by Paige Tyler
But, if she were going to try, now was the time. The camp she was in had grown completely quiet. Even the sounds of pain and suffering had fallen silent.
She slowly shoved herself to her feet, gritting her teeth as the pain in her ankle almost stole her conviction away. She fought back another wave of tears. She was getting out of here, dammit. Clenching her hands into fists, she took a step toward the door
Outside, there was a deep, low thud followed by a sharp cracking sound reverberating through the night.
Hayley froze. She’d reported from enough battlefields to recognize an explosion when she heard one. What the…?
Abruptly, the light bulb overhead flickered once then died away, plunging the windowless space into total and claustrophobic darkness. It wasn’t until then she realized the electricity in the place had come from a generator. She only knew it now because the constant droning sound she’d taken as background noise was gone.
Outside, the encampment erupted in a barrage of gunfire and loud, angry shouts. It was sporadic and wild, like there were people shooting in every direction at once. Had the Nigerian Army come for her?
She heard yelling right outside the door of her prison cell, then the rapid pop, pop, pop of semi-automatic weapons fire. It was quickly followed by the thud of something slamming hard enough against the door to jar it in its frame.
Her heart thudded in her chest as fear poured through her. If the terrorists thought they were about to be overrun, would they try to take her with them or simply kill her? Which would be worse?
Before she could decide, the door burst open, not swinging into the room but flying off its cheap hinges and hitting the floor.
Hayley jumped back in surprise, falling against the rough block wall and barely staying upright. She stared hard into the darkness but couldn’t see anything more than a big silhouette of a man slipping through as silently as a ghost.
She was trying to decide if she should run around the guy when an American voice stopped her cold.
“Hayley Garner, US Navy SEALs. We’re here to take you home.”
The air whooshed out of her lungs in a rush, the adrenaline that had been keeping her going for three days draining out of her right there on the spot. Legs wobbly, she slid down the wall and would have hit the floor but the big guy in military gear was suddenly at her side, catching her.
She couldn’t see much of him, but as her eyes adjusted to the dim light filtering into the room from the hallway, she realized he was wearing night vision goggles. No wonder he could move so fast in the dark.
The SEAL slipped one arm behind her back, gently holding her up. “Are you injured? Can you walk?”
She opened her mouth to answer when another round of gunfire cut her off. It sounded like a flat-out war was going on around them. How had this guy gotten in here by himself?
“Ma’am, are you injured?” he asked urgently.
She nodded but then figured he probably needed more info. What the hell was wrong with her? She usually had it more together than this even in stressful situations.
“Yes,” she finally got out. “I did something to my right ankle. I can’t put any weight on it.”
Hayley expected him to curse. Maybe get on a radio and call for backup—or a stretcher. Instead, he wrapped his left arm around her more tightly then slipped his right hand behind her knees and scooped her right up off her feet like it was nothing—all while still holding some kind of short rifle
“Wrap your arms around my neck and hold on tight,” he instructed as he headed for the door. “This might get a little bumpy. Sorry if it hurts.”
She started to tell him she didn’t care how bumpy it got, she just wanted to get the hell out of there, but she didn’t get the chance because he took off running down the hallway with her in his arms like she was a rag doll.
He was saying strange words in hushed tones as they ran, and it took her a moment to realize he wasn’t talking to her. He must have some kind of voice-activated radio so he could talk to the other members of his SEAL Team. He was saying something about coming out of objective Bravo and that he’d be taking the primary lane of movement toward the alternate extraction point. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she was sure as heck glad he did.
Hayley didn’t know what to expect when they came out of the building she’d been held prisoner in for three days, but what she found was definitely not anything close to what she imagined.
It was completely chaotic, with fires burning, explosions rocking the buildings around them, and men carrying AK assault rifles running everywhere and shooting in all directions. It didn’t take a genius to figure out none of the men were on the SEAL’s side. They were Boko Haram terrorists shooting into the darkness and trying to hit the ghosts attacking them.
Her savior lifted her higher in his arms, tilting his weapon up a little with his right hand and taking out the first two men who came running at them. Then he turned right and hauled butt toward the edge of the camp. Crap, he could really move.
