Lola breaks away from Books' broken body. She stands up and wipes her bloody hands over her uniform. She stares down at Sophia who still tries to save Books' life.
"It's over," Lola says.
"No!" Sophia yells.
Lola turns to Jedi. "We must go. You will drive the Australians' Humvee."
"Lloyd?" Jedi asks. He looks sad.
Lola shakes her head. "There is nothing left of him."
"What about Books?"
"He is finished. We have tried."
Dazed, Jedi bows his head and trudges over to the Australian Humvee.
"Hang in there, kid," Matt calls after him.
"Sure, yeah . . . I . . . I . . ." Jedi stammers.
Lola tells Matt, "Look after him."
"Okay, but do the same for me." Matt nods towards Sophia.
Matt catches up with Jedi and puts an arm around his shoulder.
Lola rests a tender hand on Sophia's shoulder. "Come now—we must go."
"If we move him, he'll die." Sophia feels for a pulse on Books' neck.
"He is dead now. You must see this. We leave him. We have little time."
"I can't," Sophia pleads.
"Stay with him and you'll die here, too. The next container is close. He has died a warrior, so we have a chance to live. Give him this, or else his death means nothing."
Sophia refuses to move and stays next to Books' shattered body. With delicate touches, she wipes the blood from his face.
Lola turns to Cutter and Jim. "Get the cases—we use the Australians' truck to travel in."
"We need our machine gun—the grenade fucked up theirs big time," Cutter says.
"Do it," Lola orders.
Cutter and Jim run to the crippled American Humvee and begin to release the heavy M2 from its mount. Jedi and Matt unload the cases. Together, they transfer all the hardware over to the white truck.
As Lola walks over to the Australian Humvee she spots a small piece of hard white plastic on the ground. She picks it up and studies it.
"What you got?" Cutter calls over as he helps Jim heave the machine gun up into the gun turret.
"A piece of their case—destroyed."
"Which means we're going need to find that Australian container to stand any chance of finding their code," Jim says.
"Better be the next one on the kid's map," Cutter says. He pushes the Australians' mangled M2 over the side of the gun turret. It clatters and bounces down the side of the Humvee.
Matt tries to start his bike. The engine fails to fire. He jumps off the battered KTM and lets it fall to the ground. "Busted!" He runs over to Lola's discarded bike, starts it, and then idles it back over to the Americans.
Cutter finishes attaching the Americans' heavy machine gun to its new mount.
Jim collects Jedi's notebook and the remote from the disabled American Humvee. He hands them to Jedi. "You'll be needing these, Son."
"I guess. Hey, Jim?"
"Yep?"
"Tough times don't last forever, right?"
Jim pats Jedi on the back. "I'm proud of you. You're made of the right stuff."
"You mean like old-school?"
"Yeah, Son, you're old-school—so keep walking tall for me, okay?"
"Sure." Jedi pauses, then asks, "Jim?"
"Son?"
"Thanks."
Jim nods a you're welcome.
Matt parks Lola's KTM close by.
The Americans gather around Books' body.
Lola kneels down next to Sophia and puts an arm around her and whispers, "You have to leave him. His time has come."
Sophia's head drops. She bites her lip and talks to herself, "We're not leaving him, not here, in this hell."
"We must go." Lola's voice becomes firmer.
"But he'll be—alone." Sophia rocks back and away from Books' body. She raises her blood-soaked hands in front of her and stares at them.
"Sophia?" Matt's concerned.
She ignores him and becomes fixated with the blood. She brings her hands close to her face.
Matt tries again, "Hey, Sophia—you gotta snap out of it."
Sophia touches her face with her finger and then smears a single stripe of Books' blood down her cheek.
Jim steps toward her.
"No," Lola says. "Let her be."
Sophia wipes more blood onto her face, neck and forehead. She covers herself in the red war paint and works in silence.
The Americans watch her, transfixed.
Finished, Sophia once again makes eye contact with her team. Her demeanor changes. She clenches her fists into two tight balls, and through gritted teeth, spits out, "We're . . . Americans." She is without fear. She stands up and glances over at Lola. "All of us. We're all Americans now—we share the blood that's been spilled here." She points down at Books' body. "He comes with us. We don't leave him. Understand this."
Lola picks up Sophia's discarded M16 and throws it to her.
Sophia catches the machine gun. She unclips and tosses away the M16's empty magazine, then clips in a full magazine. She rams it in place with a slap of her palm.
The Americans all do the same and arm their weapons.
Sophia, feet apart, gun in hand, snarls out at the Americans, "Now, let's go and do this fucking thing."
