20

After twenty minutes of running, I’m far enough from the operation site to stop and think about a possible plan. My options are few, considering that I have no transportation, the intercom still doesn’t work, despite my numerous attempts, and the nearest hospital is no less than a nonstop eight-hour run. Lipovsky won’t be able to hold on that long. Hell, even these twenty minutes on top of the time he’s been unconscious are a stretch. He's getting hotter, his lips are bluer, and he needs emergency care soon. In our initial scouting of the area, we found a few villages near the warehouse that the insurgents have used for their supplies. It’s how we managed to locate them in the first place. Thirty minutes by car equals an hour-and-a-half walk. Or an hour run. Considering I’m carrying extra weight and moving through heavy snow, it could be more. An hour is too long for him, but I have no other choice. Either that or I leave him to die. I put him on the ground and remove my vest, then his