by Trish Loye
Or maybe…he still just loved her.
His heart constricted painfully. Oh fuck.
Cassie frowned at Derrick. He had a strange look on his face—half shock, half despair—and he’d slumped back on his heels. Was the situation that bad? “What’s wrong?” She glanced behind her. “Did the guards find us?” She hated how her voice trembled when she asked that.
“No, Cass.” Derrick’s easy voice reassured her as much as his words. “We’re good for now. Save your strength. We’ll move in five.” He walked away, his face set in professional soldier mode. She blinked. He almost seemed uncaring.
Maybe he was.
Had she built up what was between them in her mind during these last few days of being imprisoned and tortured? She pressed her lips together and opened her eyes to see him crouched beside one of his teammates. Both of them watched the surrounding woods. He didn’t look back at her as he quietly spoke to the man. What had she expected? Him to declare his love for her?
But he’d come for her.
She would take that and relish it. He and his team were risking their lives to help her and she wouldn’t bemoan the fact that the man chose his career over her. How many lives had he saved over the years? He was a true hero and for his sake, she hoped he did find love one day, even if it wasn’t with her. But for now, she would be as helpful as she could in getting them out of here.
“I know their patrol routes,” she said softly. As she suspected, both men heard her and turned.
Derrick came back with a map in hand, his dark eyes intense and focused. “Tell me.”
She pointed out what she’d learned during her time hiding and watching the prison. “It would probably be best for us to cross the road and follow it to this town. Maybe we could steal a car there?”
Derrick nodded his approval. “Good plan.” He called the others in: two tall, muscular, dark-haired men—one leaner, with piercing blue eyes, who smiled at her, and one who had a tattoo of some sort crawling on the back of his neck, who didn’t. A shorter woman was the last of their group. She looked at ease and confident carrying her pack and weapons. Her dark eyes scanned the surroundings and proclaimed her just as much a soldier, and as dangerous, as the men.
A surge of envy spiraled through Cassie. This woman got to work with Derrick. Did he have feelings for her? Cassie squashed the thought. It was petty and unfair of her to think like this. The woman had helped save her. What she and Derrick did was their business.
Cassie focused on what the others were saying.
“You’re feeling well enough to move?” Blue Eyes asked her.
She nodded. “I need to get out of this country.”
Blue Eyes smiled. He was probably beautiful under that camouflage paint. “I understand the feeling.”
She couldn’t help but smile back.
Derrick frowned at Blue Eyes. “Spooky, why don’t you take point? Gears and Ghost will follow. I’ll come last with Cassie.”
“Copy that,” Blue Eyes, or rather, Spooky said. He winked at Cassie and walked off to speak with the others.
Cassie used the tree to steady her when she stood. Derrick moved close, probably in case she fell.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
She still felt shaky, but she could feel her strength returning. The fluids and food had done their job. “I’m good.” She pulled at the IV tape holding the needle in her arm. Well, she’d be good if she could get the IV out.
“Let me.” Derrick held her arm and pulled the tape off with a quick rip, before gently sliding the needle out of her arm. He put a small Band-Aid over it.
“A Band-Aid? Really?”
“It needs to be covered. If it gets infected out here, it’ll slow you down.”
Which would slow them all down. She got the message. She pulled her sleeve over it. “I’ll be fine.”
He searched her face for a moment and she wasn’t sure whether he found what he was looking for. “Let’s go then.” With a signal to the others, they started east again. Blue Eyes ranged far ahead, where they couldn’t see him. She trudged behind the woman. Sarah was her name. No one spoke and they all moved much quieter than her.
At one point, Derrick moved up beside her. “Take small sips of water periodically. You need to stay hydrated.”
“Right.” She pulled the tube to her hydration bladder to her mouth and sipped. A small amount of water wet her tongue. An image of being tied down, water splashing toward her face rose in her mind. She shuddered and spit out the tube.
Derrick’s hand gripped her shoulder. “It will get easier in time.”
She glanced at him and the compassion in his eyes cracked open something inside her. A physical ache made her hunch her shoulders. She looked away, unable to handle him seeing, knowing what had happened. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
“One small sip every five minutes.” His hand squeezed her shoulder and then he fell back into place behind her.
One sip every five minutes. She clenched her jaw. She could—no, she would do that.
The sun moved overhead while they walked. Cassie lost track of the number of times Derrick tapped her shoulder so she would take a sip of water. It wasn’t annoying considering it marked the time passing. But her mind wandered as she walked, her body’s fatigue making it impossible to stay alert to her surroundings. She let herself rely on the competent soldiers around her while she focused on staying upright. Her body ached and each step seemed to reverberate through her bones. She tried to keep her breaths shallow to ease her bruised ribs and battered core.
“Break?” Derrick said from close beside her.
She hadn’t even noticed him approach. She nodded.
“Sip,” he ordered before he stepped around her to alert the others to the impromptu stop. He spoke quietly to them. Sarah and Blue Eyes—she couldn’t remember his name—slipped off into the woods, one ahead and one behind. She sank to the ground, wanting nothing more than to sprawl in the dirt and sleep for a week. Soon, she promised herself. She would sleep and eat and pamper herself when she got home.
