Chapter 2 #2
The girls didn’t need to be told twice. Natasha and Michelle took charge and herded the rest of the group in the direction the man had pointed. Amanda didn’t want to let them go alone, but she needed to make sure the boys were being rescued as well.
“The rest of the kids?” she asked the man.
“We’ll get them.”
She should’ve trusted him—but she couldn’t leave that camp without seeing the boys. Without knowing they were coming too. She watched as the man ran toward the other tents. Spotting Michael and the other boys streaming out of them was a huge relief.
But when one of the rebels saw what was happening, he screamed in rage and made a beeline for little Richard and Leon.
Michael purposely dodged in front of him, and was knocked on his ass as the man ran smack-dab into him. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Thankfully, the soldier who’d spoken to Amanda was there. He and the rebel exchanged blows. Punching each other as hard as they could.
In the meantime, Michael was frantically yelling for his fellow orphans to run as fast as they could into the trees.
Except they weren’t orderly about it. They scattered like leaves in the wind, and Amanda was having a hard time counting heads, making sure everyone was escaping.
With the darkness and the chaos of the fight occurring all around them, she had no idea if they even knew which way to go toward the chopper.
Panic hit hard and fast.
“Run! Now,” a different soldier said, as he grabbed Amanda’s upper arm and practically threw her in the direction the girls had gone. “We’ll get all the kids!”
It was the best she was going to get at the moment, and Amanda knew it.
She turned and ran into the trees after the girls.
The second she left the clearing, any light there was from the moon disappeared.
It was like running blind. Amanda had to slow down, resort to walk as quickly as she could with her arms in front of her, so she didn’t smack into a tree.
Adrenaline was making her shaky, but she kept going. Freedom was close. So close she could smell it. Or maybe that was the scent of her own fear.
The sound of the helicopter got louder and louder, the only way she knew she was headed in the right direction.
The second she broke out of the trees into another clearing, she could see once again, thanks to the moonlight that wasn’t able to penetrate the canopy of the jungle.
A huge helicopter was on the ground, its rotors turning, a man standing by the open door and helping kids into the huge cargo area.
Excitement surged through Amanda’s veins. She took off toward the chopper, knowing as soon as she got inside, she’d finally be safe and this ordeal would be over.
But before she got more than a few steps closer, Michael appeared at her side as if by magic.
“Mandy! I can’t find James!”
“What?” Amanda practically shouted to be heard over the sound of the chopper.
“James! He was with Patrick, but he got lost in the trees somewhere on the way here!”
“Shit,” Amanda muttered. “What about everyone else?”
“I think they’re all here. I tried to be last and count as everyone ran by me. We headed for the sound of the helicopter because we saw the girls going this way. He was there by the tents, but by the time we got here, I didn’t see him anymore!”
“All right. Don’t panic. I’ll find him!” Amanda shouted. “Get to the helicopter! We don’t need two of you lost. Tell the soldiers that I’ll be back with him. Okay?”
“Okay!” Michael said with a nod, then continued toward the chopper and his friends.
Thankful he’d been looking out for all the kids, especially the younger ones—James was only five, and he’d been struggling hard with the physical activities he was forced to do at the camp—Amanda gave one long look at the helicopter that represented her freedom, then turned and headed back into the trees.
“What the fuck is she doing?” Buck asked, more to himself than anyone else. He saw who could only be Amanda Rush running toward them, and the relief he’d felt was huge. She looked okay. Tired and dirty, but on two feet and moving without too much trouble.
Then she’d stopped to talk to one of the older boys—and turned around and headed back into the jungle.
“We need to get the hell out of here!” one of the special forces soldiers said in Buck’s ear.
They were all wearing radios so they could communicate.
After they’d fast-roped out of the chopper, Buck and Obi-Wan had landed in the clearing to wait for the children to be extricated.
He’d gotten out of the pilot seat to help the kids into the helicopter as soon as they’d appeared in the clearing.
When the girls started arriving, Buck and Obi-Wan had been relieved.
“Reinforcements incoming,” another soldier said.
“We’ve mitigated the immediate threat, but there are trucks approaching from the west. They’ll be here in two minutes.
There are over three dozen men, too many for us to keep at bay.
We’re coming in hot for the chopper. Get the kids in and get ready to take off! ”
Every muscle in Buck’s body tightened. Amanda. Where was she?
“How many kids we got?” Buck asked Obi-Wan through the radio.
“Twenty-two.”
“Twenty-three with this last boy,” Buck returned grimly.
A tall, slender boy with more bruises on his body than any kid should ever have was running toward the helicopter with wild eyes.
“Amanda!” he blurted, as soon as he was within earshot. “She went to look for James!”
“James?” Buck asked.
“Yeah! He’s five. He got lost in the trees on the way here!”
“No, he didn’t. There are fourteen boys and eight girls inside. You make a total of twenty-three. Everyone is accounted for.” Unless their numbers had been wrong. Unless there were actually twenty-four kids taken.
The boy immediately frowned. Looked confused.
Buck didn’t hesitate. He lifted him up and into the back of the chopper.
The kid stood at the entrance for a moment, his gaze scanning over the other children before he turned around, looking absolutely devastated. “I didn’t see him! I thought he was lost!” he cried.
