Hung (37 page)

"
D
on't worry
, just stand by me – okay?" I say tersely, keeping my hand on her shoulder so that I know where she is. If, God forbid, this descends into a gunfight – the last thing I want is for her somehow to get caught in the crossfire. I don't know if I'd be able to survive the guilt – or the grief.

A
s the vehicles
close the last hundred yards between us, I realize that they’re Humvees, which confirms my suspicion – it's definitely the army. What's not clear, though, is why they're pointing weapons at us. After all, Katie's in her medical scrubs, and I'm, more or less, in uniform.

I
don't let
my rifle slip from my grasp, just keep staring down the iron sights, my target picked out – my aim true. I wouldn't kill an American soldier – but if it meant saving Katie's life and protecting my future child – if I was really pushed to it, pushed right up to the limit – I might fire off a warning round. Though, truthfully, I probably wouldn't – there's no better way to get cut to shreds by a hail of incoming gunfire than by shooting at an American military convoy…

I
feel
Katie's body pressed against my back, hugging me from behind, and I don't know whether my brain is tricking me or whether my nerves are hypersensitive because of all the adrenaline flooding my system, but I swear that I can feel the blood rushing through her veins at a thousand miles an hour, her heart beating three times as fast as normal in fear.

"
S
ergeant
, put your weapon down immediately or we will open fire. I repeat, we
will
open fire."

S
ergeant
? That means they know who I am – who we are. What the hell is going on?

I
'm just
about to reply when the choice gets taken out of my hands. Not by the men pointing guns at me, who are terrifying enough, but by the beautiful woman who only moments before was cowering behind me in fear.

"
W
hat the hell
do you think you're doing?" she says, coming out from where she was hiding and striding over towards the two armored vehicles, the anger clear in her voice as she raises it over the chugging of their engines. "Who's in charge here?" she demands.

"
U
h
, Katie –" I say, not wanting her to kick the hornet's nest. Ever so slightly, she turns her head to me, and even in that small motion, I can see the anger visibly radiating from her body, which is tense and coiled with emotion. I decide, sensibly, to stay out of the way. She's like a guided missile, and the last thing I want is to become her target…

"
I
said
, who's in charge?"

I
can see the surprise
, confusion and indecision written on the faces of the armed and helmeted men aiming their weapons out of the windows of the Humvee. I can't imagine what I would think if I was in their place – it's not often that a one hundred pound scrap of nothing like Katie stands up to the men in their position. The image of an angry Chihuahua barking at a car briefly crosses my mind, and I can't help but smile. The soldier nearest me seems to notice, and realizing how confused he must be by the whole experience, I broaden my grin.

I
'm not
sure how this is going to end, but I'm more than happy for Katie to deal with it…

C
hapter
Twenty Two - Katie

"
U
h
, miss, I'm going to have to ask you to back away from the vehicle," a man says to me, his eyes hidden by the wraparound reflective Oakley sunglasses he's wearing. Combined with his helmet, body armor and dented black metal rifle, he looks like some kind of android.

I
don't listen
to him. I can feel the blood pounding in my ears and I've never felt this outraged in my entire life.

"
O
r what
? Are you going to shoot me, soldier?" I ask, wrinkling my upper lip with distaste to convey quite how doubtful I feel that he'll choose that course of action.

"
M
iss
, you're going to have to back up –"

"
A
re
you going to shoot me?" I ask, walking even closer towards him, instead of listening to his instructions and backing away. "Where were you when I was kidnapped, hey? Shouldn't you be taking me back to base, not shoving a weapon in my face?"

"
I
don't know
anything about that, but I'm going to need you to step away from the vehicle," he says, his face wrought with indecision. Inside the Humvee, I can hear a radio squawking away, and it sounds like half a dozen commanders are screaming down the radio trying to get a sit-rep – information about what's going on.

"
H
appily
," I reply with a wicked grin on my face, having made my mind up not to listen to a word he's saying, "as soon as you tell me that you're going to shoot me and my friend here. Would you do that? Kill a fellow soldier and a pregnant nurse?"

T
he soldier’s
face jerks slightly at the mention that I’m expecting. I don’t want to come across as a frail damsel in distress, but in this scenario, I’m more than happy to use every tool at my disposal.

"
M
a'am
– I really advise you don't test me here," the soldier replies. Judging by the rank tabs on his arms, he's in charge here, but looking at him, I know that he doesn't want to be doing what he's doing. He's clearly been asked to take the pair of us into custody, but it doesn't look like he's too happy with his orders.

"
Y
ou sure
you know what you're doing, Katie?" I hear Mike say behind me, not a hint of concern in his voice. I feel kind of proud that he's willing to trust me to this extent – after all, if I make a wrong move right now, I could be torpedoing his career. Even worse, however unlikely I think it might be – they could just light us up with the machine guns…

"
T
hink so
," I call back, keeping my voice light and airy, so as not to give off any impression to the soldiers that I'm worried.

