Page 36 of River

“It’ll be you, me, Matt and Raven. Gideon and Farron will stay out front, pretending they’re just hanging around while we slip out the back."

“Is everyone ready?” I asked. I made sure we had water first. We put on our Jungle jackets and left by the back door. The humidity was suffocating, and the air felt heavy as we moved closer to the compound. It seemed to take longer than it should have, and we were as close to the compound as we would get tonight.

18

River

We scopedout the compound's entrances and exits and found three possible entry points. As we moved, I noticed something and signaled the others to stop. A man appeared, walking out of a door hidden in the wall—one we hadn’t seen before. He looked around, then took off running, passing right by us. No one moved or even breathed until he disappeared, and then we quietly returned to camp.

We stayed quiet until we got inside the building, when I turned to Cyclone. “Who the hell was that? He ran right past us and didn’t see any of us. How many little jungle jackets can we make before nightfall?”

“Enough,” Cyclone replied, calm as ever. I always wondered how his Delta Force name stuck. Beau Allan—Cyclone—was deadly to his enemies, but with his family, he was a different man.

“Good. Tomorrow night, we’re getting those kids out. We’ll go for the older girls, too. Everyone’s going, so make as many jungle jackets as possible. We’ll all help,” I said.

I couldn’t shake that damn dream. It constantly nagged at my brain. I needed to get back home as soon as possible.As we walked out of the jungle, we picked up branches and leaves, anything that could help with our camouflage.

“We needto find a way to let the kids know we’re coming. Once we get them out, we’re blowing that compound, Omari, and as many of his men as we can,” I said as we slowly made our way back.

As soon as we returned to our room, I grabbed my phone and tried calling Kat, but there was no answer. So I called Gage.

“Hello, I’m surprised you would call me at this time of day.”

“It’s daytime where you are. Why would you be surprised?”

“Isn’t it the middle of the night there?” I heard him chuckle.

“I tried calling Kat. Is she in the office?”

“No, she is packing up her house. I’m taking care of everything here.”

“Oh, that’s a relief. I’ll talk to all of you later,” I said and hung up.

Two seconds later, he called back. “Why did you say that was a relief?”

“It was nothing. I had a bad dream,” I said before hanging up again. Okay, now I can focus and push that damn dream out of my head.

We were making more jungle jackets when the door opened. We all looked up. A man stood there, dressed like the Nigerian gang members.

“Look, I know you guys are here to save the women and children, but I don’t want you fucking with my reason for being here.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Navy SEAL, Rush Turner,” he replied, shaking our hands. “These people have my friend's kid in that damn compound. I promised to get him out, and I’m doing it—along with the others.”

“That’s a big promise, you made,” I said.

“I didn’t think, I just said I’d do it,” Rush admitted/.

“Okay, do the kids know you are going to rescue them? How many children are there?” I asked.

“There are twenty-three kids and eight older girls in another building. I tried warning them that I’d be back, but Joey said one of the girls told the soldiers everything. I don’t know who the informant is,” Rush said, taking off his cloth headcover and running a hand through his blond hair.

“We’ll have to find out who she is. I wonder where the others are. I heard they had kidnapped hundreds of women and children,” I asked.

“They’re being held nearby, on the seller’s block. Twice a week, they sell about twenty of them. The men inspect them first, degrading them as much as possible. It’s disgusting—they force the women to walk up there naked. They make them walk up there naked. It’s horrible.”

“We need to rescue the kids at the compound and the others near here. If we don't, they’ll retaliate by going straight to the second group. We’ll need a couple of large covered trucks, and we’ll blow the compound up as soon as the kids are out,” Cyclone said.

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