“No, whore, you’re mine,” he rattled, closing his fingers more tightly around her slender throat.
Bay gurgled. A scream jammed in her throat. She lifted her hands to break the hold he had on her neck, but two more guards were there, pinning her arms above her head.
“Strip her,” he roared to the other two guards behind him. “Pull down her trousers!”
Breathing raggedly, her nostrils flaring, she felt Khogani’s hatred flood through her. He kept his grip, barely allowing her to suck a little air into her oxygen-starved body. Bay struggled violently, grunting. His hands jerked at her waistband, yanking the trousers off her hips, pulling them down below her ankles and off her feet. She sobbed and fought.
“You don’t know when to quit,” Mustafa snarled in her face, watching her eyes dim, watching her mouth contort into a soundless scream. He leaned back, feeling for her underwear. Catching the cloth, he jerked the material, ripping it away. He grinned, watching her eyes flare with fear and disgust.
“Yesssss,” he hissed near her ear, “that’s good. You’re scared now, aren’t you?” He gave a low laugh. “And you’re mine. I’m going to make you regret you’re a woman. When I’m done with you, no man will ever want you again. I intend to keep you around. You will be my personal sex slave….”
His fingers tightened more around her soft throat. Bay choked and fought, trying to jerk her hands free. Four soldiers held her arms and legs down. Khogani’s face leered into hers as her vision began to gray. His yellow teeth, the garlic on his breath, his fingers tightening, tightening…
Bay watched her vision dissolving. Felt his other hand groping her, pinching her hip, her thigh, forcing her thighs farther apart. The grayness gathered, and her body convulsed from lack of oxygen. Her eyes rolled upward in her skull. Bay went unconscious from the suffocating hold he had around her throat.
*
PAIN…BAY’S MIND was fuzzy, lingering on pain that forced her awake. She heard herself groan. Bruising, rippling sensations floated up through her lower body. She felt dirty, a terrible sense of shame and helplessness snaking through her. Her face was jammed into the dirt, saliva leaking out of the corner of her mouth, her hair coated with the dust.
Blips of the boy with the broken leg, blips of Khogani laughing, tunneled through her fragmented mind. Closing her eyes, Bay felt her throat aching like fire. It hurt to swallow. It took another ten minutes for her to become fully conscious.
Everything was dark except for some gray light shining from the nearby tunnels. Bay slowly sat up, burning nonstop between her legs. She looked down and saw her trousers nearby. And then, it hit her like a baseball bat to her chest. Gulping unsteadily, tears coming to her eyes, Bay tried to calm herself, tried to think past what had happened. She felt as if someone had torn out her insides. Hesitantly, she tried to sit up and straighten her legs. Every movement hurt.
She looked up and saw a guard, but he was sitting down, leaning against the rocks, sleeping at the entrance. His AK-47 lay nearby as he snored deeply.
Breathing raggedly, Bay knew she had to escape. If she didn’t, Khogani would do this again. And again. She had no memory of the actual rape. Nothing.
She grit her teeth, forced herself to stand up. Dizziness almost knocked her over, but she fought it because if she didn’t, she was dead. Leaning down, Bay slowly, quietly pulled on her trousers, buttoning them with shaking fingers. Warm blood slowly moved down the insides of her thighs.
As she scanned the area, Bay saw that the boy was missing. Her heart cracked, and she bit back a sob. The child had been innocent. Innocent… She pulled on her boots and quietly walked over to her rucksack. She had to take it with her or she’d never survive escape without it. The ruck contained some protein bars she always packed away in case of emergencies. Picking up the empty glass bottle Zmarai gave her, she tucked it into her cammie pocket. She’d need it if she could escape.
Straightening and easing the straps of her ruck across her shoulders, Bay summoned all her energy and attention on stealing that AK-47 lying beside the heavily sleeping guard.
Biting her lower lip, she picked it up and moved as quietly as she could. She knew the cave complex well enough to know where the two entrances were located. At a fork in the tunnel, Bay turned right, heading for the smaller opening, praying there were no guards at the entrance. Oh, God, give me strength to get through this…
It was now or never. She couldn’t stand to have Khogani’s hands on her again. Shivering violently, she reeled through the traumatizing impact of the assault upon her.
