Something breaks in her expression. All the strength she’s been holding onto for twelve days — the determination, the survival instinct, the sheer stubborn will that got her out of that pit and through two kilometers of jungle — it all lets go at once. She moves from her spot against the tree and I meet her halfway. My female collapses against me and I catch her, wrapping my arms around her, holding her up. She’s shaking. Or maybe I am. Probably both.
I bury my face in her dirty hair. She smells like twelve days in a pit, but I don’t care. All that matters is that she’s alive. “I’ve got you,” I say again, because I don’t know what else to say. “I’ve got you.”
She doesn’t respond. Just holds on.
The comms crackle in my ear and reality crashes back. “Jonus, we’ve got a problem.” Aldar’s voice comes in, sharp with urgency.
I don’t let go of Sloane, but every muscle in my body tenses. “Talk to me.”
“What’s wrong?” my females whispers.
I point at my ear so she knows I’m listening to the team.
“Multiple vehicles inbound from the south. I’m counting at least three trucks. Armed.”
“Shit,” I mutter.
Kelt’s voice cuts in, “How long?”
“Five, maybe six minutes.”
“This compound was just an outpost, a holding location but not the main operation. Someone called for help before we took them down, and now the real force is coming,” Aldar says.”
“I have Sloane,” I let them know.“We’re approximately two clicks east of the compound.”
“Two clicks?” Kelt sounds surprised. “She got that far?”
I look down at Sloane, still leaning heavily against me. “She got herself out. She ran.”
Brief pause on comms. Then Kelt, with something like respect, “Good for her.”
“What’s her condition?” Cole asks.
I glance at the remains of the bloody rags on her feet, the way she’s barely standing, most of her weight against my chest. “She can’t move fast. Maybe not at all.”
“I can?—”
I give a curt head shake of dismissal.
Silence on comms while Kelt calculates. “You’re already two clicks east,” he says. “If you try to link up with us, you’ll slow us down and we’ll all get caught.”
I know he’s right. “So what’s the play?”
“We planned for separation. Secondary extraction, 0600 hours. You know the coordinates.”
I do. “That’s forty clicks from my current position.”
“But you won’t have cartel on your tail if you swing wide. Go east another click, then arc north. Quieter route. Longer, but safer.”
Aldar’s voice cuts in, “Drone’s got maybe twenty more minutes of battery. I can keep eyes on your route until it dies.”
“We’ll move fast,” Martinez says. “Draw attention if we have to.”
“Get her to the extraction point,” Kelt says. “0600. Helicopter won’t wait past 0615.”
“Copy.”
Kelt’s voice goes quieter. Just for me. “Get her out, Jonus.”
