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Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ella inching closer to the edge of the vehicle. She squared her shoulders and opened fire. Kyle couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was clearly accustomed to using a gun.
Another round of gunfire shattered the front windshield and took out the back window. At this rate it wouldn’t take long before the enemy realized they had the upper hand, if they didn’t already. When that happened, they’d charge the vehicle. He and Ella would be dead.
With still no sign of the rescue chopper in sight, he had to come up with an alternate plan and fast.
“They’re going to figure out it’s just the two of us soon enough. We need to do something drastic,” he yelled over the noise of the firefight.
As he watched, she swayed on her feet and he reached out to steady her. Immediately she backed away from him, the look in her eyes guarded.
Kyle covered his frustration with difficulty, because he was now genuinely concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay.” Her voice, barely a whisper, did little to reassure him, yet the self-confidence she clearly didn’t realize she possessed showed in the way she carried herself.
He’d seen the same determination and self-confidence in Lena. Except for that last mission. Something had been wrong from the beginning. His wife hadn’t been herself.
Kyle shoved that dark memory aside. It had eaten at him for years. Now was not the time to rehash it.
“I’m okay,” she insisted again when he appeared doubtful. “What do you have in mind?”
In spite of her assurances otherwise, he believed she couldn’t handle much more. He needed to find out why she was here in the desert. To do so, they had to survive.
“If I can reach the backseat, I have an M240 machine gun there. It will give us a fighting chance until our backup arrives. I need you to cover me.”
She checked her clip. “I’m almost empty.”
He handed her his backup clip. “On the count of three.” She nodded and he counted off. “One. Two. Three.” He barely hit the final number when she opened fire. Even weak and barely hanging on, Ella handled herself like someone who had been in this situation before. And that didn’t ease his mind one little bit. Had he managed to save one of Alhasan’s agents?
Kyle dived through the busted rear window and crawled forward. It sounded like World War III outside, and he could hear charges whizzing past his head. He located the M240 and its rounds. With the weapon armed, he used the headrest for a stand. Shielding his eyes against the glare, he fired at the closest vehicle. The rounds shot from the weapon and instantly struck their target. The vehicle went up in flames. Screams followed. He’d injured at least one man, possibly more.
Without giving them time to regroup, Kyle continued firing, taking out two more vehicles.
He stopped briefly to listen. An engine fired. The remaining vehicle was in retreat.
He slid back through the rear window, still armed with the M240, and then stepped from the cover of the Humvee. As he continued firing at the retreating vehicle, some of the rounds hit the spare fuel container on the back and it exploded. The person behind the wheel swerved and lost control. The jeep flipped on its side and dug a ditch in the sand some ten feet long before it came to a grinding halt, dust seething.
Kyle rushed the vehicle. Two men were inside, unconscious and badly injured.
“Are they alive?” Ella asked from close behind him. He couldn’t tell what response she was hoping for.
He nodded. “Yes, but just barely. We need to get them medical help right away. As well as the others.” He glanced at the ruined vehicles surrounding them, then back to her. Ella hadn’t budged. She was staring at the injured men. “Do you know them?” he asked curiously, and she whirled to face him.
“They were at the compound. They tried to kill me,” she said without any sign of emotion.
Before he had time to process what she’d told him, the noise of additional approaching vehicles vibrated the ground at their feet. They were coming from the same direction as the others. Some sort of makeshift camp? If it was, it had been set up a good distance past the destroyed building in the western foothills of the mountains. They’d evacuated the compound because they’d planned to blow it up, which told him they’d known he was coming.
He started to head back to the Humvee when he noticed the way Ella was leaning over, her hands on her knees, her breathing hard. He touched her shoulder to warn her of the approaching vehicles and she rounded on him with the weapon drawn.
“Whoa,” Kyle said and lifted both hands. “There’s more vehicles on the way. We have to take cover.”