Bay wanted to scream out in rage, but she swallowed the urge. Tears burned her eyes as she approached the entrance. It looked open and without guards. Relief, sharp and powerful, raced through her. She crouched behind a rock wall, waiting, listening and watching for any shadowed movement. Maybe the guards were outside the opening?
How she wanted to sprint out of the opening. Wanted to run so damn badly, but she remembered Gabe’s words. He was a sniper. He knew patience. He knew waiting would gain him what he needed to know. She felt his words whisper through her mind, pushing away the sense of humiliation and filth inhabiting her.
Everything remained quiet. Out there, in the night, was her freedom. Her heart turned to Gabe. Oh, God, how would he react to this brutal assault? She loved him so much. Would he turn away from her, not able to touch her again? Bay closed her eyes, tears sliding into the corners of her pursed mouth. Somehow, her heart told her, he would still love her. She had to hold on to hope.
She eased unsteadily to her feet and slipped like a shadow out into the night. As she did, Bay tried to remember everything Gabe had taught her about being a sniper in a hide. His words flowed more strongly through her mind. She squinted, her eyesight adjusting to the night. Overhead, a full moon shone down, a cold and emotionless witness, showing her the goat path south of the cave complex. Relief and terror pounded through Bay as she quickly and silently continued away from the caves. Away from Khogani.
Gabe’s voice, deep and low, remained her guide. His sniper tricks, his concealment skills, flowed through her pained, bruised senses. The farther she got away from the cave, the more hope tunneled through Bay’s rapidly beating heart. Home. She had to get home!
Back home to Gabe.
More than anything, Bay knew he’d love her, hold her, no matter what had happened to her. Tears streaked silently down her drawn cheeks as she allowed herself to let his love flow through her, guide her and keep her sane.
As the grayness preceding dawn crawled upon the eastern horizon, Bay discovered a wadi off the goat path. She had no idea how long she’d run down the path heading south. She’d gotten out her compass from her rucksack at one point, knowing now the direction of the village where she’d been kidnapped. The moon made it easy to trot unsteadily for miles along the thin, rocky goat trail. The air was freezing, but it felt so damned good against her hot, sweaty flesh. Bay drew the clean oxygen deeply into her lungs, fear of being discovered spurring her to keep up the unrelenting pace.
Bay was incredibly weary, feeling the last effects of the adrenaline leave her bloodstream near dawn. She would experience adrenaline crash soon, so she chose a thick stand of brush for cover. Moving into it as quietly as possible, Bay found a small hole between all the heavy limbs. The wadi was narrow and rocky.
As she sat down, Bay heard a slight trickle of water. She shrugged painfully out of the ruck. Water? Was she hearing things? Her mind would flatten out for minutes at a time, and Bay had no idea of who or where she was. She’d fly into a panic, her heart fluttering with abject terror. And then, her mind would give up information and knowledge once more. Unsettled and frightened that her mind wasn’t working right, she fought what felt like insanity stalking her, just as Khogani had stalked her. Bay was more afraid of losing her mind than anything else. Without it, she couldn’t get home to Gabe.
Slowly lying down and rolling over, Bay flattened out on her stomach, searched for and found the w
ater just below the rocks. Quietly pulling a number of stones aside, she created a small pool of water. The water was infested with all kinds of evil bacteria and parasites that could kill a person—that she knew for sure. Sitting up, she opened her ruck, rummaged around and found the purification tablets. She pulled the bottle out of her cammie pocket, placed it on its side in the water, listening to it burp and burble. When it was filled, she dropped two tablets into it and waited.
Her mouth was so dry. She had no idea how far she’d come. She’d need water in order to keep going. People could live weeks without food. They’d die in three to four days without water.
As she sat still, her hearing became acute. The wind was inconstant. The sky was lightening. Bay had to push on because when daylight came Khogani would discover she’d escaped and send out a search party on horseback to find her. They had expert trackers, too.
