Never Surrender

“Captain Drew is a very nice man, Baylee. You will find him even-headed.”

She smiled and clapped his shoulder. “Levelheaded, Reza, but I know what you mean.”

He flashed her a shy grin, his face sun darkened, bearded, his black hair long across his shoulders and receding in the front. He dressed like all Afghan males, but she had always seen him as cosmopolitan and worldly. He was one of the few Afghans to get the macrocosm view on his country and his people. He was a fierce fighter in a firefight, and she was so darned glad he was here, with her. Bay knew Gabe would be happy to hear about it. Maybe he wouldn’t worry so much, she hoped.

* * *

ARMY CAPTAIN DREW ANDERSON was bent over his planning board with his warrant officer and four sergeants when Bay entered the one-story mud house in the center of the village. They all looked up in unison. No doubt, they recognized her immediately. On the left side of her cammies was the black medical symbol. Relief came to the blond-haired commanding officer’s face. The man straightened up, his gray gaze quickly assessing her.

“Petty Officer First Class Baylee-Ann Thorn reporting as ordered, sir. I think you were expecting me, sir?” She pulled out her orders from her pocket and handed them to him.

“We’re damned glad to see you, Thorn,” Anderson muttered, swiftly perusing her transfer orders. He nodded and introduced his second-in-command, a young man of about twenty-four, Warrant Officer Jerry Bannister. Bay shook his hand. The four sergeants were older, and she knew they were the backbone of any SF team. They all eagerly shook her hand, knowing she was an 18 Delta medic. Anderson dismissed the group, wanting to talk to her privately.

“Have a seat, Doc. You ready for some black coffee that’ll curl your toes?”

Bay liked the officer’s laid-back humor. He was about thirty-five years old, and she saw he wore a wedding ring on his left hand. She thought about her own engagement ring Gabe had given her that was tucked away in the top pocket of her Kevlar vest. A warm feeling of sadness and missing him moved through her. “Uh, yes, sir, coffee doesn’t scare me, but the Taliban sure does.”

He chuckled darkly and poured two mugs. Both white pottery cups were chipped but salvageable. Anderson handed one to her as he sat down at the planning board across from Bay. “I’ve got to tell you, I’m damned relieved you’re here, Doc. Losing our other Doc...Sergeant Brokelman, well...it’s been a hard loss on all of us.”

“Yes, sir, I’m sure it’s been rough on everyone. I know how tight SF teams are. You’re like family.”

“Well said. I’ll have my team sign those top secret papers your general needs shortly, so no worries. I’ll send them on to General Stevenson.”

Bay felt him probing her a little. “You ever worked with any Operation Shadow Warrior women before?” she asked.

Shaking his head, he said, “No, but frankly, I don’t care what your gender is. You’re an 18 Delta medic, the best we have in any branch of the military. You’ve already earned your stripes with me, Doc.”

“Do you think I’ll have any blowback from the rest of your team because I’m a woman?”

“No, these men have been with me for four to five years, and we’ve been through plenty together. Most of them are married. Only two who aren’t, but they’re engaged. How about you?”

“Engaged, sir.”

“To who?”

“A SEAL, sir. Chief Gabe Griffin.”

He nodded, assimilating the intel. “Yeah, I ran into his team just before they left to rotate out of Camp Bravo last year. Good man. He’s lucky to get you. Congratulations.”

Bay felt his sincerity. “Thank you, sir.”

“Well,” he said, a slight grin on his face, “SEALs are known to be damned protective of their women. I don’t suppose he’s any different?”

She chuckled a little. “No, sir, he’s the same.”

“I guess I’d better treat you right then, or he’ll be climbing my ass. SEALs don’t really see officers any different than enlisted people.”

“That’s true, the rank and ratings blur in the SEAL community, sir.”

He sighed. “Let me give you the lowdown, Doc. My sergeants have gotten you a small, abandoned mud home about two blocks down from our HQ. The Taliban is trying to put new rat lines through this valley. For the last year, the Shinwari tribe people have been absolutely terrorized by the Taliban. They don’t want them going through here, and neither do we. But, as you know, the Taliban doesn’t take no for an answer. Our medi, Brokelman, was seriously wounded in a hot firefight three weeks ago. The enemy keeps probing us. They hide in the mountains, strike at night and then disappear before dawn. We’ve put an SF team in all three villages, and we’re trying to stabilize the area and help the people, who are frantic with fear, to give them some security. They hate the Taliban as much as we do.

