11. Ghost

It tooktwo hours before we saw the building, which we thought might hold the Americans. But we weren't taking any chances. All of us had our guns drawn. As soon as I knocked on the door, it was opened. I looked down at the child who opened it.

"Hurry, my Mom's having the baby," the child said before turning around and running back inside. I turned and looked at the others before walking inside.

Everyone followed me as we slowly stepped inside and looked around. I hurried to where I heard a woman crying. She was definitely in labor. I looked at the guys before squatting down to help the woman. Viper joined me, and I spoke to the woman while Viper checked her.

"What happened to the other two people we were supposed to pick up? How long have you been in labor?"

Her eyes flew open, and then she smiled. "They said they were going to look around, and that was before the sandstorm. I hope they could find a place to get out of that sandstorm," she said before crying out. "I've been in labor for about eight hours, and the baby is ready to be born. I have everything I need in that bag right there," she said, pointing at a suitcase.

Thirty minutes later, a new baby boy joined his mama and sister. "I wanted to have him in America," she cried. "I don't want to put his birthplace as Afghanistan. He was born in America, who is here to say he wasn't?" I said, smiling.

"Yes, he was," she said. "Thank you for all the help. What are we going to do about the others?"

"We need to rescue someone else, so that'll give them another hour or so before we leave. How far are we from the town?" I asked.

"About fifteen minutes. I wouldn't try going into that town. There are soldiers everywhere. If you plan to go into town, you should be dressed like them. You are a dead giveaway with those eyes. Don't look at anyone," she said.

"We have some clothes; let me get them from the jeep," Killian said as he stepped back outside.

Twenty minutes later, we were on our way. "Why don't we leave the jeep outside, and we'll go on foot the rest of the way? I hope he's still alive and is in there. How old is he now?"

"Twenty-eight. The kids are growing up," Killian said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, it's about time you retired and let the younger guys do this," I said, smiling.

"We have younger ones working for us, but they were away on other business. I wouldn't trust this to anyone but us old timers," He said, grinning.

"There the building is. Let's go down this alley and see if we can get in the backway," I made sure no one could see my face if we came upon anyone. I looked at Killian. He was half-American Indian and fit right in with everyone around here.

I held my breath as we walked down the hallway. No one was around. I wondered where the guards were. Did everyone leave?

"Where is everyone," Killian whispered.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned down another hallway. I saw two guards walking, grabbed Killian, and stepped back into the hallway. When they passed us, we could hear them laughing about beating the American up.

I wanted to grab them around the neck and beat the hell out of them. Before realizing what I would do, I grabbed both of them and knocked their heads together. Then I punched one in the face, and Killian grabbed the other.

They didn't even get a punch in before we beat them both unconscious. Then we dragged their beaten bodies to the room they came from. It was locked, but we found a key in one of the guy's pockets. When I pushed the door open, we saw Jason lying on the ground unconscious.

"Fuck, please don't be dead," Killian murmured. That's when he turned his head and looked at us.

"Thank God you're here. They plan on killing me tomorrow. We need to get out of here before anyone else comes. Killian pulled him up, and I pulled the other two into the room and tied their mouths shut with some cloth from their clothes. I tied their hands and feet. Then we left. No one said a word as we walked out of there. I put my headpiece on Jason to cover his blond hair. His legs buckled under him.

"I have some cracked ribs, and my shoulder is out of socket. I'm sorry, but I don't feel very good. I couldn't throw him over my shoulder with cracked ribs. I picked him up and carried him in my arms like I do Viper's kids. I couldn't believe we found him.

When we got back to where the others were, Kash and the Army Rangers were there. Kash rushed over and took Jason from me. "Jason, we have you now, son," Kash said, wiping his eyes. I remember Kash helped raise Jason since he was fifteen.

"His ribs are cracked. He has a hell of a knot on his head. His shoulder needs to be put back into its socket. He said his legs hurt. They were going to put him under the firing squad tomorrow. You need to get him out of here."

"Thank you for saving my son. Emily will call all of you. Let's get the hell out of here," he said as he turned to the other Rangers.

Killian and the Band of Navy Seals were the next to leave. Before I looked at my team, I looked at the woman, her new baby, and the little girl before turning to the others.

"We won't be able to stay any longer, and we need to leave. The sandstorm is over, and everyone is back in the open again, sweeping up sand. We'll wait until the sun goes down, but we can't wait any longer than that," I said as I stood around my team.

"I agree. We need to get out of here. The Taliban will be hunting for whoever helped break Jason out of their clutches. I'm sure they are already checking all the buildings around the main building," Steel said as we walked to the back of the building, where we could talk without the woman hearing us.

"We need to keep an eye open outside. I'm going to the roof and see if I can see anything. If you need me, I'll be up there and let you know if anyone is coming," Viper said as he picked up his bag and headed out the back door.

"How the hell is he going to get on the roof?"

"There is a ladder in the back that goes to the roof. I was up there earlier. You can see for miles away now that the sand stopped blowing. I hate leaving before the others return, but they shouldn't have left," Steel said. "I'm so happy you found Jason. He was lucky we were here and you knew about that place."

The sun was going down when Viper walked inside. "Some people are walking this way. I hope it's our people because we need to leave now. Get your bags I've seen soldiers coming this way, and they are looking in all the other buildings.

We walked out the back door with the woman, her baby, and the little girl. "I'm sorry, but this will be a bumpy ride."

"I'm just glad to leave this place. It's horrible here now that the Taliban has taken over. My parents are in California at my home, that's where we will go."

"Where is your husband?"

"I don't know. He went to find us a way out of here six months ago and never returned."

"Do you think he is held prisoner somewhere?"

"I want to talk to your company when we get home. I want to hire you to find my husband."

"We'll talk about that later. I saw two people hurry to the building. Are these the others that were missing?"

"Yes, that's them."

I saw them walking to us with Viper. "Ten more minutes, and you wouldn't have made it. You're lucky we waited this long. Climb in. We're leaving, so let's load up," I didn't have to tell them twice. "Where did you go?"

"We went to find my daughter, but she was gone. I hope she was able to get out before they found her. My daughter helped others held captive, and they discovered it was her."

"I'm sure if she could help others, then she's able to escape herself. Who knows, maybe we'll see her on the way."

"I pray we do see her."