ES_ebook_8.2.19 Page 15

  “What did they ask you?” she said, deflecting the questioning off her.

  He sighed and wished he’d remember not to do that because it pained his chest. “I only had one question about Cody.”

  “One? You’ve been gone for about half the day. Were you really that obstinate?”

  And he’d suffered all those hours as they passed with basically that same questions with only Alejandro and Jose—his new least-favorite person. “He only wanted to know if Cody was safe.”

  “He? You mean Alejandro?”

  “Yes,” Ken responded.

  “He didn’t want him back? That’s odd. He wanted him back earlier. Why kidnap him at all?”

  That’s where it had gotten strange. “He wanted confirmation that Cody wouldn’t go back to Beverly and that he’d go to someone who loved him and could give him a good home. If HIS couldn’t do that, he wanted the boy back.”

  Her face brightened. “Good. We can promise that, so there’s no need to hold us any longer.” Looking hard at him, she must’ve realized what he hadn’t told her. “There’s more, isn’t there? They wouldn’t have beaten you otherwise.”

  How much to tell? He loved her, but in this case he didn’t know if he could trust her. One coincidence shouldn’t sway his mind, but he couldn’t let it go. The first non-Cody question they’d asked had him reliving her actions.

  His mind couldn’t settle on what to believe. If she’d been in on this, she wouldn’t be in the cell with him. Unless her goal was to get the information he hadn’t shared. But that didn’t make sense either because she’d have whatever information they’d asked him for.

  Because of his heart, he kept making excuses for her and didn’t want her to be involved. He had to stop that and treat her like any other teammate. After letting everything brew around in his mind again, he came to the same conclusion—love and trust firmly in a battle.

  If he wanted to escape, he had to because he couldn’t do it alone. The question was if she’d rat him out or help him. But would she only be helping him to further Alejandro’s cause?

  He just couldn’t figure out how she knew the man. She’d acted as if she’d never heard of him at Beverly’s nor when they’d been introduced upon arrival.

  “Ken,” she prodded, “what did they want?”

  “He knew that even though he’d said otherwise that Beverly would call you, and you’d bring HIS. I think he’d planted that seed at some point.”

  If he didn’t know better, he’d say her hackles rose. Whether that happened to be about the situation, the boy, or her friend he didn’t know, but she had reacted.

  “He wanted HIS here.” He watched her closely for any telltale signs of duplicity.

  “I thought HIS didn’t know him.”

  “I thought you didn’t either,” he accused.

  Her hand stilled in his hair and she stiffened. “What do you mean? The first time I’ve seen the man was when you did.”

  Her phrasing hadn’t escaped him. It could be nothing, and he hated how quickly he’d come to not giving her the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t deserve this from him, but he had to get to the bottom of it before any more trouble surprised the team.

  “Seen?”

  “What’d you mean?” She narrowed her eyes. “What are you accusing me of?”

  Glad she hadn’t jumped up and allowed his head to drop, he softened his tone. “I’m trying to see if there’s a connection between you and Alejandro.”

  “I assure you there’s no connection. The first time I even heard of the man was at Bev’s. She never even told me about him while they’d supposedly ‘dated.’” She paused before asking, “Why would you think there was a connection?”

  “He knew about you.”

  She jerked, and it jarred his neck. While wanting to cry out, he bit his tongue, watched and listened with his heart tied in knots.

  “Me? He asked if that was my name. Obviously, if he figured Bev would call me, he must’ve known something about me.” She paused for a moment. “So he expected me to bring HIS here? What for?”

  When he waited too long, her penetrating gaze knifed through him. He had no reason to lie. She either knew already or needed to know.

  “Ken, what does he want?”

  “He wants Jesse… and me.”

  17

  Sam gaped at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words escaped. Abandoning that effort, she lifted her chin and looked at the opposite wall.

  Wanting to trust her, Ken closed his eyes to block out the pain and his unwelcome thoughts. He’d gone from wanting to get into her pants that morning, to wondering if she’d been a traitor to HIS by late afternoon.

  He still had the second thing to ask her. He probably should’ve asked this one first, but the other had actually put a life at risk, so he deemed it important to feel her out. On the phone conversation he’d partially overheard, he could have misinterpreted it, taken it out of context, and been way off base with the subject matter.

  Kicking himself for not calling her conversation into question before they’d departed on this op or when he’d been with Jesse, Ken could only move forward and hope he hadn’t put lives at risk by keeping quiet about Sam. He’d just never believed what he thought he heard could be true.

  “You and Jesse?” she asked in surprise.

  Hmm. His heart pressured him to believe her… to put his faith in her. The hardened warrior in him kept shutting that desire down.

  Opening his eyes, he began, “Sam—” Emotion clogged his voice. Fear that he wouldn’t like the answer to his question clogged his throat, making it almost impossible to speak. “When Beverly called— When she called you, I overheard something that needs explaining.”

  She visibly swallowed hard, and rocks tumbled in his bruised stomach. “Go ahead.”

  As a guise to stilling her hand on his hair, he grasped her wrist and held it, monitoring her pulse rate. “I don’t remember the exact wording”—a bold-faced lie if he’d ever told one—“but it had something to do with you working for us and two people Beverly wanted you to kill.”