“A number of them have gotten night letters. And you know when a family finds one tacked on their door, it’s a death card. The Taliban utilize hit-and-run raids, and they’ve got some damned good snipers among them. They shoot mostly children as a way to warn the villages that if they continue to support Americans, they’ll continue killing them.” His mouth grew grim.

“That’s terrible,” Bay whispered, her heart breaking over the thought of children arbitrarily being murdered. She knew the Taliban was ruthless and used stone-age tactics against anyone who was their enemy. And in Afghanistan, it usually worked. Few villages had the weaponry and manpower to fight them off. They had to rely entirely on American support and help.

“It’s sickening,” he growled, shaking his head. “You’re going to have to watch your step, Doc. I’m not going to take you out on patrols. I want you here, in this village. I know you’re combat trained, but I cannot afford to lose another medic. This village is far from safe. You’re going to have to watch yourself all the time. Don’t get distracted. The Taliban have sent men in, and they’ve kidnapped some of the elders, demanding money or they decapitate them. Just stay alert, okay?”

“Yes, sir,” Bay murmured, actually happy she wasn’t going to be patrolling. She wanted to get home safe and sound to Gabe, to get on with the rest of their life. Maybe she had a short-timer’s attitude, but she didn’t care. Fewer bullets would be thrown at her, less chance of being killed or injured.

“You’re going to be a genuine asset. You know Pashto and you’re a female medic, so you can start tomorrow morning by finding a place to set up a clinic to help the women and children. I’m sure some of the men will drop by, too.”

“Yes, sir, they bend the rules when necessary. I’ve come equipped to handle both genders.”

“Good.” He finished off his coffee. “You know Reza?”

“Yes, sir, he and I have worked together before. He’s a trusted ally, sir.”

“Good to hear. He’s going to be leading us up into these mountains to the east of us for the next month, teaching us the trail systems and pointing out new rat lines to us. In the next few weeks, we’ve got to get a handle on these damned raids and stop them cold in their tracks.”

“What about drones, sir?”

He snorted. “The CIA has authority over all the drones and flies them out of Camp Bravo. I’ve been on their ass every day by radio, begging them to give us one over the valley. They keep stonewalling me.”

Bay frowned. “Sir, have you contacted Chief Phillips? He’s running the new SEAL platoon that just rotated into Camp Bravo. I worked with the SEALs over there last year. Different platoon, but I think if you can fly in and see the chief, he might be able to swing a drone your way.” She shrugged. “It’s worth a shot, sir.”

He smiled, rising and rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I can go lower myself to the SEAL Chief, get down on my knees and grovel for mercy,” he grumbled.

Bay realized Anderson was teasing her. “They’re good guys, sir. Kept my butt out of a sling a number of times last summer.”

“Yeah, they always take the fight to the enemy. They don’t blink when there’s gunfire. Anyone else who has any brains is running away from it. But those guys get a gleam in their eye, grab their M-4s and they’re running as fast as they can toward the damn fight.”

“They wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said with a smile, feeling pride for them and for Gabe. “They’re very brave warriors in my book, sir.”

He sighed and studied the map across the planning board. “No disagreement, Doc. We might be Army and they are Navy, but we’re Americans and that’s what really counts. We’re over here doing the same job.”

“Sir?”

“Yes?”

“About a sniper? You said the Taliban are hitting the villages in this valley?”

“They are. I don’t have a sniper on my team.”

“Well, sir, why not ask the SEAL Chief if he’s got any guys who might want a little extra hunting challenge over here? They like doing sniper work.”

“Any chance your fiancé, Griffin, was one?”

She laughed. “Yes, sir, he is. I learned a lot from him.”

“It’s not a bad idea, Doc. I’ll give the Chief my sad song, and maybe he’ll feel sorry for an Army son of a bitch and lend me some SEAL help, since I can’t get a drone assigned to us.” He regarded her and said, “Glad you’re here, Doc. Go get situated. Any one of my sergeants will be more than happy to help you adjust to your new digs here. Any problems, see me directly. Okay?”

Bay stood up. “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed, Doc.”

