by Elle James
Rucker came to a halt and stood at attention. “Sir, permission to speak?”
Both commanders turned toward him.
“Go ahead,” his CO said.
“One of the nurses was taken from a local orphanage today. I volunteer for the mission to retrieve her.”
“Good,” his CO said. “I was just working out with the base commander how we were going to find where they’ve taken her. We’ll need to get with the intelligence guys and have them study the satellite images and work with their men on the ground to see if there’s any news on their whereabouts.”
“I might have another source of intel,” Rucker said.
“Who?” the base commander asked.
“I can’t say, but if you’ll give me permission to leave the base, I’ll find him and see if he knows where they went.”
“You have my permission,” the base commander said. “In the meantime, I’ll work with the local leaders and see if they have any information. I doubt they will, but I have to show I’m taking it through the leadership chain.” The base commander left the room.
Rucker waited impatiently for the man to close the door behind him. “Sir, I want to take Dash, if he’s up to it, and Bull with me to talk with a local by the name of Pazir. If anyone in this area knows anything about the kidnapping, he would be the man.”
His CO nodded. “Keep it on the downlow. If you’re not back in a couple of hours, we’re sending the rest of the team after you. Get a tracking device on each of you. I can’t afford to lose one, much less three of my guys.”
“Yes, sir.” Rucker spun and reached for the door handle.
“And, Sloan…”
He turned back to his commander. “Sir?”
“I hope we find the nurse,” he said. “I understand she’s special to you.”
“Yes, sir. She’s smart, brave and a badass on the volleyball court.”
“And she’s an officer.”
Rucker gave his CO a quick nod. “I know the ramifications of fraternization, sir.”
“It won’t only affect your career, it could ruin hers. If you really care for her, you’ll keep everything aboveboard.”
“Roger,” Rucker said. He left the building and ran for the quarters he and his team had been assigned for their short stay. He found Dash stripping out of his uniform in their shared unit. “Your day isn’t done. I need you and Bull to come with me. We’ll need to be dressed like shadows and camouflaged for a night intelligence gathering mission.”
“When?” Dash asked, pulling a long-sleeved black T-shirt out of his duffel bag.
“As soon as I can grab Bull and get camoed up.” He left his unit and ran three doors down to the one Bull and Lance had been assigned.
He banged on the door.
Lance yanked it open. “Where’s the fire?”
“I need Bull.”
Bull looked over Lance’s shoulder. He’d stripped down to his shorts. “What’s up?”
“We have an assignment. Meet me in my unit dressed for night ops, black.”
“Gonna tell me what it’s all about?”
“Yeah, and why just the three of you?” Lance asked.
“Small detail. I don’t have time to explain,” Rucker said. “Don’t worry. We’ll need the entire team soon. Get a few minutes rest and be ready when we get back.”
“I’ll let the others know to hang close for potential mobilization,” Lance said.
Rucker ran back to his quarters and burst through the door.
Dash was already dressed for the occasion and had his weapons laid out along with Rucker’s. He was in the process of rubbing a stick of black camouflage over his face.
Rucker removed his armored vest and ripped off the desert camouflage jacket he’d needed to blend in with the dry terrain of Afghanistan during the day. He pulled on black, heavy-weight pants with cargo pockets on the legs. Pulling a black turtleneck shirt over his head, he tucked it into his trousers, shrugged into his armored vest and caught the camo stick Dash had been using. He slashed black camouflage paint over his face and hands.
Bull entered their unit without knocking, dressed in similar clothing and carrying his weapons.
After a brief breakdown of what had happened that day to Lieutenant Michaels and the girls from the orphanage, Rucker told the two what they were about to do.
“We’re going into the village to speak to a member of the Taliban to ask where they would have taken the nurse and the girls from the orphanage.”
Dash and Bull didn’t question his sanity, only nodded.
As they left Rucker’s quarters, they ran into their CO.
“You’ll need these.” He handed a set of keys to Rucker.
“What do they go to?” Rucker asked.
“A van the locals use to bring in supplies to the base. You don’t want to drive a US military vehicle down those streets at night. You’d be a target before you went outside the wire. You’ll find it parked by the PX. They like to keep it on the base so people won’t steal it or stuff off it, like product, tires and batteries.”
“Thank you, sir,” Rucker said.
“And each of you put one of these in your shoe, your pocket…somewhere you won’t lose it.” He handed each one of the men a small round GPS tracking device.
“Two hours,” the CO said, “and we’re coming for you.”
“Two hours will be sufficient,” Rucker reassured him, praying he could find his way back to Pazir’s home in the narrow streets at night.
Rucker, Dash and Bull followed the CO’s instructions and found a decrepit van parked beside the mini post exchange where they could purchase shaving cream, razors and other necessities, along with the occasional candy bar or novel.
“I’ll drive,” Bull said.
Rucker handed him the keys, thankful the big guy offered. He rustled around the back of the van and found several small white tablecloths. He handed one to each of the men. “Wear it on your head. It might help to disguise us as we drive through the streets.”
