AMIRA by Matthew Betley (feel good books to read .TXT) 📕

The man on the driver’s side realized the danger too late.  He turned, took two steps, and jumped into the air to reach the safety of the hood of the Hilux.  The only thing he succeeded in doing was making himself a bigger target.

The grill of Amira’s Hilux struck him flush on the right hip as he rose into the air.  His body was violently spun as his lower body absorbed the impact.  He flew across the hood of his Hilux and sailed several feet before landing on the pavement.

Even as his body hit the ground, Amira had slammed on her brakes.  Her Hilux skidded to a halt as she fired the SIGSAUER through the passenger window at the second shooter, which forced him to take cover behind the passenger side of his own vehicle.

Amira opened the door and bailed out quickly, moving to the back of the vehicle.  She wasn’t sure if the man she’d struck had survived, which meant she had to take the remaining rebel alive, as she’d been instructed.

This job just gets harder and harder, which was why she’d brought two M84 stun grenades.

She grabbed one from her harness, held it in her left hand, and pulled the pin with her right, which still held her pistol.  She lobbed the grenade over the two vehicles, aiming for a point just behind the concealed shooter.  Even as the grenade arced through the air, Amira dashed around the back of her vehicle towards the rear of the rebel’s Hilux, firing the SIGSAUER as she moved.

Her bullets were intended as a diversion, shattering the other Hilux’s windows.  The rebel remained crouched throughout the barrage, unaware of the stun grenade that had landed four feet behind him.  The grenade detonated with a tremendous explosion and a flash of light that deafened and blinded him.  He fell over and screamed in pain but couldn’t hear himself through the buzzing in his head.

Amira rounded the vehicle, stalked over to where the last rebel lay on his side, his AK-47 no longer in his grasp.  Worked like a charm, Amira thought, and struck the downed man hard in the temple.  He slumped forwards, the fight over.

She looked around, surveyed the surrounding landscape, and still saw no vehicles in any direction, only random lights from various homes far off.  Good.  Time to get to work. 

Chapter 15

Amira stared down at the two incapacitated men who both lay against the large boulder, side by side.  Time to wake them up, unfortunately for one of them. 

As soon as she’d knocked the last rebel unconscious, she’d zip-tied his hands and feet and thrown him with some effort into the back of the rebel’s Hilux.  The man she’d struck with the car had suffered a broken right leg, a shattered hip, and possible internal injuries, but she’d secured and placed him in the SUV’s trunk area.  She’d driven her vehicle fifty yards off the road, parked it, and taken the keys with her, knowing she’d be back once she was done.  It was drivable, and she still had to retrieve her backpack from the northwest corner just outside the pumping station.  She’d returned to the rebels’ vehicle and driven into the expansive wilderness for more than a minute past her staged vehicle.  The location was isolated, and a large boulder blocked the road a half a mile away.  No one would hear them, which was the point.

She turned on the powerful Surefire flashlight she kept in a small canvas holster, widened the beam, and placed it against the boulder, illuminating the area in a cone of warm, white light.

Amira nudged the injured man’s shattered hip, and a groan escaped his lips.  She kicked slightly harder, and his eyes fluttered open.  One last hard tap elicited a low cry of pain as the wounded man looked at her.  “Good.  There’s one last thing I have to do, and I wanted you to be awake for it.  I hope you speak English or at least understand it.”  Considering one of the official languages of Sudan was English, she figured there was a good chance.

“I…do,” the man replied, his voice thick with pain and fatigue.  “What…do you want?”

Amira ignored him and turned her attention to the other rebel.  He was awake and staring at her with pure hatred, his eyes burning into hers.  At least my eyes are the only things he can see, as she’d left her neoprene mask on for the work ahead.

“I see you’re awake.  Good.  We can begin.”

Both men suddenly recognized the two items Amira held, and their eyes widened in surprise.

“I know.  It’s a fascinating weapon,” Amira said, holding up in her left hand the machete she’d found in the back of the rebel’s Hilux.  “It can kill, maim, and terrorize.  I once read that hundreds of thousands of people have been slaughtered on this continent with this.  It’s why you chose it, because it terrifies people, makes them easier to control.  And this one, well, this one is sharp, which is perfect.”

“How so?” asked the uninjured rebel.

Amira smiled, although the two men only saw her pale blue eyes sparkling in the artificial light.  “Because this is for one of you, as is this,” she replied, holding up the suppressed SIGSAUER 9mm pistol.  “I won’t lie to you – only one of you is walking – well, not necessarily walking – out of here.”

“What do you want?” the uninjured man asked.

“Me?  I don’t want anything.  Personally, I’d like to shoot you both.  God knows what horrors you’ve committed and how much innocent blood you’ve spilled.  You killed four guards in your little assault yesterday, and a hostage was killed in the barracks by your men, who all died badly, by the way, either by my hand or the hyenas.  That was something, I have to admit.  But me?