Fatih, holding his breath, burst out from where he had taken cover. As soon as he took a step, deafening gunshot sounds echoed. As bullets pounded the ground around him, he took refuge behind the metal door under the radar tower's lantern with a sudden reflex.
His eyes turned upward in panic.
Deniz was on the last two steps.
"Jump down! I'LL CATCH YOU!" he shouted with all his strength.
Deniz, without any hesitation, as if she were a soldier under his command for years, unhooked the steel rope clasp and let herself fall into the void.
Fatih opened his arms.
Deniz's body crashed violently into his chest, he was shaken but maintained his balance. He quickly pulled her behind the door.
Deniz's breathing was irregular, her heart felt like it would burst from her chest. She fixed her eyes on Fatih's eyes. Astonishment, fear, trust... everything was there.
"Fatih..." she whispered.
Fatih couldn't look away from her eyes for a moment, then his brow furrowed.
"Just take cover! Don't move until I finish this job!"
Deniz, with sweat dripping from her temples, nodded gently.
As Fatih straightened up again, he took out his knife. He held the shining handle to the sun, trying to get visibility with the reflected light. Movements among the grass...
There were three of them. No uniforms, no organization symbols. But the weapons in their hands and their hiding places showed they weren't amateurs.
He quickly checked his magazine. Ready.
First shot. Then second.
The two targets at close range collapsed to the ground instantly. The third wasn't visible. Maybe he was looking for them too. Either Fatih would take him down... or vice versa.
He didn't even want to think about the reverse, because there was someone he wanted to protect with his whole soul!
At that moment, his eyes slid to Deniz.
Huddled in the corner, she was protecting her head with her hands. This whole scene... was a gamble.
And Fatih had to play this gamble. With a deep breath, he suddenly burst from his position.
Just as he expected, bullets immediately surrounded him. He grasped the target's direction in an instant. Swerving to the side, he took aim and fired.
The third man's body was thrown backward and slammed to the ground.
Fatih returned to Deniz's side and took cover again, in case there were other attackers.
Everything had calmed down. But it shouldn't have been this simple... Were there only three of them? What was their purpose, so unplanned and amateurish?
When he turned to Deniz, he found her still crouched. But this time it was different. Cold sweat covered her face.
"Deniz... it's over. You're safe. Why are you trembling like this?"
Deniz was crouched on the ground. She had covered her face with her hands, pulled her knees to her stomach. Her body had cocooned itself as if she were a small child.
Fatih immediately knelt beside her. "Deniz?" he said but got no response.
Deniz's eyes were vacant, her breathing rapid. The trembling sounds coming from her throat made it clear she was trying to suppress something.
Fatih sat on his knees in panic and reached for Deniz's hands with both of his.
"It's over. Do you hear me? The attack is over," he said.
But Deniz's eyes didn't meet his. It was as if she was in a trance, as if all her connection to the world had been severed.
Fatih paused for a moment, then leaned forward and took her face between his palms.
"Deniz... look at me. Look in my eyes. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm here, okay? Nothing will happen. You're safe now!"
Deniz's eyes slowly focused. Her trembling lips parted. Then suddenly, as if all the emotions accumulated inside her overflowed, she clung to Fatih's chest.
Fatih surrendered to Deniz's rapid heartbeat he felt on his chest. He took this crazy woman in his arms and hugged her tightly...
Minutes passed quickly. Deniz had slowly balanced her pulse, as if taking strength from Fatih.
Like a small cat, she turned her gaze to Fatih.
Fatih looked carefully at the woman looking at him from under his neck. Her tear-dried face had relaxed.
But suddenly he felt a fine pain in his neck. Deniz's hands had involuntarily slipped to his shoulders, then to his neck, her nails slightly penetrating his skin. She had clung tightly. From fear.
Despite the pain, Fatih didn't move. He just wrapped her in his arms and his heart was beating fast.
They stayed like that for a while.
Then Deniz pulled back with a small sigh. Her eyes were red.
But she suddenly flinched at the sight she saw. There was blood on the tips of her nails. Her eyes immediately wandered over Fatih and she noticed his neck.
With an embarrassed expression on her face:
"I'm sorry... I didn't realize what I was doing," she murmured.
Fatih rubbed his neck. He grinned with slight pain.
"If this is you not realizing, I'm honestly scared. If you had squeezed a little more, my carotid artery could have burst. You're pretty good at close combat," he said with pleasure.
Deniz smiled but was embarrassed. Her eyes slid to the ground.
Fatih tilted his head to the side, smiling:
"Look, if someone at headquarters asks about these scratch marks... I'll say stray cat. Actually, a slightly angry female stray cat... Let's get our story straight now, so our cover doesn't get blown later," he said.
Deniz was now laughing with laughter.
"You're seriously not normal!" she said, wiping her eyes.
Fatih giggled too.
