CHAPTER 57

The floor was not exactly soft but, Nate had slept on much worse. He was in the army, after all, and making yourself comfortable on everything from concrete floors to rocks, was one of those trademark things that Nate was certain that the army had gotten a patent for. When it was clear that they could not make up their minds what they wanted to do, Nate had decided to get comfortable and catch some sleep while he could. He had the distinct impression that, no matter what happened next, he was going to need it. The only good news was that, while they might still be at the temple, at least they could find a cozy little hiding spot. It was one of the many ante chamber rooms and, right now, nobody seemed to be using them.

Nate was not exactly sure when he dozed off or, for how long but, when he woke he was somewhat surprised. He felt a warm and quite soft presence and it was curled up next to him, using his arm as a pillow. It was dark outside, right now, and even darker in this little chamber but, Nate did not need a light to figure out who it was. All he had to do was quietly say one name, “Angie?”

She squirmed a little bit and rubbed up against him some more before quietly replying, “yeah?”

The real question on Nate’s mind was, “what are you doing?” Nate did not ask it though, he already knew what the answer was and he was not quite sure he wanted to hear it right now. Instead, he phrased it quite differently, “is everything ok? I mean…you know, relatively speaking.”

“I guess,” Angie replied.

“Ok,” Nate let out the deep breath he was holding in and then he asked, “um, did you like, need something? I only ask this because…”

Angie rolled over and put her nose on his, “are you going to just keep acting like you don’t know or, are you going to kiss me?”

Nate huffed again, “I really don’t know if I can.”

She did not back off. She put her hand on his cheek and brushed it, “I’m not staying in the army Nate. I’m only doing this for the college money. I got less than a year left on my contract and then I’m putting all this shit behind me.”

“Um,” Nate felt like he was choking on his words, “yeah I can see that, although, I just got to wonder, um, why did you join the Rangers of all things? I mean that’s pretty gung ho for a short timer.”

“Oh brother,” he could not see her in the dark but, Nate could hear her eyes rolling in the tone of her voice, “two thousand dollar bonus, hello? Look, are you my career councilor or are you the guy that’s stood beside me through this entire fucking nightmare? The only good thing that has come out of this hole shitty experience?”

“You know,” Nate whimsically added, “I’m still an officer and you’re still a noncom. I think they got these codes in the UCMJ that…”

She butted his forehead with her own, “we’re on detached duty, darling. You’re not my commander now. They’re even officers and enlisted who’ve gotten married.”

“Gee, you’ve been studying up on…” Nate froze up, “married? Where the hell did the married come from?”

Angie grunted in frustration, “that was not a proposal Nate.” She began pushing herself up against him and her hand began to roam, “and right now, the bar I‘m interested in is not on your collar.” She pushed him flat on his back and her legs went over him. Angie then pinned his shoulders down with her hands. He was strong enough to push her off, if he wanted too, only he didn’t. He just laid there and Angie began rolling her hips as she said in a playful tone, “is there something wrong with me? You know I would say I took a bath today but, I still haven’t figured out what the days are here.”

The only words Nate could get out were, “yeah that is a problem, ain’t it.”

Angie dropped down on his chest, propping herself up with her elbows, “feels to me like you’re not as disinterested as you act.”

“Oh darling,” Nate replied, “disinterest is the least of my problems right now.” Nate began grasping at straws, “where the hell is Patty?”

Angie came down off her elbows and got in his face again. She still sounded playful enough, “I don’t do threesomes. You know, I saw in the UCMJ that there is a regulation against that.”

“Well,” Nate was still stumbling, “I just meant that, well, it’s less than private around here. Not army private, I mean…”

Angie pressed her nose against his again, “she went with one of those monk guys. She’s handling something. We have time Nate.”

“Time as in…” Nate tried to say but she was working her hips again. It was a little too dark to see her face but, Nate could imagine some stupid little playful smile on it. He tried to say something else but this time Angie did not stop at his nose. She thrust her lips against his and her tongue went to work after that. It did not stop with his mouth either. When Nate caught his breath he said, “what the??? Angie you’re this sweet little innocent…”

This time she got close enough that he could see her eyes in the darkness. She had a good hold on him too. She almost growled in frustration, “I’m a twenty two year old soldier, Nate Caldwell! What kind of dumb ass is that and still a virgin? OK?”

After she finished kissing him again he said, “well when you put it like that….”

