8. River

8

River

I couldn’t believe we were in this predicament. First, Gideon gets shot, and now we’ve been holed up in this damn tunnel for a week. Our point man was dead, and someone else had taken his place, pretending to be him.

We see more of the Iranian Army every time we try to leave. I just hoped Kat wasn’t doing anything reckless because our phones were dead. Lately, she had been surprising all of us to the point where we never knew what she might do next.

“How’s your wound?” I asked Gideon.

“It’s fine. I can run whenever we get the chance. I’m tired of this fucking tunnel,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. “I need a shower or at least a pond to rinse off all this sweat and grime.”

“We have to find those missing Army Rangers. Cooper Allen and Neal Grinnell have been missing for over a month. We’ll also need to refill our canteens soon. And yeah, you’re right—you do smell pretty bad,” I said, walking away with a laugh. I even heard him chuckle.

“I don’t see any signs of movement out there. Do you think we can make a run for it? There are three of us; we can easily take down ten guys,” Gage said. “They’ll find this cave soon. I don’t want to be inside when they do.”

“Let’s wait until dark, and then we’ll move. I want to try to find out if the Rangers are still alive. What were they even doing here?”

“I don’t know,” Gage said.

Once the sun went down, it was pitch black outside except for the stars. “Let’s go,” I said, and we ran along the cliff. The temperature had cooled enough that we could run without overheating.

After a couple of hours, we spotted lights ahead. I raised my hand to signal a stop as a large jeep with two occupants approached.

“We’ll take the jeep from these two,” I whispered. We were dressed like Iranians, so we were surprised when they pointed guns at us. The two occupants glanced at each other, and then I heard a familiar chuckle.

“Fuck, what the hell are you doing here?” I asked, pulling her from the jeep.

“I’m here because three members of our team were missing. It’s been three weeks since we last heard from you, and we were worried you were locked up somewhere or worse. We had no idea why you couldn’t call,” she explained.

She stepped back, and I frowned. “Why are you backing away from me? You don’t think I’m going to hurt you, do you?” I growled.

“No, I’m just trying to escape your smell,” she said.

We chuckled, knowing exactly how bad we all smelled. “I’m taking the first shower,” I said as we climbed into the jeep.

“You three can ride in the back. We’ll take you to where we’re staying so you can all shower. Now, where the hell have you been?” Faron demanded.

“We’ve been stuck in a damn tunnel; you couldn’t even call it a cave because you couldn’t stand up in there; we were waiting for the Iranian Army to clear out. How did you know where we were?”

“Kat knows a lot of people here. When she was here before, they told me she helped everyone, not just Americans. She saved a lot of lives,” Faron explained.

“I did what any of you would have done. I also found out that the Army Rangers are being held in the central prison. They’ve been beaten because they tried to escape,” Kat added. “I think, from what I heard, they’ll need to be carried out of there.”

“Faron, Kat, thanks for showing up. A couple of kids spotted us running in their backyard, and they shouted for help. We took a vehicle and ditched it in another part of the city. Then we hitched a ride on the back of a truck and ended up out here when the driver spotted us.”

“I’m just glad you’re all alive,” Kat said. I was still pissed that she had come to Iran. I’d say something about it after I had a shower.

“We have food. One of my friends brought us something to eat, and plenty was left over. I’ll heat it up while you shower,” Kat said.

“I can’t believe how easy it was to find you guys. Have you ever seen the inside of that prison?” Kat asked.

“No, I haven’t,” I said, and the others echoed what I said. “How the hell are we going to get into that prison?”

“Kat knows someone who works there. She said she’d try to talk to them. Have you guys noticed how much Kat has changed? I know you’ve been with us on missions before,” Farron said, “but usually, you sit quietly until one of us asks a question. Now you talk non-stop,” Faron said.

I didn’t like the thought of Kat getting her feelings hurt, so I looked at her, and she just rolled her eyes before looking at Farron.

“Please tell me what I said when I talked non-stop. That’s not true, Faron, and you know it.”

“I’m playing with you, sweetheart. Did you forget I’m the teaser of the group? I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, I guess I did forget,” she said, giving him the eye.