She glanced over her shoulder briefly then back to him. She had the Glock aimed at his chest and she seemed torn. He held his breath while he wondered if he’d saved the life of an enemy combatant.
Would she shoot him? Could he reach her side and disarm her before she got a shot off? From what he’d seen so far, he knew she was deadly accurate.
“Ella, I’m not your enemy,” he told her quietly and waited for some reaction. It felt like forever before she slowly lowered the Glock.
Kyle slung the M240 over his shoulder and they raced back to the Humvee barely reaching it before the vehicles came in firing heavily. Even with the M240 they wouldn’t be able to hold them off for long.
Then in the distance, he heard it, like an answer to his prayer. Multiple choppers advancing their way. Liz would be piloting one of the machines, but she’d enlisted additional backup from Bagram, as well.
Thank You, God.
The Black Hawks ate up the distance quickly, their spotlights panning the desert surface until they spotted the enemy.
Two of the choppers homed in on newly arrived vehicles. A rapid exchange of fire ensued. Behind them, the remaining chopper tossed sand in their eyes as it landed.
“Hurry, sir,” Agent Michael Harris yelled loud enough to be heard over the battle raging around them.
“We have to go, Ella,” he told her. From her mutinous expression, Kyle realized he’d have a fight on his hands getting her on board. “We have about two minutes to board the chopper and get airborne before those guys behind us take out our only means of escape. The chopper can’t stay on the ground much longer.”
Still, she didn’t budge. She stared at him in defiance. “I told you, I’m not going anywhere. I can’t,” she insisted with more emotion than he’d seen so far.
Whatever her reasons for wanting to stay, he wasn’t about to leave her behind to face certain death. Kyle took the matter out of her hands and lifted her into his arms.
“No.” She froze for half a beat and then she struggled with all her might to be free, her fists pummeling his chest. Kyle ignored her efforts completely as he headed for the chopper. A barely audible sob escaped as she gave up. Tears soaked his shirt.
His emotions were raw and on the surface. Her likeness to Lena had him off his game. Yet he wasn’t prepared to accept this woman as anything more than a prisoner of war at the very least. She hadn’t shot him when she’d had the chance, but until he knew for certain where her loyalties lay, he didn’t trust her, and he certainly wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
Kyle raced to the Black Hawk as bullets whistled past their heads. Michael took Ella from his arms and hauled her into the chopper, where she quickly pushed his hands away and huddled in one of the empty seats.
With her safely aboard, Kyle cleared the entrance and the door was slammed shut. Seconds later, the Black Hawk went airborne.
He took the seat next to Ella and glanced her way. She scrubbed tears away with fisted hands. He didn’t buy that her being out there in the desert was an accident, but to gain answers, he’d need her cooperation.
He handed her a set of headphones and put his on so that he could try again to reach her. “Ella, let me help you. Tell me who you’re trying to save.” Her only answer was a brief shake of her head. His disappointment rose.
With Liz piloting the chopper, it made a ninety-degree turn and headed back in the direction of Bagram. They’d covered less than a quarter mile when a fireball lit up the night sky. Liz used all her skills to avoid a direct hit.
Seconds later, the radio exploded. “I’m hit, I’m hit,” a panicked voice—it sounded like Sam’s pilot—shouted into the mic, shocking the chopper’s occupants.
“What’s happening, Liz?” Kyle asked with urgency as he leaned forward to get a clearer look. In shock he watched Sam’s chopper slowly drift to the ground.
“He must have taken our hit,” Liz said in disbelief.
Kyle couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that his friend’s chopper had been shot from the sky.
“What were Sam and his team doing out here anyway?” Kyle asked in astonishment. As a civilian, Sam was forbidden to go out on military maneuvers.
“He insisted. They wanted to help,” Liz replied over her shoulder.
Kyle closed his eyes and said a silent prayer for Sam and his team. He couldn’t handle it if something happened to them because of him.
Liz veered back in the direction of the combat zone and Ella clutched the arms of her seat in a death grip.
