Lyon—Leonov—snorted disdainfully. “Can you make the shot, soldier? It’s tricky business to fire your weapon just right. You have to avoid her and hit me between the eyes before I can pull the trigger and take her with me. Do you want to take that risk?”
Dex’s granite expression didn’t waver. She loved him more in that moment than she ever had. He would fight for her and their daughter. He would never give up. He was the best man she knew.
“I’m a sniper. I can make this shot with my eyes closed. Do you want to take that chance?”
Lyon scoffed. “If you could do it, you would. Why discuss it with me?”
“It’s called mercy. You might try it sometime,” Dex growled.
“Mercy? More like weakness.” Lyon’s grip on her throat tightened. “I have not received my text, Mrs. Archer. It is time for your child to die.”
No!
The thinking side of Annabelle’s brain shuttered. Every thought she’d had about how to stay alive shut down as the animal side roared to life, demanding she fight. She threw an elbow backward, twisting her body in his grip. The hot metal barrel of his gun slipped away from her skull. She tried to drop but his arm tightened, preventing her escape.
Wildly, she cast about for what to do. And then she remembered something. She picked her foot up and stomped it down on his instep with every ounce of strength she could muster. She heard screaming. It wasn’t Lyon though. It was her.
Lyon lifted the gun, a stream of angry Russian pouring from him, and she knew she would die this time.
A pistol exploded—but it wasn’t Lyon who’d fired.
Dex. Hope sprang to life as Lyon dropped. He dragged her down to the dirt with him, his grip on her unyielding. She landed on top of him in a tangle of arms and legs. Revulsion skated down her spine as she tried to shove herself away.
“End of the road, Leonov.”
Annabelle stilled. Dex stood over them with his gun aimed at Lyon’s head. She’d thought he’d killed Lyon, but Dex had only wounded him. He kicked Lyon’s pistol away. Iceman appeared from the shadows to bend over and pick it up. Annabelle’s insides liquefied with relief. She got to her feet and Dex reached out to steady her. Her shirt was wet. Blood stained the shoulder and much of the front. She started to pat herself frantically.
“It’s his,” Dex said gruffly. “Not yours.”
Lyon lay there with an arm over his head. The other was limp at his side as blood flowed from a wound in his shoulder. His eyes gleamed with hatred as he stared at Dex.
“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Lyon spat. “This isn’t over.”
“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” Dex growled.
“Molly!” Annabelle rushed to her friend’s side. Her eyes blurred as she dropped beside Molly. One of Dex’s teammates was there, checking Molly’s vitals.
“If she’s dead… Oh God,” Annabelle choked out. Molly’s eyes didn’t open. Her skin was colorless. There was a bruise on her cheek and a cut on her lip. Annabelle shoved a shaking hand against her mouth.
“She’s not dead,” the man checking her said.
Flash. His name was Flash.
“But she hit her head.” He turned her over. Her arm bent at a funny angle. “Her arm’s broken. She might have passed out from the pain. I’ll give her some morphine and we’ll get her to a hospital, don’t worry.”
Dex pulled Annabelle to her feet. “Nobody’s dead, Belle. The girls are safe. We got them out.”
Her knees gave way, dragging her down to the dirt once more.
Dex didn’t let her fall. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”
She clung to him, breathing, thinking. Charlotte. Becca. Alive!
“Is anyone hurt? That explosion…”
His fingers curled in the back of her shirt where he held her against him. He didn’t seem to care that she was getting Lyon’s blood on his shirt. Not that he wasn’t bloody already.
Sirens pierced the air, the sound growing louder as the police moved closer to the market.
“A diversion. No one got hurt. We have to get out of here, Belle. Before the Jorwani authorities arrive.”
She couldn’t seem to let him go. “You got shot.”
“I’m fine. Hurts like a bitch, but nothing new about that.” His expression hardened again, and she shivered. “What you did— Belle, you could have died. What the fuck were you thinking?”
She hadn’t been thinking. She’d reacted viscerally. Primally. She loved this man, and she loved her baby girl—and no way in fucking hell was she letting that asshole Lyon take them away from her.
