Read No Pit So Deep: The Cody Musket Story for Free Online Page A

emergency exit from the outside. They raced into the building, brutally seized the angel of his affection, and began yanking her toward the door.
    “Leave me alone! Get away! Someone call the police! Help me!” She resisted, fighting, scratching, twisting, and screaming. Her tenacity angered the abductors, so they slammed her down and dragged her across the grimy carpet toward the exit. They pulled her by the hair and from behind by the neck of her Coco shirt, which squeezed off her windpipe and ripped the blouse.
    She coughed and gasped for breath while they tugged her closer and closer to the door, but still she resisted. They battered her with profane verbal abuse and extreme brutality — an apparent effort to intimidate her into submission.
    Like lightning striking desert sands, the attack on this innocent woman had detonated Cody’s beautiful dream into a molten rage. Adrenaline drove his legs forward like a runaway diesel. His steely forearms tightened. He was back in Afghanistan and ready to hurt somebody.
    Receptors on full alert, he heard every sound and saw every movement. The rush, the horror, and the intensity — a cocktail of emotions he had tried to forget for four years.
    And then he witnessed something remarkable. As though a cool breeze had swept across the young woman’s face, she stopped fighting and closed her eyes. Her settled expression suggested an uncommon resolve to remain collected and to gather her thoughts.
    As he charged forward, Cody never slowed, but he returned to his senses. Navy SEALs had taught him how to win — analyze, stay within yourself, don’t lose your head, finish it.
    He reasoned. They had specifically targeted her. They had it all planned out. They would have a getaway vehicle waiting in the parking lot on the other side of the exit. If they managed to get her through that door, she’d be gone forever.
    “Let her go! The police are on their way!”
    He had a plan — attempt to scare them off with the threat of police intervention. If that didn’t work, use force. He had only seconds to decide.
    Like his last mission in Afghanistan, showing presence failed to scare off the attackers. The three men ignored him. While two dragged and choked her, the third assailant attempted to place a white cloth over her nose and mouth.
    Cody leaped over a rail and positioned himself in front of the door, blocking their path.
    “I said let go of her!”
    His growling voice was now a command. “I’m not letting you get her through this door!” The words echoed in the hallway junction and resonated like that of five men.
    Cody had their attention. He was a threat. If he managed to delay their getaway, they would risk the arrival of authorities. Time was not their ally. A successful abduction depended upon speed.
    The individual holding the white cloth screamed a profane and loud ultimatum back at Cody — a command to either move or be cut to shreds. The shouting drew more people to the scene.
    The perpetrator swung around and faced the bystanders. He waved the white cloth above his head and pointed to the battered woman on the floor.
    “Let this be a lesson to anybody that friggin’ goes to war with us!”
    With her purse, phone and flip-flops scattered in the hallway, overpowered and held down by the other two men, she glanced up at Cody through disheveled hair that clung to her face. She tried to speak but could only gasp for air.
    Cody was a coiled spring.
    The assailant flung the white cloth into the air and charged toward him, brandishing a cheap but deadly AK assault knife. Cody never flinched, and the attacker suddenly hesitated. Cody then swept the legs from under the offender, separated him from his knife and slammed him facedown against the floor with extreme prejudice.
    Cody turned. A second attacker, already charging forward with a knife, stopped when he saw blood and teeth lying on the floor in front of his unconscious predecessor. A grisly command from Cody put him on