Hot Soldier Down (The Blackjacks Book 3)

by Cindy Dees

  Tom shifted his weight to one side and dragged her with him as he rolled off the couch and onto the floor. They landed with a solid thump that made her squeak. Annie sprawled across him in the most delicious fashion, body to body in a nakedly suggestive pose.

  And then her hand contacted the cast on his left arm. Her ardor cooled abruptly as shame filled her. She rolled off him instantly, appalled by the thoughtlessness of her lust. “Oh, no, Tom. Did I hurt you? Are you all right?”

  “I don’t care if you hurt me. Just don’t stop kissing me.”

  “I’ll kill myself if I hurt you again.”

  “What do you mean ‘again’?”

  She froze. Did she dare confess all to him? And take a chance on ruining what they had together by admitting that she’d decided to sacrifice his life to save her own and had caused him all these injuries? Could she bear to see rage and disgust in his eyes when he looked at her?

  “Hey. Why so grim? I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. Really.”

  “You’re too kind,” she protested.

  A faint frown creased his brow, but he said nothing.

  Suddenly nervous, she wiped her palms surreptitiously on her dress. “You’ve never told me the details of your accident. Do you know what happened?”

  “Yeah. We were egressing from the jungle and had a rebel squad on our heels. The rest of my guys made it into our pickup helicopter, but the rebels got there before I could get pulled out. The rebels started shooting, and the helicopter pilot decided to get out of there. I ended up getting dragged through the jungle at the end of a steel cable.”

  She took a convulsive swallow before she could speak. “You must be angry at that pilot.”

  Tom stared up at the ceiling as though replaying the incident in his mind’s eye. “Why do you say that?” he asked absently.

  “Well, by rights you should have died. It’s a miracle you survived, you know.”

  He gaze swiveled to her. “Yeah, I know.” He was silent for a moment. “The only thing that ticks me off is that the pilot didn’t drop me.”

  Annie blinked. “Drop you?”

  “Yeah. If we’d had an experienced Special Forces guy in the cockpit, he’d have cut the cable and left me behind.”

  “Left you behind? But you said there were rebels on top of your position.”

  “There were. But they were mostly drug dealers and thugs. City slickers. They didn’t know what they were doing out in the bush. I could’ve run circles around them in that jungle.”

  “Wouldn’t you have been hurt if the cable got cut and you fell?”

  “The jungle floor is covered with several feet of dead leaves and plant matter. It’s pretty soft. I was only twenty or so feet up when the shooting started. I’d have been fine from that height.”

  Sick guilt roared through Annie like hot lava. She wouldn’t have had to hurt him. She could’ve spared him all those weeks of suffering. All she would have had to do was cut him loose. She had no doubt he could’ve out-smarted and evaded the rebels. She was so stupid! Why hadn’t she thought of that?

  Because she’d been more worried about getting out alive. About saving her own worthless hide.

  “Are you all right, Annie? You look a little pale.” His hand stroked down her back in concern.

  “Uh, yeah. I’m okay.”

  “Look. I’m sorry if I scared you when you got back here.”

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “Your step is light like a woman’s, and I heard your panic.”

  “What does panic sound like?”

  “Your breathing tripled in about one second flat, and your movements became clumsy. I heard you fumbling for something.”

  “The panic button on your phone.”

  “Ahh.” His hand paused in the small of her back. “I’m sorry I had to send you out there. And I shouldn’t have taken advantage of your fear by kissing you, either.”

  “You didn’t take advantage of me. If anything, I’m the one who’s taken advantage of you.”

  “Mmm, whatever.”

  He smiled and tightened his arm around her once more. Then he rolled until she lay on her back while he loomed over her. “Now where were we before we were interrupted by your excessive concern for my fragility?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Wherever we were, we can’t go back there, Tom.”

  He pulled back and stared at her. “Why not? Because we technically work together? That’s temporary. I’ll fire you if it makes you feel better.”

