Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Escaping the Dead) Read Online Free PDF

of
life.  As they got closer to Hairatan they started to see more and more
abandoned vehicles.  Some looked as if they had been trampled; others were
rolled over with shattered windshields. 
    Henry carefully
navigated around the broken and battered vehicles but the congested road soon
got to where it was almost impassable.  Henry eased the vehicle to the
shoulder and prepared to go off road to skirt a large bus that was broken down
blocking the left lane.  Henry pushed the accelerator and the MRAP began
to climb the embankment.
    “No! Stop!” Cole yelled
from the gunners hatch.
    Henry hit the brakes
and the vehicle slammed forward then stopped. 
    “What is it?” Brad
asked. 
    Cole pointed forward.
Brad opened his door and stood in its frame to get a better vantage
point.  Ahead and off to the side, he saw the missing MRAP.
    It looked like they had
attempted the same maneuver to get around the bus.  They must have climbed
the embankment and tried to skirt around the bus when it lost traction and slid
into the deep ditch at the other side of the bus.  The MRAP and ditch were
out of view of Henry and he never would have seen until it was too late. 
Brad asked Henry to back up, and then they all got out and wearily approached
the disabled MRAP.
    Just like the abandoned
truck on the road, this truck also had its mounted gun removed.  Brad took
that as a good sign.  When they got closer they could see that the crew
spent a considerable amount of time trying to recover the vehicle.  They
saw spare tires and cables tied and propped under the MRAP in every position
imaginable to try and right it.  There was no sign of the crew, and this
time there was no note.  The vehicle was empty and they took everything
removable with them.  It looked like they must have lost the fight with it
and were forced to abandon the truck.  Brad was hoping he wouldn’t have to
make the same decision.
    The bus blocking the
road was wedged in tight and there didn’t seem to be any way around it. 
The other side of the road had a sharp drop off.  Brad approached a car
near that side and looked inside, the keys were missing and the windshield was
smashed out.  It looked like the last owner of the car had been dragged through
it.  Brad reached through the window and put the car in neutral and
started to push it.  Méndez picked up on what Brad was doing and leaned
into the back of the car.  They pushed hard and Brad steered the car out
over the edge of the cliff.
    Brad instructed Henry
to follow them down the now cleared up lane.  Cole stayed in the turret to
provide cover while Eric and Méndez helped him push vehicles over the
side.  It was hard work but eventually they had made it through the pileup
and the MRAP had room to maneuver again.  Eric got back inside the truck
while Brad and Méndez elected to ride on the hood.  They were starting to
approach the outer edge of the city of Hairatan.  The road forked and Brad
instructed Henry to stick to the north fork which would take them along the
river and to the Afghan army post.  As they approached, Brad could start
to make out the steel girded Friendship Bridge which connected Afghanistan to
Uzbekistan, an important trade route and path for military shipments.  He
wasn’t happy that he could already tell the bridge looked heavily damaged, and
some vehicles even appeared to be burning. 
    The head of the bridge
on the Afghan side is barricaded and you can’t just drive up to it.  Brad
instructed Henry to move the MRAP up onto the railway bed that ran parallel to
the road, and around the barriers.  The MRAP slowly climbed the railroad tracks
and eased into the customs station.  Strangely, there were no train cars,
and the inspection station was eerily quiet.  Brad and Méndez dismounted
with Eric while Cole stood watch in the turret.  Brad asked Henry to kill
the engine while they listened.
    They heard them before
they saw them, four males and a female running towards