How come trying not to throw up, only made her think of vomit? She should never have eaten part of that banana. Did he have to step into every in every hole and climb over every log? Couldn’t Zed find a flat trail?

Marcia gritted her teeth and breathed through her nose trying to force down the nausea, but the more she bit down, the more her head hurt.

“We’re going to be there soon,” he said.

How come he didn’t sound out of breath?

“Marcia? Are you with me?”

“Don’t want to talk,” she gritted out. “I’m about ready to blow chunks.”

“Should we stop?” Zed asked as he slowed down.

She shook her head. Darn it, that was a mistake. She groaned. He stopped.

As soon as she was on the ground, she rolled over and puked. When she was done, she saw the water bottle under her face. She grabbed it and rinsed out her mouth.

“Let’s go,” she muttered.

“Nurul needs a moment,” Zed said.

She looked around and realized Zed was holding Hana. Marcia blinked slowly, trying to bring them into focus. He was stroking the baby’s head, his lean fingers so gentle against the child’s soft skin. He bent and kissed her forehead. He must have felt her gaze on him because he looked up and smiled.

“Do you have children?” Marcia asked.

“No.”

“Nieces? Nephews?”

He got a funny look on his face, then finally answered. “Probably soon.”

Before she had a chance to probe further, Nurul returned. “We should get going,” Marcia said.

“Are you sure?”

“When is the helicopter due?” she asked.

Zed looked down at his watch. “Soon.”

She gave him a pointed glance.

“Less than an hour.”

“So, we need to go.”

“Yes,” he said as he stood up and handed Hana to her mother. Marcia held out her arms, and Zed lifted her up. He waited while Nurul adjusted Hana into a comfortable position. Marcia vaguely remembered Zed cutting up some medicine, and Nurul coaxing her daughter to take it. She couldn’t wait until the little girl could have proper care. Then Zed started walking and once again all she could concentrate on was focusing on the landscape ahead of her, so she wouldn’t get dizzy.

After a few minutes went by, Zed started talking. “I need to fill you in on the plan.”

“When did you make a plan?”

“You were out of it, one of the times we stopped to rest. We’ve got four good men coming in on the helicopter. I don’t know them, but the captain vouches for them.”

“Will they be able to land?”

“Yeah, there’s space.”

“What about Raymond?”

“Once he hears the helicopter, he’s going to know you’re being rescued. He’s also going to know we’re going to want to take him out. He’ll know he’s outmanned, so we think he’s going to make a run for it.”

Marcia’s fingers tightened on Zed’s jacket. She hoped so. Marcia didn’t want anyone else to get injured because of her. She shut her eyes, thinking of Nurul’s father. Even now, she could hear the thud his body made as it bounced off the deck from the strike of the bullet. Her eyes opened when she heard Hana start to cry.

“Zed?”

“It’s okay, we’re almost there now.”

“Alice,” Nurul said. Zed stopped and turned to look at Nurul, the young woman was pointing through the thinning trees. “Alice,” she smiled, excited. “Ahmed,” she was grinning now.

“I’ll be damned. I should have guessed it. She knows the people who run the camp,” Zed said.

“How do you know them?” Marcia asked as she shifted in his arms. Everything hurt and trying to get comfortable was almost impossible.

“I overheard Raymond speaking to the woman who was running the camp.” Zed knelt down on one knee and set Marcia down. “I need to call Dex and find out the ETA.” As soon as he said that, the faint sound of a helicopter could be heard in the distance.

“Guess you don’t need to call him,” Marcia said. He gathered her back up into his arms and nodded for Nurul to follow him. He went quicker as the trees thinned out. The helicopter sounds were much clearer, but the sound was upsetting Hana and she was crying even more loudly. None of the sounds were good for Marcia’s headache, but that wasn’t really relevant, now was it? Power through. She just needed to power through.

