12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Chapter 29

His words made Jules pause in shock as she and Marc looked at each other but they could not get distracted. She prayed that Abbas was wrong and he was simply trying to goad them.
"If you hurt him," Jules spoke slowly and clearly so he could not misunderstand her and she stared into his eyes the entire time, "I swear I will kill you."

Abbas paused as he weighed how serious she was before he let out a small chuckle of disbelief, "How?" Abbas laughed manically before he looked around them and briefly disappeared behind Marc making Jules's eyes widen in suspense before he reappeared smiling, "You are outnumbered and I have a knife his throat. If you make one move towards me I'll kill him."

Jules kept her gun trained on him and she could see Abbas growing agitated that she refused to back down. Shifting restlessly behind Marc Abbas shouted, "You have no shot!"

"That's what you think," Jules replied calmly as the corners of her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Enough of this. Shoot her!" Abbas screamed, waving his arm manically beside him at his soldiers in an invitation to open fire on her.

Her lips parted in a rush when she saw the men around her grip their guns tighter and begin to squeeze the triggers. Her body felt weightless for a moment as she stared down the barrel of a gun across from her when she heard the first bullet being fired and thought that at any moment her life could just end.

"No!" Marc shouted in reaction as he heard the distinctive sound of bullets flying through the air but a moment later he realised that it wasn't Abbas's men that were firing. The bullets he heard had being shot hit the ground at the feet of Abbas's men, blowing up the sand slightly in front of them, as a warning. Stumbling back a few steps Abbas's men began to murmur amongst themselves in fear as they looked around them wildly for the culprit. Marc looked towards the roof of the compound at the small blip that was Cromwell and mentally made a note to thank him later whilst he let go of the breath he was holding.

Abbas stared at Jules in shock and rage at their sudden display of prowess he did not know they possessed. Abbas thought that they were weak and ready to surrender but he could not have been more wrong. Now that Safia was safe and she and Marc had found their common ground Jules had never felt so determined to live.
"That was just a warning." Jules told him confidently, "Now let him go before I tell them to shoot to kill."

Abbas was not about to lose the man that had murdered his son a second time, or lose him to the same woman that had thwarted his last attempt for revenge. "You are trapped," Abbas told her, "And alone. My men are everywhere. You cannot last for long and then I will kill you all and spit on your corpses."

Jules clenched her jaw as Abbas began to see through their bluff and she did not know what to say so she kept her gun trained upon his head, praying for him to make a mistake and give her a better opening.

"Don't do this," Marc said as he looked at Julia, "You won't win."

Abbas chuckled as he heard Marc's words before he smirked at Jules, "I would listen to him."

"Actually," Marc turned his head a little towards Abbas, as much as the machete would allow, "I was talking to you."

The corner of Jules's lips tilted upwards until she saw the tremor in Abbas's lower lip and thought he would slit Marc's throat right there and then. "Hey Abbas," Jules tried to distract him, "How well do you see in the dark?" She asked.

Abbas turned to look at her with confusion whilst Marc winced as he pulled the blade ever closer to his throat. Beads of sweat dripped down the side of Marc's face as his chest rose and lowered rapidly. Jules stared at him, not sure what she looked like but hoping it conveyed to him some hope.