Kyle struggled to keep his own fears from showing as he tried to reassure her. “It’ll be okay. They need our help.”
She stared at him with those soulful eyes. “You don’t understand. It won’t be okay.”
Before he had the chance to ask what she meant, the chopper in front of theirs pinpointed the downed machine with its spotlight. Kyle watched in shock as a handful of men strong-armed the occupants of Sam’s chopper into one of the waiting vehicles. With Sam’s men so close to the enemy, his team couldn’t risk shooting them from their chopper.
“Do we have a survivor count?” Kyle dreaded the answer. He didn’t want to think about losing his friend like this.
“I counted five men other than enemy soldiers. Several are injured, but they all appear to be alive...for now,” Michael added in an ominous tone.
Liz opened fire on one of the fleeing vehicles that didn’t contain the hostages. The vehicle engaged right away and a surface-to-air missile barely missed them.
“Fall back, fall back,” Kyle ordered as another missile came within a foot of taking out the second Black Hawk’s main rotor blades. “We’re outgunned. We don’t stand a chance against those missiles.”
“Sir, they’re getting away.” Michael turned to him in disbelief. “What do you want to do?”
Kyle prayed he wasn’t making the worst mistake of his life—one that might cost Sam and his team theirs.
“Call Bagram. Get backup out here right away and have Booth and Dalton airborne...now. Once you’ve off-loaded us at the base, I want you and Liz on this, as well.”
With his fear for Sam escalating, he ordered, “We have enemy soldiers on the ground. Have the remaining chopper land and make sure they haven’t gotten away or been picked up. We need every man we can get on the ground. I want them questioned. One of them has to know something, and I want to know the second you have anything at all.”
Kyle struggled to make sense of what had just happened. Why had the enemy risked coming after them so aggressively?
Ella. Somehow, it had to be because of her. She’d been at the compound. He couldn’t get the fact that he’d clearly been set up out of his head. He trusted Hadir. He didn’t believe his asset was responsible for what happened. That left the woman beside him.
I can’t leave him. Was she talking about Alhasan? The idea settled uneasily in his mind. Was it possible she was somehow responsible for the ambush?
He saw her staring down at the nightmare below, her arms wrapped tight around her body in a self-defense gesture. Still, there was no doubt about it, she was important to Alhasan somehow. Only one question remained: Was she his prisoner or was she playing the part?
“You’re safe now,” he said. She didn’t look at him.
Kyle’s first instinct was to begin interrogating her right away. They had another witness to Alhasan’s crimes. Yet from the way she’d reacted to him so far, he knew he wouldn’t get anywhere by being aggressive. He’d have to go slow. She was barely keeping it together.
As hard as he tried, he couldn’t get the similarities she shared with Lena out of his head, even if he wasn’t prepared to accept them. It was ludicrous.
If she was Lena, where had she been for so long and who had he buried all those years earlier?
TWO (#u426148a0-1201-5a5d-ab10-b08fb3004636)
The Black Hawk churned dust and debris in its wake as it landed at the base’s airstrip. Kyle had told Ella he would keep her safe, but he had no idea what he was up against or how close the enemy truly was. To save Joseph’s life, could Ella follow through with what Alhasan demanded and become the enemy Kyle wouldn’t suspect?
She’d had the opportunity in the desert and hadn’t taken it. She could have killed Kyle with a single shot, yet some little niggling voice down deep in her heart wouldn’t let her. She wasn’t a killer. She was a missionary who trusted God to see her through. How could she take another life when it went against her Christian beliefs?
There was no doubt in her mind that Alhasan had deliberately blown up the compound to get rid of all traces of his crimes there and he didn’t care if his men died in the process. He’d proven himself to be a ruthless killer.
If she didn’t do as he asked, Joseph would die. It was an impossible choice to make.
She’d lost her heart to the boy the moment she held him in her arms. She’d named him Joseph because...well, she couldn’t remember why, only that she’d just always loved the name.
