Page 24 of River

“Two days ago.”

“And you’re just now telling me?”

“You don’t have a phone. If I hadn’t seen Drew’s podcast, I still wouldn’t know where you are,” Gage said.

“We have to get her out of there.”

“Tag and Gideon are there right now, searching for her. The little girl is her captain's daughter. Gideon said the Taliban are swarming like army ants. They have no idea where she could be.”

I went looking for Drew and told him I was leaving. He wanted to stay, to show the people what was happening in Ukraine.

“I’ll leave you the car. I’m going to take the boy to his grandma. I’ll see you around. Be careful—bombs are falling everywhere.”

“I will be. I’ll see you around.”

11

Kat

I feltsick to my stomach. I hated this place. Memories flashed back of my friends being blown up and everyone running for the plane. It hadn’t changed at all, except now the Taliban were everywhere. Damn, I didn’t know there were this many of them. I saw one grab a girl and pull her down an alley.

Fucker. I wanted to kill every one of them. Why were they allowed to take girls in an alley and rape them? Without thinking, I turned to follow them down the alley, but Steven grabbed my arm and stopped me.

I pulled my arm free, knowing I couldn’t go after these bastards. We had to act like we belonged here, which meant I had to play the role of a submissive woman who listened to her husband—one who never looked a man in the eye and always did as she was told.

“Lieutenant, you can’t try to save anyone, or they’ll kill us. Let’s get the Captain's daughter and get the hell out of here. Damn, I feel like I’m in a pit full of rattlesnakes. Are we almost there?”

“Yes, just a couple more blocks. We have to be careful. If the husband is home, he’s a snake in the grass—always trying to please the Taliban. Even when we were here before, he tried to kill us.”

We walked until I saw the house. “Here we are. Let me knock. I can speak their language,” I said, stepping closer to the door. When it opened, it was Janelle’s mother. I quickly looked around.

“Kat, what are you doing here? My husband will be home soon.”

“I came with Joel Jackson to get his daughter,” I explained.

“Hurry, come in. Sierra, come here.” A little girl appeared. She was small for her age, but I saw her father when I looked into her green eyes.

I opened the door wider, and Joel stepped inside. “Hello, sweetheart, I’m your Daddy. Cover her head so no one sees her.”

“I’m going with you,” Janelle’s mother said.

“Cover yourself. We can’t be spotted. We have to hurry. Where’s your husband?”

“He went to talk to the man buying Sierra for his wife.”

I knew Joel would kill the man if he had the chance, so I pushed everyone out the door. I looked around for Steven and saw him in a jeep. Good, I’d hoped he’d find one. We jumped inside and sped off but hadn’t even made it out of town when we saw them coming for us.

“Let me out. I’ll slow them down,” I said, my only thought being to safely get Sierra and her grandmother out of there. I knew the husband would kill his wife, and no one would do anything to him.

“Joel, take over; I’ll help Kat,” Steven said. “Go to the plane. If we’re not there in ten minutes, leave.”

“No, I won’t leave you.”

“Think of your daughter,” Steven shouted.

Steven and I ran behind a building as the men in the jeeps pursued Joel. I shot their tires, and the vehicle swerved before crashing into a building. We darted down alleys with men hot on our heels. A door suddenly opened, and someone motioned for us to come inside.

I didn’t hesitate. We were dead if we stayed outside, and hopefully not dead if we went in. We stopped and looked around. A woman stood there, watching us. She motioned for us to follow her.

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