Finish the Course (The Barnes Family Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

well on its way to being changed, but the team had not yet a straight shot to get rid of the man sitting in the seat with the hostage.
    Slater wanted to lure the man from his seat, but he was afraid anything he did would wind up scaring the man into injuring the hostage – or worse.
    Only two of the men who were outside were holding guns. Not too bright.
    Slater pulled a smoke grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin. Crouching low, he tossed it under the second vehicle.
    If the situation hadn’t been so serious, it would have been funny to watch the rear passengers gagging and jumping from the car.
    The driver shouted at them to get back in, but the man argued something was wrong and he couldn’t breathe with all the smoke.
    Four of the special forces soldiers took aim and shot. Slater, being the closest, darted to Hanbali, dragging the fighting hostage to the ground while Porter dropped the remaining Taliban member. The slaughter was over in less than two minutes. The Afghanis did not have time to draw their guns.
    Turner and Porter began dragging the corpses to a nearby ravine. Hall and Chung searched the lead vehicle before lighting it on fire.
    Slater pushed Hanbali into the backseat of the rear vehicle.
    “Stay,” he ordered and then repeated it in Pashto in case the message had not been clear the first time.
    “You are American,” it wasn’t a question, so Slater didn’t bother answering it.
    His men were returning from disposing of the bodies, “Get in. Hall, you drive.”
    Garret opened the hatch to the back of the Rover and climbed in, facing rearward .
    “Hall always gets to drive.”
    Slater slid in next to Hall, “That’s because you drive like an old woman.”
    Porter and Turner pressed in on either side of Hanbali while Cho climbed in with Garret and shut the hatch.
    “Go,” Slater ordered before all the doors were even closed, “I don’t know where that third vehicle is, and I’m not too keen on finding out.”
    “Man,” Garret had his knees to his chest, “it smells like Chung’s socks in here.”
    Hall laughed as he sped along the road.
    Porter opened a window, “Reed, you gotta go easy on those grenades. How many did you launch?
    “How much fuel you got in the tank?” Slater ignored Porter’s question.
    “Three quarters of a tank. That outta get us into Ghori.”
    “Tell me again, Chung,” Porter grunted as he shifted his equipment around, “why are we going into India if what we really want is to get back to Afghanistan?”
    “We’re getting picked up there.”
    “Jeez, Hall. You going off-roading?”
    “Shut it, Porter,” Hall shot back. “The last time you drove, we rolled.”
    “Be thankful it’s not a Civic,” Chung tried to shift his shoulders.
    Slater tried to look over his shoulder at Hanbali, but had to settle for shouting over his shoulder.
    “Butrus Hanbali,” he thought it was high time he introduced himself, “I’m Captain Slater Reed of the United States Army. We’re taking you back to Afghanistan.”
    “I deduced that,” came the silky voice with just a hint of accent. “But I only am known as Butrus to those who are unaware that I am a woman.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    Hall had to slow down to avoid some substantial holes in the road.
    “So, you would prefer to be called ‘Miss Hanbali?” Porter didn’t look down at the woman next to him.
    “My name is Khayriya Haniyyah Hanbali, but my English-speaking friends call me Riya.”
    Hall shot a look of surprise to Slater.
    “Fine, Riya,” Slater began, “do you have any idea what happened to the third vehicle in this convoy?”
    “They were behind us,” she began, “but we kept getting further and further ahead. I do not know why.”
    “How fast were you travelling?” Slater could guess by how long it took them to reach Muzzafarabad, but some portions of the road were better than others, and he didn’t know if they stopped at night.
    “Very slowly,” she said after a few minutes of