Hayley held her breath, sure someone was going to kill them, but every time one of the terrorists even turned to look in their direction the man went down with no evidence of where the shot had come from. She didn’t know where the shots were coming from either, but somewhere out there in the darkness, she and her SEAL had a couple of guardian angels.
As they ran, Hayley thought she might have caught sight of several other SEALs either running toward the fight or carrying rescued prisoners like her away from it.
A few minutes later, she and her rescuer were outside the encampment and in the surrounding desert. They’d barely crested the top of a sandy hill when she saw a blur of movement coming down from the sky. A staccato thump, thump, thump she could feel in her chest told her it might be a helicopter, but it was much quieter than any she’d ever heard before.
Then a big black shape dropped to the ground at the bottom of the slope and Hayley realized it really was a helicopter, albeit a lot stranger looking than she was used to seeing, made up of sharp angles and sleek curves. Before she knew it, a door in the side of the thing slid open and her SEAL handed her off to another guy in dark clothes and NVGs.
“Watch her right ankle,” her SEAL told the man as he flipped up his NVGs to help get her in the canvas seat of the aircraft.
Other SEALs appeared out of the darkness, carrying rescued women of their own. Off to the side, about fifty feet away, Hayley saw yet another one of the strange helicopters being loaded with more women, each carried in by a SEAL.
The journalist in Hayley tried to look everywhere at once, hoping to take everything in and remember it. There wasn’t very much light coming from the interior of the helicopter, but in the little there was, she saw her savior had the most beautiful blue eyes God had ever given a man.
“These people will get you and the others to safety,” he said as he checked her seatbelt one last time.
“Aren’t you coming, too?” she asked when he started to back away.
The urge to reach out and grab him was nearly impossible to resist. But every seat in the helicopter was taken up by her and the other women. There was no room for the SEALs.
“We’re not leaving yet,” he said, and all Hayley could do was lock on his amazing smile and beautiful blue eyes. “My Team and I have a lot more before we’re done here. Take care.”
With that, her SEAL turned and ran back toward the terrorist camp—and the shooting. Then the door slid closed and the super quiet helicopter lifted away in a fast ascent.
That’s when it finally hit Hayley she was going to live through this, and she’d found the story she’d come to Nigeria for.
SEAL FOR HER PROTECTION
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/seal-for-her-protection/
Want more hunky SEALs?
Check out the other books in the SEALs of Coronado Series!
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#coronado
Also Check out MY SEAL BODYGUARD!
&n
bsp; When someone breaks into romance author Peyton Matthews’ Virginia Beach home to steal her newest manuscript, her publisher hires Noah Chase, a former Navy SEAL and the newest member of GAPS to be her bodyguard.
Peyton thinks the idea of needing a bodyguard is ridiculous, but she can’t help appreciating how gorgeous Noah is. And while she thought that having a stranger hanging around 24/7 would mess with her creativity, the Navy SEAL definitely comes in handy when she’s choreographing fight scenes. All that hand-to-hand action and rolling around on the floor with him gets her pulse racing, but while Noah is falling for Peyton too, he doesn’t act on it. He needs to keep his head in the game and focus on the job or he could end up getting her killed. She might not think she’s in danger, but his gut tells him differently.
The threat to Peyton is closer to home than she realizes however, and it will take all of Noah’s SEAL training to save her life.
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/my-seal-bodyguard/
For more Military Heroes check out my X-OPS and SWAT Series!
X-OPS
Her Perfect Mate
Her Lone Wolf
Her Wild Hero
Her Fierce Warrior
Her Rogue Alpha
Her True Match
Her Dark Half
Exposed
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#ops
SWAT (Special Wolf Alpha Team)
Hungry Like the Wolf
Wolf Trouble
In the Company of Wolves
To Love a Wolf
Wolf Unleashed
Wolf Hunt
Wolf Hunger
Wolf Rising
http://paigetylertheauthor.com/books/#wolf
ABOUT PAIGE
Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.
She is represented by Bob Mecoy.
www.paigetylertheauthor.com
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