Bay turned, set her cup on the planning board and shrugged the heavy ruck over her shoulder. She exited the stifling confines of the windowless house.

Reza stepped from between the houses, grinning like a fox. “Well, did you like Captain Anderson?”

“Very much,” she said, walking with him. “Do you know where my house is?” Reza knew everything. She’d come to rely on his almost photographic mind.

His face brightened. “I do! This way!”

* * *

GABE WAS EXHAUSTED as he sat down at his computer in his condo. Bay had been gone a week, and he was worried because she hadn’t checked in with him. She’d promised to try and Skype him. He knew she could only do that at Camp Bravo, not in the valley where she was located.

His fingers itched to type an email to Chief Phillips to see if Bay had gotten to Bravo yet. He’d called Phillips shortly after Bay had flown out of Lindbergh Field. Phillips had rule over the entire platoon and was the man who could make anything happen by coordinating with the three officers above him. When Gabe had told him Bay was his fiancée and that she was in the area, he promised to keep an eye on her. He slept a little better knowing that. SEALs took care of their own.

His computer beeped. His heart raced. It was a Skype call from Bay.

“Hey,” Bay said, smiling happily, “how are you?”

His heart crashed in his chest, powerful emotions nearly choking off his reply. Staring hard at Bay, he noticed how her cheeks were flushed pink, her soft, curly hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore SF cammies.

“I’m good. Good. How are you?” All calls and emails were run through SEAL HQ back in Coronado. Gabe couldn’t say much and had to keep their communication bland. Hell, he wanted to reach through that screen and haul Bay into his arms and kiss her senseless. Just seeing the light dancing in her blue eyes made him feel an avalanche of relief. She looked good. And happy.

“I’m getting acclimated to my new digs over in the valley. Got a really squared-away SF captain over there. His team could care less whether I’m a woman or not.”

Gabe chuckled. “Right on. You’re an 18 Delta, so they don’t care if you have two heads and sprout horns.” He heard her laughter, husky and sweet. His euphoria deepened as he saw her wrinkle her nose, her beautiful lips pulling up into a huge smile over his comment. He loved her. His lower body ached, needed relief. Gabe couldn’t think two thoughts on any given day without thinking of Bay, remembering the times they’d hotly loved one another until they were utterly exhausted.

“Did you get with Chief?” he demanded.

“Oh, yeah, I did.” Bay hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “He’s been wonderful, Gabe. When I can manage to get a helo hop over here, he lets me use the team computer. Really sweet of him.”

Sweet had nothing to do with it, but Gabe nodded and said nothing. “You’re now part of the SEAL family, Bay. He’s gonna treat you right.”

“He sure has. And, hey, the guys in this platoon have been really nice to me, too.” And then she gave him a wicked grin. “Unlike your team who wanted to burn me at the stake.”

He absorbed her laughter, drinking in the beauty of her face. “Your nose is sorta red. Been outdoors a lot? Patrols?”

“I’ve been working clinics outdoors. No patrols, though. The captain wants me to stay in the village where it’s safer.”

“Smart man. Tell him thank you.” That was profound news and a relief to Gabe.

She grinned. “Well, the captain said he didn’t want an angry SEAL climbing his ass, so he really wanted to keep you happy.”

Gabe’s hands were sweaty. He’d had such fear for Bay going out on patrols, his imagination going wild, having a nightmare about her being killed. “Hey, tell that captain I appreciate him watching your back. But you’re right, I’d damn well climb anyone’s ass if they didn’t properly take care of you.”

“Well,” she murmured, “I think you guys in the SEALs have such a tough reputation, that it’s already a done deal.”

He sobered. “I love you.” Gabe didn’t give a damn who heard him. Bay’s face softened, and so many emotions crossed her very readable face. She struggled.

“I love you, too. And I miss you so much, Gabe....”

“It’s mutual, believe me.” He saw longing in her expression. And sadness that they were once more separated from one another.

“It has to be hard on you, too.”

Gabe snorted. “Hell, I’m stateside. What’s gonna happen to me? Get bit by a pissed-off rattler because I ran too close to the manzanita bush he was resting under? Find a scorpion in my sleeping bag and get stung?”

Bay shook her head, laughing. “God, you make my day, Griffin.”

How badly Gabe wanted to reach out and simply touch her flushed cheek, kiss her lips, feel Bay lean into him, her arms sliding around his neck. His throat tightened with those intense memories.

