The door opened. We were so eager to know who that was. We watched until we saw Cal, he came to our rescue!
"Sidney! What happened?" he said as he was about to take the President's daughter on his back, then he saw Vera on the floor and his countenance changed.
"Cal," I said wearily.
He ignored me and ran to Vera. I felt cold immediately, I tried to fight the jealousy because it was normal for him to do that, after all, she was his long-time colleague, and he cared about her.
"Vera! Please! Just endure a little longer, please." He said as he carried her on his back, he gestured at me to take the president's daughter and I did immediately. I was jealous but, the guilt I felt was much stronger.
"You love him don't you?" the president's daughter asked me and that baffled me. How could she ask such a question at this crucial point in our lives? I ignored her and kept following Cal. In another second, I felt an urge to respond to her.
"I don't know whether it is love or infatuation. I just…"
We started hearing gunshots again! I almost had a heart attack because I wasn't expecting that, it felt like they were shooting right at us, on second thought, they were shooting at us. Cal increased his pace and I did as well. I didn't know how it happened, maybe Cal was just too fast, or he took another route with Vera, but I missed them. I was able to escape the shooters and finally, I and the president's daughter were out of the compound. I ran to the place we packed the car and I dropped her in the car.
Something felt strange. Grace and her partner were not in their duty post. It scared me.
"GG! OVER!" I spoke into the walkie-talkie hoping to hear from Grace.
"SD! OVER! GG is unconscious, and we are surrounded by… ahh!" Grace's partner yelled over the radio.
"Red, Red! What happened?" I asked him, very curiously and anxiously.
I didn't get any response, and this made me feel more anxious.
"Do not come out no matter what!" I yelled to the girl as I ran back into the apartment.
On the second floor, I saw men trooping towards me, and in their midst was RED they were dragging him with them and one of them had unconscious Grace on his shoulders. I was hiding behind a door to avoid them. Red was badly hurt. I wondered where Cal and the rest were, and my silly thoughts started imagining Cal with Vera. I followed the men quietly and watched them throw Grace and Red into a room, leaving two men behind to guard the door. It took me a while to plot a rescue plan, but I did and forged on toward the guards. They were so lax and easy to defeat. I broke the door because those men had no keys on them.
"We need to hurry!" I said to Red. He jumped immediately with his last strength, and he tried to help Grace who was unconscious, but I helped her. "What's the update?" I asked him.
"IQ took Jake already and some others are with him"
"Cal?"
"I am not sure, didn't hear from him"
The sound of that made me want to pee in my panties. Nothing must happen to Cal.
I took Grace on my back. Red was so slow. He was bleeding seriously in his leg. I couldn't help him. Grace is so heavy. We were both slow, and before we could go halfway, one of the guards whom I thought was unconscious woke up and started screaming some weird names. This alerted the others and the men came out from wherever they had gone to and started chasing us. I ran as fast as I could with Grace on my back.
"I can't go any longer," Red said, panting heavily. "I am in so much pain"
"What do you mean you can't go any longer? Please stand up and don't give up. A soldier isn't supposed to give up."
He continued running, now increasing his pace. I guess what I said fueled his desire to live. We were able to secure a safe hiding spot, we stayed hidden for over thirty minutes and now, we do not know where we were. I helped Red with his injury. He had a deep cut on his leg. I just wished Grace would wake up and tell me what to do about his injury; she should have ideas about stuff like this. I was able to stop the bleeding with his khaki.
I started hearing voices from the next door, I peeped into it and my heart sank. I saw Cal and Vera.
***