“They’re really early,” she heard Zed mutter as he jogged to the edge of the clearing. Marcia saw the camp, and everyone was clustered, looking up at the helicopter. It was still tough for her to make out the markings, but it looked kind of big. No wonder people were looking at it, it was going to cause damage to some of the cabins with the wind from the blades.

“Alice,” Nurul yelled out. She tried to push ahead of Zed, but he moved in front of her, blocking her way.

“No,” he thundered at the young mother. Marcia looked up at him in confusion. Hana stopped crying for a moment when confronted with Zed’s loud yell. “Nobody move.”

“Zed, what’s wrong?”

“It’s not one of ours.”

He dropped down to his knees and set Marcia down at the same time he pulled Nurul down beside Marcia. “Marcia, I need you to keep Nurul here while I check things out.”

“Are you sure? How can you tell?” Marcia asked.

“You’ve got to stay here and out of sight. Keep Nurul with you,” he shouted as he took off at a run. He had his rifle in his hand. It took everything she had not to call out after him. He was a SEAL, but still, he was the man who’d just kissed a baby. Please God, please God, please God, keep him safe. Marcia blinked her eyes. Where had he gone? How could he have just disappeared?

* * *

The helicopter should have been a Seahawk, instead, it was a Russian Mi-17, Zed could tell because of the tail rotor mounting and the lack of double doors. He knew the Mi’s came cheap and people like the Thorne Group, and whoever these mercs were, used them. Raymond must have called in for backup.

Fuck!

Good news was he didn’t see that it had been beefed up with external cannon, machine guns, anti-tank guarded missiles, or rocket pods. Of course, who was to say what kind of firepower it had inside or how many armed men.

Zed saw a climbable tree up ahead. He wasted no time shimmying up and getting into position. He had his gun rifle mounted between two branches and his satellite phone out in seconds. Before Dex could even talk, he started.

“Got an enemy helo landing. Inform incoming helicopter.”

“Describe it.”

“Russian Mi-17. No ordnance on the outside. What’s the ETA on the―”

“Less than twenty minutes.”

“Give them a heads up. Gotta shoot some fish in a barrel.” Zed disconnected as the single side door opened and the first man exited. Where was Raymond? Zed peered through the scope on his rifle. Five men in total exited the helicopter, still no sign of Raymond to greet them. Peering into the dark interior of the helo, it didn’t look like there was anybody else in there but the pilot. He could see a mounted machine gun, but it wasn’t manned.

“You have to be kidding me,” Zed muttered. Raymond came out of the house flanked by Alice and a man who must be her husband. There wasn’t a shot. Two of the armed men from the helicopter came over to Raymond. Zed waited. They managed to position themselves right in front of the two natives and Zed’s ultimate target.

“Enough of this noise.” Zed hoped when he took out the two men he could, it would make Raymond move, and he could get to him. He peered through his scope, blocked out all the noise of the jungle. Taking one breath in and expelling it, he took one shot, then in a fraction of a second, he moved the rifle minutely and took the second man. Two dead. Raymond had hit the ground, pulling Alice on top of him.

Crack!

Crack!

Zed ducked as a branch hit his back. He slithered down part of the tree, then jumped out, knowing his hiding spot had been discovered.

Crack!

Zed ducked again. The tree trunk was hit. Shit, that was close. He made sure to keep it between him and the clearing as he took off at a run, then he zoomed to the left, behind another tree. He looked behind and could see someone coming toward him. He needed to take a shot, he didn’t need them coming into the jungle, he needed to go at them. He needed to keep them away from the women.

Zed positioned himself behind another tree and took aim. He watched as he hit the man in the neck. Perfect. He plowed forward, but unfortunately, from his point of view on the ground, he couldn’t see where anybody else was in the clearing. He needed to get closer.

Zed moved to the point where he could peer into the clearing. He saw Raymond, once again near the house, his arm around Alice’s neck, was using her as a shield.

A woman’s scream, then a man’s scream came from one of the cabins. What the hell?

“Give me Lesley!” Raymond yelled.

