Four Blind Mice

case.
I had said that right from the start.
    “John,” I called. “John! Can you hear me?”
    I waited a few seconds, then called out again. “John! Move something. John?”
    Please say something. Please move.
    Nothing came back to me.
    Except another round of heavy fire from the woods.

Chapter 96
    I HADN’T EXPERIENCED anything like the explosive rage, but also the fear, that I felt. This happened in combat, I realized, and considered the irony. Soldiers lost buddies in the war and went a little mad, or maybe a great deal mad.
    Is that what had happened in the An Lao Valley? There was a noisy buzzing inside my head, bright flashes of color in front of my eyes. Everything around me felt completely surreal.
    “John,” I called again. “If you can hear me, move something. Move a leg. John!”
    Don’t die on me. Not like this. Not now.
    He didn’t move, didn’t respond. There was no sign that he was alive. He didn’t shiver or twitch.
    Nothing at all.
    More rifle fire suddenly erupted from the woods, and I hugged the ground, digging my face into leaves and dirt.
    I tried to put Sampson out of my mind. If I didn’t, I would wind up dead. I had a terrible thought about John and Billie. Then I let it go. I had to. Otherwise, I’d die out here for sure.
    Trouble was, I didn’t see how I was going to outmaneuver three Army Rangers in the woods, especially on terrain they were familiar with. These were experienced combat veterans. So they didn’t risk closing in on me right away. They’d wait until dark.
    Not too long from now. Maybe half an hour. Then I was going to die, wasn’t I?
    I lay behind a big hemlock, and a lot of disconnected thoughts shunted through my head. I thought about my kids, how unprepared I was to die, and how I would never see them again. I’d had so many warnings, so many close calls, but here I was.
    I checked on Sampson again — he still hadn’t moved.
    I raised my head a couple of times. Just for a second. I turkey-necked a look through the trees.
    There were no moving shadows in the woods. I knew they were there, though, waiting me out. Three army assassins. Led by Colonel Thomas Starkey.
    They’d been here before; they were patient as death itself.
    They had killed a lot of people. In the army. And out of it.
    I thought of something Sampson had said before he went to help the two women.
When we see them, we open up. No warnings, Alex. No prisoners. Do you understand what I’m saying?
    I understood perfectly.

Chapter 97
    PATIENCE
.
    This was a waiting game, right? I understood that much about tonight. I even knew the military jargon for what I had to do next.
    EE. Evade and escape.
    I studied the rough terrain behind me and saw that I could slide down into a hollow that would give me some cover and also allow me to move laterally, east or west. I could change my position without their knowing it.
    That would give me a small advantage.
    And I’d take anything I could get right now. I felt that I was a dead man. I didn’t see any way out of this right now. So the hollow or gully looked awfully good to me.
    I thought about Starkey, Griffin, and Harris. How good they were; how badly I wanted to bring them down, Starkey in particular. He was the smart one, the leader, the cruelest of the three. Then I thought of what Sampson had said:
No prisoners.
Only they had to be thinking the same thing.
    I started to slide backward. I call it a slide, but I was almost burrowing into the wet leaves and soft ground.
    At least I made it down into the hollow without being shot. Catbrier was stuck all over my legs and chest. I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think I could be seen from the woods. No one shot me in the head anyway. Not so far.
That was a good sign, right? A victory in itself.
    I crawled sideways in the hollow — slowly — with my face pressed deep into the cold dirt and leaves. I couldn’t breathe very well. I kept moving until I was a good fifteen or twenty yards from my original position. I didn’t risk looking up, but I knew my angle to the woods and the house had changed significantly.
    Could they be watching me from somewhere close by? I didn’t think so. But was I right?
    I listened.
    I didn’t hear a twig break or brush being pushed aside. Just the steady whistle of the wind.
    I pressed my ear to the ground, willing to try anything for an advantage. It didn’t help.
    Then I waited some more.
    Patience.
    Things Sampson had told me about the Army Rangers surfaced in my