Page 20 of Her Fearless Warrior

Instead of a rifle at Annie’s gut, the third guy now had a knife at her throat. Blood dripped down her tattered blouse and chest.

Fuck!

Jase yelled something to him in Arabic, and he screamed back.

Linc and Jase had rifles pointed at him. Then there were Kostya and Ryker behind him, waiting to shoot. It was a no-win situation. That knife was at her jugular.

She was still, her expression flat, but those blue eyes told Linc she was ready to die.

Jase started talking again. Instead of yelling, he sounded like one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. Linc could see the whites of the man’s eyes. The knife lifted, just a little.

As the team’s sniper, he didn’t carry the normal automatic rifle that everybody else had. He packed an MK13 sniper rifle. A rifle that he’d spent months training with and years working with, but at such close quarters it was useless. Showing almost no movement at all, he pulled out his Sig Sauer, and flicked off the safety. He brought the gun up so that he had a level shot.

“Again,” Linc ordered Jase. “I need another quarter of an inch.”

Jase glanced over at him and saw what he was doing. Jase moved to his right so the terrorist would keep his eyes on him and not pay attention to Linc and his pistol. Jase snarled out something that had even Linc shivering. Apparently, his teammate was wasted in special forces. He should’ve been in Hollywood.

Linc’s concentration was focused on the hand holding the knife. The fingers, gripping the blade. His grimy thumb and forefinger were now trembling. Linc waited for his chance. The knife lifted just a little, and he took the shot. Fingers and handle blew apart… blew backward as a fine mist of blood hit the air.

A loud rip screeched along with the terrorist’s shriek as Jonas, Kostya, and Gideon piled through what was once the tarp roof of the truck.

Jonas got to the terrorist first, grabbing him by the throat and throwing him against the steel floor as he checked him for weapons.

“Mateo,” Kostya shouted, but it wasn’t necessary. He had already hauled himself up and over the side of the truck and was checking out the two unconscious men. He looked over his shoulder at Annie, but saw that Kostya was talking to her.

“Nice shot,” Gideon said as he sidled up to Linc.

Linc nodded. “Where are the other two? Katherine and Leila?” Linc asked the young woman. They all turned to look at the crying terrorist, who was currently trying to stop Jonas from stepping on what was left of his hand.

“I think it was the leader who took them,” Annie whispered. Linc, Kostya and Ryker heard her since they were close.

Linc saw Ryker buttoning up his camouflage shirt over his bare chest as Kostya was gently helping Annie into what had to be Ryker’s sweaty T-shirt. Even from where Linc was standing, he could tell that, sweaty or not, she was grateful to be covered.

“Why do you think that?” Linc asked as he crouched down in front of the young woman.

“Because he was the one who first talked to us and took Elijah away. He’s the only one who spoke English. Why would they have taken Mrs. Cole?”

Linc looked up at the sound of puking. He expected it to be the terrorist, but it wasn’t. It was one of the two men that Mateo was working on. He had him rolled over so he wouldn’t drown on his own vomit.

With his face a pulpy mess, it was hard to discern who he was. Linc looked over at the other man and realized he was bigger and in better shape. He’d bet the farm that he was the former Marine. Therefore, this guy must be Elijah Hopkins.

“Fuck me,” he heard the man rasp.

“What’s your name?” Mateo asked as he prodded the man’s naked chest. He looked grim.

It took forever for the man to answer. “Hopkins. You’re American. Am I still in Syria?”

“Yes, Sir,” Mateo answered.

Since Annie had stopped talking, Linc and everyone but Jonas turned their attention to Elijah.

“You’re still in Syria,” Kostya answered. “I’m Kostya Barona, Lieutenant in the US Navy.”

“SEAL?” Elijah asked.

“Yes,” Kostya answered.

“You found me through my tracker. Good. What’s the situation?”