Knowing every second that passed was one second too long, Phantom moved toward the two rebels against the wall. He didn’t dare turn on a light, and the closer he got, the harder his heart beat.
He was prepared to search the entire house, but it looked like luck was with him for once—he’d recognize Kalee Solberg’s red hair anywhere.
It might be cut short, but no native citizen from Timor-Leste had hair that color.
Kalee wasn’t moving, and for a second, Phantom had a flashback to all those months ago when he’d looked down at her from above the mass grave. He’d been looking at the back of her head then too. But this time, he wasn’t leaving her behind. No way in hell.
Phantom moved silently toward her. This would be tricky. He had no idea how she’d react. The bottom line was that, while Phantom didn’t think she was working with the rebels willingly, there was always a chance he was wrong. And if he was, he might not make it back to the States to face the consequences of his actions.
Kalee lay on the hard wooden floor with her eyes closed, but she wasn’t sleeping. She never slept well. Ever since her nightmare had started, she rarely slept through the night. For the most part, the rebels had left her alone for the last few months, deciding it was more fun to rape and torture the women in the houses they raided than bother with Kalee, who no longer resisted. But that didn’t mean she trusted them. No way in hell.
They’d shown from the very beginning that they had no morals, and they took great delight in forcing her to do everything they demanded.
At first, she’d defied them every chance she got. After trying to run away for the fifth time, Kalee had been beaten so badly, she’d almost died.
She’d lain in the dirt, unable to get up or defend herself, when the first man came toward her with an unholy look of lust in his eyes. Kalee was barely conscious as the man raped her…and surprisingly, when he was done, no one else came forward to take a turn.
Later, she’d learned the man hadn’t been able to ejaculate, and he’d blamed her. Calling her the “red devil” because of her hair color. And no one else had wanted to risk their manhood enough to take her by force. She became grateful for that moniker.
In that moment though, the pain from the beating was so bad, she’d just wanted to die. But they hadn’t let her, of course. They’d hauled her up and forced her to walk to their next camp. She hadn’t been able to see out of one eye, and the other was almost swollen shut. One arm had definitely been broken, and she hurt so badly all over that she hadn’t been sure she was going to make it.
Despite that, it had taken a few more beatings for Kalee to truly learn her lesson.
Now, if she kept quiet, did what she was ordered to do, she was mostly left alone. The men she was forced to keep company with were still quick to strike, to get her to move faster or be quieter, but it was almost as if they’d become bored with her presence. Most of the time lately, she could get through a day without being spoken to at all.
She still thought about escaping often, especially after they’d arrived in the capital city, but flashbacks to what would happen to her if she failed kept her terrified and compliant. She couldn’t go through another beating.
And she couldn’t allow anyone else to die because of her. She’d kill herself first.
But every day, she prayed the rebels would be taken captive by the Timor-Leste military. Surely she’d be separated from the men, and that would give her a chance to tell her side of the story. To maybe convince someone she wasn’t really a rebel, and they’d let her go home.
It was a pipe dream, but that was all Kalee had to live for now.
Though, she still had the option of orchestrating her own death. It wouldn’t be hard. Provoke the rebels enough and they’d surely kill her. Or she could step in front of one of the rifles during a raid and be shot. She’d also thought about jumping out the window of this crappy house, but it wasn’t high enough; she’d only hurt herself and be forced to continue on, even with a broken leg.
Besides, Kalee didn’t want to die. She wanted to live. To get home to California. To see her dad and Piper again. She had no idea what her life would be like; she was definitely fucked in the head now. But she wanted to live.
As Kalee lay on the floor, she thought she heard a sound behind her. Every muscle in her body tensed. She wouldn’t put it past one of the rebels to attack her in the middle of the night. They’d all gotten drunk as hell last night, and sometimes when that happened, they’d get horny and want relief. With her “red devil” reputation and her efforts to fade into the background, they usually found someone else to force themselves upon, but there was always the chance a rebel would be drunk or desperate enough to take what he wanted.
She was about to turn over to confront whoever was sneaking up on her, but Kalee didn’t get the chance.
A heavy body forced her from her side to her belly and a hand clamped over her mouth. Hard.
She bucked, but the man on top of her didn’t move even an inch. She felt him lean down, practically covering her from head to toe. His body weight was heavy, and it was hard to breathe. Kalee sucked in as much air as she could through her nose and tried to get her arms out from under her body. She’d learned that fighting always made things worse for her, but there was no way she was going to lie there and let them rape her. Not again. It had been months since anyone had tried to violate her, but she hadn’t forgotten how helpless she’d felt each time.
Just when she managed to get one arm out from under herself, the man on top of her leaned close and whispered in her ear. She felt his warm breath against her skin, goose bumps breaking out on her arms at the sensation.
“US Navy. I’m here to take you home.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did, every muscle in Kalee’s body instantly relaxed. He could be lying, she knew that, but for some reason, she didn’t think so. For one, he was speaking English, and he didn’t have an accent like the rebels. Secondly, he didn’t smell like the disgusting, dirty, unwashed bodies she’d almost gotten used to being around. The slight scent of pine wafted to her nose with every inhale. It had to be his soap.
The man didn’t remove his hand from her mouth as he asked, “Do you understand?”
Kalee nodded as best she could, and he slowly moved his hand from her face. She thought she felt him caress her cheek as his hand moved, but decided she must be imagining things.
Opening her mouth, she took a long, deep breath. She wanted to leap up and run for the door, but knew that would be extremely stupid. So she remained under his heavy body and waited. A part of her wanted to believe that she’d really been rescued and would finally be going home, but another part wondered if this was it. This was her day to die.
Because she couldn’t fathom how in the hell they were going to get out of the house.
She felt him ease his weight off her, but he didn’t completely let her go. She slowly turned her head and, for the first time, looked at the man who claimed he was there to rescue her.
The room was dark, but not enough to completely obscure him from her sight. He had thick brown hair, was wearing a pair of olive-green khakis and a black shirt. He had a short beard and a mustache. But it was the intensity in his gaze that caught her eye. The men she’d spent months and months with had nothing but evil in their eyes. The different emotions she saw in this man’s gaze were almost overwhelming.