But first she had to make it there.
Derrick came and crouched by her. He picked up her wrist and felt her pulse. “You need to eat again.”
She obediently munched on the energy bar he provided, though even chewing seemed to take too much energy.
The tattooed soldier came and stood by them. “She gonna make it?”
“Yes, she’s going to make it,” Cassie replied, though she sounded helluva lot more uncertain than she’d wanted to.
Tattoos grunted or maybe laughed, Cassie couldn’t be certain.
“Rest a minute,” Derrick said.
The two men shifted away from her and spoke too quietly for her to hear.
She closed her eyes. Just a five-minute power nap.
15
Derrick frowned at Cassie asleep against a tree. He’d seen the way she’d been walking as if each step hurt. He’d wanted to help her, but they had to keep moving.
“She’s tough, but she’s hurt a lot worse than she’s letting on,” Dante said. “We either need to carry her or let her rest somewhere.”
“I agree.” Derrick finally pulled his gaze from the stubborn woman on the ground. At least she’d been taking sips of water.
Marc and Sarah came jogging back. “It’s bad,” Marc said without preamble. “We’ve got enemy squads right on our tail.”
Sarah nodded. “Both north and south. They’ve fanned out and seem to be doing a systematic sweep for us.”
Shit. Derrick glanced at Cassie again. “Any chance we can find a hidey-hole and let them pass us by?”
Marc shook his head. “Too many of them. It looks like they’ve pulled in reinforcements. And they have dogs.”
Double shit.
“She’s not going to make it in any kind of foot race,” Dante said. “We’ll have to carry her.” He shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal. And Cassie looked as though she weighed not much more than a hund
red pounds, but carrying an extra hundred pounds on top of their eighty in gear in mountainous terrain would be a tough slog for any of them.
“That’s doable,” he said. “But I’ve got a better idea.”
Within minutes, they’d found a narrow ravine and set up the camouflage netting in a tight corner between two rock faces. Derrick carried Cassie there and laid her under the netting without her even waking.
Marc frowned. “Are you sure about this, Hawk?”
He nodded. “You three lead them away. You’ll be faster without us. Head toward the town. If you pull the dogs away, then steal a car to lose them. After, double back and meet us at the RV. It’s a straight hike for us, and Cassie will be stronger with a couple of hours rest in her.”
“RV tomorrow 0500. Exfil from there,” Marc said.
“Roger that.”
Dante and Sarah watched from the top of the ravine. Neither of them looked happy about the plan. No team liked to split up, but this would give them the time they needed. And it would give Charlie team time to find them another exfil.
“Stay in contact,” Marc ordered.
Derrick raised an eyebrow. “I believe that’s my line.”
“Yeah, well…” Marc glanced at Cassie.
Derrick crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, keeping a tight rein on the anger Marc’s implication brought up.
Marc held up his hands. “Like I said before, I understand.” He again glanced at Cassie. “We just need you, boss. So be careful.”
It was hard to stay angry at Marc. “You too,” he said. “Now move it.”
He watched the rest of his team take off into the woods, their pace fast now that they didn’t have to worry about Cassie. They wouldn’t have any problems staying ahead of the Korean soldiers. Now he just had to make sure he and Cassie did the same.
Her arms were pinned to her sides. The guards laughed and dribbled water onto her face. The deluge would come. She tried to turn her head. Someone was holding it. The water came faster now.
“Cass!” A low voice hissed her name.
Her eyes snapped open. Branches and leaves wove into green netting close to her head. Sunlight pierced the strange roof in places. She tried to sit up.
A hand on her shoulder held her down.
“Easy, Cassie. Stay still now.”
Derrick’s voice whispered to her. She lay with her head in his lap.
She blinked. She must have been dreaming. Or was she dreaming now? Why was she lying in Derrick’s lap in the forest? Were they in some kind of weird tree tent?
“Where are we?” she asked quietly.
“Hiding,” Derrick said, his voice barely above a low rumble. “In a ravine.”
She tensed with his whispered words as memories and adrenaline flooded her. The guards from the prison camp must be near. “Are they close?”
“Close enough.”
Derrick stroked her hair with one hand and held his rifle with the other. She shifted so she could raise her head, no longer willing to use his hard thigh as a pillow. It seemed too intimate, even though she liked it.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” Derrick murmured.
She sucked in a little breath of air. No way was she telling him about her internal debate about the pros and cons of her head in his lap. “Where are the others?” she asked instead.
“They’re creating a diversion.”
“They’re drawing the guards away from us…from me.” She shivered. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of her.
“It’s their job.” Derrick’s gravelly voice sounded right in her ear. She shivered again, but not from worry this time. “We’ve trained for this.”
He’d trained all his life for this. Derrick was a career soldier. It was why he’d walked away from her all those years ago. Because he couldn’t put her first. Even though she hated the situation she was in, it gave her a unique perspective on who Derrick truly was. A hero. A part of her felt safe beside him, even surrounded by soldiers who would gladly kill her. He would get them home.
