Chapter 14
The van rumbled over uneven asphalt, each jolt vibrating through Sammy’s bones.
Outside, a blur of dark alleys and flickering streetlights raced past, a world he knew intimately but now saw through a haze of adrenaline and exhaustion.
He sat hunched, rifle across his lap, his gaze locked on his mother.
Noor. The word was a prayer, a promise, a wound.
Jax worked tirelessly over her in the gloom, the focused beam of his headlamp illuminating the pale, still curve of her cheek. Every bump in the road, every low groan that escaped her, tightened a vise around Sammy’s chest.
The air was thick with old exhaust, sweat, and antiseptic. He could feel Link’s solid presence beside him, and Shadow’s steady hands on the wheel. He tried to focus, to stay in the present, but the images of Noor in that room, broken and bloody but defiant, flashed behind his eyes.
Then, a soft whimper escaped her. A small, pained sound, barely audible above the engine’s thrum. It was all it took.
The world tilted. The van, the smells, Link’s presence, it all dissolved. That whimper wasn’t from the stretcher. It was from then, a sound he carried in his bones. He wasn’t thirteen, clutching a rifle.
He was five. Small. Helpless.
He was hidden behind the wardrobe cabinet, Ummi’s voice guiding him into the dark space. “Be a mouse, Samir. Quiet like a mouse.” Dust and the bitter tang of metal filled his mouth. The cloying, sweet stench of Faisal’s cologne choked him.
Shouts. The crash of something breaking.
Cramped behind sacks of flour beneath the table, his world shrank to dusty floorboards and muffled violence above. He saw the edge of her embroidered dress, then her bare feet as she stood facing Faisal.
A cold, sharp voice sliced the air. A sickening thud. A soft grunt from his mother. She sagged, hand flying to her swollen stomach, another whimper escaping before she stifled it.
The helplessness burned him from the inside. He was meant to be a mouse, to stay hidden. But all he wanted was to scream, to leap out and protect her. The shame of his powerlessness flooded him, cold and hot at once. He couldn’t breathe.
Then, pressure.
A hand, large and firm, gripped his shoulder.
“Sammy.” Link’s voice, deep and calm, cut through the roaring in his ears. It wasn’t Faisal’s voice. “You’re with me. We have her.”
Sammy blinked, the van slowly coalescing around him. Link’s face was close, his eyes serious and knowing. He didn’t ask if Sammy was okay. He just knew. The shame lingered, but it was now mixed with a fresh, sharp resolve. He wasn’t five anymore. He had a rifle. He had Link.
“Right, Dad,” Sammy rasped. The distant look was gone. He lifted his rifle slightly, scanning the shadows outside with renewed, fierce determination. The past’s helplessness was now a bitter fuel, burning away the fear.
A few minutes later, the van slowed, turning onto a rougher track. Sammy braced himself. Link had said this was just the first step.
He peered through the grimy window at the faded building ahead, the temporary base. Its reinforced door was a beacon of nothing but temporary safety. They had made it. They had Noor.
And now, the hunt for his sisters would begin.