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  Trying to wrap her head around this change in the men’s directives, she wanted to rub her temples to ease the confusion. The last group of men said that she and Ken would die, while this group said to come. But it was their knowing Ken’s name that unsettled her.

  Then it struck her and made her want to strike out. Bev. Her friend had ratted them out, probably describing each one in order to gain affection from Alejandro. Anger swamped her at the betrayal of someone who’d been dear to her. Obviously, it hadn’t worked because she’d hightailed it out in no time, alone—no Cody.

  Two men stepped forward to pick Ken up under his arms, and Sam’s protective instinct went into overdrive. She didn’t know what the hell they had planned, but she didn’t believe it involved medical care. Remembering her training, she returned her focus on any means to escape. She wouldn’t go alone because in HIS, they worked as a team and their HIS commitment meant everything. “No man left behind.” They weren’t completely alone. Earlier, the code word had been transmitted, and Doc should’ve headed their way. He just hadn’t made it in time. He’d observe and be able to transmit out the situation.

  Having learned more about the men of HIS, she imagined that once they placed Cody on the bird, two of the men would accompany the boy back to the states, while the others would return to support in whatever role needed. Whether it be interference, negotiation, or rescue. And dare she admit, recovery. She fought to control the shivers attempting to take over her body at that thought.

  With clenched fists, she knew their chance of survival improved if they could escape—her mind refused to allow that to leave her thoughts—before reaching the compound, even though they didn’t have the team as backup. But she needed Ken awake and at least able to lean on her to walk because she couldn’t do anything but drag him, and considering his dead weight, her efforts wouldn’t move them fast enough to safety. If they could get away, they’d find their way to Doc, and he could do some of his field medic magic so they could get the hell out of there and to the secondary extraction point before the scheduled time of the helo arrival. It wouldn’t do any good if they missed the window and had to evade for longer.

  Her captor’s fingers bit into her right bicep hard enough to leave five-digit bruises, before tugging her forward. At first, she dug herself in and refused to allow him to put distance between her and Ken. She wouldn’t leave the man who’d made her feel again. Even things she’d never admit because they conflicted with all she’d recently discovered from Bev. Though in her heart, she now fully doubted the “new intel” Bev had given her. Ken’s admission and that deep-seated need to save and protect him destroyed the demons that haunted her, removing the weight of the decision on how to respond to the report, and set her heart free.

  Her thoughts almost stopped in their tracks. She hated to admit that she’d almost allowed Jesse to die without verifying anything. Ken had broken her out of those thoughts when she hadn’t taken the first shot to cover Jesse. Now, she would rely on him to save her and an injured Ken.

  When the two men stepped away, dragging Ken forward, her body tensed as her blood raged. The fear she’d been pushing at bay, turned to anger at the situation and these assholes. If they escaped—no, when they escaped—she’d remember every one of these bastards once she had a weapon again. Any weapon would do. Going from police to SWAT to HIS, she’d learned quite a few things about survival. Taking out a threat could be accomplished in many different ways.

  Captive. She couldn’t let it happen. If she could get closer to the man who’d removed her small knife—a gift from Ken on her twenty-first birthday—she had no qualms about using her pickpocket skills to lift it. In no way would she allow them to take her sexually. Her stomach roiled with the idea and nausea rose in her throat.

  In silence, they continued through the jungle and over the rocky area, so unlike where they’d had cover. Thinking of the small rocks in the terrain, and Ken not grunting or moving, her respect for his strength built. As far as she could tell, the bleeding on his thigh, for the most part, had stopped, but she only saw the back of his leg where his pants appeared stuck to his leg. No trail of red followed him.

  Knowing better than to look around for any friendlies, she watched their guards, and her lips quirked as she held back a smile. Most likely afraid of the rest of the team laying an ambush, the men looked a bit afraid. She’d pinpointed the stout guy who’d originally spoken as the leader. Knowing their chain of command could be helpful at some point.

  The brute holding her in an iron grip thwarted her attempt to trip toward the thief with her knife. His lightning reaction caught her the moment she stumbled in the opposite direction. Dammit. That also nixed her idea to fall and grab a rock. She’d find something once the man released her.

  Before they entered that metal gate, she’d sighted her targets, but new guards in the towers grabbed her attention. Son of a gun. Then she remembered that if Jesse didn’t accompany Cody home, he’d target them first. Mentally crossing her fingers that Jesse returned, she scanned the rest of the area—left to right, near to far.

  Ken must’ve tagged it right that they had bunks in the barracks. HIS had taken out quite a few men, but more strolled the compound, inside and outside the adobe walls. If only she had a way to feed the information to Doc, the remaining agents could formulate a good plan for rescue. Somehow, she didn’t think it would be as easy as Cody’s since they’d trespassed, blown up shit, killed some people, injured some others, and surely more because they didn’t do things halfway. They either got in and out with stealth or dealt with crap like this. If it hadn’t been for Bev’s interference, this would have been a clean rescue where they wouldn’t have known Cody was gone until HIS had him on a flight home.