“How long do we wait here?” she asked. The warmth from Derrick’s body made her want to cuddle into him and drift back to sleep, even with enemy soldiers hunting them. That must say something about how tired she was.
He leaned close, his breath in her ear. “Quiet.”
The silence of the woods surrounded them. Heavy and oppressive. No birds or squirrels singing or chattering.
Oh shit. She couldn’t get enough air.
Derrick shifted around her. She pulled her legs up to her chest, trying to breathe through her mouth, to stay as silent as possible. Derrick crouched, his rifle up and his body blocking Cassie’s view of the opening into their flimsy shelter.
“Search the ravine!” barked a voice in Korean.
She almost yelped in response. Derrick looked at her, his gaze calm and reassuring, silently promising that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. She wanted to believe him. Needed to. She nodded.
Soldier coming, she mouthed, pointing outside of their shelter. Derrick nodded his understanding, faced forward and brought his rifle up.
She stopped breathing. Was he going to leave her? She almost grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him. But he didn’t move and she took a breath. He wouldn’t leave her.
She couldn’t hear anything except for the harsh thumping of her heart in her ear. Her muscles tightened painfully as the moments ticked by. The silence stretched too thin, too tight, too terrifying.
Oh God. Please let them pass by. Though she couldn’t see or hear anything, she knew someone was out there.
An eternity later, Derrick turned back to her, held his fingers to his lips and slipped out of the shelter.
What the hell? Oh no, he didn’t just leave her. She shuffled to the entrance as quietly as she could, wanting to at least see what was going on outside. She peeked through the netting and saw only trees. How had Derrick disappeared so fast? She crouched, her muscles tense, ready to burst into action.
Seconds ticked by into minutes. A squirrel chittered overhead. She shifted farther into the opening. Where was Derrick?
Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the shelter. She fell to her hands and knees.
“Don’t move or I will shoot,” a male voice said in Korean.
She turned her head slowly to look up. The soldier was too thin, trembling with excitement and held his rifle in a white-knuckled grip.
Shit. At least he didn’t have his finger on the trigger.
“Stand up,” he ordered, waving his rifle at her to rise.
She stood and kept her hands raised. Derrick was nowhere in sight. No way was she letting this guy take her back to that shithole prison to be executed. She’d never escape a second time.
“Move.” He waved at her to turn around.
He must want her to start walking. Anger ignited inside her. Did he really think she’d let him take her back? No freaking way. Her gaze darted around, trying to find anything she could use as a weapon. Dried leaves. Broken branches. Where was a knife or gun when you needed one? She spotted a rock the size of a baseball not too far from her.
“Move!”
She jumped and tripped backward, landing hard on her butt.
“Get up!” He waved his rifle around. She was lucky it didn’t go off accidentally.
She got her legs under her and pretended to have a hurt ankle, dropping dramatically back down onto her hands and knees. Her heart beat hard and sweat popped out on her forehead. Please let this work. She was not going to go back to that prison.
The soldier cursed, shifted his rifle to one hand and grabbed her left arm with the other.
“Stupid bitch.” He hauled her upright. “Walk when I—”
She swung her right hand holding the rock and struck his temple as hard as she could. His eyes fluttered and he dropped like…well, like a rock.
She smiled for the first time in what felt like years. “Who’s the stupid bitch now?”
She moved the soldier’s rifle away from him and contemplated the man sprawled in the ravine. Blood trickled down the side of his face. She should really get out of here before he woke up. She looked up and down the ravine. Which way had Derrick gone?
“You can’t seem to keep out of trouble, can you?” Derrick’s voice was pitched low, but it carried down to her from where he crouched at the top of the shallow ravine.
She grinned up at him, knowing that she probably looked like some mythical forest hag covered in dirt and leaves with wild hair, but feeling powerful for the first time in too long. She held up her rock. “I don’t go looking for it, but I’m learning how to handle it.”
He smiled back, approval shining in his eyes as he nodded at the soldier. “Nice work. Let’s get out of here. Pass me your pack.” He held out a hand.
After she handed it up, she grabbed his hand. On her tiptoes, she could just grip it, but she had no leverage to push off. This wouldn’t work. She opened her mouth to say just that when Derrick hauled her up to him, as if she weighed no more than the rock she still carried in her hand. She ended up standing flush with him, chest to chest, leaning into him maybe more than she should. How could he still smell so good? She must smell awful. She glanced up at him and his dark gaze flicked to the man still sprawled in the ravine and then back to her. “You okay?”
“I’m good,” she said. “Though we should get out of here before he wakes up.”
He frowned at her a moment and then held her tighter. “I’m so glad you can take care of yourself.” He didn’t seem to be concerned about leaving anytime soon. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
She leaned into him a bit more and her thoughts leapt out of her mouth. “I thought you’d left me.”
He reached up and brushed an errant curl back from her face. “I would never leave you.”
She believed him. A small part of her said that she believed him because she needed to believe him, needed to believe in a hero who would save her, but she squished that part. Derrick was a hero. He would do everything he could to make sure she got home safe.