come from. The camp had been small and relatively quiet today. Now it seemed like a large group was headed up the mountain.
“Kimberly!” a man’s voice called out. “Kimberly Turner!”
Stunned, she finally began to slow. It wasn’t just the fact that the man knew her name—it was the accent. The voice wasn’t speaking in broken English. It wasn’t shouting in Farsi. It was American.
She looked back, not able to see anything in the darkness.
“Kim!” the voice said again, and it was deep and assertive.
Her heart pounded as she looked around. She couldn’t see him. She couldn’t see anything. Before she could flee again, he was right in front of her. He gripped her bicep firmly as he towered above her, preventing her from running again. “Kim,” he said urgently. “I’m a U.S. Navy SEAL. Don’t run. We’re here to rescue you.”
She let out a choked sob and then collapsed to the ground in shock, relief coursing through her.
“Kimberly, are you okay?” he asked, crouching down in front of her. He glanced back, cursing. “Hell, we need to move. I’ll explain everything in a moment. Let’s head behind the tree line. I know you can’t see in the dark, but there are two guys after us.”
She gasped as the sound of gunfire pierced the air, and then the man was pulling her to her feet and talking in a low voice into his headset. “I’ve got the package, repeat, I’ve got the package. We’re being followed by two tangoes. Heading east toward the trees. A new group is headed north toward you. Over.”
He hustled her along, holding her arm firmly as she stumbled. “Wait here,” he said gruffly. She dropped to the ground as he turned, waiting for the men to get closer. They heard the low murmur of voices, and then two shots rang out.
“Let’s move,” he said.
Kimberly stood, and they hurried further away as the new group of men she’d heard moved up the mountain. The guy spoke into his headset again, and she wondered how many men he’d come with. Was it just a SEAL team? Had the Army sent in soldiers, too?
They hurried farther from the fighting and then ducked down behind some rocks. “I think we can stop here for a moment. Let me free your wrists,” he said gruffly. “Are you all right?”
“Why didn’t you say anything at the camp?” she asked.
He crouched down and held her wrists in his hand. Then after pulling his knife free, he carefully cut the rope, slicing upwards so he didn’t nick her skin. “What do you mean?” he asked, concentrating on the rope.
“You covered my mouth and didn’t say who you were. I thought you were one of the men who’d kidnapped me.”
The guy sliced her wrists free and then lightly rubbed them with his gloved hand. It was strangely intimate, and she wondered why he seemed so worried. Her wrists hurt but weren’t broken. They were the very least of her concerns.
“You didn’t give me a chance,” he said. He sheathed his knife and sank down beside her. “I was going to identify myself, but you were already fighting me and trying to pull away. I was trying to quiet you so we could sneak out.”
“I thought you were going to rape me!” she said angrily.
The man stilled. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’d never hurt a woman. Never. We were trying to get you out of there without alerting the others.”
She nodded but shifted slightly away from him.
“Seriously, I’m sorry. I should’ve realized you’d be terrified if I didn’t immediately identify myself. I thought you were asleep and didn’t expect you to fight me. My name is Ethan Flannigan. My SEAL team was sent here to rescue you.”
“How’d you find me?” she asked in shock.
“An informant gave us your location. We didn’t have solid intel for months, but believe me the military has been looking for you. We should’ve gotten to you sooner.”
“They kept moving me around,” she admitted. She looked around in the darkness, but it was quiet in the area where they’d stopped.
“We’re going to lie low here for a few minutes and then regroup with my teammates. We’ll all head down the mountain together and call in the helos for extraction.” He spoke into his headset again. “Yes, roger that. Over and out.”
The sounds of gunfire pierced the air, and she jumped.
“Easy,” he murmured. “Are you hurt? You never answered me before.”