Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
S hivering, Jess was led into yet another cavemouth. Khogani had moved them shortly after the initial thunderstorm and they’d been slipping in and out of caves the rest of the day. More thunderstorms had cropped up in the afternoon and she’d gotten soaked. The group remained around the snow level, sometimes dipping down from it. Either way, it was damned cold at this altitude, especially now, at night. Her teeth were chattering, and she could see nothing, not even realizing she was in another cave until the echo of sounds around her changed. They had been heading north all day long; that she knew. And there had been no more overflights of Apaches, either.
Heart sinking, Jess wondered if the military had sent up a drone. Where was Logan in this mix? She knew he wouldn’t let her be kidnapped and not try to find her. She couldn’t imagine how he felt. Her emotions were raw, and she was scared. All day, they had kept her ankles tied beneath the horse. As before, Afir held the reins to the animal, making escape impossible. Every once in a while, her hands being free, she’d tear off a small piece from the raggedy elbows of her denim jacket and let it drop to the ground. It was the old breadcrumb method, probably not practical outside of children’s stories, or even in them now that she thought about it, but Jess had to do something to indicate where she was at. There was constant terror over getting caught doing it.
Once in the cave, one of her ankles was untied and she was jerked off the horse by the angry Afir. Her legs were raw and sore from riding all day on the uneven, steep mountain trails. She heard men talking in low tones as she stood by her weary horse. It was utterly dark. So, when someone grabbed her by her good arm and pulled her along, she marveled at how they could see when she could not.
Jess felt from the reverberating sounds that she was led to near the opening of the cave, where another soldier grabbed her arm instead. She sensed it was Shekaib because he did not treat her as roughly as Afir had, and they were the only two so far who had touched her. Pushed down, she was given a goatskin of water to drink. More than thirsty, her throat raw and dry, Jess didn’t hesitate to gulp down nearly all of it. And then, another hard loaf of bread was jammed into her hands. She heard Shekaib walk away. Had the soldier tied her remaining bound ankle to another rock? How far away was he from her? Was he standing nearby with his AK-47, guarding her? Jess didn’t know, wanting badly to dig the Swiss Army knife out of her pocket, slice the rope around her ankle and run off. She finished off the water, filling up. Tonight, if the men all slept, she might be able to make a break for it, but Jess would have to wait and see. God, if only she had a set of NVGs!
Logan listened to Chris as he transmitted the drone feed to him. Once the drone had arrived on station, it had finally caught Khogani and his group, including Jess, weaving in and out of the high mountain slope. Logan sat hidden within a grove of trees; his weary horse tied to a limb as he leaned back against a trunk. With his Toughbook laptop open and the drone’s night-vision feed coming in over it in grainy black-and-white images, he saw Jess for the first time. His heart damn near burst out of his chest. It was the only time Logan had consciously allowed himself to feel anything. He zoomed the camera in on her. Her cheek was swollen, one eye nearly shut, and she appeared exhausted. He could see her ankles were tied beneath the belly of the horse she was on. A Taliban solider rode ahead of her, with her mount’s reins in his hand.
Wiping his mouth, Logan narrowed his eyes, watching as they pulled into another cave. He took notice of the GPS coordinates on the screen, and the current time. It appeared the group was most likely holing up for the next few hours of total dark. Taliban normally did not travel at night, precisely because they couldn’t see where the hell they were going. Usually, they quit at dusk, took tea, and then slept, getting up just before dawn to push on. He watched the screen as the drone’s viewpoint flew by at a steep angle. His eyes narrowed coldly. Jess had a rope around her ankle and was being led by a soldier near the opening to the cave’s maw and forced to sit down. She was given water and food. That was good. At least she was hydrated and fed. He saw the soldier wrap the rope around a boulder so that if she tried to get up and go anywhere, she couldn’t. The soldier then walked back into the cave and Logan lost sight of him.
Punching in the coordinates into his hand-held GPS, Logan cut the feed and shut his laptop down. He had only so much battery left in it. Right now, according to his GPS device, he was two miles away from that cave. He shoved the laptop into his ruck, pulled out a protein bar and ate it. Then, he opened the side pocket on his ruck and brought out the satellite phone. It too was powered by batteries. Everything hinged on batteries, so Logan didn’t use it unless he had to.
