Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
My breathing quickened as my body tensed in preparation, adrenaline pumping through my body like blood. The air around me felt hot like the desert, still and suffocating. I was ready to get Paul and get the hell out of here.
After a three-count, I threw the door open and stormed inside with my M4 Carbine lifted. Four men in tan uniforms and black face coverings surrounded a beat-up but alive Paul Harper, who was tied to a chair in the middle of a dusty, dimly lit basement. As soon as one of the militants raised his rifle at me, I shot at him, side-stepping to let the others pour into the room.
Three bullets pierced the first militant, nailing his right shoulder, left chest, and the middle of his throat. He stumbled back, grasping at his throat before collapsing.
Paul’s eyes widened, crying out into a piece of white cloth that gagged him. Blood and cuts littered his shaved face and head, and his business clothes were torn and blood-stained. After being struck and cut so many times, there was finally a gleam of hope in his eyes.
Aziel kept low as he ran toward Paul, holding his rifle close as Amir and Andre shot over him at one of the militants who stood closest to Paul.
“Get down!” Emmett shouted from behind me.
I ducked just as a bullet zipped over my head, hitting the wall behind me. My jaw clenched as gunfire rang throughout the basement, sand being kicked up from the concrete floor. It was suffocating in that room, but my breathing wasn’t on my mind.
Stopping the militants’ breathing was, though.
Elijah and Emmett both fired at the militant who almost ended my long career, sending him crumbling to the ground next to the two other bodies.
I whipped around to see Mo bury a bullet in the last militant’s knee, sending him down to the ground with a grunt before Bowen finished him off.
“Check the staircase. We have to move in case there are others in the area,” I told them, motioning with my gloved hand for everyone to move. We couldn’t celebrate just yet.
“I’ll make sure a bird is waiting for us,” Bowen said before taking out his handheld tactical radio to call in a Blackhawk to pick us all up nearby.
Aziel, Amir, and Andre quickly untied and ungagged Paul, who released a sigh of pure relief.
“Are you injured? Can you walk?” Aziel asked him as he cut off the last rope binding Paul to the wooden chair.
Paul nodded as they grabbed him from under his arms and pulled him up to his feet. He stumbled at first, but once he put his arms over Aziel’s and Andre’s shoulders, he found his balance.
“I can walk. Just get me the hell out of here,” he said.
I couldn’t blame his urgency. This was dangerous territory for all of us.
“Update on the bird!” I called out to Bowen.
“En route. Let’s go,” Bowen replied.
I turned and led my unit out of the basement, carefully checking around every corner as we ascended to the first floor. The building used to be a busy office, but it was gutted and full of sand and dust that blew in from outside. Militants used it for storage and hostages, and it would definitely be reported to my superior.
“There it is!” Elijah said as we peered out of the gap where the front doors used to be.
A Blackhawk slowly descended toward the ground about a quarter of a mile out in a clear area of land away from the other buildings nearby.
“Andre and Amir, watch our flanks. On me!” I shouted before we all gathered together and made a run for the Blackhawk, keeping low and being watchful as we crossed the deserted area all the way to the helicopter waiting for us.
The moment Paul climbed aboard, the tension in my shoulders melted away as I got into the helicopter and took a seat between Elijah and Mo.
“Get us out of here,” I sighed as the helicopter started to ascend.
Mo knocked his shoulder against mine.
“Another for the books, captain!” Mo told me with a grin on his lightly stubbled face. “We can finally go home!”
Home. It had been a while since I was back on American soil. Since I had my beautiful wife in my arms.
“What are you doing first? I’m sleeping for twelve hours straight and catching up on every movie I missed,” Elijah asked from the other side of me. It was time for that smart brain of his to take a break after all the intelligence work he did for us.
“I’m going to have dinner with my wife,” I replied as I leaned back in my seat with a small smile on my face. I had a lot to catch up on when I got back home.
“Tell her we said hey,” Mo said before leaning his head back and closing his eyes as the gust of the helicopter wings surrounded us.