by Susan Stoker
He was pissed, no doubt about it, but he was in control. He and his teammates and friends would make sure nothing happened to them. She knew they most certainly had a plan.
Fletch’s eyes hadn’t met hers since he’d given up his valuables, but suddenly they stopped scanning the area and locked on something to her right. Emily turned her head and saw Penelope looking intently in the direction of Fletch and the other Delta soldiers.
She watched as Penelope made subtle movements with her head and arms. She looked back to Fletch and saw him nod once. She had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was had something to do with Penelope. Emily hadn’t really thought about it much, but realized with a start that Penelope had been a soldier too. She’d thought of her as more of a firefighter than anything else, but she didn’t get the nickname The Army Princess for nothing.
“Time to get to work, girlie,” the man who was holding Annie said gruffly.
The little girl looked up and over her shoulder at him, but didn’t say anything.
“Your job is to go to each woman here and get all her jewelry. Earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets…everything. Don’t skip anybody, and don’t let anyone keep anything.” He raised his voice and told the assembled group of women, “If anyone holds anything back, anything, I’ll hurt this little girl. You try to keep your wedding ring; I’ll break one of her fingers. You hide a bracelet, I’ll break her wrist. If you don’t empty your pockets, I’ll pull her shoulder out of its socket. And if still more of you stupidly hold back, I’ll take that little baby you’re all trying to pretend I can’t see you standing in front of, and I’ll snap every one of her fingers one by one then break both legs.”
Emily stared at the man in shock. Up until now, he’d seemed fairly calm, especially compared to the other thugs. But he’d only been able to hide his crazy better. If he had no compunctions in hurting Annie, or breaking little Hope’s legs and fingers, he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot any one of them.
“No hurt Alam,” Akilah said fiercely under her breath.
“It’s okay,” Melody told her daughter, putting a hand on her forearm both in warning and comfort.
Annie had a mutinous look on her face, but didn’t say a word, nor even look at the man who’d just threatened to hurt her in awful ways. She marched to her left and stood in front of one of Emily’s friends from the PX. She held out her little hand and the woman took off her earrings, then watch, then the sweet pearl necklace she had on. She placed them all in Annie’s cupped hands and, without a word, not asking if the woman was sure that was all she had, Annie turned around and went back to the man with her head down.
She held them out to him and he looked around as if trying to figure out where to put the jewelry. He obviously hadn’t thought this whole collecting-the-jewelry thing through. He looked at one of the older women who had a purse over her shoulder and ordered, “You. Bring your bag over here.”
She did and held it out to him.
He didn’t even reach for it, and instead told Annie, “Take it around with you from person to person and put everything in there.”
Without a word, Annie took the leather bag from the woman and dropped the jewelry from the first woman inside. Then she turned and went back to where she’d started and stood in front of the second woman.
Person by person, Annie continued through the group, not saying anything, just adding to the stash of jewels inside the bag.
When she got to Penelope, Annie looked straight into the woman’s eyes as Penelope spoke. “You’re a brave kid, Annie. Thank you. You haven’t even cried, even though I know you probably want to. It’s okay, you know. It’s okay to cry.”
Annie nodded, then finally spoke for the first time. “I’m so scared,” she said loudly. “I don’t want my fingers broken.”
“Of course you don’t,” Penelope soothed. “But everyone is going to give you all their jewelry, so you won’t need to worry about it.” She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. Emily was watching the other woman intently, feeling as if she was missing something. Something her daughter was reading loud and clear.
Penelope looked calm and in control, and Emily would’ve missed the small sign she wasn’t as calm as she was pretending to be if she hadn’t been watching Penelope so carefully. Right before she dropped her necklace into the bag Annie was holding out, she hesitated and her thumb rubbed over the Maltese cross in a wistful caress.
“That’s right,” Harley chimed in. “We’re giving you all we have so no one will get hurt.”