Logan called Chris, who quickly came through on and said, “There’s fifty Taliban to the west of your position,” and gave the coordinates.
“Khogani’s men?” Logan demanded in hushed tones.
“Probably, but unsure. The drone has also picked up another thirty men of unknown affiliation waiting east of Khogani’s present position. Anderson and I think he’s headed there to meet up with them.”
Mouth tightening, Logan muttered, “That won’t be good.”
“No. What’s your plan?”
“Get as close as I can to that cave where they have Jess held. I don’t know if they’re going to keep her where she’s presently at in there, near the entrance, or not. I’ll just have to wait and see.”
“If you can get her, now’s the time to do it.”
“Roger that. I’ll be in touch. Out.” Logan shut the phone off and put it away. His SEAL radio was getting on the edge of losing transmission with Chris. The further north he went, the worse it got, and Logan knew he’d be out of range shortly. And then, he only had the sat phone. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but then, in the field, pretty much nothing ever went smoothly. He was glad he’d put some spare new batteries in his ruck for the sat phone before he left. The old SEAL saying, one is none and two is one , applied well in this situation. He got up, pulling his NVGs down and flicking them on. His horse was resting and, fortunately, the cut on his knee wasn’t hampering him. All Logan needed right now was a lame horse. He’d have to abandon the animal and continue on foot, which he would still do, if necessary.
Now, he had to ride close enough to get eyes on that cave. That was going to be tenuous at best. Logan knew horses had extraordinary hearing and could see in the dark better than a human. If he rode his horse too close to the cave, the other horses would hear it and then, worst-case scenario, start whinnying. That would wake up the sleeping soldiers for damn sure. He’d have to tie the horse at least half a mile from the cave and go on foot to get to it. And even then, Logan knew horses: if they were posted too close to the opening, they would still hear or smell him. Then, it became a question of whether they would spook, whinny, or just watch and do neither. Animals were far more attuned to the darkness and movement in the night than any human. Even with his sure feet, he’d have to do his damndest to be a ghost or awaken the soldiers and then he’d be screwed.
Jess waited, her heart doing a slow pound. She had been left near the cave opening. The horses had been taken toward the rear of the cave, but she couldn’t see where. Shekaib had come back, taken the other end of the rope, and tied it around his own ankle. He was lying down, nearby, perhaps five feet away, if she could trust her hearing. What gave her hope was that, by the full moon risen over the mountain, she could see gray and shadowed stands of trees outside. The cave opened onto a rocky slope, with about fifty feet of open ground between herself and the trees.
Jess slowly turned and sat up. She could hear the snores or the soldiers deep within the cave. Some of the horses, from what she could now discern in the deep shadows, were lying down. Others were standing. As Jess’s eyes adjusted even more to the dim moonlight spilling in, she saw that all had hobbles on to prevent them from running away and were unsaddled. Their heads were hanging.
Looking at Shekaib, the boy slept with his arm beneath his head, his other hand over the AK-47 at his side. There was indeed about five feet between them. Jess felt shaky and scared as she slowly pulled the Swiss Army knife out of her pocket. The rope they’d tied her with was thick and rough. Trying to ease open the knots they’d used, as tightly drawn as they were, would surely awaken Shekaib. Pulling out the largest blade, Jess began to saw through the one-inch rope, breath held. Even the sawing was making a rasping noise, loud to her overly nervous ear. Would it make a horse suddenly alert? Whinny? Move around? If it did, any one of the soldiers could awaken. If they found her trying to escape, Jess had no idea what they would do to her. It wouldn’t be good. That she knew.
By the time the rope fell off her ankle, Jess’s hand was trembling. She slowly moved, only enough to put the knife back into her pocket without a sound. Adrenaline was surging through her bloodstream, and she felt shaky, as she slowly made an unrushed, silent, rolling motion, ending outside the cave. Rocks and gravel bit at her hands and knees. If she moved too fast, the horses would spook. Then, they would awaken the soldiers and she’d be caught. Everything had to be done in torturous slow motion. Her gaze flicked from the sleeping Shekaib to the men and horses at the rear of the cave. Her mind whirled with what to do. Which way to go? Jess knew if she could reach the tree line, she had a slim chance. But she didn’t dare stumble, fall, or step on any fallen twig. Any of those could awaken her captors or, at the very least, alert the horses. Just let her get to the tree line without being discovered!
