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)
Mo
When we got word from the rebel group, our unit immediately went into the city where their hidden base was located.
I stayed close to Brianna’s side, flanking her left, while Bowen flanked her right. I could tell that she was nervous to actually be in the city. Her eyes kept rapidly flickering around as she took in all of the destruction and aftermath of the civil war raging on. We could hear gunfire from the cottage sometimes, and it always seemed to disturb her. Now that she was where the shots were fired, her face looked paler than usual, her fingers nervously digging into the sleeves of her dark green jacket as she seemed to shrink into herself.
I couldn’t blame her, though. She was a civilian. She wasn’t used to living in a warzone, and it made me wary to bring her into the capital. However, if we were going to talk to the rebels and figure out how to help them, we needed to be able to understand them.
“Doing okay?” I asked her as we stopped behind a building that had a collapsed roof. “We’re almost there.”
Brianna nodded as she gripped the back of my shirt sleeve.
“I’m okay,” she said, her eyes darting everywhere.
I patted her hand before leading her forward with the others, sneaking into an abandoned parking garage. There was one floor underground, and I could already make out guards and cement barricades at the entrance.
David raised his hands to show that we meant no harm, slowing his pace down as a small group of rebels approached us with guns in their hands.
“We rescued your men the other day,” he told the rebels.
When the rebels pitched him confused looks, Brianna moved to stand by her husband’s side, repeating his words in Vlasic.
The rebels immediately perked up when they realized that she spoke their language, immediately speaking to her with their words overlapping.
Brianna smiled in a friendly manner as she looked between them, nodding as she listened. She said a few things to them before turning to us.
“Their leader has been expecting us,” she said. “They’d like us to follow them inside.”
David nodded, motioning for the rebels to go ahead.
I moved back to Brianna’s side, keeping a close eye on her and our surroundings as we went deeper into the underground floor where there were tents and tables set up to accommodate the rebels. It looked like they were using solar powered lanterns and lights to illuminate the dark space, shadows being casted along the cement walls and floor. Man, the dust was terrible too. I couldn’t imagine how bad their allergies were.
“I hope they have some Zyrtec,” I murmured to Brianna, making her crack an amused smile. The sight warmed me, and I would’ve been lying if I said all I wanted to do was make her laugh. I wanted to do a lot more, but I kept those twisted thoughts to myself.
We were led into a closed-off white tent where there were three men standing around a table with a map stretched across it. They looked up at us, and I suspected that they were the rebels’ leaders.
Brianna stepped forward with a look of determination on her face. I knew that she was nervous from the slight shake of her balled-up hands, but she didn’t show it to them. She greeted them in Vlasic and introduced us. After they replied, she looked at us.
“This is Jovan, Andric, and Wojtek,” she said, gesturing to a man with a shaved head and defined cheekbones, then another with dark, slightly longer hair and matching facial hair, and then a younger man with very short, light brown hair and a shaved face. “They’re the acting commanders of the rebel group. They’re grateful for your help saving their men.”
David exchanged a nod with the three men.
“Tell them we need to know everything they do about the Dimitrik’s forces,” he told her. “The more we know, the more we can help them.”
Brianna turned back to the men, the light from the solar lantern illuminating one side of her face. She spoke to them again before letting them speak for a little while.
I frowned when I saw Brianna’s eyes widen before she visibly swallowed hard. She didn’t like whatever she was hearing from them, but we knew that the picture they were going to paint wasn’t going to be pretty. The men’s faces were distorted with pain, eyes filling with horror as they spoke.
Brianna breathed in deeply, her eyes growing distant as she looked back at us.
“Dimitrik is probably holed up in the main government building. It’s heavily guarded at all times. He’s ordered his men to kidnap as many people as they can to use them as pawns to put pressure on the rebels. Their lives are threatened to make the rebels back down or turn themselves in,” she explained as she slowly and mindlessly wrung her hands. “They keep hostages alive for no longer than a week. The bodies are left out on the street as warnings.”