Page 18 of Lethal Pursuit

“Didn’t see anything, LT,” one of her airmen replied. The others reported the same.

There was nothing moving on the side of that hill and no onemoving on the ridges above them that Maya could detect. That explosion was too big for an RPG strike. Someone had to have planted explosives there ahead of time.Bastardos.

“Probably remote detonated. Do a perimeter search and report back to me.” Whoever had blown that thing up was close by, and there might be others. Maya moved closer to the edge of the steep hill. Behind her, soldiers rushed into motion, others remaining hunkered down in defensive positions around the village, scanning the hills for further threats. Jackson had come out of his tent to stand beside Cam, taking in the situation, weapon at the ready.

She glanced back at the Sec Def’s security detail, already rushing to surround him while he walked quickly toward them with a calm expression that belied the tense situation. He was halfway to them when one of the SF troops shouted something and went to one knee, bringing his weapon up. The security detail whirled to face the threat. She did the same, her gaze landing on some newly arrived ANA troops near the LZ.

They were all in the middle of pulling masks up over the lower part of their faces.

Her stomach dropped. Everything went into slo-mo. Her gaze instantly flew to their hands as they raised their weapons, and there was no doubt who their target was.

“Ambush!” She shouted the frantic warning into her mic and raised her own rifle to return fire, but it was too late. The bastards had already taken aim and fired at the Sec Def’s security detail, the sheer volume of fire dropping three of the five men before they fully realized what was happening. The remaining two had reached the Secretary and thrown themselves on top of him, acting as a living shield.

Chaos erupted. More insurgents dressed in Afghan army uniforms rushed at them, converging from different directions. The assholes had been biding their time, waiting for just the right moment to strike when everyone’s guard was relaxed.

The air was alive with screams and shouts, the crack of rifle fire. Maya took aim and squeezed the trigger in a double tap, hitting one of the insurgents in the back. He went down with a cry and rolled over, aiming his rifle in her direction despite the debilitatingwounds. A bullet zinged past her shoulder, close enough for her to hear it sizzle through the air.

She took aim, applying pressure to the trigger when another larger explosion rent the air, much closer this time. Maya felt the concussion deep in her chest, her bones vibrating like a tuning fork. The powerful shock wave rippled through the ground like an earthquake, knocking her feet out from under her. Her helmet and back slammed into the hard earth with enough force to knock the breath out of her.

Struggling up on to her elbows, she blinked and shook her head to clear it, gasping for air. From the corner of her eye she saw Jackson running toward her flat out, an expression of naked fear on his face, his mouth open as he screamed a warning at her.

His weapon was gone. It took a moment for his words to register over the roar in her ears.

“Maya, run!”

Reading the urgency in his gaze, she whipped her head around. Two men were rushing straight at her, rifles aimed. They wore ANA uniforms and had masks covering the lower parts of their faces. She instinctively reached for her M4, now twisted behind her.

No time. Her hands flashed down to where her sidearm was strapped to her thigh. They were only steps away. The pistol’s weight barely registered as she grabbed it. It didn’t even clear the holster before they caught her.

One hit her in a flying tackle. He drove her back into the ground with a bone-jarring thud that rattled her teeth. His hands were locked around her wrists. He twisted the weapon out of her grip. A low snarl erupted from her. She fought him, arching her body with all her strength to throw him off. He didn’t budge, and increased the force of his grip on her wrists.

Her fingers were already going numb but she didn’t let go. She couldnotrelinquish her weapon. The man straddling her was too strong to dislodge. She snapped her head forward to bash him in the face with her helmet and caught his shoulder instead. He cursed something at her and held her wrists, while the other man grabbed her web gear and flipped her over, the kicks and punches she dealt having little effect.

She lashed out blindly with her boots in an attempt to break free. One of them slammed the butt of their rifle into the right side of her back, just below her shoulder blade. The force of the impact drove right through the plate in her body armor. Something cracked.

She went down with a soundless scream, white-hot pain sweeping through her, stealing her breath. Spots danced before her eyes. For a long, frozen moment she couldn’t breathe. She fought to stay conscious. Her fingers slipped around the pistol grip. They wrenched it from her grasp.

No!The agonized scream of denial echoed in her head.

Hard hands flipped her over roughly. Her injured ribs hit the ground, sending another searing shock of pain through her. Through the haze of agony and fear, she realized something.

They could have killed her easily a handful of times by now. Instead they’d disarmed her, were pinning her down. Because they wanted to take her prisoner.

Rage and terror sent her into pure survival mode. She would not be taken. She would not be a victim. Not ever again.

Maya screamed in rage and twisted hard, despite the bright stabs of pain in her back, managing to dislodge one of her attackers. She flipped on to her hands and knees and had almost made it to her feet when the other knocked her down. She brought her knees up and slammed her feet into his chest, knocking him back a step.

The initial wave of strength from the adrenaline rush was still driving her survival instinct, but it wouldn’t last. The pain was so bad she didn’t get to her feet in time. One man grabbed her upper arm, narrowly avoiding the elbow she threw at his throat, and caught both wrists behind her back, wrenching upward.

She caught a glimpse of Jackson through the panicked stampede of civilians racing past him. He was down, lying on his side facing away from her, rolling over with difficulty. Had they shot him?No. Not Jackson.Rage and sadness pulsed through her, fueling her strength to fight.

The man struggling to subdue her didn’t let up with his grip.¡Cabrón!She yanked at the hands holding her prisoner, thrashed with all her might. The man gave an angry grunt and hauled her up against him, so close she could smell the cloying stench of his bodyodor.

Panting, blinded by sweat and dust, Maya dropped to her knees in a last-ditch effort to break free. Instead of releasing her, he followed her down, rapidly securing her arms behind her. A screech of pure fury ripped free when one of them threw a hood over her head, enveloping her in blackness. She wrenched her head from side to side, to no avail.

The dark intensified the terror slithering inside her, made it a living, breathing thing until she all but choked on it. Her heart galloped, pounding against her ribs. A wave of nausea rolled in her gut. She could not let them take her. Her best chance of escape was now. Maybe her only chance. With her strength dwindling and her body immobilized, she was left to face the terrible realization that she was powerless.

Gathering her strength for one last defiant bid for freedom, she bucked and then gasped at a hot sting in the side of her neck. A needle.

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