by Ladew, Lisa
A strange noise whistled from far away, getting louder and louder. Dani cocked an ear at the completely unfamiliar sound. And then the world exploded and fell over on its side. Her muscles shrieked in pain as she sat up straight, trying to figure out what was going on. Had that been an earthquake? No, an earthquake doesn’t make a whistle noise before it happens. It had been a bomb or a missile of some sort. They were being bombed.
What was going on? Did uncle Kevin get sick of waiting for the terrorists to cut her throat and decide to send missiles instead? Or was this something more? Fear pulsed behind her eyeballs making her feel sick to her stomach. Her ears strained to hear from the guard. What was the guard doing? Was he coming to cut their throats even now? Voices shouted in the corridor. Men ran past. And a woman screamed from far away. Footsteps pounded past the doorway. And then a woman yelled, “Go get out get out of here get into the car and drive away do not wait for them you can’t!”
Dani strained against the ropes, hearing her breath thick in her throat. JT was right. They needed to escape. She heard him grunt next to her and knew he was doing the same.
She felt air move in front of her. The guard paced and yelled, “What is going on?” in a thick, guttural Arabic. He walked close to her and she pulled backwards in a defensive posture.
The canvas flap opened again bringing a woman’s urgent voice, “The leader needs you! Run! He wants you at the north end of the compound!”
The canvas lifted and dropped again and again. Dani heard someone approach and her muscles turned to jelly. She heard the unmistakable snick of a knife leaving its sheath. She squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could.
Would it be her first? Or JT? Suddenly, she felt tugging on her shoulders and her hands fell uselessly forward into her lap. She almost tumbled out of the chair but strong arms caught her and placed her upright again.
Then her legs, freed from the chair fell to the ground and filled with the painful pricks of pins and needles. “Just relax for a moment,” a woman’s voice said in her ear. Dani couldn’t hold herself upright. The strong arms were there again and they lowered her to the ground then disappeared. Her hood slid off her head and bright pain flared in her eyes at the light. She squeezed them shut as hard as she could.
“Who are you? What’s going on?” she heard JT ask, his weak voice cracking and breaking. That’s what I’ll sound like too, Dani thought.
“No one responded at first, but then Dani heard the woman say, “My name is Sara. I’m here to rescue you. No questions right now. We must move quickly. Both of you need to try to walk.”
Dani heard a thump and JT grunt with exertion. Gingerly she tried to open her eyes but pain spearing through her head stopped her. Instead she tried to get up but her arms wouldn’t respond to her commands. They prickled and pulsed with returning blood. Far off in the compound she heard men screaming and yelling and the solid thump of something heavy moving.
Dani’s nerves screamed that she must move, move before the guard came back. She tried her legs. They moved but her arms wouldn’t push her in a sitting position. The muscles in her torso were screaming loudly, after being asleep for so long.
“Wait wait wait,” JT said, urgency lining his voice. “We can’t just go! We have to - we have to capture at least one of them!”
Dani shook her head. Was he crazy? She opened her mouth and tried to ask but only a small croak came out. She cleared her throat and was about to try again when Sara broke in.
“We are not going to capture anyone. If we don’t get out of here quickly we are all going to die. It’s only me here to get you to safety.”
Dani’s mouth dropped open. One woman? The government had sent in only one person to rescue them? Desperately she wanted to open her eyes and see this woman. Was she crisscrossed in ammunition like Rambo? Did she look like Xena, standing 6 feet tall with muscles to match and carrying a broadsword?
Dani heard JT fighting to his feet. She tried again to open her eyes and found it wasn’t as painful but the lights and colors swam in front of her and she couldn’t see anything useful.
JT spoke again, each word clipped and serious. “You don’t understand. I heard someone say the name Clarkson. That’s Colonel Clarkson, got to be. We have to get evidence on him. He killed my entire squad and if we don’t find any evidence he’s going to get away with it!”
Dani clutched at her chest theatrically. Couldn’t they see they were killing her here? No, she knew JT probably couldn’t see anything, just like her, and Sara would have no idea how this was affecting her. JT knew about Uncle Kevin? Uncle Kevin had killed his squad? She wasn’t the reason JT was here in the first place?