Angie grunted, “you’re not getting out of this Captain. You’re surrounded, you’re cut off and,” she grabbed a certain rock hard piece of his anatomy, “I got your supply lines.”

He made the appropriate sound in response to her hand and told her, “oh trust me, I don’t want to get out of it. I just got issues going in to it and…” He had fewer issues than he thought. A few minutes later he stroked her bare back, her brown hair, and he felt her chest expand and contract on his. As Nate did this he was still not sure how he felt. He also knew that, no matter how inactive Angie was at the moment, she was not asleep. That’s why he decided to ask how she felt. He did so by asking, “what you thinking about?”

She did not hesitate. She also did open her eyes, “I was wishing we could stay like this for longer than we really have.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Nate replied. “Some resort would have been a lot nicer.”

That actually drew a slight laugh from her, “you know I never been to one. I live right next to the biggest one in the world and I’ve never even been there.” That seemed to confuse him so Angie told him, “I’m from Florida.”

“You see Angie,” Nate tried to tell her. “That’s what bothers me. I didn’t even know that. I bet you didn’t know…”

“Lancaster,” Angie mumbled out, “Pennsylvania.”

Nate winced in the dark, “how did you know that?”

“How could I not,” Angie said as if it were the stupidest thing she had ever heard of. Then she pushed herself back up on his chest and said, “Nate, I’m going to ask you a serious question and you have to answer honestly. I know I shouldn’t but, it’s killing me.”

“Um,” Nate wrestled with that one, “serious questions while laying naked on the floor of a church just don’t seem to go together.”

She ignored the comment and asked, “am I imagining things?”

“What sort of things would…” Nate stopped when she slapped him across his bare chest. The last time she slapped him there, he had a little bit more body armor on and he barely felt it. This time he felt every finger so, “no girl, you ain’t. OK? You satisfied, is the interrogation over?”

Angie collapsed back on his chest, “then why do you keep fighting me?”

“It’s complicated,” Nate replied and he immediately realized that was the understatement of all times.

For Angie it did not seem to be, “there are a lot of things that are complicated right now. This is not one of them.”

“Put aside the rank slash career problem here,” Nate told her, “I’m older than you are for one thing.”

“Oh god,” Angie grumbled, “by what? Six years? My parents had eleven, you know, before my Dad died.”

“Sorry I didn’t,” then Nate realized something else, “how did you know how old I was? Where are you getting this stuff?”

Angie began rolling her hips over his again and she quietly told him, “well maybe you’ll just have to get it out of me.”

That was exactly what she was making him feel like doing and then came the frenzied knocking at the chamber door. Patty was outside and calling in a quiet but nervous tone, “guys! You need to get out here now! Guys?”

There was a bit of a scramble after that and quite of bit feeling around in the dark as Nate worriedly replied, “just a minute! Be right there! It’s uh… I’m trying to find something.”

When they opened the door the light was almost blinding despite the fact that the outer chamber was pretty dimly lit. Nate felt his forehead and realized he was still sweating. He commented rhetorically, “damn it’s hot in there. Didn’t realize how much.” He then noticed the woman with Patty, “who is this?”

Patty had her arms crossed and was looking at Nate in a way that made it very clear that she was not convinced. Then Patty watched Angie practically glide out of the chamber. The little girl was busy putting her hair up and had this glowing smile as she looked to her reporter friend and the woman with her. Angie knew to ask, “is this who you were talking about?”

The woman nodded and she sounded friendly enough when she said, “I am Rostasta. I’m here to help.”

She was a very attractive woman and Nate kind of figured you’d have to be a fool not to notice it. Angie did because she put an elbow in his rib. Nate pretended not to notice and then asked Patty, “mind filling me on what happened while I was snoozing?”

“I’ve developed contacts here, Captain,” Patty replied. “I haven’t been snoozing on the job.”

Nate was a little taken by that statement, “and you’re just bringing that up now?”

That caused Patty to elbow him the rib, “I didn’t have a way to get in touch with anybody until now!”

Nate grunted and commanded, “would you two stop doing that!” Then he became a bit more rational, “so you called her? How can she help?”

It was Rostasta who answered, “we share mutual friends Captain Caldwell. When I was informed of your predicament, I felt it was my duty to help you.”

Still, Nate was not very convinced and he asked Patty, “and you trust her?”

Patty came back with, “I trust Curwin Losmun. He has, shall I say, a vested interest in helping us.”

This woman, with the gorgeous head of jet black hair, and almost bronze colored skin said in an almost confused tone, “you are human. Why would I not help you?”

