Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (176 page)

A few hours earlier, at the Nazary Hotel, Sheila and Tim were getting prepared for the day. Sheila was making some adjustments to her hair, while Tim double checked his camera and microphones. When they were ready to head out the door, a feeling of panic washed over Sheila. She tried to brush it off as nerves. Tim must have noticed her sudden quietness, because he asked her what was wrong.

"Oh nothing. I'm fine," Sheila answered trying to steady her voice.

"Listen, I know you're nervous. It's no big deal. This place is a whole different world than what we're used to. But we'll make it. Plus, when we make it out alive, it will look great on your resume, "Tim laughed, always the jokester.

Sheila forced out a laugh and said back to him, "I know you're right. Everything is going to be fine. I know I will feel much better once we are out there and I can focus on doing my job.” She sounded like she meant it, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

Finally having left the room, they both grabbed a complimentary apple from the front desk as they headed out the double entry doors. They were almost at the bottom of the stairs, just a few feet from the hotel transportation, and Sheila saw something move quickly out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head to look, there were suddenly three men rushing at them. Before Sheila or Tim could say or do anything, the bigger man had grabbed Sheila and the other two reached for Tim.

Sheila was too scared to even cry out. When she felt the large gun poking into her side, she knew better than to try and get away. She bit her lip as she was forcefully pushed into the hotel taxi. As she sat in the seat, her captor roughly tied a piece of cloth around her head, covering her mouth. It was then that she felt the tears streaming down her face.

She felt the taxi heave and heard a grunt. When she looked over, a wide-eyed Tim was sitting next to her with the same make-shift gag around his mouth. One of the kidnappers got in beside Tim, holding a gun in his lap and the other two got in the front seat. They drove off quickly before anyone from the hotel could even come outside to see what was going on.

At first, all Sheila could think was
We’re going to die here. No one knows we’re missing, so no one will come looking for us. We’re going to die.
Then she started shaking her head and mumbling through the gag, “No. No. No.”

“Shut up!” came a gruff voice from the front seat. It was the first time she had heard one of them speak in English since they had been kidnapped. His words did the trick to snap her out of her panic mode. He yelled something else at her that she didn’t understand. She stopped mumbling and put her head down. Feeling a bit more rational now, she started trying to think of how they were going to escape.

There was no way to safely get out of the vehicle, as they seemed to be moving at a very high rate of speed. They would have to wait until they got to wherever it is that they were going. She was thinking that it would be a lot easier to plan if she could talk to Tim. Maybe he was thinking the same thing, because just then she looked up and noticed he was watching her. He gave her a sad look, almost as if apologizing. She tried to smile at him through the gag as if to tell him that it wasn’t his fault.

When the taxi finally jolted to a stop, Sheila quickly turned her head to look out the window. She saw a small, red brick building that sat all by itself. There was no landscaping, no lawn, no signs. Just a lonely abandoned warehouse. She wondered what they were doing there. If only she could understand what they were saying.

Just as roughly as the captors put them in the car, they pulled them out. With guns held to them, Sheila and Tim were taken into the building where there were about ten more men waiting. The inside was as dilapidated as the outside. Upon entering, Sheila noticed a large open space, filled with not only the other men, but foods, guns, and other supplies.

Before she could take in anymore of the scene, the kidnappers pushed her and Tim into a small room with a single window that was covered with metal bars. The door was slammed shut and locked before either of them could say a word. The each hurriedly took of their gags and both started talking at the same time. Tim went silent to let Sheila speak, “We have to get out of here! What are we going to do? Are they going to kill us?” she almost yelled.

“Shhhhhhh! Calm down, Sheila. We need to think. And talk quietly. We don’t want them to hear us. The last thing we need right now is for them to separate us,” Tim whispered.

“Ok. Ok, you’re right. What do we do now? I’m so scared, Tim,” Sheila said, trying to keep her voice calm and quiet.

“Now, that’s better. We have to keep our wits about us if we are going to get out of here alive. Maybe someone from the hotel saw us and called for help. The longer we can stay alive, the more chance we have of someone coming to look for us. We just need to cooperate until we can figure out a plan or someone comes to help. Ok, Sheila?” he asked

“Yes. Ok. I can stay calm. We are going to get out of here,” Sheila said, trying to convince herself more than Tim.