Emily kept her eyes glued to her daughter. She’d said she was scared, but her voice didn’t really sound scared. Annie was now nodding at Penelope and Emily’s eyes whipped up to the firefighter’s face. She’d missed whatever the woman had whispered to her daughter, but Penelope was now giving Annie a small smile.
“All right, enough with the chitchat!” the man with the gun barked. “Hurry up, girlie. Stop dawdling.”
Annie nodded and moved to stand in front of Harley. The woman took off all her jewelry and then put her hand reassuredly on Annie’s shoulder.
Then Annie was standing in front of her mom.
Emily took in a shuddering breath and looked down at her daughter sadly. She removed her necklace and dropped it onto the other pieces of jewelry. She removed one earring, then the next. She slowly removed the two bracelets on her wrists, both of which had been gifts from Fletch. Finally, she reached for her wedding rings.
“It’s okay, Mommy,” Annie said so softly Emily knew no one but her and maybe Rayne and Harley could hear her. “Daddy Fletch won’t let anyone take your special rings away. And soldier Annie is on the job.”
There wasn’t an ounce of fear or doubt on her little girl’s face, which scared the shit out of Emily. “Let Daddy handle this,” she ordered her daughter, regretting letting her play soldier with Fletch’s friends for the first time. She didn’t want Annie to think she could do anything in this situation. She was just a little girl. Not a soldier, as much as she wanted to be one.
“No one is handling this,” the gunman boomed, obviously having overheard her not-quite-whispered, panicked words to her daughter. “No one but us, that is. Now hurry the fuck up, girlie. I’m getting impatient.”
As if his words flicked a switch inside her head, Annie whimpered and turned to face him as she said, “Don’t hurt me, please. I’m doing the best I can. This bag is really really heavy.”
“Whatever,” the man grumbled. “Just get it done.”
Annie nodded and stepped to Rayne. Her eyes came back up to Emily’s and she winked. Winked.
Emily realized in that moment that Annie did think she was in another adventure. It wasn’t bad enough that her elementary school had been on lockdown because of a madman who’d entered with a gun, and Annie and her classmates had to climb out the windows of their classroom to escape. It wasn’t bad enough that someone had drugged her and she’d had to dig her way out of a big metal container to escape. No, now Annie was smack dab in the middle of a robbery at her own mom and dad’s wedding reception.
She opened her mouth to snap at her daughter. To tell her that this wasn’t a game and that she could get seriously hurt, but Akilah’s halting English words stopped her.
“I have arm. You want that too?”
“What?” the man barked, confused either by what she’d said, or because he didn’t understand her because of her thick accent.
“My arm. You want? The others gave theirs.” The teenager pointed at the table across the way in front of the men.
The man with the gun turned to look across the yard at his comrades, saw the prosthetic arm and leg sitting on the table with the men’s belongings, then turned back to the Iraqi girl. “Yeah. Take the fucking thing off. Looks like we have quite the collection of limbs to take with us today.” Then he laughed maniacally.
As Annie continued taking the rest of the women’s jewelry, Akilah removed her prosthetic. It was quite a bit more sophistica
ted than Fish’s. It had Akilah’s same skin tone and a hand and fingers at the end instead of a simple three-pronged hook as the former Delta’s had.
Emily thought morbidly that if the girl put fake blood on the end, it would look exactly like a real arm that had been cut off someone’s body. It was a weird thought, but this was a weird situation.
Annie finally got around to Akilah and Melody. She lifted the purse over her head so it was hanging across her small body and reached her arms out for the prosthetic.
“I’ll be careful,” Annie promised softly.
“It’s heavy,” Akilah told Annie in a low voice.
Annie didn’t say anything, but Emily saw her nod slightly to herself as she hefted the prosthetic.
“Get over here!” the man ordered harshly. “Stop talking! Jesus! How many times do I have to fucking say it?”