  “That’s not it,” she mumbled.

  “Is it because I feel grateful to you for saving my life? You think our relationship’s lopsided? I can’t change the fact that it happened. Tell you what. The next time you’re about to die, I’ll save you. Just put it on account, and call us even now.”

  She closed her eyes. It hurt too much to look at him. It wasn’t the saving him part that yawned like a chasm between them. It was the killing him part. “It’s not that simple.”

  “Why not?” He stared at her expectantly.

  She should tell him now, just get it off her chest before their relationship went any further. He’d hate her, maybe even kick her out. But she still had time to get to the embassy and evacuate with the other Americans.

  She took a deep breath and steeled herself. “Tom, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “It’s about…”

  A knock sounded in a complicated rhythm on the door. Annie jumped, and Tom’s head jerked up. “That’s Tex. Hold your thought.”

  He rolled away from her and pushed himself to his feet. Annie frowned at the grimace of pain that flicked across his face. He wasn’t resting enough. He was going to push himself too hard and get hurt again. She had to get him into bed somehow.

  The irony of the thought struck her, and she smiled wryly as she jumped up and straightened her dress.

  The door opened to admit Tex and the tall blond man, Dutch. They slipped in fast while Tom shut the door quickly behind him. Tom’s asked tersely, “Were you followed?”

  Dutch answered, “No, but there’s a squad of rebels coming down the street looking for someone to harass. We didn’t feel like tangling with them.”

  “They’re out in broad daylight?” Tom sounded surprised. So was she. It was brazen behavior for people who’d be killed on sight by the Gavronese Army.

  Tex replied, “As big as life. Cocky bast—buggers.”

  Tom moved into the bedroom to peer out at the street below. Annie followed, curious to see this rebel menace.

  They were impossible to miss. Six young men swaggered down the sidewalk like small-time thugs, while civilians scuttled out of their path. The rebels wore bits and pieces of military uniforms along with the distinctive red berets of the rebel forces pulled down over one ear.

  Tom murmured, “Things are moving faster than I expected. From the looks of those kids, we’re about out of time to leave.”

  She followed Tom out into the main room. Dutch was examining the contents of the refrigerator, and Tex slouched on a chair, his legs sprawled out in front of him, his chin on his chest. His eyes were closed and violet shadows underscored them. The guy looked whipped.

  Tom asked, “Have you gotten any sleep the last couple nights, Tex?”

  One eye opened balefully and glared in their general direction. “Sleep’s for wimps.”

  Tom answered dryly, “I’ll take that as a no.”

  Shaking her head, Annie joined Dutch in the kitchen, such as it was. She shooed him aside and poured iced tea while she water heated on the stove for instant coffee. She carried a mug of the hot beverage to Tex. “Drink up, Superman.”

  He looked up at her and grinned. “That’s me all right. Good ol’ Clark Kent himself. Ya wanna be Lois?”

  Tom cut in. “Hey, buddy. Put out the fire in your tights. The lady’s not in play.”

  Tex might be exhausted, but he still gave his boss a ste
ady, assessing look over his mug. A single eyebrow went up questioningly.

  “Besides,” Tom continued, “You’ve already got a girl.”

  A beatific smile came across Tex’s face. “I sure do. Kimberly’s the best.”

  “Head in the game, bro. Head in the game,” Tom muttered.

  Annie watched Tex frown back. The silence stretched out until she couldn’t stand it any longer. “What? Do you guys read each other’s minds, too?”

  All three men looked at her blankly.

  “You guys are staring at each other like you’re using a psychic phone link or something.”

  Tex grinned. “It’s an old Indian trick.”

  Dutch rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and he uses smoke signals, too.”

  Tex sat up indignantly. “Hey, they worked didn’t they? You guys saw us on our side of the river from your side of the river. It would’ve taken us hours to find each other without my smoke signal.”

  Tom chimed in. “Yeah, and half the Bolivian army found us, too. That was one of the worst egresses of my career. I had to crawl on my belly through mud for three days because of your bright idea.”

