AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I guess.”
The SEALs swarmed the truck in a quick trot, fingers crooked over their triggers as they closed in. Amos counted the number of voices he could hear lamenting the flat tires. At least four men were in the bed of the truck and two in the cab. With his free hand, he wrenched open the passenger door, startling a protest out of the soldier sitting just inside it, clutching a small squirming child to his chest. Finding Mateo hadn’t proven difficult at all.
“Give me the child, or I’ll shoot you,” Amos demanded in Spanish in his most ferocious voice. It silenced Mateo mid-scream.
As the wild-eyed soldier looked to his colleague for direction, Amos poked him in the ribs to prod him into action. He was all too aware of the seconds slipping away. In just minutes, the building behind them was going to be decimated, catching them all in its blast radius if they didn’t get away in time.
On the driver’s side, Bambino must have found the door locked, for he jumped onto the running board, sticking his rifle through the open window to press it to the driver’s skull. That man pushed the gearshift into Park and threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
“Turn off the engine and throw out the keys,” Bambino ordered.
The driver apparently understood English, for he did as asked while Amos’s target, seeing his colleague surrender, thrust the boy from his lap and into Amos’s waiting arm. Amos trapped the skinny, rigid child against him. He could smell Grace’s nutmeg scent in Mateo’s hair.
“Gracias.” He backed away, thinking, was this actually going to work? Would they really get the boy back so easily?
“Get back!” Theo’s snarl, followed by the suppressed drilling sound of his M4 provided an answer.
Nope. Nothing worthwhile was ever easy.
The soldiers in the back of the truck were defending their cargo. But between Theo’s quick reaction and Ben’s sudden volley into the side of the truck, the Nats were quickly incapacitated.
“Retreat!” Amos bellowed. Mateo suddenly went limp against him.Had he been struck by a stray bullet?Adrenaline lent Amos speed. Cradling the boy’s lolling head, he ran for the fence while relying on Ben to cover them. Mateohadto be alive. Grace would be lost to Amos, to herself, otherwise.
Theo and Bambino’s boots pounded the dirt right behind him. Skirting Ben, Amos gave the sniper a broad berth as he countered fire now coming from the truck. The soldiers had gone on the offensive. Bullets zinged through the air, causing Amos to break into a zig-zag pattern, while yelling at Grace, who stood at the opening in the gate, “Get down!”
Mateo’s less-than-forty pounds hampered Amos’s speed as he fought to keep from jostling the boy. The hundred yards to the fence felt more like three hundred. As he ran, he spared a thought for Jake and Lena. How would they possibly get clear of the building before it was bombed?
* * *
In a room that was now bright with halogen lighting, Jake scanned the area while a pulse tapped at his temples. Lena was down on all fours next to him, reaching under the adjacent furniture. He didn’t see anything resembling a thumb drive.
Ten seconds passed. Then another ten. “We have to go.”
“No. I have to find it. I didn’t spend eighteen months of my life here just to walk away.”
Jake gritted his teeth and dropped to his knees next to her, sweeping the floor with his palms. He wasn’t going to leave the building without her.
“Found it!” She sprang to her feet with a swift, triumphant grin that blinded him for its beauty.
That’s my girl.“Come on.”
He grabbed her hand as she stuffed the drive into her pocket. Imagining he could hear the incoming missiles singing through the air on their way to the warehouse, Jake hauled Lena to the door, out onto the catwalk, and down the metal steps as fast as he dared to go. Every cell in his body was braced for impact. They wouldn’t feel anything, he assured himself. But he didn’t want to die. He wanted to remember this event years into the future when he and Lena were finally free to live their lives together.
Shoving open the door he’d entered moments earlier, he tugged her into a run. No, it wasn’t his imagination. He could hear an incoming missile slicing through the atmosphere. It would hit at any—Kaboom!The ground beneath them shook, but the building behind remained intact. Light flared in the direction of the retreating convoy, followed by subsequent explosions that kept the ground shaking.
Jake grinned. The rebels had struck the convoy instead of the warehouse—all thanks to the intel he’d passed along mere moments earlier.
Gratitude broke over Jake. He and Lena were still alive. That was all he ever prayed for night and day, 365 days a year: the chance to spend his retirement days with Lena by his side.
* * *
The rigid hull inflatable boat was similar in size, Grace decided, to the riverine that ferried her and Mateo across the Orinoco River. Crashing through the darkness, with sea-spray dampening her face and Amos’s arm around her, she cradled a comatose Mateo.
The SEAL named Bambino, apparently a medic, had to reassure her that nothing was physically wrong with Mateo. He’d fainted, a coping mechanism for dealing with fear. While still anxious, Grace had to believe Mateo would be okay. After all, they had made it safely out of Venezuela together. Even on the open water, speeding along at forty knots, Grace was not afraid. The ocean smelled of freedom. She’d never noticed that before. The breeze was cool on her cheeks, but the sea-spray was warm. It was beautiful out here, with the pendant moon casting a reflection on the sea’s rippling surface.
For I am with you. My rod and my staff, they comfort you.
The verse tolled in her head, inspiring an upwelling of gratitude that brought tears to her eyes. Even in the face of all that adversity, she’d emerged alive with the boy she adored and the man she loved. Faith must have been right. God had been holding fast to her all along.