  Based on the way her pulse raced, he had no doubt the words had meant what he’d thought. The reality of that had him jerking away from her wrist and sitting up—albeit biting back a groan amid the throbbing of wounds—to put some distance between them.

  He definitely should’ve asked that question beforehand, but he hadn’t wanted to believe.

  Shifting forward on the cot, she left the distance he’d put between them. “Ken… I—It was Bev’s desire. I never agreed to such a thing.”

  Hearing her sniff, he turned in time to see her swipe at a tear gliding down her dirty cheek. The face paint had blended with sweat, and it clung to her sleeve and hand. Still, her beauty astounded him.

  No matter his pull to her, he had to escape and warn Jesse, get them both out of the area. Once they rejoined the team, he’d have Sam held to ensure she couldn’t harm anyone or run back and help their enemy.

  In a gruff voice, he announced, “If we get a chance tonight, we’ll escape.” How the hell he planned to do that eluded him. To save his teammates, even Sam, he’d find a way.

  Her shaky voice turned his insides upside down. “I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

  Of course she had. The woman exuded strength and confidence. He shouldn’t have expected less. After seeing her risk her life for him, he’d really understood how competent she was and that he’d wasted so much time watching over her.

  Jesse and Stone should’ve been on the transport with Cody. Due to the situation, Franks and Cowboy would’ve come back to rendezvous with Doc.

  It occurred to him that she’d said she hadn’t agreed to Bev’s wishes. But the time lapse on that shot had him wondering if she’d devised another plan with her friend? Why? If that was the case, she wouldn’t have s
aved Jesse and come back to save him. Maybe he was overthinking it.

  The groan that escaped him included a mix of pain both physically and emotionally. No matter his concerns, he just had to trust her to get him out.

  “When the meal arrives, we’ll overpower the guard or guards,” Ken said.

  “We?” she taunted. “How about me? I’m already wondering how far I can carry you once we’re out in the open.”

  He scoffed. “I just need to lean on you, not have you carry me.”

  “You’ve never had a woman ride to your rescue, have you?”

  “No,” he said shortly. He guessed he’d soon learn how it felt.

  “Right,” she said. “Evening meal.”

  No meal arrived that evening.

  ***

  “I hope we’re home for a while after this op,” Lance Milton told his teammates over their comms.

  Ken with Jesse—Captain Hamilton—in the lead Humvee listened to his team, but his attention, like he knew theirs was, was focused on the surrounding area. They’d left civilization behind and passed only small areas with a few shacks left standing. That didn’t ease their threat, but it made things harder for a terrorist to follow them without notice.

  “Why’s that?” Adam Shodun asked with a chuckle.

  They all knew the answer before Lance even spoke, as he’d mentioned it many times over.

  “This time I’m going to get her pregnant,” Lance stated matter-of-factly, as if he’d already done the deal.

  With Lance being the closest thing to a best bud that he had, Ken knew the reasons for his need to impregnate his wife. Lance figured it’d make Sam leave the police force so he didn’t have to worry about her so much.

  When they’d met Sam, he, Lance, and Adam had been drinking beers and talking shit at a sports bar. When Adam’s now wife then sex interest, Beverly, walked in with her extraordinarily beautiful friend, Adam had moved faster than a rattlesnake striking to get the two women to the table.

  Immediately, Ken had felt the burning attraction to Sam. Her long blonde hair flowed past her shoulders and gleamed in the overhead lights. When her shining blue eyes, met his, an instantaneous lust hit his gut with a bare recognition of a deeper emotion.

  No question about it, he wanted her. However, unlike his teammates, having a wife didn’t fit into his plans. Their job could mean their death at any time, and he couldn’t do that to someone who counted on him, loved him. He didn’t understand how some of his teammates could.

  Yet something about Sam tugged at him. With Beverly and Adam’s heads together, oblivious to everyone else at the table, he and Lance had given Sam their full attention, and she’d divided hers between them. He’d chalked that up to her being polite.

  Meeting her in the hallway, and with Ken on his way to inebriation, he took one look at her in that sexy, red dress and her wide, smiling eyes and couldn’t control his next actions. Whisking her into his arms, he’d pulled their bodies close and melded their lips together. The touch of their chests and lips sent a pulse through his torso that frightened him.

  Moving his lips, his tongue searching her mouth and dueling with hers, and his hands roaming her body, all wound into a fire that pulled him back to reality.

  The depth of reach to his soul would remain imprinted in his heart. As would the hurt in her eyes when he told her that it would never happen again. Nothing would happen again. He’d then left.

  Eventually, Lance had asked her out, and the two had fallen in love and married.

  His heart had crashed into a million pieces. He’d been happy for his bud and knew, listening to his plans for Sam, his emotions jumbled knowing he’d pushed her away before they’d even had a chance.

  “You say that every time. Maybe you’re shooting blanks. You might want to let Sergeant Patrick give it a shot,” Adam taunted.

  Oh, shit. Why would the man say something like that? Even if he’d known Ken was in love with her, he didn’t want Lance to know that.

