Chapter 19: Decisions, Part 1

"Casey," a voice whispered urgently into my ear. "Casey, wake up! They found us!"

It was Derek. I was instantly awake.

"What's going on?" I asked in a low voice, sitting up.

"I don't know, but Trevor heard voices outside," Derek began, helping me to my feet. "He and Scott took a look outside the cave and he saw them."

"Who? The insurgents?" I whispered, instantly on alert.

Derek just nodded, holding a finger to his lips. "Go with the others to the back caves, and I'll come and get you after they're gone."

"I'm not leaving you," I said, clutching his sleeve. When we went to sleep just a few hours before, everything seemed, well, not great, but close to it. And now, everything was upside down again.

"Go, Casey!" Derek pushed me toward the cave hallway, where Markesha and Brittany were already running to the back caves.

I stood frozen, looking around the room, trying to get my bearings. Jada was standing in the shadows on a wall, barely detectable, except for the gleam from the blade of the sharp butcher knife she held. She immediately hid it behind her back. On the other wall in the shadows were Trevor, Derek, and the other guys, all waiting with knives.

My heart stopped.

Outside the cave, I suddenly heard voices, male voices with heavy Pakistani accents. "You, look over there and I'll look over here." There was the rustling of leaves brushing hurrying feet. "They retrieved a lot of supplies last night. They couldn't have gone far," the voice grew louder. They were still away, not too close, but coming closer. From the sound of it, there were probably three of them, maybe more.

More shuffling leaves. "Nothing here, sir."

"Then look again!" The gruff, heavily accented male voice was hard, stern. "They couldn't have gone far!"

More shuffling feet; running this time.

I came to my senses and ducked into the shadows, careful not to be seen.

Derek looked at me angrily. I knew he wanted me to go, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave him.

The movement of the leaves crunching under feet grew louder. I held my breath because they were standing just outside the cave entrance. Please, don't let them look up, I silently prayed. The cave entrance was hidden, not clearly visible, unless you walked up the hill. But to trained eyes …

More shuffling feet. "They're not here, sir. We've searched this whole area. Nothing, sir."

A moment passed. "Move out!" the stern voice shouted. Then, feet jogged quickly away.

I let out my breath. Close. Too close.

I started to get to my feet, but Derek held up his hand again, motioning for me to be silent and to wait. We waited for what seemed like an eternity, but heard nothing but the howling of the wind in the trees blowing the leaves. It was an overcast day, but from the angle of the light coming into the cave, it was probably still morning.

We were all frozen, afraid to move, looking at each other.

"I'll go check it out," Trevor finally said, getting to his feet.

"Wait a minute …" Derek whispered, holding out his arm to stop him.

"Oh, don't be such a wuss," Trevor replied, heading toward the door. "I don't know what you're all worried about. They're gone."

Cautiously, Trevor walked to the cave entrance, knife in hand. Then, he slowly leaned out to get a better look when, suddenly, a hand grabbed him, throwing him from the cave, making a thud upon the ground.

"Run!" Derek yelled to me, as he ran toward the entrance and I was right behind him.

Everything happened so quickly, it was hard to register it all at once. Jada beat us out the door, grabbing the man who was waiting outside the cave and pinned him to the outside of the cave. There were two more men, all with guns. In a second, Trevor was on his feet, several feet from the cave. He grabbed the nearest man before he could fire and pulled him to his chest, with the knife to his throat, as the man's rifle fell to the ground. Brolin hurriedly picked it up, and pointed it at him. At the same time, Derek and Scott pinned the other man. Scott grabbed the rifle out of his hands and hit the man in the face with the stock handle. He was out cold. The men all had curly black hair and olive skin, clearly East Indian by descent. They wore military khakis and black, military issue army boots. They were terrorists.

"Comrades, over here!" the man that Jada had pinned yelled. Immediately, she pulled back the man's head and slammed it into the cave wall. The man fell limply to the ground. He was probably not dead, but would have a splitting headache in the morning.

"You'll never get away with this," the man that Trevor held said sternly in a heavily accented, low voice.

"Wanna bet?" Trevor sneered, clearly enjoying having the upper hand.

"How many are there at the school?" Derek approached the man and stopped directly in front of him.

The man spit in Derek's face. Immediately, Trevor pulled the man's head back by his black, curly hair, shoving the knife closer to his throat. A trickle of blood oozed from around the knife.

"I wouldn't do that again, buddy," Trevor said in a cool voice. "Unless you wanna die."

The man struggled against Trevor's grip. There was a clicking sound as Brolin cocked the trigger of a rifle.

"Now," Derek began again, calmly wiping the spit from his face with the back of his hand. "I'm going to ask you again, and this time I want an answer." Derek talked slowly and precisely. "How many terrorists are at the school?"

The man was silent again. Trevor immediately grabbed the man's head back again, reminding him of the knife at his throat. Trevor took a deep breath then tensed, ready.