Page 49 of SEAL's Spitfire
Jake moved away to contact command while the rest of the team watched Ryan perform a triage assessment on Miranda. Rafe winced when Ryan lifted her pant leg and exposed the black and purple lump that had been her knee and shin.
“What the fuck did they do to her?” Cam muttered low enough so she wouldn’t hear him.
“They wanted to make sure she couldn’t make a run for it if she managed to get away. It’s SOP in situations like this,” Murph answered. “She must have given them a hard time, or I doubt they would have roughed her up since they were using her for a trade.”
“There’s no way she’s walking on that leg.” Rafe wasn’t sure how she’d managed to walk out of the cave on it.
“Agreed,” Jake said. “We’ll take turns carrying her. I figure we have a couple of hours before Azfaar will call his brother. When I checked his phone, Hibatullah had a call just before we breached. We may have gotten lucky.”
“What did TOC say?”
“Nothing we don’t already know. They are sending the drone to the location Hibatullah gave us to see if they can get confirmation that the hostages are there.”
“The captain isn’t thrilled. I don’t think he believes we couldn’t make the EXFIL.”
“I guess we should have sent pictures of her wired up to the chair,” Murph groused. “It was a bitch to disarm. Whoever rigged that sucker didn’t intend for her to get out of it.”
“They were going to get confirmation of the hostage release and then just leave her there?” Cam asked.
“Most likely. It’s not like we haven’t seen it before. That’s why we don’t do deals. You’re still new, wait a few more years.”
“There is one other thing,” Jake said as he met Rafe’s eyes. “There has been an escalation of Taliban activity near Bamyan. They shot an employee of the British Embassy, but he was found alive—barely—by a patrol. He told them that he was traveling with a woman. An American journalist. They took her.”
If his heart could have stopped at that moment, it would have. He didn’t need Jake to confirm it, he knew with his whole being that the journalist was Meghan.
“Do we know where they’ve taken her?”
“No, but if I had to guess we’ll find her with the other hostages. Tex got a message to TOC that she was heading there to interview Azfaar and hopefully secure their release. He also had a message for you, said to tell you he was sorry. Your woman has a set of balls on her. I’ll give her that.”
A deep bone-chilling cold spread through Rafe’s chest. Cast iron balls or not, after he rescued her, he was going to kill her for putting herself in danger.
“Who are we talking about?” Murph asked.
“Rafe’s woman. The one he met in the airport,” Ryan responded.
“What was she thinking?”
“She wasn’t, not clearly at least. She wanted to rescue her brother,” Rafe replied. “He’s one of the other hostages.”
“Do you mean Charlie’s sister, Meghan, came here?” Miranda asked.
“Yes. Meghan Henley.”
“I met her once before we left. She’s amazing.”
“Yes, she is,” Rafe said through gritted teeth.
“Tex also said that her tracking device is still active.”
“What tracking device?”
“The one he put in the phone he sent to Meghan to bring on her trip. He said the signal was moving toward the location we got for the other hostages.”
“I may have to fly up there and kiss that man when we get back. Then I’m going to kick his ass for putting my woman in danger.”
Jake actually laughed. “From what he said, and what you’ve told me, I don’t think either of you stood a chance against her.”
This time Rafe smiled though he was sure it looked more like a grimace.
