12 Seconds (#1 in Military series)

Chapter 27

Once they did, they saw the terrorists’ bodies piled to the side and the blood that coated their uniforms.

It scared a few of them back into the truck, afraid of what was going to happen to them, but with a few warm words and the promise of food and water, they soon had them all out of the trailer.

The last to leave was a young girl with eyes the colour of coffee stains and clothes that were too heavy for her starved body.

She gravitated towards Julia, her small hands gripping Julia’s shoulders so tightly that it shocked Jules into silence. She did not look strong enough to have such a tight grip, a testament to her personality.

Picking her up, Julia felt the girl’s leg wrapped around her waist as her arms clung to Julia’s neck, her face nestled into the crook between her neck and face.

Julia looked over the girl’s shoulder at Marc, who stood holding the hands of two older boys, ready to lead them to the truck.

Unsure of what to do as her heart wrenched with emotion at what she thought this young child must have gone through, Jules smoothed the girl’s knotted hair, remembering the way her own mother had done so.

“It’s going to be a bit of a tight squeeze,” Julia followed Marcus to the other truck, “But I promise it won’t be for long, and-”

“-No!” the girl screamed in terror, clinging to Julia’s uniform like an insect that feared for its life if it was to let go.

“Oh, okay,” Julia stopped trying to lift her off of her and instead leaned back to look into the girl’s striking coffee coloured eyes, “H- How about you come and ride up the front with me, would you like that?”

Jules was struck by how large her eyes seemed. Twinkling with unshed tears, Julia’s throat grew dry as the girl’s lips spread into a smile.

It was hidden, but Jules could see, in that smile, a smile of starvation.

After a few seconds, the girl nodded her head before she nestled her face back into her shoulder.

Twitch drew their attention.

Looking up into the truck, Jules saw Kazeem and Ray lying beside each on the floor of the truck. Ray was still unconscious, making Julia worry, but Kazeem seemed to be slightly better.

But they still needed to get him back.

“We can’t fit anymore in here, Marc,” Twitch told them as he quickly checked Kazeem’s pupils once again, “And we need to get a move on.”

Marcus and Jules shared a look when an idea sprang into her mind.

“How would you three,” Jules looked from the girl to the two boys holding Marc’s hands, “Like to come in the cab with me?”

The trio shouted their agreements.

“Would you be alright to drive back with Carlos and Farhat?” Julia asked Marcus as they headed around to the last truck.

“We’ll be fine,” Marcus pulled open the passenger door and helped the two boys climb into the cab, their moods instantly lightened as the escaped the dark trailers they had been cramped in.

“You’ll be okay,” Julia smiled at the girl, reassuring her as she climbed in after the two boys and shut the door quietly behind them.

Letting out a slow breath, Julia turned around to face Marcus.

Neither of them seemed able to speak but their eyes did all the talking.

They were both too exhausted to say anything but their bodies moved closer together until there were merely inches between their lips.

Julia licked her cracked lips, her breathing hitching slightly as she looked into Marcus’s gaze and she saw the unyielding devotion in those depths.

Jules remembered their kiss, a soft tingling sensation forming in the pit of her stomach, when Carlos’s voice called out to them and broke the spell.

“Oi, come on!” Carlos shouted through the opened window, “You’ll have enough time for all of that when we get back to base!”

Marcus waved his arm in the air behind him, telling Carlos in no technical way to piss off.

“He’s right,” Julia tilted her head.

“Frustratingly so,” Marcus kept looking into her eyes, seeming unable to tear himself away.

“I’ll see you back at base,” Julia whispered as she pointed over her shoulder at the truck, “I have a truck to drive.”

Marcus began to take a few steps backwards, “Did I mention that I love a woman that can drive a truck?”

Jules shook her head, raising her hand to her ear, as a cocky grin etched its way across his lips, “I can’t hear you!”

Marcus kept walking back, “I love you!” He shouted with no hesitation.

Julia could not stop smiling.

Kissing him was fantastic. But hearing those three words was euphoric.

“I still can’t hear you!” Julia milked the situation until he shouted it one last time at the top of his lungs.

Anymore and Carlos looked ready to shoot them on the spot.

Heading around to the other side of the cab, Julia climbed up into the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition.

As the engine rumbled to life, vibrating everything around them, Julia gave the children beside her a reassuring smile, “Are we all ready?”

The two boys and one girl jumped up and down the seat, their laughter bringing a smile to Julia’s lips.

Motioning to Carlos that they were ready, he gave her an enthusiastic toot of the horn as he pulled away.

Jules hit the truck into first, lifted the clutch and they were fell into place behind them.

Cheers of pure delight and happiness went up around them as the children screamed with happiness as they were saved from a life of misery and turmoil.

The sound was music to her ears, but do you know what the most beautiful thing was?

It was the image that occupied her side-mirrors.

Behind them was the mountains, a truck was smashed into a mountain, two jeeps were burning and two bodies were piled by the side.

It was the image of where they had been shot at, blown up, kicked and punched.

But it was also the place where Julia discovered herself once again, it was the place where she overcame her need for revenge and it was also the place where they saved upwards of fifty children from a life of hell.

And if that wasn’t worth it, then Julia did not know what would be.