by Elle James
As the sun dipped low on the horizon, Jake settled into his position and memorized what lay between him and the village. He’d sneak in from the direction of the hills, the same way he’d gotten out with Alex.
As he waited in the shadow of a tree, surrounded by underbrush, a herd of goats ambled toward him, followed by a child of ten or eleven years old.
The herd paused to nibble on the bushes concealing Jake.
As much as he wanted to shoo them away, Jake remained still, hoping the goats and the child would eventually move on without noticing the SEAL with the gun hiding in the brush.
That was not to be the case. A particularly frisky goat kid bounced around the bush in front of Jake, nibbled on the leaves and poked his head through the branches, coming face-to-face with Jake.
Jake blew a stream of air into the kid’s face, hoping to scare off the little pest.
The child followed the kid, reached in to pull the baby goat out of the brush and froze when he spotted Jake.
“It’s okay.” Jake spoke in his broken French and held up his hand. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
The boy looked from Jake back toward the village where an ISIS sentry sat, sleeping against a tree. When he turned back to Jake, he eased away from the brush, pulling the kid with him.
“Do you know Miss Parker?” he asked.
The boy backed up another step.
What did they call Alex here in the village? Why hadn’t he thought to ask her? If Jake didn’t capture the boy’s trust and attention in the next second, the child would take off toward the village and alert the ISIS militants of the man in the bushes. He’d have the entire group of ISIS fighters swarming over him in less time than it took for him to say I come in peace.
“Miss Alex sent me,” Jake said. “The teacher who worked with Reverend Townsend and his wife. She sent me to help.”
The boy stopped his backward progression and narrowed his eyes. “You know Miss Alex?” The boy spoke in English.
“Yes,” Jake said. “I was with her this morning. What’s your name?”
“I am Jolani. Miss Alex was teaching me to read and speak English. We love Miss Alex. Is she all right? Is she safe?”
Jake nodded. “She’s in Niamey. She sent me to find Reverend and Mrs. Townsend.”
Jolani glanced over his shoulder toward the sentry, who’d just woken from his brief nap in the heat of the afternoon. “You must go. If they find you here, they will kill you. Tell Miss Alex to stay away. It is not safe here.”
“I’ll tell her. But first, can you tell me if the reverend and his wife are still alive?”
The boy nodded, his eyes rounding. “He’s coming,” the boy said.
The sentry who had been asleep a moment before rose from the ground and started toward the boy and Jake’s spot.
“I must go,” the boy said.
“Please. Are the reverend and his wife alive?”
Jolani nodded and whispered, “They are being held prisoner in the biggest hut in the village. They are guarded by many ISIS men. You will not be able to help them. Go back. Tell Miss Alex not to come. She cannot help them.”
“I’ll tell her,” Jake said.
But the boy had already moved away from the bush, herding the goats toward the man dressed all in black, blocking him from advancing toward Jake’s hiding place.
Jake wished he could protect Jolani instead of the boy protecting him by diverting the militant fighter.
Hope swelled in Jake’s chest. The Townsends were still alive. The next hurdle he faced was getting them through the gauntlet of ISIS soldiers to safety.
Chapter Thirteen
No matter how hard she tried to convince the embassy motor pool staff to loan her a vehicle, they refused, claiming they had to keep a number of the vehicles on hand for staff needs. They’d already loaned out two to various navy men.
Alex’s fists clenched. “When did the men leave?”
“One before daylight. The others are just now loading up.” The attendant called out after Alex’s quickly departing figure, “They were in a hurry. They might already be gone.”
Then Alex would run after them and chase them down. She’d be damned if they left her behind. That was her village and her friends being held captive. If she could help in any way, she would.
As she rounded the corner of the building, an SUV pulled out of the motor pool parking lot.
Diesel was behind the wheel, and Harm sat in the passenger seat. The others were seated in the rear.
Without thinking beyond her immediate needs, Alex leaped in front of the moving vehicle.
Diesel slammed on the brakes, bringing the big SUV to a screeching halt, but not before bumping Alex.
The impact wasn’t hard enough to hurt her, but she fell to the ground, forcing them to stop and check on her.
Diesel shoved the gearshift into Park and jumped out. “Alex, are you all right?”
All five of the navy SEALs were out of the vehicle, surrounding her.
Alex lay for a moment with her eyes closed, letting them think the worst. Served them right for excluding her from Jake’s rescue mission.
When Buck bent down, rolled her onto her back and felt for a pulse, Alex grabbed his wrist and opened her eyes. “I’m fine, but you’re taking me with you.”
Buck glanced up at T-Mac. “She’s all yours.”
T-Mac shook his head. “Alex, Jake needed to know you wouldn’t follow him. I promised I’d make sure that didn’t happen.” He bent down and reached for her hand. “Come on, Alex.”
“I’m going with you guys.” She took his hand to allow him to help her up.
T-Mac jerked her to her feet, doubled over and shoved his shoulder into her midsection.
