One in a Million (Book 3 in the Four of Us Trilogy)

36 | Deliverance

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life.

- The Fray, "How to Save a Life"

Fallujah, Iraq

Miles

Oh my God.

What happened next happened in the blink of an eye – even faster than the IED that got me into this place.

Navy SEALs burst into the room, at least five of them.

"Step back and drop the machete!" one of them yelled, his gun pointed right at the tall man's head.

I heard the machete clatter to the ground, hitting the chair on the way to the concrete floor.

My eyes darted across the room to the squatty man in the corner, and I saw him reach into his pocket, bringing out a pistol. I started to speak, to warn one of the SEALs, but I didn't have to.

The SEAL closest to the man in the corner shot him in the head, and he fell immediately to the ground, the video camera crashing and shattering into a million pieces.

I watched the scene unfold around me in a thick cloud of shock and awe. I had completely resigned myself to the fact that I was going to die, so I had had no hope of rescue.

Two of the SEALs were detaining the tall man who had come quite close to decapitating me, putting his wrists in cuffs and dragging him away, out of my sight.

Everything felt surreal, hazy.

"Miles, are you okay?" one of the SEALS was asking, but he sounded far away, like I was at the bottom of a well and even if I answered, he wouldn't be able to hear me.

I opened my mouth to answer, but I suddenly felt weak, everything from the past days catching up to me, and everything faded to black.

***

"Officer Salazar," I heard a voice calling, and wincing against the pain I felt coursing through my body, I opened my eyes a crack.

"Wh – where am I?" I croaked, looking around the stark white room.

"You're at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany," said the woman in the white coat standing above me.

"Germany?" I asked, my voice a little stronger. "What – why?"

"This is the closest hospital for wounded soldiers coming from the Middle East," she explained, putting her stethoscope against my chest and listening intently.

"Oh. Doctor... am I – am I okay?" I tried to look at my body, but my current angle wouldn't let me see much.

She smiled warmly. "You're going to be fine, Officer. Your physical injuries are superficial and will heal quickly," she said, patting my hand.

"Please, call me Miles... Dr...?"

"I'm Dr. Sanders. Miles, what do you remember about your captivity?" she asked, pulling up a chair to sit next to my bed.

I swallowed, closing my eyes as it all flashed through my mind in snippets. "There was an IED explosion, and when I woke up, I was in some sort of bunker, chained to a bed. There were two men, one of whom is dead now – I think. They hardly fed me, only what they had to in order to keep me alive. They constantly hit me, kicked me, berated me... and then one of the men held a machete to my throat and was going to make me watch while he – " My voice cracked.