Protecting the Future (SEAL of Protection Book 8) (9 page)

But instead of pissing him off, which was what her comebacks usually did, he merely smiled and nodded at her, then at the SEAL behind her, and set off again.

Just when Penelope didn’t think she could take another step, they stopped and the SEAL in front of her gestured for her to crouch down. She couldn’t see much; it was darker than ever with no moon to help illuminate their path. She’d made her way through the camp with one hand on the SEAL’s back or tucked into his vest. She kneeled down and strained to see something, anything.

“In about three minutes, an MH-60 Blackhawk is gonna scream in here from the north. Keep your eyes closed as it comes in so you don’t get any sand in them, and whatever you do, don’t let go of my vest. Got it?”

“How will
you
be able to see?” Penelope had never been one to blindly follow orders, even back home at the firehouse.

“I’ve got night-vision goggles on, they’ll shield my eyes from the blowing sand and dirt. You’re gonna have to run. Can you do that? And be honest.”

Penelope tried to look up at the man, but dammit, it was still too dark to clearly see him. She thought about it. Could she run? The walk across the camp had almost done her in. But run to freedom? Hell yeah, she could do it. “Yes.” She didn’t elaborate.

“All right. If for any reason you think you can’t make it to the chopper, pull down hard on my vest. I’ll get your ass there. We aren’t leaving this fucking desert without you, Sergeant. No way in hell.”

Penelope felt the tears gather in her eyes. Crap. No. She couldn’t break down. Not now. Not when she was so close to freedom. “Thank you.” She paused, then asked, “What was your name again?”

“Dude. And that’s Cookie behind you. I don’t know if you’ll remember or not, but Wolf and Benny cleared the way ahead of us as we went through camp, and Mozart and Abe brought up the rear. We’ll all pile in the chopper with you, so once we get there, scoot your ass in as far as you can. You know the MH-60?”

“Yeah,” Penelope told him, impressed with his professionalism and his abilities so far. “Holds ten comfortably in the back. Pilot, copilot, gunner, and crew chief in the front.”

“You know the MH-60.” This time it wasn’t a question.

Penelope smiled, loving when she could surprise people. It happened all the time because people judged her based on her size and her looks. It was nice, for the first time in a long few months, to be treated as if she was an equal.

“Brace.” Dude’s voice was quiet, and Penelope braced. Within seconds she heard the hum of the rotors of the chopper. Before she’d joined the military, she’d only been familiar with single-rotor helicopters that were mostly used by hospitals and ambulance services. Because of the single rotor, they made the stereotypical whap-whap-whap sound. The MH-60 was a more powerful and bigger chopper and thus had several blades on the rotor. She’d never heard anything so wonderful before in her life as that helicopter hovering overhead in the dark night.

The chopper was flying low and with no lights. It entered the clearing and lowered until it was hovering inches from the ground.

“Let’s go. Now!” Dude said.

Penelope felt him stand up as she’d already grabbed on to his vest and her eyes popped open. They were running toward the huge machine before she could think. She tripped once, but her grip on the SEAL’s vest kept her from face-planting into the unforgiving desert floor. She got her feet under her and continued running as if the hounds of hell were at her heels. She felt a hand on her back and didn’t have to look back to know it was the other SEAL who had been by her side throughout their journey out of the camp.

They arrived at the open bay door on the right side of the chopper and a man, most likely the crew chief, was there with his hand outstretched, ready to help them in.

Penelope let go of the vest she was holding and Dude leaped into the cargo area. He immediately turned to help her up. She threw both hands upward and felt the men already in the helicopter grab hold of her hands and there was a hand on her butt that boosted her up at the same time. She immediately moved away from the open door when her hands were let go, scrabbling back on her hands and knees.

She watched as five more dark shapes leaped onboard the helicopter with only minimal help from Dude. The crew chief went back up to his seat on the right side of the chopper and Penelope felt the machine rising into the air about two seconds after the last SEAL leaped into the cargo area.

