Expecting the SEAL’s Baby by Katie Knight
Twenty-One
With one last glance at her, Jeremy slipped outside, relieved that she’d agreed to stay in the hut, out of the way of what could be a tricky rescue. The shadows were growing long, indicating the lateness of the day, as he slipped through the jungle toward the compound. Darkness would work to his advantage, but he wanted to reach his destination with some light remaining so he could assess the situation.
He moved quickly and reached the outer edge of the compound. Slowing his pace, he crept closer and found a place to watch. Three men appeared to be on guard duty, but none of them seemed to be particularly vigilant. They lounged against a building, smoking cigarettes and talking to each other. That was in his favor. He studied the layout. As Mason had reported, the largest building was covered with netting that helped camouflage it from above so planes and satellites might pass over it without raising suspicion. Wooden munitions crates, stamped with the symbol of various U.S. and European military branches, sat nearby.
His eyes continued to sweep over the compound, assessing the several small structures. If he were going to keep a prisoner there, he’d use one of those buildings as a temporary jail. One guard left the others to make a lazy circuit of the compound. When he passed near a small hut, he stopped to make a comment through a barred window. Jeremy caught a flash of movement on the inside of the building. That had to be it.
Jeremy kept to the jungle and circled the compound until he was near the building. It was almost fully dark now, obscuring the backside of the building that faced away from the floodlight on the main structure. He crept closer to the wooden hut, keeping low to the ground. He needed to confirm that it was Blake’s prison. On his belly, Jeremy crawled the last few feet to the hut and peered between the wide wooden slats.
A man sat on the floor, his head resting on his upraised knees. The man moved his arm, bringing it into a beam of light and Jeremy saw the tattoo on his forearm—the symbol of their SEAL team and the same tattoo Jeremy had. It was Blake. Thank God. Now, Jeremy needed a plan to get him out. Maybe Blake could help with that. If Jeremy knew his friend, Blake had been studying his captors, looking for weaknesses in their security and an opportunity for escape.
“Blake,” Jeremy said in a barely audible voice. Blake’s head immediately came up, making Jeremy suck in a breath. His best friend had been beaten. Even in the low light, he could see the remains of bruises, the split lip, and the black eye. There would be other injuries, not visible, too, Jeremy guessed.
“Jer?” Blake had pinpointed where the sound had come from and was looking straight toward Jeremy’s position.
“It’s me. Gonna get you out of here. What can you tell me?”
Blake moved closer so they could whisper through the wall. “The guards will change any minute, and the night guys are even sloppier than this crew. They don’t do rounds regularly. They’ve been a little more vigilant since I tried to escape five nights ago, but they’re starting to ease up again.”
“What happened?” Jeremy wasn’t surprised his friend had made an attempt to free himself.
“Didn’t make it. They beat the hell out of me and threw me back in here.”
Hearing that made Jeremy want to take on every damn one of them, but he had to focus on his mission. “You eaten?” Starving prisoners was a common tactic to keep them docile, and he could see that Blake was thin.
“Once a day if they feel like it. I’m weak but I can move and fight if needed.” Blake had understood what Jeremy was asking. “The window on the south side is loose in its frame. If you can pull it out, I can shimmy through.”
“Sounds like a plan. A vehicle’s coming.” Headlights shone through the trees, and Jeremy instinctively put his head down so no light would bounce off his face and give him away.
“The change of guards,” Blake whispered. “I think they have a bunkhouse down the road. Give it fifteen minutes. They’ll come by and check on me once, and then we should be good.” Blake retreated to where he’d been as Jeremy faded back into the jungle.
As he watched, the old and new sets of guards met up to talk and smoke cigarettes. None of them seemed to be showing any signs of particular caution. After a few minutes, the outgoing guys got in the vehicle and drove from the compound area. As Blake had said, the night guys did their rounds. One of them stopping outside Blake’s window. Jeremy couldn’t catch the conversation in Spanish, but he heard Blake answer. Good, that would reassure them that he was still in place.
Jeremy waited until the guards met up again in the center of the commune, their backs toward him, before he made his move. He noiselessly returned to the hut and slipped his knife under the edge of the window frame. He cut through the old caulk and pried carefully, feeling the looseness. After a minute’s work, he could move the entire window frame. Carefully, he lifted it out.
A second later Blake was coming through the opening. Together, they moved toward the heavy undergrowth in a crouching run. Jeremy wasn’t sure what tipped the guards off, but he heard their sharp cries of surprise. Jeremy felt confident he could fend off three guys, but then the door of the main structure flew open and more men came running out in pursuit. This was going to be tougher.
Blake was just ahead of him as they reached the edge of the compound. The first guard overtook them there, but Jeremy fought him off before punching his fist into the throat of a second attacker. Gunfire sounded nearby and Blake tackled a man. They were wrestling for control of the gun when Jeremy jumped into the fight, finishing it quickly and pulling Blake to his feet.
Jeremy had a gun now, but he was more concerned with escape. He had to get Blake to safety. His friend was running on adrenaline and hope, but those only sustained a man for so long. They moved into the jungle under the light of the newly risen moon. Jeremy kept constant watch behind them to make sure they weren’t followed. The last thing he wanted to do was lead the enemy straight to Gina.
