21
Connor watched through his scope as two soldiers carried Shanti upright between them, her head lolling as if she were unconscious. They dropped her unceremoniously in the dirt, one of them laughing as he groped her breasts while another reached between her thighs. They weren’t searching for weapons. This was assault.
Rage hammered in Connor’s chest, the lust to kill rushing through his veins.
You can’t help her if you lose your shit.
He drew a deep breath and another, put his emotions on lockdown.
There were six of them and one of him, but he had the advantage. They believed he was in the wind, running scared, and that Shanti was alone.
I’m right here, princess.
He had scoped out his shots across this hillside, knowing he could fire at most twice from each location before they spotted him. He had to make every shot count—without turning himself into a target.
Her eyes were open now, her face twisted with pain.
One of them jerked her to her feet, her weight coming down on her broken leg, her cry shredding Connor’s heart.
Focus.
An officer walked up to her, shouted something in her face, and struck her.
Connor couldn’t fire now. If he did, he would risk the round over-penetrating and hitting Shanti, too.
Step to the side, either side, you fucking son of a bitch.
The officer walked to the front of the truck, reached inside for the radio.
Connor exhaled, checked his sight picture, fired.
BAM!
The officer dropped to the ground in a red mist.
Quickly, Connor lined up another shot.
The soldiers forgot Shanti for the moment, letting her fall to the ground again as they scrambled for their weapons.
One raised a rifle, aimed in Connor’s general direction.
BAM!
The soldier fell to the ground, a round in his head.
Connor kept low and ran twenty meters to his right, dropped to a knee in a dense stand of bamboo, sighted on the man nearest Shanti.
BAM!
He ran again, this time taking cover behind an outcropping of rock.
Three down, three to go.
One of the soldiers ran for cover.
BAM!
Connor ran to his next position, raised his rifle—and saw that one of the two remaining soldiers had Shanti now. He hid behind her, using her as a shield, his pistol pointed at her temple. He wasn’t much taller than Shanti, making the shot tougher.