by Karen Anders
They retreated into the shadows, using the wreckage of the dark room for cover. The only escape route was the shattered window, leaving the interior open to the weather and the wind, blowing the smell of spicy food and the pungent odor of the ocean.
There was no furniture, just piles of trash and junk. Beau hadn’t let her go, kept his arm securely around her waist.
She worked on getting her equilibrium back. She wished she had her gun. The sound of laughter in the hall indicated no threat. Probably some of those punk rockers from the party below looking for a place to do drugs.
She didn’t let down her guard, though, not for a second because Beau was taut against her. Every muscle in his body was battle ready for whoever came through the door. She was so tense that she felt like she was going to snap.
In another couple of seconds, Beau’s instincts were rewarded. A new set of voices came down the hall speaking Arabic.
She sucked in a breath.
Her blood ran cold. She would know that voice anywhere, in any language. She heard it in her nightmares, sneaking up on her in the dark, suffocating her in a blanket of white as he laughed and hunted her.
More voices joined in, more than she could distinguish from each other, all of them getting closer to the apartment. She and Beau were horribly outnumbered—and oh, God, he’d killed two of el Ajeer’s men.
An arc of light sliced through the gash in the wall, and a man swore low and mean.
Without thinking she grabbed Beau’s arm, dragging him toward the window. In the back of her mind, she felt sick at having to leave Daniel behind. It hurt like hell. Looking out she swallowed hard. The fire escape was intact, but looked far from stable. They had no choice—they were going to be discovered any moment.
Chapter 12
Beau followed Kinley out the window and swore, catching her as the structure wobbled beneath them. He had to give her credit for using their only escape route without hesitation and bravery, but this wasn’t a viable option for long.
They were trapped and he couldn’t go commando on the guys back there. So that meant they had to run. Again. The fire escape was a temporary solution.
But he couldn’t risk Kinley. She was hurt and still feeling the effects of being threatened. She wasn’t used to or prepared for this, but so far she’d held her own ground.
He hated like hell to leave Daniel behind. It didn’t sit well with him to ever leave a fallen man. But in this case secrecy was their ally. He didn’t want el Ajeer and Las Espadas to identify them and be hunting for them. They needed their anonymity to figure out another route to the doctor’s identity now that Daniel’s “contact” had turned out to be bogus.
If he’d been alone, he would have gone into stealth mode and taken out every one of them.
The whole metal structure swayed and buckled, grinding metal against brick as they fought for balance on the stairs as they moved down one by one. They had only gone down two floors before he decided that it was time to get off. They couldn’t jump to the ground. They had come from the seventh floor and a five-story fall would probably kill them or injure them badly. There couldn’t be much holding the stairs together the way they wobbled and rattled, and whatever was holding it together was probably really rusty. The suppressed shots from above him that pinged off the outside rail spurred him on. Yeah, it was time to bail.
He busted in a window, using his shoe to clear the glass away, hurrying Kinley through before he ducked inside. More gunfire erupted right near them. She clutched him, losing her balance. What a cluster.
Once she was stable, he grabbed her hand and avoided the hall. They moved fast as they jumped though openings in walls and through barely there doorways. Most of the walls separating the abandoned apartments had been at least partially destroyed. Others had doors in them. They had gone quite a ways before they hit the end of the line and had to chance using the hallway.
Kinley was quite a trooper. She’d proven herself competent, held out until he’d gotten to her, and those bastards—damn, he wanted to kill them all over again—had hurt her. The echo of the rage was still thick in his chest. As a SEAL he didn’t go into battle with fury. He went into battle calmly collected.
But when he’d seen what they were doing, how they were threatening her with a knife and assault, he’d lost it. Even though Daniel was dead, he owed him gratitude for that last bit of defiance that had given him enough time to get there. The gunshot had led him right to her.
He needed to get a grip and keep his head in the game right now. He had to get his fiercely intense emotions under control. No matter that his heart had almost stopped.
He paused just inside the door and slammed his back up against the wall, his arms tightening around her waist.
A snick of sound at the back of the room had him whirling around with the HK leveled and deadly, his finger on the trigger.
Two kids stumbled out of the shadows, completely oblivious to the fact that their lives were dangling on a thread.
They’d been making out according to their flushed faces and disheveled clothes and Beau felt like his heart was in a vise.
“¡Váyanse!” he growled.
They didn’t need to be told twice. Staring down the handgun’s barrel, their eyes widened. The guy wrapped his arm protectively around the girl and they shot out of the room heading away from the searching Las Espadas.
The sound of men talking, searching, coming through the apartments behind them and down the hall was narrowing their options pretty damn fast.
He glanced towards the window, but they were still five floors up and that fire escape would be once again noisy and dangerous. He dismissed the idea of taking it as a route.
“Give me the gun,” she said.
He turned to look at her. “What?”
“Give me the gun and I’ll buy us some time.”