Buck turned back toward the trees and prayed he’d see Amanda running toward him once more. But the only people he saw were the special forces soldiers. They were running hard—as if being chased.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! This wasn’t good. Why the hell did she have to go off by herself? Why couldn’t she have double-checked to make sure all the kids were there before acting? Hell, she should’ve come straight to him for help, instead of running off into the jungle like a damn idiot.
Buck made a split-second decision.
He wasn’t leaving her.
He was going to get his ass chewed for leaving his chopper. A Night Stalker never, ever left his chopper. Recently, Casper had done just that, leaving Laryn vulnerable and allowing her to be taken in Turkey. And now he was following suit.
But he could not leave Amanda Rush in this jungle. Not knowing there were dozens of rebels about to descend on the area. Knowing that she’d sacrificed her own safety for that of a five-year-old boy.
“Go,” he told Obi-Wan, turning to meet his gaze. “I can’t leave her, and you have to get these kids to safety.”
“Buck, I don’t think—”
“I’ll find her and circle around and head east. If that’s not possible, we’ll head south. I’ll get her across the border and meet you back in Guyana.”
With that, Buck ripped off his headphones and threw them into the back of the chopper at the same time the soldiers returned.
Without hesitation, he sprinted across the clearing, heading in the direction Amanda had disappeared.
He had to get out of the clearing before the newcomers arrived.
If they knew he was still on the ground, or that Amanda was, they’d be hunted like animals.
It was possible they’d figure out she’d been left behind, anyway, but if he was lucky—really lucky—he and the teacher could sneak off in the darkness and chaos of the night.
He felt the wind from the rotors, heard the motor revving as Obi-Wan expertly lifted the chopper.
Shouts sounded, and Buck slipped into the trees just before six men burst into the clearing a dozen yards away, rifles in hand.
They stopped and lifted their weapons, all their attention on the sky as they aimed for the helicopter, which was ascending at a rapid rate and already beginning to fly out of range.
As gunshots rang out, Buck saw something out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively he turned, reaching out as someone ran by him. Knowing immediately this was Amanda, even as they went down to the ground hard.
He covered her mouth with his hand, cutting off anything she might say to give away their location to the now very pissed-off rebels.
Her eyes were huge in her face, and he could feel how fast she was breathing as he lay on top of her, trying desperately to communicate to her without words how important it was to stay absolutely silent and still.
She didn’t fight him, simply stared back as her nostrils flared with each labored breath she took. Buck could feel her heart beating against his chest as the rebels continued to shoot at the helicopter, which was now way out of range.
A huge wave of relief swept over him. The kids were safe. The soldiers were safe. Obi-Wan was safe. They’d succeeded in rescuing the children. Even though he and Amanda were fucked, he was still glad the mission had succeeded as well as it had.
But he and Amanda couldn’t stay here. They were way too close to the rebel camp.
And those men in the clearing were beyond outraged.
He didn’t know who they were in relation to the rebels, but since they were connected to the kidnapping of twenty-three children, he figured it wasn’t good regardless.
They were either there for the girls, or to force the boys to kill or die for their cause.
They were the scum of the earth, and Buck wanted to avoid detection at all costs.
Especially since he had no gun. Hell, he had no supplies, period.
No food, no water, no nothing. All he had was the KA-BAR knife he always carried in his flight suit and an old-school compass.
His dad had given him the latter for his high school graduation, before he’d headed off to boot camp.
And he’d carried it on every mission since becoming a Night Stalker.
It might be his only saving grace. His and Amanda’s.
Leaning down, he put his lips right near her ear. Speaking in a tone lower than a whisper, he said, “We need to put space between us and them.”
She nodded, and Buck took a chance and removed his hand from her mouth. She immediately lifted her lips toward his own ear.
After turning his head so she could reach him better, and so she didn’t have to speak any louder than necessary, he heard her tortured words. “There’s a boy missing.”
He shook his head. “No. They were all in the chopper.”
She looked confused. And now she shook her head. “James. He’s five.”
“He was there. They were all there.”
Buck saw the second the information sank in. The exact moment she realized that her desperate search for a missing boy had been in vain. Saw the despair in her eyes. The fact that she’d missed the chopper for nothing.
He wanted to soothe her. Tell her it would be okay. But things were far from okay at the moment. They were in deep shit, and only time would tell if they made it out of the area without being detected.
He should be pissed at her. Furious that she’d run off on her own. And he was. But he also understood making split-second decisions based on limited intel.
Hadn’t he done the same thing less than a minute ago?
“Stay low. Stay quiet. And follow me,” he ordered.
He waited for her to nod, then slowly slid off her body and motioned with his head to the west. They’d have to circle around the camp. Couldn’t afford to get too close to it.
Well, she couldn’t. Buck would infiltrate their base to see what he could scavenge.
But first he needed to ensure Amanda’s safety. Find a place to hunker down. Then he’d see what he could steal from the rebels and they’d head east, if possible.
Obi-Wan knew his plan. Buck would lead Amanda to the border one way or another. The jungle had never been one of his favorite places, but it was better than the desert. He hated sand, and would choose being wet over being cooked alive in the desert heat any day.
Ever so slowly, he began to army crawl, keeping his head down and checking on Amanda every few seconds.
It would be slow going to get out of the area, but he wasn’t willing to risk being captured.
Because he knew without a doubt the rebels wouldn’t give anyone a chance to mount a second rescue attempt.
Their only chance of making it out of there alive was staying under the radar. Making the rebels think everyone had left in that chopper.