* * *
Gina paced the small hut where Jeremy had left her with the satellite phone clutched in her hand. She checked her watch again. The time he’d set for her was almost up. Should she call at exactly the two-hour mark or wait to give Jeremy more time? She’d been worrying about that since he’d left, and she was going crazy not knowing what was occurring.
She decided to give him the full time he’d asked for plus fifteen minutes. By that point, if she hadn’t seen him or heard something that indicated action, she’d contact his brother. She couldn’t imagine how that conversation would go. She’d never even met Dean, and it worried her to think that their lives might be in his hands.
“It’s okay,” she muttered to herself. “It’ll be okay.” Without thinking, she rubbed her hand over her stomach. The cramps were completely gone, which she took as a good sign, but she was still concerned about the baby. She wished there was a way to check in on the baby girl she carried. She chuckled softly, admitting to herself that it could be a boy. As Jeremy had said, it was a fifty-fifty guess, but she felt so sure the child was a girl. “Maybe if I sing for you,” she addressed the unborn child, “I’ll feel better.”
She began singing a lullaby in Spanish that her mother had sung to her and Blake when they were children. The words and melody soothed her, making her think of her family and the good moments they’d shared when she was a child. She and Blake would get in their mother’s bed, one on each side, and listen to her songs and stories. Gina wanted to mother her baby in the same way hers had mothered her.
Once again, Gina felt the responsibility of having a child, but she also felt the joy. There would be so much happiness in the future once they got out of this mess. She hoped that happiness included Jeremy, but after their argument, she was afraid their connection was damaged in a way that couldn’t be repaired.
She sang for several minutes, feeling herself relax, until she stopped suddenly as she picked up on a different sound. She’d grown accustomed to the night noises of the jungle, but this was a steady throb that grew louder with each second. A helicopter, she realized. And it was approaching quickly. Had she caused that? No, she’d done nothing to summon it, but there it was, unmistakable.
She ran out of the hut in time to see it fly over. It skimmed the treetops, giving her a good view. She saw the blinking lights but couldn’t discern any markings on it. Who did it belong to? Good guys? The smugglers? She didn’t know, but it made her feel frantic as if she had to do something.
A different noise reached her. Gunfire. Her heart almost stopped. Did that mean the rescue had gone badly? Were Jeremy or Blake shot? She could no longer remain here in the dark. She started to run in the direction of the gunfire. A small part of her brain told her that she was making a stupid choice, but she had to know, had to be there for Jeremy and Blake if they needed her.
As she headed toward the sound of gunfire, she realized that the helicopter was circling an area ahead of her. Distantly, she could hear men shouting and the sound of vehicle engines along with the sporadic gunfire. What would she find there?
A shadow moved ahead of her and before she could change her path to avoid a collision, arms closed around her. She struggled to free herself, shoving and twisting, her captor held in her steel bonds.
“Gina.” Jeremy’s voice was low, and his scent familiar. She stopped trying to escape.
“What’s happening?” she asked breathlessly. “I heard a gun…Blake.” She spotted her brother and wiggled away from Jeremy, launching herself at Blake as he came into sight. “Thank God.” She hugged him, feeling the sharpness of his bones. He was painfully thin, but he was alive.
“We’ve got to keep moving,” Jeremy whispered. “Come on.” His hand closed over hers, tugging her along with him.
They headed back toward the hut, with Jeremy pausing periodically to listen. Other than that, he kept up a brisk pace. She glanced back at Blake. He was barely keeping up, but he caught her eye and smiled, making her heart warm. Her brother was alive and free, and she would take him home.
“Almost there,” Jeremy said to encourage them. She had no idea how he’d found his way back to the hut in the dark jungle, but she didn’t question it. “A few hundred yards.” A minute later they entered the hut where she’d been waiting. “Settle in. I need to call Mason.”
Gina led her brother to the bench, pushing him down, and sat next to him. He was breathing heavily, doubled over from the exertion. She rubbed his back, murmuring words in his ear. She wanted to perform a medical exam on him, but that required light, which might endanger them all. She had to wait for Jeremy’s okay, but she could at least touch her brother and know that they’d gotten him out safely.
“Here, drink this,” she said, putting her canteen into Blake’s hands when his breathing slowed. “Do you want something to eat? I’ve got—”
“Just water for now,” Blake said. “Thanks.”
“Mason,” Jeremy said into the satellite phone a minute later. “Blake’s with me, but we’re pinned down in the jungle.” He listened for several minutes, answering various questions, before signing off and turning to her and Blake. “Good news. The chopper is friendly. Mason called it in when he saw me at the compound on the satellite feed. A team’s been mobilized to take out the compound and deal with the smugglers. They’re moving in now.”
“What about us?” Gina asked.
“We’re to sit tight,” he said. “Mason knows our location and he’s arranging for an extraction. It shouldn’t take long.” He paced to the door, and she wondered if he wanted to go back out there to be part of the fight and the takedown. He turned back, though, and pulled a lantern from his pack, flipping it on. “We’re safe here.”