“We’re not splitting up.”
“Yes, we have to. I’ll slow them down. You find us a way out. It’s the only way. We’re running blind—el Ajeer—I want to...”
“What?”
“He’s the one who killed my father. I would never forget that voice. I want to...”
“No.” He holstered the HK and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Kinley, you can’t go after him. We’re outnumbered and outgunned right now. Escape is what we’re after. Believe me, if it wasn’t for the fact that we need absolute secrecy here, I’d be all for going after him right now. But, we can’t. Promise me you’re not snowing me here.”
She bit her lip and looked away, her face showing her struggle with her emotions. “He killed my father and scarred me. I have a right—”
“I’m not arguing that point. You do. You have the right, but in this situation, we have to let him go. It’s about the mission and it’s far from complete. Daniel died for it and we can’t let his death be in vain.”
“We shouldn’t have left him, Beau.” She stood there looking so upset and he had to be tough.
“I know. A SEAL never leaves a man behind, ever. We’re going to make sure he’s taken care of. I promise. We had no choice. The DEA will take care of their own. I guarantee you. We’ll get word to them as soon as we’re out of this. But you have to stay focused on getting away, not going after el Ajeer. Agreed?”
When she didn’t answer, he got a little frantic and had just decided to throw her over his shoulder and hightail it out of there blind or not when she said, “Yes. Agreed.”
He had to rely on the trust they’d built up. She was tough enough to take on the terrorist, but not enough to wade through God knew how many tangos he brought with him.
“Hurry, Beau. Find us a way out.”
“I’ll be back. Stay here unless you have to move, then only move forward. If they hem you in...”
“Okay, I’ll be careful. Go.”
He skirted some debris and kept moving until he dead-ended and had to move into the hall. Just as he breached the door, he saw a shadow moving toward him. He ducked back into the room. They’d never make it that way. They were fanning out too much and pretty soon, the two of them would be trapped. He backed into the room some more and the floor went out from under him. Windmilling his arms and throwing himself forward was the only thing that saved him.
Breathing hard, he turned to find a hole in the floor that revealed another room below him. It was a drop, but he spied a mattress. Something to break their fall. At this point it was their only hope.
Without thinking about the ramification of a broken ankle or worse, he rapidly made his way back to where he’d left Kinley.
The sound of the HK discharging into the semiquiet of the apartment complex supercharged him and he swore, increasing his speed.
When he got close to where she was, he already had his KA-BAR out and ready. Two guys were moving around to cut her off from him.
Oh, hell, no.
He didn’t hesitate and ran full force into the two men. He made quick work with the knife and the guy was down before he could even draw his next breath and Beau grappled with the other. The guy brought his gun up and Beau jerked his hand, shoving it over his head. The gun discharged with a suppressed load and plaster and debris rained from the ceiling.
Beau jammed the knife into the guy’s throat and jumped back as he fell. Snatching up the man’s weapon, he darted into the room where Kinley was focused on returning fire. Bullets sprayed into the walls around them.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. “I found a way out.”
She squeezed off another round as he dragged her through the door. They ran full-out until they reached the room where he’d found the hole. She stopped and looked at him, her puzzled face flushed. “Where?”
He pointed down. She looked down then back up at him. “We’re jumping?”
“Only way, ma belle,” he said, crouching down and setting his hands on the lip of the opening. “I’ll go first.”
She immediately nodded, her head swiveling towards the door. “They’re coming.”
With a muttered oath, his hands tightening on a broken beam, he swung free and for a moment hung suspended in midair. Then there was a cracking, breaking sound above him. The wood and plaster beneath his fingers broke away and he was falling. He bent his knees and rolled as the floor rushed up to greet him. After many HALO jumps, this was a piece of cake.
“Beau, catch,” she said as she dropped the weapon down to him. He watched as she swung over the lip. A man materialized out of nowhere and reached down to grab her wrist. Beau already had the suppressed weapon up and pointed, pulling off a round. It barely made a sound. The guy fell and hit Kinley. As Beau sidestepped the hurtling body, Kinley dangled for a moment, then she let go. Beau watched her as she fell, never taking his eyes off the prize.
She dropped into his arms and he set her on her feet and gave back the HK. Together they headed for the hallway. It would take a moment for them to figure out where they had gone.
With Kinley behind him, they raced down the hall, but Beau brought her up short. Two men were standing guard at the head of the stairs. “Wait here,” he whispered. He sneaked up behind one and grabbed him around the neck. Within a heartbeat he brought up the suppressed weapon and put two slugs into the guy’s buddy, then one into the temple of the guy he held, pulling off another head shot before the guy hit the ground. He looked down the stairs and swore. Two more tangos. Taking aim, he popped both of them.
They raced down four flights, bringing them back to the crazy, black-lit, neon-haired party that was in full swing. Threading their way through the dancers, Beau’s hand tight around Kinley’s. He could feel her other hand twisted in the fabric of his shirt.