Jess was coated with mud by the time she had carefully, ever so carefully made it to the tree line. It was freezing out here, her breath white vapor rolling out of her mouth, open wide to allow as silent breathing as possible. Giving the cave one last look, Jess slowly stood up fully, for the first time since cutting the rope. She knew the horses could see her. Standing still, she waited. Wanting to run and not daring to do it yet, she remained tense, listening. Nothing. Relief shattered through her for a moment. Looking down, her boots caked with mud, she took her first step past a tree, watching carefully where she placed the toe. If she made ANY sound, they would awaken.
Jess felt as if her life was hanging by one slender thread. Her heart ached for need of Logan. Now, she stood on a slope of a mountain in the Hindu Kush, at nine thousand feet, in the middle of the night, with sure death dogging her every step. And she knew she had to go down the mountain and head east to get into the valley she was kidnapped from. Could she do it? She had no water or food on her. It was daunting, but Jess would rather risk dying than be in the hands of the Hill Tribe. She took another step. The floor of the grove was littered with sticks and rocks, very little soft, bare soil. Slipping and sliding, she held out her arms, as best she could, to keep her balance as she slowly walked deeper into the grove. Her wounded arm ached, but she ignored it. Jess was sure they had trackers among Khogani’s men. And, once they discovered her gone, they would do their best to hunt her down.
Time pushed her, and she continued down the steep, rocky slope. Sometimes she would grip the trunk of a tree with her good, right hand to stop from falling or slipping. Jess heard an owl hooting in the distance. Otherwise, all she heard was the near-constant rush of wind through the upper trees and her heartbeat pounding in her ears like a drum. Swallowing hard, she kept her eyes riveted on the ground, never wanting to make a sound. Her left arm ached and throbbed, using it as she was when she knew she shouldn’t be. Right now, though, pain was not a deterrent, it helped keep her wide awake, along with the adrenaline roaring nonstop through her.
Jess had no idea how long she traveled, but her knees were getting wobbly from the steep, continuous downhill grade. She wished to hell she was in better shape. The insides of her thighs were already rubbed raw by the wooden saddle she’d had to sit on, and now they were screaming with every step. The air was cold and clean smelling. Her boots slipped and slid from time to time. The grove opened up maybe half an hour later, the trees more widespread here. Jess could see open areas, flatter areas, where there weren’t so many rocks sticking up out of the soil. Easier to traverse quickly but, at the same time, if she went across them, her muddy boot tracks would be easier for the Taliban to follow. Grimly, she chose the rocks, skirting the meadow-like areas. Pressure to live, to escape, kept pushing her. Jess wanted to run, but her knees were shaking from the stress of now perhaps an hour’s worth of downhill challenges. But she was aware that, in terms of actual distance, she hadn’t really gone all that far. If she fell, it could still awaken them.
Jess had just moved into another thicker area of trees when a hand suddenly curved around from behind her. She screamed. The noise went nowhere beneath the large hand.
“Jess!” Logan hissed against her ear. “It’s me!”
She gave a little cry of relief. Jess felt Logan’s tall, powerful body come up against her back, his arm snaking around her waist, and him slowly releasing his other hand from her mouth. Twisting around, Jess choked back a sob. She saw his deeply shadowed face. Logan had his NVGs hanging around his neck. She couldn’t even hug him because of the bulky H-gear he wore around his torso, magazines sticking out across it. She saw him put a finger to his lips.
Quivering, she nodded, hot tears rushing to her eyes. He held her shoulder, steadying her. Logan had found her! She didn’t know how, but the relief was so sharp that she slowly fell to her knees, pressing her hands to her face. She felt Logan crouch next to her, his hand never leaving her shaking shoulder. Noise could get them killed and Jess fought to not cry, swallowing repeatedly, trying to get a handle of her wildly escaping emotions.
Logan looked around, listening. Nothing out of the ordinary. Not yet. He saw the terror in Jess’s face, saw the relief in her huge, shadowed eyes. There was swelling along her cheek, one eye partly swollen shut. Controlling his rage, he could feel her shaking. He took the radio and clicked it twice, not knowing if he was out of range or not. Clicks were used when near enemies who might hear speech. Logan had agreed with Chris that if he found Jess, if she was in his possession, he would give two clicks. He knew that the drone would then be brought above them, becoming their eyes in the sky, to help them avoid the enemy groups to both the east and west of them. Not to mention, Khogani and his men were less than a mile above them in that cave.
