Free The Called: Chosen (The Called Series Book 2) by Justin Price

Maggie floored the accelerator. The tires squealed until they gained traction. She was frantic. “We need to get you some medical attention!” she said with a shaky voice. “I can’t believe that they have taken John. After all that he went through to rescue me…I’ve lost him.” She hung her head in defeat with tears spilling over her eyelids. She quickly wiped away her tears and put her focus back on the road.
    “Maggie, I’m sorry this has happened. We just got too brave with what we did. Going out in broad daylight like that in the open, we were just asking for it”, said DeShawn.
    “It’s not your fault”, said Maggie. “I don’t want you to think that.”
    DeShawn sat there wincing in pain; holding his bloody shoulder. “You’re right”, he said. “I just can’t help but think this could have been prevented.”
    “Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Could you tell me what happened back there?”
    He looked over at her, debating in his mind on whether he should give details.
    “Go ahead”, said Maggie. “I can take it.”
    “Alright. We all heard the helicopter coming, but by the time it got there it was too late. We had nowhere to go and they were already firing. It was obvious that they didn’t want to hit John and we were all so close together that they didn’t concentrate fire on the middle of the group. The purpose of their first round of fire was to get us to run and spread out so they could take John. I realize that now.”
    He stopped right there and fought back tears so he could continue. “Go ahead. It’s okay”, said Maggie gently.
    “So we ran as fast as we could for cover by the vehicles, but that was several meters away. Within a few seconds, they had three men repelling from the chopper and we all took battle stances. We started to return fire as they came down. We hit one of them, but the other two started firing just as the helicopter began firing again as well. I saw Bo get hit first. He went down immediately. Then, I saw Chaim go down and start crawling toward the water. That second, I felt a terrible stinging pain in my shoulder. I knew I had been shot and the next one could have been fatal so I went down immediately and laid there still while they took your husband and cuffed him. They were all gone within a minute. I crawled toward the van to call for help when you came back. Bo has gone on to heaven and I assume Chaim has as well.”
    “I should have never left. I could have gotten to you and we could have made it out”, said Maggie regretfully.
    “No…no you couldn’t have. Even if we would have made it in the car with you, they would have chased us down. There was no escaping. You are fortunate that you weren’t pursued. For all we know, they could be doing that very thing right now.”
    “I really hope that isn’t the case”, said Maggie. “I guess we will find out soon. What do you think we should do?”
    “We need to get back to base as soon as possible without being detected. It would be catastrophic if they followed us”, said DeShawn. “I wouldn’t want the guilt of everyone else’s blood on my hands.”
    Maggie’s breathing became quick and shallow as she gripped the steering wheel; her knuckles turning white and her face becoming a crimson red.
    “Maggie? You alright? It’s okay. Just pull over and breathe.”
    Through her shallow breaths, he managed to hear her say, “panic attack”.
    “Alright now, Mag. Let’s pull over here. We don’t want you to pass out while you’re driving.”
    They pulled over to the side of the road as Maggie struggled to take a breath. “No! John! This can’t be happening! Why God? After all we have been through, how could you have let this happen?”
    Maggie sat there with her head on the steering wheel wailing and cursing between breaths. DeShawn hated to see things come to this, especially after all the progress they seemed to be making toward John and Maggie accepting Christ. He just laid his head back,