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Mathias kicked the side of her knee, dropping her to the ground. “You don’t need your legs for what they sell you for.” He turned to Miller. “She’s more trouble alive. Let’s just put a bullet between her ears.”
“I made a promise. They want her. They have someone who’ll pay a lot for a pretty American woman.”
“Unless they drug her, she’ll be a hellcat.”
“Which is why I stole this from the medical tent.”
Fleur could see the syringe. She moved as far away from Miller as she could.
Mathias snorted. “I have the perfect place to hold her.”
“Good. Then after all the other staff are dead and the IDPs have been taken away, we’ll get her out and take her to Aleppo. Of course, we might have to teach her some manners before we do, just like we do the IDPs we market.”
Fleur shook her head. They were monsters. They were using the women, too?How could she not see this? How could she have stuck up for this man?Tears formed in her eyes because she was so mad. The stab of a needle burned her arm. Fleur jerked, but shecontinued to stare at Miller. She knew hatred now. It was a feeling she’d never allowed herself to internalize before, but she hated these men. Fleur fought the blackness. She needed to warn …
“Skipper, you have incoming comms.”
He tapped his ear. “From whom?” They were flying down the highway and would be at the camp in a half hour.
“Alpha.”
“Put him on and Cobra One, too.”
“You have both Panther and Cobra One online, Alpha.”
“Stay on the line, Dude,” Alpha commanded.
“I just got a satellite call from Al. He said Miller had Fleur in the equipment yard. He tried to get her, but he saw a gun and didn’t want to endanger her any further. He got the doctor and one of the local national women out. The women are waiting for you at the rendezvous point. We’re working on the air evac. How’s Wolf?”
“Concussed, and Bandit is worried about a skull fracture. He’s vomiting and can’t focus his eyes.”
“Archangel is making calls trying to get usairspace permission. We have a Mercy team in Greece and are sending them to Jordan, which is the closest neuro hospital where we have doctors we’ve vetted and where Wolf will go. What other injuries do you have?”
“Bumps and scrapes.” Neither he nor Wraith would be sidelined because of their injuries. Stryker was driving and could shoot. He’d stay with the team.
“Based on the information our operators are uncovering, Mathias Gentry and Miller Dupre have violated numerous international laws. Murder, sex trafficking, human trafficking, and not to mention, they’ve almost shuttered an entire IDP camp without host national authority, pointing at one organization when others ask questions. It went well until the Children’s Hope International contacted us because Fleur raised so many red flags.”
“Do we have any intel on Fleur’s whereabouts?” Ronan drilled down to his immediate concern.
“Satellite is still out of range. Al said he would return to the camp and try to find her. I couldn’t talk him out of it, but I talked to the doctor, who assured me she and the other woman wouldn’t leave and would wait for you while he returned.”
“Why would they take Fleur as a hostage?” Deacon asked.
“Leverage,” Ronan assumed. “She’s mine. They’ll use her against us.”
Deacon made a sound of disagreement. “Think about it. Do you think they expect us to return? They sent a force against us. I assume they believe we’ve been taken out.”
Ronan frowned and then smiled. “That means we have the element of surprise. They won’t have the balls to do anything until Habib and his forces return. Two men against three thousand people or so wouldn’t go too well.”
Deacon agreed, “Exactly. We need the satellite online to ensure no one’s approaching the camp, and in the meantime, we need to formulate a plan.”
“I’ll leave that to you,” Alpha said. “I’ll let you know as soon as we have airspace. And, gentlemen, those two men need to answer for their crimes, not only against us but against the IDPs. Take them in alive if at all possible.”
“Copy,” both he and Deacon said. That order was the only thing that was going to save the fuckers.
“Alpha, if Adil calls back, have him meet us at the equipment area behind the structures tent.”
“I copy, and I’ll be monitoring your channel,”Ronan nodded when Alpha confirmed he was listening in. The man knew every team tactic invented and had been the inventor of several. He would be an asset to have.