Not even close.
Whoever he was, it appeared as though he was searching the rooms. For someone or something, she wasn’t sure which. Either way, she had no intention of still being in here when he returned.
Evie began counting the seconds silently in her head. When she reached one hundred, she decided it was time to try to move.
Going against her natural instincts to stay hidden, she slid her body to the edge of the doorway and risked a glimpse outside the room. Her shoulders sagged when the hallway appeared empty from both her left and her right.
After another glance in each direction, Evie decided the coast was clear and rushed from the room. She could only assume whoever it was had gone down one of the tunnel’s other passages, so while he was busy sifting through the remaining rooms, she moved as fast as her quivering legs would take her.
Her pulse raced like never before, and the pain in her left side had worsened to the point it was nearly impossible to pull in a full breath. But she kept on. Pushing her tired and sore body to its limits, Evie was almost to the room where she and the girls had been held when something caught her attention from behind.
She started to spin around, her lips automatically parting in preparation of releasing her scream. But she never got the chance.
A gloved hand filled her vision half a heartbeat before it came crashing down over her gaping mouth. Evie flinched, doing her best to prepare for the pain she just knew would be coming. Though her attacker’s hold was steady and firm, however, there was a gentleness there she had not been expecting.
“Evelynn Mitchell?” The man’s hot breath struck her ear as he asked her name as if to confirm her identity.
Her spine straightened, and her muscles locked down all at once as a new set of fears took hold. The men who’d kidnapped her and the girls already knew her name. So why was this guy asking who she was?
He’s not one of them.
Evie was pulled into the nearest room. With her back to the jerk’s front, he moved lightning fast, spinning her fully around.
It took a moment for her to register the fact that her back was now pressed against the wall near the doorway…and his front was pressed against hers.
The irony in that she’d been in this exact position minutes before as she’d been hiding from, as it turns out, this very same man wasn’t lost on her. The only difference was he hadn’t been with her then.
Now, however…
Now I’m probably going to die.
No, screw that. If this asshole thought he could use her as bait to draw out the remaining Taliban terrorists—or as a human shield, those bastards wouldn’t think twice about shooting to get to him—he was sorely mistaken.
She was going to die regardless, but that didn’t mean she had to make it easy on the son of a bitch.
“My name is?—”
The man started to speak. At the exact same time, Evie lifted her right knee straight up with as much force as she could muster.
The blow struck the man square in the crotch. He grunted as the hand that had been covering her mouth slipped free. And when his left knee started to buckle, Evie saw it as her one and only chance to escape.
She pushed against his vest-covered chest with all her might. Pushed. Shoved. Began kicking and slamming her fists against any and every part of the jerk’s body she could reach.
If anyone had walked by at that very moment, they’d probably think she was some sort of psychotic banshee who’d completely lost her mind. And maybe she finallyhadgone crazy. But at least she wasn’t rolling over and letting this asshole kill her—or use her as a pawn in whatever sick, terrorist game he was trying to play.
Her side burned with every movement she made, but unlike the other man, this one didn’t hit her. Instead, he grabbed her wrists while twisting his lower body from side to side to avoid her incoming blows.
But he never once retaliated.
Though she’d fully expected his fist to come flying her way any second, this guy didn’t so much as evenactas though he were trying to hurt her. Not with his hands or the automatic rifle strapped to his chest.
He did, however, regain control over her by resuming their earlier position.
Evie wasn’t even sure how he did it. One second, she truly thought she was gaining the upper hand, and the next?—
“Damn it, Evelynn, stop!”
The hushed order came with her being pressed back against the room’s rough wall. It was only then that she realized this man was keeping his body against hers, but he wasn’t pushing himself against her.