“Let’s just put it this way,” Nate replied, “where we come from, humans are usually the last people that are going to help you.”

Nate almost expected an argument from the woman but none was forthcoming. This Rostasta did not even turn her nose up which, even with humans here, seemed to be the standard. She just got right down to cases, “we’re going to smuggle you back to your embassy.” Then, at the last second, it was like the woman could just not resist it. She said, “is that help enough or is that different, where you come from, too?”

Patty tried to reassure the soldier, “she’s put a lot on the line for us Nate, I mean a lot.”

Rostasta did it again, “is my life good enough for you? If you get caught, the worse they will do is kill you and probably not even that. I won’t be so lucky.”

Whatever was worse than death was not something that fell into the ‘too much information’ category as far as Nate was concerned. Angie did not share his sentiment though. She sounded very calm about it, “do you mean what they’ll do too women or just people, you know, humans from Feyland?”

“Angie,” Nate protested, “these are…”

“Shut up Nate,” Angie snapped back before prompting the woman to tell her.

The attitude from the little girl made Patty cross her arms and give Nate an extremely nasty look. Nate protested, “why is this my fault?”

While these Americans seemed squeamish, Rostasta seemed to think it was all business as usual, “your horror movies? The ones with the deep dark dungeons, filled with those cruel devices of torture and death, you know these?” Angie cautiously nodded that she did and Rostasta continued, “the elves invented all of that. You humans just copied them. Don’t let them fool you, any of you, elves are at their very core, heartless and cruel predators. The agony of others are their recreation.”

Angie said nothing. It did not even appear that anything the local human woman said, had phased her. Then she simply looked to Nate and Patty, “ok lets do this.” As the woman walked off, Angie followed.

No matter how much Nate did not like it, he started to follow as well. Then Patty’s stabbing finger pushed him back against a wall and she said, “ok Captain, what is your problem here?”

Nate sounded like he was protesting when he replied, “I don’t even know this woman!”

“I’m talking about Angie,” Patty snarled.

“So am I,” Nate was very defensive.

Patty dropped her finger and was obviously angry but, looked as if she knew it was like crying over spilled milk. She just huffed and said, “Nate, don’t break her heart, please. Let her down easy. She’s a good kid.”

“What?” Nate was confused, “why would I… what is… this is none of your business, you know?”

Patty put her hands up, “you’re right.” She began to walk off as she told him, “and it’s the wrong time for this.”

As the woman walked off, Nate remained and said, “there’s a right time?” There was no answer so Nate only grunted and followed. Fortunately, the situation outside, those of the life and death kind, were a fair distraction for his other problems which scared him a great deal more. Once outside the main chapel, the very first thing he noticed was just how dark it was getting, He never remembered seeing it like this since he had been in country. That seemed both good and bad but, like everything now, it felt just flat wrong in his gut.

The plan on getting out of here also revealed itself as they stepped out of an overgrown gate that was hidden in the back wall of the property. There was a truck that was parked right by the curb and several men, human men, were standing around the truck. They were dressed in local attire, except for the big bulging coats. Nate new instantly what the bulges were and his first thought was, “when do I get one of those big guns.” He kept that to himself though.

When they got close enough to see faces, Nate was surprised. The guy who was obviously their leader, looked familiar. This tall lanky man, with the buzz cut hair, also sounded familiar even if he was giving orders in the local human language like he was totally comfortable with it. Even if Nate was wrong about the familiarity there was no mistaking that accent as British! Nate even thought it sounded almost Scottish but, not quite.

Then the man introduced himself to the new arrivals, “Major David Cross, Special Air Services, at your disposal.”

“I know you,” Nate said with no small amount of relief, “you were at Merlin when we first got here. Well I have to say Major, it’s good to see you.”

“Rangers right?” Cross then looked over the American Captain from head to toe and it did not appear as if he were all that impressed. Under normal circumstances Nate may have given him a polite, “fuck you,” but in this circumstance he was just glad to see the guy. The man also acted like this life and death escape was interrupting his busy schedule. He waived to the back of the truck and said, “glad to be of service Captain Caldwell, now, we’re a little rushed, so, if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave now.”

All three women had no trouble whatsoever taking that suggestion but, Nate held fast, “what’s the plan?”

Cross seemed annoyed, “did Rostasta tell you Captain? We’re taking you back to your embassy.”

“That’s the objective,” Nate replied. “What’s the plan?”