Zed’s head swiveled back to see that Raymond was now in the common area, his back up against a pole, still using Alice as a shield as he fired high-velocity rounds into the guest cabin closest to him. That’s why there were screams coming from inside.

“I know you’re out there, give me Lesley.”

“You’re in no position to negotiate,” Zed yelled back.

“I’m willing to kill everybody in this fucking place. Rogers, kill the civilians,” Raymond shouted. Zed saw the tip of the rifle that had been peeking out from behind the cabin disappear. He watched helplessly as bullet holes pelted the opposite cabins and more shrieks were heard from inside that one. The door flew open, and a woman ran out.

“Go back inside,” Zed yelled, then watched in horror as a plume of blood burst on her back and she flew down the stairs. She didn’t move.

“Give me Lesley, or they all die,” Raymond’s voice rang out across the clearing.

“I’m here,” Marcia’s voice could be heard faintly behind him.

Raymond laughed.

It wasn’t over. Someone still needed to show themselves to get Marcia, and when they did, Zed would kill them, it was that simple.

“I want you too,” Raymond yelled. “Bring her to me.”

“I don’t think so,” Zed replied.

Another volley of shots went into the cabin, and another woman’s cries were heard.

“It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. This is fun, isn’t it Rogers?”

“Damn right it’s fun,” a man called back to Raymond, his Southern accent thick and out of place here in the Borneo jungle.

Zed closed his eyes. He prayed for the Navy copter, but there was still no sign of it. Maybe by the time he got Marcia?

“You have five minutes, then Rogers and Larks start shooting up all three cabins. Alice told me she has a full house this weekend. What is that Alice?”

Zed watched as Raymond shook the woman. He couldn’t hear what she said.

“Eleven. Two of them are children. I bet some of them are injured right now. What do you want to bet?”

Where was that damn helicopter?

“You have five minutes.”

“She’s injured, I have to carry her.”

“Five minutes,” Raymond said carelessly. “Come on, you’re a SEAL, aren’t you? I could do it. The clock starts now.”

Where was the fifth man? Zed pulled out his satellite phone and ran. “Where’s the fucking helicopter?” he panted.

“Talk to me,” Dex said patiently.

“Got three bad guys. At least twelve live civilians they are threatening to kill. They’ve killed one if not more,” Zed thought of the shots that had blown holes into the cabin.

“I can’t understand you,” Dex said.

“What?”

“Stop running and talk.”

“Where’s the helo?”

“Ten minutes out.”

Zed stopped talking and just ran for all he was worth.

“Zed? Zed? Zed? Talk to me,” he heard Dex continuing to call out to him, but he didn’t put the phone up to his ear. Goddammit, why couldn’t he be helmeted with his com working? He hated not having his equipment.

He stopped short when he came upon Marcia, Nurul, and the baby. Nurul stood up. He put his hand in the air and shook his head. He motioned for her to sit back down. It was clear she was frightened out of her mind. She had to have heard the gunfire and the yelling. She hesitated, so Zed pressed her shoulders to force her back down to the ground. He again made the motion for her to stay put.

Marcia placed her hands together in prayer. “Nurul, please,” she begged. Then Marcia too, pressed her hands down on Nurul’s shoulders, indicating Nurul should stay seated. Nurul nodded her head in agreement, and Marcia gave a smile of relief.

“Zed, answer me,” Dex’s voice could be heard on the phone.

“Here, talk to Dex while I carry you,” Zed said as he tossed her the phone and picked her up.

“I can walk.”

“Sure, you can,” he said sarcastically. He picked her up, then shifted her in his arms and started jogging toward the clearing. “Why the fuck did you call out? I ought to blister your ass for that stunt.”

Zed kept his focus on the terrain ahead and giving Marcia shit, blocking out the horror of the woman dying and the possible deaths of children back at the camp. Then he heard Dex’s voice.

“Talk to Dex, tell him the Navy helicopter needs to come in hot.” He leaped over a fallen log, then avoided a hole. He listened as best he could to the conversation.

