Page 37 of Her Wicked Hero

“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.”