Page 32 of Lucky Charm

The world exploded.

Chapter Six

November 7, 2019

Day Three

Hunt fell over Doc, taking her to the ground and protecting her as best he could. He felt more than heard her silent oomph, but she didn’t squirm or cry out.

“RPGs!” Tommy ducked from the cave entrance to a side wall. “It hit farther down. Which means they know we’re here, but they don’t know where.”

“Lucky shot?” Baxter shifted to the door to monitor the terrain with Tommy.

Hunt helped Cait to stand and pulled her close. “Limited trajectory options based on where we parked the SUVs. They may be guessing, but they can get close using simple math and a search grid.”

Cait wiped the dirt off her clothes with shaky hands. “Holy Christ. Will someone kill these guys please? Before they manage to blow up their own weapon’s cache.”

Hunt pulled her to her feet.

K-Rock laughed outright. “Sounds like a plan, Doc. Not sure they know it’s here, though.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be here either,” she pronounced, not stable on her feet in any way.

Quaid popped in the entrance. “Everyone okay?”

“Yeah.” Carter dusted off his gear. Dirt and a bit of rock had fallen from the ceiling.

“I found a trail away from these fuckheads,” Quaid reported. “If the dips in this godforsaken hillside can be believed, it’s another goat trail.”

Hunt shifted closer to anchor Cait. “Where?”

Doogie pulled the region map from his pack, studying the terrain. The man carried a paper version wherever they went. Quaid pointed to the spot on the map. “I followed it for a bit. It’s a challenge, but it mostly goes the way we need to go. Snow is going to make any direction we go dangerous.”

“We haven’t gone wrong yet by following the goats.” Baxter repositioned his gear. “I vote for the goat.”

“I second that. No way to retrace our steps without a firefight,” K-Rock added.

Doogie closed the map after each man looked. “We have no idea where they are. HQ must be preparing to look for us now that the storm has cleared. We stand a greater chance of evading going up that trail and around. Storm would have mostly stopped them from the same action.”

“Oxygen’s less, and Doc’s going to need carried. Let’s try to contact Overwatch and see what we’ve got.” Hunt threw that fact into the brainstorming mix.

Quaid stepped forward. “I’ll carry her.”

Carter nodded. “The way things are going, I should keep my hands on my med kit.”

“I vote for the goat, too.” Her attempt at humor with her shaky voice told him she’d calmed some.Hunt gazed into her tired eyes, trying to express pride in her that he couldn’t say outright.

She smiled and shrugged. “Animals have infallible instincts. Wouldn’t hurt to trust that.”

Hunt was silent for a minute. There was no such thing as a fairy god-superspy that could pull a helicopter out of his ass. That only happened in James Bond movies and bad spec ops novels. And Doc had asked him to blow some shit up. “Let’s move.”

“Let’s clear,” Doogie ordered. His words caused a flurry of preparation.

Hunt helped Cait get positioned on Quaid’s back, then the rest of the men settled into their usual spots.

“Two klicks, then we’ll trade off.” Hunt forced himself to let go of the protective need to have Cait on his back. His back and ribs would thank him later.

Another explosion had him reaching for Doc, covering her from the fallout. His arm went around Quaid to keep him on his feet. Doc was sandwiched between the two of them, gulping air.