He weaved around trees, ducked under branches, and brute-forced his way through the brush, single-mindedly focused on catching a glimpse of the helicopter through the thick forest. Once Felix spotted the helicopter, he would halt the team and unleash a storm of gunfire. Two full magazines before moving forward to assess the situation. The rotor pitch suddenly deepened, meaning one thing. Someone on the team knew how to fly a helicopter!

He was about to give the order to fire blindly ahead of them when his satellite phone buzzed.

About fucking time!

He slowed to remove the phone from his vest, the other two operatives burning past him.

“Hold up!” he yelled before stopping to accept the phone call.

Automatic gunfire ripped through the trees, a single short burst at first, passing well overhead. He darted to the right and dived behind a thick tree trunk, barely escaping the longer bursts that followed—which struck at waist height. When the shooting stopped for a few seconds, he peeked around the tree with his rifle and fired on full automatic until the magazine ran dry. None of his bullets hit their mark. A stiff gust of dusty air washed through the foliage, indicating that the helicopter had already taken off.

Felix searched the ground next to him for the satellite phone. He’d dropped it when he slammed into the tree. His hand bumped into it next to his foot. He snatched it up and put it to his ear. “This is Felix!”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re at the ambush site.”

“They got away,” said Felix.

“Not for long. We managed to get a few of our friendlies on the second helicopter. Head back to the ambush site and wait for instructions.”

The call disconnected, and he threw the phone to the ground.

“Valerie. Oksana. What’s your status?” he said over the net.

No response—and he had no intention of breaking cover to check on them visually. He was still well in range of the M249 LMG. A few seconds later, he risked a look, seeing one of them on the ground, arms and legs splayed in a manner that strongly suggested they wouldn’t be getting back up. Ever.

Screw it. Felix launched to his feet and sprinted for the tree next to Oksana, making it halfway before tripping on a pair of legs hidden by the brush. He landed face-to-face with Valerie, the young operative’s lifeless eyes competing for Felix’s attention with the small bullet hole an inch to the side of the man’s nose.

Two KIA in the blink of an eye. He’d known this would be a shit show the moment he saw the mission packet—but you didn’t turn down work when Yuri Pichugin offered it. Once you started working for his organization, you were either on his payroll or you were dead.

CHAPTER 53

CHAPTER 53