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Hal and his MARSOC team had been sent on a long, complicated mission to flush out Afghan drug traffickers. In a particularly covert operation, the Pentagon had ordered Hal’s team to target non-military personnel. It was believed that the large flow of money made by these drug lords was being used to finance the Taliban insurgency. Hal’s team was given the names of a dozen “kill or capture” targets. To that end, Hal and his men had waded for days through miles of knee deep jungle water. The mud of pomegranate and grape orchards oozed thick and heavy under their feet as they made their way across southern Afghanistan. They arrived at the small village hot and tired, just as the sun was rising.
The child who hurried out to meet them could not have been more than nine years old. She came rushing from a hut barefoot and wide-eyed with a basket in her hands. Lance Corporal Brandle smiled at the approaching little girl before he asked Hal, “Hey, Captain, you got any candy left? I’m all out.”
“Yeah, I think I got a couple of pieces…” Hal reached around to his backpack.
The pretty little girl with the big brown eyes and skin the color of finely ground cinnamon stopped short just about five feet in front of them. Then she reached one small hand into the deep woven basket, pulled out a pistol, cocked the hammer and shot Brandle square in the chest.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Hal raised his M4A1 and held the trigger while the bullet chamber emptied into her. Then he stepped over the child’s body, and along with the rest of the patrol, laid siege to the area.
Once they had rounded up the villagers, Hal learned through a Pashtu speaker that the insurgents had somehow found out about the Marines’ patrol. Because Elaha was the oldest child in the village, they had given her the gun with instructions to get as close as she could to the Americans and then shoot them. If she did not do as she was ordered, they told Elaha that they would torture and murder all of the villagers, starting with her family. As it turned out and was too often the case in war, the girl had killed and died in vain. The translator went on to tell the Marines that the moment that Elaha started to run towards them, the insurgents slit the throats of her three younger brothers and snapped the necks of her mother and father. The cowards had flown the village before the girl’s body even hit the ground.
It had taken Hal and his men five days to find the bastards . But when they did—oh, when they did.
Through some very inventive and effective interrogation methods, the team was not only able to get justice for the senseless slaughter of Elaha and her family, but they were also able to extract information vital to the success of the mission. The Insurgents were already half dead when Hal gave the kill order. He let his men choose the method of death. When Hal closed his eyes—and sometimes when he didn’t—he could still hear the tortured screams.
It was just two weeks later that Captain Hallelujah Thomas and his team were hit by the IED. Hal lay near death as body parts filled the air like bloody confetti. There hadn’t been a day since that Hal hadn’t cursed his lone survival, prayed for the souls of his men, and begged forgiveness from whatever god might still be listening.
The first shock for Valentina was the feeling of being roughly shaken awake. The second was that she had fallen asleep at all. Valentina lay still and trapped under Hal’s body while his hand covered her mouth in a firm clap. Her eyes went wide in question and her hands reached up to pull at his steel forearm.
“You’re gonna have to do exactly what I tell you to do. Yeah?” Hal’s voice rasped urgently out in the dark. While the weight of his big body covering her suggested seduction, his tone definitely did not.
Valentina nodded her obedience, and Hal’s hand fell from her mouth.
“There’s two— maybe three— men circling the perimeter of the house. The small light in the living room is on a remote timer. I just activated it. That’s gonna draw them to the front of the house and we’re going to have to haul ass out the back. We have less than two minutes to get out of here before they break the glass on the kitchen door. That’s plenty of time, but you have to follow behind me.Exactlybehind me. When I step, you step.” His voice was low, clear, and urgent. “I ripped the shit out of the buttons on your dress; you’re gonna have to wear this.” He shoved one of his T-shirts into her hand then grabbed her underwear and shoes off the floor.
Without hesitation, Valentina pulled the T-shirt over her head then threw her legs over the side of the bed to pull on her underwear and sandals.
He looked quickly in her purse.
“Identification in here? Phone off?”
Valentina responded with a quick nod and wondered why Hal wanted to make sure she had I.D.
So they can identify your body, stupid,the panicked voice inside her screamed.
Hal’s spine was ramrod straight, and his every movement seemed to be spring-loaded with purposeful intent. Valentina had the fleeting thought that Hal was in military-mode—red alert. He grabbed a duffle off the floor, threw her purse inside of it, then turned to her.
“Remember stay right behind me. You ready?”
Ready to run for my life from unknown assailants in the middle of the night, wearing nothing but your T-shirt and a sex-soaked pair of panties? No, I’m not ready. Who could possibly be ready for something like this?
“Ready.” Valentina nodded in the affirmative to Hal.
They moved in a fast clip down the hallway toward the front staircase. Alert to every sound, Valentina followed Hal’s orders and stayed close behind him. The pounding of her heart sped up even when their paced slowed down as they silently crept down each step. Hal and Valentina had just hit the first landing when the sound of window glass being shattered echoed through the house. Deep, hushed voices filled the air as heavy footsteps rushed the room. Valentina watched in horror as two men wearing ski masks met them on the staircase landing. In a lightning fast Jackie Chan-style move, Hal shot out his left palm— effectively shattering the first guy’s nose. With a screech of pain, he went down like a stone. Valentina hadn’t even had time to fully comprehend the act when the second very scary guy charged up the stairs.
“Come on, you asshole,” Halinvited his next victim to feel the full impact of a vicious kick to the solar plexus. The guy gave out a long wheeze before he joined his buddy on the floor.
“You okay?” Hal grunted as he turned to look at Valentina. He was standing between the two motionless bodies with his strong legs apart, and his deadly hands sitting on his hips like some triumphant super hero.
“I’m okay,” Valentina managed to squeak out. “Are they dead?”
“I hope the hell not. I got some questions for these assholes.” Hal growled. Then he leaned down and pulled the ski masks off their faces. “You know either one of these motherfuckers?”
“That one is Raphael.” Valentina pointed a shaking finger. “He used to work for my father. The other one … there’s so much blood on his face … I can’t tell. I don’t know…”
Hal was bent over going through the pockets of themight–be–deadguys when a quick series ofcrackssounded out. Flashes of light peppered the room like demonic fireflies.
It seemed to Valentina that a million things happened at once — all of them loud and scary. She felt herself propel across the room when the force of Hal’s push sent Valentina flying out of harm’s way and into a shadowed corner. Valentina watched in silent horror as Hal reached into the duffel bag on the floor and pulled out an…automatic weapon?