  Tex shrugged. “We made it out.”

  “Speaking of making it out, what’s going on out there?” Tom jerked his head in the direction of the street.

  Tex answered, “It’s corn-poppin’ hot out there. The Americans started pulling out of the embassy about a half hour ago. That’s why we hoofed it over here. We thought y’all might want to know in case Miss Annie has reconsidered and is going out the easy way.”

  Annie jerked as if she’d been slapped. The Americans were leaving now? “I was at the embassy not more than two hours ago and everything was fine! What in the world happened?”

  Dutch answered her. “Rumor has it the Americans got a big bomb threat. One of those get-out-now-or-you’re-all-gonna-die things.”

  Tex nodded. “The Americans are loading their nonessential personnel into helicopters as fast as they can and doin’ the boot-scootin’ boogie on out of here.”

  Tom asked, “Annie, did you see Ambassador Kettering today?”

  “No, but I did see my boss, Colonel James. He didn’t say a word about any evacuation.”

  Tom responded, “He’d have kept you at the embassy to leave with them if he knew about this. Especially since you’ve lost your diplomatic protection. Whoever threatened the embassy must have done it in a big way. And it’s someone Old Ironsides Kettering takes seriously.”

  Tex nodded. “The only serious players in town right now are the government and the rebels.”

  She interjected, “No matter how hard the Gavronese government’s trying to distance itself from the United States, no government would threaten another’s embassy. There’d be too many repercussions to their own embassies abroad.”

  Tom said, “Good point. It must’ve been the rebels, then.”

  Annie frowned. “What weapons do the rebels have that can smoke out the Americans so fast?”

  The three men exchanged another one of those pregnant looks before Tex spoke. “While Kim and I were out in the jungle, we saw just about the best outfitted terrorist group I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t put it past them to have anything up to and including surface-to-air missiles.”

  Annie recalled with a shudder the high-tech radar she’d dodged when she’d flown over the jungle and the shoulder-held grenade launchers that had greeted her there. “And we have to make our way past that arsenal to get out of here?”

  Tom shrugged. “Don’t sound so skeptical. Hardware is only as smart as the people using it. We just have to outthink them.” Abruptly, he changed the subject. “Tex, does Annie still have time to get to the embassy before they’re done evacuating?”

  “It’d be tight. They looked like they were in a plenty big hurry.”

  “Damn,” Tom muttered. “You’ll have to run, Ann—“

  Annie cut him off. “I’m not going. You need me here.”

  He glared at her. “You’re crazy to risk yourself unnecessarily for me and my guys. We can handle ourselves.”

  “But I can help. You and your men don’t know St. George like I do.”

  Goodness only knew she was in over her head already. It was insane to swim even deeper into these shark-infested waters. But she couldn’t just abandon them. She wouldn’t abandon Tom.

  “I’m sure you could help us, Annie. But it’s more important to me that you get out safely than it is for you to stay with us.”

  Tex and Dutch nodded. “We have to agree with the major, there, ma’am.”

  “Thanks for your concern, all of you. But my answer is still no.” She folded her arms across her chest belligerently. “I’m not leaving.”

  “How long would it take you guys to get Annie to the embassy? Maybe it’s worth a try.”

  Tex eyed her critically. “If she’s in as good shape as she looks, we could make it in a half hour on foot. But that doesn’t take into account getting around our friends outside. With them parked in front of your building, it could take a fair bit longer.”

  She interjected, “Excuse me, but what part of the word no didn’t you guys understand?”

  Tom ignored her outburst and asked, “How many people will the embassy lift out?”

  She scowled. “There were about twenty staff members there this morning, I’d guess about four will stay behind. And then there are the Marines.”

  “How many of them are there?”

  “A dozen or so.”

  Tex interjected, “All of the Marines will stay to hold the fort until the staff weenies get out.” He threw her an apologetic look. “No offense.”

