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  Even after the words Ken had overheard from the get-go, he hadn’t treated her differently. He’d not set her aside on the mission and he could’ve. He’d worked with her, but he could’ve done that for one of many reasons. To watch her. To participate. To give her the needed support. It didn’t matter. He stood by her even before he’d discovered her intentions.

  “Before we go on, I need to apologize again.”

  His fingers covered her lips. “Shh, you don’t need to keep apologizing.”

  She nodded, and he moved his hand away. “Tell me.”

  “The kidnapping, as we guessed, was her ruse to get us here. To get you and Jesse here.” Damn Bev for doing this. “As we guessed, Alejandro is doing this for her. He appears to be crazy in love and wants to banish her demons. I think he really wanted Cody to have a good home.”

  Sighing, she continued. “I screwed up. On the phone, I let it slip to Bev about our not being on an op. She knew you and Jesse would be available, but she couldn’t chance you two not responding, and that’s why she involved Cody. You wouldn’t step aside for a Ranger’s kid.” She sighed. “I think I was a little upset we didn’t go out considering most of the new team had been off, and I didn’t pay attention to my words.”

  “It’s okay. Jesse had a reason for making that call. We didn’t pick up the last op mostly because of you.”

  The words slammed into her with the impact of hitting a concrete wall. She hadn’t expected that answer. “Me?”

  Nodding, Ken rubbed the wound on his leg and closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes, you. The op Bravo went on—the rescue—based on the information that had been gathered, didn’t have a need for a sharpshooter. Doesn’t mean it wouldn’t, but at the time, it didn’t. Because you’re the best, Jesse wanted you available should we snag something last minute”—he cocked his head to the side in a cute gesture although he’d probably not like that term for it—“like this, that required your expertise.”

  She looked at him with watery eyes. If she’d only spoken up earlier, maybe this could’ve been prevented. Heck, Ken had been shot, tortured, and held in captivity. She’d never forgive Bev for the destruction she was delivering.

  His thumb tapping a rhythm on his good leg, he gazed over her head. “Did she create the false report?”

  Nodding, Sam bit her lip. “She admitted to it.” This time she shook her head. “I’m not sure why because she’s held a grudge against you and Jesse all this time, placing the blame at your doorsteps.”

  “I’m guessing somewhere along the line her hatred turned into a need for vengeance. Why wait so long?”

  Sick to her stomach, she guessed the answer as he voiced it.

  “You. You were now in a position to do something.”

  “And I had told her that—” Her eyes widened. Embarrassment be damned. “I told her I had feelings for you.”

  His tight smile faltered a bit and a small quirk at the corner of his lips appeared.

  “Since,” she continued, “she realized she truly had no way to get me to take action, she attempted to manipulate me.”

  Ken nodded his agreement.

  “And I almost fell for it.” She jerked away and up from the cot. “God, I could kick my own ass,” she breathed, rapidly pacing the small space. “I thought—” She swirled back in the other direction. “I thought—” Tears filled her eyes and she hated it. Not only because it made her look like a girl who couldn’t hold her own on a mission, but Ken had to witness it. She stopped and dropped her head in her hands. A comforting hand stilled her shaking shoulders.

  “Sam, getting upset at yourself will help no one.”

  She turned into his arms, her head buried in his shoulder. “Bev and I went through so much and I can’t believe she’d go this far. You know we were friends before each of us married, remained friends during, and grieved as friends after. Maybe I was lucky because I also had you while I grieved. Maybe that made it worse for her. I don’t know.” She squeezed tightly around his waist. “I’m so glad we found each other again.”

  At those words, she snuggled in closer but cautious around his ribs to avoid hurting him any worse. When a hiss slipped through his teeth, she pulled back. Had they taken him again while she’d been with Bev. No. They couldn’t have. So what sparked that level of sensitivity?

  “Ken?” Concern and bewilderment mixed in her question.

  “It’s nothing,” he attempted to assure her.

  Reading the lie in his dark eyes, she tugged his T-shirt up. Her breath caught in her throat. “Are those cigarette burns?” she choked out.

  22

  Based on the fresh tears streaking down Sam’s face, keeping the extent of his injuries secret had been the right move. While awkwardly sitting on the cot, he’d pulled her into his shoulder, rubbing her back to soothe her.

  “I’m so sorry,” she managed through his hold and her tears.

  “Shh, sweetheart. This isn’t your fault.”

  “But, Bev—”

  “Beverly had you kept in this cell until she returned, and if you hadn’t agreed to help her, you’d have probably been back here but without a key.” His gut revolted at what Beverly might’ve done to her—or could still do if she discovered the truth. They had to escape before that happened.

  Trying to turn the conversation away from his injuries and gloomy thoughts, he said with a light-heartedness he didn’t fully feel, “A key that I can’t use.”

  The desired effect happened. She stopped crying, almost with a halting of breath. “What’d you mean?”

  The level of perplexity in her voice brought a smile to his face. She knew the reason, but her mental focus had walked away from her.

  He looked down at her, hating to see the redness that surrounded her slightly puffy eyes. “Think about it, sweetheart. My arm is too large to reach all the way through the bars and turn the lock.”