Angie looked at Nate from the back of the truck and said with fire in her eyes, “Nate! Get in here!”

Patty even joined her, “he’s one of us Captain. I think we’re ok.”

Nate gave them fire back, “just in case something goes wrong, ok?”

Cross rolled his eyes and was still in a hurry, “very well Captain. We’re going to drive to a third party embassy and cross their property. It’s not guarded so we should be just fine. After that, you can walk right up to the front doors of your embassy, all cut and dry, no fuss, now off with you please?”

Nate thought it sounded a little too good to be true, “that simple?”

“Best kind of plan mate,” Cross told him as he began snapping orders in the local language. As he was getting in the drivers cab he called back to Nate, “you’re welcome to stay Captain, I’m leaving.”

That settled the debate and Nate got in the back of the truck. Some guy in local clothing pulled down a tarp as he did. Nate wondered who this man was. He asked the guy but, did not even get an answer in a language he could understand. It was Rostasta who said in the darkness, “they are with us Captain. For their safety, and yours, it’s all you need to know.”

Patty spoke up as well and while Nate could not see her, she sounded pretty pissed off. At the moment, Nate was not sure what she was mad about the most. Her command sounded pretty short, “you’ve done enough for tonight, Nate. Give it a rest already.”

The only one that was not mad at him put her arms around his and laid her head on his shoulder. It was dark so Nate leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head. He then asked, “you all right?”

Angie squeezed even tighter on his arm as she glumly answered, “I’ve been better.” The truck was moving, the engine was howling, things were bumping around, and Angie said something in a low tone of voice that Nate was pretty sure he understood. That’s why he asked her for clarification and did not get an immediate response. She hesitated and sounded almost panicked when she replied, “um, I didn’t say anything.”

Nate was pretty sure that he knew exactly what she said but, he decided to take her final statement as the official line. It also got him to wondering if, just maybe, he should not have been the one saying it. He had to wonder if he was being rational about this, or just a dick. Nate did not have any clue what to think. All of this was a little beyond his training and way beyond life experience. Then Angie tightened up on his arm and said, “it’s all right. I didn’t mean to make you…you know?”

In a long exhale, Nate let out, “oh it’s all right sergeant, I’ve been ‘you know’ for a long time now.” How in the hell did she know what was going through his mind right now? How did women do that? Nate hated that but, not as much as getting shot at.

The first burst of small arms fire definitely hit the truck but, they must have gotten lucky. Whoever was doing the shooting had not put any holes in the tarp that covered the back end where all the passengers were. It did, however bring the vehicle to a screeching halt. That was followed by more shooting, a small burst or explosion, and then lots of smoke. No one had to tell Nate to bail out. He grabbed Angie with both hands and pulled her out with him. They hit concrete and that was about all Nate saw besides stars. There was smoke all around him and he was pretty damn sure that this stuff was from no fire. It made him nauseated and his eyes burned. He wanted to puke but, there was not much in his stomach to reply with the request.

A couple of hands grabbed Nate by the arms and began dragging him across the pavement. His initial reaction was to resist but, someone put the butt of a weapon against his forehead. It was not too hard but, hard enough to make him give up fighting. Whoever these guys were, they were dragging him away from white smoke and, right now, that was his over ridding concern. Then, as fast as it had all began, Nate felt himself land on soft dirt or, at least, it was a hell of a lot softer than the pavement had been.

As his eyes began to clear, and his coughing began subside, he felt a warm presence next to him. He felt a couple of hands grab his shirt and hang on for dear life. He heard a feminine cough and Nate got out, “Angie?”

The reply was also between coughs, “no, it’s me, Patty. What the hell was that?”

Nate pushed himself up as he told her, “don’t rub your eyes, it’s CS gas. You’ll just make it worse.”

Patty got out a very bad sounding clog in her throat and then she said, “I’ve been gassed before Captain. Just never this much.”

That caused Nate to stop in mid hack, “you’re kidding? Where the…”

Someone else ran up to them as Nate’s eyes were clearing just enough to see a shape in the darkness. He thought he was dead because the guy had a gun and was wearing a protective mask. Then the guy ripped the mask off his face and, while his face was still blurry, his voice was very recognizable as that of David Cross, “can you see? Captain? Can you see yet?”

The cracks of small arms fire was still going on nearby. Nate could also hear quite a racket just past that. It sounded like armored vehicles roaring to life. He could also hear the familiar thump of approaching helicopters. That all sounded bad but, as far as Nate was concerned, it was not as bad as, “where the hell are we? What happened?”