“That may be, Sergeant Taylor, but you will have to find that evidence another way. There are 50 men in this compound and we are not going to fight them if we don’t have to.” Sara’s tone left no room for argument.
Sara walked to Dani and pulled her to her feet. “Can you stand OK?” she asked. Dani found she could. Sara turned back to JT and grabbed him by the hand. She took Dani’s hand in her other and pulled them both towards the door. “We have to go and we have to go now.” She turned to JT one last time, dropping his hand and fishing inside her own sleeve. Her hand emerged back out of the sleeve with something dark and heavy-looking to Dani’s eyes, which had finally started to work a little.
Sara looked hard at JT. “Can you hold a gun do you think?”
JT shook his arms from the shoulder and tried to raise one. It hung limply in the air. “I can try.”
Sara made the gun disappear. “It’s just as well. If we use the guns before we get out of here everyone will come running.”
They heard yelling and the corridor, far off yet but possibly coming their way. Sara stuck her head out the door without waiting for an answer and looked left and right. She grabbed JT and Dani and pushed them out the door in front of her. “Walk that way as quickly as you can and take a right up there where it turns. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you hear anything at all get down”
They walked swiftly, Dani feeling like a newborn colt just learning how to use her legs. The tan, dusty corridor swam in and out of focus but her eyes seemed to be coming around.
Dani could smell the air up here. It smelled rancid, disgusting. They walked faster in single file and the yelling noises fell behind them. Dani wondered frantically how they were going to get out of here. Her mind still marveled that there was only one woman here to save them. Sara directed them from behind. “Left, now right, now follow this until it dead ends.”
Dani saw nothing but dead, sand-colored walls that were at least 8 feet high. Sunlight streamed in through holes in the roof, making the air dance with dust.
Only 6 feet ahead of her, a doorway of canvas fluttered out into the corridor, roughly in a man-shape. A man dressed in dark robes and carrying an AK-47 pushed past the canvas into the corridor. He didn’t look their way, instead he turned the same way they were heading and took off at a jog. Dani’s heart leaped to her throat. If he saw them, they were done for. If they shot him, more men would come.
She felt a heavy shape push past her. JT! His powerful legs pistoned against the ground and he overtook the man in a few silent steps. Dani held her hands to her mouth, terrified. Sara squeezed her arm, warning Dani not to make a sound.
JT raised his arms and she heard him grunt in pain as he did. Her own arms still felt like lead in places, but the pins and needles in the other places was the worst she had ever felt. She didn’t know if she could have done what JT was doing.
The man half-turned at the noise and JT stripped his gun from him in a swift, hard motion. It clattered to the ground behind the two men. JT forced the man into the wall, then lifted his hands higher and forced an arm around the man’s neck, his other hand pressing against the man’s head. Dani squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see what happened next. She heard the sickening crunch and her brain filled in the details anyway.
Sara pulled her forward. Dani opened her ey
es so she wouldn’t trip and stepped over the man’s body, a grimace of horror on her face.
Up ahead she saw a dead end. Before she could speak, Sara said, “Walk to the wall and then turn around. Dani did. JT had stopped right behind her but Sara was looking in the doorway the man had come from.
Sara closed the door and the smell of shit covered with dust rolled down the corridor in front of her. Sara came towards them at a jog. “Clear. The exit is that way but you two wait here for a sec.”
Dani opened her mouth and pushed out some words. “I think I can.”
“Can what?” Sara asked.
“Carry a gun - shoot a gun. My hands are working now” she flexed her fists in front of her as if to prove it.
Sara’s hand disappeared inside her sleeve again. “What kind of gun are you most comfortable with?”
“Whatever you’ve got,” Dani said. Sara looked at her speculatively for a moment, and then made a pulling gesture under her floor-length dress. Dani got her first good-look at their savior. A beautiful brunette, tall, with a sharp face and demanding eyes. It was impossible to tell what her body looked like under the shapeless dress, but it did not seem to match her face. It seemed heavy, while the face was slim. Dani wondered exactly what she had under there.
