Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

LXXXIV

Because of the heat, Cook had made a cold dinner, consisting of quiches lorraine, roast beef, various and varied salads, and fruit.

I joined Lin, who had prepared a plate for me, cutting the two slices of roast into small, easy-to-eat pieces, since my left arm was in a sling and I would have to wait for Erk to have permission to Heal to use it again.

I hadn't realized how hungry I was and devoured everything Lin gave me. I realized that neither of us had swallowed more than a little water since breakfast. Damn, it felt like an eternity earlier.

Lin kindly waited until we were all sated before asking us for our own debrief, Erk having overlooked a number of things.

We did not tell everything, there were things that Katja Haïmalin-Ryan should not know, or that my comrades should not know. Tito spoke of his terror and horror in the pit, as well as his fear of hurting the dead, and no one laughed. For Kitty, it was her fear for her adopted big brother Tito and having to die if things went wrong.

- Precisely, I would like to know why it turned out so badly.

I let Quenotte recount what had happened in the village.

- Yes, very well, but how did they know that you were the same ones who had killed their comrades?

Good question, indeed. We racked our brains a bit and then something obvious dawned on me. There was no reason that a guy as terrifying as the Pashtun didn't have modern equipment too.

- I think he did just like us, he used satellites, modern means of telecoms, since he managed to scramble our comms.
- You're right, Tudic, said Tito, just because he and his men dress in the traditional way, we tend to underestimate his technological level.
- A fine example of psychological warfare, Lin said thoughtfully. He got us, sideways. And yet, I was trained to see these kinds of subtleties. Shit. This is not the only weird point in your story.
- Weird, how? I asked.
- How did you blow up a truck with normal bullets? It does not explode like that! And why only one guy... no, why did their scout decide to reveal himself and pounce on Erik, too? Why did this hálfviti throw himself into the fray with a knife?
- Lin, wait, what worries me the most, said Quenotte, is that they were able to follow us from the village.
- We settled that with the satellites, I think.
- But that's not enough, Lin, how did he get access? How could he identify and follow us?
- Calm down, Quenotte, said my Captain. Listen to me carefully.

Lin was very focused on Quenotte, who was shaking. The panic was not far off. I must say that apart from the night attack, where we had fought together, with almost infinite reserves of ammunition and that, thanks to Kris and Erk, we had done rather well, it was our first engagement as a patrol, in enemy territory, and with limited ammunition and the prospect, as I had half-jokingly told Lin, of having to slit our own throats so as not to give Durrani hostages against Lin.

I felt something rise in me, I tried to hold it back, but I felt like I was in a pool that was filling up, with cement shoes... I started to gasp and, because I had never had a panic attack, I had no way to fight it. A firm hand bent me forward, forcing my head between my knees and, oddly, it helped.

I straightened up, and saw that Quenotte was in the same position as I had been, Lin's hand on the back of his neck. On mine, it was that of Captain Haïmalin. I turned to her to thank her. She smiled at me, and whispered to me that she knew that, alas. It made me very weird that she admitted that, she has such great self-control, is so badass...

I turned to Tito and JD. They were both super calm, and I found that weird. Or...

- JD, are you okay?
- Yes, I am fine. And before you ask, Yaka is helping me not to panic.
- Lucky bastard.
- Okay, Lin said as Quenotte sat up. Since you seem to be getting better, let's try to clarify a few points.
- Lin, I started, I'm a little tired, so why do you want to know how the truck exploded? It went boom, it made about fifteen guys be slow to approach us and who were knocked out by the R&R. Well, that's fine by me.