Page 9 of Protection for Nichole

They were going in with coordinated attacks, using both entrances to the building. They were just waiting for the command to blow the charges. Seconds ticked by, stretching out. He needed to know if Nichole was okay.

“Breach.”

With the word from Griz Jay blew the charges. A second later, Apple tossed in the flashbang, and he followed close behind. The flashbang blew, making him pause for less than a second before he moved deeper into the building.

Chaos seemed to come out of the walls. The first guy who tried to aim a gun at them was taken down. They weren’t playing. Demanding the release of prisoners by terrorism wasn’t a great strategy. The USA didn’t entertain terrorists, and these men had played the wrong cards. Attacking a medical relief organization set up to help the citizens of this country wasn’t how you got attention, or at least not positive attention.

Jay kept up with the count. They were at four terrorists dead, and they knew they had a few more to get rid of. Shine found the room with the male medical personnel and instructed them to stay in the room until they cleared the building.

Jay was antsy to find the women. He needed to make sure Nichole was okay. He opened a door and spied a figure lying on the ground. His breath caught as fear rose.

As he dropped to one knee, he reached down and brushed her hair away from her face, but it wasn’t Nichole.

He felt for a pulse, relief filling him when he found one. “Found a woman. She’s knocked out but still breathing.”

Griz grunted. “Leave her for now. Let’s get the other captives and get them out of here.”

Jay didn’t like leaving this woman behind, but they’d cleared the compound to this point and needed to find the other captives and get the heck away before reinforcements arrived.

There was another empty room, and Jay worried that he wouldn’t find Nichole or any of the other women. Were they even still alive? He’d seen more than his share of women abused by systems and governments. This group had obviously already abused one of the women and might have already killed the rest. Anger whipped through him and he wanted to punish the men in this compound, but first he needed to save Nichole if she was still alive.

Carefully, they moved around a corner just as someone approached from the other end of the hall. Jay fired, but not before the asshole tossed a bottle that exploded into flames midway between them.

The fire spread quickly. The jerk had tossed a Molotov cocktail in an interior hallway. Jay hated this. He needed to find Nichole, but they would have to evacuate if the flames got too bad. The idea of Nichole dying in a building fire left him desperate to find her.

Chapter 10

Nichole had wantedto go after the jerk who took Angie, but the locked door kept the three of them trapped in this shitty room. The lack of sleep, in addition to the fear and pain in her body, twisted up, leaving her ready to rage at the injustice of what was happening to them.

She paced for a while, squeezing her hands into fists as she walked. If the door had opened at that moment, she would have attacked the bastards. With the locked door, she was totally ineffectual. Her pacing wasn’t making a difference, only wearing her out.

The door didn’t open, she couldn’t do anything. Giving up, she slid down the wall, curling her legs in and wrapping her arms around them. Worry for Angie hit. What would happen to her? The reality of their situation seemed to cover Nichole with a thick blanket of fear and surrender. There was nothing she could do. These men would kill them all.

Nichole sat like that for a long while, worry and fear churning hard in her guts. Depression hit, and her eyes stung with unshed tears. She didn’t want to die in this little shit hole.

A loud bang made her jump. She jerked away from the wall, her heart galloping. She swung her gaze to Elizabeth whose eyes were filled with fear. Same with Cara.

“What was that?” Cara asked.

Nichole shook her head. “I don’t know. It was loud.”

Popping sounded in rapid succession. Cara backed away from the door. “Was that gunfire?”

Nichole moved to Cara, dragging Elizabeth with her. “Not sure, but it sounds like it.” Elizabeth paused and Nichole pulled her closer. “We should move away from the door.”

They huddled together on the other side of the room, her arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder, holding her close while Cara sat on the other side of Elizabeth. Were they being rescued or attacked?

Wild thoughts spilled through her as Elizabeth pulled her closer. Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s face. She glanced over and saw Cara was crying, too. Nichole felt like she had to keep it together, but the emotions were almost too much to hold back. As a reporter, she had to hide her emotions. But locked in this room, it was too hard to hide the fear running through her. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to be brave, but all the bravery in the world couldn’t keep the tears from sliding down her cheeks.

What was happening to Angie? Were the men fighting for her? Would they come in here next, demanding one of them to try to please them? Or did the noises outside their room have nothing to do with Angie?

How long had it been since they’d taken Angie away? An hour or two?

Someone screamed outside their door, and then there was a weird sound mixed in with gunfire. The commotion outside grew louder, and she felt like this was it. Whatever had come for them was about to enter the room.

The weight of fear pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe. Or was it the smoke coming in through the ventsmaking it harder to breathe? It felt like the temperature in the room had ratcheted up as smoke poured in.

Elizabeth sat up, panic filling her face. “It’s on fire!”

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