Alex hadn’t expected the move and flopped over onto T-Mac’s back as he lifted her in a fireman’s carry. “What the hell, T-Mac. Put me in the SUV. I’m going with you.”
“Can’t take you, Alex. A promise is a promise.” T-Mac waved at the others as they climbed into the SUV. “Take care of Jake and let me know if I can do anything back here to help. As soon as you’re out of communication, I’ll place the call to the CO and see if he wants to contribute more assets to this mission.”
“Thanks, T-Mac, for taking one for the team,” Harm said as he climbed into the passenger seat.
“What did he just say?” Alex kicked and squirmed against the iron arm clamped around her legs. “Let me down.”
“Not until the others are gone.”
“I’ll just find another way to get to the village. You can’t hold me captive forever. The embassy staff will arrest you.”
“Nope. I don’t think so.” T-Mac carried her in through a side door of the embassy and climbed the stairwell to the second floor. Every time she tried to scream, T-Mac bounced her hard, knocking the air from her diaphragm.
They were in his room before she could draw attention to her plight, and, sadly, the others were long gone.
When T-Mac finally set her on her feet, she crumpled to the floor and gave in to the tears burning the backs of her eyelids. “I only wanted to help.”
“You’ll help best by staying out of it. Jake and the others need to focus on the job at hand. If you’re out there, they’ll be distracted from the mission.” T-Mac booted up his computer. “You can help me convince my commander that the team needs additional support. He might take it better from you since you know the missionaries personally.”
“Anything to help Jake and the others.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks and rose from the floor. “Call him.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll bring him up on video.” T-Mac worked his magic with the laptop and a few minutes later, a man with short-cropped hair, wearing a navy camouflage uniform, popped up on the screen.
“T-Mac, give a current sitrep. I’ve g
ot the State Department breathing down my neck about the ISIS attack in the Tillabéri region. What more have you learned?”
“Sir, the good news is Big Jake was able to recover the teacher colocated with the American missionaries in the village where we were attacked. The bad news is the reverend and his wife are still missing.”
“The State Department wants us to back down. They had a call from our ambassador in Niger. He’s concerned our meddling will undermine the Niger forces and national government. We’re to stand down and let their military handle the situation.”
Alex’s heart slid into the pit of her belly. Jake and his team weren’t going to get any help.
“Uh, sir,” T-Mac said. “I’m afraid it’s too late.”
The commander’s scowl filled the screen. “What do you mean it’s too late?”
“Big Jake and the others are on their way now to the village in an effort to extract the missionaries.”
The CO cursed and pounded the desk in front of him. “Who the hell authorized the mission?”
“No one, sir.”
“Sir, if I may interrupt.” Alex stepped into the screen view.
“Who the hell are you? T-Mac, what’s a civilian doing in a classified briefing?”
“Sir, this is Alexandria Parker, the American Big Jake helped to escape the village.”
“Sir, Jake and the others are going after Reverend Townsend and his wife because time is of the essence. If we had waited for permission, they might not be alive to rescue. And if T-Mac and the others hadn’t imprisoned me, I’d be with them now.”
“Ma’am,” the commander said, “I understand your concern, but what those men do is a reflection on the American military. The Niger president doesn’t want us mucking around in his country. We have to respect his wishes. Otherwise, we might start an international incident.”
“The reverend and his wife are American citizens,” Alex argued. “We can’t leave them to the mercy of ISIS. They’re kind, gentle people who came to help the poor and sick.”
“I understand. But they had to know the risks involved in coming to an African country,” the commander said.
“Sir,” T-Mac interrupted, “no matter what they want us to do, our men are going in and we don’t have communication equipment to call them off. What can we do to make sure we don’t have to collect them in body bags?”
Alex stared at the man on the screen. “Those are good men. Please tell me you’re going to help them.”
The commander sighed. “This better be the last time I have to bail out my men when they take matters into their own hands. I have a mind to redeploy you six back stateside. You’re more trouble than you’re worth at this point.” He ran his hand over his face. “Here’s what I’m going to do. It might be a little too late.”
Alex released a sigh and listened to the plan. Then, while T-Mac took notes, she slipped out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. As soon as she was out of T-Mac’s sight, she ran down the hallway to the emergency exit. She was outside the embassy and hurrying toward a taxi stand when a vehicle rolled up beside her. She moved out of the way, but the driver swerved closer. As the long dark body of an SUV slid to a stop, the door swung open.
Alex didn’t have time to jump back.
A man reached forward, grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth with a cloth.
She fought, but the sweet scent covering her nose made her so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Alex was lifted and deposited onto the floorboard of the vehicle, and it sped away into a dark abyss.
Chapter Fourteen
Out of habit, Jake placed his headset in his ear. The team didn’t go into any mission without the proper communication equipment. They depended on the ability to talk to one another and share what they were seeing from different angles.
For this mission, Jake was on his own. He wouldn’t have backup. His team wasn’t there to cover for him. Teamwork was what made the navy SEALs such an incredible force to reckon with. They’d learned in BUD/S training to rely on each other to get through the hard times.
