We pushed through the village, never letting our guard down for a second no matter how peaceful the old man said the place was. As we neared the edge of town, and the landscape turned from buildings back to dirt and sand, the back of my neck prickled.
Death awaits.
“High alert, guys,” I warned all the men in my vehicle. “You see something, anything at all, you speak up loud and clear.”
The standard operating procedure for IED detection was anything but standard. After all, there was no surefire way to prevent your murder if some psycho was determined to kill you, right? But we had a list of things to look for: objects on the roadside, exposed wires, cinderblocks, dead animals—even dead humans.
Outside of town, our eyes searched for piles of dirt, potholes filled over, and cracks in the shoddy pavement. An IED could really be hidden anywhere.
“Incoming vehicle,” Burch said.
My face whipped forward. “Stop the car.”
Vehicle-borne IEDs were a whole different thing altogether, and the IJS was definitely not above letting their own die to take out a few of us. Command would have to make a very quick decision to roll the dice on a suicide bomber or blow up innocent civilians if they missed our signals to halt.
Unfortunately, my sixth sense knew the difference between the good guys and the bad—and command often didn’t listen to me. And people wondered why I didn’t sleep much.
I reached for my radio as Burch rolled to a stop. “Mongoose, this is Punisher One. We have a vehicle inbound.” I strained my eyes. “Looks to be a large truck or SUV.” It was too far for me to get a reading on who was inside it. “Should we fire warning shots?”
“Dear Marine Corps,” a man’s voice boomed over the radio. “That would be a Claymore vehicle. Please don’t blow it up.” The guy sounded like Huffman.
Burch and I looked at each other.
Headley’s voice came over the radio. “Claymore, what are you doing on our frequency?”
“Lucky guess,” the man answered.
“Fury gave Claymore our frequency channels,” I said to my guys. “She was flirting with Leake right before we pulled out.”
“That bitch is good.” Earp laughed and shook his head.
“I don’t think you should call her a bitch,” Chaz said, the first words he’d uttered since we’d loaded up.
Earp reached over and knocked on his helmet. “Think I need a lesson in manners, Sarge?”
Chaz nodded. “I kinda do.”
“Might as well save your breath, McKenna. That’s a losing war right there,” Burch said.
The radio beeped again. “Kane, flash your lights so the Marines don’t fire an RPG into your grill,” Huffman said.
The SUV speeding toward us flashed its lights. I relaxed a little. In my rearview mirror, I saw the passenger-side door of the third Humvee fly open and Headley angle out of it. He stormed back past the supply truck to Claymore’s vehicle and went out of my view when he crossed over to the driver’s side.
“Somebody’s getting an ass chewing,” I said.
Burch was watching in his mirror too. “I really want to go back there and watch.”
Claymore’s other black SUV, one that was noticeably cleaner and showing zero field damage, slowed as it passed by us. Its windows were completely opaque, hiding whoever was inside. A strange energy seemed to hum around it, and I suddenly felt like a planet passing too close to a black hole.
It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
“Warren?” Burch’s voice startled me.
“Huh?”
“I said, at least we know the road ahead is somewhat clear.”
“Uh-huh.” I turned all the way around in my seat to watch the SUV.
“What is it?” Chaz asked.
“Nothing,” I lied. “Just trying to see who’s in that thing.”
“Is that tint street legal?” Burch asked.
Earp chuckled. “Who’s going to pull them over? The Iraqi Highway Patrol?”
“Shut up, Earp,” Burch said.
“It looks like Mongoose is about to pull that Claymore guy through the window of the driver’s door!” Tabor called down from the turret.
Burch leaned out his window to see.
I pulled him back inside. “Eyes ahead. We’ve still got a job to do, and it’s none of our business.” But I smiled because we could hear the captain yelling.
“He’s wasting his time. Claymore doesn’t have to do anything he says,” Earp said.
“And we need them,” I added. “They’ve been where we’re going and have a shared interest. Not to mention, we don’t have enough bodies for a rescue mission.”
A couple of minutes passed before my radio beeped again. “Punisher One, this is Mongoose. We’re oscar mike. For any other vehicles we may encounter, Hammerhead says we are to stop and fire warning shots. Over.”
“Roger that. Over.” I looked at Burch. “Let’s go.”