Evan quickly packed the shrapnel wounds with blood coagulant and bandages; put field bandages on the Ambassador's arm, and splinted Tristan and Xavier's arms. He revived Bremmer with a splash of water from his canteen. "Bremmer – you OK enough to keep watch over the left side?" he asked. "Yeah, Fenix. Will do."
Staying pinned down was NOT a good idea. "McCormick! Your senior – your orders?" he asked "NOW your asking me?" McCormick replied, sarcastically. "What's the status of our wounded?" he continued, intermittently returning fire toward the trees and compound. "LT's down but alive. Cross is also down. Shrapnel wounds to chest and side. Xavier and Tristan have broken arms, but mobile. Bremmer is functional and mobile but might be in shock. Ambassador's hurt superficially; transmitter is destroyed." Evan responded. "We need to extract from here and make contact with HQ" McCormick responded. "Copy that!" Evan said as he pulled a smoke grenade from his pouch. He pulled the pin of first one, then a second grenade before throwing them to the left and right, creating a smoke screen. He took a second to drop further into Haragei and invoking the Kuji Kiri. Using the Kuji Kiri he made sure to keep the smoke dense. Then he glanced around. There was a Serbian truck 30 meters to the rear – it was big enough to lay out the wounded and carry everybody out. "McCormick!" "Ya, Fenix" "There is a truck to the rear. I can bring it closer. You and Bremmer load everybody while I provide cover." "You asking or telling, Fenix?" "Your call McCormick!" Evan responded. "Go!" McCormick ordered.
Evan began zig-zagging his way among the whizzing bullets to the truck he observed previously. He deployed every sense he had. He finally made it; jump-started the engine and drove the truck back, trying to keep the copter wreck between himself and the points of fire. Bullets and RPGs intensified as he brought the truck closer. Jumping out of the truck, he returned to the waiting team. He started pulling the wounded to the truck. Once loaded, he returned to McCormick. "Everybody is loaded except you and Bremmer. Listen, McCormick. If we all get on that truck, we won't have much chance of getting out of here: as soon as we drive off, they're going to be intensifying the shooting. I can buy you some time. If you give me two minutes to start a flanking operation, I can distract them. You drive west – I'll meet up with you along the way if I can." Evan said as quietly as he could. McCormick briefly looked him in the eye. "Are you nuts Fenix?" he asked. "No. Just realistic. Our job is to bring the Ambassador safely back. I can improve those chances. What say you?" Evan replied. McCormick paused a moment, then nodded. "All right. Bremmer! Cover fire! Fenix – Go!"
Evan took a deep breath, released it along with his tension, and entered Mu-Shin – the empty mind. He tossed another smoke grenade slightly up-wind, using Kuji-Kiri to keep the smoke dense between them and the enemy, he ran quickly to the left, into the bushes. Between one step and the next he transformed into his bird form and flew high through the trees to behind the enemy, and landed. Evan then transformed back. He quickly maneuvered himself behind a tree, pulled some additional branches for additional cover, and started laying down some accurate fire, dropping two Serbian soldiers. After a few rounds, he moved a few meters left and picked off two more. Enemy fire toward the copter started to falter, trying to find the new target. Evan kept maneuvering in and out of the trees, snapping off a few rounds each time, relying on Haragei to know where to aim and hit his targets. He needed to draw the enemy's attention for as long as he could. As he approached the compound where the talks had been held, he identified additional Serbian soldiers equipped with a RPG, ready to fire and aimed toward the retreating truck. Evan immediately fired a shot at the RPG operator, hitting him in the head – the RPG launched at the ground just in front of them, exploded, injuring the remaining soldiers.
It was suddenly silent. Evan scanned the area with his weapon and his senses. There were no tangos in the nearby vicinity. He wandlessly stunned the wounded soldiers, ensuring they would not be an immediate threat to him. Then he took a few moments to meditate and take stock of his and his team's situation. They were out a transmitter, low on ammunition, and 200km behind armistice lines – essentially enemy territory. LT had the map of the area. Evan searched each of the Serbian soldiers and the compound. He still had his invisible bottomless bag he had made with Hermione almost a year ago (was it that long?). RPGs, grenades, two Kalashnikovs and ammo were wandlessly miniaturized and placed in the bag. He found a map on the Serbian Captain, killed in the compound. Then he went to the remains of the helicopter. Using Kuji-Kiri, he caused the flames to diminish and go out. The bodies of the pilot, co-pilot and crew were badly burnt. Steeling himself, he cooled them, transfigured them into diamonds (carbon-to-carbon transformation was less difficult than transforming to other materials) and placed them in a sealed pouch. He didn't find much else that was in a condition to be useful. Evan glanced at his commando watch – it was now 15:30 – 30 minutes; a lifetime for some. Evan exhaled, thinking of Hermione, how much he loved her.
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