Men of Mercy: The Complete Story

by Cross, Lindsay

  Her dark brown hair had escaped her ponytail and now hung in wild tangles around her shoulders. Her dark blue flight suit was torn down the left arm and blood stained the sleeve; the rest of her uniform wrinkled and covered in dirt. She reminded him more of a misbehaving teenager than a cool and collected Air Force pilot.

  “You’ve made that abundantly clear.” He didn’t have any more time to waste contemplating her hidden curves or silky hair. Jack Mankel had just taken down their plane. Mack had to find the rest of his men, figure out how Mankel had found out about their flight, and get them all the hell out of Dodge.

  The added disturbance of a semi-freaked-out female would only slow him down.

  Mack crossed his arms and lifted his shoulders up and back, a measured stance that had an equally measured effect of intimidating anyone who dared to speak back to him. “Riser is a medic; he will attend your wound.”

  His intimidation tactic failed. Marley lifted her chin and crossed her arms, mimicking his stance with precision he found both alarming and amusing.

  “I don’t need him to clean up a scratch.” While talking, she uncrossed her arms and reached down into the large Velcro-shut pocket on her right thigh. She pulled out a small black kit he recognized as an emergency field medical kit. “I’ve been disinfecting my own wounds since I was three years old, thank you.”

  She spun and made it exactly one step before she nearly stumbled over the lifeless snake right behind her. Marley let out a shriek, flailed her arms in the air, and he grabbed the back of her suit to yank her back, pleasure turning up his lips into a smile. “I’d say that’s the third time I saved your ass today. Not such a good rate for self-sufficiency.”

  His words had hit their target. She stiffened straight as a two-by-four and jerked from his grip. “Anacondas and giant jungle trees are more extreme conditions than I’m accustomed to.” She gave him a once over. “Obviously they’re not so far removed from your Neanderthal roots.”

  Mack’s amusement vanished and he glared at her. Was this the thanks he got for sticking his neck out for her? He’d had to practically shove her out of the airplane, which was strange enough. She was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. It was part of their training to learn how to parachute out for safety. Yet Marley had clearly been terrified.

  And up there in the tree, she’d gone completely still like she’d been frozen with fright.

  It’s not possible.

  Pilots simply weren’t afraid of heights. And yet her dilated pupils and pale face said otherwise. Dammit. He couldn’t just throw her over his shoulder and haul her around like he would one of his own men. No matter how sturdy or capable, she looked to be about five seconds from going into shock.

  “Guess it’s a good thing you’re with me then, huh?” Instead of scowling at her, he winked, trying to put her at ease with some light joking.

  His attempt had the exact opposite effect, however. He’d never seen a woman go from scared out of her mind to straight-up furious in such a short amount of time.

  “I’ll have you know I’ve been through survival training and passed at the top of my class. So no, in response to your statement, it’s not necessarily a good thing—” she threw up her fingers and did air quotation marks, “—that I’m stuck in the middle of the Congo with you.”

  Riser chuckled at this fascinating conundrum of a woman before them, and Mack snapped out, “What is so funny?”

  Riser’s grin disappeared instantly and he backed up. “Absolutely nothing, Sir.”

  Marley spoke up. “Don’t snap at him for your irrational behavior.”

  Her pale cheeks had flushed a deep rose that he found completely alluring. They now matched the color of her plush lips, and suddenly his mind was focused on an altogether different plan. What would her lips taste like? How would she respond?

  Wait—she’d just insulted him.

  “Irrational behavior?” Maybe she’d hit her head on one of the tree branches on the way down. The only irrational thing he’d done, in his opinion, was to save her ass.

  She crossed her arms and let out a huff.

  “Sir, should we go look for the rest of the men?” Even though Riser’s question was an obvious ploy to distract him from the cute little pilot, Mack went for it. He really didn’t have any time for a distraction—least of all in the form of a woman he’d only met a few hours ago. For all he knew, she was working for Jack Mankel, too.