Annie’s shoulders slumped and she limped back up to where the man was standing, as if the bag across her body was simply too heavy for her to comfortably carry. When she got within touching distance, the man grabbed her shoulder once more and hauled her in front of him again. Annie held on to Akilah’s arm by clasping it to the front of her little body and wrapping her arms around it, as if it was a prized teddy bear instead of an arm.
“You got all the stuff?” one of the men holding the rifles on the male guests shouted across the yard.
“Yeah!”
“All of it?” the man inquired.
“I said yes,” the gunman holding Annie groused. “I got it fucking all.”
“Have the kid bring it over here,” the other man ordered impatiently.
“You heard him, get going,” their captor said, shoving Annie in the middle of her back, making her stumble and almost fall to the ground. She kept her feet, barely, and turned to the man with the gun.
“B-but I’m s-scared,” Annie said, holding on to Akilah’s prosthetic even harder.
“Good,” he told her unfeelingly. “Then you won’t do anything stupid and no one will get hurt.”
Annie turned and shuffled across the grass with her head down and shoulders slumped. Emily felt her own shoulders stiffen in concern as her daughter struggled with the weight of the bag. She watched as the man across the way said something to her, then reached out and ripped the purse over her head and put one hand against her chest and pushed.
Annie fell backwards, landing on her butt in the grass. Akilah’s arm, which she’d been holding onto, went flying out of her grasp and landed in the grass next to her. Then Annie opened her mouth and wailed.
Cried loud enough for baby Hope to stir and begin to fret in response to Annie’s cries.
Loud enough for Emily to gasp and take a step forward, stopped by both Harley and Rayne’s grips on her biceps.
Loud enough for Fletch, Truck, and Dude to also take a step forward, as if they wanted to scoop Annie up and comfort her. Luckily they stopped after one step and stayed frozen in place.
Loud enough for the man who had pushed her to lift one hand up to his ear as if shielding it from the high-pitched wails coming from the small child on the ground.
Loud enough for the man who had been guarding the women to throw back his head and laugh in glee at the tortured sounds coming out of the girl he’d threatened minutes earlier.
Finally, one of the thugs across the way shouted to be heard over Annie’s wails, “Shut up and go back over to the women!”
Annie either ignored him, or didn’t hear, because she didn’t move except to roll over, grab onto Akilah’s fake arm, and hug it to her body. If anything, her cries got louder.
The man who had pushed her leaned over and hauled Annie upright by one of her arms. Annie managed to keep hold of the prosthetic and continued to cry. Emily watched, her hands clenched into fists as the man leaned into her and said something to her daughter.
Annie’s cries didn’t ease, but she nodded then spun and started walking back toward the women. Emily breathed out a small sigh of relief. They weren’t out of danger, not by any stretch, but at least she’d have her baby closer to her. One bad guy with a gun was better than three.
Annie continued to cry as she approached the man with the gun.
“What in the hell are you crying about?” he asked impatiently.
“I f-f-fell,” Annie wailed, stopping in front of him.
“And?”
“It huuuuuuurt!”
“Oh good Lord,” the man muttered. “I can’t believe you’re being such a baby. He didn’t even push you that hard. Suck it up.”
Emily’s blood boiled. How dare he tell her child to suck it up. He had no right. No right to belittle her pain. No right to threaten her. No right to even be there.
Just when Emily was about to march over to her daughter and snatch her away from the guy with the gun and comfort her, the man looked away from Annie to bellow something at his fellow robber asshole friends.
Annie’s cries didn’t diminish one iota but her eyes swung to Penelope, as did Emily’s, as she’d been closely watching her daughter, and the firefighter/soldier nodded once.
Emily watched in horror and fear as her daughter grabbed Akilah’s prosthetic arm as if she was holding a baseball bat and swung it at the man’s legs as hard as she could.
6
Fletch’s eyes were on his daughter. When the man with the southern accent pushed her and she went flying and landed hard on the grass, he gasped in horror and fury.