He slipped into the front passenger seat, and Dash knelt on the floor between them, his handgun at the ready.
Rucker held his Glock in his lap where he could reach it quickly.
The roads and turns were harder to find in the dark, though easier since there were no people to block their way.
After several missed turns, they finally pulled onto the street where Pazir’s walled residence was located.
“Park there.” Rucker pointed to a narrow alley between the crude mud and stick buildings.
Bull backed the van into the narrow space as far as he could, hiding it in the shadows.
The men tossed aside the tablecloths, climbed out of the van and followed the alley to the road that led behind Pazir’s home.
No one moved in the darkness except the three Deltas. They clung to the shadows, slipping silently toward the walled home.
Rucker reached the wall first then stopped and listened.
On the other side, he heard people moving about, talking in hushed tones.
Dash cupped his hands, and Rucker stepped into them then pulled himself up onto the wall. He lay flat against the top, scanning the area. He couldn’t see the front of the home from his position, but there were dim lights shining through the windows.
A baby cried inside. A woman’s voice soothed it.
Bull climbed up on the wall behind Rucker. Together, they reached down and pulled Dash up between them.
Rucker dropped to the ground between the wall and the home. He eased up to one of the chest-high windows, pushed the glass inward and peered inside. The room he looked into was a sitting room he remembered passing by when he’d been led in and out of the house at gunpoint. A rug lay rolled against the wall, and pillows had been stacked by the door. Pictures and tapestries that had hung the day before were stacked neatly beside the rug.
Ducking low, he moved past the window toward the front of the house, pausing at the corner.
A truck stood in t
he yard, with furniture and household items stacked in the back and on the ground beside it.
Two men moved things out of the house into the truck.
One of them was Pazir. He hurried, barking orders in a quiet yet urgent tone. When he went back into the house, Rucker returned to the window looking into the sitting room.
Again, Dash cupped his hands, giving Rucker a boost up to the edge of the small window. Using Dash and Bull for leverage, Rucker squeezed through, dropped onto his hands on the other side and rolled to his feet.
Fortunately, no one came running or seemed to notice the little bit of noise he’d created getting through the window.
He hurried toward the door, stood to one side and waited to catch Pazir alone.
When that moment came, he slipped out behind the man, clamped an arm around the man’s arms and his hand on his mouth. Then he pulled Pazir into the empty sitting room.
Pazir struggled, fighting to be free.
It was all Rucker could do to hold onto him. “It’s me, the man who helped deliver your baby yesterday. If you promise not to yell, I’ll let go of you. Promise?”
The man stopped moving and nodded.
As soon as Rucker released him, he sprang away, spun and faced Rucker.
Rucker held up a hand. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. I need to know about what happened at the orphanage today. Where did they take the nurse?”
Pazir shook his head. “I do not know.”
“They took Lieutenant Michaels,” Rucker said. “We want her back. Alive.”
Pazir raked a hand through his hair. “I must get my family somewhere safe. If I hear of where they have taken her, I will send word. I cannot promise you when.”
Rucker grabbed Pazir’s arms. “The longer we wait, the less chance we have a finding her. I need to know where they are taking her tonight.” He let go of the man as a female voice called out, “Pazir.”
A young woman carrying a baby stepped into the sitting room.
Rucker recognized her as Pazir’s wife, who’d given birth to the baby the day before. She walked slowly and held the baby clutched to her chest. When she spotted Rucker dressed all in black, his face painted black and scary, she opened her mouth to scream.
Pazir reached out and covered her mouth with his hand, speaking in a low, urgent tone.
She nodded. When he moved his hand away from her mouth, she spoked softly. “You are the one who help us?”
Rucker nodded.
Her husband spoke to her again.
She frowned and said something back.
Pazir spoke in Pashto again, his tone harsher.
Gulpari held her baby out for her husband to see and nodded toward Rucker.
Pazir sighed and turned to face him. “I will send my family ahead of me and stay to find out where they are taking the children and the nurse. Then I will have fulfilled my debt to you and the lieutenant.”
“How will you get word to me?” Rucker asked.
“I will send word to you on your base.”
Rucker didn’t ask how he would do that. Based on the fact they knew what was going on and what US forces were moving and where they were headed, Pazir had his sources. He had to have faith that Pazir’s word was good.
A man called out in the hallway.
Pazir jerked his head to the side, indicating Rucker should hide behind the door.
Pazir stepped out into the hallway and addressed the man helping him load his family’s possessions. The man responded and kept walking down the hallway.
Pazir reentered the room and looked from Rucker to the window and back. “You came through the window?”
Rucker nodded.
“Come, you can exit through the back door.” Pazir looked both ways in the hall before motioning Rucker to follow him.
His wife stayed back and waylaid the other man when he came back in from outside in the front yard.
At the end of the hallway was a kitchen with a door leading out the back way into a small garden with wilted vines.
