Into the Night Read Free Page A

cover.
    Due west.
    Scratchy was shouting yet again, and this time Muldoon caught the words he'd hoped to hear.
    Landmines.
    But he didn't slow as another bomb hit, again shaking the ground. He vaulted over an outcropping of rocks—and almost directly into Cosmo's and Silverman's open arms.
    They half carried, half dragged both him and the reporter to safety behind yet another ridge of rock, while somewhere nearby Wildcard thumbed a switch.
    Boom!
    It sounded convincingly like a weight-triggered land mine, but it was quickly drowned out by the din of more bombs falling.
    Scratchy apparently had some amount of common sense, because he raced after the last of his al-Qaeda buddies.
    There was no time for Muldoon's knee to still hurt like hell, but it did. God, it felt like it was the size of a watermelon, like it was starting to swell. But that was absurd. A banged funny bone didn't swell. You hit it, you writhe with pain and you scream for two or three minutes, and then life goes on. But try as he might, he couldn't seem to get past the writhing part.
    He pulled himself to his feet, ridding himself of the extra clothes, refusing to consider the possibility that he'd actually injured himself in that fake fall. So what if it hurt? So what if it swelled? He was a SEAL. He'd worked through pain plenty of times before.
    "Get that thing off of him," he ordered Silverman, who was untying the burqa-covered reporter.
    "Sir!" It was Jenk, with the radio. "It's 0337, and the F-l 8s are still on course. The helo's picking us up four clicks down the trail, but we've got to hustle to get there before the real bombs start falling."
    "Let's go," Muldoon ordered.
    "Whoa," Silverman said. "The French guy's a girl."
    "Americans," the reporter spat in heavily accented English. She was indeed a woman. "I should have known."
    "Are you all right, ma'am?" Muldoon asked her.
    Her hair was dyed a ridiculously fake-looking shade of black, and the glare she gave him was venomous. "Do you know how long it took me to arrange an interview with Abdul Mullah Zeeshan? And you have to go and rescue me. Thanks a lot, Captain, but no thanks. I'm going to that cave."
    It would have been funny, the way she started marching back toward the trail, if only they hadn't been on such a tight deadline. If only his knee hadn't felt as if it were about to explode, and the only thing keeping it in one piece was his now too tight pants. If only it wasn't hurting so much that a river of cold sweat poured down his back with every other step he took.
    "In about fifteen minutes, that cave is going to be destroyed," Muldoon told the young woman.
    "Bullshit," she countered, with the kind of withering glance that only European women could deliver with such authority. "Your own government has issued statements admitting that these caves are bombproof."
    "They were lying," he said. "It's called misinformation. They wanted Osama to feel nice and safe right where he was."
    She said something in French filled with accusations, and turned and ran. Up the trail. Toward the cave.
    And wasn't that just what he needed?
    She was small and fast, but Muldoon had her tackled in fewer than five steps. His knee was on fire, but he managed to land on his left side, keeping his leg from connecting with the ground as he took her down. It hurt, but it was nothing like it could've been—until, as she flailed harder, trying to get free, she managed to kick him.
    Whammo .
    Right in the knee.
    "Shit!" It was remarkable. Part of him watched from above, disassociated and completely dispassionate, as he damn near retched from the pain.
    Don't let her get away!
    He held her tightly, even managing to cover her as one of the last of the bombs that he'd ordered exploded, spraying them with more dirt. She was screaming about something, but he couldn't understand. She might as well have been speaking Martian. All he could do was cover her mouth, hope she didn't bite him too hard, and hang the hell on.
    And then