He leaned forward and brushed her forehead with his mouth. His lips. They felt soft yet firm. Cool yet quickly heating. His breath was warm. "Zara, I have no expectations, so you can't disappoint me. That said, I don't like you being afraid because it isn't necessary, not when you're with me."
She looked down at her hands. One still clung to his shirt, like a little child's. The other was a fist in her lap and she could still see and feel those fine tremors, which meant, because Gino was so observant, he would see them as well. "I'm no fighter. I know you think we were all trained, and I was, but I'm not like Bellisia. Ask her. She'll tell you."
"She told me she loved you. That you were her sister and you had a gentle soul. She asked me to protect you and I will, with my life. It isn't necessary for you to be a fighter. We have them. I'm one. You be the calm in the eye of that storm for me. I could use that. When I lose my mind, and I will, you can center me."
Her gaze searched his. He meant it. He wasn't patronizing her, he actually meant it. The relief was tremendous. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I can do that." They were connected, and that connection was strong enough that she was certain she would be able to find a way to soothe him if he needed it. Still, he seemed awfully cool under fire, unlike her.
There was a knock on the door. "Look alive, Gino, we're leaving in five."
"Wrapping her up now, Draden. Rubin, did you pack the supplies I asked for?"
"Got them here, Gino."
The voice was so close it made her jump. She hadn't known there was another man in the room with them. He just seemed to come right out of the shadowed area near the windows. Had he been there the entire time? She was afraid he had. She hadn't taken her eyes from Gino to even look around the room. She would never have made a good soldier and no matter the training, she still wouldn't. She could defeat an opponent--but only with the element of surprise. She had knowledge, but she wasn't fast enough nor did she generate the power the others had. She could kill, but just thinking about doing so turned her stomach.
"Babe, you're going to have to let go of me so we can move," Gino said.
She felt the heat rising under her skin. She tried to snatch her hand back fast, but Gino's fingers tightened around her wrist, holding her to him. He waited until her gaze jumped to his. "Stop worrying about the little things. I like you holding on to me. Understand?"
She didn't but she nodded anyway. His eyes burned through her to brand her somewhere deep.
"I'm going to wrap you up in the sheet and carry you out of here. My boys are going to surround us. No one will get to you. Understand?"
He seemed to say that to her a lot. Zara nodded again even though she was used to worrying about everything--especially the small stuff. He removed the IV that dripped a painkiller into her along with fluids and then he stood, planted a knee on the bed, tucked the sheet under her, lifted her easily and rolled the sheet closer around her body, then cradled her close. He did it so quickly and efficiently she wondered how many women he'd rescued. She didn't want to sound jealous or possessive so she didn't ask him. She caught him around the neck and held on as he carried her out of the room.
Rubin followed them, and just outside the door, the others were waiting. The one he called Draden as well as two others.
"Zara, this is Rubin and Diego, they're brothers. Our boss, Ezekiel, and you've met Draden. They all serve with me in my unit. This is Zara."
There were a lot of murmurings of "ma'am." She felt a little underdressed to be meeting people. She flashed a small, strained smile to the group of them and then subsided against Gino's chest.
"Can you wait to use the bathroom until we're on the plane? I should have gotten you there right away when I knew we would have to leave fast."
She nodded. She would definitely wait. She wanted on that plane more than she wanted anything. At her agreement, they moved quickly, in perfect step, Gino in the middle of the formation, through the hall toward the back of the embassy. A corridor led down another hall, and they went out a back door to a waiting vehicle with the back passenger door open. Gino, with Zara in his arms, slid onto the seat and someone closed the door.
She found her heart accelerating all over again. This was either going to go smoothly or all hell was going to break loose. Chinese soldiers could ambush the car. If Cheng got wind of their leaving, if anyone was in his pay in the embassy and they found out, his security force, all ex-military, could ambush the car on the way to the airport. Cheng could have his guards waiting at the airport.
Gino's arms tightened around her as the vehicle began moving. "You're not breathing."
"This is nerve-wracking." It didn't seem to be for him. She swore his pulse hadn't gone up at all. It was the same steady, reassuring beat it had been all along. His breathing hadn't changed either. Her breathing, however, was coming in ragged puffs she couldn't control. Panic was beginning to set in all over again.
"Zara."
"I'm trying." She was. She'd warned him.
"You're cool as a cucumber talking in front of hundreds of people. I could never do that," Gino said.
"I throw up every single time before I go out there to talk," she confessed.
"That makes you even braver. You still get your sweet little ass out there and you give your talk, which, by the way, I can barely comprehend."
She liked that he called her ass sweet, although she wasn't certain if she should be as happy about the ass part as she was. "Once I start talking about the developments in AI, I can't help but forget where I am or how many people are watching. I like sharing because it's the future and there are so many wonderful uses."
"I listened to a few of your talks they had online and I have to admit, I could hear the enthusiasm in your voice. I hadn't thought too much about artificial intelligence, but you made it so interesting, I started studying it to learn everything I could."
