Page 55 of Protecting Maggie
The chopper began to lower closer to the ground at a high rate of speed. Just because hostile forces weren’t immediately visible didn’t mean the pilots wanted to stick around any longer than necessary.
“Go, go go!” the pilot said.
Without hesitation, Preacher moved to the side and helped MacGyver push the first crate out the door. It landed and bounced once on the grassy surface. Smiley was already pushing the next crate forward, and Preacher repeated his actions.
They quickly got five crates out the door and were on the last one.
“This one is way lighter than the others,” MacGyvercommented over the headset as he pushed it toward the open door.
Preacher didn’t care. All he wanted was to be done with this asinine assignment and get back to fucking Southern California.
The pilots had moved the chopper forward several feet after each crate had dropped, so they didn’t land on each other. Preacher watched with detachment as the last crate landed in the long weeds below. The helicopter had begun to rise back into the air as soon as the crate had left the cargo area.
Instead of bouncing or rolling a few feet to a stop, the last crate cracked open upon impact. And what Preacher saw had his blood running cold.
He didn’t have time to say anything to the pilots. He ripped off his headset, grabbed the safety line that had been prepared earlier just in case they needed to evacuate the chopper at a moment’s notice, and leapt through the door, fast-roping to the ground below.
He felt more than saw the helicopter stop its ascension, but all Preacher’s concentration was focused on that last crate. He couldn’t have been more shocked by what was inside if someone had told him he’d won the lottery…when he didn’t even play.
Maggie.
He’d recognize her anywhere, and not only because she was wearing the same thing she’d had on the morning they’d argued, when he’d left the country on this fucking mission.
It was impossible. Yet, his eyes weren’t deceiving him.
Maggie had been in that last crate. And she was currently lying motionless in the tall grasses and dirt.
Preacher felt as if he was running through molasses. He couldn’t get to her fast enough. His heart was thumping hard in his chest, and adrenaline was making him shaky. Was she dead? Had Robertson killed her, and this was how he was going to dispose of her body? By making Preacher and his team do the dirty deed? The thought made him want to puke.
He had to get to her. Nothing else was in his mind. Not hostiles who might be incoming. Not the chopper hovering over his head. Not even the sound of MacGyver, yelling his name behind him.
Maggie was all that mattered.
Maggie groaned. She was so confused. She’d been through hell in the last two days. At least…she thought it had been two days. In the dark box, though, she’d had no real way of telling time. She’d been moved a few times, and even with the earplugs still in her fucking ears, she’d been able to hear the loud, unmistakable sound of a helicopter.
She had no idea what was happening or where she was, but when the box she was in suddenly became weightless for a few brief seconds, she’d let out a startled scream behind the tape.
The pain from landing was intense, and for a moment,she’d blacked out. But when she opened her eyes, Maggie was surprised that she could see. The box she’d been in had broken open.
Hands grabbed at her, and her self-preservation kicked in. Even though her own hands were still bound behind her, she fought. Using her legs to kick at whoever was hovering over her, turning her onto her side, kneeling…
The sudden light after days of darkness almost blinded her, but Maggie forced herself to look at whatever horror she’d suddenly been thrown into now—and froze.
She couldn’t be seeing what she thought she was seeing.Whoshe was seeing.
Shawn.
“What the fuck?”
She didn’t hear him, but she could read his lips. He began to tug at the tape around her mouth, which yanked at her hair, so she tried to pull away from him.
Then another set of hands was on her. Looking to her side as best she could, Maggie saw MacGyver. She had no idea where they were, or how Shawn and his friend had found her, but she was eternally grateful.
But panic quickly sank in. This was probably all part of Roman’s plan! Whatever he had up his sleeve couldn’t be good. Shawn was in danger. Because ofher. She tried to tell him to get away from her. To leave her and go, but the damn tape was still over her mouth.
MacGyver had already managed to remove what turned out to be zip-ties around her wrists, and the relief she felt at being free was almost as overwhelming as it was painful.The blood flowing freely down her arms was like the sensation of hitting her funny bone. Hard.
Shawn’s mouth was moving as if he was talking to her, but the damn earplugs made anything he was saying impossible to hear. Turning onto her back, and groaning at how good it felt, she reached a hand up to her ear. She removed one earplug, then the other.
