Page 19 of Invaluable

15

Kyle

No word,no calls, no new intel. Where the fuck could they be? I was so desperate it had even crossed my mind to go rogue, but I wasn’t stupid. I had to trust the military intelligence. A dumbass decision like that would most likely end up with Sara dying and maybe even some of my men, not to mention me losing my career. But at the moment I only had one thing on my mind. My only goal was to find Sara, alive, and the best shot of that was to go through the appropriate channels. I had faith in my commanders, the United States Navy, and God. I knew what needed to bedone.

Finally, when the stars lit up the sky and my sense of helplessness had penetrated deep within me, my phone rang. I recognized my admiral’s voice as he spoke into the receiver.

“Lieutenant Commander Lawson, we’ve spotted the vehicles abandoned by a side road. A drone has taken a picture of the hostages in the desert. Airstrike is out of the question with American hostages. Assemble your Team for a night op.” The tone in his voice was reassuring, hopeful. My confidence rose—I was going to find them. Out here every minute counted, and I breathed out a deep sigh of relief that hostages had been spotted. She was alive. She had tobe.

I made notes while my commanding officer laid out the plan. God was on my side—tonight was a new moon, but he would guide the way. The sky would be black, perfect night for an operation. We would fly in on a C-130, parachute into the night, and then take foot. Once we surrounded the area, we would destroy the terrorists and save the hostages. A typical day at the office. I wasn’t even scared, I was excited. In my mind, there was no chance of failure. I’d done versions of this operation before. Enough times to know what to expect. One day these thugs would realize there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. If they fucked with Americans, we would find them, and we would kill them. We were the best. And there was nothing that fired us up more than protecting our own. Only the lowest of the low took pleasure in hurting women.

The pounding in my chest ebbed and a fire took its place. Calm, measured, and ready to burn anything that stood in its path. I made my way to the barracks and awoke my Team. Being fresh and ready to go was a given, yet I hadn’t slept a wink. After a quick briefing we checked out weapons, and headed to the C-130. Vic had his Team dog, Cuervo, with him. Cuervo was a badass Belgian Malinois. That dog could sense the enemy before we could, skydive, and had captured more men than I had. He truly was man’s best friend.

Just as we finished loading up, Pat took me aside and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You have that look about you, brother. I know you can feel it just as much as me. We’ll find her. We found Annie and we didn’t even know where she was. Piece of cake. You understand?”

Nodding, I pulled him in for a hug, and he didn’t resist. We were closer than close. Swim buddies at BUD/S. It didn’t matter back then that I was an officer and he was enlisted. Our color, our backgrounds, neither meant a thing. It didn’t matter that I was rich and he was poor. That I had a college degree and he had a high school education. How many nights had we huddled together trying to stay warm in the cold ocean water during surf torture? He was my brother.

But Pat was a married man now, a father of one, and soon-to-be two kids. The weight of his new responsibilities weighed heavily on me. I would not make Annie a widow—she’d most certainly been through enough. I would not leave their children without a father. If this mission failed, it was on me. I had promised Annie I would keep him safe, and I never break my promises. Not to Pat, not to Annie, not to Vic, and definitely not to Sara. You weren’t shit if you couldn’t keep yourword.

I kept shaking my head, letting him know I understood as we hugged it out before Mitch, Shane, Grant, Joaquín, Erik, Vic, and Cuervo climbed into the C-130, and Pat and I quickly followed. As the aircraft took off, I focused on the stars in the sky. With the absence of the moon, they seemed brighter than normal.

I bowed my head and prayed. I thanked God for this mission, and asked him to protect her until I could do it myself.