“There’s a beep again—my sat phone. All I hear is ABORT. I pretend there’s static and flip off the phone. We all realize there’s been a breach, the Iranian soldiers know we’re here, but we agree we’re not going to let Hashem be taken. We run all out, we’re only fifty yards away, but it’s tough going. The soldiers see us and fire, their bullets kicking up dirt and rocks all around us. We dive for cover and fire back, trying to keep the soldiers pinned back to give Hashem a chance to get to us. Bullets ricochet off the rocks around us, and the noise of the automatic weapons is deafening. It’s hard to breathe the dust is so thick.

“Hashem is close, he’s nearly to us when he’s hit and he falls. Mike’s closest. He runs to him, throws him over his shoulder while the three of us cover them, changing magazines and firing again and again, kicking up air full of dirt and flying shards of rock. Mike runs back through a narrow gully toward the plateau, and we follow, firing as we run. I run to Mike and try to help stanch the horrible wound in Hashem’s chest. I wonder why he wasn’t shot in the back since he was running away from them. I suppose he must have turned to see how far back they were, and a soldier nailed him. He’s heaving, blood bubbling out of his mouth, but he’s desperately trying to talk, and Mike and I both lean closer. But I know it’s no good. I hear Andi yelling at me and I have to leave Mike and scramble up to higher ground to join them, and we take cover behind a mess of boulders until we can see the first of the soldiers follow us into the narrow gully single file. We fire and several fall. They can’t reach us that way. They back off.

“I mold Semtex, flatten it into a crevice of a rock, set a three-minute timer, and let it roll down into the gully. I see Mike running with Hashem over his shoulder, and I see Higgs and Andi, their faces smeared with dirt, their eyes hard and clear, and we run all out after Mike. Bullets slam into a boulder next to me, close, too close. I feel a rock chip strike my arm, and I stumble. I hear the explosion—hear screams and shouts and I know the Semtex has done its job. Andi helps me up and we keep running, bent nearly double. The helicopter sounds closer, but it’s getting dark, and I’m afraid they might have trouble seeing us. Mike yells our man is dead but he’s not going to leave him and Higgs yells, ‘RPG!’