Then why had he insisted on coming alone?
With no time to second-guess his decision, Jake waited for the darkness to cloak the village and make the sentries lazy and sleepy.
As soon as all sunlight had leached from the sky and the stars came out to light his way, Jake made his move. Ducking low, he ran from bush to tree to bush, keeping to the darker shadows and staying out of the open areas as much as possible. Within a few minutes, he was past the sentry he’d been watching and inside the perimeter, and had come to the first mud-and-stick hut.
Moving with the reflexes and stealth of a cat, he crept through the village streets, angling toward the big hut at the center. What he wouldn’t give to have some of his buddies providing cover while he moved forward. Their method of leapfrogging forward had saved them on numerous occasions when they’d been surprised by a sniper perched on top of a building.
He’d reached the corner of a smaller hut across from his target when his headset crackled and a voice came over.
“Big Jake, you out there?” a familiar voice asked.
“Harm? That you, buddy?” he whispered.
“Roger,” Harm responded. “The gang’s all here, minus T-Mac.”
Jake tensed. “Alex?”
“T-Mac’s pulling guard duty back at the capital.”
Jake let go of the breath he’d been holding. He owed T-Mac big-time.
“Where are you?” Harm asked.
“South side of the biggest hut in the village, about to make my move.”
“Good. I’ve got your back. Buck just eliminated one of the guards on the back side of the big hut.”
“There are two Tangos at the front door,” Jake noted. “I’ll take the guy on the right.”
“I’ve got Lefty,” Harm said. “On three?”
“On three,” Jake agreed.
“One...two...three,” Harm counted.
Jake looked both ways, slipped out of his hiding place, sneaked up on the right side of the hut’s front and grabbed the man on the right half-dozing against the wall of the building.
At the same time, a shadowy figure came out of seemingly nowhere and snagged the guy on the left. Neither of the sentries had time to cry out before they were dispatched.
Jake eased open the door to the hut. In the limited light from the stars outside, Jake could see a short corridor stretched to the opposite end of the structure. There were doors on each side of the hallway and one at the end.
The doors on the sides had handles but no locks on the exterior. The entry at the other end of the corridor had a latch and a lock securing it on the outside. Jake figured they’d found the missionaries. Who else would they keep locked up? The rest of the villagers seemed to be going about their normal business, maybe short some of their able-bodied men.
Now that they’d found them, getting the missionaries out wouldn’t be as quiet as Jake had hoped. But he’d brought along something to help in what he did best—explosives.
He pressed a small wad of C-4 against the hasp, set the detonator into it and backed up to the other doors on the side where Harm waited, his knife drawn.
The two men covered their ears and hunkered down as Jake pressed the button.
A soft version of an explosion sent dust flying, and the lock dropped to the ground.
That was when the fun began.
Men ran out of the two side doors.
Jake and Harm were ready, taking down the first men out on both sides easily. The next ones put up a fight, but were quickly subdued. Their jobs weren’t done until they cleared the rooms and checked for any other fighters.
Jake stood to the side of the open door, inhaled deeply and dived through, then rolled across the ground and came up in front of a surprised ISIS rebel holdin
g a rifle.
Jake had moved so quickly, the rebel was still aiming chest-high at the door. As he rose to his feet, Jake caught the weapon and pushed the muzzle toward the ceiling. The rifle went off.
“Shouldn’t have done that,” Jake said as he jerked the weapon from the man’s hands and bashed the butt against the man’s face, breaking his nose.
The man went down, and Jake dispatched him with his knife.
“I hope you two are done playing around in there,” Diesel’s voice came across the headset. “You’re going to have company soon. Get out while the going’s good. We’ve cleared a path to the south toward the hills. But you have to move now.”
An old man and woman crouched on the floor in the corner of the room, holding each other in their arms.
“Reverend Townsend?” Jake held out a hand.
The old man laid his hand in Jake’s. “Yes. That’s me.”
“Alex sent us. But we have to get you two out of here. Are you able to move on your own?”
“My wife may need a little help, but I can.”
“Then let’s get out of here.” Jake hooked an arm around Mrs. Townsend and half carried her to the door leading out of the hut, stepping over the ISIS fighters they’d taken out of the running.
“We need cover,” Harm said into his headset.
“Gotcha covered,” Diesel said. “Go!”
Jake and Harm guided the older couple out of the hut and through the streets of the village.
Gunfire filled the night as Diesel, Buck and Pitbull made it sound as though an entire brigade had descended on the ISIS fighters. They had to move quickly since their supply of ammunition was low and they had a long hike to the SUV.
When Jake and Harm had their charges out of the village and well on their way to the hidden vehicles, Jake let the others know they could abandon the village and make their way to their predetermined rendezvous.
“Get out before they fire up their trucks and flood us with headlights,” Jake said into his mic.
A chuckle came over his headset. “Got that covered,” Buck’s voice chimed in. “Diesel cut their battery cables. They won’t be flooding anything but their engines trying to start their vehicles.”
