The Oracle's Message

Hans frowned. “To be honest with you, Annja, it was the first time I’d ever considered the notion of disobeying a direct order. We talked it over, though, and in the end decided we had the benefit of being a small and highly mobile unit. We knew the region and felt comfortable with the idea that if we were discovered, we could exfiltrate to the extraction site and get pulled out by helicopter.”

Annja felt a strong breeze blow over and, despite its balminess, felt a shiver run through her body.

“The Taliban were, of course, furious that one of their convoys had been so utterly decimated. The cost to them in terms of monetary value—along with the cost in human life—must have been quite extraordinary.”

“They wanted your unit.”

Hans nodded. “They knew, like you said, that there had to be someone operating in the area. I found out later that they had put a bounty on our heads. The equivalent of fifty thousand dollars for our capture or death. To your local Afghani, that much money was like being promised the keys to a kingdom.”

“They turned those mountains into a war zone.”

Hans nodded and kept talking. “The first indication we had that our lives were about to get really terrible was when our sentries signaled us that we had the enemy approaching. But they didn’t just come at us from one direction. We could have easily handled that.” He frowned. “They swarmed all over that mountain, creeping up through unseen crevasses we didn’t even know about. They stalked down old goat trails. Over boulders. And when they attacked, it felt like hell itself had been unleashed upon us. Bullets flew everywhere, ricocheting off rocks, splintering whatever stubby trees happened to be in the area. The sound of gunfire never wavered. We scrambled and fought back as much as we could, but they were relentless.”

Annja’s heart beat hard against her chest. “How did you ever get out of there?”

“Somehow we made our way back to our extraction site. But when the first helicopter came in to pick us up, the Taliban launched a Stinger missile—you know, the ones your CIA gave to the mujahideen to fight the Soviets way back when? Anyway, the helicopter exploded, killing everyone on board before we could even get close to it.”

“My God…”

“We asked for another rescue mission. But we were denied, told it was too hot a landing zone for them to try again. We were directed to an alternate landing zone for rescue.”

“Did you go there?”

“Not before one of our team was killed by a grenade. He threw himself on it to protect the rest of us. We would have all been killed otherwise.”

Annja bit her lip. “Brave man.”

Hans nodded. “He was indeed.” He glanced away. “The secondary LZ was two miles to the east. It may as well have been a thousand. They attacked us every step of the way. Another member of my team took a bullet to his shoulder and we had to tend to his wounds. While we did, another shot took him right between his eyes. His head exploded all over me and my friend, Tomas.”

“Jesus,” Annja said.

“I hope he was with him,” Hans said. “But it certainly felt as though God had deserted us on that day. The Taliban kept up the attacks as we traversed the boulders and ravines, making our way to the secondary site.”

Annja shook her head. “No wonder you’ve got scars.”

Hans ran a hand over the scar on his face. “If only they were all as superficial as this one.” He paused and then looked at Annja. “It took us the better part of a day to reach the secondary landing zone. By that time, night had fallen, so we felt good about our chances of a pickup. After all, darkness would help the rescue chopper avoid detection to some extent.”

“Did they come for you?”

“They didn’t want to. But we screamed at them on the radio until they relented. We were down to just the two of us by then. Tomas and I pledged that neither of us would let ourselves be captured. We’d heard enough of what to expect from Taliban torturers if they should have ever caught up with us. We’d each save a bullet for taking our own lives if it came to that.

“For a while, everything went quiet as we lay nestled between two boulders. The stars came out on that cold night, blinking as they did against the backdrop of night. It was eerily quiet and almost beautiful. Tomas and I lay back-to-back ready to fight and die if need be.

“But when we heard the chop of rotor blades, the entire mountainside opened up again. It was as if they knew exactly where Tomas and I were hiding because every bullet and mortar shell seemed to be locked onto our very position. Somehow they never managed to land a direct strike, though, and we stayed safe, right up until it was time to leave and run for the chopper.”

Annja was leaning forward, closer to Hans now. Hans seemed to be breathing faster, almost as if he was reliving the event.

“We saw the chopper touch down and we ran out from the boulders. We’d ditched all our gear so we could move faster. I ran like I’d never run before. Bullets whizzed past us. Dirt kicked up in our faces. Explosions everywhere. I had to run zigzag to keep from being hit. We were so close to getting out and then I was falling into the back of the chopper.

“I turned and saw Tomas on the ramp coming in. He smiled at me. I grinned back. We’d made it. And then a single bullet burst through his chest. He died right there on the back ramp of the chopper as we lifted away. He fell to his knees and died, that smile still on his face.”

Hans was silent.

Annja took a deep breath. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Hans cleared his throat and clenched his jaw. “The scar came from a bullet that caught me across my face, but never entered the side of my head. Just a flesh wound, in other words.”

“You were incredibly lucky.”

Hans eyed her. “Was I? I sometimes wonder if perhaps my friends who died were the lucky ones. We never should have been left out there. We never should have been abandoned like that. Three good men died because of political idiocy.”

There wasn’t much Annja could say to that.

Hans stood. “You’ll have to forgive me, Annja, but I think I’m going to get some sleep now. I’ll see you down at the dock tomorrow morning. Joachim likes to get started early.”

And then he turned and left the pavilion.

Annja watched him go and frowned. This day hadn’t ended how she’d thought it would. That was for sure.

7

By the time Annja got down to the dock by the dive master’s hut the next morning, Spier, Hans and the rest of the team were already there. Hans, for all the horror he’d relived with Annja the night before, looked happy and fresh from a good night’s sleep. He smiled as she came down the walkway and took her by the elbow to guide her off to one side.

“I want to apologize for my conduct last night.”

Annja smiled. “Your conduct? It’s not like you made an unwanted pass at me, Hans.”

He shrugged. “I haven’t talked about Afghanistan with many people. It is a time in my life when I faced death and lost the people I felt closest to. As such, the memories tend to run together and come out in a jumbled mess of sadness, anger and confusion.”

Annja laid a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. Really. I don’t think anyone would have come through something like that unscathed in some fashion. And, if anything, it’s my fault for being so nosy about your scar and how you got it. I certainly wasn’t expecting the story you told me.”

Hans smirked. “No, I suppose you weren’t.”

“But that’s beside the point,” Annja said. “I’m glad you shared it. It helps me understand who you are.”

Hans grinned slyly. “And why would you want to know something like that?”

Annja thought about responding but instead looked over his shoulder. “Are you going to introduce me to the rest of the team?”

“Didn’t I do that last night?”

Annja shook her head. “Actually, no. By the time I sat down and Joachim started talking, there wasn’t much time to talk to anyone else.”

“Mein Gott,” Hans said. “How rude of us.” He dragged Annja over to where the rest of the team were preparing their gear. “Annja, allow me to introduce Gottlieb, Mueller and Heinkel. You already know Joachim.”

Each of the three other divers nodded and smiled at Annja in turn. Like Hans, they were all exceptionally athletic, muscular and had strong jawlines. She wondered if they were all ex-military like Hans.

She supposed they probably were.