"
A
ll right then
," he replies, leaving me to it.

"
L
opez
, O'Reilly – take the sergeant into custody," my conversation partner orders gruffly.

"
B
elay that order
, Lopez," I say, only to hear Mike start chuckling almost immediately.

"
W
hat are you laughing at
?"

"
Y
ou
, you idiot. We aren't Marines, you know!"

"
S
o you don't say
stuff like belay?" I say with surprise.

"
N
o
, not since like, the eighteenth century anyway…" he chuckles.

"
O
h
, okay."

I
n the midst
of this light-hearted discussion, I notice that the two soldiers who I assume must be Lopez and O'Reilly haven't moved a muscle since their initial, aborted surge towards Mike. I decide to keep plowing on, figuring that I've somehow found an advantage, and that it would be a shame to waste it.

"
L
isten
, soldier – sergeant?" I say, noticing that his rank tabs are similar to the ones that Mike normally wears. He nods guardedly.

"
O
kay
, sergeant – let me break this down for you. The way I see it, you're in a pretty sticky situation here…"

M
aybe subconsciously
, he nods ever so slightly in agreement. I take it as a cue to keep going.

"
I
really don't think
you want to arrest us. How's that going to look on the news – the army heavy handedly arresting a kidnapped,
pregnant
nurse – not well, I don't think. Am I right?"

H
e nods again
, with a little bit more force this time.

"
W
hat I don't understand is
why you've been sent here to do this?" I don't say anything else, just leave the silence hanging in the air and wait for him to fill it. It doesn't take long.

"
Y
our boyfriend there
," he jerked his head at Mike, "is AWOL. The army doesn't take too kindly to deserters."

I
turn
to look at Mike. "AWOL?"

"
A
bsent without leave
," he replies – the color draining from his face. Even when the monster who kidnapped me was shooting at him, I didn't see him look anywhere near this nervous.

I
turn back
to the sergeant in front of me. "This
deserter
, as you put it, seems to be the one who came after me once I got taken. Are you really going to stick a hero like that into jail?" In my head, I’m worriedly thinking:
What if he’s locked up when the baby’s born?

"
O
rders are orders
, ma'am," the sergeant replies, but I can tell he's neither happy about, nor in agreement with, the ones he's been given.

"
T
ell you what
, did your captain say you needed to bring us in in cuffs?"

T
he sergeant considers
my question for a second, his eyes lighting up with agreement as he grasps the meaning behind my suggestion.

"
N
ot exactly
…"

"
T
hen how about
we come with you peacefully – we aren't going anywhere. Mike here needs medical treatment, so we were heading back to the base anyway."

"
T
hat works for me
," the sergeant agrees with relief evident in his voice. I can almost sense the visions running through his head – images of his face on the nightly news, his bosses angry with him for
overstepping
precisely the orders he was given. Not a particularly pleasant situation to be in, but definitely one that I can use to my,
our
advantage.

"
O
ne last thing
, sergeant." He looks at me inquisitively. "He's my patient, not your prisoner – got it?"

H
e sighs
, and his shoulders sag with pent-up frustration. "Anything you want, ma'am."

B
ehind me
, I hear Mike chuckle. I let out the breath that I didn't even know I was holding. "Remind me never to get on your bad side," he says.

I
don't say
anything in reply. Honestly, I didn't know I had that in me – but as soon as I saw him being threatened, after all he's been through to get me back, there was only one thing on my mind. Still, I can't imagine that this is going to be the end of things…

C
hapter
Twenty Three - Katie

"
O
h my God
, Katie – what are you doing here?"

M
y head spins
around immediately as I hear the unmistakable sound of my best friend’s voice echoing down the disinfected corridor of the hospital.

"
S
ophie – you're okay
!"

"
I
'm okay
? Of course I'm okay – you're the one who got taken off into the mountains! Seriously, what are you doing here? Are you injured?"

"
N
o
, nothing like that," I say as she wraps her arms around my body, burying her head into my hair.

"
I
didn't know
if I'd ever see you again…" she says in a plaintive, scared tone of voice, a tone which makes me consider whether I've really come to terms with what happened to me over the last few days. Truthfully, I'm pretty sure I haven't.

"
M
e either
," I confide, taking a deep breath in and in the process, filling my nostrils with the unmistakable lavender scent of Sophie's shampoo. It's hard to wrap my mind around something as mundane as washing my hair after everything I've been through over the past few days, hard to believe that Sophie was safe on the base, while I was being dragged through boulder fields and up mountain paths.

"
T
hey didn't
…" Sophie tails off before she finishes her question, as though she's worried either that I might not be ready to answer or that she might not want to hear it.

"
H
urt me
?" I finish, allowing a comforting smile to warm my face. "No, nothing like that. Just a few scrapes – cuts and bruises, that kind of thing."