Breaking Away (Delta Force Strong #3) - Elle James Page 0,28
Mac could do nothing to stop them.
“Move back,” Josh whispered as he lay on his side behind Mac.
Mac scooted backward, moving as stealthily as possible.
With all attention on Blade, none of the guards could see that Josh was chewing on the plastic band binding Mac’s wrists.
A moment later, the zip-tie broke, freeing Mac’s hands.
He lay for a moment, reviewing his options. What could one man do against five armed men? Fortunately, three of the armed men were busy working over Blade and didn’t have their weapons at the ready. That left Ahktar with his handgun and his guard holding an AK-47. He couldn’t be sure how many more men Ahktar had outside the building. It didn’t matter. Patience wasn’t a quality Mac possessed.
When the man beating Blade hit him in the face yet again, Mac couldn’t just lay there and let the torture continue.
He bunched his legs, rolled to his feet and plowed into the one man left holding his weapon in front of him.
That man knocked into Ahktar, sending the Taliban leader flying across the room. The handgun he’d been holding flew from his grip and landed in the shadows.
Mac landed on the guard’s back, ripped his weapon from his hands, rolled across the floor and came up, pointing the rifle at Ahktar’s face. Without glancing at the man beating Blade, he bit out, “Let my man go, or I kill your leader.”
The men holding Blade froze in place.
“Tell them,” Mac growled at the Taliban leader.
Ahktar lay on his back, holding his hands up. “They will kill your friend.”
“Then you will die,” Mac said. “Tell them to let him go.”
For a long moment, Ahktar stared up at Mac through narrowed eyes.
His patience gone, Mac shifted the weapon and pulled the trigger, hitting the ground at Ahktar’s feet.
The Taliban leader yelped, jumped back and spoke swiftly in Pashto.
The men holding Blade released him.
Blade staggered forward and righted himself.
“Free him,” Mac ordered, pointing the AK-47 at Ahktar’s other leg. “Now!”
Again, Ahktar issued an order.
The man who’d been beating Blade and Mac, pulled a knife out of the scabbard on his belt and advanced on Blade.
“If he hurts my man, I’ll blow a hole in your leg so big you’ll lose it.”
Ahktar spoke. His guy with the knife snarled and answered back. The Taliban leader addressed one of the men who’d been holding Blade. That man raised his rifle, pointing it at the man holding the knife.
Blade looked to Mac, then turned his back on the guy who’d been using his face like a punching bag.
The knife sliced right through the plastic zip-tie.
Blade spun and divested his torturer of his weapon, yanked his arm up behind him and pressed the blade to his neck. “You bastard. I should kill you.”
“Not until we find Kylie,” Mac said. “You and Josh take their rifles, tie them up.”
“You think we’re just going to walk out of here?” Josh asked as Blade cut the tie holding his wrists.
“We have our ‘Get of Jail Card’ right here.” Mac pointed at Ahktar. “We still have three other limbs to negotiate with, before we put him out of our misery.”
Josh and Blade used the turbans the men wore to tie their wrists and ankles.
Once they’d finished securing the leader’s men, they confiscated their weapons. All the while, Mac held his pointed at Ahktar. It would give him great pleasure to blow the Taliban terrorist to hell where he belonged, but they needed him as a hostage. That might be the only way they got out of the Taliban camp alive.
Blade and Josh hauled Ahktar to his feet and pushed him toward the door.
“Take us to the woman,” Mac said.
Ahktar shook his head. “I cannot.”
Mac pressed the barrel of the AK-47 to the Taliban leader’s leg. “Take us.”
“I cannot. I don’t know where she is.”
“You lie,” Mac said.
Ahktar snorted. “I cannot tell you what I do not know. I had her brought here, but my leader took her. He will use her as an example as to what will happen to news reporters who kill.” The Mullah’s eyes narrowed, and his lip rose in a feral snarl. “She will pay for what she did to my brother.”
“She did what she had to in order to survive,” Mac said.
“She murdered my brother,” Ahktar spit out. “My family will be avenged.”
“We’ll see about that.” Mac shoved him through the door. “You can start by telling your men to hold their fire. My finger is on the trigger, pointing at your hip. If