“Jess,” he said in a low tone, “listen to me. Just nod your head yes or no. Are you still ambulatory?”
She choked, and nodded, looking up into his glittering, narrowed eyes. Now she was seeing Logan as the warrior he was. He was constantly looking around, alert, listening.
“Are you thirsty?”
She nodded. Logan turned slightly, leaning his shoulder in her direction and she pulled the tube to his CamelBak to her mouth. She drank thirstily, not muddy-tasting muck like the Taliban had given her. More relief pumped through her. She gulped as much of the delicious water as she could. Logan was wearing a huge, heavy ruck on his shoulders. His mouth was a thin line, his gaze never stilling as he continued to scan the area. She shut the water off and nodded.
Logan straightened up. “Are you hungry?”
Jess shook her head. Right now, her stomach was knotted and hurt. Food might be wanted by her body, but all she wanted to do was run and escape.
“When I stand, I want you to hold on to my belt at my waist. Left side of it, with your right hand, so you can move without tripping on my feet. Then, we’ll head toward my horse. He’s nearby.”
Jess nodded. Her knees felt weak, and she was grateful when Logan rose and then placed his hand beneath her arm, helping her to rise. For a moment, she leaned against him to get her feet properly under her. Jess could see the sheen of sweat across Logan’s brow, his face hard and unreadable. She felt anything but hard, tears still burning in her eyes. Come on, Courtland ; Logan didn’t need her falling apart on him. They were in absolute danger. He was one SEAL against Khogani and all his men. They could be found and killed. She knew they were nowhere near safe at all.
She slid her fingers into the web belt around his waist, and he nodded, flipping down his NVGs and moving silently in an easterly direction across the slope. Jess forced herself to watch where she was putting her feet. Logan seemed to glide like a silent wraith through the sparse woods. She felt clumsy, and as if she was holding him back from his normal stride.
Jess had no real idea how long they traveled. Only when they entered a very thick, brushy grove, did Logan slow down. Ahead, by the milky light filtering down through the trees, Jess saw a black horse tied to a tree branch. It had no saddle. Logan pulled her hand free of his belt and turned toward her.
“We can talk quietly here,” he told her. “We’re two miles away and east of the cave.” Smiling a little, he reached up, caressing her cheek. “I love you, Jess. I should have told you that a long time ago,” and Logan leaned down, gently caressing her mouth with his. He felt her sob beneath his kiss, her trembling hands moving to his chest, across his H-gear. Lifting his lips from hers, he smiled into her tear-filled eyes. “I’m going to get you out of here. Okay? Are you all right? Hungry? Thirsty again?”
Wiping the tears from her eyes, not proud of the fact she was shaking like a scared rabbit, Jess managed, “I-I’m okay. Bruised, battered, but fine. I’m not hungry… thirsty… just scared out of my mind, Logan.”
He caressed her hair. “I know you are,” he soothed. “Go ahead and sit down to rest. I need to make a sat phone call to Chris.” He pulled out a protein bar from one of his harness pockets and handed it to her. “You need to eat. Keep up your strength.”
Jess sat and took it and shakily opened the wrapper, not tasting it at all, but knowing Logan was right. She saw him shrug out of his ruck and sit it carefully on the ground. The sat phone was in an outer pocket. As she ate, he talked quietly to Chris at the other end. They talked in military lingo. Most of it she didn’t recognize. Black ops speak, she thought. Finishing the bar off, Jess rubbed her filthy hands down her damp trouser legs.
She couldn’t tell how Logan was feeling, only catching one end of the conversation, his end: professional, cold, blunt. But the slant of his mouth gave him away. It was thinned. Then his voice changed slightly. Her heart started to pound. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Logan slowly unwound and put the sat phone away. His eyes glittered like obsidian in the moonlight. Jess stood up, pushing the empty wrapper into her pocket, wanting to leave no evidence behind that they’d been here.
Logan untied the reins to the gelding and turned to Jess. “There’s a drone up above us, watching the area,” he told her quietly. “Khogani has just discovered you escaped.”
