Imperfect

As the two men melted into the darkness again, Zach released his body from the stillness he’d attained to camouflage his presence. Who could he warn when he didn’t know who the traitor was? He wished that Damaris was here, because he trusted her implicitly. 

Zach selected the channel he needed. “Raade?” he said.

“Busy right now,” Raade’s irritated voice replied. 

“It’s important,” Zach insisted. He needed to choose someone to trust and, if Damaris had trusted Raade enough to put him in charge of this op, then perhaps Zach could extend him a modicum of the same grace. 

Finally, after much muted grumbling, Raade replied, “Hillock. West of the swimming pool.”

“Roger.”

A barrage of weapons-fire exploded in the night. Transmissions erupted in a flurry of communication.

“Alpha one down.”

“Bryant? Report.”

“Medic!”

“Officer down!”

Abandoning caution, Zach took off at a sprint around the front of the house and down the side, directly toward the hillock to the west of the swimming pool. He heard a single gunshot in a moment of silence and ran all the faster, his heart in his throat. 

Rounding the corner, he almost tripped over a body on the ground, clad in the same black body armor he wore. 

“Officer down!” Dropping to his knees, Zach turned the individual over. Raade. 

“You’re going to be fine,” Zach reassured him as he continued to check for injuries, holding his pocket flashlight in his teeth. “Where were you hit?”

“Side. Hurts.” Raade gasped in pain. 

Noting the glint of wetness on Raade’s abdomen, Zach sliced the man’s bodysuit, stretching the fabric wide to see black blood ooze from Raade’s side, just below his ribs on the right side.

In the bodysuit, Zach had no t-shirt, no loose fabric of any kind that he could use to put over the bullet hole to stop the bleeding so Zach pressed his hands over the wound. 

“Officer down!” Zach called again, raising one hand to toggle the all-communications switch on his headset. “Medic.”

Raade groaned, his breathy voice coming in short gasps. “Thought it was you.”

“Who?” Zach asked absently, surveying the surroundings for help and threat. Zach checked Raade’s carotid pulse. It was definitely weaker than before.

“Didn’t. Betray us.” Each word was a gasp. 

Zach froze as Raade’s words filtered through. “What are you saying?” 

“Careful.” Raade may have had more to say but he shuddered once and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head.