by Hannah Ford
She’d initially hoped that Jake would hear them or spot them moving through the forest on his return back to the cabin, but as the hours passed and the sun first rose high above them and then began its steep descent over the treetops, Raven’s hope diminished and turned to hopelessness.
If she was going to get out of this, she’d need to do it herself.
Nobody’s coming to save you.
It was a chilling thought and it matched the dip in temperature, as night began to fall once more and the daylight slipped eerily away.
“How much longer, boss?” Joe asked, as Dave called a halt to the action, sipped from his canteen and then handed it off to Raven, who drank from it, hating the metallic taste of the warm water and knowing that Dave’s saliva was mixing in the with it.
But she was so tired and thirsty and she was badly in need of a long rest. Her legs were weak and the muscles had begun burning. Inside her shoes, her feet were raw and she could feel blisters on her toes.
“I think we should call it a night,” Dave said, after checking his map and the sky once more.
“Can I start a fire?” Joe asked him.
Dave thought about it for a long moment and then nodded once. “I’m gonna take a leak,” he said. “Watch the girl.” He walked off a few paces and unzipped his pants, his back to Raven.
She glanced uneasily away from the sight of him and saw Joe leering at her, as he cradled the rifle in his arms. “Hey, baby. How you like it out here with a couple of mountain men? You enjoying yourself?”
“No,” she said.
Joe laughed, a big belly laugh. “Awww, that’s too bad. Because I’ve really enjoyed watching your ass swing when you walk, and your boobs bouncing too. You have some swag, girl.”
She looked away from him, feeling her stomach lurch and her eyes flutter. She wanted to vomit but held it down.
Don’t give him the satisfaction. He’d laugh and laugh if you puked right now.
Raven managed not to vomit, a small victory, and then Dave was back, taking his canteen from her and spinning the cap back onto it. “Okay,” he said, “let’s settle in.”
* * *
Joe was definitely not in charge. He spent the better part of an hour making a fire and then taking a few cans of beans and putting them in a tiny pot, which he used to cook the beans over the modest fire pit.
Joe served the beans to them in the empty cans they’d come from in the first place, and as he handed Raven a small fork to use, she considered stabbing him in the eyeball with it.
“Not even a thank you for cooking this delicious grub?” he chuckled, grinning as bean sauce dribbled down his erratic beard, leaning toward her, almost begging her to stab him.
“Thanks,” she muttered, and then shoved the fork down and scooped up the lukewarm beans and began eating like a starved orphan.
Joe sat down across the fire while Dave sat slightly behind Raven and ate, presumably to keep an eye on her.
When she was done eating, she had to pee and told Dave. “Come on,” he said, getting up stiffly. “I’ve got to keep an eye on you.”
“I’ll do it,” Joe called out.
Dave gave him an annoyed glare and Joe mercifully shut up. Raven didn’t feel quite as nervous with Dave nearby, as he seemed the more professional of the two, even if he was a cold fish. She walked far enough away to be out of Joe’s sight, behind some bushes, and Dave carried a flashlight. “That’s enough, you can go there,” he said.
Raven dropped her pants and squatted, urinating with relief. “Do you have to do this to me?” she asked, as she pulled her pants up again. “Isn’t there something else? Can I pay you or something?”
Dave held the flashlight so that the beam fell in her eyes and caused her to squint. “Shut up,” he replied tersely.
They walked back to camp and Joe had a flask out and was sipping from it. He held the flask out to Raven and she shook her head. She could smell the alcohol from across the fire.
“No?” Joe laughed.
“I told you not to start with that shit,” Dave told him.
“Come on, we’ve been so wound up for days now,” Joe told him. “Have a victory drink with me.”
“The mission’s not done yet,” Dave said.
“Come on, just one swig.”
Dave gave Raven a baleful glance and then walked around the fire and took the flask and drank from it for a long time.
When he was done, he swiped his arm across his mouth. He glared at Joe and then Raven. He seemed angry and his eyes had turned less detached and more predatory.
He sat down next to Joe and across from Raven, watching her as he passed the flask back and forth between he and his fellow mercenary.
Joe grew more jovial and laughed more as they drank from the flask, while Dave seemed to get quieter and somehow meaner, without saying much.
Raven hoped they might get drunk enough to pass out. That would make her task far easier.
And where will you go when you run away? You don’t have a clue where you are or how to get back to the cabin. You’ll end up dying alone in the woods.
Well, that’s the chance I’ll have to take, Raven thought, as she watched her two captors drink without being obvious that she was looking to closely at them.
At one point, Joe cried out and fell off his backpack, and then lay on his side laughing like a maniac.
Dave, sitting on another pack, gave him a hard kick in the ribs with his boot, and Joe got up and stared at him. “Why’d you do that?” he said, the laughter gone.
“Because,” Dave said, watching him without emotion.
“Because why?”
“Because I felt like kicking you,” Dave replied.
The mood had turned sour, and Raven had to admit, she was rather glad. If they started really fighting, she’d have her chance.
“I should put a bullet between your eyes,” Joe muttered.