“They were shooting, people died. Zed’s going to hand me over.”

There was a pause, he couldn’t hear Dex’s response.

“He is, I’m not lying. There is no other plan.”

“Wait, we’re stopping.”

Zed knelt down and pulled out his two guns. His rifle was still positioned behind his back as he held Marcia. “Take the gun and hold up the phone.” He got back up, holding the other gun under her shirt as he carried her.

“Dex,” Zed started talking. “The plan is to stall until they hear the Navy chopper. As soon as they do, I’m falling on top of Marcia, and taking out who I can. Hopefully, we have a sniper in the helicopter who can take out a bogey or two.”

“Negative. I’ve checked,” Dex said.

“Then have them lay down fire where they can. I want confusion. They need to avoid the cabins, that’s where the civilians are, just to hit the ground in the compound. Got it? If they can’t be spot-on accurate, I don’t want them trying for the bad-guys because one of them is using a civilian as a shield.”

“Got it. Keep this line open. I need to know what’s going on to feed the Seahawk.”

“How?” Marcia asked.

“I’m using radio communication with them,” Dex explained.

“Go silent,” Zed commanded. “Marcia, hide the phone.” Zed saw her shove it down the front of her pants, then cover it with her shirt. She had the pistol in her hand. “Shield the pistol,” he directed her. She shoved that up under her shirt as well.

They broke through the tree line.

“Just in time,” Raymond crowed loudly. “We’re all going to the helicopter.”

“Let Alice go,” Zed said.

“You have no leverage,” Raymond laughed as the man named Rogers came out from behind the cabin with his rifle cradled in his arm.

Whap. Whap.

“What the fuck?” Raymond cried as he looked up. A Seahawk helicopter was clearly visible. Still too far away to lay down fire. Zed pretended to trip. He went down on both knees.

“Get up, you useless piece of shit.”

Marcia went limp and rolled onto the ground. What a good little actress.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“What isn’t wrong with her?” Zed shot back. He pretended to scoop her up and slipped again.

“Quit fucking playing around!”

Zed stood up with Marcia in his arms. Dirt flew up as he heard the gunshots from the helicopter. Screams came from every cabin and from Alice. Marcia lay limp in his arms, he looked down for just a second to make sure she wasn’t really unconscious and saw a small smile playing on her mouth.

“I’m going to kill her. Blow her head away. I’m going to enjoy it too, if you don’t move your ass and put Lesley into the helicopter, right fucking now.” Zed looked up and saw Raymond moving backward, dragging Alice by the neck to the helicopter. Rogers had his rifle trained on him and Marcia. He finally saw the fifth guy come out from behind Alice’s house, he had a small man by the hair who must have been Ahmed, Alice’s husband.

“Move it SEAL-boy, get Lesley onto the helicopter, she’s our payday.”

“I’ll get us to the helicopter,” Zed said loudly. He needed to get information to Dex. “Just don’t let your other two men shoot any more of the civilians.”

More shots from the Navy helicopter fired into the ground. Rogers lifted his gun and shot into the middle cabin, he shot low where there was more of a chance of a kill shot.

“Get her onto our helicopter now, or the next bullets go into the host and hostess.”

The rotors of the Mi Helicopter started up, and it mixed with the wind of the Seahawk helicopter as it came down really low. Rogers who didn’t have a hostage was shot in the head by someone in the Seahawk.

Yay for their side.

Alice and Ahmed were both being dragged back toward the helicopter. A rope dropped down from the Seahawk. Zed saw the man holding Ahmed move his gun away from the man’s head and point to the man rappelling from the helicopter, and Zed dropped Marcia, falling on top of her as he shot the bogey before the bad guy could get off a shot.

“Bastard,” Raymond yelled.

Zed jolted as he felt a bullet slam into his neck.

Please, God, say nothing hit Marcia. Please, God. Please, God. Please, God.

He thought he heard Marcia yelling his name.