"No, I'm serious. We can't write in the reports 'Scratch on neck occurred due to psychological effect while engineer lady was crying her eyes out.' The cat story is more believable," he said.
Seeing Deniz's laughter, he continued to relax her a bit more.
"By the way, you know about these things? A woman once scratched a duty sergeant with a red pen. The gossip circulated in headquarters for days. I can't let myself fall into those situations."
Deniz reached out her hand while laughing, took a look at Fatih's face and body.
"Are you okay though?" she asked.
Fatih sighed. "I'm better now. As long as you're down here... I think I'll survive a bit longer," he said.
They paused for a moment. They looked at each other in the silence. Both were feeling a crazy passion and love for each other right now...
Then Fatih took a deep breath and picked up his gun.
"Wait here. I need to check the bodies."
Deniz didn't say anything. Just knowing that there were dead human bodies a few meters away made her soul heavy. Did Fatih always live like this? Her eyes filled but she didn't show it. She just nodded.
Fatih silently left the cover, carefully advancing toward the point where the enemies had fallen.
The first man was lifeless on the ground. He searched him. ID, documents... nothing.
Same situation with the second and third person.
It was as if... someone had sent these men just to perish.
But a strange symbol engraved on the third man's gun grip caught his attention: A die. One of the six faces was marked. "3".
Fatih examined it with narrowed eyes. He had seen this mark before. But where?
Old files came to his mind, operation documents left with 'closed' status years ago.
Armenia's biggest drug and arms trafficking baron had been taken down about 10 years ago. This symbol had been seen and documented on the weapons and tattoos of his men captured in the country.
The numbers and codes on it were "chance groups" that grew unnoticed in mountain groups, whose names weren't even known... But he couldn't be sure.
He was startled by Deniz's voice.
"Did you find something?"
Fatih quickly removed the grip's cover and put it in his jacket pocket.
"No. Ordinary weapons. No ID. Probably smugglers or... trained civilian units."
Deniz bowed her head.
"So we still don't know why they attacked?"
Fatih shrugged. "Yes!"
But what was on his mind was obvious.
Deniz, understanding the environment was safe, came out from the cover area. Fatih, as soon as he turned his eyes to the vehicle, grimaced.
"I think we're in trouble..." he said.
Deniz immediately headed over.
"What happened?"
Fatih bent down and looked at the tires. Each of them was shredded with bullet pellets.
He tried the radio. Only static.
Deniz turned to Fatih with fear.
"The armed forces, what if they don't come to find us?" she said.
Fatih looked around. Then his eyes caught on the mountainous area.
That was... on the northwest slope of the radar tower. Steep, rocky but there was a hollow where they could take cover.
He pointed there.
"We need to go there. We're open targets here. If they come back... we won't have a chance this time," he said.
Deniz seemed about to object, "But they know we're here. What if they can't find us when we're there!" but Fatih looked into her eyes.
Fatih fixed his eyes on Deniz with a calm tone of voice. "According to military procedure... if the area can't be reached within four hours, a second team is dispatched. Don't worry. A helicopter will be here by evening at the latest."
There was fear in Deniz's eyes but she trusted Fatih. "Okay," she murmured.
Fatih quickly headed to the trunk of the vehicle. He took the emergency bag, water bottles, and a box of rations.
He wanted to keep Deniz calm, her earlier panic state had frightened Fatih.
"Are you ready, engineer lady?" he said with a mocking expression.
Deniz raised her eyebrows.
"After the trauma I experienced, you're forcing me to climb a mountain? How can I be okay! I'm going to fill out a complaint form about you," she said.
Fatih laughed out loud.
"Remind me and I'll fill out a form too. A cat scratched me after all, I even had life-threatening danger..." he said.
Deniz shook her head from side to side with a smile. She had understood that Fatih was forcing himself to make jokes to keep her calm, and this seemed even sweeter to her...
They caught their breath and together set off toward the area where they would hide...
Walking toward the mountain slope seemed easy at first, but the terrain was challenging. Pebbles slipped under their feet, dry thorns tangled in their pant legs.
Fatih was in front, Deniz behind. Fatih occasionally turned to look at her, adjusting the pace according to her slowing down.
Though Deniz tried to stand upright at first, she stopped after a few steps. She put her hands on her knees and murmured breathlessly.
"Fatih, could we slow down a bit? My boot is full of stones," she said.
Fatih looked around, "Okay, let's catch our breath but you gave up too quickly," he said.
Deniz murmured with a mocking attitude, fixing her gaze, "Please write this in your report too. Have them pick me up by helicopter on the next mission," she said.
Fatih was laughing at this crazy woman making jokes even in this situation. The things she had experienced were events that would make even a soldier panic, let alone a normal person. But Deniz was resisting quite well.
He smiled, "Alright, engineer lady, I'll definitely add it to my report," he said.
Now, his only thought was to take shelter somewhere as soon as possible and wait for help...