Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Gabriel was the first through the door. He smashed into one of the soldiers, knocking his rifle away from us, then clubbed him in the side of the head with his gun. Colton charged the other soldier like a bull, knocking the air out of him and ramming him up against the far wall, then knocking him out with a punch to the face.
As both soldiers slumped, unconscious, Gabriel heaved open the cellar door. I gaped up at him, shaky and weak, incapable of speech.
He reached down, grabbed me around the waist and lifted me, then pulled me against him, my feet dangling a foot off the floor. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my head against his. Nothing in the world had ever felt so good. I’d really thought I was going to die.
“I gotcha, Doc,” he whispered. And I closed my eyes as he squeezed me tight.
Colton bent and scooped up the injured woman, cradling her in his arms. Gabriel reluctantly put me down and I grabbed the medical bag. “Is Cal okay?” I asked.
Gabriel nodded. “He had to move, but he’s okay. C’mon. We’ve got to go.”
He checked the coast was clear, and then we were off and running, with Colton carrying the injured woman. We ran into the jungle and skirted around the village, coming in from the back.
It was terrifying to see how far the soldiers had advanced. They’d taken almost the entire village: only the school was left, and the soldiers were massing at the end of the street, ready for the final push. I could see Major Zamora at the front, snapping out orders.
The Shuar, many of them injured, were positioned around the school, the last line of defense between the soldiers and their children. I saw them sharing out the last remaining ammunition between them: some of them had even put their rifles down and picked up spears. My chest contracted: this is really what it was going to come down to? A people fighting for their children’s lives with spears, against a modern military?
Colton carefully handed the injured woman to her people, and we went to find JD, Danny, Bradan, and Cal. They’d erected a ramshackle barricade between the soldiers and the school and were kneeling behind it, ready to make their final stand. We knelt down behind them.
JD gave a quick nod of relief when he saw us, but I could see how worried he looked. He nodded down the street towards the soldiers, reloading his rifle as he talked. “They’re regrouping. There’s still fifty or so of them left and they’ll be on us any minute. We don’t have the numbers and we’re almost out of ammo.”
“How long until Gina gets back?” asked Danny.
JD shook his head. “At least another ten minutes.” He looked at the soldiers massing, preparing to push forward. Then he glanced behind him at the school. When he spoke, his voice was rough with regret and shame. “We can’t hold them,” he muttered.
The school. The children. The whole village. It was all about to be wiped out, and us with it.
We’d lost.
47
GABRIEL
I looked around desperately. This can’t be it. The fear for the Shuar, for the children, swelled up inside me until I thought I’d burst. No. No, it can’t be, there’s got to be something—
I’d forgotten what it felt like, to be fighting for something bigger than yourself, to be ready to give your life for it. I’d had years of only caring about myself. On a heist, if things go wrong, you bail. You run and you live to fight another day. But this…
I hadn’t felt this way since that day on the boat, seeing those refugees in the water. I’d finally come full circle.
“There’s time,” said JD quietly. “If anyone wants to make a run for it. If you head into the jungle, you might be able to slip away.”
He looked around at everyone, but we all shook our heads. None of us were going to run and leave these people to die.
I looked at Olivia, who was hunkered down with her medical bag, ready to patch up anyone who got hurt. Up at Cal, now on the roof of the school. I looked at Colton and Danny and Bradan and finally JD, all getting ready to die, stoic and determined. No. No, this can’t be the end! I couldn’t let anything happen to Olivia, but it was about the others, too. These guys had become friends. And they were all going to die unless…
Unless someone did something heroic.
“JD,” I said slowly, “thank you for giving me a second chance. You’re a hell of a leader.” I hugged him, wrapping my arms around him and patting him on the back.
JD froze, taken aback by the sudden show of affection. Then he sighed and I felt him relax. “Glad I was wrong about you,” he muttered.