  As they traversed the lawn area between the gate and the house, the extra men guarding her and Ken abandoned them and moved to what she suspected were their original posts. If she understood Spanish better, she’d know what they planned for the two of them. Damn, she should’ve paid more attention to their quick language training.

  The coolness inside the house surprised her due to the warmth outside. The outside temp had been tolerable, but she freely admitted she preferred the temp inside and the lack of heavy humidity that swamped the rainforest. In no time, her sweat-soaked shirt felt cool against her skin, sending goose bumps skittering up her arms.

  After a quick scan for threats and finding only the remaining men, with an alert gaze, she searched for a weapon. In what appeared to be a living room large enough for two sofas, one loveseat, one fainting couch, and four armchairs, she searched out every door, reevaluated every person—the asshole with her knife hadn’t followed them inside—every piece of furniture and its location, and more—so they could escape. Knowing Ken had awakened renewed her strength on their ability to make it. They just needed to find a way out.

  “Hello, my dear.”

  Sam bristled at the endearment as her head jerked to the barrel-chested Hispanic man who walked through the doorway of a connected room. His deep voice, when speaking English, held little accent. Swallowing hard, she reminded herself that she couldn’t allow taunts to bother her. If she played this right, she could get them released or at the least, medical care for Ken until HIS arrived.

  She voiced her assumption, “Alejandro Ramirez.”

  With a smile, he bowed his head. “At your service.”

  “Why do you have us here?”

  His gaze flicked from her to Ken. With a raised eyebrow, he asked, “Ken Patrick?”

  Refusing to confirm that information, she narrowed her eyes. “Why do you have us here?” she asked again.

  Alejandro took a few steps into the room and sat in a burgundy leather armchair. Steeping his fingers together and bouncing his thumbs off each other grated on her nerves. “You must be Bev’s friend, Samantha Milton.”

  So he did know her name. Stay on target, Sam. Don’t let him
affect you. “Why do you have us here?” she asked again, ignoring his reference to Bev.

  “I want the boy back.”

  Since they hadn’t had much information on Alejandro, she hadn’t known what to expect. What she hadn’t expected was the calm, cool man. “That’s not happening.” No sense beating around the bush there.

  “Is that your final answer?”

  Panic seized her, choking her response. What type of final did he mean? She wouldn’t give up Cody. All she could do if they chose to kill them was stand between Ken and a bullet. She didn’t wish to die, nor did she wish the man she cared about to die either.

  Taking a slow, deep breath, she calmed herself as much as possible. Her heart, attempting to escape from her chest, had no such qualms. She could face possible death. “Yes.”

  His dark eyes searched hers, and he must’ve seen her steely resolve in her protection of Cody. Looking at the man holding her arm, he nodded down the hallway. “Take them away.”

  That opened the door to a multitude of options she didn’t like. Her escort pulled her down a light-colored hallway. She kept craning her neck around to ensure Ken followed. He’d pretended for so long, she feared he’d passed out again.

  Once she ensured Ken accompanied her, she focused on their path, counting doorways and looking for—and finding—surveillance cameras. If he needed cameras in his own home, he definitely couldn’t be up to any good. What had Devon said? They suspected him of being an arms dealer or participating in illegal arms trading. On a positive note, she might find arms to help any investigation. On a negative note, their captors might have plenty of arms in their hands.

  Her escort gripped her arm and stopped her forward movement. “Here.”

  Here appeared to be a small room with an iron cell door. He swung it open and shoved her through the portal. Stumbling, she saw the cot on one side of the room and a large bucket on the other. Disgust roiled in her, turning her stomach over and over. Who the hell kept a dungeon in their home? One up to no good. Had they held Cody in here? She hoped not. That doubled her determination to keep the boy away from this monster.

  Continuing to survey the room, she had to remind herself that Alejandro may have treated Cody very well. The agents had reported pulling him from the breakfast table, so he, at least, didn’t take meals in here. It’d been a shame they couldn’t take time to locate Alejandro. If they’d had a larger team and more time to prep…. With a professional effort, she swept Cody from her mind and focused on her and her boss and their survival.

  More or less tossed into the room, Ken kept up his façade of unconsciousness. As they slammed and locked the door, she dropped to her knees beside him, and said the first thing that popped into her head. “Did you really say you loved me?”

  15

  Ken groaned and rolled onto his back. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Now take a look at my leg.” He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. Although he tried to hide it, his pain radiated through her and she wished she could take it away.

  If only she’d gotten to him sooner, protected his six sooner, he wouldn’t have been shot. She should’ve realized that he hadn’t been right with her after he’d ordered her to run. Forgetting he’d been injured had been unacceptable of her as a teammate.

  But what of any other relationship? He’d told her he loved her. If he truly did, why now? Because they’d possibly been about to die? She didn’t know how to handle the emotions his words evoked. They’d been dancing around the growing changes in their relationship where their feelings went beyond what they’d ever admitted. Was she ready to make that jump though?

  His groan refocused the emotions that had her thoughts in a jumble. Helping him had to be her priority, but she sighed with near defeat. She had nothing to treat his wound, and based on how they’d been treated by their captors, she didn’t believe a doctor would arrive anytime soon. No one appeared to be guarding the cell for her to request supplies.

