Chapter 5 #2
Grover pulled her farther back in the cave and made her sit on the ground.
Then he went back to where his teammates were firing out of the entrance and joined in.
Sierra knew better than to do anything to disrupt their focus.
As much as she hated it, she was a liability right now and if she distracted even one of them, they could get hurt.
So she sat exactly where Grover put her, wrapped her arms around her knees, and prayed no one got injured.
There was a lull in the shooting, and Brain yelled, “That’s it. Time to go!”
Grover was there in a heartbeat, pulling her to her feet and keeping a tight grip on her arm as he tugged her toward the cave’s entrance.
Sierra was terrified. Wanted to ask if he was sure it was safe. But she didn’t get a chance before she was suddenly outside.
She’d dreamed about this moment. About walking out of the cave a free woman. This wasn’t exactly how she’d ever thought it would happen, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
All around them, men were bleeding and unmoving. She would’ve felt bad for their deaths except for the fact they were working with Shahzada, and had taken great pleasure in hurting her and Grover over the last week.
“Anyone see Shahzada?” Grover asked.
Trigger barked out a laugh as they made their way to the right, keeping the mountain to their backs. “As if that coward would actually fight alongside his men.”
Sierra didn’t recognize their location, as she’d been blindfolded when she’d been brought to the cave. But it didn’t matter. She was outside. Free. Well…almost.
“This next part isn’t going to be easy, Bean.”
Sierra looked at Grover. “You mean the last year has been?” she said somewhat sarcastically.
Even in the serious situation they’d found themselves in, she saw Grover’s lips twitch. “Right. Okay then, this next part is gonna suck monkey balls. We’re going down.”
“Down?” Sierra asked with a frown. “Down where?”
“There,” Trigger said, pointing over the edge of the plateau they’d been walking on.
Sierra looked down in confusion.
“We’re going over the edge,” Lucky confirmed. “Shahzada’s men can’t follow us that way. Well, they can, but I doubt they will.”
“Right, because they’d be insane! That drop-off is practically straight down!” Sierra exclaimed.
“Yup.” Doc sounded almost excited.
“You guys are crazy,” Sierra muttered.
Just then, shouts sounded from their left.
Brain translated as the words reached where they were standing next to the rocky mountain wall. “‘There they are. Kill the men and bring me the woman.’”
“Fuck that,” Grover muttered.
Sierra looked toward where the voices were coming from and saw Shahzada standing with another group of men. Of course he was standing behind them all, giving orders instead of leading the charge.
“That’s Shahzada!” Sierra said, before yelping in surprise when Grover yanked her down into a squat.
Looking around, she realized they were sitting ducks.
There wasn’t much cover where they crouched against the mountain—and literally the only way out of their predicament was to go over the edge, as Trigger had indicated.
Shahzada had the upper hand. He could keep bringing in reinforcements from the narrow road behind him, and eventually one or more of Grover’s team would be injured or killed.
They’d come for her; she had to do something to help. She wasn’t a badass special forces soldier, but she wasn’t a coward either.
She grabbed Grover’s biceps. “I’ll go toward them and pretend to give up. You guys can shoot them.”
It was a crazy suggestion. Even Sierra knew that, but she had to do something.
“No.”
One word. That was all Grover offered. And it irritated Sierra. “I can be a distraction,” she insisted.
“I said no,” Grover repeated.
“We can’t just sit here!”
“Have some faith,” he said calmly, as gunfire raged yet again.
Sierra couldn’t understand how in the world Grover could be so composed.
They were about to be overrun by Shahzada and his followers.
If he thought what they’d done to him before was bad, he was wrong.
Shahzada wouldn’t take their escape attempt lightly.
And he’d take it out on Grover and his friends. And her.
“Breathe, Bean,” Grover ordered. “This’ll be over in a minute.”
She opened her mouth to tell him that was nuts—then she realized, amazingly, that the number of shots coming from the Taliban fighters was lessening.
She peeked around Grover—and blinked in surprise. There were almost a dozen bodies lying in the dirt. Even as she watched, another man fell to his knees, then to his face.
“They’re not well-trained. They’re shooting blindly and without precision. We’re making every shot count,” Grover told her.
He wasn’t shooting, but his team was. Even handicapped as they were, trying to stay behind the dubious cover of the mountainside, it seemed as if every shot fired by Trigger, or Doc, or any of the others, hit its mark.
