Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Redemption for Misty (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Pierce Securities Book 5) by Anne Conley

there you’re trying to get here?”
    Chris’s voice was reassuring, unbelievably calm. Misty couldn’t see how he was so placid in this situation. He hadn’t moved, but he was buying some time. Hopefully, he was coming up with a plan.
    “My wife is over there.” Saul’s accent had always been faint, and Misty hadn’t ever really cared to place it, but now it was thicker, and a hint of the Middle East shone through. Not that it would have mattered. Austin was a multi-cultural place, and he still would have blended in, even without the suit and tamed hair and his skin tone. He was olive-complected, but Misty was darker than he was.
    “I’m sorry, buddy,” Chris continued placating him, one eye on Saul but still watching the other gunman. “That sucks. But do you really think this is the way to go about getting her over here? By blowing up Austin?”
    Misty wondered how many stores on the square had been blasted. Her mind went to dark places, envisioning a post-apocalyptic downtown area filled with people covered in concrete dust. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and her body convulsed in a shudder.
    “A lot of us have family over there. I’m a citizen. I was raised here. My wife’s family has been killed and she’s in a camp, being treated abominably. I want to bring her home to me, but the government won’t let me. There are so many of us.” Saul’s voice choked on tears, and Misty would have felt bad for him under any other circumstances. But sympathy was hard to come by when she had a gun to her head.
    “Can we sit down and talk?” Chris asked, his hands still in the air. “Like normal people?” He should have been a hostage negotiator. Misty could feel Saul’s body relax behind her.
    ***
    Chris’s heart was in his throat throughout the entire exchange. He felt for the guy, but not enough to let him put a bullet in Misty. He was panicking on the inside but forcing an exterior calm because it seemed to be working. He tuned out the sobs of the man on the ground next to him.
    “You love this one, right?” Saul’s voice held an edge of madness to it—a madness only a man led to desperate measures could attain. “Imagine if she were in living in a tent, sick, with no food and no water.”
    “I get it. I really do. You want her here with you, where you can take care of her. I would want the same thing.” He watched in horror as Saul jolted the Uzi against Misty’s face. Again. The irony wasn’t lost on him that the Syrian was using a Jewish-made weapon. But the weapon was perfect for hiding under a suit jacket like the one Saul had on. Thank God for small weapons. He had one of his own, strapped to his ankle. He just needed to get to it. But first, he had to get that gun out of Misty’s face.
    Saul’s counterpart, the other gunman, didn’t look like he had much patience left for this charade.
    Chris looked to the other man and started making shit up off the top of his head. “Look. I’m former military. So is my dad. We’ve got some connections. Maybe we can work something out. Let me and Saul here go in the other room and sit and talk a minute. Okay?” He was amazed at his voice. He sounded so calm. Where the hell had that come from? Looking back at Saul, he repeated. “Just talking. Okay?” It was like talking to a child.
    The only problem was, if he got the gunmen separated, there was no telling what this one would do in the kitchen with all the other people. There were eight other people here, and if that other gunman had explosives strapped to him, they would all die.
    Saul’s expression showed his internal war. His plans had been thwarted. Whether he intended for people to die on this mission or not, it was clear he wasn’t leaving unscathed now. But Chris saw when he made his decision to take Misty to the main seating area to talk.
    The relief flowing through Chris was palpable as he followed Saul, backing through the swinging door and out of the kitchen. He barked a few words to his