attempted to pull it over. Surprisingly it pulled right over. That should have tipped them off, but it didn’t.
Once they were all out of the car, they noticed a car in front of the truck had stopped, and another was stopped behind their car. Men were getting out of both cars. It was a trap. Suddenly they heard a whoosh, and their car bust into fire and flipped up into the air. Lynda saw Ted running toward her, yelling, “Get down, get down.” He did a flip in the air and she realized that he had been shot. She finally got the gun out of her purse and saw the man that had shot Ted. He was barely twenty feet from her. She shot him twice in the chest. This was the first time that she had ever shot a real human being. It felt strange.
She felt the impact of the bullet before she heard it. It hit her squarely in the chest, just below her left breast. It knocked her down. Somehow she held onto her gun.
She raised her head up and saw two of the security guys go down. She shot another man who was running up to her. He went down hard. He scrambled up and was running at her again. She shot him twice this time, once in the chest and once in the stomach. She saw blood spurt out of him. The image of the blood spurting out of the man was burned into her brain.
She realized that she had not been actually shot; the vest had stopped the bullet. She climbed to her feet and ran to Ted. He was bleeding at the neck. The back of his shirt was covered in blood. She grabbed his arm. He raised his other arm and shot two men who had just run around the end of the big truck.
Lynda and Ted both ran to the passenger side of the big truck and climbed in. Ted got in the driver’s seat and slammed the truck into gear. He hit the car and pushed it out of the way, and they were off. Lynda could see where the blood was oozing out his neck. She clamped her hand over it. She looked in the rearview mirror. She could see two of their security people running after the truck. She told Ted to stop. He did. The two men climbed on the back of the truck, and he started it back up again. They went about ten kilometers before they saw a humvee. They stopped beside it, and Lynda got out and told them that they needed help.
The three Army guys pulled Ted out and put a pressure bandage on his neck. They called for back-up.
A car had been following them. It turned around and headed back the way it had come. Two of the soldiers fired at it, but apparently missed.
The two security guys had been looking in the back of the truck; there were no girls in it.
Lynda showed one of the Army guys where she had been shot. He took out his knife and dug the bullet out of the Kevlar. She put the bullet in her back pocket.
The two security guys took the truck back. Ted and Lynda went in the humvee back to the Army hospital. A doctor stitched the wound up, saying, “You are lucky; it just nicked you.”
After going to the hospital, they went back to the center and got just a plain car. Lynda, Ted, and the two remaining security guys all went to check on their armored car. They found it pretty much intact. The rear axle had been bent; the car was useless. They left it on the side of the road. Their two security guards that they had left were both dead. Both had been shot in the head, execution-style. They drove back to the center, doing their best to stay incognito.
Tom told them that they could pick up another armored car at the Army base and they would send a wrecker out to pick the old one up, and could probably fix it. They drove to the Army base and signed out another armored car. They felt much safer than riding in the old, little car that they had been using. They went back to the hotel that night. Ted had hired two more security guards.
They were both lying in bed, when One-Shot said, “We got lucky today. That was a real set-up. Either one of us could have been killed. I think it is about time for us to go home.”
Lynda got the idea that today had really scared Ted. She felt sorry for him. She got up and went over and sat on the side of his bed. She held his hand, and said, “It’s all right, Ted. We are both safe and we just have another week to go, then we can go home.”
Ted said, “I was so scared. I got shot, and I saw you go down. I thought you were dead. I thought we were both dead. But here we are with a second chance.”
Lynda kissed him on the cheek, and he grabbed her arms and kissed her on the mouth. She did not resist. But just sat there looking at him. He smiled up at her. She smiled back. He thought up a joke and told it to her. She laughed and laughed; he thought it wasn’t really that funny.
Lynda said, “Well we learned one thing. We don’t try that again without the Army backing us.”
“Yeah,” Ted said, “a very expensive lesson for us.”
