Page 23 of Her Righteous Protector

“Why’d you say that?”

“Cause your nose is out of joint that Kostya beat you so bad,” Kane smirked. “Now get to work.”

My friend is an asshole.

By the time they were done getting Kostya, Cullen, Lark, and Nic loaded onto the second truck, the sun had risen. Asher, Max, Kane, and Ezio all hitched rides in Leo and Zed’s trucks to the third truck that Ali had driven. When they got there, they found that Ali had already unpacked the bags so that the cage was unveiled.

“Hurry,” Ali said. He was definitely hyped up.

Max and his men got into the cage and they watched as Ali, Zed, and Leo loaded the bags of plaster and closed them inside. Max said a quick prayer that this would work.

8

Max waited for the text to tell them what checkpoint they were at. He prayed it was Torkham. Ezio was sleeping too damn much and he was worried. The good news was that Raiden said that the girls were physically fine and had no meltdowns. The truck continued to move forward in spits and starts.

AT TORKHAM. CAN’T SEE CHECKPOINT. LINE COULD BE JUST A MILE, OR MANY MILES.

That text was from Leo.

Max and his team were down to their last two liters of water. They needed to get out of this cage.

They moved forward again, then stopped. It continued like that for hours, and Max found himself going in and out of sleep.

When the stopping and starting finally changed into a long stop, Max sat up straight.

THEY’RE PUSHING SWORDS INTO THE BAGS.

The text was from Zed. He was the lead truck.

Jesus, don’t let either of the girls be hurt.

Max thought past that initial reaction, then calmed down. A sword wouldn’t get past two layers of bags. They were good. But would they notice where the bags weren’t packed so closely together to allow air to come in?

“Fuck,” Kane hissed. “This is taking forever.”

It was. Max had been staring at his watch. This was the longest time they’d been stopped since they’d gotten to the Torkham checkpoint. As the second hand passed twelve again he thought his brain would explode.

Eight minutes.

Max and the three others with him all let out sighs of relief when their truck started moving forward. They didn’t move far before they were stopped again. It was Leo’s turn. Max started looking at his watch.

Six minutes.

Max didn’t use the plastic pipe to listen; he and the others just sat tight. He grinned in relief when the truck started moving after four minutes.

Roger, Nigel, and Randall were going to meet them outside of Peshawar. It was just another fifty miles. The men were supposed to have figured out places for them to stay.

Leo texted again.

EVERYONE IS IN PAKISTAN

Max pulled up his text to Roger and let him know where they were and gave an update on the situation with Ezio. He wanted specific coordinates on where they should take the trucks. He didn’t have to wait long for a response. They would be pulling up to a farm five miles outside of Peshawar where the trucks could be unloaded. Roger had arranged for the family to go on vacation for a week. Max had no idea how, but he was impressed.

Roger went on to text that everyone would be staying at the farm for at least one night before getting into the vehicles he and the Brits had arranged to get them to Islamabad. They would be taking multiple flights out to Dubai and the airport in Doha, Qatar. Since the Nuri family had their Afghan Special Immigrant Visas, they would be allowed to fly out.

Max relaxed against the bars. There was a plan!

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