Thank you! 33 reviews for one chapter! I'm floored and speechless. I hope you enjoy this one as much. In two weeks I'll be moving my youngest to college. My chapters may not be as long, but still weekly. Thank you to everyone who helps make this story what it is, and to all if you who read, review, Fav and Like it. It wouldn't be the same without you all!
They had beaten him, tortured him and left him without adequate nutrition. Pain radiated throughout his head and coursed through his body as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Castle couldn't remember the last time he had eaten anything, and his liquids had been severely rationed. His mouth and throat felt like sandpaper. His lips were cracked and bled constantly. The pain that wracked his body impaired his thoughts and often disoriented and confused him. He knew his body and mind couldn't take much more of this.
There was no mistaking the familiar noise that startled him. He was certain they were gunshots and they were nearby. At first he thought he had dreamed it, but the brother's reactions and the yelling into the walkie talkie confirmed his suspicions.
She was here, she had to be. He felt it so strongly he could almost taste her. The way the men scurried around meant that their location had been breached, and he knew without a doubt that it had to be her; he needed it to be her.
They rousted him from the bed, shook him roughly making his head thump angrily and his world spun on it's axis. Bouba, the younger brother, yelled in his native language into his walking talkie. The anger and frustration was palpable. If he had, had his way the cocky author would have been dead long ago.
Another one of their group ran into the room. A heated exchange of words passed between the two. Both of them pointed at Castle as they argued. Then they were on him in a flash, as they pulled him off the bed and screamed at him in their language. He stared at them shocked and confused.
"What? I don't understand?" He managed weakly, his voice raspy and dry. They quickly switched to English and bombarded him with questions.
"Who are they?"
"How many are there?"
"How did they find us?"
Castle smiled to himself after the last question. They found him because she would never give up on him, and she was the best out there.
"I don't know! How would I know? I've been right here!"
The backhand sent him reeling across the floor. Blood splattered across the floor under him.
"Get him up!" The order came from Tareq, the older brother, who had just walked in. "What the hell is going on?"
"I heard shots and ran to the front of the building. I saw Bolly beside their car. He's dead! They shot him. I don't know how many there are, but they only have one dark blue sedan. Can't be too many of them, but they took his gun," answered the American named Henderson.
"We need to get him out of here as quickly as possible. Is Bolly's body still at the car?" The other man nodded affirmatively. "Let's get everyone together. We'll take him out the back and drive away from the main road. This place is huge, but they will expect us to go out the way they came in. The Jeep gives us options. Grab all the guns and ammo you can carry, leave everything else."
Castle tried to listen carefully, but the pain in his head was now explosive. Blood once again drooled out the corners of his mouth, the nausea came in waves. There was no way he could walk out of here of his own accord.
They approached him and waved their guns towards the door. He raised himself up onto his elbows to move but his arms quivered and the room spun wildly around him as he dropped back to the floor. Someone yanked him onto his feet and pushed him in the direction of the door, but his legs gave out from under him and he sprawled across the floor.
"الحصول على ما يصل" the gunman yelled as he kicked him in the side to get him moving. "الحصول على ما يصل، حثالة الأمريكية" Castle curled in on himself in pain.
"How many times do I have to tell you he doesn't understand you when you speak our language?"
"Get up!" The other man yelled again this time in English and then kicked him harder to prove a point. Castle barely moved, he barely opened his eyes to look at them.
The older brother pointed his gun at the man who had just kicked Castle and growled, "Do that again and I'll kill you. We need him alive."
The brothers reached down under each arm and pulled Castle to a standing position. They dragged him across the room and then leaned him against the door. Castle could feel his legs start to give out beneath him.
It dawned on Castle that they were going to try to escape and move him to a new location. The longer he could delay their escape the better his chances were of being found. He knew he couldn't fight, but he could make it harder on those moving him.
The brothers lifted his arms over their shoulders and the drug him out of the room. With Castle's dead weight and the position they were in there was no way they could access their weapons easily. Castle forced himself to relax which made him into dead weight. It both slowed them down and reduced their fighting force by at least two. More if they got tired and had to switch. They started slowly down the hall toward the stairwell.
"Not a sound out of you." Henderson warned Castle as he waved the nuzzle of the machine gun in his face.
The other two gunman flanked them as they moved down the corridor, their machine guns pointed at the ready. When they got to the stairway the first gunman made sure it was clear and gave the signal to continue. The stairway was dark, there were no windows to let the night sky help them maneuver the stairs. Everyone had to rely on their night vision.
Castle lost his balance after only four steps and tumbled to the next landing, he crashed loudly against the far wall. His body was in no shape to make this escape. His last thought before he passed out was, "They are too late."
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Hunt had listened intently as they struggled down the two flights of stairs to where he lay crouched and waiting. They continued their downward decent. He knew where they were headed and needed to take out at least one more of their men. The pointman surveyed the area ahead of them and made sure it was clear. Then came a second armed terrorist, just ahead of the two brothers, who holding up an unconscious Castle. The fifth man covered the rear.