“What?” Dave asked, sitting forward.
“You heard me.”
“Say it again,” Dave demanded. “Say it again and see what I do to you.”
Joe seemed to cower, even though he was standing and Dave was sitting. The humiliation of it sunk in and they younger man’s lip curled. At that moment, for some reason, he turned his attention towards Raven.
“I’m sick of this uppity bitch giving me that look,” Joe said. He pointed at her. “See that look?” he asked.
Raven expected Dave to kick Joe again, as he seemed none to admiring of the younger man’s antics. But suddenly, Dave looked at her and nodded. “I see it,” he agreed.
Raven’s stomach curdled and she was frozen in shock.
“I think we need to show her where she is and how this works,” Joe said. “Don’t you think we should, boss?”
Dave stared at Raven for a long, long while. Finally, he nodded slowly. “Okay.”
Joe grabbed his rifle and walked towards her with it. “Get on your knees, right now. No playing around, bitch.”
“Please, I just want to sleep. I’m so tired.”
“It isn’t hard work for a girl like you. You got the mouth for it. Down on your knees.”
Raven stared at him, her throat tightening. This was it. She was going to die right now, because there was no way she would do as he asked. He’d have to beat her to death to make her.
And she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was quite willing and happy to oblige.
“No,” she told him, her jaw jutting. She stared up at him.
He didn’t seem to be able to believe his ears. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me,” she said, smirking at him. “You don’t scare me one bit.”
Somehow, it was true. Here she was in the middle of nowhere, the dead of night, alone with two psychopaths, and Raven wasn’t really afraid anymore.
Faintly, she remembered Jake’s words about his time in combat.
In the center of battle, I was the eye of the storm.
A feeling of power ran
up her spine as she thought of Jake’s bravery. She wanted to make him proud, even if he’d never know what had happened to her.
Joe’s eyes wrinkled in surprise. He didn’t know what to do for a moment, and then he turned his head to his partner. “Boss, she’s getting smart with me. I need your help.”
Dave stood up and dusted off his pants, and then he wandered over to her with the pistol in his hand. “We can make her do it even if she says no. If she won’t open her mouth, there’s other ways.”
Some amount of fear came back now, as she realized what he meant. Joe began laughing as the two stood in front of her.
Okay, now, it’s time to fight. Fight and fight no matter what.
But just as she readied herself to attack Joe with everything in her power—to bite and kick and claw—Raven stopped.
There was a slight ripple of shadow in the trees a few yards behind the two men, right in her eye-line. They had their backs to it.
At first, she thought it was her imagination. Certainly, she was scared enough and had enough adrenaline flowing to be hallucinating.
But then, her eyes seemed to adjust and the ripple became a form, and she could make out Jake, standing amidst the trees where he was ensconced, waiting as still as a statue with his gun extended, aimed directly at the two kidnappers.
Somehow, some way, he’d found her and now he was waiting for his opportunity. Joe was holding his rifle pointed at her, and Dave was loosely pointing his gun at her too. Obviously, Jake didn’t want to shoot either man when they could reflexively shoot her in response.
And then Raven realized what she needed to do.
Her entire demeanor changed, and she pretended to give in, as she looked down momentarily. “Okay, okay, please. Don’t. Don’t hurt me. I’ll do what you want.”
“What’ll you do?” Joe demanded, pushing the tip of the rifle under her chin.
“Get on my knees,” she said, her eyes appearing to look into his, but really she looked past him.
Jake was training his gun more precisely now, and he appeared to give her a nod, almost as though approving her decision.
“I think she’s full of it,” Dave said, but his eyes were hungry, he wanted to believe.
Raven quickly scrambled to her knees, praying Jake could be fast and accurate and do whatever he needed to end it.
One part of her mind was so happy and joyous and wondering how he’d found her, and then the other part of her was so scared because now she was almost free.
What if it didn’t work? What if they killed Jake before he could stop them?
“Me first,” Joe said, putting his rifle down on the ground and unzipping his fly.
“No, me first,” Dave replied, handing Joe his pistol and quickly undoing his pants and dropping them to his ankles, while Joe was forced to place his rifle on the ground.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” Joe said, as the exchange was made.
Just then, a piercing shot rang out, crackling through the air with immense power and vibrating Raven’s eardrums.
Joe shrieked as his shoulder exploded in a cloud of blood and he fell to the ground screaming like a wounded animal, kicking and writhing.
Raven fell backwards as Dave scrambled for the rifle.
“Step back or I’ll kill you,” Jake commanded, his voice booming from the darkness as he crossed the few yards between the trees he’d been hiding near and the campfire. “Step back from that weapon, now.”
Dave looked over at Jake and then glanced to the rifle, as if trying to judge his odds of grabbing it and firing a shot in time, and weather Jake was close enough to take him out for certain.
“One last warning and then I do what I want to do. My finger’s itching,” Jake said.
Dave’s pants were down around his ankles and he knew he didn’t have the time, and he relented, holding his hands up gloomily as his partner in crime screamed and writhed on the ground nearby.