Rucker turned to Pazir. “The sooner we know where to find her,” he reiterated, “the sooner we can bring her back.”
Pazir nodded. “I will do what I can. You will hear from me before morning.” He turned and went back into his home, leaving Rucker to find his own way out of the walled residence.
Dash and Bull emerged from the shadows.
“So, we wait?” Bull asked.
Rucker’s hands curled into fists. “Yes. We have no other leads on where she could have gone. If intel doesn’t come up with something, we’re completely dependent on Pazir to provide the information we need.”
“Nothing like depending on the Taliban to give you useful information,” Bull remarked.
“What are the chances Pazir will come through?” Dash asked.
Rucker cupped his hands as he stood beside the wall. “Good. We did him a huge favor. He owes me, and he owes Lieutenant Michaels even more. She saved his wife and son’s lives.”
Dash stepped into Rucker’s hands and pulled himself up onto the wall. After he looked around, he whispered, “Clear.”
Rucker held his hands together for Bull to climb up on the wall. Once there, he and Dash reached down and pulled Rucker up to straddle the wall between them. They dropped to the ground on the other side.
Moving through the shadows, they found the van where they’d left it, untouched. Slipping the white tablecloths over their heads, they drove through the streets and back to the base to wait for word from Pazir.
Once inside the base’s concertina wire, Rucker headed for the CO’s operations center. His commander was there on the phone with someone. When Rucker, Dash and Bull entered, he ended his call and shook his head. “Intel has nothing. What did you learn from your source?”
“Nothing,” Rucker said. “Yet. He’ll send word when he finds out where they took the Lieutenant and the children.”
“You trust this source?”
“Sir, I do.” He had to. Pazir was their only hope.
Chapter 9
Nora gathered the little girls close to her as they cried and shook. They were so scared and had every right to be. Their captors couldn’t have anything but bad intentions for them. They were probably on their way to being sold into the sex trade.
Nora’s heart squeezed hard in her chest. These children did not deserve the life their captors had in store for them. They deserved to be children, to run, to play and to learn to read and write and become responsible, productive citizens.
Nora would have considered jumping out of the back of the truck as it moved along the dusty road, but for two things.
One, the two scary guards sitting near the tailgate, rifles resting across their thighs.
Two, she couldn’t abandon the children.
If there was any way to get them out of their current situation, she had to try. For sure, she couldn’t abandon them.
They drove for a very long time, dust kicking up behind them, filling the back of the truck, making Nora’s throat dry and making her cough.
Nora held Taara in her lap.
The child lay with her head against Nora’s breast, asleep in the dark and dust.
Even the armed men sitting with the children in the back of the truck nodded off several times.
At one point, Nora considered taking one of their guns and shooting them both. But the thought of missing, and the ensuing shooting match that might follow, made her rethink that option. She didn’t want one of the children to be hit in the crossfire. And the truck would still be moving. How would she get the children off without injuring one or more of them? And injured, how would they find their way back to the base or to someone who would help them?
The long straight roads turned curvy, and the truck engine strained on an incline. By the feel and sound of the engine downshifting, they were heading into hills.
When they finally came to a stop, Nora jerked awake.
The men in the bed of the truck with them dropped down a
nd started grabbing children. One of the men dropped a child. When the little girl hit the ground, she cried out in pain.
Nora lurched forward. “Stop! Don’t hurt them! They’re just children,” she shouted. “I’ll get them down.”
The man grabbed her arm and yanked her off the truck without giving her a chance to get her feet beneath her. She landed on her side. Pain ripped through her hip and leg.
He jerked her up by the arm and dragged her toward the building. The only light she had to go by was from the headlights of the truck.
Nora looked back at the man tossing children to the ground.
Taara was lifted off the truck and dropped to the ground. She hit hard and fell to her knees.
Nora cried out and reached for her.
Taara struggled to her feet and ran after Nora, crying.
Nora fought to free her arm from her captor’s grip. She shook loose and ran for the little girl.
She was brought up short when the man behind her grabbed her by her hair and yanked her backward. Nora landed hard on her bottom.
The man didn’t give her the chance to get up, but dragged her the rest of the way into the building by her hair. Not until they were inside, did he let go and go back out to bring in more children.
Nora scrambled to her feet and ran for the door. A guard carrying an AK-47 stepped in front of her and yelled at her.
When Nora didn’t stop, he yelled at her and thrust the butt of his weapon upward, hitting Nora in the gut.
She doubled over, the air knocked from her lungs, her belly hurting.
Taara was shoved through the door and fell to her knees.
Nora scooped her up into her arms.
The child buried her face against Nora’s neck and sobbed.
“It’s okay,” Nora said. “It’s okay.” Although it wasn’t okay. She didn’t have a clue how she would get the children away from their kidnappers.
The little girls gathered around her, holding onto her legs, wrapping their arms around her waist and crying. They were terrified.
Frankly, Nora was terrified, too. But she couldn’t show the children just how frightened she was. They needed someone to give them hope and support.
