* * *
Elise is beginningto run out of hope. It’s been 4 or 5 days since she was taken and Hussan has become increasingly aggressive towards her. They have brought Lakia to the room and allowed her to stay with Elise. When Lakia sleeps, Elise cries to herself. She wants to be brave for Lakia, but the stress is taking a toll on her. She is kept chained to the cot in her room. A guard brings her food a couple of times a day. She refused to eat the first day, but the sight of Hussan hitting Lakia every time she refused forced her to eat what they brought her. She had quickly changed her attitude. She would do anything to protect the little girl. She was an innocent in all of the this and while Elise was an innocent also, she was a grown woman and would willingly take whatever he dished out to keep the little girl from further torture.
He has entered her room daily the last 3 days and forced his advances on her. So far, he has not fully raped her, but he has kissed and fondled her. He has forced her to perform oral sex on him nearly every day. She had resisted the first time he came to her, but when they brought Lakia into the room she complied. It didn’t stop them from hurting the little girl, though. They forced Elise to watch as the child was raped in front of her by one of the guards.
Hussan told her every time she refused his advances or didn’t fully cooperate with his demands; she would be forced to watch the little girl’s suffering. Elise was so traumatized at the sight of what occurred she threw up and fainted. When she came to herself, the little girl was gone and Hussan was standing over her.
“Now, my little American woman, you will do as I have commanded.” Hussan forced her off the bed and onto her knees at his feet. He proceeded to force her to take him in her mouth. He didn’t stop despite her gagging and vomiting all over his feet. Elise had never been so humiliated in all her life. She begins to no longer pray for rescue, but for death. She isn’t sure she will be able to endure this torture any longer or recover from his depraved torture. He had her examined before he began coming to her. For once in her life, Elise wished she had given herself to someone, anyone so he would not want her to be his virgin bride, but she came to learn that being a virgin was the only thing preventing her all-out rape so far. Elise thinks back to the day he began to tell her the details of what he had planned for her.
“Now that I know you are pure. I will refrain from taking you fully until after the ceremony. I will need to present the evidence of your purity to the masses after our union. I had planned to fake it if you were not a virtuous woman, but I am most pleased that you have never been touched.” Hussan informs her as he fondles her breasts. “I hadn’t expected it. American women are all whores, but it seems I have chosen well to have a pure one. I can wait to take you fully at our ceremony. Ali will give me great honor for taking such a beautiful, pure bride.”
Elise is wondering if she can somehow use her restraints to end her life. She had never been a depressed person or even thought of harming herself or anyone else, but the fear and abuse is more than she can bear. There is no way she will mentally survive being raped and forced to have children with Hussan. She is lost in her thoughts of how she could quickly and painlessly end her life when she hears shouting in the hallway outside of her room. Hussan and her guards burst into the room with the little girl in tow.
Fear courses through Elise once again. What is happening, now? Hussan looks more pissed than usual. He is shouting in Arabic and gesturing wildly. In the distance, Elise thinks she hears gunfire. It’s faint, but similar to the sounds she heard when she was kidnapped. The sounds from the street seem to anger Hussan even more. He shouts more commands at the men and gestures toward the little girl. The guard holding her suddenly shoves her toward Hussan. He grabs the child and quickly slits her throat. Massive amounts of blood gushes forth. Elise screams hysterically. Lakia’s limp body falls to the floor. Her blank eyes staring at Elise.
A loud explosion rocks the building and pieces of the ceiling rain down on them. Hussan moves toward her. He is attempting to release her from her bonds when the second explosion hits even closer. The far wall is now a gaping hole to the outside. Hussan falls across her pinning her on the bed under him. He doesn’t move. Elise sees the blood pouring out of him where a large piece of wood is protruding from his back. Elise screams until she can’t anymore. She is fearful of whom has bombed this place. Is it someone worse than Hussan? Could it possibly be a rescue? Elise is again praying for mercy from God. Please let it be American soldiers coming to her rescue.
Elise tries without success to push Hussan off her body. He isn’t dead yet, but he isn’t moving either. She can hear his gurgling breaths and feel the warm wet blood draining down on her. The metallic smell is sickening. She isn’t sure how much more she can endure. She tries to slow her breathing down. She can feel the panic taking over her body. The weight of his body is crushing her. She can’t get enough air into her lungs. Her breathing is getting faster and faster. She hears someone screaming over and over. Is it the little girl? No, she is dead. Elise saw them kill her. As the darkness closes in on her, she realizes she is the one screaming. She feels so light like she is floating away. And then the darkness comes.
Chapter 6
Deadeye knows they are close.He can feel it in his bones. He enters the compound with Straw, Ace, and Wallace on his heels. The remainder of the team has set up a perimeter to keep them safe as they search the building. They move quickly down the hallways checking room by room. He hasn’t found any sign of Elise. The further he moves into the building the more anxious he becomes. Did they get the intel wrong? They hear a woman screaming and they move quickly in the direction of the screams. Suddenly, the screaming stops. They are near the damaged portion of the building. Have they bombed the very place where Elise was being held? Deadeye moves further down the hall to a room at the end. He pushes open the door and the sight before him causes his heart to stutter.
The wall to the left is completely gone. Bodies litter the floor of the room. Deadeye scans the room and sees a bed in the far-right corner of the room. A man is laying across the bed with a large piece of wood protruding from his back. He can see Elise’s hair next to the wall. Deadeye moves quickly across the room stepping over the dead bodies including a small girl. He pulls the man from the bed and finds Elise unconscious on the bed under the man. Her near naked body is covered in blood. He looks closely and sees she is breathing.