Cross replied, “you’re almost home free Captain. Can you see the wall?”

Patty snorted, hacked, and then spit, “I see it? Are we at that embassy?”

“Exactly,” Cross told them, “just follow that wall to a gate. Go through that gate and you’ll be back out on the street. You’ll be safe there.”

“Wait a minute,” Nate protested as he pushed himself to his feet, “we’re not going anywhere. We’re missing somebody.” Nate called out, “Angie?”

Patty managed to get to her feet as well and she agreed. She then asked the Major, “what happened? We can’t leave her? What’s going on out there?”

Cross put his hand on Nate’s chest and pushed him against the wall, “we got ambushed Captain! Those elves out there are some street gang and they’re not too up on diplomatic protocols. They won’t have any problem coming over this wall and killing us. We’ve lost a lot of people out there.”

Patty felt her breathing getting stronger and, just then, as she listened to the British Major, she realized, “Rostasta?”

“She’s dead,” replied Cross with a sense of urgency in his voice, “and that’s what we’re all going to be if you don’t get moving.”

Patty was still not convinced “no, we can’t leave Angie. I’m going…”

“You’re my mission,” Cross told her as he then pushed her against the wall too. “I’ll go get your little Specialist but, you two, need to get to that gate, now.”

Several cracks of machinegun fire, very close, made Patty grab Nate by the sleeves and start pulling him, “he’s right, we’ve got to run.” The Captain would not move so Patty pulled harder, “Nate! I don’t want to leave her ether but there is nothing we can do! Let him do his job!”

When Nate tore away from Patty, she slapped him and then grabbed him by the shirt even harder, “NATE! You can barely see! Let’s go!”

“Better listen to your friend mate,” Cross said calmly.

Nate was huffing and not from the gas. He got in Cross’ face and told him, “anything happens to her and I’m holding you responsible.”

Cross found that amusing, “all right bloke, fair enough. Now move your ass Captain, that’s an order.”

They used their hands to move down the brick wall and, the further they went, the more air rushed over Nate’s eyes, and the clearer his vision became. He could almost see normally when they reached the gate. That’s why he looked back down the wall and Patty knew exactly what he was thinking. She grabbed his arm again and told him, “there’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing you could have done.”

“I’m not leaving her,” Nate snarled.

Patty remained rational, “if you go back Nate Caldwell, they’ll kill you too. You know that. How is that going to help her Nate?” He started walking and Patty had to get in front of him and push with all her might. He was more than strong enough to adequately push her out of the way so Patty pleaded, “what if she’s waiting for us at the embassy, right now? What about it Nate? I don’t want to be the one that has to tell her you got killed for being an idiot! For Christ’s sake, you don’t even have a gun! What are you going to do?”

He still kept walking so Patty tried something else, “we’re still not out of this yet Nate! You still have a job to do.”

This time, Nate stopped and looked back, “and what is that?”

“I’m a civilian,” Patty pointed to herself, “hello? You’re job is to protect me too. I still need you Nate. I can’t do this by myself.”

Nate stomped right up to her, “are you trying to guilt trip me Miss Walsh? Cause you been doing that all day, you know?”

“Nate please listen to reason,” Patty was almost crying, “we are inches away from help. If we go back we can get guns, we can get people, we can go out and look for her the right way. It’s her best chance.”

“God damn it!” Nate brushed past Patty and went right to the gate. He pushed it open with no small amount of force and stepped right out onto the street beyond. Lights came on and shined his face. Nate heard the familiar sound of charging handles being pulled back on standard US issues small arms. It actually sounded pretty sweet.

Then he heard a familiar voice, “US Marines! On the ground now!”

Nate grunted back, “kiss my ass Twitch. I am not getting on the damn ground. So ether shoot me or get those damn M-4’s out of my face!”

Twitch tossed his weapon up on his shoulder, had his men lower their lights, and then he walked right up to the army Captain. Twitch gave his fellow Captain a once over and then told him, “it’s ok Nate. Couldn’t shoot you if you I wanted too. We’re not locked and loaded.” He then looked closely at Nate’s shirt and asked, “is that snot? Damn you look like shit.”

Patty stepped out and felt like collapsing, “are we there yet?”

Twitch nodded and tipped the brim of his helmet, “welcome back Miss Walsh. We’ll be back in the United States in no time flat. Let’s move out guys.”