To the squad leader this pronouncement came as a shock, much like the one a father experiences when his son stands up to the old man for the first time. Gandulf, on the other hand, was pleased. Finally! he said to himself, the lad is growing a backbone.

“Whoever it is doesn’t have a backup, at least not close,” Nathan concluded.

“But they sure have a lot of radio antennas on that Humvee,” the squad leader added.

Nathan shrugged and waved his hand as if he were wiping an imaginary blackboard. “Be that as it may, they’re out here looking for someone, possibly us. Why else would they be creeping along the road in blackout drive scanning the hills with a night vision device?”

Under ordinary circumstances the squad leader would have made a wisecrack. But their miserable plight, which seemed to be growing worse by the day, and Gandulf’s hard gaze kept his tongue in check.

Turning to Gandulf, Nathan drew in a deep breath. “At the moment, there’s only one thing that makes sense to me, Sergeant Gandulf. And unless you can come up with a compelling reason not to, I’m going to go down there and see what that person wants.”

Gandulf merely nodded. “We’ll cover you from here, sir.”

Having expected some sort of argument or at least some sage advice, Nathan hesitated. When he figured that his battle-hardened platoon sergeant didn’t have anything in his bag of tricks that could be of help, Nathan drew himself up and prepared himself for what was to be his next, and possibly his last, major command decision.

The sound of rocks cascading down the hill alerted Nancy to the fact that she was not alone. Snapping her head up, her eyes darted about, searching the darkness in the direction that the sound was coming from. Crouching low, she threw herself up against the rock. When the sound of footfalls ceased, she pushed herself away from the rock and continued to look about.

“Hold it right there,” a low, menacing voice commanded. From where she stood, Nancy could not detect a hint of fear or hesitation in the voice that came at her from out of the darkness. Perhaps these telltale traits of human nature were being filtered out by her own fears, for Nathan Dixon, standing awkwardly on the side of the hill with his rifle held at the ready, was anything but comfortable with this particular situation.

Moving away from the lee of the rock, Nancy drew herself erect, cleared her throat, and called out into the darkness. “I am Lieutenant Colonel Kozak. Advance and be recognized.”

The familiar name and the feminine voice dissipated some, but not all of the tension Nathan felt. Emboldened, he responded with his own challenge. Though it seemed a bit Hollywoodish, he couldn’t think of anything better. “Are you friend or foe?”