AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lend me one of your radios and ear pieces,” Alex demanded, holding out his hand. Every second counted. If he ran hard enough, had a good enough trail to follow, he could catch Petrov before they could do anything to Lauren.
Killmer hesitated, thought better of it for an instant, but then sharply gestured to Cunningham to hand over his radio equipment.
Alex thanked him, quickly shoving the earpiece into his ear and the waterproof radio into his cammie blouse pocket. “What is the range?”
“Five miles,” Killmer said. “All right, you take off, follow them. We’ll saddle up as quickly as we can. Leave us trail markers. They will help us get to you sooner. We’ll bring your ruck with us.”
“I will find her,” Alex gritted out. “And I will kill all of them. You need to know they MAY have a combat medic with them. He is a good friend of mine, Nik Morozov.” Alex pulled out his iPhone, protecting it from the rain as he thumbed through his photo gallery. Turning it, he showed the three men a photo of Nik. “Under NO circumstances do you kill or wound him. He is working undercover for the DOD and CIA. He is a plant in Petrov’s team and he feeds the US government with vital information. Do NOT KILL HIM.”
Mace’s eyebrows rose as he intently studied the color photo of the Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldier. “I’m going to have to take your word on this,” he growled over at Alex. “No one has told us anything of the sort.”
Grimacing, Alex said, “You will have to trust me on this. I can prove it to you later, after we find Lauren.” He snapped off the iPhone, tucking it deep within his jacket to keep it safe from getting wet.
Gripping Alex’s arm, Killmer growled, “Don’t do anything stupid out there, Kazak. You can’t go off half-cocked. I know you and that woman have a relationship, but you’re not going to do her ANY good if you let your emotions get the better of you.”
Alex didn’t care if Killmer knew about them. “My focus is on saving her life. You just get your ass on my trail, and I’ll leave signs so you can follow me.” He turned, trotting into the jungle, the rumble of thunder reverberating through the heavy, ongoing rain.
Quickly, Alex was swallowed up by the gloom of the jungle. The downpour stopped him from hearing anything because the drops of rain sounded like nails being dropped onto a taut drumhead. It was the wide, thick leaves at the top of the rainforest canopy making those noisy, constant sounds. More than likely, they had gagged Lauren and flex-cuffed her. That was SOP, standard operating procedure, when kidnapping a victim. His heart kept tearing open with grief. He followed the boot prints, counting five men. He could not find Lauren’s boot prints, however. Kneeling down a half mile in, where the jungle opened up a little to allow more light to penetrate, Alex knelt down, studying the prints closely. One set of boot prints was going deeper into the soil than the other sets. Looking up, rain dripping off his hard jaw, he knew Lauren was being carried by one of the soldiers. Had they shot her up with a drug to render her unconscious? Knocked her out? Broken her jaw? These men were rough. They wouldn’t think twice about hitting a woman.
He continued on, feeling a little relief because the soggy ground made it easier for him to tag the group. They were moving out. Trotting steadily. Where were they going? Alex searched his memory frantically. He knew of this feeder trail, but little else. This was off the beaten path of his experience. Vlad had never cut cross-country like this. Petrov had a destination in mind, that was for sure. And Alex had no earlier recollection of this area or this particular path; it was all new to him. Even the topo map Killmer had, showed this particular feeder dissolving as a trail above the village. As a consequence, he couldn’t tell Killmer where the Russian team was going, or what their endgame was. That made this even more dangerous for Lauren. For all of them. He’d have to watch for places where a trap could be set up and they could all be shot and killed.
Lauren moaned. Thesound reverberated in her ears. She was curved across the man’s thick, broad shoulders, in a fireman’s carry. And he was jogging. And it was creating pain in her head so excruciating that she cried out. But the dirty rag in her mouth stopped most of the sound from escaping. The Russian who carried her was gripping her wrists with one hand, his other around one of her ankles, keeping her positioned against his neck, shoulders and back. Branches swatted at her, slapping her in the face. Rain poured down and she blinked, trying to see, her vision blurring.
