Page 20 of Hayes
“Obviously, a lot with data and comms. Most of the equipment is ours, G.R.I.P.’s, so if it needed repairs or upgrades, it was child’s play for me to fix it.”
“And he saw that?” asked Cam.
“I don’t know if he saw it, necessarily, but he knew the outcome, which was that it was fixed. He was really weird the weekend he met Dad and the others, though. He even said some of the names sounded familiar.”
“I remember that,” said Jak. “He stared hard at your dad and me for sure.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t just that. He always seemed to be watching me. He was wherever I was, and when I worked on things during missions, he always seemed to be over my shoulder. OUCH!” he yelled, looking down at Cruz.
“You wanna keep the hand or not?” he growled.
“I’d appreciate keeping the hand,” he smirked. Then he sobered, staring at Cruz. “Wait. Am I at risk of losing my hand?”
“No,” said Cruz, frustrated. “But it’s a fucking mess. Victoria did a great job of setting the bones, but you did some serious damage, and I’m not sure how much mobility you’re going to have with it going forward.”
“Maybe the pond will help,” he frowned.
“The pond should help, but I just want to get it to a good point right now.”
“Thank you, Cruz,” smiled Victoria.
“You did good, kiddo,” he said, smiling at her.
“Back to Bonds. Why was he on this mission? Shouldn’t he be in Coronado?” asked Luke.
“That’s what we all said. Our normal command, Gregor Dodds, came down with a stomach bug that had him in the hospital. Bonds happily stepped forward and took his place,” said Hayes.
“I bet he did,” growled Hoot.
“We have clearance to land and stay in Qatar,” said Autumn. She was flying with Chipper, who, in spite of his age, was still one of the best combat pilots on the team. Luke and Cam nodded at their team.
“Alright, we’ll find accommodations in Qatar, lay all this out, and then we find Bonds.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“We’ve been up and down this mountain three times,” growled Aamani. “He is not here, and we did not pass him. Do you care to explain this?”
“I left him in that fucking cave! You could see that he was in there, and there were medical supplies and water bottles.”
“And where did those magically appear from?” he snapped.
“I don’t know.”
Aamani’s men came back toward him, babbling in a language Bonds didn’t understand. He was getting nervous, shifting from one foot to another.
“A woman,” he said quietly. “My men tell me that it was a woman that rescued him. The footprint was very small, but not so small as to be a child.”
“Then maybe it was someone from the village,” said Bonds, feeling somewhat relieved.
“It’s possible, but they know the punishment if they go against me. Does VG have women operators?”
“Yes,” nodded Bonds. “Some. They’re every bit as good as the men. But I can’t imagine just one coming to rescue him. It doesn’t make sense.”
“No. No, it doesn’t,” said Aamani.
He rapidly fired off orders to his men, and Bonds watched as they ran toward the village. He knew what they would do. They would search every home, destroying people’s possessions, then begin the beatings, torture, and eventually, killing anyone who won’t tell them what they want to hear.
“Tell me what else you know of these men,” said Aamani. “I’ve heard tales of their fathers but thought they were all dead.”
