Page 53 of A Wilderness Within

“We are better than we think we are,” the man said. “This is what we are fighting for, the nobility inside all of us, the purity of our purpose, to save each other.” He repeated her words from her broadcast back to her, the ones spoken into the satellite radio. “You’re Caroline Kelly.”

“I… Yes. I am.”

“We found you.” He was still smiling. “I can’t believe it. We’ve been on your trail for three days. We were in Kansas City,” he explained, still keeping his arms in the air in surrender.

“We?There’s more of you?”

“Three. We left from Fort Riley in Kansas. We were headed back to Fort Benning in Georgia when we heard you on the radio. I’m Sergeant Miles Jackson, Army Ranger, at your service, ma’am.” He snapped to attention and saluted her.

She stared at him, still too afraid to lower the gun. “I’m Caroline, but you already know that. This is my niece, Ellie. Where are your men, Sergeant?”

“Miles, please,” he corrected, still grinning. His smile seemed less threatening now, but she still didn’t trust him. Now he reminded her of a golden retriever, with his happy smile, boyish good looks, and blond hair. The military demeanor had vanished.

“They’re scouting the area. We saw your vehicle pass ours on the highway and hoped it was you, so we tailed you to this area.”

“My dog… Have you seen him?” She prayed they hadn’t done anything to Kirby. She might still shoot this man if he had.

“Dog? I didn’t see” Kirby leaped through the open door, startling her as he skidded to a stop in front of Caroline. Lincoln was on his heels, gun raised.

“Down on the ground!” Lincoln bellowed.

“Lincoln, wait!” She tried to step between the two men, but Miles instantly blocked her from danger. He glared at Lincoln.

“Don’t hurt her,” Miles said to Lincoln.

Lincoln glared back at Miles. “She’s not going to be hurt. She’smywoman.”

Miles relaxed slightly and glanced her. “He’s with you?”

She nodded. “Everyone calm down. Lincoln, Sergeant Jackson was looking for me. He heard me on the radio. He said he and his friends were headed to Fort Benning.”

Lincoln kept his gun raised as he watched Miles. “You’re not alone?”

“Nope, he’s not,” another man said as two armed men stepped through the doorway of the restaurant, crushing broken glass between their boots as they came up behind Lincoln. They both aimed their guns at Lincoln.

“We found her.” Miles nodded toward Caroline.

“Sergeant, tell your men to back off and lower their weapons. Now. Lincoln will hurt them if they don’t,” Caroline said.

“Lincoln?” one of the men by the door said. He was an attractive black man with a sternness about his lips and eyes. “That you, Atwood?”

Lincoln’s hand stayed firm on the gun. “Holt?” He kept his eyes fixed on Miles and Caroline.

“You made it out of Omaha after all?” The man Lincoln called Holt lowered his gun, and the second man followed suit, albeit a little slower.

“Omaha was boring as fuck.” Lincoln laughed and lowered his gun. He shook Holt’s hand before pulling him in for a hug.

“So now you’ve gone domestic? Woman, baby, family dog?”

Kirby seemed to sense that the danger had passed and was now tentatively waving his tail and looking between the four men.

“They’re my unit,” Lincoln assured him. “But you could say I’m starting to settle.” Caroline blinked. She’d never seen Lincoln so calm or playful before. He was almost a stranger to her, not that she minded the change.

“Caroline, come over here. You’ve got to meet Julian. Julian Holt, this is Caroline Kelly.” Julian bowed like a gentleman and smiled broadly.

“Lincoln, this is Sergeant Miles Jackson and Lieutenant Jason Huang.” The Asian man who was the third in their party nodded in greeting. “Airborne Rangers.”

“So you’re Caroline. We’ve been listening to you every night for the last week. Been trying to track you down,” Julian said.

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