Chapter Fifty-Two
“General, Major!” George yelled. “Frey called her Elora.” He grabbed Eleanor and lifted her shirt. “Tara said the doctors had to gut her to save her.”
The Major walked over to her and slapped her across the face. “What did you do, Elora? You betrayed us again.”
“Let her be,” Wes demanded.
The General walked over to Wes, his face an inch from his. “Boy, you have no say. The only way you’re being allowed to keep breathing is if you help the Major with these girls. One step out of line, I put a bullet in Elora’s head. George, Conrad, secure your sister to the pillar. While you work here, Elora will revisit her past.”
As George tossed Eleanor over his shoulder, she kicked and clawed. “Stop it, you animal!”
Wes turned and launched himself at George. Though the man was larger than him, and Wes was still weak from the head injury, Eleanor watched Wes morph into a predator, using his tactical skills to take George out at his knees.
She scrambled free as Wes and George grappled. “Ellie, run,” Wes ordered. When she froze, he yelled at her again, “Go!”
Eleanor, her eyes burning with tears, did as he ordered. Troy and Zach had gone over potential scenarios, but it was supposed to be Josh who might be in trouble. When Wes climbed into the cab, in her mind, the rules changed. She remembered what Wes told Zach: “My turn to finish up on an elevator floor.”
Eleanor cleared her mind and picked up a chair, throwing it through a window overlooking the back porch. Tossing a blanket across the sill, she climbed out, pursuers on her heels. A shot went off behind her. Not looking back, her feet hit the rear porch floor, where three armed men greeted her.
“Get out of my way, losers,” she took on Belinda’s voice.
Stepping past them, her brother Albert yelled, “Shoot her; she’s Elora.”
Eleanor ran for the woods in a hail of bullets, her arms over her head. Four different sounding shots echoed as she cleared the tree line and stopped to catch her breath. She forced herself not to confront the fact that Wes was likely gone. Instead, she drew on all the things her father taught her. She knew they’d planted explosives. Carefully, her eyes searched the darkness for changes in the ground’s shape.Trampled leaves are safe.After removing her shoes, step by step, she walked along the path she could feel.
A hand snaked around her face from behind. She kicked off the tree in front of her, almost flipping over the person’s shoulder.
“Ellie, it’s TJ. You’re safe,” he whispered.
Ken’s voice came from behind her. “We have Marigold. She appears unharmed. Do we have news on Alamo?” he whispered.
Eleanor turned to face TJ. He was all in black, his face covered in camouflage. “You have to save him. I don’t know… There was a shot.”
“We don’t know yet, honey. Let’s get you out of here. Base, we are exfilling with Marigold.”
* * *
Wes pushed himself off the floor. He took a mental assessment of his body. His body didn’t hurt any more than it did leaving the training center. George lay dead.
The General, Malachi Drake, glared at Wes, a gun at his side. “We need you. Now go help those girls. Don’t think for one minute I won’t kill you. And then, if that treasonous bitch is still alive, I’ll flay her before I put her out of my misery.”
“She’s your daughter. How can you say that?” Wes asked indignantly.
“The cause is greater than one,” Dinah Drake said. “Wash your hands and help her.”
Wes heard the pops among the other bursts of bullets. He prayed his team rescued Ellie. He scrubbed his hands and joined the scared girl. “Hey, I’m Wes. What’s your name?”
“I’m Heather Joseph. Please save me, save us,” she begged.
He saw the desperation in the faces of all the girls. “First we need to bring this baby into the world. Dinah, does anyone here have any medical experience?”
“Nurse Frey. Otherwise, you’re it. I’ve seen my share. But no real training,” Dinah said.
“Look through the drugs. There is a small vial of versed,” Wes instructed as he started an IV.
“Versed.” Dinah pulled out the vial.
Wes knew it wasn’t the best choice, but he wanted Heather to forget what he needed to do. “Okay. Heather, I’m going to give you something to relax you.” He drew up some of the drug and injected it into the IV. “Do you have oxygen?”