With the seven of them in the space, it suddenly seemed smaller than when she’d first been hauled aboard. There wasn’t time to strap into any seats so Penelope crab-walked backwards until she felt her spine hit something solid. She braced herself and held on as the helicopter raced off into the black night.

“
C
ade
, your sister has been missing for over three months now. Do you think you’ll ever see her again?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“How can you be sure?”

“How can anyone be sure of anything? My sister is a fighter, but more than that, she’s smart. You’ve seen her on those videos, everyone in America has seen her. She does exactly what she’s told to do, and it’s kept her alive this long. Those
BLEEP
are keeping her alive to use her. She’s pretty, and they’re using her as a propaganda tool. All she needs is for the government to send someone in to get her. Knowing her, she’ll probably complain to their faces about how long it took them to find her and get her out.”

“The government has said time and time again that they don’t negotiate with terrorists, do you really think they’re going to spend possibly millions of dollars, and risk countless lives, to send a team in to rescue her?”

“First of all, there aren’t any negotiations needed. They can go in and steal her back. Second of all, I can’t believe you’re putting a price on my sister’s head. She’s an American soldier. She put her life on the line when she was sent over there in the first place. The United States government sent her there, they can damn well go and get her back.”

“What will be the first words you say to your sister if you see her again?”

“
When
I see her, I’ll tell her I love her and that I never gave up trying to find her.”

The reporter faced the camera for the first time and said to the viewing audience, “In case you missed it before, here’s the last tape that has been released of Sergeant Turner reading a message from the ISIS terrorists…”

F
iona sat
with Melody and they watched as Akilah played with little Sara. Jessyka was glad to let Fiona babysit her toddler for a while. It was a good break for both mother and daughter. Akilah didn’t speak perfect English yet, but neither did the two-year-old, so they actually entertained each other very easily.

“I’m so proud of you and Tex for adopting Akilah.”

“
I’m
glad Tex was able to make arrangements so quickly so we
could
adopt her.”

“Does it ever bother you that Tex can…make things happen…so easily?”

Melody knew what Fiona was asking. “You know what? I trust Tex explicitly. He’s too damn honest to do anything for himself, or us, illegally.”

Fiona laughed, catching the “or us” that Melody threw in there. “Well, I know you know this, but Tex holds a special place in my heart. I’d do anything for him and I’m thrilled knowing you guys found each other.”

“
He
found
me
, you mean,” Melody corrected.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant. We’ve always said Tex could find anyone, and of course we were right.” Fiona noticed that Melody’s gaze was on her daughter. She looked over and saw that Akilah was watching the television with rapt attention. She looked at the screen and saw the last video of the poor American soldier that had been made public had just finished playing.

“What is it, Akilah?” Melody asked softly.

Akilah just shrugged and went back to playing with Sara. Melody and Fiona looked at each other again.

“Is she really okay? I can’t imagine what sorts of things she witnessed over in Iraq,” Fiona asked in a low voice.

“I think so. Sometimes I’ll catch her staring off into space, but she always smiles at me and says she’s fine when I ask if she’s all right.”

“Do you think she misses it?”

“Sometimes, yeah. It’d be like us suddenly moving to Germany and not speaking German. We could acclimate, but sometimes we’d long for a
McDonald’s
burger…you know?”

Fiona did understand, better than she figured Melody thought after spending all that time in Mexico when she’d been kidnapped. Surprisingly, having Julie living in the same town was cathartic. Having someone who Fiona could talk to about what they went through, and knowing that the other woman honestly understood where she was coming from and what she was feeling, was a relief. While she and Julie didn’t hang out all the time, they’d come far enough in their relationship to actually call themselves friends and go out every now and then for lunch.

They visited for a while longer and finally Melody figured it was time to head back to Caroline’s. They were all going to try to meet at
Aces
for dinner, and Melody knew Akilah would need a mental break before they headed out to meet in a big group like that. She was doing really well, but Melody didn’t want to push it.

