Page 36 of No Turning Back
“My thoughts too. He won’t be able to be here for a couple months, but he said he’d have their tech team put eyes on her.”
“Any of the guys here can help you. Just ask. Titan can run some background checks for you. I’m sure they would return the favor because you’ve helped them. I’d offer, but she would recognize me. Besides, I want to stay close to Wrenn, just in case there is blowback and with Jori still new. Wrenn is on maternity leave. She’s now glad she got a partner to help out at the clinic.”
“I get it. I need to go pick up my girl. She’s going to be using the truck for a bit until we can get her a new car. Hers is totaled.”
I take off after stopping and talking to a couple of the guys about keeping an eye on Sydney for me.
I message Titan, who is back in Alaska with his wife and his chapter of our club. He’s the president of the Alaska chapter but still works with our unit here. I text Cronus to let him know I won’t be able to help for a bit because I want to stay with Sydney as much as possible right now.
Chapter Eleven
Sydney
I make my way across the sand in the dark, keeping my headlamp pointed at the ground to make sure I don’t step on any critters or trip on a root or plant. We heard gunshots earlier, and our worst fears were realized. A rhino was slaughtered and his horn taken from him. His body left on the savanna as if he was worth nothing. He wasn’t to the poachers.
I’d taken pictures of him earlier in the day. I had a night vision game cam set up near where he was killed, and I came out here to get the proof to turn over to the authorities. I pat my cargo pocket, hoping I can find the evidence in all the footage for the Akashinga to use to stop these people from doing this again. The Akashinga troops protect the animals around here. They are warriors, and I’ve worked with them in the past.
My tent looms over me and I unzip the flap, stepping inside the dark interior. I don’t remove my boots or clothes. I’m too exhausted. I fall onto the cot after kicking it to make sure nothing creepy-crawly is in the sleeping bag.
I’m almost asleep when a noise in the distance breaks through the night sounds across the savanna. Everything goes still. The bugs stop chirping. The monkeys go silent. Even the lions that were chuffing and growling moments ago fall quiet.
Only a thwapping sound can be heard. One I’ve heard before.
My eyes fly open as it gets closer. It can’t be. Not after dark. Only a few pilots would risk flying at night. I look across the tent and wish I was in the open to see if I’m right. To see if a light is flashing, breaking the darkness.
The chopper is closer now, moving fast through the night air. I sit up, about to swing my legs from the cot, when another sound breaks the night. The thud of bullets hitting the ground.
Screams follow. Cries of pain. I freeze, afraid to move. Afraid of what this could mean. Afraid of what I’ll see if I step outside my tent.
Why are they attacking us?
A searing pain explodes in my ankle, and I hit the ground as my tent collapses around me. I throw myself as far as I can from where the bullets are landing. Warm liquid oozes from my right boot.
I roll to my stomach and army crawl across the tent floor. Voices shot outside in Shona. My teammates are begging for their lives before they are silenced. Executed.
When I get to the back of my tent, I pull the knife from my hip and cut it open so I can crawl out. Looking around, I see Brigade men moving through the camp, their flashlights slicing the dark. I know the sounds will have attracted the Akashinga troops, so I continue to crawl.
Gravel and dirt cut through my sleeves as I try to get away. Footsteps follow close behind, and I push myself to move faster, knowing my ankle won’t hold me up.
I’m lifted from the ground by my hair. I scream as I’m swung around. His eyes look back at me. The evil grin on his face tells me I shouldn’t have made him mad. But he betrayed me, so I made him sorry. I ended us in a brilliant and public way.
“You shouldn’t have ended us, Sydney,” Bahati yells in Shona in my face.
I lift the knife in my hand and swing at him, but he grabs it and sticks it into my side. I scream in pain as he throws me back to the ground. Crying out as my body hits and slides across the hard earth. It’s then I realize I still have my sidearm. If there’s one thing I learned in all my training, it’s never give up. As long as I have breath in my body, I will fight.
I move my hand to my side, where the knife is still stuck in me. I pull it out and drop it to the ground.
“Bahati, no. Please don’t kill me. I thought you cared for me. Think about what we had,” I beg as he aims his gun at me.
I want to tell him about the news I realized just yesterday, but I worry that will make him want to kill me more if he knows I’m pregnant. Now that I know he was married the whole time we were together, I know he doesn’t care for me.
I pull the gun from my holster and hold it to my front. His focus is on my face and not my hands. I don’t want to kill him, but I will if he doesn’t give me a choice.
“We were nothing, ever. You were a means to an end.”
I cry out as his gun goes off. My body slumps to the ground, and for a moment, I think I’m dead, but then I realize my right arm is barely working now. I look at it and see that he shot me in my shoulder. My gun is now lying against my left hand.
“Where is it?” he shouts. “Give it to me, and I’ll make it painless.” He cocks the gun again.
