G Hopf - The Long Road

The shooting of this man caused the woman to make a hard right and start to head west. Bullets hit the ground behind her as the guard who had shot the man targeted her.

Samantha found herself cheering for the woman—come on.

More bullets came flying toward the woman, this time hitting the ground just before her. She darted left, then right and kept erratically moving until she reached the berm. The woman lunged and rolled to the opposite side. On the far side of the berm and safe from bullets, she plotted her next move. She looked toward the mountain in front of her; the rough terrain and rock outcroppings made it an attractive place to hide.

Samantha was so nervous for this poor woman. Then a thought came to mind—this woman could know about Gordon and Hunter.

“We have to help her!” Samantha said loudly to Nelson.

“What? How?” he asked.

“She could know about Gordon and Hunter. We have to help her!”

“Okay, what do you have in mind?”

Inside unknown military installation

The instant the attack came Gordon knew this was his time to act.

He grabbed Derek by the shoulder and said, “Now’s the time, let’s go!”

“Now?”

“Yes!” Gordon exclaimed as he pulled out the knife Hunter had given him.

The guard who was in charge of watching them was still there, but his attention was focused on the action happening at the north end of the base.

Gordon flipped open the blade and walked briskly over to the guard, whose back was toward him. Not hesitating one more second, he grabbed the man by the face, covering his mouth with his left hand, and slit his throat. Blood squirted out of the open artery; then the large volume of blood just cascaded down from the open wound and covered his body. The guard went limp in Gordon’s arm. Knowing he was dead, Gordon let him fall to the ground.

“Let’s get my boy!” Gordon said loudly as he picked up the guard’s semiauto rifle and what extra magazines he could carry.

Pandemonium was gripping the base. People were running all over the place. Some of Rahab’s people ran for the cover of the buildings, while most of his henchmen were assembling at the northern berm and engaging the soldiers. His captives were also reacting in various ways. Some huddled together, scared and unsure of what to do. Others ran toward the perimeter of the base. The other men Gordon was with took off for the eastern berm; beyond them was an open expanse of desert.

Automatic gunfire, screams, and cries made for a symphony of chaos.

“Here!” Gordon said as he handed Derek the blood-covered knife.

Derek reacted with revulsion.

“Take it, goddamn it!” Gordon ordered.

Derek jumped. He took the knife and held it in his shaking hands. The warm blood ran between his fingers and dripped onto his shoes. At first he cringed and tried to wipe off the blood. Then he convinced himself that this bloody knife was the key to his escape. His grip tightened, and he took his first step toward what he hoped was his freedom.

Outside unknown military installation

The woman had made the lower part of the mountain and began to climb.

One of Rahab’s guards was still attempting to shoot her. He had been successful in killing the other two who had attempted the escape over the berm, but the woman was proving to be difficult.

The bullets continued to rain down on her position, but she kept her head down. Each time there was a pause, she assumed he was reloading and climbed higher. Her only trouble was that she couldn’t see any large rock outcroppings for another two hundred feet. She knew she couldn’t stay there, and soon the guard might get help; she would have to make a run for it. Closing her weary eyes she prayed to herself—you can do this girl, now, one, two… When she opened her eyes to look at the path she would take, she saw a shimmer in the rocks above. She squinted and saw a woman waving to her. A nervous and unsure feeling crept through her.

“Who the fuck are you?” she said out loud.

“She saw me, she saw me!” Samantha said excitedly.

“Now what? She has to clear two hundred–plus feet to get to the nearest cover, then another fifty to get to us,” Nelson said.

“We shoot the man shooting at her!” Samantha said confidently.

“That will draw their attention to us. No, no, no!” Nelson insisted.

“We have to help her. We don’t know if Gordon or Hunter are even in there. This woman might be able to help us answer that. Now shoot the man!” she snapped at him.

Nelson raised his eyebrows in astonishment at Samantha’s bravado. He grinned, popped up over the rock, took aim with his rifle, and squeezed the trigger. When the shot cracked, he almost instantly saw the man’s head snap back.

“Good shot!” Samantha squealed in excitement.

“I have to thank Gordon for that,” he said, winking at her.

Seeing the rifle appear, Lexi became nervous. Her back was pressed so hard against the rock she swore she was a part of it.

When the shot rang out, she took a breath and peered around the side of the rock.

The man who had been shooting at her fell to the ground.

She looked back toward where she had seen Samantha waving. No one was there. She peeked again around the rock to make sure it was clear. Seeing it was, she was about to move when she saw Samantha again waving.

“Up here, you’re safe with us, I promise!”

Lexi’s instincts were crying out that this woman looked safe, but her experiences over the past seven and half weeks yelled, Don’t trust anyone. She didn’t know them. She thought that she could be going from the boiling pot into the fire. But the woman looked sweet, she looked safe. Where else am I going to go? Lexi thought. She looked around. Nothing. She was surrounded by nothing. Wide open desert everywhere. She then thought, Should I have run toward the soldiers?

“Fuck!” she yelled out.

Behind her the sound of gunfire was still fierce, but it had diminished.

She looked back up.

Samantha was still there waving for her to come.

Peeking one last time around the rock to see if all was clear, Lexi finally took that step toward Samantha.

“Fuck it!” she said.

Inside unknown military installation

Gordon’s deliberate and ruthless nature was in full force. He had shot two of Rahab’s men outside the main building.

Derek jumped over the two bodies and opened the door for Gordon.

Gordon came right up behind him. He popped his head in and looked in either direction. No one was there, so he entered the building with the rifle at the ready. The main entrance opened into a small lobby. To either side were long hallways that wrapped around the entire building. On the insides of the hallways were numerous rooms and offices.

“Now where do we go?” Derek asked with a labored voice. The run from across the base had exhausted him.

“Sshh! Listen! Upstairs!” Gordon said, looking for the closest stairwell.

“There!” Derek shouted out and pointed to a sign on a wall down the main hall.

Gordon, with the rifle firmly in the pocket of his shoulder, tactically walked down the hall.

Derek stayed close behind. He had retired the knife and taken a rifle from one of the guards Gordon had killed at the entrance.

The gunfire was now faint behind the walls of the building.

When Gordon reached the end of the hallway, he slowly reconnoitered the area. When the door to the stairwell entered his field of view, he saw another guard standing there at the ready. Gordon squeezed a shot off, hitting the man squarely in the chest. He then came fully around the corner and put two more rounds in the man. Stepping up to the guard, he grabbed a pistol from him, tucked it into his waistband, and took all the magazines from him and tucked them into his pocket.