Page 16 of Call Sign: Thunder
Zach looked down at Allie, relieved to see a small smile on her face. It was his turn to tell her, "Thanks."
Chapter Seven
ALLIE
"Come on, Allie. I need you to keep drinking."
Sleep. She just wanted to pass out. Why wouldn't they let her sleep?
Muscular arms hugged her tighter, lifting her into a sitting position. She tried to open her eyes, but couldn't manage it. At the first slit of opening, she crushed her lids closed. It was so damn bright.
Disorientation. Where was she? Wherever it was, it was too loud. Why did it sound like she was at the airport?
Pain. Every part of her body hurt. Had she been in an accident? That would explain why she ached.
Horny. There was no explanation for that emotion, but there it was. Her biggest ache was between her legs.
Despair. Panic returned with a start. She was in danger.
She was suffocating. She needed air. She used all her strength to fight to be free. She needed to escape.
"Allie! Wake up, honey. You're safe."
There it was again. That voice. That soothing voice. She didn't know who it belonged to, but she so desperately wanted to believe it. She remembered that voice whispering to her. Whispering comforting words. Encouragement.
She forced her eyes open just a crack. She needed to see who that voice belonged to.
"That's it. Wake up for me. You need to keep drinking water so we can flush that poison out of you."
She tried to speak, but no words came out. Her throat hurt so bad. Come to think of it, she hurt everywhere. Her wrists were the worst. Her arms felt as heavy as lead. It took all of her strength to lift her arm high enough to see her wrist.
"You were bleeding. We wrapped your wrists to keep your wounds clean until we can get you to the hospital."
She looked up into the eyes of the man speaking and memories—horrible memories—flooded back to her as if a dam had broken.
Any peace she was feeling fled, replaced with fear. Blinding fear. Kidnapped. Drugged. Molested.
And saved. She'd been rescued.
"Zach?" His name came back to her with the rest of her memories.
He grinned, happy she'd remembered. "Yep. I've got you. We're still an hour out from our base. We thought about putting down at a hospital in Bogota, but since our mission wasn't exactly sanctioned, we thought it was better to take you back to the base hospital in Honduras."
She had so many questions she didn't know where to start.
"How? Did Dad hire you?" It hurt to speak.
Zach shook his head. "That's the second time you asked me that. I don't know who your dad is, honey. I don't even know what your last name is."
"How did you know where I was?"
"Just good luck I guess. You shouldn't talk. I promise to answer all of your questions once you're feeling better."
The damn urges were coming back with a vengeance now that she was awake. She was hyper aware of his proximity, enjoying being held in his arms. She felt her nakedness under the thin blanket.
Allie crooked her neck to try to get a peek of where she was and was surprised to see several sleeping soldiers dressed in the same uniform as Zach. She didn't need to see the US flag patch on their uniform to know they were American.
She burrowed back into the cover of the blanket, hiding from the strange men sitting so near. Conflicting emotions wracked her.