“I’m glad I do,” he said. “I want to see you smiling and happy over there.” He wondered if she felt him come to her at night when she slept.

“You make me feel happy,” she whispered, losing her smile. “I’m busy, so it takes my head out of missing you so much.”

“You’re not too busy, are you?” Gabe demanded, frowning. Bay had promised him to not wear herself out like she had before.

Holding up her hands, she said, “I’ve been a good girl. Reza is here, and he’s like my guard dog, taking your place. He meets me at my house every morning, and then we have MREs at HQ. Every morning, he sizes me up. ‘Baylee, you have shadows under your eyes. Baylee, you look thinner. Baylee, aren’t you eating enough?’” She smiled a little. “He’s a miniature you, Gabe. Trust me on that one.”

“Tell him thank you from me. That’s a stroke of luck Reza is there with you. For how long?” More relief tunneled through Gabe. He’d worked with Reza before, and the man was solid gold.

“Another two weeks. He’s busy showing the team new rat lines up in the hills and mountains above our village.”

“He’s a damned good person.”

“He’s someone I can confide in. I can trust him with my secrets.” She gave him a teasing look.

She was such an imp, but how he loved her. “Things you should be telling me instead?”

“Ohhhh, I keep it aboveboard,” she promised, her lips curving more. “But I have active dreams at night. Can’t talk to anyone about them, however, and you aren’t here to tell them to....”

Gabe grinned and chuckled. His spirits lifted just hearing her voice, seeing her face and making sure she was really all right. He couldn’t ask her details about anything; that was forbidden. Top secret was exactly that. “I sent you a care package. You should be getting it soon.”

“Ohhh, surprises?”

“Yeah, surprises just for you. I know how much you love them.”

“Listen, do me a favor? Can you go to some of the NGOs that the SEALs work with? This village is so poor, Gabe. All the kids need shoes. Could you check into this when you get a chance? I’d really like to have about seventy pairs. The children are all running around barefoot.”

He nodded. “Can do,” he said, thinking that Bay, as usual, was watching out for the children. She was going to be one incredible mother someday. And she would be carrying his child. His lower body burned with need for her.

Bay looked at the watch on her wrist. “My time’s up. I got two SEALs standing in line waiting to talk to their loved ones, so I’m outta here, Shark Man.”

He grinned, wanting more time with her. Wanting to capture her laughter and replay it so he could feel her near him. “Okay, next week?”

“Maybe. I’ll try as often as I can.” Bay smiled sweetly, touched her heart with her hand and then extended her hand toward him. “I love you....”

He sat there and returned the hand signal to her. A lump formed in his throat. “I love you, too, baby. Stay safe out there....”

The screen went blank. Gabe sat there feeling euphoric and, at the same time, horrible dread. His emotions were up and down like a roller coaster. Never before had he experienced something as intense as his love for Bay. One of the SEAL wives who found out Bay was overseas had told him the same thing. There wasn’t a day that went by when she didn’t feel abject terror to dizzying joy, too. It was just part of a human’s emotional makeup when their loved one was overseas and in harm’s way.

Rubbing his chest, Gabe scowled, hating how emotional he’d become since Bay had left. No other woman had ever affected him like that. He sighed. Well, the tables were turned, weren’t they? Instead of the man going overseas into combat, the woman went instead. And he was the one left home to do the worrying and the not knowing. Getting up, he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Gabe went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. Leaning his hips against the counter, he stared through the quiet condo. When Bay had been here, the place filled him with warmth, bubbling vitality and life. Now, it was sterile, gray and damned depressing to him. He sipped the coffee, his brows knitted. Bay was in what was considered a “hot” valley, a place where frequent, ongoing clashes with the Taliban were happening all the time. It didn’t help him sleep at night. Dammit, anyway. If only she’d been assigned to a SEAL team, he’d have breathed a helluva lot easier. She was in a bad place with an enemy who hated Americans with a fanatical passion.

When he’d talked with Chief Phillips a week earlier, the SEAL had been blunt about Bay’s location.

“It’s a damn snake pit. Mustafa Khogani, cousin to Sangar Khogani, that a SEAL sniper team just took out last year, is heading up the Hill tribe efforts to put new rat lines through that Shinwari tribe valley. Mustafa is a sick son of a bitch.”