She didn’t want to think what would happen to her if they caught her. A violent fear shook Bay physically, her body remembering what had been done to it. The sense of being unclean welled up through her. If only she could take a hot, hot shower and have soap so she could clean herself off. She could rid herself of his smell and his greasy hands upon her body.
Wiping her mouth, Bay shook the bottle, dissolving the tablets. She drank deeply and quickly. Four more times, Bay filled the bottle and purified the water before she was ready to get up and keep trotting as far away as she could get from Khogani and his men.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BAY TROTTED ANOTHER three miles before she decided to find a place to lay up for the coming day. Another wadi, this one three thousand feet long down the rocky slope of the mountain, looked like a good place to hide. Gabe’s words about a hide drifted through her mind. Bay couldn’t control her brain. Sometimes, her mind just stopped working, and she felt a horrible sense of abandonment, suddenly confused. But she kept trotting down the trail.
She remembered this was the way home…. Home to Gabe. And then, her mind would return, but not always with the same information or memories. It was driving her to distraction not being able to control her memory. She knew deep shock could create this mental effect. Khogani had struck her so hard against her cheek and temple, he’d probably caused her a Grade Three concussion. That would explain her on again, off again mind antics. Her lower body ached, and she could feel a fever coming. She had to stop and take care of herself medically, or she’d never make it back to Gabe.
Weaving quietly down through the deep stands of trees and brush within the wadi, Bay discovered another spring, this one much larger, about three feet wide and on the surface. She moved at least a thousand feet farther down before feeling safe enough to stop. Shedding the ruck, Bay opened it with trembling hands, seeking and finding antibiotics in one pouch.
She always kept a bar of soap in her pack and pulled it out of the ziplock bag. And a clean washcloth. She pulled on a pair of latex gloves and cleaned herself up the best she could. The fever was taking hold in her lower body, a sign of infection. The blood had stopped leaking down her legs. Quietly as she could, she tore open a battle dressing. It was big enough to clean up the worst of the damage. Filling the water bottle, dropping purification tablets into it, she used that water to dampen the dressing.
Bay didn’t know pain until she tried to take care of herself. By the time she was done, tears were leaking down her tense cheeks, her breath coming out shallow and fast. The medic in her understood that, regardless of pain, the wound area must be cleaned thoroughly or else. Taking off the gloves and dropping them inside the ruck, Bay slowly pulled up her trousers. Every movement was agony as she forced herself to kneel down over the water and wash her face and hands free of the dirt and blood with the soap and the washcloth. Her nose and cheek ached like hell, but the feeling of a cool cloth across the area felt heavenly, if only for a few seconds.
Her entire body was trembling when she finished her ministrations. At least she was cleaner now. Her hands, lower arms, face and neck were washed free of blood and dirt. She was somewhat clean. Next, she took a maximum amount of antibiotics to fight the infection. Feeling light-headed, Bay looked around the grayed area, dark shadows of branches surrounding and hiding her. Gabe’s voice returned. She remembered him telling her never to hide in an obvious place like a wadi; the Taliban would look there first. How badly she wanted to lie down for just a moment and rest.
Fighting to keep her eyes open, Bay slowly pulled the ruck to her side. She groaned softly as she heaved the heavy gear across her shoulders. She had to get out of here.
Moving south of the wadi, at least four hundred feet away from it, Bay found a deep depression behind a group of rocks crowded against one another. Her memory flashed a picture of her and Gabe hiding in a rocky depression on another Afghan mountain. Yes, this was a good lay up. Her feet wouldn’t listen to her, she was shivering from the cold, her body exhausted beyond its physical limits. Nearly falling into the depression which was at least ten feet deep, filled with rocks of all sizes, Bay slowly looked around.
Gabe had taught her to blend in. Her cammies appeared to be the same color as the white, tan and gray rocks surrounding her. She spent minutes of unknown time building her hide, a U-shaped hole beneath the lip, putting rocks around her so that if the Taliban came over the lip and looked in, they wouldn’t see her.
