Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Major Zamora had dropped his gun. He lunged for it, but I struggled to my feet and shoulder-charged him against the wall. The rest of the team did the same, hurling themselves at the two soldiers and using shoulders and knees to take them down.
The guy in the white shirt gave a moan of fear and bolted for the door. JD body slammed him into the wall and he went down hard. JD gave a grunt of satisfaction.
We stood there panting for a second, looking at each other in confusion. What the hell just happened? What caused the explosion?
Footsteps outside. We all spun to face the door—
I will never, as long as I live, forget that moment. I was breathing hard, desperately trying to free the zip tie around my wrists, ready to launch myself forward as soon as a soldier stepped into view—
And then she stepped into view instead. Her white tank top had black-edged holes where falling embers had singed it. Her fatigue pants were soaked and mud stained. Her arms were scratched and bleeding and her cheeks were crusted with mud but her hair was still drawn back into that tightly efficient, prim little bun.
I’m not often lost for words, but I was then. “O…Olivia?!” I managed at last.
She gave me a shy little smile, and that’s when I knew my brain wasn’t playing tricks on me.
She was alive.
She was alive!
“This way,” she said, and nodded to her left.
Everyone ran out the door, moving as fast as they could with their hands tied. Outside, everything was in uproar: a fire was burning down at the other end of the camp and the soldiers were all trying to put it out. Olivia pointed us to the cabin next door and we all rushed in. Our backpacks, guns, and other gear lay on the floor. Olivia grabbed a knife and cut through the zip tie holding JD’s wrists. Then she freed Danny, while JD grabbed his own knife and freed Cal, and soon we were all free. Everyone started pulling on their backpacks and grabbing their guns.
Everyone except me. I just stood there staring at Olivia, barely aware of what was happening around me.
She’s alive.
Losing her had taken me to the darkest place I’d ever been. It felt like my heart, my soul, had been crushed under cold rock. Now I could feel everything lifting.
Colton passed me my rifle but I didn’t take it. I just stood there staring.
She’s alive.
I could breathe again. I could feel again. The future I’d thought was gone was back, within my grasp, and a thousand times sweeter for almost losing it.
“Gabriel?” asked Colton. Everyone else was ready and I was just standing there. “Gabe?”
I walked right past him, grabbed Olivia and hugged her to me, my arms like iron around her. My head knew she was standing there, alive, but I needed to feel her warmth against me, smell her scent: my heart had to know she was really there. “I thought I lost you,” I croaked. I knew the others must be able to hear the raw emotion in my voice and I didn’t give a shit. “I thought I lost you.”
The others gave us a few seconds, facing outwards to cover us as best they could. But eventually, JD patted me on the arm. “Gotta go,” he muttered. He sounded extra-gruff, like he was trying to hide the emotion in his voice.
I nodded and pushed back from Olivia, but I stayed close as I pulled on my backpack and finally grabbed my gun from Colton. I made sure I stayed right beside her as we moved out of the door: I wasn’t losing her again.
The soldiers saw us this time, and started shooting. We had to shoot our way over to the truck, where Dr. Guzman and Marcos had been left. I cut Marcos’s wrists free and Colton threw Dr. Guzman over his shoulder.
“Which way?” Danny asked JD.
But before he could reply, Olivia pointed, her voice confident. “That way.”
JD nodded. “Go.”
We ran into the jungle and started scrambling up a small rise. Danny and Cal covered our rear but more soldiers were coming, drawn by the explosion. We’d soon be overrun.
The hill steepened, and a few moments later, we emerged from the trees on a clifftop, with nothing but a sheer drop ahead of us. JD looked at Olivia, worried. “Dead end.”
“No it’s not,” said Olivia. And at that moment, a helicopter rose into view. It was an old Huey, its paint worn and fading, and at the controls was Gina.
We jumped in and before the doors were even shut, we were lifting away from the treetops. Soldiers raced out of the trees and fired up at us, but we were already out of range.
Gina looked round from the pilot’s seat. “Next stop, Quito,” she yelled over the roar of the rotor blades.