“Aren’t they all?”

“This guy is real special,” Phillips had snarled. “He sweeps down on a Shinwari village, kidnapping little boys and girls between six and twelve years old. He’s a sex slave trader. Some of our teams have found these children dead, dropped like garbage along rat-line trails a few days after they had been kidnapped. They were children who were badly injured during the kidnapping. The bastard is killing these children, not giving them medical aid to survive. We want this monster.”

A cold shiver had moved up Gabe’s spine as he’d heard Phillips’s icy rage. “I wouldn’t want to find one of those children,” he’d admitted, his voice hoarse. It would be the last thing he’d want to do—discover a dead child on some trail out in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s upsetting the platoon plenty. A lot of these guys are married and have children themselves. You can imagine them stumbling upon one of Khogani’s victims. Mustafa is a sociopath. He doesn’t care. He just discards them, keeping the healthy, uninjured children and then selling them to the highest bidder once they get them across the Pakistan border.”

“Jesus,” Gabe had whispered, rubbing his face. He couldn’t imagine the terror and grief of the Afghan parents. Worse, discovering their young son or daughter was found dead. Even more sorrow-compounding, finding out how the child had suffered and died. Gabe had seen the ruthless brutality in the Taliban ranks for too long, but this was new. And horrifying. “Can’t you get a sniper team tracking that bastard?”

“That’s what we’re doing. We’re coordinating a team with the SF captain over in that valley. That’s the one Bay is assigned to. The captain came crawling over here last week pleading, hands out, begging us to interfere and provide him a SEAL sniper team. He also asked for our sniper platoon assets to start scouring the hills above the village to capture Khogani and his bunch, but it’s a no-can-do. He’s got to get the ragged-assed Army in gear to do that. We have our own areas that need our attention and protection. He asked for a drone, but my hands were tied. We can’t even get one except for the Ravens our teams use out on patrol.”

Gabe’s mouth had thinned. “Did you tell Bay all of this?”

“No, couldn’t. This is SEAL intel. She’s with Army SF. I’m assuming the captain filled her in, though.”

Anxiety had feathered through him as he’d considered the info. “Maybe that’s why that SF captain is requiring her to stay in the village, then.”

“Probably so. I’d sure as hell ground her, too. What the military doesn’t need is for someone like Mustafa to get his hands on an American military woman. It’s something we all live in fear of happening. It would turn into a media nightmare.”

“I know...” Gabe had rasped. His mind leaped painfully to that scenario. Chief Doug Hampton had discussed his worry with him the day Bay had arrived at their platoon. So far, no woman combat soldier had ever been captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Jessica Lynch had been captured in Iraq and it had been SEALs that had rescued her. Hampton said it would happen sooner or later as more women were on the front lines, that one would be captured, tortured, raped and, most likely, beheaded. And it would all be videotaped and then put up on the internet for the horrified world to see. It was only a matter of time. Hampton had been adamant with him to keep Bay protected and safe. No way, on his watch, was she going to fall victim to this terrifying scenario. He wiped his mouth, fear grating through his gut.

Gabe had ended that call with the chief, more anxious than before the conversation. Worry was eating a huge hole in his stomach.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MUSTAFA KHOGANI LAY on his belly, binoculars pressed tightly against his eyes, hidden among the brush overlooking the most southern Shinwari village in the valley below. Next to him, his second-in-command, Zmarai, was studying the village through his sniper scope.

“Something new,” Mustafa growled. He zeroed in on a woman in SF clothing who was holding a medical clinic for at least twenty children and women of all ages. The clinic was on the edge of the village, near a huge stand of trees that spilled out of a wadi, ravine, thousands of feet above them. The grove of trees provided shade from the blistering sun overhead.

It was a good place from a medical standpoint, but from a military strategy perspective, a very poor choice. But good for what he had in mind.

Zmarai said, hesitant, “A third of the village children are lined up. “Which ones do you want tonight when we sweep down there to kidnap some of them?” They routinely kidnapped young children, and they sold them into the sex slave trade across the Pakistan border. The children would then be cleaned up, given haircuts, new, clean robes and photos taken of them. From there, the photos were sent to prospective buyers across Asia and Europe. It brought in operating money to keep his lord’s army fed and supplied.