  “Fine. Let’s go.” Mack walked off, randomly choosing a direction. Once he located his crew, he’d have Ethan use his communication system to radio their situation to base. Ethan would also have their GPS, so he could pinpoint their location and map a trek to the nearest safe house.

  “Colonel?” Riser asked, his voice hesitant.

  “What?”

  “I heard Hunter calling out from the other direction before I found you.”

  Mack spun to see Riser standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze locked on a tree past Mack’s shoulder. Marley didn’t bother trying to hide her glee at his misstep—she stood right where she’d been the entire time, smiling with triumph.

  He thought long and hard about chewing Riser’s ass out for not telling him this critical information sooner. Instead, he clamped down on his control and said, “Lead the way.”

  Riser gave a quick salute, did an about-face, and marched off in the exact opposite direction from which Mack had been heading.

  “Looks like you should be glad he’s here, huh?”

  Mack had never been more eager to put distance between himself and another human being as he was in that exact moment. But he’d had enough years of training to effectively mask his emotions and rob her of the satisfaction of getting another rise out of his long dormant temper. “If you don’t want to be left behind, I’d suggest you follow me.” Mack strode after Riser, forcing himself to keep from turning to check and make sure she was behind him.

  For a few seconds, there was no sound except for his own footsteps and Riser’s up ahead, and he feared he’d miscalculated. And then he heard a swish, swish, swish as Marley caught up with them.

  She might not want to admit it, but the terrorized expression on her face said staying out here alone terrified her. It should.

  They continued in silence until Riser called out, “Top?”

  The term top was what soldiers often used for their team leader.

  “Over here,” Hunter’s voice came from directly in front of them and slightly to the right. A few seconds later, they stepped out of the evergreen undergrowth into a tiny clearing where the rest of the team waited.

  “Sound off,” Mack said.

  Hunter and Ranger, both standing without even a smudge of dirt on them, responded with an “All right.” Aaron, Merc, and Reaper sat next to them on the ground, sifting through their backpacks. They all responded with an affirmative.

  Hoyt and Jared sat off to the side like they always did, silent but deadly, which made them the two best snipers in the entire special forces. They both gave a wave to indicate they were okay.

  “Where is Ethan?”

  “We just located him, Sir.” Hunter pointed up and Mack followed the direction of his finger.

  About fifty feet up in an enormous evergreen tree, Ethan hung upside down, twisted in the ropes of his parachute. “Just hanging out, Sir.”

  Mack grunted out an acknowledgment and then Marley came crashing into the clearing. Everyone’s gaze turned to her.

  Tension whipped through the group faster than a bullet from an M50 rifle. Marley stumbled to a stop and pulled up short, taking a deep gulp of air.

  He knew what they were thinking: despite having saved them, Marley might work for their enemy. Mack didn’t actually think she had any involvement, but he fully intended to question her as soon as possible. His priority was to get Ethan down from that tree so he could tag their location. “Riser, clean up her arm.”

  Marley said, “But—”

  Mack strode over to her, snatched th
e puny medical kit still clutched in her hand and threw it into the woods. “Don’t push me. Sit down and let him clean up your arm.”

  Mack enunciated each word, making sure his point got across. Marley’s eyes widened but she kept her mouth shut and did as he said. He waited until Riser had pulled out his own medical kit and started tending to her before turning his attention back to Ethan. “Do you see any way down?”

  “Well, I could cut the rope, but Kate warned me—if I come back with so much as a scratch, she’ll kick my ass.” Kate Richards had been one of Jack Mankel’s victims, kidnapped along with Celine Latimer and the senator’s daughter, Caroline Cotter, from the wedding they’d all been attending. Task Force Scorpion had managed to rescue Kate and Celine, but Mankel had escaped with Caroline. Hence their present situation.

  “The last thing I want is a woman like her busting my ass for letting you get hurt.” Ethan’s fiancée was an ex-CIA operative turned private securities investigator. To put it lightly, the woman knew her way around a gun.