The room was totally bare, except for a single, medium sized tin pot. Sheila and Tim could only assume that the pot was their make-shift bathroom. This made Sheila start questioning how long they were going to be there, and if others had been there before them. Just as quickly as she started to panic, she calmed herself down again. She knew that losing her mind wasn’t going to help anything at all. So, she sat down on the dirty cement floor and put her head in her hands. The next thing she knew, Tim was sitting quietly beside her.

Neither of them knew how long they had been sitting on the cold floor when the door suddenly opened. The man who opened the door was talking loudly, almost yelling to the man standing beside him. He was motioning at Sheila and Tim as the other man listened and shook his head. They yelled at each other as if arguing for a minute and then the door was slammed shut and locked yet again.

For a minute, Sheila actually let herself hope that the kidnappers were going to just let them go when that door opened. Now she was mad at herself for thinking something so stupid. She felt herself slide down the wall back onto the floor. She wasn’t sure what else to do. They were running out of time.

***

At the start of dusk, Lieutenant Robinson and his crew started on their mission. By this time, it had been confirmed that there were two American hostages that had been taken by the Taliban. Informants had let them know that they were spotted hiding out in the abandoned brick building. No one was certain why they had chosen this spot or what they were waiting for. They just knew that the hostages were in serious danger. And the longer it took for them to be rescued, the less chance that they were coming out alive.

Robinson had said to his men right before they left, “These hostages will not die on our watch! Our most important goal right now is to get them out alive. After we know they are safe, then we can focus on securing the building. Let’s do this!”

The team looked up to their lieutenant, and they knew he would always have their backs. Between their loyalty to him and their rigorous training for situation like this, they started heading to their destination with confidence that this mission would be completed successfully.

They had to leave the tanks about a mile away from their intended destination so the enemies wouldn’t hear them coming. They parked the M3 Bradleys in the middle of a half collapsed temple. The broken stone and dark shadows helped to hide the tanks. A few of the operators stayed behind to wait for orders.

The rest of the men made their way by foot to the lone brick building. They could spot it from pretty far away, which left them at an advantage. They watched for a little while, but spotted very little movement outside of the building. Then they circled around, still leaving a safe distance between them and the building. They were checking for windows, doors, and other points of entry.

The good news was that they had an advantage over the Taliban- The element of surprise. The plan was for five men to break through each door and window at the same time. The only problem with that would be trying to locate and secure the hostages before they were injured or killed in the crossfire. This was not going to be an easy mission.

Just as they were getting ready to separate and carry out their plan of attack, the door to the building opened. Out walked three of the kidnappers, and two people who were obviously being held against their wills. The soldiers got completely quiet and stood as still as possible. The men looked to their lieutenant for any sort of guidance. He looked at them and mouthed, “On the count of three. One…..two….three.”

Quietly and efficiently the soldiers made their way to the building. The shadows hid them for most of the trek, and the constant yelling of the kidnappers drown out the crunching of boots on debris. The captors were truly surprised when they finally spotted the soldiers. But it was too late for them. With perfect aim, the lieutenant and two of his men took all three of them out before they could draw their guns. As Robinson started to make his way quickly to the hostages, more men started running out of the building.

When one of them noticed the hostages standing by themselves, he pointed him gun at Sheila and yelled. Everything happened so quickly after that. Sheila remembered hearing a blast, thinking she was going to die. And then there was Tim. As quickly as that man drew his weapon, Tim had jumped in front of Sheila taking the bullet meant for her.

With her mouth formed into a silent O, she looked down at Tim and saw he had been shot in the chest. She couldn’t stop watching the blood. She couldn’t move. Finally she felt someone grab her and usher her away from the scene. By then, guns were being fired everywhere. People were running around yelling. Some of the Taliban were also laying on the ground bleeding.

“I’m sorry about your friend. I’m going to take you somewhere safe for now. My name is Lieutenant Robinson. You’re safe,” he spoke to Sheila as gently as he could while pulling her away from the danger.

