Breaking Ties by Elle James
Chapter 10
Dawg gathered the trash,the wool blanket and his tattered ego.
Beth had been right. She was the one who held all the cards. It was her decision which man she would choose. Dawg was just sorry he’d started the conversation in the first place. They’d been doing well without him trying to push her back toward the good doctor.
He stopped at the dining area, dumped his trash and continued on to his sleeping quarters.
As he approached the tents assigned to his team, he noticed Rucker standing outside in the starlight holding a satellite phone to his ear. He ended the call as Dawg reached him and shook his head. “Looks like another busy night. Get the team together; Boko Haram is at it again. Our intelligence sources report another village being attacked nearby. The powers that be want us to get out there, find Kahbir and take care of him like we should have when we took out his commander.”
“I’ll roust the others,” Dawg said
“Not necessary.” Mac poked his head out of a tent. “We’re up and moving. We’ll be ready in five minutes.”
Blade stuck his head out of the tent Dawg shared with him. “Heard you. We’re on it.”
“Helo is on the way. It’ll be here in ten minutes,” Rucker informed them. “Looks like another night like before.”
“Are we taking Team Charlie?”
Rucker nodded. “While we have them, we are.”
Dawg nodded. “I’ll let them know.”
Rucker ducked into his tent to gather his gear.
Dawg raced to where the other team was quartered and let their lead know what was happening. He assured Dawg they’d be there when the helicopter landed.
“Those bastards don’t give up, do they?” Dawg commented.
Team Charlie’s leader pressed his lips together. “No. They don’t. Comes from being religious zealots. They think their way is the only way.”
Dawg raced back to his tent, grabbed his body armor and loaded up with his weapons and ammunition, communications device and his helmet equipped with night vision goggles. He did a quick mental check off of everything he’d need, then ran with the others of his team to where two Black Hawk helicopters were landing.
Team Charlie arrived at the same time, and they loaded into the first aircraft. Within less than three minutes, both teams were on their way.
As they left the ground, Dawg looked back at the village with the camp hidden beneath the desert camouflage netting. Somewhere down there, Beth was steaming mad about his stumbling attempts to make sure she was making the right decision for herself. He hated leaving her when she was angry and hated more that he hadn’t been able to hold her in his arms before she’d walked away. He’d learned early on in his career as a Delta Force operator, that you don’t leave things undone. You never knew if you’d make it back to finish it or make it right. He’d witnessed the fallout of life’s moments left undone. Those left behind were filled with regret that ate at them for years to come.
He sighed and pulled his focus back into the present and the operation ahead. They had to take Kahbir out if he was there, orchestrating this raid. The man was equally as evil and destructive as his predecessor and needed to be eliminated.
As they neared the coordinates of the village, the helicopter slowed and lowered to land in a clearing just short of a ridge. The pilot explained that on the other side of the ridge was the small village which was currently being ransacked. They’d have to go in on foot to retain some element of surprise.
The two teams leaped out of the choppers and set off across the hill, dropping down to the village on the other side.
There, they found the Boko Haram raising hell, killing and burning much like they had the night before, only not on as big a scale as they had. In fact, there was less than a quarter of the terrorists creating the carnage.
It didn’t take long for the Deltas to bring them under control, capturing several of the terrorists alive for the intel people to interrogate.
One of the young terrorists laughed and spit in Dawg’s face. “You Americans are like sheep to be led.”
Dawg fought the urge to plant his fist in the man’s mouth. Instead, he calmly wiped the spittle from his cheek and cocked a brow. “Why do you say that?”
The terrorist’s lips curled in an evil smile. “Why are there so few of us and so many of you here?” he said, answering a question with a question.
Dawg’s eyes narrowed. Why indeed were there more Americans handling a small outbreak. Intelligence reports had been wrong. But if the Boko Haram combatants weren’t all where Intel had sent them, where else would they go?”
As soon as the question came to Dawg’s mind, the answer followed with chilling speed. He ran to Rucker who stood on the edge of village supervising the collection of prisoners and any data that might be useful in locating and eliminating more of the radical group.
“Call in the choppers,” Dawg demanded.
“I will, when we’re ready,” Rucker said. “Why do you want them now?”
He tipped his head toward the small village. “The bulk of Boko Haram isn’t here. One of the guys we captured laughed in my face and said the reason this smaller group was here was to draw the Deltas so the majority of their force could stage a secret attack somewhere else.”
Rucker’s gaze met Dawg’s. “The camp.”
Dawg nodded while his gut twisted into a hard knot. “Can you get word to the folks left behind?”
Rucker powered on the satellite phone and called the camp. Several rings later, one of the medics answered.
