Chapter 11 - Return to Darak Nar
Luis Ortega did not ask why an Air Force major, a Navy commander, a colonel, and an Army lawyer needed an unregistered helicopter ride into one of the least friendly valleys in the region.
He looked at them and said only, “This is definitely going to ruin my week.”
Sarah climbed aboard.
Rachel remained at a secure operations post with Marcus, coordinating communications.
Vale stayed behind reluctantly.
Someone needed to preserve official channels.
That left Sarah, Cross, Ortega, and two trusted security operators.
The helicopter flew low.
No transponder.
No official flight plan.
Sarah hated every part of it.
Not because she feared danger.
Because she had spent her entire career believing procedures existed for a reason.
Now procedures had become weapons used against them.
Cross sat opposite her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow.
“People who are okay doing this worry me.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
Darak Nar appeared after sunrise.
The valley looked completely different in daylight.
Blackened ground.
Abandoned buildings.
Ridge lines scarred by the previous night’s battle.
Sarah searched for the white-cloth location.
“There.”
Ortega followed her hand.
The Soviet armored vehicle lay tilted against rocks halfway up the western ridge.
He landed behind a natural rise.
Cross moved first.
Sarah followed.
They climbed for nearly twenty minutes.
At the wreck, Cross searched beneath the rear panel.
Nothing.
His expression changed.
“It was here.”
Sarah examined the rusted compartment.
Fresh scratches marked the metal.
“Someone opened it.”
Cross cursed quietly.
“Rourke.”
Sarah looked around.
“No.”
“What?”
“If his people found the drive, why leave the vehicle intact?”
Cross understood.
“Daniel.”
A sound came from behind them.
“Correct.”
Sarah turned.
Daniel Mitchell stood thirty feet away.
For eight years Sarah had imagined this moment.
Sometimes she ran toward him.
Sometimes she hit him.
Sometimes she collapsed.
Reality felt quieter.
Daniel looked older.
Beard streaked with gray.
Scar near his left temple.
Eyes exactly the same.
Neither moved.
Cross lowered his weapon.
Sarah whispered, “You look terrible.”
Daniel smiled.
“So do you.”
Then Sarah crossed the distance and struck him across the chest.
Not hard.
But enough.
“You’re alive.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let me stand beside an empty coffin.”
His smile disappeared.
“I know.”
Sarah hit his chest again.
Then grabbed him.
Daniel wrapped his arms around her.
For several seconds, Sarah became twenty-nine again.
Her brother was leaving for another deployment.
Their father was still alive.
Their mother was laughing in the kitchen.
Nothing had broken yet.
Then Sarah stepped back.
“Where’s Mom?”
“Safe.”
“That answer better improve.”
“It will.”
Cross cleared his throat.
“I hate interrupting family reunions, but there are people trying to kill us.”
Daniel nodded.
He removed a small storage device.
“The archive.”
Cross stared.
“You moved it.”
“Last night.”
“Why?”
“Because Rourke sent a recovery team thirty minutes after your extraction.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“How did you know?”
“I monitor his contractor network.”
“You’re inside Raven.”
“Yes.”
“Dad said you became part of it.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“I did.”
“Millions moved through your accounts.”
“Operational accounts.”
“For what?”
“Bribes. Safe houses. informants. transportation.”
“Illegal.”
“Yes.”
Sarah stared.
“No excuses?”
“No.”
“Did you profit?”
“Not one dollar.”
“Can you prove it?”
Daniel held up the drive.
“That’s why we need this.”
A distant sound interrupted them.
Engines.
Cross moved toward the ridge.
Three vehicles entered the valley.
Daniel swore.
“Too early.”
“Rourke?” Sarah asked.
“Yes.”
They descended toward the helicopter.
Gunfire sounded from the eastern ridge.
Not close enough to strike them, but close enough to warn.
Ortega started the engines.
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
Sarah asked.
“I can’t go.”
“You’re coming.”
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“If they see me leave with you, Rourke knows the archive survived.”
“He already knows.”
“No. He thinks I destroyed it.”
Cross grabbed Daniel’s shoulder.
“We’re not leaving you.”
Daniel looked at Sarah.
Her own words returned.
I don’t leave people behind.
He smiled sadly.
“You always did hate hypocrisy.”
Sarah pulled him toward the aircraft.
“Get in.”
They ran.
The helicopter lifted as vehicles raced toward the landing zone.
Sarah looked down.
One man stepped from the lead truck.
He wore civilian clothes.
Silver hair.
Even from altitude, Sarah recognized him from news photographs.
Malcolm Rourke.
The billionaire CEO himself had come to Darak Nar.
He looked up at the departing helicopter.
Then raised a satellite phone.
Daniel watched him.
“He knows.”
Sarah looked at the archive in Daniel’s hand.
“Good.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No, Sarah.”
His face had gone pale.
“You don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Rourke never comes into the field.”
Cross leaned forward.
“Why now?”
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Daniel stared down at the valley.
“Because whatever is on this drive scares him more than prison.”
