Page 30 of Protecting Josie
“I’m not sure that’s possible,” he said.
As soon as the words were out, Josie closed her eyes and began to shake. It was a full-body tremor. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought she was having a seizure.
“Josie!” he said urgently.
But she stubbornly kept her eyes shut.
“Do you think I’m going to let anything happen to you? I’m not,” he said, answering his own question. “But they aren’t expecting you. The rest of my team has probably already informed the higher-ups that you were a captive in the same place I was, and that you were extricated at the same time, but they don’t know anything about you. For all they know, you could be a plant. Someone who was put in that cell to gather intel about our ships. Our manpower.”
She snorted and her eyes flew open. She pulled out of his grip and frantically looked around for something. Then she grabbed the plastic knife that had been in the MRE kit and crouched over an area of undisturbed ground.
For a second, Blink was afraid she was going to try to hurt herself, but instead, she started writing in the dirt.
England
“You’re from the UK?” Blink asked.
She shook her head in frustration, then wrote something else.
Josie England
“That’s your name?” Tate asked. He’d come closer when she’d started writing.
Josie nodded. Then wrote some more.
Las Vegas Vacation Kuwait
“You’re from Las Vegas and were on vacation in Kuwait? Not exactly a hot spot for tourism,” Kevlar commented. Histeam leader, Pyro, and Tate were all gathered around now, reading her words.
But Blink’s attention was laser focused on the woman herself. She was on her knees in the dirt, already scrubbing the words away with her hand to write more. Her face was flushed, and she looked almost desperate to give them information about herself. She was terrified of being questioned when they got to the carrier, that much was obvious.
Ayden Hitson Army R&R Boat ride
“He’s your boyfriend?” Tate asked.
Blink’s stomach rolled again.
Was Break up after
“So you came to visit your boyfriend, who was on R&R in Kuwait, and you were going to break up with him? And you went on a boat ride?” Tate asked almost gently. “What happened? Where’s Hitson?”
Shot dead Took me
“Fuck,” Blink said. He stood abruptly and began to pace. He’d gathered something bad had happened in regard to a boat, considering Josie’s reaction to getting into one back in Iran. But he hadn’t expectedthis.
“Right. You’re an American named Josie England, from Las Vegas,” Kevlar summed up. “You were in Kuwait visiting the military man you were dating. You went on a boat ride, probably crossed over into Iranian waters, and your captors came after you. Ayden Hitson was killed and they took you hostage. Why?”
Blink wanted to know the answer as much as the others. But Josie didn’t attempt to write anything in the dirt. She shrugged.
“There has to be a reason,” Tate pushed. “Did they ask you anything? Want information about anything related to the military? Did they contact anyone for ransom?”
Josie stared at them for a beat, then once more used her hand to wipe away the last words she wrote and picked up the plastic knife.
Beaten Left alone Forgotten No food no water Didn’t care
The words looked stark and ugly scratched into the ground. He couldn’t wrap his mind around what she was telling them. Of course, the condition she was in gave credence to what she was saying, but it was still hard to believe.
She angrily scrubbed out the words, then began to write again.
