Secret Soldier Read Online Free PDF Page A

voices stopped for a moment, even the air seemed to stand still.
    She realized what was going to happen about a split second before the shots rang out. She screamed, her voice drowned by the renewed yelling of the men and the sound of gunfire. It didn’t seem real. When Abdul and Leila crumpled to the ground, she half expected them to get up.
    The guns fell silent.
    She stood frozen to the spot, unable to look away from the bodies and the sand that greedily drank in their blood. They were both dead. And Gerald and she were next.
    The leader shouted at his men, clearly displeased, and ordered them to salvage whatever clothes they could from the bodies. She turned away, trembling, and caught sight of Gerald with his hands in the air. She should have done the same, except it didn’t seem she had that much control over her body.
    The leader of the bandits looked at her and Gerald, and walked over to them. Gerald shifted, blocking her view. It took her a few seconds to realize he was trying to shield her from the man.
    “If two United States citizens disappear, soldiers will be all over your mountain,” Gerald said in a calm voice and nodded toward the peaks. “You have a good camp up there, a warm cave. Winter is coming soon. Bad time to take your people on the run.”
    The man sneered at him, his dark eyes vivid with anger. “I own the mountain. I take what I want.” He pulled his pistol from his belt and pointed it at Gerald.
    Her lungs shrank; her heart slammed against her chest.
    “Get on the truck.” The man jerked his head toward one of the vehicles.
    Gerald glanced back at her and nodded. How the hell could he stay calm at a time like this? She stared after him as he walked toward the truck, but could not follow. Her legs weren’t working.
    One of the bandits came over to her and shoved her roughly. She caught herself from falling and stumbled forward. Then two men grabbed her and pulled her up into the back of the truck. She scampered to the front, to Gerald, although she knew he could offer no protection. He pushed her down on the end of the wooden bench and sat next to her. One of the bandits shoved Gerald over and sat between them.
    A few more men climbed up, six of them altogether in the back of the truck. They didn’t look friendly. A couple worked on stretching camouflage canvas over the metal ribs that arched above. She watched them with a strange detachment, as if seeing a movie. She was pretty sure she was in shock. She’d seen the aftermath of violence before, almost more than she could handle, but had never been part of it.
    Leila and Abdul were dead.
    She glanced at the bodies on the sand, but then the men finally secured the canvas so she couldn’t see out any longer. The sky was darkening, and the back of the truck was darker yet. Somebody yelled to them from the ground. The rushing blood in her ears drowned out the words.
    One of the bandits got up, ordered Gerald to stand and patted him down, taking the cell phone from his pocket and the watch from his wrist.
    “No weapons,” he yelled back before sitting to look at the phone. He pushed a couple of buttons, gave a frustrated groan, slipped the thing into the front pocket of his uniform and put the watch on.
    Gerald didn’t say a word, which was probably the smart thing to do. And yet, she couldn’t help wishing for a miracle—that he would spring up and subdue their kidnappers. Of course, it would have been impossible, even if he knew how to fight and had not gained his muscles pumping iron in front of a mirror in a gym.
    The motors roared to life, startling her. Their truck lurched ahead. Panic replaced her numbness, filling her veins in a slow trickle, spreading through her limbs. She was going to die, and get gang-raped first, most likely. Her lungs struggled for air. She shouldn’t have fought with her mother the day before.
    Maybe Mom had been right. Maybe she should have never come here. Her family would be devastated when they