  “I’m open for suggestions.” Ethan said. .

  Unfortunately, Ethan had landed in a different type of tree than Marley. There was no abundance of limbs or vines or anything of the like for him to grab as a handhold or foothold. Even the bark was smooth. Mack approached it, sliding his fingers down its cool trunk. It had a faint sheen of moisture on it. Not conducive to climbing in the least.

  From the way Ethan was tangled up, he wouldn’t even be able to swing a leg over the closest branch, and Mack didn’t have superhuman powers to fly up to him.

  What he wouldn’t give for a set of spiked boots and rappelling rope right now.

  “Give me a minute.”

  Hoyt and Jared were both very good climbers, accustomed to putting themselves in tight and difficult positions to take out their target. If he could get one of them up to Ethan, they’d find a way to bring him down.

  “Anybody got any ideas?”

  Ranger said, “We could make a lasso around the trunk and try climbing up tree-logger style. I’ve got enough rope for at least that.” Each and every one of the men had come fully supplied for as many eventualities as possible. More often than not, the group’s carefully laid-out plans needed to be adjusted once they had boots on the ground. No matter how many geographical maps and satellite images and spies you had in place to tip things in your favor, the shit could and would hit the fan.

  Except, in this case, the bomb had hit the plane.

  Jared got up from his seated position next to his brother Hoyt and went to the tree, slowly running a hand down its bark. “Won’t work without spiked shoes on that kind of bark.”

  “What about one of us tossing a rope up there and levering another guy up?” Ranger suggested.

  Mack scratched his chin and studied the distance to the limb and the width. “That could work.” They’d have to get a rope up and over the limb. At least two men would be needed to pull the rescuer up and then have another two men help lower Ethan and his rescuer.

  Marley cleared her throat and spoke before Mack could cut her off. “You could use a less-complicated system. Why not have one guy loop a rope around the branch above Ethan. Then he can lift himself up there with an extra rope to harness Ethan. They can lower themselves down. That’s the smallest amount of manpower and energy.”

  Mack closed his mouth. He was irritated with her for intervening, but she had offered a viable option. And one that his men were easily strong enough to perform. “That could work.”

  Marley lifted her chin so he could see the triumph gleaming in her eyes. For some reason this woman seemed to have it out for him.

  “I’ll do it, Colonel.” Jared yanked his rope off his backpack and started feeding it through his hands as he shrugged his pack onto the ground. “Hoyt, give me yours for Ethan.”

  Riser finished bandaging Marley’s arm. “You need something to weigh down the end to throw it up that high,” she said, getting to her feet. “Looks like it’s about forty feet in the air.”

  Riser leaned down and picked up a rock about the size of his palm. “Will this work?”

  Marley hefted the weight, testing it, and offered it back to Riser. “It’s perfect.”

  Riser tossed the rock and Jared caught it with one hand.

  All this transpired in a matter of seconds. Mack didn’t like it that his men were turning to her for answers. But he didn’t have time to dwell on her or his aggravation, which he didn’t fully understand. The faster they got back to safety, the sooner he could unload her and the burden she represented and get back to finding Mr. J. “Make it quick. The rebels couldn’t have missed that explosion. They’re probably heading this way now to check it out.”

  “Roger.” Jared quickly tied the circle knot while Hoyt tied the other end around the rock. Those two worked on the same wavelength; they didn’t require words to get shit done efficiently.

  Hoyt pulled back his arm and threw the rock, nailing his target on the first try. The rope wrapped around the branch a few feet from Ethan, closer to where the branch widened at the trunk of the tree, providing them with a more steady hold. Jared fastened the knot to the ring on his harness, which was still wrapped around his chest from the parachute jump, slid the knot above his head, and pulled his feet off the ground. Hoyt hefted the spare rope over his brother’s shoulder as he started to rise.

  Although the Crowe brothers were the smallest on his team, they each topped six feet, making the task of lifting their own weight in the air a difficult feat. Jared managed to make it look easy. He kept pulling himself higher, the rope anchoring to itself each time there was tension on it. He got to his destination with speed and dexterity, swung a leg up and over the branch, and then quickly began making Ethan’s harness.