“I couldn’t let him win,” she said. “I couldn’t.”
Dex squeezed her tight. “Never fucking do that again, okay?”
“Okay.” It was easy to promise because she never planned to be in this situation again.
Dex made eye contact with Flash. The other man stood with a limp Molly in his arms.
“Charlotte and Becca are really okay? Really?” she asked as Dex hustled her toward the exit.
“They’re at the airport now, being put on a transport to the American base in Djibouti. Which is where we all need to be. As soon as possible. We have to get out of here. Jorwani is still friendly with the US, but with everything going on in this country right now, things can get confused. It’s best we aren’t here in case they do.”
Her legs were rubber but she forced them to move, forced them to keep pace with Dex as they strode through the market and out onto the street. There was a black SUV sitting beside the curb. The driver’s window rolled down and Victoria Brandon grinned at them.
“Look what I found, y’all. Just had to take out Leonov’s trash first.”
Annabelle hopped into the back with Dex after he and Flash put Molly in the very back. Flash jumped into the passenger side and they rocketed down the street, but not before Annabelle got a look at a man sitting on the sidewalk with a piece of duct tape over his mouth and his hands zip-tied in front of him. Leonov’s trash—the driver of the SUV.
“What happened?” Victoria asked.
“Leonov almost shot Annabelle,” Flash said. “But Annabelle fought back. Dex shot him. Leonov also shot Dex, but looks like a surface wound. Not that the fucker let me doctor him yet.”
“I’m fine,” Dex growled. “You can get me on the plane.”
Victoria glanced in the rearview and met Annabelle’s gaze. “You okay, hon?”
“Y-yes.” A tremor started deep inside. She couldn’t seem to help it. Her teeth clattered together like small-arms fire. She tried to drop her head and hide it from them all. But Dex knew. He put an arm around her and she buried her face against his chest. He smelled like sweat and gunpowder and spices from the market. His hand skimmed up and down her arm.
“It’s okay, Belle. You’re safe now. Charlotte is safe. You’ll get to see her soon.”
She lifted her head, her eyes blurring even as her teeth continued to chatter. “I kn-know. Thank you… f-for everything.”
There was so much more she wanted to say. But this wasn’t the place. Not with Flash and Victoria listening in. Not when she didn’t know how Dex would react in return.
*
A transport plane awaited them at a small airstrip outside town. It almost wasn’t big enough for the plane to take off, but the pilots were military men who knew their jobs and could slot a big motherfucker of a beast down onto a short runway and take off again too. The plane climbed at a sharp angle once they were airborne, taking them up and away from the chaos they’d left behind.
Adrenaline surfed through Dex’s veins, churning and surging and twisting him up inside. A few rows away, a little red-haired girl clung to her mother and cried. They’d boarded and Flash had insisted on cleaning and bandaging his wound while the plane charged the runway. Dex submitted, but he kept his eyes on Annabelle as she rushed to the front. Annabelle and Charlotte were having a reunion up there, and he wasn’t a part of it. Becca Carter was there too, also crying. Her mother was sti
ll knocked out, so Annabelle had her hands full.
Dex wanted to help her—but what the fuck did he know about little girls? Not a damned thing.
He’d almost lost them today. Both of them. He wanted to go up there and sweep them into his arms and never let go. He wanted to kiss Annabelle silly, and then he wanted to spank her. She’d scared the fuck out of him. He’d watched in slow-motion horror when she’d rammed an elbow into Leonov’s ribs and then followed up with a stomp to his instep. Instinct took over in the split second that she managed to widen the gap between her and Leonov. Dex took the shot, hitting Leonov in the shoulder.
He’d wanted to kill the fucker, but Mendez wanted the dude alive for some reason. Not that Dex wouldn’t have killed him anyway if it was the only way to save Annabelle. He’d have splattered the man’s brains in the dirt and taken whatever punishment came his way.
He closed his eyes and worked on slowing his heartbeat. It didn’t work.
