Chapter 7
Mercer understood what she was not saying.
She was going to open the door.
Even if she could not fly through it herself.
He closed his eyes for half a second.
Then he shouted to his men.
“On her gun! Move on her gun!”
Emily lined up.
The canyon narrowed ahead.
Her wounded aircraft groaned.
The last enemy gunner turned toward the SEALs.
Emily squeezed the trigger.
The GAU-8 thundered one last time.
The cliff above the canyon mouth exploded.
The enemy position vanished.
Mercer rose from behind the rocks.
“Move!”
The SEALs ran.
Carrying the wounded.
Dragging each other.
Stumbling through dust and fire.
Above them, Emily pulled back on the controls.
The A-10 climbed.
Too slow.
Too heavy.
Too late.
The ridge rushed toward her.
Overlord whispered, “Come on…”
Emily’s jaw clenched.
The aircraft scraped past the ridge so close that metal screamed against stone.
For one terrifying second, the Warthog disappeared behind a wall of dust.
No one heard her.
No one saw her.
Mercer stopped running and turned.
“Reaper?”
Static.
“Reaper, come in!”
Nothing.
Then the A-10 burst out of the dust on the far side of the canyon.
Smoking.
Shaking.
Alive.
The SEALs erupted.
Some shouted.
Some laughed.
One of the wounded men started crying openly.
Mercer pressed the radio to his mouth.
“Hawkeye Two-One, you beautiful crazy pilot, you still with us?”
Emily looked at her fuel warning.
Then at the open desert ahead.
She allowed herself one breath.
May you like
“Still here, Reaper Six.”
Read Part 8 to see what the SEALs gave Emily after she brought them home.
