Page 102 of Duty Preserved

“I’m not worried about the patrols. I’m worried about you.”

I set the coffee down. She tilted her chin up, and I kissed her, my hand finding the back of her neck. Her palm settled flat against my chest and stayed there after I pulled back.

“Go teach,” she said.

I went.

We both started our day.

Sarah’s temporary setup sat under a canvas awning she and the rangers had rigged from salvage poles. The equipment that survived the fire was up off the ground on spare crates. She’d made it work.

The water tank stood ten meters past, BACK OFF OR BURN in white spray paint, the letters still sharp. Nobody had covered it, because it served as a reminder of the ongoing threat and a reason to train hard.

Andrew was at the training ground. He had the rangers in two groups, running full-team fire and maneuver scenarios. Before, they were bounding in pairs. Now they were bounding in teams of four. Their tactics were expanding to ensure more of them could work cohesively together at a single time.

“Set!” from one side.

A second later, “Moving!” from the other.

Four days of this and the change was everywhere. The hesitation that had defined the first session was gone. Their transitions were tighter. They dropped into positions without scanning for approval.

I fell in beside Andrew and picked up where he’d started them. Andrew and I set objectives and fed them to Zayn and Baraka as team leaders. Assault a position from the east. Dual-team maneuver on a fixed point. Shift the approach when the terrain changes. Zayn and Baraka took the objectives and directed their teams through the execution, adjusting the bounding assault based on what we gave them. On the last repetition, Zayn called a correction on one of his own men before I could open my mouth. The ranger’s spacing had drifted too tight, and Zayn pulled him back with a hand on his shoulder and two words. The kid adjusted and didn’t make the mistake again.

Before, I’d have had to make that correction myself. Now, Zayn was seeing it and fixing it in real time.

We called a break. The rangers dropped their gear and found shade. Canteens came out. Nobody sat down until they’d cleared their weapons first. That discipline had become automatic. No one had to be told.

Andrew drifted over to me with his own canteen.

“Talked to Faith this morning,” he said.

“And?”

“KWS has Nasser’s name, his known associates. And everything else Jace pulled from the phone. Law enforcement is working it. The official position is that they’re building a case.”

“Building a case.” I drank from my canteen. “How long does that take?”

“Longer than either of us would like. But no new kills since we locked down the rhino habitat, though. The squeeze is holding.”

I looked across the training ground. Zayn was talking to two of the rangers, crouched in the dirt with a stick, drawing out a plan. Lines for approach, Xs for positions. The two rangers beside him were watching and nodding.

“Maybe that’s enough,” Andrew said. “Nasser’s a businessman. We’ve cut off his access to the product. Every day he stays in the area is a day closer to an arrest. If he’s smart, he moves on to easier ground.”

“I’d rather see him in cuffs than watch him walk away.”

“So would I. But it keeps rhinos alive and gets him off our reserve.” Andrew capped his canteen. “Grant didn’t storm Vicksburg. He cut the supply lines and starved the garrison out. Forty-seven days and the whole city surrendered without a final assault. Sometimes the squeeze is the strategy.”

It was a reasonable conclusion. The patrols had tightened the noose, the phone had given law enforcement a road map, and Nasser’s operation was bleeding time and exposure. A rational man would fold.

I drew my pistol, racked the slide back enough to confirm the round in the chamber, and reholstered it.

“Would we fold?” I asked. “In his situation. Would we cut our losses and walk away?”

Andrew didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

“Let’s get them training again.”

Andrew called them in. The rangers formed up and reset. Zayn’s group on the left, Baraka’s on the right. They stepped into position and waited for the command.