Whoever was carrying her was panting, straining as they moved up an incline she couldn’t see, only feel. She tried to see where they were at. Dark jungle surrounded them. Rain was leaking in off the canopy, soaking them. She heard the man’s deep panting, laboring as he was under her bulk. She was no lightweight. Her mind spun and she closed her eyes, trying to think. There were sharp orders in Russian. They changed course. Lauren groaned, feeling nauseous, her stomach rolling. Warm blood trickled down her temple and ear. She vaguely remembered hitting something when she’d tried to make her escape.
Her hands were free! They’d flex-cuffed her before. But the Russian who was carrying her had big hands, the long, spare fingers of which easily spanned around and gripped both her slender wrists. She was pinned against him, no way to escape. Terror worked through her. Lauren gulped. She couldn’t let fear overwhelm her. She had to think! She knew Alex and the Special Forces team would have been alerted to what had happened to her by the frightened children. She remembered their shrieks and screams of terror as they ran down the slope to the comparative safety of the village below.
They changed course again. This time, they were going down a slope. The rain was constant. Cold. She shivered, her clothes wet, chaffing against her skin. The man carrying her was gasping for breath. She felt him shift her, as if to make it easier on himself. Her head kept banging against his shoulder, increasing the pain in it from the fall. Where were they going? What was out here? She tried to imagine the map behind her tightly shut eyes. She recalled nothing, the pain making her gasp.
Suddenly, the man stopped. His chest heaved with exertion. Lauren opened her eyes, partially glimpsing another Russian soldier on her left. She saw the AK-47 he carried. Then, they were on the move again. Miraculously, the rain stopped. Lauren realized they had entered into a cave of some sort and that was why the rain had ceased. She heard murmurs in Russian ahead of her, the voices echoing. Lauren closed her eyes, feeling her stomach roll strongly. She fought not to vomit.
Nik Morozov halted. He saw his leader, Anton Petrov, waiting for them. Nik was the shortest man of the group, about five foot ten inches tall, and he’d often been teased that the team saw him as a lean, starving, Russian wolf. Petrov was smiling as Nik approached him. They’d entered a second cavern, dry and filled with dim light from a hole above, making the area look grayish.
“You got her?” Petrov murmured, pleased, giving Volkov a nod.
“Little bitch. I’m telling you, Anton, she’s an operator!” Volkov said, making a sharp gesture for Morozov to drop her from his shoulders to the ground.
Snickering, Anton said, “Well, we are going to find out.”
Morozov knelt down and carefully pulled the woman off his shoulders. He saw no need to hurt her any more than she was already injured. He heard her groan as he cupped her neck and head, allowing the rest of her body to ease to the dirt floor. Her head was bloody. And he worried, but said nothing, laying her out on the ground and then backing away.
Dizziness assailed Lauren. She’d felt the man leave her on the ground, and then the world tilted. At first, she had thought to get up and run but, as she opened her eyes, the cave around her spun. Groaning, she shut her eyes. She heard low Russian voices. They were standing around her, talking about her, she was sure. Lauren forced her eyes open again. Five men stood in a half-circle around her. Watching her. Their faces were deeply shadowed in the cave’s low light.
“She’s bleeding,” Petrov said. “What happened? I told you; I wanted her unharmed.”
Volkov made a face. “She tried to escape. I had to tackle her. She hit her head on a tree root. She’ll be fine.”
Lauren felt her stomach revolt. She rolled onto her side, her knees coming up toward her body, retching violently.
Petrov snorted. “So much for being fine!” He jerked a look over at Morozov. “You’re our medic. Take a look at her! Fix her!”
Nik nodded. He went to his gear, opened his ruck and drew out a large medical pack. The woman kept retching. It was a bad sign, but he said nothing. Grabbing a canteen of water and a washcloth, he stood and walked to her side. She was pale, gasping, and blood was still flowing freely from where she’d hit her head.
Petrov glared at Volkov. “You fool!” He walked over to where Morozov was kneeling. “You are in charge of her. We need to go out and create a false trail to lead that Special Forces team away from here. We’ll be back in four hours.”
“Yes, sir,” Nik said.
“Let’s go!” Petrov growled, waving the other three soldiers toward the tunnel that would lead them to the first cavern and then outside.