They were in Caroline’s car that she let them borrow and on their way back to Caroline’s house when Akilah asked from the backseat, “What was TV about?”

Melody looked up at the rearview mirror at her daughter, feeling lucky for the millionth time that she was in her and Tex’s life. She tried to explain without getting into too much detail. Akilah was only twelve, but she’d seen enough that she sometimes acted thirty. Melody wanted to keep her as young as possible for as long as possible. “An American soldier was kidnapped by ISIS.”

“She on video?

“Yes, people think that is her.”

Akilah was silent for a while then said, bizarrely, “I speak Arabic.”

“Yes, honey, I know you do.”

“There was Arabic on TV.”

Melody looked sharply at her daughter. “Yes, I saw some men in the background talking. You know what they were saying?”

Akilah didn’t look happy. “Yes.”

“Did you hear them?”

“No. Lips.”

“You could read their lips? And they were speaking in Arabic?”

Akilah nodded, eyes wide.

“Was it something bad?”

“Yes.”

“Do you need to tell Tex?”

Akilah looked out the window and thought about what to tell Melody. She might only be twelve years old, but she knew enough about her new father to know he was different from the other fathers in the special school she attended. She knew Tex was like her, missing a limb, but also because he talked to her one night about what it was he did. He’d been honest, and Akilah understood most of it. He used his computers to help people. He found people who were lost, he did research to help the American soldiers and the American government, and he could…she didn’t know what the strange phrase meant when Tex had told her, but she remembered the phrase and figured it meant he could do special things other people couldn’t. All because of his computer.

Pull strings. That’s the funny American saying he’d used. If her new dad could pull these strings and help the poor American woman who was lost and who had a horrible accent when she’d been reading the few Arabic words on the letter, then she needed to tell him what she’d heard.

“Yes,” Melody said solemnly.

“Okay. We’ll call him when we get to Caroline’s house.”

Akilah sat back and relaxed a little bit. She was very happy Melody treated her as if she was important. When she spoke, Melody listened, unlike back in her country, where many times women’s opinions and thoughts were dismissed or ignored. It made her feel good inside, happy to be here in America with her new family. She wanted to help in any way she could.

S
omeone handed
Penelope a set of headphones. She could hear the pilots talking to each other in muted voices, and every now and then one of the SEALs would say something to another. But she kept silent. She was so very thankful she was alive and away from the damn kidnappers. If she stopped to think for one second about what she’d just lived through, she knew she’d be a basket-case.

Penelope also didn’t want to think right now about that poor Australian soldier, or Thomas, Henry, and Robert. She’d remember their lives, and deaths, at another time and another place; this wasn’t it. While she was thankful to be away from the refugee camp, she’d overheard enough from the pilots and the SEALs to know they weren’t completely out of danger.

While she’d been in the hands of ISIS, there wasn’t one moment that went by that she didn’t feel scared because she was a female in the midst of a male dominated society, and one that was definitely anti-woman.

She’d known at any time she could be raped, or passed around to each of the terrorists. God only knew why they’d left her alone all these months. She thought she remembered reading one time that blonde-haired women were somehow regarded suspiciously in the Muslim culture, but she could’ve been making that up. Whatever the reason, she was more thankful than she thought she could even express.

But right now, in this helicopter, surrounded by ten very masculine men…men who could easily hold her down and do whatever they wanted with her, she wasn’t scared at all. First, these were American soldiers; second, they’d come to rescue her. Third, she could sense, at least with the SEALs, they oozed honor and protectiveness from their very bones. She was safe with them. Utterly and completely safe. Penelope was dehydrated and hungry, and had been beaten up more than once, but she was here and alive and, for the moment, safe. She’d take it.

Penelope was just starting to relax into a kind of half-asleep/half-awake state, when she heard one of the pilots swear through the headphones she was wearing.

“Fucking hell. Brace, brace, brace! Incoming!”

Those were the last words she remembered hearing before the chopper lurched after a large explosion and everything went black.