Read Online Six Minutes To Freedom by John Gilstrap, Kurt Muse - Free Book Online

angrily at the posters on her wall. “How do you explain this?” the captain demanded.
    “Those are political cartoons.”
    “I know what they are. What are they doing on these walls?”
    Now, just how in the hell was Kurt supposed to answer a question like that? What were they doing ? They were just hanging there. Picturesare inanimate objects, for crying out loud. It was an obnoxious reply, he knew, but it was the first one that formed in his head, and in his head was where he kept it. What the captain truly wanted to know was why did he allow his daughter to hang them on her walls, and Kurt would die before he’d implicate his own child.
    “I asked you a question,” Quintero demanded.
    “I heard you,” Kurt said. He tried to keep his tone even. “But I have no answer.”
    “You’ll have one by the time the evening is done,” Quintero growled.
    A voice from the doorway made them both turn. “What is going on here?” It was Major Moreno. Deep scowl lines traversed his face. He took in the contents of the room in a single extended gaze, then turned to face Kurt. “This is your daughter’s room?”
    Filled as it was with girlish treasures, there was no sense denying it. “It is,” Kurt said.
    Moreno’s gaze shifted to Quintero. “Then we’ll let her answer for it. Bring her here.”
    Suddenly, Quintero’s face darkened. “I let her go, sir.”
    Moreno’s eyes glowed hot. “You what?”
    “I let her go, sir.”
    Kurt suppressed a smile. Quintero reminded him of a schoolboy in trouble.
    “On whose authority?”
    “My own,” Quintero said. “She’s only a little girl, Major. I didn’t think that she would be important to us.”
    Moreno’s jaw tightened. “You didn’t think,” he said, tasting the words. “You didn’t think ? You are not paid to think, Captain. You are paid to follow orders. Get her back. Right now.”
    Suddenly, Quintero looked ill, as if he would rather be ill than to say what was coming next: “I can’t. I don’t know where she is. Sir.”
    “Idiot!” Moreno boomed. “Suppose we need her for—” He stopped himself, casting a sideward glance to Kurt, and didn’t bother to finish the question.
    “You are right, Major,” Quintero said. “I wasn’t thinking. I’m terriblysorry.”
    Moreno turned to Kurt. “Where is she?”
    Kurt scowled at the question. “How would I know? Not here.”
    “Do not anger me, Mr. Muse,” Moreno growled. “You and I have many hours ahead of us. You and I together. This is not a good time to anger me.”
    “She was scared,” Kurt said. “She could be anywhere. Last time I saw her, she was running down the street. It’s not as if we had a long time to discuss her plans.”
    He was being obtuse, and Moreno knew it. The major was not amused. “Where do you think she might have gone, then?”
    Kurt pretended to think it over for a moment before offering an innocent shrug. “I don’t mean to anger you, Major. As you say, that hardly works to my benefit. But I honestly don’t know. If I think of something, I’ll—”
    “Excuse me, Major,” someone said from the hallway. Kurt turned to see a soldier with his rifle slung.
    “Not now,” Moreno barked.
    “But I think it might be important, sir.” The soldier was a kid, barely older than Kimberly, it appeared, but he carried himself with a military bearing that was unusual for members of the PDF. He was hard to ignore.
    “What is it, then?” Moreno barked.
    “I’m sorry to be listening, but I believe Mr. Muse’s daughter was just picked up by her grandfather.”
    Oh, shit , Kurt thought.
    Moreno’s complexion was heading north toward purple. “How long ago?”
    “She had been waiting at a friend’s house, apparently. Down the street. The house with the party.”
    “How long!”
    The soldier jumped at the eruption, nervously checked his watch. “Ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago.”
    Moreno whirled on Kurt. “You have no idea, eh? You have no idea where your daughter