Rucker didn’t wait for pleasantries. “Boko Haram is on its way to the village and the camp. Evacuate immediately all personnel.”
“How soon until the Black Hawks land?” Dawg asked.
Rucker got back on the radio with the helicopter pilots, posing the same question. He thanked whoever had answered and turned to Dawg. “Five minutes.” Then he yelled to the others standing nearby. “Wheels up in five!”
The teams wrapped up what they could and positioned themselves near the landing zone.
As soon as the choppers touched down, the men climbed into the helicopters. The birds lifted off the ground and sped away from the village to land near the one beside the hospital and medical staff, including Beth.
Dawg prayed they weren’t too late.
Beth had gone backto her tent with full intentions of going to bed and catching up on her sleep. When she got there, she found PFC Miller coming out of her tent, a frown denting his forehead.
“PFC Miller, are you looking for me?” she asked.
He looked up to find her striding toward him and grinned. “Yes, ma’am. Colonel Parker needs you in the tent with the detained combatants ASAP.”
“Is one of them bleeding again?” she asked as she fell in step with the young private.
“I’m not sure. Intelligence folks showed up a few minutes ago. They want medical staff present in case one of the prisoners has a medical condition that could interfere with their interrogation.”
“Gotcha.” She ducked into the tent where the prisoners had been held until the military intelligence team could retrieve them and question them on the movements of the Boko Haram.
Jonathan was already there. One of the prisoners had been seated in a chair, his hands secured behind him with a zip-tie.
The military intelligence representative questioned him in English. “Where is your base of operations?”
The man shook his head, staring down at his lap with his entire body shaking.
Beth wondered if the intel guys had roughed him up, but she didn’t see any signs of bruises or blood. The man was obviously frightened of something.
“Tell us where it is, and we’ll let you go.”
He shook his head. “They will kill us if we tell.” He looked around, his eyes wide and afraid. “They will kill us anyway. They will think we told. They will kill us when they come.”
“When they come?” The interrogator leaned forward. “What do you mean when they come?”
The man trembled, and tears formed in his eyes. “They will kill us, and they will kill everyone here.” He looked into the interrogator’s eyes. “Please. Let us go. We will leave and run as fast as we can. Please…let us go.”
“Is the Boko Haram coming here to the camp?” the interrogator asked.
The man in the chair nodded.
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?” the military intelligence guy persisted.
“Very soon.”
Corporal Ramsey appeared in the doorway of the tent, holding a satellite phone in his hand, his eyes wide, his face white. “The Delta Force teams are on their way back. They said we’re about to come under attack by the Boko Haram. We’re to evacuate the camp, ASAP.”
The prisoner sobbed. “Please. Let us go.”
Jonathan leaped to his feet. “We have to get the patients out. Ramsey, I’ll need you and PFC Miller to help me get our two Deltas out of the hospital and into the ambulances and away from here. Someone needs to warn the villagers.”
“I’ll go,” Beth said.
Jonathan frowned. “No, find someone else. I need you with me to work with our patients.”
“I’ll be back quickly. It’s not that far.” Beth was already out the door and running toward the village when trucks rolled into view between her and the mud and stick huts.
“They’re here!” she yelled and altered her direction for the hospital tent. They had to get the Deltas out and away before the terrorists found them and used them as examples of what they would do to people who opposed them.
“Everyone out!” she yelled. “Run for the brush, hide.”
The three local women who helped with cleaning ran out of the tent.
Jonathan, Miller and Ramsey entered the tent. Miller and Ramsey scooped Dash up between them and left through the rear of the tent, heading for the ambulance at the far end of the compound.
An explosion shook the ground beneath Beth, and gunfire sounded much too close for comfort.
Jonathan hooked his arm around the Team Charlie patient and led him to the back exit of the hospital tent. “Get out, Beth.”
“I’m coming.” Knowing how precious antibiotics were, she hurried to the lock box where the vials were stored and shoved the key into the lock. Her hand shook so hard she almost couldn’t turn the key. When the box finally opened, she scooped as many of the vials and pills as she could into her pockets. Shouts outside the tent made her abandon the rest and race for the back exit.
Beth made it through the tent flap and out into the open, heading for the field surrounding the camp. She’d made it to the edge of the camouflage canopy when she was hit from behind and tackled to the ground.
She fought, kicking and screaming, but the man on top of her was much heavier and effortlessly held her pinned.
More men in black outfits with black turbans wrapped around their heads surrounded her. They bound her wrists with duct tape. The man who’d originally tackled her slung her over his shoulder and carried her to a truck, tossing her into the back. With her arms rendered immobile, she was unable to break her fall. Her head hit the hard metal and everything went black.