Page 39 of Taken By the Soldier
I rush downstairs and rummage around in the kitchen for the sharpest knife. When I find the one I used to successfully cut through a burnt meatloaf a week ago, I decide it’ll have to do.
The shouts and screams grow louder, and when I hear footsteps on the porch, I quietly slip into the coat closet near the front door. I could run upstairs fast and find a better hiding place, maybe, but the screams I keep hearing bother me. These assholes are rounding up the women and children of the settlement. But why?
I hold my breath as the front door creaks open, and I watch through a crack in the closet door as a shadow moves past the entryway and deeper into the house.
“Hello!” the soldier says in a New York accent. “You’re safe now! Come on out, honey, and we’ll get you out of here before your Zasforran scum of a husband comes back. Hello?”
A rescue mission. These misguided soldiers think they’re on a rescue mission. But judging by the screams I keep hearing, I don’t think they are giving any of my fellow American women a choice about whether to leave or stay. This disturbs me. We’ve been living here for months. This settlement has become home for thousands of us, a fresh start, a place for us to heal, yet this group of American soldiers seems to think it's okay to just show up and tear families apart.
I slip outside and crouch behind the bushes on the side of the cabin. A soldier rushes into the house next door and comes out a minute later, roughly dragging Harriet by the arm as she clutches her newborn baby girl to her chest. Her face is pale, her eyes wide with fright, but she doesn’t scream out.
A huge truck rolls into a clearing and the soldiers start loading the women and children up. I even spot a few of the elderly residents being forced into the truck. I want to help, but I don’t know what to do. I have zero combat training and my only weapon is a kitchen knife.
I wish there was a way for me to send a message to Luka. I resolve to talk to him about this once we are reunited. It would be nice to have one of those wrist comms he always wears. I’ve seen him use it to communicate with his men—sometimes he talks into it, and other times he types in a quick text.
Another boom splits the air, and I wince and cover my ears. A few seconds later, I hear someone shout, “Those goddamn assholes. They’ve got to know we aren’t clear yet. They shouldn’t be sending missiles in yet. Not until we’ve evacuated all the Americans.”
Missiles? Fear drenches me in ice. It sounds like they’re trying to evacuate all the American brides, war orphans, and elderly folks who live here before lighting the whole place up.
Luka. Where are you?
Chapter24
LUKA
My menand I get into position. Once we discovered a way past the cloaking devices the Americans were using, we located a small, secret base of theirs in the mountains that rests just outside the borders of our settlement.
A missile flies overhead and I curse, knowing it’s headed for a building inside the settlement. I think of all the women and children under our protection, including my wife, and pray it doesn’t hit any of the homes that are currently occupied.
I’m not able to redirect its flight path, though I don’t stop trying until I hear a boom in the distance.
Fuck.
I don’t know why my renavigator isn’t working, but I suspect the Americans have figured out a way to jam my signal.
At my command, we enter the secret base, letting ourselves inside by cutting holes in the wire fence. Forrest got here first and is already hiding in the main building. He’s sent me several messages indicating that there aren’t more than three dozen American soldiers inside and about ten who are supposed to be patrolling the perimeter of the base.
“Set blasters on stealth mode,” I order and watch as my men comply.
We spread out to search for the guards. It doesn’t take long for us to kill them all. They don’t expect us and none of them manage to shoot their own weapons at us before we take them out. Good. The soldiers in the main building will have no idea we’re coming.
I send a quick update to Forrest as we circle the building. There are four large windows that will be almost too easy to break through, and when I spot them, I realize this place used to be a factory of some sort. The Americans must’ve repurposed it as a secret base during the war.
They must know the war is over, but they don’t care, and there’s nothing more dangerous than a group of rogue soldiers with nothing left to lose. They’re attacking our settlement because they hate us. Because they want revenge. And perhaps because they’re angry that the American side has surrendered and turned over a vast area of land to my people.
Fools. They should’ve traveled west when they had the chance.
Just as we prepare to shoot out the windows, a door bursts open and dozens of soldiers come pouring out. They must’ve seen us, or perhaps one of the guards managed to alert them to trouble without us realizing it. I hope Forrest is still safe. I hope they didn’t discover him hiding in the building.
A quick but bloody blaster fight ensues. We have the Americans outnumbered and easily take them all out. When we rush into the building to see if any soldiers are inside hiding, Forrest is standing at a console, wearing a look of intense concentration. There’s a dead soldier at his feet, and he grabs the man’s hand and positions his thumb over a scanner, then he drops the man’s hand and presses a few buttons on the console.
“Thank God,” he says, exhaling deeply as he meets my eye. “The next missile won’t fire as scheduled. I’ve shut the whole thing down.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “We’ve got to get back to the settlement. I heard the men talking. Half of them made it inside and are trying to evacuate the women while they have us distracted.”
It's at this moment my wrist comm buzzes. It’s a call for help from Gunnar, a warning that he’s spotted American soldiers loading our women into a large truck.
Fucking hell.
We depart the secret base in a rush and hurry for our trucks. We drive as fast as the vehicles will take us, and all I can think about is Judith and whether she’s unharmed. If any of the enemy soldiers touch a hair on her head, I’ll make them wish they were never born.
