Page 19 of Rescuing Tobias

It had to be rebels. There were rumors that a small leftover group of the Khmer Rouge lived somewhere in the Cambodian jungles, but she’d thought it was just that. A rumor. Not something that she needed to be worried about.

Could this be the rumored group?

Could they be raiding the village?

What purpose that would serve, she had no idea. No one here was wealthy, no one had anything of value. These people were subsistence farmers, nothing more. The only thing of value here was the people themselves if someone wanted to take them and sell them.

Fear flooded her system, not just for herself, but for Becca and the rest of the villagers as well.

They owned a weapon, but she was no expert in how to handle it. Not that it stopped her from running to the lockedsafe, pulling the keys from her pocket, and opening it. The weapon felt too heavy in her hands when she snatched it up, but she gripped it and ran for the door.

These were her people, and no one was going to hurt them.

Just as she reached the waiting room of the small clinic, she saw four big men dressed all in black come striding in like they owned the place. They had huge weapons slung over their shoulders, and they had the absolute audacity to laugh when they saw her standing there with a gun of her own.

Shaking though her hands might be, it didn't stop her from lifting the weapon, pointing it at them, and firing off a bullet.

It went wide, hit nothing but the wall, and the men laughed again.

That made her anger spike, and she tried again, aiming and firing.

Again, her shot didn't even come close to hitting its target, and in the time she’d fired off her two useless shots, the men had moved close enough to grab her.

Which they did.

They were so much bigger than her, and when a large hand clamped around hers, squeezing tightly until she cried out, she had no choice but to release her hold on her weapon. It clattered to the floor, and she knew she’d just lost her best bet at saving herself.

The men were saying something, but her pulse was hammering in her ears as she tried to figure out what she could still do. The men grabbed at her, yanking her off her feet.

Pure instinct had her lashing out. She kicked, she hit, she even snapped her teeth at anything that came close to her face.

But it didn't stop the inevitable.

Didn't stop the men from carrying her out of her clinic toward a jeep.

Didn't stop them from throwing her into the back of it.

Didn't stop them from driving away with her, taking her toward a horror she could never even imagine.

Didn't want to imagine.

Want to or not, images flashed through her mind. It was like watching herself from the outside. An observer, not the person it was happening to. Herself held down as men laughed and thrust themselves inside her body. Her head flying to the side as a fist connected with her cheek. Her body crumpling to the ground as fiery pain engulfed it, and her fingers tugged uselessly at the shock collar delivering the pain.

Then, through the pain came a man riding on a white horse.

It was like he emerged from the fog. All strength and dominance.

As soon as she saw him, the pain just … stopped.

Disappeared as though it had never even existed.

He looked glorious on the white horse, it complemented his dark skin, and she got lost staring into those pitch-black eyes of his.

Her savior.

Despite the pain, her body moved toward him, but the closer she got, the further away he seemed to get.

Then like a puff of smoke, he just disappeared.

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