  To end this conversation and with Adam and Lance together in the second vehicle of their convoy, he halted their fun. “Eyes out, boys.”

  Something about the cluster of homes they approached bothered Ken. He couldn’t say what because nothing looked amiss.

  “Ken, you might want to put the pedal to the metal. I don’t like the look of this settlement,” Jesse said, confirming his suspicion.

  Not questioning either of their gut instincts, he increased the speed of the already flying convoy. No one spoke, and without the need for an order, all followed Ken and Jesse’s actions.

  Passing the settlement on their left, Jesse leaned toward that side and scrutinized the area. When he nearly turned completely around in his seat, Ken’s adrenaline pumped double-time through his veins. He pushed the accelerator down further, even though it had little to go before it hit the floorboard.

  “Fuck!” Jesse shouted before an explosion rocked behind them and, in the rearview mirror, Ken saw the fire bomb the second vehicle. “Stop,” he ordered. Whether right or wrong, Ken did.

  No man left behind. No matter the branch of service, special operators didn’t leave their comrades.

  The first and third vehicles halted, maneuvering their vehicles in a support position, and the Rangers hastened out the passenger sides of the vehicles, using it as cover. During the firefight, Ken disobeyed Jesse’s order and ran into the open to the second vehicle now aflame and nearly destroyed. He didn’t care if he received a bullet or died, not only his teammates but Lance had been in that vehicle.

  Unconcerned of the heat of the door handle, he flung it open as fiery pain sizzled on his palm, and then he pulled out Lance, who’d been in the passenger seat, dragging him to a safe distance but close enough to protect. He returned to the Humvee and because of the flames, couldn’t reach anyone else. Without any cries of pain, he could only surmise they’d been killed instantaneously.

  Returning to Lance, he did a quick triage and his heart sank to his gut like a lead weight. Not only did Lance have burns on most of his body, his hands lay on his stomach, blood flowing between his fingers. Removing his hands, Ken saw the blood pouring from a wound to Lance’s stomach where shrapnel had embedded itself.

  Even though he knew his attempts would be futile, he placed his hands on the wound and gave it light pressure. He used caution so as not to press the metal further into him and create more problems.

  “Medic,” Ken screamed over the gunfire that sounded around him.

  “Ken,” Lance said weakly, and Ken turned his attention from the wound to his friend’s face.

  Ken shook at the grief that racked him. He never liked losing his brethren, but this hit like home.

  “I need a promise from you.”

  “Anything,” he responded, tears forming in his eyes, yet he refused to let them fall.

  “Take care of Sam.” Blood trickled from Lance’s mouth. “Please.”

  Things spun in his head and a different feel reached into his dream. “Ken,” Sam said as his dream morphed. “Help me, don’t let them take me away.” His head spinning, he sat on the cot in their cell and did nothing while the guards took Sam and she accused, “I thought you loved me.”

  With his heart pounding in self-pity and defeat, he remained seated, giving no effort to pull her away. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not capable of saving you, just like I couldn’t save your husband.”

  “You bastard! I knew I should’ve killed you after all.”

  Ken jolted awake, heart pounding and sweat covering him. His body racked with aches and pain, his thigh burning, he quickly recon’d the room to gain his bearings. Closing his eyes for a moment to ward off the spots flashing in his vision, he silently cursed. In captivity.

  “What’s the matter?” Sam asked from beside him.

  It’d taken a long time for the two of them to come
to an agreement on the sleeping arrangements. He didn’t know which of the two held the title of the most stubborn.

  “No, Ken. You shouldn’t be on the floor in your condition,” she’d argued.

  “You shouldn’t be on the floor period,” he’d countered.

  “You’re being argumentative when you don’t have to be.” Her eyes had widened. “Like you used to be when I first met you. If you sleep on the floor, then I’m sleeping there too.”

  “You’re impossible,” he’d huffed.

  “I’ve been told that a time or two. I don’t agree, but people can think what they want. Now, I have a suggestion. Hear me out, before you have a fit.”

  His eyes narrowed in suspicion. He didn’t have fits. “Go on.”

  “We both sleep on the cot.” She seemed proud of herself, nodding with her statement as if a done deal. When he went to argue, she’d held up a hand. “It’s wide enough if we both sleep on our sides.” She added, “Away from each other.”

  He’d agreed, if for nothing else than to keep her off the floor.

  The heat from her body as she leaned over him, her hand on his shoulder, slid through his veins like a feel-good drug. With it, his pulse raced in excitement and his dick came to life. Hell, when his body had responded to her in the past, their distance had kept the noticeability from her.

  “Are you okay?” The concern in her voice reached deep into his soul.

  “Bad dream,” he answered, wishing he hadn’t been so honest because he just knew what would come out of her mouth. God his body felt like he’d been run over by a Mack truck before it backed up and did it again.

  “Tell me about it,” she said soothingly.

  Did she know her voice glided over his soul and left him with the feeling of being held in her embrace?

  “It’s nothing.” On his uninjured side facing away from her, his arm folded beneath his head, he kept looking forward. She’d turned over to face him and leaned over his shoulder somewhat.