Page 51 of Peach

Fear for Mel filled Haisley. They would kill her or her baby.

“Yeah. I guess we can just kill her now.”

“No!” Haisley shrieked. “Don’t you know how much people pay for babies?” She couldn’t let them kill the baby. If it survived, they could find it, maybe. But if these men killed Mel’s baby, she knew it would destroy her friend.

Eason laughed behind her. "Now that's thinking. Remember that, honey," Eason said as he pointed a fat finger at Mel. "Your so-called friend here is okay selling off your baby."

Haisley wanted to tell the man to fuck off, but he had such a tight hold on her neck she couldn’t get free.

Now, she wished they'd spent the night at Ava's place. Why had she asked Mel to stay here? Mel would be safe if she'd stayed with Ava or anyone else. She never thought these men would come for her.

Chapter 34

Peach wasn’tready to die. Rushing these guys would only get them shot, so he froze and started assessing what they could do.

He was a little surprised the men didn't start shooting. Maybe they wanted to make a show of killing them. Propaganda wasn't a Western-only kind of thing. Terrorists everywhere knew how to frame messages to gain sympathy and followers. If they were shown on video being murdered by the terrorists, their message would be spread to a wider audience. It didn't matter what the truth was. Spreading their message was more important to them than pushing the truth.

The men motioned for both he and Harry to put their hands up. There wasn't any way to grab his rifle or any other weapon, so he complied. The obvious leader told the short one, who upon closer inspection appeared to be a boy, to do something that brought him closer to Peach and Harry.

He could easily overpower the boy, but another manjoined in, and they still had a gun pointed at them. He needed a miracle.

The boy put zip ties on Harry first and was moving to Peach when another explosion rocked the area, shaking the ground.

The man with the gun swung around and looked in the direction of the blast. Peach moved fast, knocking the boy out and then raising his own gun, opening fire on the two men in front of him. Both the leader and the other guy dropped to the ground. They'd both died fast.

After checking to see that Harry had broken free from the zip ties, Peach glanced down at the boy, seeing he was still knocked unconscious. There was no way to determine what the boy would become, but he couldn’t open fire on the kid. He did take the weapon and ammunition before following Harry outside.

They were out of the building but not free of the chaos. They stuck to the shadows, getting as far away from the screaming and yelling close to the blast as they could without being out in the open.

“You ready?” Harry asked at the corner of the building.

“Ready,” Peach said, hoping the rest of their crew was safe. Tonight’s mission had been dangerous, and he was ready to be back on a ship or at a base.

They’d made it to the edge of the clearing and into the trees when another blast rocked the area. He turned in time to see one of the men from the compound pointing their rifle in their direction. They’d escaped the building, but not the threat.

Chapter 35

Haisley moanedas she rolled to her back. Pain etched a path from her legs up to her back. Questions swirled in her mind about her location. Why did she hurt so much? Then her memory sparked, and she sat up, pain spreading around her torso and up her neck to her head.

“Mel?” she whisper yelled.

“I’m here.”

Mel’s voice wasn’t weak, so that made Haisley think Mel was okay. Haisley crawled toward Mel, hoping and praying nothing had happened yet.

"Are you…" Haisley couldn't finish the sentence. Instead, she reached out and touched Mel's belly, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized her friend still had her baby inside of her.

Haisley wrapped her arms around Mel as tears spilled out. Mel held her close, crying, too.

“I’m sorry I suggested that about them selling the baby, but I?—“

“No, it’s okay. If the baby is alive, I can find it.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Shhh, it’s going to be okay.”

Haisley shook her head. "How?" she asked with a sob.

---