A Small Village

30 minutes outside Fallujah

Andy moaned and opened her eyes. It was dark, so she couldn't see much except for shadows. She tried to move, but her hands and feet were tied together. She felt incredibly sore. She looked around. She saw Olivia lying not far from her, so she attempted to scoot over to her. She sat next to Olivia, and leaned into her, rocking her gently.

Olivia opened her eyes, startled. "God, what happened?" She asked quietly.

"They attacked our base," Andy answered. "They took us captive, and hit us both upside the head, so I guess we've been unconscious. I don't remember much," she told her.

"Yeah, me either," said Olivia. "Where are we?"

"I have no clue, but I don't think we went too far," Andy estimated. "It was about 5 when they attacked, and it's dusk now, probably around 7, so we couldn't have traveled that far," she reasoned.

Olivia nodded. "Yeah," she said before she was interrupted.

Four burly men stomped into the room. The biggest stepped forward and glared at the two women. "If you try to escape, you will be killed," he said. "You will do what we say, or you will be killed," he told them.

He turned to the three men behind him and shouted off some commands in a foreign language, which the women didn't understand.

Two of the men came forward and held Olivia and Andy down as the other two came forward and began to strip the women's clothes off.

Andy and Olivia fought back, kicking and screaming, but the men were three times their size. "Do not fight, or you will be killed," one man spat at them.

Andy reached for Olivia's hand and held it tight. They each squeezed their eyes shut and tears ran down their cheeks as the men raped and beat them.

An hour later, after the men had left, Olivia and Andy were alone in the dark room. Olivia was crying, and Andy wrapped her arms around her friend trying to comfort her. "It's okay," she said. "We're going to be okay," Andy whispered.

"I know," Olivia said. "I just never thought this would happen to me," she said as she cried. "My mother was raped 35 years ago," she explained. "And nine months later I was born."

"That must be hard," Andy said wiping her own tears away.

Olivia nodded and lay down. "It's so cold," she observed.

"It gets cold at night in the desert," Andy told her. "We're definitely not in a big city," she guessed. "We'll sit close together, keep the body heat," she told Olivia.

"Yeah. God, I hurt so much," she said sadly.

"In the morning, when it's light, I'll examine us," Andy told her. "Make sure nothing's broken," she said as she yawned. "We should try and get some sleep, it may be the only peace we get," she said weakly.

"Yeah," Olivia said as she lay down on the hard floor.

Andy lay down next to her. "Night," she said.

Neither of them slept much that night. They must have fallen asleep, because a large man bringing them bowls of oatmeal before leaving awaked them at dawn. Andy and Olivia ate the oatmeal, for they did not know when their next meal would be.

Once they had finished, Andy decided to check Olivia out. "Why don't you let me examine you, make sure you didn't break anything," Andy offered.

Olivia nodded. "Alright. But you don't have any tools, do you?" She asked Andy.

"I've got what was in my pockets when we were kidnapped; some rubber gloves, a stethoscope, but not much more," she said as she got her few tools out. "Why don't you lay back, I'll try to do this as fast as possible," she said as she began to examine Olivia.

Once she was done, Olivia sat back up. "I think you bruised some ribs. It'll be painful, but they'll heal. I'm worried about your eye getting infected from that cut, but we'll try to wash it off. Other than that, you're physically fine," Andy explained. "At least that's one good thing."

Olivia nodded. "Is it possible for the men to have…passed us any diseases?" Olivia asked, afraid.

Andy nodded sadly. "I'm afraid it is. We'll just keep our fingers crossed, and hope for the best," Andy explained.

"What could happen?" Olivia asked as she lay down on the cold floor.

"Any number of things; STDs, HIV, AIDS, bacterial infections, even pregnancy I'm afraid. But we can't worry about that. We just need to stay strong, and figure out a way to get the hell out of here," Andy said. "Can you do that? Can you stay strong for me?"

Olivia nodded. "I can do that. So how are we going to get out of here?"

Dannon Army Base

Pennsylvania

Milo and Elliot were at the Dannon Army Base, hoping to receive some more information about their wives. A tall man walked into the room.

"Hello, I'm Admiral Harmon Rabb," he introduced himself as he shook the men's hands. "I'm very sorry about your wives, but we're doing everything in our power to find them and bring them back safely," he assured them.

Milo nodded. "Do you know where they are?" He asked anxiously.

The Admiral nodded. "We have an idea. The terrorists; kidnappers I mean, they drove west of the Army base in some Humvees that were stolen. Luckily, our men were able to trace the tracks back to a small village about 30 minutes outside of Fallujah. There are about 3 large, empty warehouses there that we have men staked out around. We're awaiting word from the SecArm; the Secretary of the Army; so that our teams can attack the warehouses," he explained.

Elliot thought for a moment. "But if they hear you enter the other warehouses, won't they be alerted of your presence and run?" He asked intelligently.

Admiral Rabb nodded. "We brought one team of 50 men for each warehouse. When the SecArm gives the word, the teams will enter the warehouses at the same time, that way no one will be alerted of our presence," he answered.

"How dangerous will it be for our wives?" Milo asked.

"No more dangerous than what they have already been through," Rabb assured them. "We will make sure they are as safe as possible. We try to get the hostages out of the building before we take down the kidnappers, if possible," he explained.

Milo nodded. "Do you know when the raid will take place?"

The Admiral shook his head. "I can't say for sure, but in the next day or so. You two should go on home to your families. You will be contacted as soon as any new information arises. Right now, I must go hassle the SecArm some more," he said as he stood up and led them to the door.

"Thank you for meeting with us Admiral," Elliot said as he shook his hand.

The Admiral nodded. "I just wish it could have been under better circumstances."

Elliot and Milo drove back to the Campbell residence where they put their children to bed and stayed up late into the night.