The Bargain

Part VIII

Location: Afghanistan, Ghazni Province 2011

Lara walked around the back alleyways of the small Afghan village. They'd arrived early that morning but were yet to find anything. Lara looked over her shoulder to where she knew Dalton was placed on the top of a building. It was quicker with the two of them searching but Lara knew they'd need to regroup in a moment, pick a new area before Dalton lost sight of them in his scope. Just as the thought passed through her mind her radio crackled to life.

"Dalton to Grey," Dalton's voice crackled through. He was only ever professional over the radio. "Dalton to Grey, over."

"Grey to Dalton. Making my way back, area clear. Over,"

"Copy, over,"

She found Mac and Dalton not far from where they'd first split, about a street over from the busy market square.

"You took your time," Dalton told her. Lara just rolled her eyes.

"Did you find anything?" Mac asked.

"No, where are we searching next?"

"Man, can we just stop this search, please?" Dalton asked. "You've both been looking all day and haven't found one single IED all day."

"I thought that was a good thing," Mac quibbed as he and Lara cross referenced their maps of the area, marking off the areas they'd already checked.

"Not when there are hostiles running all over the place with itchy trigger fingers, and trust me they do itch,"

Lara looked at Mac trying not to smile. Mac just raised his eyebrows at Dalton. The man got bored so easily.

"So can we just please hit the road, Nostra-dumbass?"

"What about my say in it?" Lara asked pointedly.

"You'll do whatever Mac says," Dalton told her. "That's what makes the two of you so darn annoying, you're always on the same damn page."

"We can leave once we're sure this place is clear," Mac responded looking up from the map. "Satellite imagery says there's a lot of suspicious activity in the area."

"Everything about this place is suspicious,"

"What about this sector?" Lara asked Mac, leaning over him. "Dalton, is this building here any good for you?"

"Snakebite One One, this is Snakebite One Zero Three, over," Command cut in over the radio.

"This is Snakebite One One, over," Dalton responded.

"What's your status, over,"

Dalton looked over at Lara and Mac. The answer that they had was the opposite to the one Jack wanted to give.

"We just need one more hour," Mac told the old man.

"Negative on the devices, Zero Three," Jack responded, looking right at them. "The A.O. appears to be clear, over,"

"Good. Copy. Return to base. Over," Command told them.

"Roger, over," Jack said, as the radio went silent. Lara could feel the tension between the two boys.

"You heard him slick," Jack told him. "Orders are orders. Let's go."

"Last time I didn't follow my gut, someone died. There's a bomb here, I can feel it. And if we don't find it, someone else will, like another American soldier or an innocent or a child," Mac told him, folding up the map.

"Come on Dalton," Lara said. "There's two more sections and two of us. We might be able to get it done in thirty minutes."

"We've covered every inch of this armpit and ain't found diddly. Let's bounce," Jack told them as Mac grabbed Lara and the two began to walk away.

"I ain't trying to spend my last 32 days before being discharged in the stockade because my annoying EOD techs would rather follow a hunch than follow orders," Jack called to their retreating backs. "Sons of a bitch."

Lara walked beside Mac. The section they hadn't checked yet. It was closer to the market place and the houses were built up causing any number of side streets and dead ends.

"Might I suggest we don't divide and conquer? It'll take longer but..." Lara trailed off as Mac's attention locked onto a man collecting firewood. His body language suggested fear but he wasn't looking at them. His eyes, the direction of his body, was all pointing to a set of large cans. Mac had already pieced this together and as he approached the man hurried off, his eyes flashing at Lara... or just behind. Mac moved the cans and bent down over the bomb as Lara turned around in time for a man dressed in black to grab her. One of his three friends had a rifle aimed at her.

"Mac!" Lara said, as one of the men reached down to grab him.

"Damn it, Dalton, just give me a second," Mac said as he was forced to his feet and pushed against the wall beside the bomb, rifle pointed at him.

The men shouted in Arabic, Lara's heart was in her throat, the man's grip on her arm painful. In her fear, Lara became aware that any movement from her or Mac would get them killed. The only reason they weren't yet dead... Lara hoped it had something to do with the bomb.

Lara heard the gunshots. Her eyes squeezing shut on reflex. The man holding her fell to the ground, pulling Lara after him. It took her a moment to realise she wasn't shot, and her captor had lost his grip on her.

"Lara?" Mac said as he reached down to help her up. She let him. "You alright?"

She only nodded, rolling back her shoulder trying to relieve the tension in her body.

"Did you just take out four guys with two bullets?" Mac said into his radio. Lara followed his line of sight to where she could make out Jack leaning over his rifle in a second floor window.

"Yeah, I'm trying to conserve ammo," Dalton joked before his tone went serious. "Now, we need to get on the same page, kids, and I mean right now. That is if you want to keep breathing. Next time, you wait for me to take my position before you go scampering off like that, you hear me?"

"I,uh, I didn't think you were coming with us," Mac told the old man. "Thanks."

"Yeah, you're welcome. To be honest I don't think I have the patience to break in another EOD nerd. Man it's a whip. And losing two in one day? That'll just look bad on the record," Dalton told them. "Now, hurry up. Disarm that damn thing."

"Thank's Jack," Lara muttered into her radio as she checked the rest of the street giving Mac space to work.