Free SEALs of Honor: Cooper by Dale Mayer

well. She kept trying to dodge behind the buildings and circle back and around to where the men had to be waiting for her. In fact, she damn well hoped they were out looking for her. If she could get close enough she’d start screaming, but there was no point in alerting the enemy to her position if she also couldn’t alert her rescuers.
    She barreled around another corner, took a right and started running back toward safety.
    And got two steps in before she slammed into a huge man. With her breath knocked out of her, she tumbled to the ground.
    Before she had a chance to say or do anything she was picked up like a rag doll and squeezed.
    *
    Cooper was pissed. At himself. At her. At the little rat driver. He stormed through his section of the camp, one of the refugees who spoke a little English was at his side, asking anyone they came across if they’d seen Jamel or Dr. Sasha. They’d had a stream of nos so far and it wasn’t doing any good to panic, but he wanted to. Damn it. Where the hell was she?
    She knew it was dangerous here. She had to know that it was possible the kidnappers lived here – still lived here. If they saw her…
    He should never have let her out of his sight. He cursed yet again to let off a little steam, but his mind was organized and reaching for answers.
    “Anything?” he said into his headset.
    “No. No one has seen her. Most weren’t awake as it’s early and many were hiding as they didn’t understand the commotion, but not one has seen Dr. Sasha and she’s well-loved here.”
    She was well-loved by everyone who’d been lucky enough to have her work on them too. She was just that kind of person. His translator stopped at a shack and sent out several questions.
    A little girl with a cast on her arm smiled and nodded. The translator crouched down and talked to her. She nodded again and smiled up at him. Then she pointed past her home. Even Cooper understood that. And he ran down the direction she’d pointed out. The translator called up again, but Cooper’s feet didn’t want to slow.
    “She turned left here.”
    Damn it. He turned and backtracked a few feet and followed the man who was now heading down a different lane. This place was a maze. How could anyone keep track of it? There were tents everywhere.
    “Did she say anything else?”
    “Yes. Dr. Sasha is with Jamel.”
    Of course she was. Well, she wasn’t going to stay that way.
    “She was running with the driver chasing her.”
    “So she’s trying to escape from him. Damn it.”
    He studied the faces as they peered through the doorways. Sasha, where the hell are you?
    The pathway ended abruptly and he came to stop. There was nothing ahead of them. Except tire tracks.
    Shit.
    “Mason?” At the quiet affirmative he quickly explained what he’d heard and found.
    “Security gate is locked down. No one is going in or out. There aren’t many vehicles here at all and none will get outside.”
    That helped but not by much. He turned to study the tracks. “Where’s Hawk?”
    “Should be thirty-seconds away.”
    Sure enough when he lifted his gaze a second time it was to see Hawk coming from the side, his gaze on the ground. “Her tracks stop here.”
    “Likely after getting into the vehicle.”
    Hawk nodded. But he didn’t stop reading the ground and what it would tell him. “No. She fell here.”
    He pointed out a series of smudges on the ground that didn’t tell him anything. “Then she got to her feet, and bending over she raced that way.”
    “What way?”
    Suddenly, Cooper could see her childlike footprints racing down the path. He took off in pursuit. Hawk right beside him.
    “Let me go in front.”
    Because that made the most sense, Cooper eased the pace back slightly and let Hawk take the lead. Hawk suddenly took a right then a left and came to a stop at another of the many identical tent homes. “Their tracks went in here,” he said in a low voice. “But I can’t tell if she’s still in here or