Page 41 of Her Wicked Hero

“I want a report on everyone who was injured.”

“Aye aye,” Hunter saluted.

Zed just stared at him.

“Brockman was in bad shape by the time he hit the Reagan. He ended up needing a portion of his lung removed. He was in surgery for seven hours whereas you were in surgery for one-and-a-half.”

“I saw two people die at the tourist camp.”

“Five total.”

“Tell me.”

“After you were hit, Raymond took the woman who operated the camp as a hostage onto their helicopter. He wanted Marcia who he still thought was Lesley Brockman, but you protected her. So, he took the other woman instead and that was the reason our Seahawk didn’t shoot down their Mi helicopter. The only fucking reason. Everyone knew she was going to die, but we just couldn’t do it ourselves.”

Zed thought back to those moments right before he was hit. He remembered covering Marcia with his body, he remembered shooting, then the bullet slamming into him, and praying nothing had hit the woman under him. He also remembered Raymond still holding Alice by the neck and backing up toward the Mi Helicopter, the fucker.

“I understand why they didn’t shoot down the helicopter with Alice on it. It was the right decision.” Hunter reached over and plucked the empty glass from Zed’s hand. “I remember Marcia on the Seahawk, and there was somebody else crying, another woman’s voice. I thought I heard Nurul.”

“The native woman?” Hunter asked. “The one with the baby?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“Marcia threw a fit when our guys were going to leave without her. Made them go and get her. There were also four more injured at the camp, one a child who came aboard the Seahawk and taken to the aircraft carrier. One of the men didn’t make it.”

“Did you find Alice?”

Hunter rested his elbows on his knees and looked down at the floor.

“Just tell me what happened.”

“The pilot of the Seahawk reported he saw a body being thrown from the Mi. They were too far away to do anything, and he was still in the process of taking on wounded.”

Both men sat in silence for a while.

“Did we get some kind of idea of where they ended up?” Zed asked.

“They flew too low,” Hunter shook his head. “They were headed toward Sandakan. All of our ships were deployed on the Northwest side of Borneo. We have people on the look-out.”

Zed knew there were a lot of places the helicopter could land, and there were a lot of inlets along the coast where they could easily get a boat.

“How long was the debriefing?”

“Marcia’s was the longest since she spent all that extra time with Felix Raymond. She’s due to be on her way home to Virginia tomorrow.”

“Where’s she going to stay?”

“You still haven’t told me what she means to you,” Hunter said.

“She is just someone I rescued. Now answer the question.”

“Look Zed, I didn’t get her life story, okay. I just know that she’s due back in Virginia. I heard Brockman’s daughters are being taken care of by their aunt and uncle. There was something about an older sister who is in rehab for heroin. I only know this shit because Dex runs his mouth. Okay? If you need more info, go talk to him.”

Zed blew out a deep breath. It still didn’t tell him what he needed to know about Marcia. He thought she lived with the Brockmans, but he really wasn’t sure, and it really bothered him. But why should it?

“Zed, I’m going to ask again, and not just for my edification, but also for you. What does this woman mean to you?”

He looked at this man who was one of his oldest friends and answered honestly, “A lot. She means one hell of a lot. If you ask me why, I couldn’t really explain it.”