Primary Valor by Jack Mars (booksvooks TXT) 📗

Black Hawks and squads of Delta. I will see to itmyself.”

Ed didn’t answer.

Luke looked at him. Ed was takinga sip from his coffee mug, his eyes peering over the top. Those eyes said thiswas not an arrest, or an extraction. It was a hit. At least, that was how Lukeread them.

This was beginning to seemimpossible.

“Yeah, but how do we even get inthere?” Luke said. “The island looks like dense jungle pretty much everywhere,and it’s a steep hillside, so it would be hard to parachute in, especially atnight. The airfield is doable, but they control it. Even if we do get in, howare we supposed to get back out again?”

“Right,” Don said.

“Is that an answer to my question?”

“Do you remember a guy named BuzzMacDonald?” Don said.

Luke shook his head and smiled. Whatwas this, some sort of nostalgia game? Of course he remembered him. Mike “Buzz”MacDonald was an old combat junkie from even before Don’s generation, whenspecial operations wasn’t a term yet. He was still around Joint SpecialOperations Command when Luke was just coming on board Delta.

They used to call him Buzz Mac. Buzzsaw.Iron Mac. Big Mac. A bunch of nicknames. He was the ultimate cowboy, even moreso than Don himself. Don could play along well enough that the brass trustedhim with men under his command, and now with his own agency. Buzz MacDonald wasout there on a limb, all by himself. The gossip was that Buzz had lived throughmore than a hundred missions.

“Yeah,” Luke said. “I rememberhim.”

“He’s waiting to talk to us,” Donsaid. “I believe he can get you men in there.”

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Morning

An Island Near Honduras

The Caribbean Sea

 

 

21 needs to get out of here.

It was the first thought on hermind as she slowly came awake. She knew it was daytime because the light hadchanged, from absolute darkness to a dim twilight. She also knew it because shewas hungry, thirsty, and had to go to the bathroom. She was learning to telltime by her bodily urges.

21 better think of something.

Soon, a small, dark man in a greenuniform would open the door and wordlessly walk her down the short hall to thegrimy bathroom. After that, he would bring her breakfast on a tray, with waterand tea. Or maybe, if she was lucky, Mistress Elaine would turn up and take heroutside onto the bright, sunlit patio for breakfast.

She knew where she was now, moreor less, and she had some sense of the time. Her orientation was much betterthan it had been. She still had no idea how long she had been gone from home,but it now seemed like she had been here just a few days.

Last night before she slept, inthe pitch dark, she went over the day in her mind. She didn’t think aboutDarwin or Elaine, per se. She did not want to think about them, or what theywanted from her.

She thought instead about theplace.

It was an island near Honduras. Sheknew that. Near, but far. Not so close that you could swim there.

The house was very big, with lotsof rooms. When they led her upstairs to see Darwin yesterday—it was yesterday,wasn’t it?—she had lost track of where she was going.

There were men here, soldiers. Theycarried rifles. There were other men, as well, big white men in suit jacketswith dangerous looks in their eyes. In fact, all the men here had dangerouslooks in their eyes, from Darwin on down.

There was a fence around thisproperty. She had noticed that. She had also noticed the looping razor wire atthe top of it. The place was a fancy beautiful prison, and she was trappedinside.

There were telephones here. Darwinhad one on his table. It was old, but it was definitely a working phone. Shehad been posing for him, showing him her body, and then one of the big men hadcome in and told Darwin there was a phone call. She noticed Darwin look at thephone. After she left, he was going to pick it up and talk on it.

People could call here, and thatprobably meant you could call out.

Call where?

Home, of course.

How?

She didn’t know. Did you have todial a certain number to get an outside line? Did you have to dial one followedby an area code? Was there a special code because you were out of the country? Shedidn’t know any of these things.

And if she reached someone, whatwould she tell them?

“I’m on an island near Honduras.” Wouldthat be enough? Were there a lot of islands near Honduras? How far away wasHonduras?

There was so much she didn’t know.

She had seen a photo of the beachhere. Elaine had told her that one day, when they trusted her, they might lether go off the property and down to the beach with the other girls. Could youswim away from here? Was there another island nearby that you could swim to? Charlottewas a good swimmer.

Charlotte. My name isCharlotte.

But she wasn’t swim-across-the-English-Channelgood. She wasn’t Olympics good.

Also, what if there were sharks inthe water?

That wasn’t going to work.

Just then, the familiar sound ofthe bolts being pulled back came. Charlotte was still on her bed, with the robestill on, and face down under the threadbare blanket. She rolled over andpulled the robe tightly around her. She prepared to shield her eyes from thesudden onslaught of light about to come.

The door opened and the lightstreamed in. There were two figures in the doorway. One was a man, probably thesame man who opened this door every morning. The other figure was a thin female—MistressElaine. Good. That was good. Charlotte did not like Elaine, and was afraid ofher. But she would brave almost anything to get out of this room and into thesunlight again.

“There she is,” Elaine said. Hervoice was cold. “Sit up.”

“Good morning,” Charlotte said,moving to a sitting position. She was trying to sound cheerful, but not toocheerful. Every step, every word, every gesture, could be putting your footdown on a bomb.

“What’s good about it?” Elainesaid.

Charlotte was hesitant. “I don’tknow.”

“If you don’t know, then why didyou say it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know anything, do you?”

Charlotte didn’t answer.

“Are you really that stupid?”

Elaine stepped into the room.