Chapter Two - part eleven

   The first out was Sargon and his men. They hit hard and fast, taking the NATO forces totally unaware. They had quickly swept over all of the forces in the immediate path that Khebat was planning on using. He was the next out, just as quickly he established a perimeter and moved the non-combatants out towards safety. The NATO commander wasn't slow to react though. He had turned the units on the side Sargon hadn't hit and was pushing them towards both Khebat and Sargon. He hadn't counted on a third line of attack hitting him though. James literally smashed past those units, breaking the entire counter-attack in one blow. Within minutes it was no longer NATO doing the attacking. They were on the defense and trying desperately to regroup. They had literally been overrun and were now almost outnumbered themselves due to the number of wounded they now had. The plan had worked perfectly. Khebat had not only gotten everyone out that he wanted out, he had pulled in more men and was hitting the NATO forces again himself.

   Soon they had basically surrounded and pinned the NATO forces down. James hadn't liked the idea of fighting his own allies, but he had liked the thought of losing all hope for peace in Syria even less. The NATO forces were in full body armor so the odds of one of them being killed with small arms fire was very low. That didn't mean it couldn't happen and it didn't keep them from being badly injured. Still, given a choice, a few broken bones and internal injuries were far better that dying. It wasn't completely over though. Since the ground forces were pinned down; the NATO operational commander, who was still with the armored units, took some extreme action. He literally blasted his was in to relieve his forces on the ground. That action had some major consequences. The first one was a lot more civilian casualties. The second was in many ways much worse. He had come in from the back side of the original counter attack launched by Sargon. That had literally run him directly into Sargon himself. James wasn't far away by the time the armor arrived.

   Sargon was about to be pinned down and trapped between the majority of the remaining NATO ground force and the armored units. He quickly saw the danger and moved to get out of that spot. James saw something that Sargon couldn't see though. His retreat was taking him directly into the line of fire of another single light armor vehicle. It didn't have the firepower of the massed heavier vehicles, but it had enough to be very deadly in a close fight. James left his men behind to try and draw some of the fire from the heavy armor while he made a fast run to cut Sargon off before he ran into an unseen firestorm. He was almost there when the worst happened. Sargon went down between two cover positions. He rolled into a safer spot, but he had been hit in the leg and wouldn't be going anywhere without help. James was close and starting to try to organize a rescue when he saw something even worse was about to happen. One of the NATO ground units was about to launch a handheld rocket right at Sargon's position. Alone Sargon couldn't possibly get clear in time. James immediately did the only thing he knew to do. He made a mad dash across the open ground that separated him from Sargon. He sure hoped he still had some of his sprinters speed left from all those years of running. Sargon saw him and reacted far quicker than James had thought possible. He seemed to know that James wouldn't take this risk unless there was an even greater one for Sargon. James reached him under heavy cover fire and grabbing him tried to get him out of line of fire for that rocket. They made it... almost! The explosion literally blew the vehicle Sargon had been using for cover to pieces.

  The explosion also threw both James and Sargon down the street. It slammed them into a wall of a small alley. Both were down, but they were still alive. James had literally shielded Sargon from most of the explosion and shrapnel that had come from it with his own body. He hadn't been able to shield Sargon from the force of the impact with that wall though. In fact Sargon had helped cushion James when they had hit the wall.  James was barely conscious and Sargon had been knocked completely out. Both of them were bleeding badly too, Sargon from the wound in his leg and James from dozens of shrapnel hits. James tried to roll over, but he didn't seem to be able to control his arms and legs. His head was ringing and he could hear nothing except that ringing.  Suddenly he felt hands pulling him around. He tried to focus his eyes and see who it was, but couldn't. He could dimly see somebody pulling Sargon up as well. James thought he heard some words, but he couldn't make anything out for all of the ringing. He felt whoever had him trying to make him move, so he tried.

  They were moving down the alley and away from the fighting. James thought he must have passed out for at least a little while. He woke to the sound of voices. At first he couldn't understand them. Then as his head cleared he began to make sense of them. Much of it was in other languages, but he did hear one person he could understand. It was Aadila and she was talking to someone about getting back to the secure area as fast as possible. James groaned and tried to sit up. That was a mistake. He hurt all over. When he managed to open his eyes after the pain passed he saw Aadila and Sabella, both were leaning over him. He was in the back of some sort of box truck and they were moving. Aadila began to smile, but it was Sabella who spoke. His ears were still ringing, but he could understand her. "You are the luckiest idiot I have ever met! How you managed to survive that I don't know! Now stay still until we get you to the hospital! You have lost a lot of blood and I think you may have internal injuries too." James wet his lips and managed to get out the question he wanted answered the most. "What about Sargon?"

   Now Aadila laughed. She spoke as James looked at her. "Don't worry, you are still a hero! Sargon is alive and had regained consciousness before we left. Most of us made it out in fact, and Khebat actually took the commander of the raid prisoner, along with someone else you will find most interesting. He has agreed to allow us to talk with them before he does anything. In fact Sabella has his word that he will let all of those who have been working so hard for peace talk with them. Now you rest and let us get you taken care of. It seems that we still have much work left to do before there can be peace here." James laid back and closed his eyes. They had done it! They had gotten everyone out and there was still hope for peace. They might even be able to get some answers about who was responsible for this mess too. He would just rest and try to let his head clear up. He hurt worse than he had after the Ironman, maybe not as much as during it, but definitely more than after it. That was his last thought before he drifted off again.