All she could do was nod her head, and say a quiet, “Thank you.”

The Lieutenant knew what shock looked like, and Sheila was very close. He knew he needed to take her mind off of everything that had just happened, so he started to ask her questions. “What is your name, ma’am?”

              “Sheila,” she answered.

“It’s nice to meet you Sheila. Where are you from and what in the world are you doing here in Herat?” he asked. He knew she was a journalist, but he wanted to ask her questions that she had to answer with more than one word.

“I live in California. I came here to cover parts of the war. I work for CNN. I was really excited about coming here. It was supposed to be my big break. Now…….” She couldn’t continue, and Robinson could hear the pain in her voice.

He tried to change the subject so she didn’t have to think about the gruesome scene they had just left behind. “Do you have children, Sheila? How about pets? I bet you have a dog. Am I right?”

“No children. I don’t have time for a dog. I do have two goldfish, though. They are boring pets, but easy to take care of,” she answered, and she found it was much easier to talk to the Lieutenant than to think about what she had just witnessed.

And before he could ask her another questions, she started sobbing. She was sobbing so hard that she slowly sank down to the ground. He knelt down beside her and not knowing what else to do, he put his arm around her. It seemed to him a good sign that she was showing emotion again. He let her cry it out for about three minutes until he gently had to say, “I’m sorry, but we have to get up and keep moving. I need to get you to safety and get back to my men as fast as possible. Do you think you can get up?”

   “Yes,” she replied quietly. “I’m sorry. Thank you for getting me away from those men. I was so scared.”

“You’re welcome. I wish we would have come sooner. Maybe we could have….,” he started to say and then cut himself off.

Sheila knew he was going to say that maybe they could have saved Tim. It wasn’t the lieutenant’s fault, though. It was her fault, because Tim had been trying to save her. At least that’s how she felt at the moment. She didn’t want the lieutenant to feel responsible for Tim’s murder, so she said, “I don’t think it would have changed anything. They were going to kill us both anyways. I think they were arguing about it earlier.”

Needing to change the subject, he told her, “We’re almost there. See where that stone building has fallen down? That’s where I’m taking you. You will have to stay in a tank with some of my men until we finished the takeover. They will keep you safe until the rest of us return.”

Once they reached the tanks, he and another soldier helped her inside of one. Before Sheila could even thank him again, he was running back the way they had come. She was shaking now, so one of the men put a jacket on her that was about three sizes too big. They gave her some water to drink, and before long she had actually fallen asleep. She had gone through so much in the last twelve hours.

As she came to a few hours earlier, it took her a moment to realize where she was. And then it all came back to her. She started to think about Tim when she heard some commotion outside. She instantly became terrified. “Have they come for us? What are we going to do now?” she asked with obvious panic in her voice.

One of the men answered her, “No ma’am. It’s our guys! No reason to be alarmed. They must have finished the mission.”

Relieved, Sheila let out a sigh before saying, “Oh, thank God!” She sat back in her seat. She thought she could hear the lieutenant talking to his soldiers, possibly giving them orders. She was secretly hoping that he would end up in this tank with her. She felt comfortable when he was around her. Besides, he was pretty easy on the eyes and she needed all the distractions she could get at the moment.

              She felt herself starting to get disappointed when the first two soldiers on board were not Robinson. Just as she thought he must have been going to ride in another tank, he marched on board. He went straight to her and sat down asking her how she was doing.

              “I’m ok. I think I am doing better than the last time you saw me. Did everything, um, go ok out there?” she asked.

              “All of our men returned with us, so I would call that a win,” and when he thought about her friend, he all of the sudden felt guilty. He put his head down for a moment thinking how dumb he could be around women sometimes. It had been so long since he had had any sort of female companionship, so it was hard for him to transport himself out of his strict, emotionless Navy personality front. He was going to do his best to try right now, though.

              If she noticed his mistake, she didn’t show it when she said, “I’m glad to hear that. Now, where are we going from here? What happens now? When will I be able to go home?”