Hunt knew his best bet was to eliminate the rear gunman. The building's floors were basically set up the same. One long corridor with one central staircase down the middle, and one on either side that stopped on the third floor on each side. He knew he could beat them down using the side staircase and then making his way to the corridor with the ambulance bays. One of the rooms closest to the central staircase would make a perfect ambush location.
The group stopped on the landing just past the floor Hunt was on to re-assess Castle's possible injuries. Hunt watched the brothers as they tried to adjust Castle's dead weight so it was better distributed between them. After he watched for a few seconds Hunt concluded that Castle was unconscious. He quickly texted Beckett, "They are moving per plan. It looks like Castle is alive but unconscious."
Hunt moved stealthily through the abandoned corridors to his next location and waited. The outcome of this operation relied on his plan working. Katherine and Richard's lives depended on his next actions. From here on in there could be absolutely no room for failure.
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Hunt was certain Castle was no longer fully conscious. He examined the stairwell after they cleared it, he was pretty sure the last fall had his head bounce off a few steps and then finally broke his fall against the wall. The group's determination showed because despite the difficulty moving him the small group kept moving. When he caught glimpses of them he could see the brothers now supported Castle's weight completely. Their desperation to get to the exit did not trump their need to keep him with them and alive, so they had to stop every floor to catch their breath. Hunt moved ahead of them and hid at a good observation point to observe their progress. He could see they were exhausted and growing impatient both with the situation and each other.
They finally made it to the main floor. Hunt heard Castle's feet as they drug behind him, and the brother's footsteps as they carried him. He quietly waited in the darkened corner of the first room. He heard the point man clear the area and continue down the hall. Next came the small group with Castle. By then Hunt had moved flush against the wall by the door. He could see that the last man, a good fifty feet behind them, had a single point sling on his submachine gun. That was good, when he was grabbed him, he wouldn't drop it on the floor and make noise that would attract attention.
Precisely timed, Hunt stepped out from his ambush spot, slipped silently behind the clean-up man, clasped a hand over his mouth, and pulled him back into a room. A second later as the man thrashed he jammed his knife down behind his victim's collar bone into the top of his heart and ripped it from side to side. The man was unconscious in three seconds and dead not long after. The others continued obliviously ... for now. It took only a few seconds to relieve the man of his submachine gun, pistol, and the magazines for both. He was relieved to see it was a suppressed MP5, a gun he was thoroughly familiar with. It fired 9mm pistol rounds and would have negligible recoil. He needed to keep his shots on target to minimize the chances of a ricochet hitting his son. The good news? This gun would be good for that. The bad news? If the others had this same weapon it would be hard for Beckett to prevail against that much firepower. At this point, it was too late to worry about that or change the plan.
Five seconds after that he was back in the hall and on the move.
Hunt moved two rooms closer to the stairwell along the dark side of the hall. Just before the terrorists reached the end of the corridor he moved sideways into an open door. He quickly checked the magazine on the acquired gun, and was relieved to find it was full of what appeared to be 158g lead round nosed bullets. They would be full power but subsonic. Someone had given these guys good advice on their choice of ammunition.
The terrorists reached the end of the corridor when they noticed their friend missing. Hunt heard them call for him. That was followed by clearly audible worried whispering before Hunt heard what he assumed was one of the brothers ordering them to stop talking and continue.
Hunt set his phone ready to call Beckett. He continued to follow them. When they Reached the end of the corridor, and turned toward the door, called Beckett and whispered, "Lights now!"
He was relieved when less than two seconds later the hallway was flooded with light from the open door. He crouched and when, as he expected one of the men appeared in the doorway, he aimed and fired an accurate three shot burst from the suppressed submachine gun. The man's head exploded blood, brains and teeth as it jerked from the impacts, then he dropped half in and half out of the door. That left three of them for Beckett.
He heard them talking but didn't understand what they were saying. After a few seconds, just to be sure they understood, he fired another burst into the body in the doorway. The shots were quiet enough that he clearly heard the sounds of the bullets hitting the corpse. They would hear it too. His purpose was remind them there was no possible retreat. He shot the corpse so the bullets wouldn't be ricocheting around in the concrete walled foyer to possibly hit Castle.
He made a mental note to avoid stepping in the slippery puddle of blood when he went through the doorway. Then he heard the exit door open and he moved into the hallway.
I used Google translate for the Arabic phrases. They say, "Get up!" And "Get up, you filthy American!" If it doesn't, I apologize! I don't speak Arabic. Please, let me know what you thought of this chapter. Don't forget this will continue with weekly updates with longer chapters (hopefully). I'm honored at the reception this story has gotten! Thank you to my helpers because without them, my ADHD mind would drive all you readers away! They rock! Thanks again for reading :) Follow me on Twitter glo1196 - Tumblr: MyCastleObsession and on Pintrest glo11962 where I have a Castle board!