Page 18 of River

“I’m here because three members of our team were missing. It’s been three weeks since we last heard from you, and we were worried you were locked up somewhere or worse. We had no idea why you couldn’t call,” she explained.

She stepped back, and I frowned. “Why are you backing away from me? You don’t think I’m going to hurt you, do you?” I growled.

“No, I’m just trying to escape your smell,” she said.

We chuckled, knowing exactly how bad we all smelled. “I’m taking the first shower,” I said as we climbed into the jeep.

“You three can ride in the back. We’ll take you to wherewe’re staying so you can all shower. Now, where the hell have you been?” Faron demanded.

“We’ve been stuck in a damn tunnel; you couldn’t even call it a cave because you couldn’t stand up in there; we were waiting for the Iranian Army to clear out. How did you know where we were?”

“Kat knows a lot of people here. When she was here before, they told me she helped everyone, not just Americans. She saved a lot of lives,” Faron explained.

“I did what any of you would have done. I also found out that the Army Rangers are being held in the central prison. They’ve been beaten because they tried to escape,” Kat added. “I think, from what I heard, they’ll need to be carried out of there.”

“Faron, Kat, thanks for showing up. A couple of kids spotted us running in their backyard, and they shouted for help. We took a vehicle and ditched it in another part of the city. Then we hitched a ride on the back of a truck and ended up out here when the driver spotted us.”

“I’m just glad you’re all alive,” Kat said. I was still pissed that she had come to Iran. I’d say something about it after I had a shower.

“We have food. One of my friends brought us something to eat, and plenty was left over. I’ll heat it up while you shower,” Kat said.

“I can’t believe how easy it was to find you guys. Have you ever seen the inside of that prison?” Kat asked.

“No, I haven’t,” I said, and the others echoed what I said. “How the hell are we going to get into that prison?”

“Kat knows someone who works there. She said she’d try to talk to them. Have you guys noticed how much Kat has changed? I know you’ve been with us on missionsbefore,” Farron said, “but usually, you sit quietly until one of us asks a question. Now you talk non-stop,” Faron said.

I didn’t like the thought of Kat getting her feelings hurt, so I looked at her, and she just rolled her eyes before looking at Farron.

“Please tell me what I said when I talked non-stop. That’s not true, Faron, and you know it.”

“I’m playing with you, sweetheart. Did you forget I’m the teaser of the group? I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I guess I did forget,” she said, giving him the eye.

I’ll have to set Faron straight on one thing: he does not ever call what is mine, sweetheart, with that look in his eyes like he wanted her.

We drove for another thirty minutes, and Kat turned around and looked at me. “I feel that something is off. Usually, when I get that feeling, something is off.”

“Faron, turn here and turn the lights off. Can you see enough to drive on this road? Now turn around, and we’ll see if anyone shows up. We waited until the first headlights showed up, then we drove away.

“They were waiting for us to show ourselves before they came back, hoping to surprise us,” I said, looking around. “Here comes more. Can we get the fuck out of here without them knowing about it?”

“It’s a good thing we showed up when we did,” Faron said. “I can drive without headlights. I’m used to doing things in the dark.”

It took us over an hour to get to where we were going. I showered while the food was heating. “This smells good,” I said, smelling the food. “I was getting tired of granola bars and jerky.”

We sat around the table eating. “Where is the prison located?” I asked, looking at each of them. Kat put somehomemade tortillas on the table, and we dipped them into our soup.

“It’s on the outskirts of town. It’s a small prison. I heard they hold all the foreigners there. It is heavily armed with guards told to shoot first,” Kat said, taking a bite of her food.

“Other countries have tried to rescue their people, but they were shot before they had a chance of getting close to the entrance,” Kat explained. I still couldn’t get over the change in her. How did she keep quiet for two years? I always knew she was brilliant, but now she showed us how smart she was.

“So, how are we going to get in there?” I asked. “if they shoot first, then we will all be shot.”

“They are going to poison their evening meal,” Faron said.

“How are they going to do that?” I asked, grabbing another tortilla.

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