Deadeye tries to take her in his arms, but she is restrained to the bed. “Straw, Ace help me get her loose. I’ve found her.” His teammates move to his side and quickly release the bindings holding her to the bed. As they work, Deadeye looks at the man he has moved off Elise. He realizes it Odamir Hussan and he is still breathing, but he looks bad. Deadeye puts him out of his misery with a quick flick of his Striker knife. When the men have freed Elise, he takes her into his arms. Relief floods him as he holds her close for a moment before he gets into action. He hurries from the building cradling her to his chest. Holding her in his arms has strengthened his resolve to protect her and keep her safe at all costs.
They have escaped the city and are in their transports headed back to the safety of US Camp Leatherneck where they can have Elise looked at by a doctor. As they cross the desert, Deadeye holds Elise close to his body. He worries because she has not regained consciousness. She was covered in Hussan’s blood, but he had tried to clean it off so he could assess her. He hadn’t found any injuries except for a few scrapes and bruises here and there. He runs his hand through her long brown hair as he watches her breathe.
Elise’s eyes flutter open. She tries to scream, but barely a sound comes out. She is franticly trying to get out of Deadeye’s arms. He tries to calm her with words while holding her still, so she doesn’t hurt herself.
“You are safe, Sweetheart. My name is Warren Vickers. I’m a United States Marine. We were sent to find you and bring you home.” Deadeye tries desperately to calm her. “You’re safe now, sweetheart. I won’t let anything hurt you again.” As she begins to relax, he runs his hand through her hair again. He place a hand on her cheek. “You safe now. You will be ok.” The roar of the vehicle’s engine is the only sound as they stare at each other.
Elise was scared when awareness returned to her. She was shocked to be in some sort of vehicle and begin held by the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. She shouldn’t have been attracted to any man after all she had endured in the last 5 days, but she couldn’t help her response to him. His voice was so soothing, and he touch was gentle and kind, nothing like Hussan’s. Once she understood he was a Marine she relaxed a little but clung to him tightly. He promised he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her and she believed him.
As the group crossed the desert, the ride was rough. The Humvee jarred along the rough terrain when out of nowhere they were nearly hit with an RPG. The Humvee veered off to the left to avoid the large hole in the trail. Tank at the wheel punches the gas and hurries toward a large rock formation at the base of a mountain about 500 ft to the left. Another rocket hits off to the left of the Humvee raining dirt and rocks onto the vehicle as it speeds toward shelter behind the rock formation.
Deadeye tucks Elise safely against his side to protect her from the dirt and debris hitting the vehicle. As they near the rock formation, he makes the decision to put her in the floor of the Humvee until they can eliminate the threat against them.
“Sweetheart, I need you to get down into the floor and stay there until I tell you its safe, ok? Everything will be alright. I just don’t want you to be injured while we take care of this.” Deadeye helps Elise down to the floor of the Humvee. Elise nods in agreement with Deadeye’s commands. He wedges her in the floorboard between two seats. When he moves toward the window, Elise’s hand reaches out and grabs his hand. When he looks back at her, Elise has tears in her eyes.
“You won’t leave me, will you?” He can hardly hear her quiet plea over the roar of the engine and noise of the rough terrain. Understanding her fear and need for reassurance, Deadeye kneels in front of her and takes her hands in his.
“I promise. I am not leaving you. I need to help my men take care of this threat and then I will get you. You are safe here. Just keep your head down and I will be back as soon as I can.” Deadeye stares into her eyes and wills Elise to believe him. Taking a shuttering breath, Elise nods in acknowledgement. Deadeye squeezes her hands briefly before turning back to the task at hand. They have reached the safety of out rock formation and the Humvee comes to a sudden halt.
The team piles out of the Humvee taking up formation to surround and protect Elise inside the Humvee. Deadeye takes point flanked by Tank and Ace. Straw, Wallace and Virus head right, while Bull and Worm head left, leaving Hack and Mercury to bring up the rear. Deadeye peers out into the desert around the rock formation as sees the enemy approaching in several trucks. They are severely outnumbered. If it was only him and his team, Deadeye wouldn’t be worried, but with Elise his responsibility Deadeye has an unusual sense of urgency to eliminate the threat.
Tank has gotten Deadeye’s long-range rifle out. Deadeye quickly assembles the rifle, scope, and tripod. The rest of the team sets up a perimeter and begins to fire at the oncoming enemy. Once he is set, Deadeye picks off the man with the rocket launcher and then the driver of the closest vehicle. The other vehicles turn off to the right and circle back out of range. The team keeps vigil while Deadeye, Tank, and Wallace head back to the Humvee to check on Elise and discuss a new plan for their escape.
When they arrive at the Humvee, Tank hurries to the back of the Humvee where a trickle of gas is dripping from the hole in the gas tank. They had apparently taken a hit to the gas tank by a rock in their haste to reach shelter. Without fuel, there was no way they would be traveling out the desert in this Humvee. Deadeye climbs into the back to secure Elise. When he reaches her, she looks up at him with frightened eyes. Deadeye kneels in front of her and slowly reaches for her hand.
“Hey, Sweetheart. Are you okay?” Deadeye inquires as Elise lets him take her hand and help her up.
“I’m alright. Is everything okay now?” Elise peers at Deadeye in question. He shakes his head. When her eyes widen in fear, he quickly tries to assure her not to worry.
“Everything will be alright, soon. We have stopped them for the moment. We are working on a plan to get us all out of here.” Deadeye states. Elise nods despite the fear her eyes are giving away. “Come on let’s get you out of here.” Deadeye takes Elise’s hand and leads her out to where Tank and Wallace are assessing the damage to the Humvee.
“How bad does it look?” Deadeye inquires when they reach the men.
