Page 37 of Her Faithful Protector

Nic moved quietly through the jungle, staying deep in the foliage but close enough so he could see what was going on. The further he moved toward Zed, the closer he got to the back of the church and away from possibly spotting Cami.

“I count eleven,” Raiden said. “All of them are hanging from their wrists off of some sort of scaffolding in front of the church.”

“Motherfucker,” Cullen’s voice was harsh.

“At least their feet are touching the ground. Three of the women are hanging by just one arm. They’re not in good shape,” Raiden continued.

Nic’s stomach rolled. He felt his gorge rise.

Keep it together.

“I’ve got a count. We’ve got twenty-three we need to take out, which includes one woman. If I had to guess, the guy in charge is sitting in the chair in front of the tied-up prisoners.”

Nic listened to Zed’s report. Twenty-three against five, that was…doable…with time and planning. Twenty-three against five with eleven hostages? That was going to be a problem.

“We’ve got a lot of incidental targets. Four women outside of their houses over cooking fires. Shit, man, some of them have kids with them. It’s a fucking menagerie,” Cullen reported.

It just kept getting worse and worse. Nic tasted vomit and spat on the ground.

“We’re going to have to go in tonight,” Max said. “Raiden, how bad are we talking? How are the prisoners holding up?”

“I’d say at least two broken bones and a head wound for sure,” Raiden said slowly. “One is unconscious, but I don’t see any contusions around her face, but with the way her arm is hanging down, she could just be out of it from pain. I don’t see a choice but waiting until tonight.”

“Agreed,” Max said. “I want all of you monitoring this situation. It’s two hours until sundown, I want to take them at zero three hundred. Any unfriendly who leaves the village to take a smoke or a piss after zero two hundred, you take him out quietly, understood?”

Everyone answered in the affirmative.

“In the meantime,” Max continued, “I want you, Zed, to be scoping out the best goddamn tree that you can find for a sniper position. The rest of us will go in nice and quiet, Zed will start in when the ruckus starts.”

Nic could hear Zed’s grin over his receiver.

“I want to go across and see the prisoners,” Nic said after everything was said and done.

His request was met by a moment of silence.

“Can you keep your head in the game?” Max asked.

“Absolutely. What’s more, I can give you intel on Camilla Ross, describe what kind of asset she could be if that’s the girl I remember.”

Again there was silence.

“Take your time moving around the village. Raiden, you switch places with Nic.”

“Gotcha.”

10

It took an hour before Nic finally maneuvered himself in a position where he could clearly see all eleven hostages. His heart clenched. How could he ever mistake that chestnut hair for anybody other than Cami? Her head was hanging down as she hung from one arm from a beam of wood. Her other arm dangled from her shoulder—it had to be broken or dislocated.

He scanned the other ten people in the group. Two men were big and looked pissed as hell. They could be a real help to get the others to safety while Nic and his team took out the garbage. He said as much to the others.

“Yeah, that’s what I’d thought,” Raiden agreed.

“Where are all of the men in the village?” Cullen asked. “You would have thought that there would have been somebody here to defend the women and children.”

The hair on the back of Nic’s neck rose. “Raiden, I didn’t get close enough to check out the two shacks, but there was no sign of life. I saw nothing. Can you check closer?”

“You don’t think?” Raiden started.