Page 7 of Keeping Amanda
“All right. Don’t panic. I’ll find him!” Amanda shouted. “Get to the helicopter! We don’t need two of you lost. Tell the soldiers that I’ll be back with him. Okay?”
“Okay!” Michael said with a nod, then continued toward the chopper and his friends.
Thankful he’d been looking out for all the kids, especially the younger ones—James was only five, and he’d been struggling hard with the physical activities he was forced to do at the camp—Amanda gave one long look at the helicopter that represented her freedom, then turned and headed back into the trees.
“What the fuck is she doing?” Buck asked, more to himself than anyone else. He saw who could only be Amanda Rush running toward them, and the relief he’d felt was huge. She looked okay. Tired and dirty, but on two feet and moving without too much trouble.
Then she’d stopped to talk to one of the older boys—and turned around and headed back into the jungle.
“We need to get the hell out of here!” one of the special forces soldiers said in Buck’s ear. They were all wearing radios so they could communicate. After they’d fast-roped out of the chopper, Buck and Obi-Wan had landed in the clearing to wait for the children to be extricated. He’d gotten out of the pilot seat to help the kids into the helicopter as soon as they’d appeared in the clearing.
When the girls started arriving, Buck and Obi-Wan had been relieved.
“Reinforcements incoming,” another soldier said. “We’ve mitigated the immediate threat, but there are trucksapproaching from the west. They’ll be here in two minutes. There are over three dozen men, too many for us to keep at bay. We’re coming in hot for the chopper. Get the kids in and get ready to take off!”
Every muscle in Buck’s body tightened. Amanda. Where was she?
“How many kids we got?” Buck asked Obi-Wan through the radio.
“Twenty-two.”
“Twenty-three with this last boy,” Buck returned grimly.
A tall, slender boy with more bruises on his body than any kid should ever have was running toward the helicopter with wild eyes.
“Amanda!” he blurted, as soon as he was within earshot. “She went to look for James!”
“James?” Buck asked.
“Yeah! He’s five. He got lost in the trees on the way here!”
“No, he didn’t. There are fourteen boys and eight girls inside. You make a total of twenty-three. Everyone is accounted for.” Unless their numbers had been wrong. Unless there were actually twenty-four kids taken.
The boy immediately frowned. Looked confused.
Buck didn’t hesitate. He lifted him up and into the back of the chopper.
The kid stood at the entrance for a moment, his gaze scanning over the other children before he turned around, looking absolutely devastated. “I didn’t see him! I thought he was lost!” he cried.
Buck turned back toward the trees and prayed he’d see Amanda running toward him once more. But the only people he saw were the special forces soldiers. They were running hard—as if being chased.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! This wasn’t good. Why the hell did she have to go off by herself? Why couldn’t she have double-checked tomake sure all the kids were there before acting? Hell, she should’ve come straight tohimfor help, instead of running off into the jungle like a damn idiot.
Buck made a split-second decision.
He wasn’t leaving her.
He was going to get his ass chewed for leaving his chopper. A Night Stalker never,everleft his chopper. Recently, Casper had done just that, leaving Laryn vulnerable and allowing her to be taken in Turkey. And now he was following suit.
But he couldnotleave Amanda Rush in this jungle. Not knowing there were dozens of rebels about to descend on the area. Knowing that she’d sacrificed her own safety for that of a five-year-old boy.
“Go,” he told Obi-Wan, turning to meet his gaze. “I can’t leave her, and you have to get these kids to safety.”
“Buck, I don’t think?—”
“I’ll find her and circle around and head east. If that’s not possible, we’ll head south. I’ll get her across the border and meet you back in Guyana.”
With that, Buck ripped off his headphones and threw them into the back of the chopper at the same time the soldiers returned. Without hesitation, he sprinted across the clearing, heading in the direction Amanda had disappeared. He had to get out of the clearing before the newcomers arrived. If they knew he was still on the ground, or that Amanda was, they’d be hunted like animals. It was possible they’d figure out she’d been left behind, anyway, but if he was lucky—reallylucky—he and the teacher could sneak off in the darkness and chaos of the night.