Lynda went and got back in her bed. She heard Ted moaning during the night. She got up and gave him a pain pill and a glass of water. They both slept through the rest of the night.
The next day, Ted could barely move. Lynda left him, with instructions to stay in bed.
She went with the two guards to the center. She went in and called Tom. Tom told her, “Your replacement will be there tomorrow. Spend a few days showing him around, then I will send the plane for you.”
Adziva signaled her that she wanted to talk again. Adziva said, “I am so sorry about yesterday; I had no idea that it might be a set-up. Please forgive me.”
Lynda looked at the older woman. “It is not your fault. You were taken advantage of too.”
Adziva said, “I don’t know if you’re interested, but there is supposed to be another truck today. If you want to go check it out, I will go with you.”
Lynda thought hard. Without Ted she was not supposed to go anywhere, or do anything, She said, “Adziva, let’s do it. The worst that can happen is we just drive around.”
Lynda rounded up four security guys and they headed out to the highway. Sure enough, they spotted the truck. They made a U-turn far after it, and sped up until they were on its tail. Lynda said, “Back off some. Don’t let them know that we are following them.”
They watched for other cars matching the truck’s speed, but there were none. They followed the truck into town. The traffic was heavy. Had the truck not been so tall they would have lost it several times. It finally pulled up at an old dilapidated building. It had once been an all-concrete building, but now many of the walls were patched with adobe. It looked like it had taken several mortar rounds and then been repaired. A small two-seat helicopter sat on top of the building. No one was in it.
The truck had backed up to a loading dock, and a large forklift emerged. A big wooden box was unloaded and carefully set on the dock. Several men stood and watched the entire operation. One of the men was dressed all in white in an American-style suit. The fact that it was all white set him apart from the rest of the men. Once the forklift backed away, two of the men went and unlocked the box. Young girls, this time handcuffed together, were led out into the building.
The man in the white suit came off the dock and walked out toward their armored car. He lit a cigarette and stood looking off into the distance. Lynda struggled to take off her shirt and her vest. She just had the tee shirt on over her bra. She took her hat off and shook her blonde hair free. She said, “Everyone, stay in the car. That is an order.”
She got out of the car and stuck the gun in the back of her pants. She walked down the road, and the man saw her coming. He stood and watched her walk. She prissed slightly, just to get his attention. He was watching her closely. She stopped in front of him. He offered her a cigarette; she declined. She said, “Beautiful day. What are you all dressed up for?”
He pointed with his thumb back to the building behind him, and said, “I run a little operation back there.”
“Do you have any job openings? I could use a job!”
He took her by the arm and smiled at Lynda. He was part European of some nationality. He said, “Come with me. I am sure that we can find something for you to do!”
With her free hand, she reached behind her and stuck the gun further down
into her pants. She said, “Okay, sounds good.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She could see that he was a nice-looking older man, with a mustache. She wasn’t sure why, but the mustache really caught her attention.
He escorted her into the building. There was no sign of the girls. He guided her into an office and swirled around and grabbed her by both arms. He pinned both of her arms to her sides and he kissed her heavily on the mouth. His cigarette breath was horrible. There was also a touch of alcohol on his breath. Lynda tried to pull back, but he was too strong. She tried to kick him in the groin, but he blocked her foot with his knee. He shoved her into a padded chair and grabbed at her tee shirt. She leaned forward like she was trying to comply. He grabbed her shirt with both hands and ripped at it. It gave but did not tear. He had pulled her slightly up out of the chair. “You little whore!” he shouted.
She fumbled at the gun in the back of her pants, but it was stuck. She stood up and slapped him. He pushed her back down into the chair, and grabbed a roll of duct tape off the desk. He was going to tape her hands to the chair. He pulled off a long strip of tape and grabbed her left hand. She did not resist. He was wrapping the tape around her arm and the chair arm when she got the gun loose. She pulled it around. And shot him twice in the stomach. He