Holy fuck, he’d fathered a little girl. A beautiful, red-haired, crying little girl. His heart clanged and his head throbbed. What the fuck was he supposed to do about it?
If he joined Annabelle up front, what would he say to his child? Would he do something idiotic like burst into tears?
He frowned. No, Jesus, he was not going to burst into tears. But he was emotional and he didn’t quite know how to handle it. He wished he could call Jack “Hawk” Hunter. They hadn’t served together because Dex had replaced Jack on Alpha Squad, but he knew Jack and Gina’s story. Jack hadn’t found out about his son, Eli, until he was three. Dex would like to know how Jack processed that knowledge and how he’d gotten past the fear of fucking up as a dad.
Dex could also ask his own father. He was lucky enough to have a great dad. Being a farmer pretty much meant Dad had to get up with the cows and go to bed with the cows. But he’d taught Dex to hunt and fish, and he’d shown him nothing but love and support every day of his life. When Mama died, he’d been a rock for Dex and Katie.
Ice got up from his seat and came over to flop down next to Dex. “You okay, man?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “Guess you’re going to have to write me up, huh? I won’t deny I disobeyed an order.”
Ice seemed to be chewing the inside of his lip. “Nah, I’m not going to write you up. I should, asshole, but I’m not. I realize you have a lot tied up in this mission. You were right—if that was Grace, no fucking way would I have let her go alone. And if my daughter’s life was at stake—yeah, someone would be going home in a body bag if they tried to stop me.”
He leaned his seat back and grinned. “Besides, I disobeyed Mendez directly when Grace was involved. Remember that one?”
Dex laughed. “Yep. The night we came out of the Tidal Basin and shocked the shit out of Ian Black’s men.”
“But not Ian Black,” Ice added.
No, because that dude seemed to know everything. “Surprised we didn’t encounter him on this mission.”
“I’m sure he’s hiding under a rock somewhere. He’ll show up again when we least want him to.”
Dex scrubbed his hand through his hair. “How do you do it, Ice? How can you be a father and do this crazy job too?”
Ice shrugged. “You just do, man. What are you going to do instead? Put your whole life on hold just because you have this calling to serve your country? You can be a dad and a husband, a friend and a brother, and still go to work every day. Your chances of not coming back are a little higher than the average, but hell, man, people die in car accidents every day. We are what keeps our country safe and free. I’d rather die doing this than driving down the interstate in the morning on the way to a job I hate.”
“I don’t know what to say to her.”
Ice looked toward the front of the plane. “Just say hi. That’s a start. You aren’t going to tell the kid the truth today. There’s time for that.”
Dex sat for a long minute, thinking. Then he unbuckled his seat belt. “Yeah, you’re right.”
27
Annabelle never wanted to let go of her baby. Charlotte had cried at first, but now she was lying on the seats with her head on Annabelle’s lap. Charlotte sucked her thumb, a habit that Annabelle certainly didn’t encourage at the age of four, but now wasn’t the time to admonish her for it. She stroked Charlotte’s hair and tried not to give in to the urge to drag her daughter up into her arms and squeeze her while kissing her whole face.
Annabelle’s insides still shook from her close encounter with Mr. Lyon. Her shirt was dry and stiff with his blood, but there’d been no time to change out of it. Maybe once Charlotte went to sleep. Lottie’d noticed the blood and cried harder, but Annabelle calmed her by explaining it didn’t belong to her. She’d grabbed one of the blankets lying on the seat and ripped it open, wrapping it around the worst of the blood until she could change.
Dex appeared in the aisle and her heart flipped at the sight of him. He was moody-gorgeous as always, but the look on his face gutted her. He looked apprehensive. Dex had never looked anything less than one hundred percent confident in the entire time she’d known him—even when he’d been staring down the man holding a gun to her head—so this vulnerability was definitely new.
He glanced at Charlotte. Her eyes were closed, so maybe she was finally asleep. Annabelle hoped so. She smiled encouragingly at Dex and he sat beside her.
“How is she?”
“Upset, but she’s calming down. It’s been a frightening few days for her.”
