Page 41 of Her Faithful Protector

“Status?” Kane demanded.

“We had twenty-three kidnappers,” Max explained. “Of the four who were patrolling the perimeter, two have been taken out. That leaves us with twenty-one. These guys are hard-core and armed to the teeth. The prisoners are all in one place—they’re staked out in front of the church. Three of them will need to be carried out by the looks of it.”

“Fuck, the church is smack dab in the middle of things,” Kane said. “How do you want us to position ourselves?” Kane asked.

“Zed was going to take a sniper position in the northeast corner after we did close-up wet-work, but with all of you here, he can get into the sniper position immediately. Then we’ll have Ezio do the same thing from the southwest. They can act as spotters for us and then as soon as the first shot is fired they can let loose.”

“The prisoners?” Kane asked. “Do they have guards on them?”

“Not anymore,” Raiden bit out. “And Max, I think you’re wrong, I think we have four who will need to be carried. I was hoping that some of the male students could help, but there isn’t a chance in hell that their arms will be up for it after hanging on that scaffolding.”

“And another thing; this isn’t just a rescue, this is total annihilation,” Nic interrupted. In the last twenty minutes, his eyes hadn’t left Camilla. Thousands of times he’d had to force down his need to run to her. But he was a SEAL, this was a mission, he could do this.

“Nic’s right. They’re all dead,” Max agreed. “Men, state your positions, then Leo, Kane, and Asher, position yourselves accordingly.” There was agreement over Nic’s receiver. “Once you’re in place,” Max continued, “we’ll move out.”

“Unless the prisoners are threatened, we save them for last. Guaranteed, they’ll stir up a ruckus,” Raiden said.

“Makes sense.” Nic could almost hear Kane nodding over his receiver.

Nic explained over the comm where he was positioned, then he waited. He didn’t hear anything, but some sixth sense told him that something was coming toward him on his left. He slowly crouched down even lower and turned his binoculars so he could scope out that area.

“Nic, it’s me,” Leo whispered.

Leo stood up a little taller and for a brief moment, Nic could see Leo’s four-tube night vision goggles, then he was gone.

“Saw you.”

“Backing up now,” Leo said.

There were similar conversations between Asher and Cullen and Kane and Max.

“You all set?” Max asked.

Everybody answered in the affirmative.

“Who has the remaining two patrols in sight?” Max asked.

“I have one,” Nic said. “He’s walking toward me.”

“I’ve got the other one,” Cullen answered.

“Go now. Tell us when it’s done, then we’ll all head out with Ezio and Zed providing direction.”

Nic moved slowly, making no sound as he reached the edge of the jungle. The guard wasn’t even bothering to look anywhere except into the village; how stupid could he be? Didn’t he understand that the threat would be coming from the jungle?

He waited for the man to go past him as Nic unsheathed his knife. As he left cover, he took six rapid steps and was behind the man in a heartbeat. He covered his mouth to ensure he didn’t make a sound while he slit his throat. Nic waited until he felt the man die, then he dragged him back into the jungle. The last thing he needed was somebody noticing one of their compatriots’ bodies and sounding the alarm.

“Done,” Nic and Cullen said almost simultaneously.

“Zed, how many do you have?” Ezio asked.

“I’ve got six in my sights,” Zed answered.

“I have seven,” Ezio said. “I can clearly see all the way to the truck with the satellite dish. We’ve got one man bunked outside the truck, sleeping in the back of a Jeep. All of that is in the middle of the village.”

“Shit,” Zed said. “I counted that one too. That means we have eyes on twelve. So there are five unaccounted for.”

“Some of them forced their way into the homes of the village women,” Raiden said. His delivery was flat and unemotional. He didn’t sound good.