Her heart leaped into her tightening throat. Jess gave him a panicked look.
Logan reached out, caressing her cheek. “They can’t find you easily because it’s dark. But they do have moonlight, and the trackers are out following your boot prints.”
Her heart plunged to her feet. “Oh, no….”
“It’s all right,” he murmured, settling his hand on her shoulder. “There’s two miles between us.”
Jess wanted to run. She wanted to cry. Scream. Get out of here. Anxiously, she watched Logan’s face, seeing him thinking, strategizing. She felt his hand become firmer on her shoulder.
“We’re surrounded on three sides by enemies,” he told her, watching her inner fear mirror itself in her widening eyes. “To the east and west of us, there are groups. Khogani’s north of us. I’m fairly sure the bands east of us are his soldiers. The ones west: some kind of rendezvous party. And he’s probably in radio contact with them right now. The only place we can go is down to the south.”
“H-how far are we from the valley? From help?”
Logan said, “Fifty miles east of the valley.”
“But… can’t we get help? A helicopter come in and pick us up?”
“No. These Taliban have RPGs among them. Maybe a Stinger missile. We just don’t know, Jess. I have to get us far enough away for a possible helicopter rescue. Right now, it’s impossible. We’re in heavy woods. They’d have to hover. They’d be sitting ducks, shot down in an instant, so we’re on our own for right now.”
Her heart sank. Oh, God…. Jess still felt shaky with adrenaline, crashing from it, feeling her knees weakening. She had to be strong for Logan. For herself. He looked so calm. So unperturbed by their dilemma.
“What we have going for us are the night hours. Trackers will have a hell of a time finding your boot prints. And, even when they do, it will be very slow work. What Khogani will do is most likely order his east and west bands to wake up, mount up and ride toward him in a pincer-like movement, hoping to snare you in the process.”
Gulping, Jess nodded. “W-what can we do, Logan?”
“Go down the slope.” His mouth quirked. “But it’s not that easy. There’s a cliff about a hundred feet from where we’re standing. I’m going to have to backtrack us to the east to get around it. That will bring us closer to that band that’s probably already on the move. Like I said, the darkness is going to slow them down a lot. I believe we can dodge them.” It was going to be close, but Logan didn’t tell her that. Jess was scared out of her mind as it was. There was no need to tell her anything more. “We’re just going to have to be quiet and slip through their lines.”
“O-okay. What can I do?”
Logan brushed her mussed and tangled hair with his hand. “I’m going to mount the horse. Then, I’ll pull you up in front of me.”
Gulping, Jess nodded. She watched Logan effortlessly put the reins over the head of the black gelding and then leap up onto its sleek, bare back. He pushed himself toward the rump of the horse, holding his gloved hand down to her. She took it, worried that she couldn’t mount. Surprisingly, he hauled her upward, as if she weighed nothing, and she found herself lifting her right leg up and over the horse’s withers. Settling down on the horse’s back, Jess grabbed hunks of the horse’s mane between her cold, numb fingers.
“Good,” Logan praised quietly, moving his arms either side of her. In one hand, he had the reins. The other, he slid around her waist. She was tensed and hunched over. “Relax, Jess. Sit up straight. I won’t let you fall off.”
Her heart was pounding in her throat. Her fingers were whitening as she clung to the mane. Slowly, she did as Logan asked, feeling safer with his strong arm around her waist. She gulped as he pulled her solidly against the front of him. Logan turned the horse around, aiming him down and around the trunks of the trees. Just being finally, solidly on the move helped Jess steady her wildly fluctuating emotions. Logan rode easily, as if part of the horse. And then, she remembered he’d been born in Wyoming. He’d been a wrangler, around horses since birth, and that made her feel even better. The horse was moving slowly, at a walk, and she closed her eyes for a moment, leaning against Logan, some of her terror abating.
The horse stumbled.
Jess gasped, thrown forward. Instantly, she felt Logan’s arm cut like a vise across her waist, hauling her back up against him.
The horse steadied itself and moved on.
“Okay?” Logan rasped against her ear.
She nodded, wildly gripping the mane. She felt Logan’s warm breath by her ear and his calm voice took some of the resurging terror out of her.
“I’ve got you, Jess. I won’t let go of you….”