Alhasan had told her the boy belonged to the woman who shared her cell. He’d enjoyed going over the graphic details of how he’d killed the woman because she refused to do what he wanted. He’d driven the point home.
Now it was her turn. That she’d escaped the compound seconds before it went up, and ran into Kyle only to have him offer her shelter was no coincidence. It reeked of Alhasan’s scheming.
He’d be watching, expecting her to follow his orders and infiltrate the Scorpion team by any means necessary so that she could gain access to their headquarters. Then she was to take out the entire eight-member unit. Even though he hadn’t said as much, she believed there was something important he needed. Through all the years of trying to brainwash her, Alhasan’s rage toward the Scorpion team had always seemed a bit too personal. There was something else going on. She’d pressed him for more answers once. Incensed, he’d insisted she knew all she needed to do her part. And that if she didn’t, Joseph would die.
“Ready?” Kyle’s gravelly voice interrupted her troubled thoughts. Shivers sped down her spine, and Ella steeled herself to face her rescuer.
Their gazes tangled, and she sucked in a breath. As she stared into what seemed to her familiar gray eyes, she couldn’t answer. She struggled to hold on to the faintest of memories the worry on his face sparked. But it was as fleeting as dust in the wind.
“You’ll be safe here,” he assured her, his warm breath fanning her cheek. If only that were true. She couldn’t imagine a time when she didn’t feel hunted.
He jumped from the chopper with its engine still running and held out his hand to help her out. After years of surviving unspeakable torture, she’d learned that human touch always resulted in pain. Joseph’s gentle hugs were the only type of contact she could bear anymore. Would it always be this way?
She ignored his hand and jumped to the ground, the effort sending jolts of agony through her damaged body.
“Let’s get you to the hospital,” he said after a moment. “Once the doctor takes a look at you we’ll talk more.”
“That’s not necessary. I just want to...” She looked away. Ella fought back despair. She had to stay strong for Joseph. She’d find a way to save the boy.
She tucked a stray hair behind her ear, her fingers rough against her skin. Beside her, Kyle pulled in an audible breath. What had she done? Did he find her appearance repulsive?
Her hair was clumped with dirt and dried blood. Her skin as dry as the desert. Her face slashed. She couldn’t even imagine how bad she must look. She hadn’t seen a mirror in years and she’d lost track of her injuries. The scars over scars. She held her palms up. The crippling pain she’d endured always resurfaced when she thought about the pleasure Alhasan had taken in removing her fingerprints. That was the last time she’d cried until today.
As if reading her thoughts, Kyle stopped and turned to her. “You’re beautiful, Ella. And no amount of torture inflicted by a person lacking in humanity can take that from you.”
She closed her eyes. She didn’t trust his kindness. She’d give just about anything to let down her guard for a second. Trust another human being to be kind. Believe Kyle when he told her he could keep her safe. She couldn’t.
She shook her head. “Kyle, I...” She glanced up and stopped when she got a good look at his shell-shocked expression.
“What is it?” What had she said?
“How did you know my name?” he uttered in astonishment, and she realized she’d slipped up. He had no idea that thanks to Alhasan, she knew lots of things about him and the rest of the Scorpions.
“I don’t know. Someone must have mentioned it.”
She could see him struggling to recall the possibility.
“The base has some of the best doctors on staff,” he said absently. “You’ll be in good hands here.”
They reached the hospital and he went inside and waited for her. With nothing left to do, she followed him in and glanced around nervously. She’d just get her injuries treated and then she’d leave the base. They couldn’t hold her against her will. She’d find Joseph and save him, because there was no way she could take so many innocent lives, especially Kyle’s.
A midfifties man wearing a doctor’s coat tossed over his fatigues came forward to greet them as if he’d been expecting them. He hid his shock at Ella’s appearance with difficulty.
“I’m Dr. Anderson,” he said with a kindly smile. “I heard you two had a close call out there in the desert. We have a team out there now,” he told Kyle.
