Page 86 of Over the Edge

Finally, as they squatted beside their tent, she murmured, “Where did you go?”

“Checked out the tunnel complex the DEVGRU guys got trapped in during the ambush. It’s deserted now.”

DEVGRU—Developmental Group was its official and completely innocuous name—was a specialized team within the SEAL teams, the best of the best. A half-dozen of their guys had been sent into the tunnel complex during the Swat ambush, and had gotten trapped inside when the entrance was booby-trapped and collapsed behind them. It had taken them nearly two days to find another exit, clearing tunnels of trip wires and explosives all while fighting their way through Haddad’s men who were hiding in the underground maze.

It sounded hairy in the extreme to her.

“Why did you go in alone?” she demanded low. “I should’ve gone with you in case it wasn’t deserted or the roof collapsed.”

He shrugged. “Water under the bridge now.”

“It’snotwater under the bridge, dammit! You just did something stupid, apparently because you didn’t want to endanger the little woman. If you don’t cut that shit out right now, you and I are going to have a serious problem.”

He scowled but was silent.

Which, for some reason, fired her up even more. “Not only have I spent the last year training to become a SEAL, but you’ve allegedly spent the last year learning that women are capable of pulling their weight as SEALs. Or did you miss that message?”

He huffed in irritation. “Fine. I should’ve waited for you before I went into the tunnels.”

“Then we’re agreed. You’ll stop doing stupid solo shit.”

“Not necessarily—“

She cut him off. “No more solo outings, or else I’ll stick to you like a burr and never let you out of my sight. I’m fully prepared to handcuff you to me in your sleep.”

“I can get out of handcuffs,” he snapped.

“Not without waking me up,” she snapped back. “Whereupon, I’ll kick your ass.”

He glared at her. She glared back, absolutely determined to win this argument. It took a while, but eventually, his glare faltered.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “No more solo excursions.”

She responded quietly, “Thank you.”

He was silent for a moment, then said more conversationally, “The cave-in was about a hundred feet inside the main tunnel. But this side of it, I found a stash of bottled water.” He opened his backpack and revealed perhaps twenty two-liter water bottles. “If you’ll work on rigging a sack out of the tent to hold the water, I’ll stow the other gear in my backpack.”

The hike back to the Range Rover took a fraction of the time it had taken to get here, and they drove past the destroyed compound barely two hours later. The road up the valley was little more than a dirt path, but the sturdy Range Rover bumped over it without trouble.

They agreed they would openly approach the next village, relying on their covers as journalist and photographer. Particularly since there was no way Abu Haddad still would be in this area. Not with all his local infrastructure destroyed and so many of his troops from around here killed in last spring’s ambush.

When they reached the village, it was also deserted. Dust and dead grass scudded across the ground, but little else moved.

“Onward and upward,” Trevor murmured.

They climbed back in the Range Rover and proceeded toward the head of the long Swat Valley. One more settlement was marked on the map, at the far north end of the valley.

This one was still occupied.

As they approached the village, children stopped playing soccer, grizzled, gray-haired men looked up from a card game on a wooden crate, and women came to stand in doorways. They all stared in a combination of suspicion and fear, which was completely reasonable in this war-ravaged land.

“Let me get out, first,” Anna suggested, securing her head scarf. “I’ll calm their fear more than you will.”

“Good idea,” Trevor replied.

She climbed out of the vehicle, making sure her empty hands were in plain sight. She approached the men, who rose to their feet as she came close.

She said respectfully in Zagari, “Assalam alaykum. Mera nam Anna hai. Mera taluq America se hai.”

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