Freedom's Promise: Task Force 125 (20 page)

The sound of his growl set off
a warmth
and need between her legs.  Desire overwhelmed her as her body responded to the hard length she was sitting on.  "It is so good to have you back."  She ran her hands over Vince's shoulders and eased her hips forward.  She closed her eyes as a groan escaped her lips.  "Do we have time?"

"Baby, we always have time."

Sasha toasted Vince’s good fortune and smiled the way he always did before launching into one of his tall tales.

Vince chuckled.
 
“What’s it going to be this time?”

Sasha glowed.
 
"So my friend who usually flies arms and ammunition picks up three passengers at an old air base outside Moscow.
 
They pull up in an armored Mercedes and
out come
two big American brutes and this knockout brunette with green eyes.
 
They have no luggage but they're all packing under their jackets.
 
You know?"

Vince nodded and took a sip of his drink.

"It turns out she's going to Afghanistan and these brutes are her bodyguards.
 
She's some hotshot who's connected with my friend's boss through her business.”

“
What’s she do
?”

“She's the biggest opium transporter in the world."

"What's her name?"

"
Scuro
, of course!
 
So they land the plane in Afghanistan and swap it for a Sikorsky and fly toward
Kunduz
when my friend sees a skirmish in the valley below.
 
He moves to avoid it and that's when things get really weird."

~~~

Sarah had a bad feeling about what she saw going on below.
 
Guys from three beat-up trucks appeared to be moving in and firing at people in a single, newer
model truck.
 
This was no carjacking.
 
She pulled out the binoculars from a pocket beside the seat and peered at the newer truck while the pilot changed the Blackhawk’s course away from the action.

Jesus!
 
Its
Jay!

"Go back!
 
Pilot, go back!"

The pilot shook his head.
 
"No way!
 
They might have rockets."

Sarah pulled the sidearm from her thigh
holster,
locked a round into the barrel of her .45 and tapped the pilot's helmet with it.
 
"I'd be more concerned about what the crazy bitch in this helicopter has if I were you.
 
I said go back.”
 
She tapped his helmet one more time for emphasis.
 
“Now do it.
 
You've got plenty of firepower.
 
Engage and destroy those trucks."

"Uh, Sarah…
are
you sure you want to do that?"
 
Brian whispered.

Sarah glared back at Brian.
 
"We're going back there now.
 
I don't care if he flies this rig or one of you
do
.
 
I'd do no less for any of you.
 
That man down there saved my life.
 
Now we can return the favor."

Jason smiled wide as he scrambled into one of the gunner seats.
 
"I’d give my left nut to have a woman like you.”

Sarah didn’t flinch.
 
“A woman like me would cost you both of them.”

Brian nodded at Jason and slid into the other gunner position to check his weapon.

Sarah nodded to the pilot.
 
“Now let’s see what you’ve got.”

The pilot made a wide turn and flew low and fast back toward the fray below.

Jason and Brian opened fire with the mini-guns and reduced the beat up trucks to charred heaps within seconds.

Sarah watched Jay and his partner use the distraction to their advantage.
 
They scrambled back into their truck and hauled ass out of there.

Sarah holstered her handgun and leaned back in her seat.
 
"Follow that truck.
 
That's where we're going."

~~~

Sasha took another sip of his drink while Vince waited for more of the story.
 
"So my friend follows the truck and lands in this mercenary camp.
 
Scuro
apologizes for hijacking him and gives him one thousand American dollars for his trouble.
 
By now, my friend is so hard for this bitch he can't even think straight so he takes the money and waits with her bodyguards in the chopper while she struts into that camp, bold as brass. How crazy is that?"

Stealing Liberties
coming soon!