Her body was shaking so damned badly, she had to stop work. After placing the ruck in the shadowed recess she’d patiently dug out in the wall of the depression, Bay pushed it to one end. She slid awkwardly into the slit below the lip of the depression and, once lodged inside it, curled into a fetal position. The natural overhang would keep her safe from any prying eyes above. Bay collapsed, her head resting heavily on the ruck. She felt more feverish. It would take the antibiotics forty-eight hours to take hold. Until then, she would battle fever on top of everything else. Fever would play with her barely functioning mind.
At least she was free of Khogani, and for that, Bay was grateful. She was a Hill woman. She knew mountains, knew how to survive in them. She could find her way back home armed with the knowledge Gabe had taught her. The challenge was dodging and avoiding Khogani, who she knew had to be looking for her by now. Before she’d gone into her hide, she’d made certain she’d created backward walking or back tracks that would confuse the bastards trailing her. She’d walked on rocks before entering the depression. No one could trace her over rocks. They’d lose her trail. And she’d be able to hide from them. Those were Bay’s last thoughts as she fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.
*
GABE SET UP his sniper rifle, looking through the Night Force scope. They’d made it across the valley and up the other side to a goat trail that led directly into the cave complex just before the sun rose. They were a thousand yards east of the goat path.
Reza lay at his side, scanning the area north of them through a spotter scope, his sniper rifle nearby. They were a good five miles away from Khogani’s complex, just below a rocky hill above the goat path.
“Looks like they’re all riled up this morning,” Gabe muttered under his breath as he spotted a single-file group riding their way.
“Khogani looks very angry,” Reza agreed.
They watched twenty Taliban horsemen gallop out of the cave, heading south down the goat path toward their position. Sometimes they’d stop, and the lead soldier would dismount, kneel down, looking for something, and then mount up once more, and they’d gallop onward.
Gabe searched frantically among the riders for Bay. They were much closer this time, each face clear and distinct. His heart sank. They’d spent all night quietly climbing the damned narrow path for three thousand feet. They’d walked the whole way, leading the hard-breathing, laboring horses. It had been torturous, slow, dirty work. His knees were killing him. His heart was racing with dread as he once more searched each rider’s face, praying he’d missed Bay among them. But he didn’t find her on the second inspection.
“Bay isn’t with them. I wond
er where they’re going in such a hurry?” Gabe asked, worry in his tone.
“I don’t know.”
Gabe called in the intel to Chief Phillips by radio. The drone had been off-line for twelve hours now, due to a computer malfunction. The ability to send streaming video back to the SEAL HQ had stopped, and it had left them blind. Gabe wanted to curse in frustration. A new drone would arrive shortly overhead to replace it.
They’d lain unmoving, hidden by the rocks just below the top of the hill, as the Taliban had rushed out of the cave like a disturbed hive of bees earlier. Directly across the goat path from where they hid, there was a long wadi, at least three thousand feet, sloping down to a small valley below. Gabe ran his scope up and down it, along each side of it. Nothing.
Where was Bay? Was she all right? What were these guys looking for? Gabe closed his eyes for a moment, ugly, terrifying emotions churning through him. He was helpless to stop them. He loved Bay, dammit. He wanted her out of here! Alive. Safe in his arms where she belonged.
His patience as a sniper warred with his anxious heart because he’d seen too much brutality by the Taliban before. He just couldn’t think any further about it, too scared for Bay…for himself, to go there.
The group of riders was within a thousand yards of where they remained invisible. Gabe’s eyes narrowed, watching the same man dismount, move slowly around the front of the group. Looking…looking.
“Oh, shit!” he rasped. “Bay must have escaped! They’re tracking her. That’s why they’re stopping so often. They’re looking for her boot tracks!” His entire body tensed as he watched their main tracker. He was closely studying the dirt and rock path. And looking toward the wadi, pointing at it.
Gabe’s adrenaline surged. Jesus, had Bay made it this far under cover of night? He wanted to scream because that was when the drone went belly up, unable to send live video feed of Khogani’s cave entrance to the SEALs at Camp Bravo. If she’d escaped, they’d not been able to see her slip out of the cave. And, God, Gabe hoped Bay had; the only way she could go was south on this path. Though frantic, he thought of what to do next.
Never Surrender Page 11
