Copyright © 2010 Christopher C. Newman
All rights reserved, Freya's Bower.
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“Don’t move!” a male voice commanded. “Put your hands up where I can see them!”
Twisting at the waist and towards her left she spotted the voice’s owner. The emblem upon the center of his black tee shirt made her heart sink. The shieldand-fist symbol of the Western Alliance Coalition. Her escape plans evaporated in an instant, she had no weapons nor was Linh in any condition for hand-to-hand with the enemy.
He stood six feet tall, with closely sheared black hair, and a muscular build. His chiseled and handsome face could’ve been on a poster for the WAC recruiting stations across their sphere of influence. His chest heaved, and yet the muzzle of his sub-machinegun never moved or wavered. His thick thighs bulged from his dark green shorts, weaving knotted muscles into mid-calf military boots. His brown eyes, like well polished mahogany, pierced hers, and were as unflinching as his weapon. But within those orbs she could see a momentary surprise, a flinching of his eyelids. Linh wondered if the fact she was a woman had shaken the soldier. He spoke, but his mouth didn’t fit the words she heard, reminding her of a poorly translated cartoon from Japan. The translator chip behind both ears turned his English into Vietnamese.
“I'm Lieutenant Russell Fraser of the 328th Armored Response Company, Fifth Battalion, First Corps and you are my prisoner,” he announced. “I will see to it you are returned unharmed back to our base and treated for your injuries. Come along peacefully. I don’t wish to have to kill a prisoner.”
“I am in no condition to oppose you, Lieutenant,” she stated in defeat. “My left leg is broken and I’m unarmed.”
“Name, rank, and serial number.”
“Major Linh Ming Trung of the 901st People’s Militia Battalion, serial number two-seven, four-six, forty-one, sixteen.”
“Turn around, fingers laced together and put them on the top of your head.”
She didn’t answer, but did as he commanded. She heard him move, and then his hands roughly searched her body for concealed weapons in an efficient, but harsh manner.
“Welcome to peacetime, Major.”