Jake was approaching cautiously, his gun raised and pointed, still ready to fire. He kept his eyes on target but spoke to Raven.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
“I’m all right—they didn’t get a chance to do anything,” she said, her heart about to break with happiness and gratitude.
Jake closed in on Dave. He looked at Dave’s pants, which were still around his ankles. “What are you waiting for?” Jake asked him. “Pull your fucking pants up, soldier.”
Dave slowly bent down and grabbed his trousers. As he was bent over, Jake kicked him hard in the face, causing the man’s head to snap back so hard that he went unconscious. He was out cold for a few seconds, his pants still down, his body contorted in a strange position. A moment later, Dave woke up sputtering and coughing and holding his nose as he tried to sit up. Blood poured between his fingers.
“I think you broke his nose,” Raven said, walking closer to Jake, the beautiful man who’d saved her against all odds.
Jake glanced at her and smiled. “Good,” he said, and then walked over and rummaged through one of their packs, found a pair of handcuffs and went to Dave, who was groaning and rolling from side to side as the blood continued to pour from his nose.
Joe was still howling by the fire, and Raven looked at him. He was on his back, legs splayed out, holding his shoulder and crying like a tortured animal. She almost—almost—felt bad for him.
Jake put Dave’s hands behind his back, handcuffed him, and left him there with his pants down. Then he crossed to Joe, knelt down and examined the shoulder as Joe cursed him and howled.
“Sit up dipshit,” Jake said, helping Joe to sit. Jake examined the wound closely. “It’s a clean shot, it went in and out.”
“Fuck you,” Joe moaned. “I’m dying.”
“If you’re lucky.” Jake went to their bags and came back with dressing and bandaged Joe’s gunshot wound as if he was also a medical doctor on top of everything else.
Raven simply stood in awe. Maybe she was in shock, too.
“Is he going to survive?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Probably the night, at least. He’s lost a lot of blood and I took out his rotator cuff, so his arm’s useless and likely always will be.”
“Motherfucker…” Joe groaned.
“He’s lucky I don’t just kill him like the dog he is,” Jake said, more for the man’s benefit than hers.
“I don’t want anyone to die,” Raven said.
Jake looked at her and his eyes grew flinty and passionate. “They almost took you away from me,” he said, and his throat worked and she saw that he was emotional after all.
“I’m fine,” she said, and then she went to him and he hugged her tightly.
“I should’ve taken you with me,” he whispered in her ear as he held her in his strong arms that were infinitely protective.
“You found me, that’s what matters.”
“I’ll always find you,” he said.
Finally, they stopped hugging and Raven looked around her at the carnage. “What now?” she said.
Jake looked deeply into her eyes. “Now it’s our turn,” he said.
Raven found herself starting to smile. “I think I’m ready for that,” she told him.
He started to smile back at her. “Good,” he said. “Because we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Tell me what you need from me.”
“I don’t need anything from you,” he said. “All I need is you.”
As they stared into one another’s eyes, Raven realized that he’d spoken the truth and everything else fell away.
Those men who’d come to hurt her had never stood a chance at all, because the man who loved her would never have stopped until he found her again.
Jake’s words echoed and echoed in her ears and the last vestiges of her doubt fell away.
The words faded but the memory of them would remain with her forever.
All I need is you.
All they needed was each other.
And no
w she was ready to prove it to the world.
End of Book Six
THE DEBT 7
Three of Jake’s military buddies had arrived at the cabin.
Raven and Jake hadn’t been back for very long before his friends had arrived.
They were dressed in full gear, with packs and weapons at the ready. Raven was sitting beside the stove inside, a blanket around her, spooning soup into her mouth that Jake had made for her just minutes before.
Now she watched as Jake conferred with his men. They acted as if he was still their commander and this was just another day in Afghanistan. Their bearing was focused, with some of the gallows humor that men like them seemed to naturally possess, joking crudely about the men Jake had wounded in the woods.
Using some piece of equipment that looked like a giant handheld computer one of the men had brought with them, Jake showed his three friends where he’d left her kidnappers. Jake was holding a stylus and pinpointing their location. “Right about there, maybe a click or two North.”
The largest of his three buddies nodded appreciatively. “We’ll handle it,” he said, taking the handheld computer thingy back and studying it momentarily.
Jake folded his arms. “Do whatever you need to do to ascertain who exactly gave them their orders—find out by any means necessary. And then send them home, with a clear message that we mean business.”
“Do we kill if necessary?” the smallest one in the group asked.
Jake shook his head no. “There’s no threat factor posed by those two grunts anymore. Get the info, as much as you need to send the message. And then send it loud and clear. But no kill is required.”
The three men nodded their understanding.
“Message will be sent and received,” the one with the electronic map said, tucking it into his belt line, where it hung easily. “Time to move out, boys.”
“Bud,” Jake said, getting the attention of the big man.
Bud stopped and looked at him. “Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“You never need to thank me, Sir. Not after what you did for us on the big stage.” He gave a quick salute and then led the others out of the cabin.