              Robinson let out a small chuckle as he said, “Whoa lady! Slow down. One question at a time.” And he finally noticed a little smile appear on her face. He hadn’t noticed how beautiful she was until he saw that smile. Trying to not be distracted by her beauty he started again, “First we are going to find a safe place to stay for the night, away from where we just were. It is not safe to travel too far in the dark around here. I think that answers the first two questions. I’m afraid I don’t have a definite answer as to when you will be able to go home. It may take a few days before we can make sure everything is clear from our base.”

              “Ok,” she answered simply and then got quiet again.

              They drove for a few miles and when they came to what looked like a heavily wooded area, they finally stopped. Everyone started to exit the vehicle. They needed to secure the area before settling in for the night.

              “Just stay right here. I will be right back. I’m going to help the guys check out the area and then I can grab you something to eat. You must be starving,” Robinson said before he got up.

              She nodded her head thinking that she wasn’t even hungry. She didn’t want to be left alone, but she knew they all had jobs to do. She tried not to let her mind wander to bad thoughts as she waited for him to return. Instead, she thought about her apartment that she was excited to get back to. She focused on her bedroom which she was in the middle of remodeling. Anything to keep her mind off of the horror she had just witnessed.

              She was just about to figure out what color of curtains she should choose when she heard someone entering. Until she saw it was the Lieutenant, she had frozen in her seat. Relieved, she asked him, “Is everything ok out there? Are we staying here for the night?”

              He answered, “Yes, and yes. All is clean and we will stay here until daylight. Then we can travel back to the base.” He handed her a freeze dried meal and a canteen filled with water. He apologized that it wasn’t the best food, but it was all they had at the moment.

              She opened it up and started to eat slowly. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she took a bite. It tasted terrible, but she barely noticed. She finished up quickly and took a drink from the canteen. When she looked over to Robinson, he was staring at her. Like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar, he suddenly looked embarrassed. He cleared his throat and asked if she needed anything else.

              This time she was the one who was slightly embarrassed when she asked, “Where can I go to the bathroom?”

              “Oh, of course! Um…..well, I think it would be safe for you to go just outside of the wooded area. I can come with you and stand watch. Errrr….I mean just to make sure someone doesn’t coming along. I didn’t mean that I would watch you.”

              And for the first time since this morning, Sheila actually laughed, and said to him, “I knew what you meant. And I would appreciate you standing guard for me.”

              He laughed too, with relief. “Ok, let’s go then.” Almost automatically he took her hand and helped her out of the tank, then led her to a secluded spot near the woods. Like the gentleman that he was, he stayed far enough away to give her privacy, but close enough to watch for anyone who might approach.

              When she was finished, they walked back to the tank. Once they were inside, he looked around for a few minutes and came back with another jacket. “I thought maybe you could use this as a pillow for the night and the other jacket as a make-shift blanket. I wish I could give you better accommodations, but this is the best we have for now.”

              Sheila smiled at his kindness and thanked him. “I don’t know if I will be able to sleep,” she said. “But, I will try.”

              “Well, I hope you can get some rest. I’m going to take a turn on watch, but I will make sure that there is always someone near in case you need anything. Are you ok?” he asked.

              “Wait! You’re leaving? I’m going to be in here by myself?” she asked looking like a scared little girl.

              “Well, I……ummmmm,” Robinson stumbled on his words, not sure what to say. Of course he wanted to stay with her. He wanted to look deep into her beautiful blue eyes and kiss those magnificent lips. He wanted to tear her clothes off and lick her from her neck down to her pussy. But, he couldn’t say those things to her.

              She saved him from his thoughts when she spoke, “Maybe can you just stay with me until I fall asleep? I just don’t want to be alone.”

              And how could he resist her request? “Let me just check on my men one more time and then I will come back and sit with you until you fall asleep. I’ll be right back.”

              After he left, Sheila couldn’t help but think about his handsome face and those dark, sexy eyes. She wondered what he looked like without his shirt on. She imagined his flawless, chestnut colored skin rippling with muscles. She wondered what it would feel like to run her hands up and down his chest, feeling his warm skin under her fingertips. She was getting turned on just thinking about it.