Sara’s arm came out her sleeve again with a big semi-automatic pistol. She handed it to Dani. Dani pressed checked the chamber and then curled both hands around it, her thumb resting on the safety switch and her finger lined alongside the trigger guard. Sara nodded, appearing pleased. “Cover our back trail, but don’t shoot unless you have to,” she told Dani. “And be prepared for an explosion. I will be right back.”
Explosion?!
Sara disappeared around the bend to the left. Dani glanced momentarily at JT. He was staring at her openly and warmly, one of his hands attempting to massage the other. Something in his gaze caused hot blood to flow to her cheeks. She looked away quickly and stepped forward slightly, watching the corridor intently.
“Did she say explosion?” Dani asked quietly.
Before JT could answer, Dani heard grunts of exertion coming from the corridor Sara had disappeared into, then a crashing noise. She gritted her teeth together and crouched slightly in anticipation. And then it came. A noise so loud her eardrums seemed to bounce inward. She winced and crouched down looking at the walls, afraid they would fall in on her. When nothing crumbled, she relaxed a little. Sara’s voice came from the corridor. “Come on, quickly!”
JT nodded at her and pointed her down the tiny opening towards sunshine. Dani took one last look down the empty hallway behind them and went at a run.
A ragged hole in the wall lead to the desert outside. Sunlight streamed in and mercilessly clawed at her eyes. She blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the pain. Water streamed out of her eyes.
Sara stood outside the hole, motioning for them to hurry, quickly, quickly!
“Run if you can,” Dani heard Sara tell JT. “We need to get away from here fast before they come after us. That explosion was sure to bring them this way. Dani you have to the front and our right. I have behind us and to our left. JT, let me know when you think you can hold a gun. I have one for you too.” JT nodded, flexing his hands clumsily again. The fingers on both of his hand didn’t seem to want to curl into his palms.
Dani blinked back more painful tears and swept the quadrants that Sara had assigned her. She tried a run and found her legs held, for now. After only about 75 yards though, she heard JT stumble behind her. She stopped and looked back. JT was on one knee, like a football player saying a short prayer in the end zone. Sara was stopped completely, facing the way they had come, her gun pointing at the ground and her arm wrenched behind her back.
“What are you doing?” Dani yelled to her.
“Unleashing hell,” Sara said, in a hard voice that made Dani sure she had heard her correctly.
Sara dropped her arm, turned, and jogged to catch up with them. Dani saw movement flash over Sara’s shoulder at the compound. She opened her mouth to yell but shots already rang in her ear. They sounded flat and unimportant. But all the same, Sara stumbled forward and Dani saw a splash of red fly across the desert dust.
Sara stumbled the last few feet forward into JT and knocked him off balance. Dani dropped to the ground and sighted down her weapon. It was a big gun and she thought the effective range was probably at least 100 feet. She hoped so. From this far away all she could see was two white robes and blotchy circles above them. She aimed and fired quickly, two rounds centered on each white robe. And then she could see nothing but flat, tan wall.
“Sara, Sara, tell me you’re okay, say something, say anything,” Dani chattered, fearing the worst. She kept watch on the compound behind them, her heart banging against her chest. She didn’t dare look away from the place she had last seen the two men.
She didn’t know what scared her more, the fact that she had just shot and possibly killed someone, or the thought that Sara might be shot and dying beside her.
Chapter 18
Army Specialist Steve Moran sat at the end of the tiny room, in his army-issue chair, in front of the tiny desk, facing the normal-sized monitors, keyboards, phones, and radar sensors. Al-Goraam, the multinational peacekeeping base he had been stationed at for five months, kept all of its air traffic control and dispatching equipment in this one tiny room. The base didn’t need anything larger. Nothing ever happened here. All the soldiers at the tiny base were supposed to do was watch. They were an observation unit, basically there to make sure that Egypt and Israel didn’t start blowing the shit out of each other, and if they ever did the United States knew about it as quickly as possible. But they had no real mission outside of the observation. Their ammunition depot was as tiny as this little room and always locked. Steve hadn’t seen a fucking M-16 since he got out of training. Normally they only had one helicopter, a tiny (like the base) but deadly (unlike the base) MH-6. Maximum capacity at Al-Goraam MPB was 36 soldiers from all over the world, and one base commander.