She liked everything he said to her. He made her feel as if everything she did was all right. Not just right, but extraordinary. Or perfectly okay if she wasn't good at something. He gave her that as well.
"Breathe, baby. Look to me when you get stressed. Every time. I'll be close." His fingers caught her chin in a firm grip, but one so gentle her heart turned over.
He lifted her chin so her eyes met his. Outside the shadowed windows, the brilliant lights of Shanghai burst past like long, colored streamers. Inside, it was the two of them, separate, even, from the driver. Gino's eyes were very black, so bottomless, a fathomless abyss that she found herself falling into her. His eyes were every bit as mesmerizing as his voice.
"I want you to understand what I'm telling you. When we get home, I'll be close. You get scared for any reason, you look to me. I'll be there and you'll know you don't have to worry."
He was offering her the very thing she had dreamt of her entire life. She had just wanted to feel safe--even if it was for just a few minutes. She hadn't felt safe as a child. She'd known at any moment Whitney would come to subject her to pain and call her worthless and selfish. It wouldn't matter how hard she tried, she would fail and he would be disgusted with her. During her teenage years, the pattern had worsened, especially when she was attending schools. It seemed the more she succeeded on the outside, the uglier Whitney was to her when she returned. The more he demanded. There had never been a place of safety.
"Zara." He said her name softly. "I realize you don't know me very well, but I'm a man of my word. I've offered you my protection. All you have to do is say yes, and believe. It really is that simple. Actions will bear out what I'm saying to you."
She didn't wait, didn't dare take any chances he would rescind his offer. She was so terrified of Zhu, and she knew he would come for her. She had to make that clear to Gino before she accepted his protection--and she wanted to accept immediately.
"Zhu isn't like anyone I've ever met, Gino," she whispered, glancing toward the front seat and the driver. She didn't want anyone to overhear her. "I think he's a true sociopath, and he's capa
ble of extreme violence without feeling any emotion. He'll come after me and if you're standing in his way, he'll hurt you."
Gino was silent so long she was afraid he wasn't going to answer her, that he'd finally decided she wasn't worth all the effort he'd gone to. He didn't look away and she couldn't. She had to sit there on his lap, his arms tight around her, just staring into his eyes, her heart beating so hard it felt as if someone was taking a hammer to her chest.
"Do you think I'm a sociopath?"
It was the last thing she expected and she actually gasped, already shaking her head in denial. "No, of course not. Clearly, you have the ability to feel. Maybe too much."
"How do you know?"
"Your energy merges with mine and I can feel your emotions, or at least catch glimpses of them. Can't you feel mine?"
He didn't answer her. He stared into her eyes for another long minute. "I can do the things he can without feeling a thing, Zara, although not to a woman. I don't know why there is a distinction for me, but it doesn't mean I'm not capable of beating the shit out of someone. Or torturing them. I have. I will again. I've put bullets in men's heads. I'm not the good man you think I am."
She recognized a warning when she heard it. She'd already known he was a demon, rising from the depths of hell to save her. Maybe she'd end up going down with him into those fiery flames, but at least she'd be safe on Earth and not shivering in a little ball all night alone in her bed if she stayed with him.
Her hand slid out of the sheet to reach for his hair. The dark, wavy mass was wild and unruly and the only thing on him, other than perhaps his long lashes, that brought any relief to his rough, hardened features. "You're a better man than you think you are, Gino. I would choose you every time."
"Mean it, Zara. Don't say it to me because you're afraid I won't see this through for you. I will. I'll stash you somewhere safe and ..."
"No!" The protest burst out of her, an explosion of breath, of heart, of her wildly churning stomach. "No, Gino. I'm going to stay with you."
She didn't trust anyone else, not even Bellisia, to keep her safe. No, it was more than that. Maybe Gino wouldn't succeed against Zhu, although she believed he had the best chance, but that feeling of safety he generated empowered her. She knew, once she wasn't hurting with every breath she drew, she could live what little life she had left enjoying herself, rather than being terrified.
She wanted to see how Bellisia lived. She'd like to take a walk and taste freedom without worrying she might be late and one of her friends would be punished.
"Okay, baby, just remember I gave you every chance to bail on me."
She nodded and snuggled deeper into him, burying her face in his neck. He didn't shove her off him, but let her. She needed the reassurance. She liked him holding her. She knew Shylah didn't like to be touched, and Bellisia hadn't either. Zara had felt that way after the years with Whitney. No one had ever touched her in a kind way. There was always pain associated with touching. Not with Gino.
"Level of pain?" Gino asked.
"About a four right now, very tolerable," she said, because she didn't want him to think she was a big baby. She could handle a little pain if she needed to. "I don't want to move. The drugs are working, Gino. Any more and I wouldn't be able to think straight."
"You don't need to think straight. I don't want you in any pain at all. There's no need for it."
The vehicle was slowing and she craned her neck to see out the window, suddenly scared all over again. "Why are we stopping?"
