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

consideration. “Certainly slower than Mr. Hall is now going.”
    Hall beamed at her implied complaint.
    “Sergeant Hall is anxious to be done with this mission, so he can go home and get married.”
    Riya smiled, “How lovely for you. Is your intended in the military as well?”
    Hall laughed at that, “He. . .ck, no. She’s a dance teacher.”
    “Very nice. It must be something akin to beauty and the beast.”
    The whole car laughed at that.
    “You’ve got him pegged,” Porter laughed.
    “Oh,” Hall swore under his breath.
    Slater looked ahead. There was a manned roadblock in front of them.
    Each man in the car rested a hand on his sidearm.
    “Hanbali,” Slater warned her, “get down as low as you can. Stay behind the men.”
    Hall slowed, but remained ready to gun it if necessary.
    In the silence of the vehicle, six clicks could be heard. Six hands gripped cold steel, ready for a single word.
    Slater opened his window. The man on the other side spoke in Hindi.
    Slater responded in Punjabi, knowing some people spoke both.
    The guard frowned and repeated his initial command.
    “Who speaks Hindi here?” Slater shouted back. “Chung?”
    “A little. He told us to get out of the car.”
    “Like heck we will,” Slater growled.
    The guard didn’t look happy.
    The situation was drawing the attention of more men outside the vehicle. The other guards stepped up to the doors as the first guard repeated the order.
    Hall rolled down the remaining windows in the vehicle.
    The men on the outside adjusted their AK 47’s just slightly.
    Slater’s tone was low, “On my command, men,” he inhaled. “No survivors.”
    “One,” his whisper was barely discernible.
    “Two,” the Indian men moved their hands to their own rifles.
    Before Slater could say three, Hanbali began speaking rapidly in Hindi.
    The guard dropped his hand from his weapon.
    One of the men by a back door asked a question.
    She responded rapidly.
    Every man stepped back from the vehicle. Then stepped back again.
    She spoke to the guard without ever showing her face. He looked startled and stepped back from the vehicle a bit.
    “What did you say?” Porter asked.
    The guard barked at them again, so she did not have time to answer Porter.
    She spoke to Slater, “He says we may go.”
    The men did not remove their hands from their weapons until they were miles from the blockade.
    Chung chuckled from the backseat.
    “What’d she say, Chung?” Garret eyed him speculatively.
    “She begged them to allow us to take her to her father.”
    Riya laughed, “Your Hindi is very good, Sergeant Chung.”
    “I’m afraid I understand it better than I speak it. What was that about the sickness?”
    “I simply told them I would not like to die from my illness before making peace with him.”
    Porter leaned away from her, “What illness would that be?”
    “Any illness, of course,” she batted her dark eyes at him.
    They drove for twenty minutes, all of them alert despite the lack of sleep over the past couple days. Slater tried to convince their guest to sleep, but she would have none of it.
    “Porter,” Slater rubbed his hands over his eyes, “can we contact command while we are driving?”
    “Not likely, Chief. It would be better if we could stop.”
    Slater wasn’t pleased about having to make that decision.
    “Fine,” he knew the men needed a break even if they were unaware of the fact, “Hall, pull over.”
    “Porter, get through as quickly as possible. Tell them we’re nearly to Ghori, we have the package, get us out.”
    Porter began the attempt as soon as the vehicle was stationary.
    “The rest of you, take care of your needs. Keep alert.”
    “Riya,” he waited for her to exit the vehicle, “this is likely the last stop for many hours. Do you need to utilize it?”
    She smiled, “Thank you. I will.”
    He swallowed his sigh, “I need to come with you.”
    She shrugged.
    They did not step more than ten feet from the vehicle to do