  Did Alejandro want Cody back so badly that he’d allow Ken to suffer without treatment? Maybe they could fill in the holes about the man that Devon couldn’t dig up. Then she’d have to find a way to use it for their release.

  Determined, she turned her attention to Ken’s injury. A frown wove its way on her face. She couldn’t see his injury, and without her knife, the fabric wouldn’t give enough for her to rip it and make the hole larger. When they’d purchased the BDU pants, it had been for durability, which didn’t involve being able to rip them so easily.

  “The shot’s too high on your thigh to pull up your pants leg to see it.” She didn’t say because of the finely toned, muscular thighs that made her kind of drool, the lower pants leg wouldn’t have pulled up over them. She’d wanted to get in his pants but not like this. Enough. Now’s not the time to think of those things. Fix him so you can escape. Although she feared her womanly reaction to his next action, she directed him to do the only thing she could imagine would help. “You’re going to have to drop ’em.”

  A pain-filled chuckle rumbled up from him. “If I had a dollar every time a woman said that to me….”

  Damn if her emotions didn’t resurface when she wanted to keep her mind on nothing but the business at hand. Yet she smiled at his humor but secretly wanted to give the women their dollars back—so to speak. Jealously sprang up inside her. She hadn’t felt it since Lance, but if she had to admit the truth—and what better time than now—she’d been jealous of the women Ken had dated when they’d all hung out together. In fact—

  Stop this! After scolding herself some more she realized so much had changed since then. She’d changed to include going into a dark place with what Bev had told her to having the man she’d dreamed about tell her he loved her. And he’d said something about having trouble reconciling his two challenges with her. Yet things about both situations scared her. Knowing the timing couldn’t be worse, she shoved everything but their survival to the back of her mind, adding a slam of a door to emphasize her will so she could be the warrior she’d been trained to be and take charge until Ken’s condition changed for the better.

  Investigating the two items in the room, and searching the floor, the walls, and the door, her heart sinking as she found nothing that could be formed into something sharp to tear his pants or protect them.

  She drew her brows in concentration and frowned thinking she must be missing something. Always, anything could be adapted to be of use. Captors tended to overlook the most mundane things, but either these men hadn’t been that stupid, or they had been that lucky.

  Jolting her from her thoughts of trying to figure out how to help them, Ken requested something she should’ve already done for him.

  “Help me get to the cot. I’m afraid the blood has started drying my pants to the wound. Maybe we should wait until we get some water to loosen it instead of ripping it back open. If it starts bleeding again, we may have to start removing clothes.” He winked at her—winked!—and somehow, with his pain and discomfort, he smiled at her. Was he actually flirting with her? Now of all times?

  Shaking her head and banishing those thoughts, she ignored his playfulness. If it got him through the pain, she wouldn’t stop him. Heck, for all she knew, he might be delirious. Her medical training extended to not much more than putting on a Band-Aid. Okay, a little more than that, like the improvised tourniquet she’d slapped on his leg, but without the proper items, her ability to help remained limited.

  What she knew was that he made perfect sense. And not the loss of clothing, but that the wound would start bleeding again, and she couldn’t chance it going beyond a trickle or two.

  It took some heaving, grunting, gasping, groaning, half-dragging, and Sam almost landing on her ass, but they made it to the cot. His pallor didn’t appear as gray as it had earlier. In fact, the warrior she knew had returned, albeit with a grimace of pain from time to time. He had to be in agony. “How serious do you think it is
?”

  Clenching his jaw, he sat on the cot and patted the space beside him. “Come sit with me. Let me rest my head on your lap.”

  She gulped. That close? That intimate? She’d just fully emerged from the cocoon of her body’s awareness to him.

  “No funny business to worry about, Sam.”

  Her heart lurched in a bit of disappointment and a lot of concern. His voice sounded weaker. Without another thought, she slid onto the head of the cot and allowed him to rest his head on her lap. At the contact, warmth infused her and settled the makings of desire inside her.

  Dammit, hadn’t she twirled herself in circles enough about this today? But he’d dropped a real big bomb that she kept trying to put away for a later day, but it wouldn’t stop shoving itself forward. She wanted to think about it, analyze it, consider it, and decide what to do about it, but she had to focus on the op, not the man. Nor how her pulse raced for him. Or the butterflies that twittered in her stomach. Or the breathlessness that overcame her when they were close. Or all the rest of her erstwhile responses and emotions.

  “In answer to your question—” His Adam’s apple bobbed as if he had trouble swallowing. “—I’ve had a bullet hit bone and stay inside me. This isn’t the same.”

  Her body shook with worry. “Do you think it’s just a through-and-through wound then?”

  “I’d be damn lucky if it did that and didn’t tear up any tendons or muscle, but it’s possible. I do know that the pain and limitations of my leg are worse than just a notch from a bullet graze though. I think after a short rest, I can use it more than I have.”

  Scrutinizing the front of his thigh, the obvious presence of blood there meant the bullet had to have exited. With the hole where the bullet went through his body in the front being larger than the entry point in the rear, she could probably get some give with the material, but as Ken had said, it stuck to his skin, so separating it could cause problems they didn’t need.