"No worries, we're at the airport. The driver will take us to the plane. A customs official will be waiting to get us on the plane and out of here as fast as possible. The government doesn't want you here. They really don't want an incident any more than we do. We have fully loaded weapons and an escort. If we're attacked anywhere, it would have to be explained."
"Cheng has a lot of clout."
"Yes, he does, but you're an international treasure. You give talks all over the world. This wasn't your first, and most of the officials think it's ludicrous to think you're a spy. You are very open, giving away important research to businesses in foreign countries that are interested. We took photographs as proof of what Zhu did to you. Can you imagine the outcry if that was made public?"
She would be utterly humiliated. She didn't make a sound, but stared at him with what she knew could only be a horrified look.
He bent his head and pressed a kiss to her temple, right over the spot Cheng had slashed at her with his gun. "There will never be a need for anyone to see those pictures, Zara. Cheng is known to be a paranoid man. If you were already gone, they don't lose face with anyone. The matter is out of their hands and therefore resolved."
She hoped he was right, although she knew they had to have shown those photographs to government officials otherwise the Chinese wouldn't have acted quickly to get her out of their country. Still, she knew what clout Cheng had. She couldn't imagine customs looking the other way as she was raced up to the plane, covered in a sheet that even now was spotted with blood. She forced herself to breathe, matching the rhythm of his lungs. Slow and even. Steady. She couldn't hyperventilate. "My passport was with my briefcase. Cheng took it from me." Panic hit hard.
"You're fine. I'm telling you, baby, we're getting you out. Your passport will hold up."
Zara felt as if she was holding her breath the entire time they waited for the plane to take off. First, they had to go through customs. It was unlike any customs she'd ever gone through. The man all but waved them through with the briefest of glances at documents. He carefully averted his eyes from Zara's sheet-covered body. Gino still hadn't put regular clothes on her, afraid they would rub, but she knew he had some. She was so used to the sheets that she hadn't asked to put them on and now she wished she had.
Gino carried her onto the plane and took her straight back to where they'd set up an area designated for medical aid. He set her in the wide chair very gently. The pressure on her back and buttocks and the backs of her thighs made her gasp. She hadn't tried to sit on anything but the soft mattress at the embassy.
"Once we're in flight, I'll get you settled in the bed and give you a good dose of morphine," he said, seating himself beside her. "You'll be able to sleep, hopefully for most of the ride. It's long, Zara, a good seventeen hours."
"Tell me about yourself," Zara said. She needed the sound of his voice. She was looking out the window, noting the line of cars moving very fast toward the airport.
He shrugged. "I'm not the most interesting man in the world. Don't have your brains."
"That's a relief. I don't like people trying to prove they're smarter than I am. I'll concede every time, even if I know they're full of crap. It gets so old. Do I really care?"
"Usually men, right?" Gino asked, giving her a small grin.
She noted he had a small dimple. It was intriguing in the middle of all that rough. She was a little shocked that she hadn't noticed it before. "Yep. However did you know?"
"Competition. Ego. You name it, men have it." He reached for her closest hand, the one she'd been twisting into the sheets wrapped around her. He wrapped his hand around hers and brought it to his chest. "I'm an only child. My grandparents on my dad's side lived with us, but my mother's parents were very close, neighbors, so I went between houses all the time. My father served in the Marine Corps and was best friends with Joe Spagnola's dad, Ciro. They served together in the Marines. Joe serves with us in the Air Force pararescue GhostWalker unit."
She couldn't look away from his face, certain he was about to tell her something important. At that moment, the plane began to taxi down the runway. She looked out the window to see the line of cars turning onto the road leading to where the airplane had been waiting for them.
Her breath caught in her throat and she curled her fingers tighter into a fist within the sanctuary of his hand. He pressed her fist harder against his chest. "Look at me, not out there, princess," he reminded. "I know you've had to count o
n yourself, but you aren't alone anymore."
"He planted a virus in me," Zara blurted. She shouldn't have. She should have kept her mouth shut. She had at least a week or longer to get back to Whitney before the capsule broke open. She just wanted to see Bellisia. Now she didn't want to go back at all. Now she considered it might be worth it to let the virus take her if she could just have a few days of freedom--with Gino.
"I'm well aware," Gino said. "When you were unconscious at the embassy, I did a full body scan. I knew what I was looking for because he'd done the same to Bellisia. He planted two capsules, Zara. The first and a fail-safe. He wanted to make certain you were dead. He knew we'd look for the first capsule and hoped we didn't find the second. He also planted two trackers in you."
"Cheng did a full scan as well as a brain scan, and he didn't find anything." She held her breath. She had more to hide than capsules of viruses and tracking chips.
"Because they're attached to your ribs and Zhu beat the holy hell out of you. They're encased in a new kind of PEEK-carbon nanotube which is invisible to X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs, but Zhu beat you so hard, he dislodged both of the nanotubes and the capsules were just peeking out. Once I go in, I'll be able to remove the capsules as well as the tracking chips."
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