time he didn’t grab her and drag her; he glanced back and raised his eyebrows. “Ready?”
She nodded.
He held out his hand.
Alex laid hers in his. A jolt of awareness raced up her arm into her chest. His fingers curled around hers, strong, sure and rough. A fleeting thought ran through her mind. What would it feel like to have those hands run freely over her naked body?
Shocked at her thoughts, Alex shook herself and fell in step with the man who had her life in his hands. Once he got them out of the current situation, he could do anything he wanted with her.
A trickle of fear and something else slipped down her spine. Alex refused to think past getting out of the village to somewhere safe where they could hide. For all she knew, she was trading one bad set of cards for another.
* * *
JAKE HADN’T EXPECTED to find an American woman in the village. When she’d run into the hut where he’d been hiding, he knew he couldn’t leave without taking her with him. The ISIS terrorists would either kill her, or rape and torture her until she wished she were dead. Leaving her behind wasn’t an option. But taking her with him made them both more vulnerable. She slowed him down, and two people made a bigger target than just one person attempting to escape and evade capture.
With the sun starting its descent toward the horizon, their best bet would be to either make a dash for cover in the hills, or hunker down in one of the huts and wait until dark to make their move.
The crack of gunfire filled the air with the answer to Jake’s question. They had to get out now rather than later. When the terrorists found the dead man, they’d be out for blood. He felt bad about leaving behind the reverend, his wife and the new mother, but he couldn’t take on the entire ISIS force that had stormed the village. They were far outnumbered, and his ammo wouldn’t last long enough to take out all of them.
He prayed his diversion had bought the rest of the SEAL team time enough to get away from the ISIS rebels. They would expect him to seek refuge and escape from the occupied village before attempting to reconnect with friendly forces.
Jake wondered what had happened to the drone that was supposed to be flying over while they were on their mission. Had the drone been in the vicinity of the village, they would have known the ISIS group was on its way and either been prepared for the attack or gotten the hell out of Dodge before they’d arrived.
Instead, they’d been outmaneuvered and outgunned. If Jake hadn’t rammed the other truck, they would have been mowed down by the sheer number of bullets the terrorists could have unloaded into them.
Hut by hut, Jake led the way, making it to the edge of the village. He paused to assess the chances of strolling across a wide, barren expanse of land. By himself, he could low crawl or run in a zigzag line long enough to achieve the safety of cover behind some of the larger boulders at the base of the nearby hills. With the woman, he wasn’t sure he could reach safety before they were discovered, and he didn’t know her physical capabilities.
He ran his gaze over her length. “Can you run?”
The woman tilted her chin. “I was on the track team in high school.”
“I didn’t ask if you were on the track team.” He drew in a deep breath, let it out and asked again, “Can you run now?”
She frowned. A nearby shout made her jump. “Yes. Yes, I can run.” She inched closer to him.
“Then on the count of three, I want you to take off in front of me and run like the hounds of hell are on your heels. Keep as low as you can. I’ll be right behind you. Don’t slow down until you reach those boulders at the base of the hills.” He touched her arm. “Can you do it?”
Her eyes round, she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
After one more glance around the vicinity, Jake whispered, “Go.”
For a moment, the woman didn’t move. Then she took off like a bullet shot from an M4A1 rifle. He’d never seen a woman run as fast as that woman ran from the Niger village.
He almost smiled, but he didn’t have time to admire her resilience and strength. He took off after her, staying as close as possible to block the bullets someone might shoot their way. He had the bulletproof vest, but the woman had nothing.
Once they were over halfway there, he began to think they’d make it without being noticed. That was not the case. The sharp report of gunfire echoed off the hillsides.
Jake automatically ducked lower, and he was glad to see the woman in front of him doing the same.
With over two hundred yards between them and the village, they could potentially make it to the hills without being shot. Hitting a still target at two hundred yards was hard enough. Hitting one that was moving was even harder. He closed the distance between himself and his lady counterpart, keeping his back between her and that village. Fifty yards. All they needed was another fifty yards, and then they could duck behind the cover of the boulders.
Something slammed into his back, pushing him forward. He stumbled and plowed into the woman, sending her flying forward. She hit the ground on her hands and knees, but kept moving, crawling as fast as she could go.
Jake regained his footing, scooped up the woman, set her on her feet and hustled her toward the boulders.
Bullets kicked up dust at their feet as they rounded a man-size rock that had fallen from the bluffs above.
After a few deep breaths to refill his lungs, Jake stared at the woman who wasn’t breathing any harder than he was. “By the way, I’m Jake.”
“Alexandria Parker. Most folks call me Alex.” She looked past his shoulder. “I can hear voices coming nearer. Let’s go.”
She stepped out with purpose, heading away from the village and up into the hills.
Jake followed. “You weren’t kidding about running track.”
“I run whenever I get a chance,” she said without slowing to catch her breath. “Even over here in Niger.”
When they came to a bend in the trail, Jake glanced back, his pulse picking up again. “Well, you’re going to have to keep running. They’re coming after us.”
Alexandria picked up the pace, climbing higher and faster. Soon the village was completely out of view behind a hill. They couldn’t keep up the pace, but, thankfully, neither could their pursuers, and they didn’t have the benefit of ATVs to speed up the search.
“If you’re up to it, we should keep moving until nightfall,” Jake suggested.
“I’m good to go,” she said, her breathing a little labored. But she didn’t slow, didn’t falter, just kept going.
Jake thanked his lucky stars this woman wasn’t one to fall to pieces when the going got tough. A glance ahead at the rocky path provided a good indication that the going promised to get tougher. And they had no food or water to sustain them if they had to hide out for any longer than a day or two.
At the moment, though, their number-one need was a safe haven from gunfire.
The
