Page 78 of Protecting Maggie
She woke immediately, and he had the momentary thought that hopefully one day, she wouldn’t wake up instantly on guard.
“Time to go,” he told her.
She sat up and nodded.
MacGyver had woken up the children, and Preacher could hear them stirring across from where he and Maggie were sitting. They had no flashlight or anything, so their rescue would be a little more difficult, since they couldn’t see where they were putting their feet.
“Helicopter,” Borysko said.
“Yes. It’s our friends,” MacGyver told him.
None of the children said anything else, and Preacher had a feeling they were trying to process the fact that they’d soon be on their own again.
He led the way out of the shelter and into the tall grass around them. He couldn’t see the chopper, as it was flying without lights, but he heard it get closer and closer.
And so did the Russian soldiers. Shouts sounded from the city, way closer than Preacher had hoped. It made sense that a rescue would come from the farmlands outside the ruined buildings. They’d probably been waiting, just as their small group had.
“Fuck!” MacGyver said. He immediately followed that by adding, “Sorry. Don’t say that word, kids. It’s not a nice word.”
Preacher wanted to laugh at how serious he was taking his role of caretaker, but the situation they were in was no laughing matter.
“You three need to hide,” MacGyver told them. “The soldiers will be all over this area. Go back to the city. To one of your shelters.”
To Preacher, his friend didn’t sound genuine. As if he was saying what he thought he had to say, not what he actually wanted the kids to do.
“We help,” Artem said, sounding stubborn.
“No!” MacGyver told him. “You can’t help.”
“We help,” Borysko said, echoing his brother.
“Help,” Yana chimed in.
Maggie’s hand clenched his, and Preacher was torn. He didn’t want the kids anywhere near the chaos that wasabout to erupt, but sending them back to the city didn’t feel right either.
The breeze from the helicopter picked up, and Preacher ducked, urging Maggie to do the same at his side. The chopper arrived out of nowhere in the dark. It landed about two hundred yards from where they were crouched. The length of two football fields. It wasn’t very far for him and MacGyver, but with Maggie and possibly the kids in tow, it felt as if it might as well have been miles.
Lights from the chopper turned on and nearly blinded Preacher. He knew that was routine, shining lights to fuck with the eyesight of any nearby tangos, but being on this side of those lightssucked. He was used to being behind them, looking out of the chopper.
But the lights also allowed him to see the immediate area. And what he saw made his blood run cold.
The Russian soldiers were closing in on their location. Fast. Sometime in the night, they’d gotten reinforcements as well. It was no longer one platoon they were up against. There were at least four dozen men, all hurrying toward their position.
“Run!” Preacher said urgently, as he got to his feet and pulled Maggie up along with him. He kept his hand on her arm as they ran.
He heard MacGyver behind him as well. He got a glimpse of him holding Yana in one arm as he did his best to keep the boys in front of him.
Five figures fanned out from the door of the chopper,and Preacher had never been so relieved to see his SEAL team as he was at that moment.
The second he had the thought, the sound of gunfire broke out behind them.
Flinching as the soldiers opened fire, Preacher urged Maggie to run even faster. The odds of none of them being hit were slim to none, but Preacher wasn’t ready to give up.
Neither was his SEAL team. They returned fire, doing their best to pick off the soldiers closest to them.
They were going to make it. Preacher could see the opening to the helicopter. They were within fifty yards now. He recognized Kevlar and Smiley, who had taken the outermost positions, doing their best to keep the Russians back.
“About time you got here!” Smiley yelled without pausing his shots.
