Code of Conduct Read Online Free PDF Page B

a route between the road and wherever Jessica Decker was. Once he had her, and they were making their escape, the shooters would give them cover and then join them in their retreat, “rolling” the cigar as they worked backward toward the vehicles. But that was one of the spots where Mr. Murphy would be waiting with the vehicles.
    They needed to keep the Land Cruisers running and ready to go. There was no telling how many rebels they might have on their tail as they tore through the jungle. It would be a death sentence to arrive at the road and discover that something had happened to their only means of ultimate escape. They couldn’t risk leaving the vehicles.
    Judging by the little he knew about Ash, the Brit wouldn’t like Harvath’s plan. Ash was a good man, a soldier. He’d want to go into the jungle too, but Harvath couldn’t ask him to do that. It wasn’t right. Not with how much had already been kept from him and his team.
    Harvath decided to go with the picket.

CHAPTER 5
----
    A sh looked at Harvath in disbelief. “That’s got to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Four blokes from the Regiment— four —and you want us to mind the car park? Are you out of your tree?”
    “It’s a SEAL thing,” Harvath responded. “Don’t take it personally.”
    “The hell it is. You have no idea what’s waiting for you in there. If it goes pear-shaped, you’re going to need backup.”
    “Give me a radio,” he replied. “If anything happens, I’ll call you.”
    “Sure you will, Superman,” Ash said as he walked away to get a radio. “Bloody Americans.”
    Even though Ash didn’t like it, the picket was the right way to do this, and he knew it.
    Harvath walked over and checked on Simon and Eddie. It was amazing how fast they moved. He could almost sense a rivalry between the two as they fieldstripped the dead rebels’ AK-47s, wiped everything down, and rapidly reassembled them. Lives depended on those weapons working, specifically the lives of Scot Harvath and Jessica Decker.
    Mick duct-taped magazines together so that all Harvath would have to do was spin a spent mag upside down in order to reinsert a fresh one. He knew, though, that if Harvath needed a second mag for any of these weapons, it was because he was in more trouble than a second mag was likely to ever help him get out of.
    “Here’s your radio,” Ash said, handing it to him. “Don’t be afraid to use it.”
    “I won’t,” Harvath replied as he worked the bone microphone into his ear.
    After a quick commo check, Harvath pocketed a stack of loaded Glock mags and shouldered six AK-47s. It was a rough load, but he had humped worse. It would get lighter as he got closer to Decker. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
    “You’ll want these too,” Ash remarked as he gave him a handful of mini chemical light sticks.
    Harvath thanked him, and without another word, turned and headed off in the direction Dr. Decker had been led into the jungle.
    The great thing about the British SAS was that they viewed war the same way the American Special Operations community did. You didn’t win by thinking inside the box and following someone else’s rules. You turned the box upside down and made your own rules, no matter what the enemy threw at you.
    Just as they had found a way to suppress their Glocks, they had also found a way to lay their hands on a pair of night vision goggles.
    As Harvath picked his way through the jungle’s total darkness with them, he was thankful for the team’s ingenuity. Using a flashlight would have been like taking out a billboard telling the bad guys he was coming and when he was going to be there. With what he had planned, he preferred that they not have any advance notice. Surprise was one of the things he needed to keep on his side.
    Though it wasn’t raining, it might as well have been. Everything was damp and drops of water continued to roll off the heavy tree canopy high above.