Page 1 of Duty Bound

CHAPTER 1

Lily stood outside Hamid Karzai International Airport, feeling like she was in some alternate universe.

The whole place was mayhem—screaming kids, people throwing elbows, and every once in a while, bang! A shot cracked off, then everybody dived to the dirt like it was the world's worst game of dodgeball.

She bobbed in a sea of chaos, staring at the little pop-up tent cities that had sprouted up everywhere, and extended into the distance as far as the eye could see. People waved passports like they were some kind of magic tickets out of there, but the guys with guns just shrugged.

And the heat. . . it was like standing in a pizza oven, and not in a good, cheesy way.

Every so often, a roar sounded overhead—some big military bird clawing at the sky. Lily could almost see everybody's heart sink as they stared at it thinking, Why not me?

The choppers buzzed above like annoying bees, a stark reminder that the whole place had gone sideways.

In the last twenty-four hours, U.S. and NATO forces had pulled out of Afghanistan, causing all hell to break loose. The Taliban had taken control, ousting the existing Afghan government, leading to widespread panic and a mass exodus.

Hence the absolute mayhem at the international airport.

Lily stood alone in the crowd, gripping her suitcase in a sweaty palm, the last ten months of her life crammed into something that weighed less than fifty pounds. She’d never felt so out of place, or more vulnerable.

She glimpsed a little kid looking up at her, eyes wide, like he'd just lost his best friend. Lily smiled at him, but he burst into tears.

Understandable. She felt like doing the same thing herself. Was she ever going to get out of here?

An old man leaned against the fence. He looked like he'd walked straight out of a history book—no case, no belongings. Nothing. He slumped to the ground, defeat etched on his face.

Lily couldn’t believe the taxi had dropped her off smack in the middle of this madness. This morning, she’d been sipping a latte at her desk. Now she was sprinting for her life, trying to get the last flight out of Dodge.

The line, inching incrementally forward, suddenly surged. Someone elbowed her in the ribs. A woman holding a baby raced by, screaming incoherently. The guards fired in the air to maintain some crowd control.

The gunshot reverberated through her, making her ears ring.

It felt like a mosh pit at a rock concert, only the music was just chopper blades and distant gunfire.

Damn, the Afghan sun was hot. Sweat poured down her cleavage and under her arms. She put down her suitcase, removed her jacket, then draped it over her arm. It wasn’t just the heat—it was the pressure-cooker tension of the crowd. All these scared, desperate faces looking for a way out while knowing so few would find one.

Out of the blue, a convoy of banged-up vans rolled up. Lily’s heart skipped a beat as a bunch of robed, heavily armed men hopped out. These guys were not asking for tickets or handing out refreshments. They had that “we mean business” look in their eyes, the kind that sent people running in the opposite direction.

Despite the overcrowding, the throng of people somehow dissipated. Lily tried to back away and blend in with the retreating masses, but she was too slow, too awkward with her heavy suitcase and cabin bag slung over her shoulder.

One of the men grabbed her arm, his calloused hand rough on her skin, his grip biting painfully into her flesh. He yanked, hard, and dragged her forward. She lost her jacket.

“No!” She tugged and thrashed but could not break free. The bag slung over her shoulder slipped off and was lost underfoot.

What the hell was happening?

She clung to her suitcase, but he ripped it from her hand then flung it on the ground. It popped open, her whole life reduced to a yard sale on the tarmac.

“What are you doing?”

Her cry fell on deaf ears.

Despite her wild struggles, he hauled her into the van. She squished in with four other weathered, grim-faced strangers, all wearing lanyards that said CNN. Film crew.

The doors slammed shut, cutting them off from the mayhem and enclosing them in darkness. The roar of the crowd became a muted backdrop. Lily's heart thumped a mile a minute, her mind racing faster than the van's battered engine.

Were they being kidnapped? Was that what this was? An abduction?

They sped off, the echoes of chaos fading away. Lily couldn’t believe she’d been forced to leave behind everything she owned, her last shred of normalcy, on the hot concrete.

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