  The sound of a rifle firing in the distance blasted through the jungle. Mack turned toward the sound. “Guerrillas.”

  “Jared, move a little faster.” After that kind of crash, the team was in no position to effectively fend off an attack. The guerrillas of the Congo were notoriously deadly fighters. They’d become that way over time, honing their skills by fighting off poachers and logging companies seeking to cut down their habitat for profit. And Mack did not want to get into a tangle with them today. Especially with Marley here. His men’s resources would be used more to protect her than to kill the guerrillas. They needed to get out of here and reassess. Jared quickly finished the harness and eased it down to Ethan, who managed to maneuver himself into it.

  “Ready,” Ethan called out a moment later.

  Another round of shots blasted in the distance. “Get your asses down here, now!”

  Without him having to tell them, the rest of his team got up and geared up, checking their weapons and readying themselves to bug out. Ethan cut the parachute cord tangled around him, and a large black bag flew from his body and crashed onto the ground. “Oh, shit.”

  “Is that what I think it is?” Mack ground out. He could hear the rebel trucks speeding through the jungle. Guerillas hadn’t zeroed in on their exact location yet, but it was only a matter of time, and Ethan had just dropped one very precious piece of equipment.

  “Sorry, boss, didn’t mean to do that.” They rappelled down the tree, and as soon as their feet hit the ground, Jared coiled the rope and quickly slung it over his shoulders.

  Ethan gazed at the black bag and said, “I think we can safely say that our comm system is screwed.”

  “Safely say? How about guarantee?” Their chance at radioing in to apprise headquarters of their situation had just exploded on the ground, the smashed contents held together by a black tactical bag. But some of it could be salvageable, and he didn’t have time to stand here and chastise his guy for a rookie mistake. “Grab the bag, maybe you can piece enough of it together for us to radio in.”

  Ethan did as commanded and within a few seconds everyone was secured and ready to go. Marley stood next to Riser with a frown on her face. He could tell she was scared—any sane person would be sc
ared right now—but watching out for her slowed them down, which only pissed him off more.

  “You stay with me. Hunter, take the lead. Jared, Hoyt, bring up the rear. If they mow our asses down, I want to pick them off. Fall in.”

  Marley kept her mouth shut and did as he ordered. Maybe she was finally starting to grasp the precarious position they were in. No matter how well-trained or deadly his special operators were, if over a hundred guerillas showed up with AKs and machetes, they wouldn’t be able to protect her. More likely, none of them would survive. “Move out. Keep silent. If we get separated, find your way to the nearest evac point on the route.”

  Hunter and Ranger silently began walking, Riser, Reaper, Merc and Aaron right behind them, Mack and Marley following suit. Ethan, Jared, and Hoyt brought up the rear. They had their weapons drawn and raised, ready for any attack.

  The only sounds in the jungle were their barely audible steps as they padded on the soft turf of the Congo. The random start of automatic rifles blasted every minute or so. The gunfire wasn’t growing louder, but it wasn’t getting farther away either, which was just as bad. The guerrillas were moving parallel to them, and without being able to get up in those trees, Mack’s team was running blind. They needed to figure out where the hell they were, a task that had just gotten many times more difficult.

  Mack gave a low whistle and everyone stopped, then he lifted his hand. When he had their attention, he signaled east, moving in a perpendicular line away from the sound of the gunfire. They moved like that for thirty minutes or more, the gunfire growing weaker. They kept moving until only the sounds of the jungle filled the silence before Mack called a halt.

  His team squatted in the foliage, hidden from any immediate detection, and awaited his commands. Even Marley was still silent, but she seemed to be in control of her emotions and not flipping out. In fact, she had her pistol raised as she scanned her surroundings, much like the rest of his team was doing. He couldn’t help but feel a small measure of pride that she had obviously taken her training seriously after all.