Then when she began to squeal in pain, he took a step forward, noticing that Truck did the same. Luckily, they both stopped themselves before they rushed to Annie, but it took everything Fletch had to make himself stand still.
The man who pushed her lifted one hand to his ear to try to block the high-pitched wails coming from the child.
Fletch saw the man across the way laughing. Fletch’s eyes narrowed. That would be the man to worry about. Anyone who could laugh at the sounds of anguish coming out of a child’s mouth had no soul.
It took a moment, but Fletch finally realized that Annie’s cries were fake. She had no tears in her eyes and was moaning and screaming more than she was actually crying. Her wails had bothered him at first because she hardly ever cried, and the fact that she was now had horrified him, but finally he paid more attention and realized that the little bugger was faking it. He had no idea what she thought she was doing, but if she was trying to cause a distraction, he needed to be ready. He hated that she was putting herself in danger, but the only thing he could do at this point was make sure she stayed alive.
The men holding them hostage obviously hadn’t been around kids much, if at all, because they had no inkling that Annie was faking her tantrum.
While the gunmen were distracted by her wails, Fletch leaned over to Ghost and said quietly and quickly. “Annie is purposely making a distraction. Tiger has the other guy. We’ll take the tango closest to us, Fish, Tex, and TJ have the southern-talking asshole, and Wolf and his team’ll take the quiet one.”
“Tiger’s backup?” Ghost asked urgently.
“Her man. Moose. And if I had to guess, I’d say Truck’ll be over there for Mary before we blink. I wouldn’t be surprised if a SEAL or two also joined in that fray. As much as I hate to admit it, Tiger’ll need the help. That asshole is fucking crazy.” Fletch hadn’t spoken with Truck, but the other man had moved himself to the outer edge of their group, in a position where he could easily sprint to the other side of the yard in seconds.
“Ten-four.”
“Can Annie handle it?” Ghost asked worriedly.
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Fletch returned. He wasn’t happy about it, but he hadn’t seen any terror in Annie’s eyes when she’d found his in the crowd, instead seeing excitement. He wasn’t sure what that meant, probably that he was a piss-poor parent, but at the moment he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was too relieved that she wasn’t trembling in fear and scared out of her mind. The last thing he wanted was her mom and dad’s wedding day to be the reason she needed the
rapy for the rest of her life.
Fletch turned to Wolf and inclined his head in Annie’s direction, then over at Tiger standing with the women. Wolf nodded in response and turned his eyes to the man guarding them. Satisfied that Wolf’s team would take care of the threat on that side, Fletch’s gaze went back to his daughter, who was still giving the performance of her life.
The man who’d pushed her finally had enough of Annie’s tears, because he bellowed, “Get up and go back over to the women!”
Annie didn’t respond except to roll over onto her side and clutch the prosthetic arm she’d been carrying to her chest. Without a word, the man hovering over her grabbed the little girl by her arm and hauled her to her feet, leaning in and saying something to her.
Fletch gritted his teeth. The man had better not be threatening his daughter.
Annie merely nodded, then headed back across the clearing without another look in his direction. The hair on the back of Fletch’s neck stood up straight. This was it. Whatever Annie and Tiger had planned was about to go down.
He glanced at the gunmen, surprised when they looked relaxed and at ease. They thought they had the situation under control and somehow didn’t feel the dangerous vibes in the air. Idiots.
Annie arrived back at the lone gunman’s side over by the women and Fletch could see them talking to each other. He could still hear Annie crying as she spoke.
Then the man moved putting his back to the women. He started to shout something about “hurrying this shit up” when Annie moved.
She changed her grip on Akilah’s prosthetic arm and swung it at the man standing next to her.
Hard.
Fletch was on the move before she made contact.
As was Ghost.
And Tex and Fish.
And TJ.
Truck, Wolf, Dude, and the rest of the SEALs pounced as well.
It would’ve been poetic if it hadn’t been so violent.
Not surprisingly, Wolf and his team had the man on their side on the ground and unconscious in seconds.