Eyes briefly meeting, Mike and Tom dropped to the ground. Behind Tom Truck Two was a burning wreck pushed back by the explosion. The hood was gone, and so was Bruce. There was no sign of the man. He was just gone. The truck’s hood could have taken him with it. Flame rose from the engine block. There was no worry about the fuel tank exploding. The RPG rocket had taken care of that. The truck's windshield was still in place. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface as smoke poured from all four blown-out windows. Mike took one last look at the burning truck. Before the attack there’d been no sight of Maheem. Now, Mike guessed, there never would be. If Maheem was in the truck, there was no helping him.

AK fire started haphazardly. Tom fired two rounds from his rifle to the front right. Mike squirmed closer to the side of his truck. He didn’t try to look over the hood to see where the enemy fire came from. Tom rolled several times to the left. A line of bullets struck the ground sending dirt and gravel into the air where he’d been.

The machine gun went after Tom again. He continued to roll. AK-47 rounds started to impact the truck. Reaching up into the cab Mike pulled out his rifle. The machine gun started hammering the windshield and engine compartment. Glass from the windshield splintered and shattered, a piece cut his hand.

“Get to the wadi!” Mike lifted the barrel of his M-4 over the hood of the truck and fired off five quick rounds then ran.

The wadi was close. Stooped over, it was a race for the low ground. Enemy fire picked up. The AKs from the ambush site behind them sounded indistinguishable from one long burst of rifle fire. Several bullets snapped past his head. He ducked lower. An RPG fired again, and for a second time, it missed their truck. The rocket exploded about 100 meters away into a mound of dirt and rock. The rifle fire intensified. Mike dove for the ground and low crawled as fast as his knees and elbows could push him. Heart racing he threw himself over the edge of the wadi and tumbled down crashing into the sand and earth below. The fall felt like forever but was only about ten feet. A pained groan pushed out of his chest. He tried to roll when he hit and brace himself for the impact, but it still hurt like hell.

Immediately on his feet, Mike watched Al and Julia tumble into the wadi, nearly knocking him over. With a hand under each of their arms, Mike lifted and propelled them in the direction they had driven from.

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“Go.” He pointed south down the wadi. “Run.”

Where was Tom?

An RPG fired from the ambush site, and immediately an explosion lit up the road sending a ball of flame and smoke into the air.

The second gunner was the better shot. And their second truck was gone. Pieces of truck and remnants of their supplies rained down, littering the ground above him and in the wadi. They were in it now.

Propelling himself on a boulder next to the wall he looked over the edge of the wadi. The AK's rate of fire slacked off. The ambushers now fired single shots in the hope their bullets would find a target peeking over the edge of the wadi. Mike ducked behind the wadi's dirt wall. Rifle rounds whizzed overhead. The Afghanis waited for one of Mike’s group to fire back so their AKs could concentrate on that rifle. The machine gun searched the area. His indiscriminate shooting harmlessly pummeled the back of the wadi. The gunner didn’t know where they were. He was hoping to get lucky. Between machine gun bursts, he heard someone shouting in Pashtun. That wasn't good. The bad guys were preparing to clear the kill zone and come after them.

Up ahead, Julia and Al turned the corner of the meandering wadi. Mike ran behind them, turning the corner. He barely avoided running into the two of them. Tom was on a knee rifle facing the corner they’d run around.

They were all breathing hard, trying to catch their breath. Julia looked close to panic.

“What happened?” She whispered. Her breathing was short and shallow.

Tom peeked around the corner. “Our flat tire must have messed up their ambush. One of the RPG gunners got antsy, couldn’t wait, and fired off a round over your truck. It was on after that.”

Mike slapped Tom on the back. “What do you think? Two RPG gunners, a machine gun crew, we’ll call that another two people, and there was so much rifle fire, I’m guessing ten or so AKs. We’ll call it a squad.”

“Agreed.” Tom looked back and winked. “That was close.”

“Yep.” Mike glanced at Al. He was speaking to Julia in a low voice.

Mike nodded. “It sounded like the guy in charge was getting them ready to move on us.” He turned to Tom. “Stay here and cover us. Count to ten, then move. I’ll cover you. We’ll leapfrog back.”

“Roger that.” Tom’s eyes focused on the way they’d come from.

Mike faced Al and Julia. “Run as hard as you can till you get to the third bend in the wadi. However far that is from here, we’ll meet you there.”

Al nodded and grabbed Julia’s wrist, pulling her along. Mike watched them go. They were both unarmed. Mike let a long breath escape. At least everyone was in one piece. Everyone in the Wadi.

Tom fired.

Mike jerked his head around.

“One down. Get moving.”

“Moving.” Mike turned and ran.