  “None taken. I am, in fact, mostly a staff weenie.”

  Tex grinned. “And a cute one, too, if I do say so myself.”

  Tom cleared his throat. It sounded suspiciously like a growl.

  Tex threw a Who-me? look at Tom. “Hey, at least I didn’t throw in any cracks about her buns, now, did I?”

  Annie stifled a smile. So Tom was jealous of Tex flirting with her, was he? The notion warmed her insides.

  Reality check, girlfriend. Tom’s not for you.

  Tom sighed. “Well kid, you’re in luck. I don’t think we’ll be able to get you to the embassy in time. Plus, if we make a mad dash across town, we’ll draw too much attention to ourselves. You’re stuck undercover with us.” His rapier-sharp gaze shifted to Tex. “And no cracks about getting under covers with the lady.”

  Tex threw out his hands. “Li’l ol’ me? I’m a taken man.”

  Tom grinned. “Uh-huh. Why don’t you go crash in the bed for a while, pal? You look like day-old roadkill.”

  “Gee, thanks, boss. I think I will. Wake me up before the sun goes down, will you?”

  “Have you got somewhere to be tonight?”

  “I need to relieve Howdy. I’ll send him over here when he’s done with his shift on the spyglass.”

  “What’s he watching?” Tom asked.

  “Rebel headquarters.”

  Annie gasped. “You’re that close to the rebels? Are you nuts?”

  Tex gave her a lazy, west-Texas grin. “Being nuts is our job, ma’am.”

  She shook her head. “You guys are certifiable.”

  “Guilty as charged, Miz Annie.” Still grinning, Tex ambled off to bed.

  Dutch rose and shrugged into a photographer’s vest. He shouldered the camera he’d been carrying when he came in. “I need to shove off. I’m supposed to be out covering the rebels and doing a piece on preparing yourself to survive in a war zone.”

  Tom grinned. “That’ll be a real stretch for you to write.”

  Dutch shrugged. “It’s a cover. And I can travel among rebels and government troops pretty freely with my press credentials.”

  “Which are beautifully forged, by the way.”

  “Thanks. They’re some of my best work.”

  Annie looked at the laminated pass around his neck. She’d seen dozens of them at the American embassy. “You mad
e that?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Wow. I’d have never guessed it’s not real.”

  “It is real. Just the name and pictures are fake.”

  “How in the world did you get a real American press pass? If there’s a breach in security at the embassy, I’d certainly like to know about it….”

  Tom laughed. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Annie. There are about to be breaches in the embassy’s walls.”

  Chagrined, she watched Dutch leave, her thoughts with her colleagues as they fled for their lives. If she had half a brain she’d be doing the same thing.

  Annie jumped as Tom sat down beside her on the couch. He was so…male. Just being near him was a bit overwhelming. Oh, come off it, Annie. He’s only a man.

  Yeah, but what a specimen.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t get you out of here today, Annie. It leaves you in a bit of a pickle, doesn’t it?”

  He didn’t know the half of it.

  “You were about to tell me something when Tex showed up.”

  Annie gulped. The other half of her pickle. She couldn’t afford to alienate him, now. He was her only way out of here alive. Nope. She dared not risk telling him about being the pilot who nearly killed him.

  “It wasn’t important, Tom. Never mind.”

  Those piercing blue eyes of his looked right through her. “You seemed to think it was important a few minutes ago.”

  Crud. “I, uh, just wanted to thank you for looking out for me. I know I’m a burden to you guys, and I appreciate what you’re doing for me.”

  He reached up and smoothed her hair back from her face, following the strands down to her shoulder with his fingertips. “My pleasure.”

  His smile sizzled Annie’s already-raw nerves with more sexual promise than she could bear calmly.

  “Why don’t you try to get a little rest before nightfall, angel? It’s going to be hot and heavy out there tonight, and you may not get much sleep.”

  “Great. And what about you? You were supposed to stay in bed today.”