This time Beau used the press of bodies and the chaos to make it to the outside stairs. Beau dragged her into the darkness and it swallowed them up.
* * *
Using the parking entrance to the hotel, they made their way silently across the concrete. The lights, dim and sparse shone down on her, limning her profile, softening her face and turning her skin into a silken wash of rose and pale peach.
Her eyes were dark, the downward cast of her gaze making it hard to figure out her mood. She was so quiet.
Too quiet.
Reaching the bank of elevators, they slipped inside. Beau breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled her against him. She cuddled him, setting her face into the hollow of his neck and wrapping her arms around his waist. They had gotten away clean. He was sure of it. Only the dead guys had learned Kinley’s name. After a shower, rest and food, they were going to lie low until they discovered the doctor’s name. Beau knew exactly where to look first.
They both looked worse for wear. Sweaty, dirty and one of the straps on her form-fitting top had broken and hung over her breast.
Damn. She’d wanted to go after el Ajeer. He wasn’t sure if he was impressed with her guts or terrified of them.
What had happened to her when she was sixteen had destroyed her world. It was understandable that she would want to make sure the man who had shattered it paid. Having to tell her no hurt because he hurt for her. He didn’t have the words to console her over the fact that el Ajeer was still breathing.
Revenge wasn’t for the faint of heart and often, even after thinking about it and plotting it, the result didn’t really satisfy, either. This wasn’t about getting el Ajeer. It was about mentally figuring it out and either letting it go or letting it eat you alive. He would rather she found a way to let it go. It had already taken a big chunk out of her.
He knew about letting something eat you alive. He thought about his most recent stint in Afghanistan for NCIS. He hadn’t gotten there in time to save the agent they’d sent him after. He had been so close, but the guy had been beheaded just as Beau had infiltrated the compound.
He’d done the next best thing, a snatch-and-grab of the warlord who probably hadn’t ever heard of NCIS before he’d killed one of its agents. He wouldn’t ever forget what it stood for now.
When they reached their floor, he was sure to check both ways. No one around. They exited the elevator and were soon inside the suite. He opened the doors onto the balcony to let the moonlight and the sounds of the city night in.
When he turned, she was standing against the wall next to the entrance exactly where he’d left her.
He unclipped the empty holster from his lower back and set it and the gun he’d taken on one of the tables in the living room as he passed it.
“I’m going to run a bath and we’re going to get cleaned up.”
She didn’t respond as he went into the bathroom and started the water. As the tub filled, he took a moment to wash the grime and blood off his hands and arms. He pulled his shirt over his head and shucked out of the jeans.
When she didn’t come into the bathroom, he shut off the water and went back out into the living room. She hadn’t moved.
She put her hand out as he got close. “I need to...process.”
He took a step closer and she said, more firmly, “No. Don’t touch me. I can’t think when you touch me.”
“There’s no need to think right now, Kinley. Let’s get cleaned up.”
Kinley tilted her head back against the wall, exposing the slender column of her throat, and he felt the heat of wanting her sparking deep inside him.
Mr. One-night Stand.
Mr. Temporary.
Mr. Never Engage His Heart.
Mr. Complete Dumbass.
He knew himself. He knew what this meant and g
etting his mind wrapped around what he had stupidly allowed himself to do was like a sledgehammer to his heart.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and he’d been chasing her his whole life.
“No. I’ve got to think about it, about Daniel and el Ajeer. All of it. Because it’s too important to dismiss it.”
He knew what it was to go that route. He knew what it was like. He’d seen it. He’d felt it. He’d been there, living in the badlands.
But he’d never lost a family member. That was...
Inconsolable.
She started to tremble all over as she clenched her fists. He saw it in her shoulders and in the way she wrapped her arms around herself, like she was trying to hold all the pieces in place.
Before the first sob broke free from her lips, he was there. As she folded in on herself, he was holding her against him.
“No,” she said. “Don’t touch me.”
She was still backed up against the wall, her body so stiff, and yet shaking—everywhere, all over.
“D-don’t,” she repeated, not looking at him, keeping her hand over her face.
“Kinley,” he said, wanting to help her and yet feeling so helpless.
“No.” Another sob broke free, and then another, and she dropped her hand, looking at him, all of it, everything awful that had happened tonight.
He moved in closer. This was going to hell right now, and fast, but there wasn’t any way to stop it.
Tears ran down her face in dark tracks of smudged makeup, and inch by inch, he felt her fall to pieces and begin to skim down the wall, her knees buckling. He held on and the reaction he was expecting happened.
She sobbed and pushed at him, and he didn’t let go. Then she balled up her fist and hit him. He knew this was going to happen and he let it. It was what had to happen, the flash of fear and anger and anguish in her eyes, the tension holding her on the edge of the void. Hell, if that’s what she needed, he’d let her vent again against his resilient muscles.