“Don’t kill Shahzada,” Grover said. “He’s mine.”
For a second, Sierra thought he was talking to her.
“Moving in ten,” Trigger said.
Sierra felt Grover tense against her.
“Moving? Moving where?” she asked.
“To take care of Shahzada once and for all,” Grover said simply.
Her adrenaline was already out of control, but hearing that made her entire body begin to shake.
“Easy, Bean. It’s okay.”
She wasn’t shaking out of fear, but couldn’t unclench her teeth long enough to tell Grover. She was mad. Furious. So fucking pissed off that she couldn’t control her muscles.
“I’m going with them. I’ll be back in a minute. Stay here with Doc,” Grover told her.
“No.” It was her turn to be succinct with her response. “I need to know he’s dead.”
Sierra was ready to fight Grover if he refused, but he met her gaze and whatever he saw there made him acquiesce. “Okay, but you stay behind Doc at all times. Understand?”
She nodded, more grateful than she could express that he wasn’t going to force her to stay behind. She needed this. Needed to know the man who’d kidnapped her was truly gone. Needed to see he could never come after her again. Or anyone else.
She wasn’t an idiot. Knew there would be others like him. More people who had hate in their hearts, who would take it out on others. But knowing Shahzada was dead would go a long way toward making her able to put this entire nightmare behind her when she went home.
And for just a second, the thought of going back to the US was suddenly overwhelming.
Could she go back to her regular life? What was her regular life?
She’d accepted the job with the contractor because she’d wanted a change.
Well, she’d certainly gotten that. She was twenty-eight years old.
She didn’t want to move back in with her parents, but had no idea where to go, what to do now.
“We’re moving,” Trigger said in a low tone.
Sierra had no more time to think about her future. She was behind Doc, holding on to the pack on his back and heading toward where they’d last seen Shahzada.
As they passed dead and dying terrorists, Doc picked up weapons and threw them over the side of the mountain road. Someone would definitely retrieve them at some point, but at least no one would shoot them in the back after they passed.
“There he is,” Sierra heard Grover say.
She peeked around Doc and saw Shahzada attempting to crab-crawl away from the advancing Delta Force team. Trigger walked up to the man and put his boot on the bullet wound in his leg. Shahzada howled in pain.
Lefty reached down and ripped the AK-47 out of his grasp.
Brain, Oz, and Lucky surrounded them, making sure none of the men lying in the dirt regained consciousness and tried to interfere.
“We don’t have much time. Finish this, Grover. Fast,” Trigger ordered.
Doc kept Sierra from getting any closer than twenty or so feet from what was about to happen, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Grover pulled a knife out of a small holster she hadn’t noticed on his thigh.
She supposed his team must’ve given it to him when they’d freed him from his cell.
Without a word, he leaned down and slit Shahzada’s shirt open.
He said something that Sierra couldn’t hear, but it made the man in the dirt thrash violently.
He threw an arm out, trying to punch Grover.
Grover just laughed humorlessly and batted Shahzada’s hand away.
Then he slashed his chest with a movement so quick, if Sierra hadn’t been watching so intently, she would’ve missed it.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be watching this,” Doc muttered, moving as if he was going to turn her away from the scene.
“Touch me and die,” Sierra hissed.
Doc froze, and she was grateful he heeded her warning. She knew she couldn’t overpower the other man, and she’d never attempt to hurt him, but she needed to see this. Needed to see Shahzada die. If that made her bloodthirsty, so be it.
She watched as Grover slashed the man’s chest a few more times. He was fucking with him. Giving him a little back for what he’d dished out for so long. Grover spoke again, more low words that Sierra couldn’t hear.
Time seemed to stand still. Sierra couldn’t take her eyes off Grover. She should be disgusted. Horrified. Scared to death.
But she wasn’t. It was morbidly cathartic to see the man who’d caused her so much pain, terror, and heartache feeling some of the same emotions she had.
Killing him wouldn’t make what he’d done go away. It wouldn’t bring back the other contractors who’d died while in captivity. Wouldn’t make her hair grow back any faster or give her back the year he’d stolen from her. But it would still make her feel better.
A hell of a lot better.
“Company’s coming,” Sierra heard Brain say.
Grover didn’t need the warning. He’d obviously heard the commotion of reinforcements coming up the mountain road. He reached down, putting his hand behind Shahzada’s neck, forcing him to look him in the eye, then plunged the knife into his chest, right over his heart.