“Where’s Becca?”
“Victoria took her to the bathroom. I believe she may have been promised a peek into the cockpit as well.”
“Richie—Matt—said they did a quick medical check of the girls. They haven’t been hurt or abused in any way.”
Annabelle closed her eyes, fighting down the panic and fear that welled up in response to that statement. “Thank God.”
“Yep. I’d have to kill him if they had been. Orders be damned.”
“Where is he?”
“There’s a prison cell in the back. It’s used for transporting high-value targets.”
Annabelle swallowed. She wasn’t going to think about movies where the terrorist got free and hijacked the plane. Definitely not thinking about that.
“Oh. Where’s he going?”
Dex shrugged. “DC to start. Maybe Guantanamo. Depends on what the big guns in charge want.”
“He said this wasn’t over. What do you think he meant?”
“He’d say anything to get us to believe he has valuable information.”
“So is this over or not?”
“Yeah, I think it is.”
He took her hand in his and her brain froze. She tried not to read anything into it, though white-hot emotion surged from her head to her toes. She loved him. But he didn’t love her.
“You scared the shit out of me back there.”
Annabelle cupped her hand over Lottie’s exposed ear. “We’re going to have to work on that mouth of yours,” she said, trying to inject a little humor.
He looked contrite. “Sorry. I’m not used to kids.”
She desperately wanted palm his cheek and feel the stubble scrape her skin as he turned his face into it. Then she wanted him to kiss her the way he had in his room two nights ago.
“It’s okay.”
“The other part of what I wanted to tell you is this: you were brave, Belle. I’m proud of you.”
Okay, so she’d hoped he’d been planning to say something else. She should have known better. He let go of her hand, and disappointment performed a death spiral in her belly. She appreciated his pride. She wanted more.
“I did what I had to do,” she said on a shrug she didn’t feel. “Same as you did.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I’m a commando. You’re an accountant. Big difference, sweetheart.”
“But we’re alive, right? It’s all good.”
“Yeah, it’s good.” His gaze dropped to Charlotte. “Lot to figure out though.”
“Yes. But we will.” I love you hovered on the edge of her tongue, but she didn’t dare say it. Not only because Lottie might hear. What if she said the words and he looked at her with pity?
“Mama,” Charlotte said, lifting her head. Her little eyes squinted with sleep. They landed on Dex. She took in the bandage on his arm, the blood staining his shirt, the sweat and dirt streaking his handsome face—and burst into tears.
*
They’d arrived at the base in Djibouti hours ago. Molly Carter had been whisked to the hospital along with the girls and Annabelle. Dmitri Leonov had been taken separately, under heavy guard. He’d lost a lot of blood and he needed surgery to repair the damage Dex’s bullet had done.
Dex and his team retreated to the HOT compound located behind razor wire and heavy security. He wanted to be with Annabelle and Charlotte while they were checked out. Wanted to know they were okay.
But there was work to do, and he needed to be here.
He rubbed a hand over the nape of his neck. He hadn’t gotten off on the right foot with his kid. She’d taken one look at him and started crying. His heart froze solid in his chest. Annabelle hugged the little girl and shushed her, telling her it was okay, Dex was a friend, she didn’t need to cry. She’d stopped, but she’d stared warily for the duration of the short ride.
“It’s the blood,” Annabelle had told him, and he’d glanced down at the red stain on his shirt. Yeah, so maybe that wasn’t the best way to meet his daughter for the first time.
He stalked down the corridor of the compound and strode into the war room. His team was gathered around a table, studying reports and maps. Kid tapped his computer keys, frowning. Dex assumed that meant no signal from the tracer program. Whoever’d moved that money was damn good at what they did.
And that worried Dex. He should be happy they had Leonov, and he was, but he didn’t like that the money was still missing. So long as it wasn’t where it was supposed to be, Annabelle could still be in danger. He’d told her he believed this ordeal was over, but he’d said it so she wouldn’t worry. He could worry enough for both of them.
HOT Addiction: A Hostile Operations Team Novel - Book 10 Page 18