  “Oh, right.” He didn’t take his eyes from her as she leaned away to sit back, sniffling all the way. “My call sign is Sugar. But, I like you calling me sweetheart.”

  It had been way too long since this woman had been romanced. Maybe she had yet to remember that he’d always called her that endearment, even after she and Lance had connected. “Don’t worry, I’ll remember Sugar when the time is right. Otherwise, I like ‘sweetheart.’”

  With her nod and the slight smile on her lips, he pushed forward even though he’d prefer nothing better than to pull her back into his arms.

  “Okay, let’s get back to the important task in front of us. Finish telling me about Beverly’s plans and anything you learned that could help or hinder us.”

  Back in her warrior mode, the renewed strength from her reinvigorated him also. “As we’ve said, her ultimate goal is to ensure you and Jesse pay.” Sam furrowed her brow. “Although, she and Alejandro—who she’d never stopped dating—managed this rather quickly. I wonder if she’d already had this as an idea to draw you two out. Alejandro had offered to have the two of you killed. He’s quite obsessed with her.”

  “If she doesn’t go out much, how’d they meet?”

  Shrugging, she responded, “They said they met at a hotel bar.”

  “You don’t sound convinced.”

  “Maybe they did and maybe they didn’t. Bev”—she hedged—“was into some kinky stuff.”

  “Oh God, please don’t get specific. The last thing I want in my mind is that woman dressed in black leather and carrying a whip.” He squeezed his eyes shut. He’d done it to himself. “Dammit, too late.” He reached up a hand to squeeze his eyes shut, hoping to block out the revolting image.

  While she didn’t laugh outright, he heard the levity in her voice. “She and Adam did well together with that.”

  He opened his eyes and stared at her. “She told you about her and Adam having sex?” Good God, what did these women do when the men wer
e deployed? He’d expect they traded recipes, but it sounded like they traded whips.

  “No. Stop worrying. She let it slip once. Anyhow, what I was saying is that she used to be on websites for that stuff and she met a lot of people that way.”

  “And Alejandro is—” He didn’t know what to call him. Master?

  “I don’t know. What I’m saying is that was how she met out-of-town people who enjoyed her preferences in bed.”

  “I can’t deal with that right now.” Taking her hand, he squeezed lightly, offering her silent support. “What did you two agree on?”

  “Oh, since I told her Jesse had left with Cody back to the States, she fumed, and I formulated a strategy. I let her know they’d be at Jesse’s house but, no, I didn’t know the location.”

  Pride splashed across him and he didn’t hide the smile for her. “Why, you cute, little double agent.”

  She elbowed him in jest. When he grunted, she slipped her hand from his and covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Ken.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It didn’t hurt. It took me by surprise.”

  “Are you sure?” The uncertainty in her voice almost broke him.

  She’d asked for forgiveness, but exonerating herself might be more of a problem. Somehow, he’d help her, even though it would take time.

  “Yes, but we’re getting nowhere. Tell me what’s going on and no sidetracking.”

  That did it. That brought out her grin. His also. It’s always been the joke between them that she couldn’t have a conversation without branching off two or three times while never getting to the end of any story.

  “Okay, let’s see. She wants you two at the same time. You won’t give Jesse up. I pretended not to know where he lived so Alejandro couldn’t just grab him. I’m on a mission to worm the address out of you so that when I’m done, I can let myself out and tell Bev.” She crossed her arms over her chest and proudly harrumphed.

  Oh, how he wanted to chuckle at her and her satisfaction for being concise. Instead, he stayed on target like he’d challenged her to do. “How long did she give you?”

  “Originally she wanted the information before dark.”

  “And now?” he asked cautiously. If Beverly expected her to return and she didn’t, what would the woman do then? He didn’t like the ideas turning in his head. With her being unpredictable—

  “I convinced her”—her smiled brightened—“that the morning would be better. Just in case I need to use my womanly charms on you to get that pesky old address.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Resourceful, aren’t you?” His smile sounded in his words.

  “Are you patting yourself on the back since you made sure I was before you allowed me on my first op with HIS?”

  He ignored that, but a chuckle rumbled through him. “Anything else I need to know?”

  “Since I assured Bev the rest of the team left with Cody, Alejandro recalled the men on patrol. Most of them,” she quickly corrected. “I only overheard part of his conversation with Jose and one of the men who’d captured us. I asked Bev about it. She said they kept a roving patrol around the outside perimeter and some in the jungle. At her frown to the conversation, she gave me the impression he’d cut the number. I can’t be sure of that since she didn’t translate it all. I do remember my numbers in Spanish though. If it matched his conversation, he’s barebonesing it.”

  He mentally counted men.

  “That’s assuming we can trust Bev.”

  “Hmm.” He rubbed his hand across his hard-whiskered face trying to puzzle it out. What he wouldn’t give for real intel. “Why is he dropping his numbers so low? He should be expecting HIS to attempt to rescue us.”

  “Maybe to give them some rest since I assured them there weren’t enough HIS agents to mount a rescue yet and we could get to Jesse before then.”

