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)
Then I saw something else: a belt that had been taken from one of the men. Hanging from it was a pistol in a holster and three dark green metal balls that dangled together like a cluster of fruit. Grenades. Maybe I could create a diversion, and then try to help the team while everyone was distracted.
I crept forward and hid behind a tree, right at the edge of the clearing. There were three soldiers patrolling and there always seemed to be one looking at the door I needed to get to. I waited and waited and then it happened: all of them looked away at the same time. I took a deep breath…and went for it.
It was the scariest thing I’d ever done. I had to just focus on the door and walk. Not run, or I’d make too much noise. Not creep, or I wouldn’t be there before the soldiers turned around. I had to walk, a spot on the back of my neck itching, knowing that at any second there could be a shout, a gunshot…
I stepped through the door of the cabin and ducked down inside, heart pounding and sweat dripping off me. For a second, I just sat there, panting, letting the cool of the wall soak into my body. Then I gingerly unhooked one of the grenades from the belt.
Where to throw it? Somewhere far enough away that it wouldn’t kill me. How far was that?
I peeked my head out of the door. At the end of the clearing furthest from the team, there was a generator and some big tanks of propane. Would that work?
I could hear the oil company guy yelling in the cabin next door. More questions, then more punches. Then I heard another voice I recognized: Major Zamora: he must be in there, too. “Enough,” he said in English. “He’s not going to tell you anything. Let’s just kill them.”
Oh Jesus. I ran outside and stared at the grenade. I’d only seen them do this in movies. I knew you were meant to pull out a pin and then throw. There was a safety catch and I fumbled with it. Then…here? Pull this ring?
I pulled and the ring came free in my hand, trailing a shiny metal pin. Is that it? Then the sickening realization: oh God that’s it, it’s going to explode!
I turned towards the generator. I’d always been lousy at sports. Memories of a thousand school softball games rose up in my mind, the other girls laughing at me. Oh God oh God oh God—
I threw. And for once, I got it exactly right. The grenade flew in an arc that would have made my Phys Ed teacher proud and landed among the propane tanks.
I ducked and winced in anticipation. But nothing happened. Did I do something wrong? Was there something else I had to—
There was a quick, sharp bang that hurt my ears. Then a massive explosion shook the ground and a shockwave of heat and air lifted me off my feet and slammed me into the cabin’s wall.
42
GABRIEL
The soldiers had forced us to our knees and lined us up facing the wall. JD was thrown down next to us. His nose was broken and one eye was swollen shut.
Major Zamora flexed his fingers, wincing, his knuckles raw from beating JD. Then one of his men tossed him a gun.
This was it. I looked left and right, taking in the team’s faces. We were all going to die, far from home, and it was my fault: I’d gotten them into this.
I heard Major Zamora cock the gun. I’d imagined dying in all sorts of ways: shot by a guard during a theft, shanked in prison by an enemy, double-crossed and left for dead by someone I’d done a deal with. But I never would have dreamed, a few weeks ago, that it would end like this: with me in a team again.
I looked left and saw Cal and Bradan. I looked right and saw Danny, Colton, and JD.
I was going to die. But not alone. I wasn’t ready for the deep swell of emotion that brought.
Major Zamora walked over to JD, who was first in line, and pointed the gun at the back of his head. So that’s how this was going to go. I’d have to wait my turn, I’d have to hear three gunshots, hear JD, Colton, and Danny taken from me before merciful oblivion.
I screwed my eyes shut.
The floor heaved upward and everyone fell forward. A huge explosion blocked out all other sound: for a second, it was just dark chaos: bodies thumping against each other and lots of sharp little pains.
I opened my eyes, stunned that I was still alive.
The floor was a sea of groaning bodies: the team, the guy in the white shirt, Major Zamora and a couple of soldiers, all mixed up together. I realized that the explosion must have rocked the whole cabin for a second: that’s what had knocked everyone over. The windows had blown out, too: we were covered in broken glass.