blood bubbled up around the bayonet plunged through her throat. When Kane had struck, with the sharp point poised under her chin, their combined weight had driven the blade home.
Her mouth opened and closed, her eyes stared in disbelief and pain.
“Tucker!” Christopher shouted again, sounding like he was running toward him.
“I’m okay! Go back with Bukolov!”
Tucker climbed off Anya, watching the pool of blood spread.
She no longer breathed; her eyes stared glassily upward.
Dead.
12:36 A.M.
He knelt and called Kane over to his side. The shepherd limped over with a soft whine and pressed himself against Tucker’s chest. He ran his hands along Kane’s belly but felt no blood. As he worked his fingers over the vest, the dog let out a wincing yelp.
“You’re okay, buddy.”
As gently as he could, he pried the flattened .38-caliber round from the Kevlar and tossed it away. He followed it with a hug.
Tucker then took inventory of his own damage. Anya had clipped him with her last shot, tearing the flesh of his upper thigh. Blood soaked his pant leg, and the pain was coming on, but it was manageable for now. A few inches to the center and the high-powered .44 round would have shattered his hip, crippling him.