I’ll have to set Faron straight on one thing: he does not ever call what is mine, sweetheart, with that look in his eyes like he wanted her.

We drove for another thirty minutes, and Kat turned around and looked at me. “I feel that something is off. Usually, when I get that feeling, something is off.”

“Faron, turn here and turn the lights off. Can you see enough to drive on this road? Now turn around, and we’ll see if anyone shows up. We waited until the first headlights showed up, then we drove away.

“They were waiting for us to show ourselves before they came back, hoping to surprise us,” I said, looking around. “Here comes more. Can we get the fuck out of here without them knowing about it?”

“It’s a good thing we showed up when we did,” Faron said. “I can drive without headlights. I’m used to doing things in the dark.”

It took us over an hour to get to where we were going. I showered while the food was heating. “This smells good,” I said, smelling the food. “I was getting tired of granola bars and jerky.”

We sat around the table eating. “Where is the prison located?” I asked, looking at each of them. Kat put some homemade tortillas on the table, and we dipped them into our soup.

“It’s on the outskirts of town. It’s a small prison. I heard they hold all the foreigners there. It is heavily armed with guards told to shoot first,” Kat said, taking a bite of her food.

“Other countries have tried to rescue their people, but they were shot before they had a chance of getting close to the entrance,” Kat explained. I still couldn’t get over the change in her. How did she keep quiet for two years? I always knew she was brilliant, but now she showed us how smart she was.

“So, how are we going to get in there?” I asked. “if they shoot first, then we will all be shot.”

“They are going to poison their evening meal,” Faron said.

“How are they going to do that?” I asked, grabbing another tortilla.

“The cook wants to go home with us; he has family in Chicago. He is going to poison the guard’s food for us. We will show up there tomorrow night dressed as guards. We’ll open the prison so everyone can get out. And rescue our guys,” Faron said.

“It sounds easy, but what if it’s a trap?” I asked.

“If it’s a trap, then we will all be dead,” Faron said.

I glanced at Kat. “I want you to stay out of this. If it’s a trap, I want you to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.”

“I’ll be waiting with the vehicle. How did you think you would get out of there?”

Gideon will wait with the vehicle. I don’t want you anywhere near that fucking prison. Kat, when I give you an order, you will listen to me. I want you to stay here.”

“If I stay here, you would have to come back through town to pick me up. That doesn’t make any sense. I’ll wait in the jeep with Gideon.”

I sighed and nodded. Of course, she was right; I just didn’t want her close to that prison. “We need to get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch,” I said, stretching.

“I’ll take the watch. I’ve had sleep. You three need it more than me,” Faron volunteered.

We waited an hour after the guard's meal the next night before heading out. I was still nervous about all of these plans. I never trusted people making plans that I wasn’t involved in. So, as we snuck around the back of the prison to make sure no guards were walking on the walls, we heard others talking inside.

Gage helped me onto the wall, and I saw the prisoners talking. “You need to get out of here before someone finds out what happened,” I said. “Do you know where the Americans are?”

“They are chained to the wall of their cells. All the guards have the same keys, so any key will fit.”

“Can you point me in the right direction?” I asked as Gage, and then Faron jumped from the wall.

That building they are in is to the left. There are other prisoners chained to the walls. How long before they wake up?”

“They’re not going to wake up.”

“Okay, I’ll help.” He ran to a guard twenty feet from us and grabbed some keys. We did the same when we saw the guard lying on the ground. It took twenty minutes before we came upon the two Army Rangers. They each had to be carried out. They were unconscious, and it looked like a knife was used on them.

When we got to the Jeep, Kat started working on them. She poured alcohol on their knife wounds. Then she poured water on their face; one woke up swinging. Unfortunately, Kat got a punch in her eye before she had time to duck out of the way of the arm swinging.

I could see her eye was already swelling. “Gage, you’ll have to finish for Kat,” I looked at her, knowing that was painful. I’ve had plenty of black eyes in my time. I handed her a wet cloth, and she put it over her eye.

“I’m thankful you two came for us. We’d still be walking,” I explained.