Ben clamped his hand over one of the men’s mouths and muffled his throaty scream as he plunged the knife between the ribs on his left side. The Kevlar he wore didn’t fully wrap all the way around, so it allowed him to penetrate the armor from the side.
The position of the blade should have penetrated his heart, but Ben had aimed too low. He was forced to remove the blade and then shoved the bloodied tip of his knife into the man’s armpit. Here, a cluster of veins and arteries were located, and it was a quick place to cause the man to bleed out.
Ben had never stabbed another person before, and the resistance of the muscle, bone, and tendon of the human body was both formidable and sickening. The man continued to struggle even after the blood ran out of him, smacking Ben with his waning strength until the very last drop had vanished from him, and there was nothing left, and he collapsed to the floor.
Ben drew in a sharp breath, not even realizing he’d been holding it, and when he looked up and saw the second man at Jackson’s feet, he realized that they had done it.
“Ben,” Jackson said, whispering harshly, “help me with him.”
Ben was still in a bit of a daze, but he realized that the scientist was bound to a chair against the wall. He was now shirtless, and his body was covered in red welts and bruises. He looked disoriented, and Ben figured the man had been tortured while he was inside.
Ben helped remove the scientist’s restraints and then put his left arm over his shoulders, and Jackson did the same on the right. They lifted him up and dragged him toward the door. Jackson opened the door and peered outside, making sure that nobody else heard the commotion.
“I think we’re in the clear.” Jackson turned back to the scientist and slapped the side of his face trying to wake him up. “Hey, buddy, are you still with us?”
The scientist grumbled something, but the way he swayed his head back and forth made it look like he was drunk.
Jackson shook his head. “Looks like we’ll have to carry him most of the way. Do you think you can do that?”
Ben nodded. “The plan stays the same. We still need to hit that other trailer with the plans on the way back.”
Jackson adjusted the scientist on his shoulder. He shook his head. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to carry all that stuff and him. We might have to go ahead and torch the place.”
“No torch,” the scientist muttered quietly to himself. “There are other people here.”
Jackson and Ben exchanged a quick glance.
“How many other people?” Jackson asked.
The scientist took a few deep breaths and finally managed to lift his head. He started to regain some of his strength and was able to stand up somewhat on his own. “There are other engineers here. People held against their will, like me.”
Voices could be heard through the thin trailer walls. The guards were once again on the backside of the trailer park, making the rounds. Jackson covered the scientist’s mouth to keep him quiet, and Ben found himself holding his breath.
The sound of the guard’s voices sounded like they were outside forever. But when they finally faded from earshot, Ben exhaled.
“If you don’t get them out now, they will be killed,” the scientist said.
Ben remembered the photographs they had found in one of the trailers and how the images were of men and women found naked and bound. He figured those people could’ve been family members or other scientists and engineers who refused to do the work.
“We’ll come back for them later,” Jackson said.
The scientist shook his head, adamant about his requests. “I’m not going to leave them behind.”
Jackson groaned and then let Ben hold up the scientist while he retrieved the chair the man had been sitting. He pulled the chair up behind him, and they sat the scientist back down.
“If we’re going to help your friends, you need to help us,” Jackson said. “How many total guards are at this camp?”
The scientist grimaced as if the mere act of thinking made his body light up with pain. “Twelve.”
“So we’ve already taken out two guys,” Ben said.
“Yes, I can count,” Jackson said. “Do they have any communication with other camps? Radios, that kind of thing?”
The scientist nodded. “There is a radio in the trailer at the center of camp.”
Ben looked at Jackson. “Right where we saw all of those guards go when they were off duty.”
“The radio will be too difficult to get to if that’s the case,” Jackson said, and then he glanced at the grenade in his hand and then looked to Ben.
“We’d give away our position,” Ben said. “Not to mention we wouldn’t kill all of them. For all we know, there could only be one or two guys in that trailer, and then we alert the rest of them when the grenade explodes.”
Jackson gave it some thought while the scientist hunched forward and cradled his head in his hands. Ben was already mentally calculating the number of trailers spread out over the park. Though the lot was small, it was still a significant amount of space, and recovering all of the scientist’s colleagues without raising an alarm would be next to impossible.
“Please,” the scientist said, almost as if he could read their minds and how both men were leaning toward just leaving with what they came for. “They have families. They are good people.”
“We have families,” Jackson said. “We’re good people. We can’t save everybody in this fight.”
“I know that,” the scientist said. “And I’m not asking you to save everybody. I’m just asking you to save the people here.” He looked up at Jackson. “Is that so much to ask?”
“It’s not that we don’t want to,” Jackson answered. “But