Today though, besides the MH-6, they had a massive Black Hawk helicopter sitting on the tarmac. A Black Hawk from Camp Patriot that was on some super secret mission. The mission couldn’t be too big of a deal though, Steve knew, because of the five civilians sitting on chairs behind him. Nobody drops five fucking civilians in the air traffic control room, where they can see everything, and then goes out and does something important.
Steve twirled in his chair, boredom flowing off of him in waves. He’d been here for what seemed like an eternity now, and even this pathetic action was more action than he usually saw. And what pissed him off even more was three quarters of his unit, his observation unit, had been pulled out of here a week ago to support the uprising in Syria until troops could arrive from all over the world, leaving only him and 4 other soldiers on base as a skeleton crew to keep the fucking spiders and snakes from taking over. And had he wanted to go? Yes he had. Anything to shake up the old routine and get him some real fucking action. If he returned stateside without one real fucking story to tell … well he didn’t know if he’d still have a girlfriend.
He thought of Sally Ann and grimaced, not even knowing he was doing it. Tall, legs forever, and beautiful country-girl breasts, she’d never given him a second look, until he’d joined the Army. Then she’d accepted his invitation to go out on a few dates, since it was only two weeks till he shipped out. But she still hadn’t let him get past second base. He had high hopes that once he came home she’d see things differently.
But when she wrote and asked if he’d shot anyone yet, and he’d written back that he hadn’t even held a gun since he left training she didn’t write again for over a month. And her newest letter was a lot cooler than the first couple had been. And that’s when he started making stuff up. His cheeks burned at some of the things she thought he was going through. She even thought he’d be getting a purple heart.
A purple heart, ha! That was a good one. The only way to get a purple heart
at fucking Al-Goraam was by tripping on the fucking tarmac, or maybe falling off the helicopter if you climbed up top to clean it.
Steve ignored his burning cheeks and cocked his feet up on the desk, eyeballing the civilians talking at the other end of the room. At least he had some scenery today. The two chicks were hot. He was partial to the brunette, even though she looked too old for him. He watched her closely, waiting for a chance to make eye contact. Maybe she liked younger meat.
When she didn’t look at him after several minutes he got bored again. His eyes wandered out the larger window to the tarmac instead. Chief Warrant Officer Ames and his crew chief were looking over the Black Hawk idly. They’d been out there long enough to run through their checklist 5 or 6 times already, but they were waiting for a signal. When they got it they would take off. They were going to pull somebody out of the desert. Some lady CIA agent or something. Lord knows what she was doing out there — normally no one went in the desert unless they wanted to eat and crap sand for a week. Steve’s job was to wait for her signal and let Ames know when it came. Oh, and his other job was to call in the cavalry if the shit hit the fan – not that he had anyone to call, with his entire unit gone. He’d have to call the Australian unit at the tiny airport on the edge of the desert, or maybe the guys at Camp Patriot. But most of Camp Patriot was in Syria for a few more days too. Or he could roust Captain Johansen. Captain Johansen worked night duty last night and was a bitch to wake up, but supposedly he knew how to fly the MH-6, even if it wasn’t what he normally did. Ah well, no reason to worry about it. Steve was sure it would be a quick in and out and then he could go back to watching the fucking paint dry.
Numbers flashed across Steve’s DET-screen, catching his attention. It wasn’t the signal he was waiting for, but Steve concentrated on it anyway, just for something to do. It was coordinates. The Chief hadn’t said anything about coordinates. The Chief had acted like he knew exactly where the lady was already, so why would he need coordinates? And who were these coordinates going to? Steve read the entire message through twice. At the end of the coordinates had been a radius — almost like she was calling in an air strike. That’s strange, Steve thought.