Birds of Prey

Chapter V: Her

Kyiv, Ukraine

Jacob’s Pov

"Are you hurt? Hello? Do you understand what I’m saying?" I ran over to the injured girl after shooting the guy that nearly killed her. There was blood all over her face and her abdomen from the shattered glass beneath her. Recieving no response from her, I cupped her face with my hands, lifting her head a little only to make sure she was still conscious. I removed a couple of her blonde hair strands and she gave me a small nod.

"You’re safe now. Can you stand?" again, no response. Does she even know english? Guess not. Alright girl, speaking or not we are getting you out of here. Without second thought, I helped her up on her feet, grabbing her bloodied waist firmly but not too tight because she was still injured. She let out a small grunt as we ascended the stairs. I quickly grabbed my radio to contact the rest of my team.

"Watcher-1, we need medical support down in the blue house. We have a survivor here. All Red, regroup at the entrance now. We are leaving !" I said in a commanding tone and I heard their confirmations shortly after. With every step I felt her leave more and more of her bodyweight onto my shoulders until she finally tripped and almost fell.

"No you won’t. Come on now" I said picking her up in bridal style. She was much easier to carry this way and she wasn’t that heavy anyway. Not at all. She didn't seem to be hearing me anymore.

When we finally got out of the house, Pearl, Rafe and Ranger were already there, all of us waiting for the heli to come pick us up.

"Is she okay?" Pearl asked looking concerned at the girl in my arms.

"She took some good punches from one of the russian assholes but she’ll be fine. She doesn’t seem to be knowing any english though." I replied looking down at her small figure. She was looking at something in distance and didn’t mind my starring until she finally yelled something in ukranian and hid in my chest. When I looked up I realised what she meant.

"Sniper! Get down!" I instinctively ducked my head and got behind a car but before I could do anything else I felt a bullet fly right past my chin, above the girl’s head. My entire life flashed before my very eyes. Again. For the milionth time I nearly died.

I carefully placed the girl down right beside me. I heard some faint yelling and noticed a bunch of men coming towards us. They looked like vikings but instead of axes and shields they had assault rifles and machine guns. I quickly took out my rifle and started firing back. I yelled at Pearl to take out the sniper that was still aiming for our heads as i didn’t have my dearest scope with me.

"Sniper down" I heard him say as I watched Rafe and Ranger push onto the russians. My ammo was running low real fast and our helicopter was nowhere to be seen. I grabbed my radio and repeated in annoyance.

"Watcher-1, this is Red 0-1 we need air support. We’ve got another gang of russian terrorists incoming. WHERE ARE YOU LUKE?!"

"The sky is kinda busy right now captain" Rafe spoke from behind me.

"One air support coming right away sir. Any toppings? Will you be paying cash or card?" I heard Luke sarcastically comment as he flew right over us firing multiple shots at our enemies. I've always questioned this man's mental health

"This is why I love the Bird" I respond smiling in relief. I looked over at the girl who’s head was now buried in her hands, knees held tightly to her chest. Seeing the helicopter slowly landing, I picked her up only to find out that she’s unconscious. Brilliant. At least she’s alive. For now. Yun will take a look at her lower back injuries for sure.

Once we boarded the aircraft, I slowly put down the girl on a bench, placing a small backpack under her head as a pillow as Yun immediately begun removing her tshirt, cleaning her wounds so I turned my head. We were safe. Finally. I looked outside the small window seeing the big city bellow us burn.

With a silent sigh I turned my head to the girl again. What’s gonna happen to her? Refugee camp I guess? She must have family somewhere or enough money to move and live in another country. And if not, who knows who’s gonna take care of her? Jameson will deal with the refugees anyway. That ain’t my problem.

I sat down near Pearl after letting the other teams know that we saved a refugee and we were now heading back to the base. We were all sitting in a tired silence, the sound of the chopper blades invading our ears. Sometimes it is relaxing. Especially when there are no more explosions outside. At least not nearby.

Yun was bandaging the girl’s injured waist after removing the remaining glass pieces while she was still unconscious. I’m still thinking. If she hadn’t seen that sniper, would I now be dead? Or was he aiming for her head? Why would he aim at her? It doesn’t make any sense. I gotta find out more about this girl. She does not look like some ordinary young woman living in a rich neighborhood.

I get up and make a few steps towards the cockpit to check on Luke. We were now leaving the warzone and the sky was slowly beggining to swell, revealing some beautiful stars and the moon.

"Quite a view, right cap’?" he said turning his head to me.

"Yeah… it’s the silence after the storm. Thanks for the shooting, again. By the way, did Hood give you any informations about the refugee camps, in case we found any survivors or something like that?" I asked him out of nowhere. I was curious, eventhough it would’ve been much more logical if i knew these things.

"No, Hawk. We all boarded the new aircrafts and left without a single word. Classic orders" he shook his head slightly.

"Sir, the closest refugee camp is all the way over in Romania. A small city called Galati. What should we do with her?" Pearl said as he handed me his tablet with a map open.

"We’ll take her to the airport alongside the other survivors and-"

"NO! Before I could say anything else I was interrupted by a female voice.

"We have to go back. The NC building… my parents-" the girl shuttered as she shakily got up and faced me, attracting everyone’s attention.

"So you do understand english." I said looking at my teammates who were starring in shock. Ranger had his hand on his gun. I also remembered that Hood told us not to trust anyone. "We can’t go back. We saved as may people as we could. We are outnumbered here, girl." I affirmed as she took a step closer.

"Did they find any surviviors?" she questioned looking into my eyes, her voice almost breaking.

"Squad Black and Damask are retreating from that place. The building went down in flames before they even got there" I explained calmly as her expression became stone cold. I could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe a thing I just said so I grabbed my radio and spoke once again, standing tall despite the fact that I was tired as fuck.

"Black and Damask, this is Red 0-1. Do you have any survivors?" Her big eyes were now locked with mine. That’s the moment when I found out that they weren’t the same colour. Instead one was light blue and the other was brown, dark brown, almost black. I couldn’t help but stare at her distinctive features as the other teams replied. There's something not so ordinary going on about this girl.

"Damask 3-1, negative Red. The place was swarming with russians." her expression saddened visibly at his response.

"Black 2-1, no survivors. We are headed to the base. Out"

"Roger that. See you there boys. Out" I crossed my arms and turned off the radio "You got your answer now. Any more questions?" Her eyes fell to the ground as she replied silently.

"No…"

"Good, now sit down. You are still injured." she obeyed and sat back down zoning out a little. She mentioned her parents earlier. Were they in that building? What if she lost her parents tonight ? I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now. Her eyes were empty as she stared at the floor.  I could see that she was broken but still she kept a straight face, not making eye contact with anyone until I finally spoke to her.

"What’s your name, girl?" I knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked up at me through some loose hair strands, fighting back tears.

"Maya… Maya Navarro…"