Mike rotated around as he walked. “This is as far as you went?” They’d walked maybe a hundred meters through the tunnel to get to the water pump. It was loud. He had to shout to make himself heard.

“I didn’t want to go any farther while you were still on the other side.”

He gave her a thumbs up and turned forward. For a brief moment, he considered turning the pump off to force someone to come and check on it. But, no. There was no need to draw anyone to him quite yet. Time for that later.

A sizable flexible hose led to the pump from the pool. Another tube fixed to the opposite side of the pump guided to an opening in the wall next to the stairwell going up. Next to the hole in the wall was a closed door. Mike headed straight to the door and opened it.

He closed the door almost as soon as he opened it. “It’s a cistern.” It probably held upward of about a thousand gallons. “A bunch of valves and some pipes leading along the rock upward. I imagine the cistern and the pump keep this place, whatever this place is, supplied with water.”

“That’s a lot of water.” The shouted response was barely loud enough to be heard. “Could be there's a lot of people here.”

“Or a lot of something.” The pump wasn’t helping the almost required hearing loss Mike got from the Army. The noise was deafening. It echoed through the tunnel but had nowhere to go. It was time to get out of there and up the stairs.

Julia looked back and said something.

A simple shrug was all he could say back. He had no idea what she’d said. He walked up to a landing and saw another landing above with a solid metal door at the top. Once through the door, they’d be out of this damn noise. He motioned her up. “I doubt those guys.” He pointed back down the tunnel. “Are going to swim through, but soon enough, they’ll call someone and report we did.”

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She nodded, not willing to shout anymore.

“We’ll go through the door and try to stay ahead of them. Then we’ll look for an opportunity to complete our mission.” He was getting his feet under him again. “Or something,” he muttered to himself. The water tunnel had shaken him, but the old confidence that he could do anything was coming back.

Julia’s head moved slightly up and down, her face not betraying any emotion.

As he reached for the door handle, the door thrust open. It pushed into Mike, knocking the barrel of his AK down. Whoever was on the other side felt the resistance on the door and drove it and Mike hard into the wall.

Three Afghanis stood in the doorway. They weren’t as surprised at the sight of the two Americans as they should have been.

Mike pushed the door off him and tried to raise his AK. The first Afghani jumped into the door, crushing Mike to the wall. Only his head, left shoulder, and left arm were exposed.

The second man rushed Julia. Something unintelligible came out of her mouth. She lifted and fired her weapon. The round hit the wall, ricocheted, and slammed into the man’s shin. He screamed, rolled down the stairs, and fell into her. They both fell the rest of the way down to the landing the Afghani on top of her. Neither moved.

The last Afghani raised the butt of his AK and jumped forward. Mike struggled against the door, but it was too late. He knew what was coming. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and waited for the wooden rifle butt to strike him.

An explosion of stars was next. He tried to stay up, but his body sagged between the wall and the door. The first man let off on the door. His legs and feet weren’t working right. He stumbled down a step and pitched pitch forward. Like an oversized baby, his next two steps faltered, his heels hit the edge of the next step. He fell, his body adding to the pile below. He was out before he hit.