No sign of enemy activity yet. He started toward the downed bird, the stench of fuel hanging thick in the air.

Admittedly, no operator in his right mind would go in there. But there was always a chance that someone might still be alive, and Mitchell couldn't live with himself if he didn't have a look. Just a quick look, he assured himself.

So he held his breath and broke into a sprint.

The Black Hawk was listing to one side but still lay on its belly in a steaming trench. The tail and main rotors were gone, the landing skids ripped apart and jammed in mangled pieces behind the fuselage. Oddly, the cockpit panels were still illuminated.

As Mitchell neared the bird, waves of heat warmed his face, and he was forced to sneak a breath. The stench made his eyes tear as he stormed into the bay.

The charred crew chief lay in pieces on the floor, along with another of the door gunners. Mitchell nearly gagged as he made it to the pilot, who was barely conscious but alive. The copilot had caught several large pieces of shrapnel in the back of his neck, and Mitchell checked for a carotid pulse. Nothing.

"Captain, I'll get you out."

"I told them the damned zone was too hot."

"It's going to get hotter," Mitchell said as he unbuckled the man.

"Can't move my legs."

Mitchell tugged a penlight from his web gear, directed it into the pilot's lap, his legs showing no signs of injury.

But then he checked the back of the pilot's seat, which had been shredded by shrapnel. As he took the pilot by the shoulders and moved him forward, Mitchell noted bloodstains on the man's lower back. He had a spinal injury, no doubt.

Unable to get a good fireman's carry in the cramped quarters, Mitchell took hold of the pilot's shoulder straps and dragged him out of the cockpit, through the smoking bay, and outside, onto the ground, where he caught his breath.

From the corner of his eye, he caught movement among the twisted and severed trees.

He brought his rifle around and hit the deck.

The perimeter had come alive with the silhouettes of gunmen, shifting in and out from behind the trunks to get a bead on him.

One ricocheting round off the chopper's fuselage could ignite all that fuel that had spilled into the mud.

"Scott, this is Rutang, over."

"Rutang, stand by." Mitchell breathed a curse and braced himself for yet another gunfight.

FIVE

FIVE

BASILAN ISLAND
SULU ARCHIPELAGO, SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES
AUGUST 2002

"I won't lie here and die without a fight," said the pilot at Mitchell's side. He reached for his sidearm. "I'm taking one with me."

"Just hold up," Mitchell said, aiming at the nearest gunman leaning out from behind a tree, barely visible in grainy darkness. "Something's weird. They see us. They should've fired already."

"Ricochet, this is Black Tiger 06, over?"

Mitchell lowered his voice. "Go ahead."