Salute {Leah Clearwater}⁴

twenty five - mission gone wrong

"I didn't know they had an insider giving us information about Arash." Samuel was the first to speak once they were outside and walking back to their positions to finish their own tasks.

Liam sighed besides Josiah. "I didn't either."

"At least we know where he is," Josiah added, staring straight ahead, "Now we just need to catch him."

Both Liam and Samuel nodded in agreement. "Let's watch each other's backs tomorrow," Liam stated, "We can't let our guard down."

"Obviously." Josiah snorted.

Samuel chuckled. "Alright, let's go finish what we have left. Maybe they'll let us off early."

"You wish."

Josiah rested his head back, with his eyes closed, and focused on calming his racing heart. The soldier didn't know what it was but there was a nagging feeling in his gut that something might go wrong in the mission. And it scared him.

Next to him, Liam sat playing with his fingers to distract his racing mind; on occasion he would sneak glances towards his best friend to make sure he was okay. Liam nudged Josiah's shoulder to get his attention, "We're still calling back home to wish Billy a happy birthday and talk to the pack, right?"

Josiah nodded. "Yeah, the pack is really looking forward to talking to us again."

"Don't you mean you and Leah?" Liam smirked. "Shut up." Josiah responded, making Liam laugh.

Before the friends knew it, the Humvee stopped: they had arrived.

"Alright," Samuel let out a long sigh, "Let's get this over with."

Josiah opened his side of the door and stepped out with his gun ready to fire at anyone who seemed to be a threat to him or his comrades. Lieutenant Parker immediately started giving out orders and positions once he stepped foot outside the Humvee.

"Just like our plan," Lieutenant Parker spoke in a low voice, "Split into three groups and surrounding the building. Don't let him get away, understood?"

"Yes sir!"

The three groups grabbed their equipment and made their way to their positions. But not before Liam and Josiah gave their friend Samuel one last look, "Be careful Sammy."

"You too. Watch each other's backs."

Unfortunately for the three friends, Samuel was not placed in the group where both Josiah and Liam were.

With one last goodbye, the groups went on their way to capture Arash Ghorbani. Josiah let out a low sigh, calming his racing nerves and focusing on the mission at hand — his grip tightening on his gun. Liam took notice of that and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"Come on, I got your back."

Josiah smiled, "And I got yours."

***

Josiah knew something would go wrong in their mission. His gut told him and he ignored it.

Feeling his heart race from adrenaline, Josiah fired his gun continuously at the ambush that surprised his group. Besides him, Liam fired his own gun with clenched teeth at being caught off guard by the enemy.

"I'm low on ammunition!"

"Me too!"

"We need to retreat!"

Josiah let out a growl of frustration, "Damn it!"

"Liam cover!" William, one of his comrades, yelled out as he tried to reload his gun from the other side of Liam.

Liam got out from his cover spot and began firing his own gun. From the corner of his eye, Josiah could see the outline of someone getting ready to throw something, making his heart stop.

"Grenade!"

Everything happened in slow motion. First, the bullet wound knocking down Liam, then the grenade went off which sent everyone flying. The familiar ringing of his ears caused Josiah to groan out in pain. Everything happened so fast that it didn't give him time to process what had happened.

"Josiah you okay?" Someone asked from above him, shaking him slightly. The only response Josiah could give was another groan.

"Come on! You have to get up!"

Then it dawned on him. Liam was hit.

Josiah's eyes widened as he looked towards where Liam and William were at and saw his best friend laying in his own pile of blood.

"Liam..."

Above Liam, other members from his group were trying to administer first aid as best as they could while they were getting fired at. The next words broke Josiah completely. "I can't find a pulse! We need to get him to the Humber!"

Josiah slowly got up without tearing his eyes away from his friend, "No..."

He was pushed down as bullets rained down on them again which caused many of them to run for cover. Josiah crawled over to his friend and helped drag him to cover. "He's losing too much blood," his comrade, Kevin, grimaced, "And William isn't looking too good as well."

Josiah glanced down to see William in a similar condition as Liam. However, William seemed to be conscious and was screaming in pain, making the situation much more stressful for the soldiers. His heart hammered against his rib cage and his body reacted before his mind could. Josiah started CPR on Liam, without stopping to switch out with another comrade to help him.

"You're not dying on me... not again."