  “And they bought it?” He shook his head. “Obviously they did. Do you think this is a trick? That Alejandro knew you were listening and wanted you to pass on false information? Or that Bev lied to you?”

  “At this point, either of them could’ve.”

  It worked well for him and Sam that Alejandro relaxed his security, but it also bothered him. Then it hit him. The man had the same setup when they’d rescued Cody. Which meant the men in his barracks were ready and bringing the fight inside the gates gave them the advantage.

  They were taking the fight outside the gates. “Once we leave the house, we have a bit of ground to cover before we hit the wall.”

  “Do you think your leg can take it?”

  Probably not, but his life depended on it so he’d go to hell and back if that’s what it took. “I’ll make it happen. I’ll limp more than before, and as long as I don’t spin around suddenly on that leg, I’ll be there with you.”

  Settling her head against his shoulder, she offered, “You can always lean on me if you need it.”

  There was no question he’d end up leaning on her at some point since they had a lot of uneven ground to cover. “I might have to. Listen, this time, if I tell you to run, I need you to do it.”

  She shot up, leaping from the cot, almost clipping him under the chin before whirling on him with fire in her eyes. “No.”

  Sighing, he knew she’d fight. “Don’t argue. Just listen. That’s a lot of ground to cover and we need to move fast. If we’re lucky, Doc will see us and provide cover.”

  “How will he know what direction to expect us?”

  He smiled crookedly. “Opposite the barracks.”

  She nodded. “What about the other guys?”

  Without being with the team when one of their own had been held captive, she had no idea what to expect when it hadn’t been discussed. It’d been a no-brainer to them since they’d become such a cohesive team. It reminded him how they couldn’t go lax in their pre-conceived notions. “They’ll stay on each gate to catch anyone hampering our escape.”

  “I guess when we plan these things, I never expect to be the prisoner.”

  “Come sit back down,” he coaxed. She did, and he continued, “From the little bit of recon we did before dawn yesterday, on the north side there’re blind spots where the spotlights don’t cover.” The large spotlights covered a large portion of the area. Only a paranoid bastard would go to that level.

  “How’re you going to get over that wall?”

  He might not, but he’d not tell her that. He’d get her over first and nothing that happened to him after mattered. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Any—”

  “Son of a bitch,” he burst out, reaching in his ear and removing the listening device.

  “What?”

  Soothing Sam’s alarmed voice, he smiled. “She figured out those were microphones. I just had a blast of heavy metal in my ear.” Sticking his finger in his ear and rotating it around in hopes of reversing the effect of the loud music, Ken started. Dropping their voices back down to a whisper, he leaned close. “Why would she do that if you told her no one was around here?”

  Sam appeared to have the same question and no answer. “I don’t know.”

  “I don’t think she trusts you as much as you think she does.”

  “I think you’re right. Do you think she’s overheard us?”

  Doubtful, since they’d done quite a bit of talking across the room, even if softly. Their plans and strategy had been whispered. “I don’t think so, but we’ll keep talking low.”

  “Are you sure we can’t get out tonight?”

  Wishing he could agree, Ken shook his head. “If there are patrols—whether inside or outside the jungle—they probably have NVGs. We don’t, so we can’t escape any pursuers.”

  “Maybe I should leave now and give Bev some bullshit so I can find our equipment.”

  He shook his head. If only it’d be that easy. “No, I don’t trust how she’ll tr
eat you now, and I don’t want to be separated. We have to hope since she told you morning, we have that much time. We’ll break out when the sky begins to lighten, when it’s not so dark so we can get over the wall and into the jungle before dawn breaks, and Beverly comes looking for you.”

  Having to put faith into something that maniac promised bothered the hell out of him. He didn’t see any other choice. If they left in the black of night, they wouldn’t get far enough away to make it worthwhile. And that was if they didn’t run into any other trouble, which was a big possibility.

  “Do you remember all the turns from the front door to here?”

  He hadn’t fooled her with his pretending to be unconscious when they’d dragged his sorry ass in here. “Sure. I can get us out. I just wish we had more than your knife.”

  “I’m more worried about finding the rendezvous point without a GPS to get us through that foliage,” she admitted.

  A grin of satisfaction crawled across his face. “If I know Jesse like I do, he anticipated our losing everything. He probably tossed almost every piece of his equipment to Franks and Cowboy with directions to get it to Doc before he and Stone departed with Cody.”

  That still leaves them in captivity for a while—maybe days. With no lunch or water, his apprehension grew. Was Beverly playing out the ruse and treating Sam like a prisoner? Or had she realized Sam’s deception? His gut clenched at either possibility. He only hoped they brought some drug-free dinner because he needed something to rebuild his energy. He also needed fluids. Badly.

  To pass the afternoon, they reminisced about their lives with Lance, and even times with Adam and Beverly. With each story, Sam relaxed and a lightness appeared to fill her. Her freshly cleaned face shone with a glow of happiness.

  While some of the stories involved only the two of them, neither brought up the two times they’d kissed before the other night.

  Hearing steps approaching, Sam moved away from him. He reached over and slid her knife from her boot. A small surge of fear zipped through him. If Beverly had come for Sam, he’d die before allowing it a second time.