Her uneven steps faltered as she came to a terrifying halt. If she dropped her gun, she was dead. But knowing who had given the order, Raegan had no doubt the man had a weapon of his own.
With no other choice, she let her gun fall to the ground.
“Turn around,” he ordered next.
She did as she was told and turned to face Samer. The man’s hardened face was as smug as she’d ever seen it, and his Tabuk sniper rifle was pointing straight at the center of her chest.
The vest Raegan wore was lined with Kevlar, but there was no way to know if the ammo in the asshole’s gun was capable of piercing metal.
“Samer.” She met his cold, calculating stare. Letting her gaze drop to the weapon in his hands, she was tempted to critique his hold. However, her desire to not die today trumped the temptation, and instead, Raegan went with a simple, “Why am I not surprised?”
More shouting, gunfire, grunts, and cries of pain filled the hot, thick air. Through her comms, she could hear Chief Tupper order all those believed to have been in the building to respond. Seconds passed with nothing but silence, diminishing her hope that any of them made it out alive.
Joe’s panicked words came next, and it was obvious he was scared as hell as he relayed his need for more ammo. And Valarie…
Come on Val. At least let me hear your voice so I know you’re okay.
Raegan wanted to call for them, too. Her fingers twitched with the urge to reach for her comms and let Chief and the others know she was still with them.
But she couldn’t.
One wrong move—slow or otherwise—and Samer would shoot her right where she stood. As it was, she didn’t understand what he was waiting for. Not when the guy looked as if he wanted nothing more in this world than to pull that trigger.
And here I held in so many clever remarks with this asshole. What a waste of good sarcasm that was.
Her punchy thoughts should probably be cause for concern, but Raegan was more worried about the man’s intent than her witty inner voice.
“You are injured and unarmed.” Samer glanced down at her wounded leg with a shake of his head. “Unfortunate for you, but I suppose this is just further proof that women do not belong in the military.” He brought his brown eyes back up to hers with an added, “Especially entitled American bitches like you.”
Entitled?
Now that just hurt. She wasn’t entitled. Sure, she spoke the truth and didn’t really care what other people thought of her.
But Raegan was kind to others, she respected her elders, and did all the other stuff a decent human being should do. And since this guy was going to kill her any minute now anyway…
“It’s cute you think I’m entitled just because I can handle my business better than you.”
“Better?” Samer threw his head back and laughed. “You must have lost more blood than I thought.Iam not the one with the bullet hole in my leg. And, as you can see, I have the upper hand. Therefore, I am the smarter, better soldier.”
Not in this or any other lifetime, you jackass.
He shifted his hold on his weapon, so the barrel now pointed at her head.
Please. God. Please don’t let this be it.
She wasn’t ready to die. She still had too much living to do.
If I make it out of this, I swear I’ll do better at enjoying life a little more. I’ll date. I’ll even find a guy and do the whole picket fence thing. Just…please don’t let this be all there was to my life.
As if God Himself had answered her prayer, the telltalethump, thump, thumpof an incoming chopper joined the current soundtrack of war. It may not be soon enough to save her, but at least Chief Tupper and the others still had a chance.
They were the ones with people waiting for them back home. Raegan had no one to miss her when she was gone. So, while she may not be anywhere near ready for her life to be over, if it meant letting her friends see their loved ones again, it was worth it.
Maybe this is it. Maybe this is your purpose.
Maybe her whole life had come down to this very moment, and her end goal was to distract this piece of shit terrorist so he couldn’t hurt anyone else. And if she was lucky, and the air strikecame soon enough, Samer would be sent to hell right along with her.
You’re not going to hell, baby girl. You’re coming home to me.