Except these men, of course. Hunter would probably insist on standing right beside her while she completed the whole process.
Only one other excuse came to mind. Something that might make Hunter uneasy enough to just let her go—that or take her to Mack.
“Well, since you are so damn nosy—” Marley crossed her arms and made sure to put extra attitude in her voice, “—I can’t sleep without him. Besides, he hasn’t given me a good night kiss.”
There was a brief pause.
“I don’t think so, Princess. Mack Grey hasn’t been with a woman in years. He can manage one night without you. Whatever fairy tale you’ve dreamed up is dead wrong. Mack lives and dies by the team.”
Marley bent over and grabbed Hunter’s fingers, trying to peel them off her skin. “That was before me, asshole.”
Maybe this guy really did need a boot in the face. How could he be so callous? How could he not realize that Mack was a human being with wants and needs?
Hunter didn’t loosen his grip in the least. Shit, shit, shit. If she hadn’t stopped cussing after Maddie was born, she’d say the words out loud instead of just in her head. Maybe if she stomped on his arm with her leg.
A deep sigh filled the air. Marley froze, her fingers levered beneath the tips of Hunter’s—which hadn’t budged even a little.
“Let her go, man. If she is lying, you really think she’ll make it very far in this jungle in the middle of the night all alone? And if she’s telling the truth, Mack probably does want her by his side. We saw how protective he was of her,” Riser said, his voice light but strong enough to carry.
God bless that man. She’d have to give him a hug after everything was said and done. Other than Mack, he was the only one on her side.
“Riser—” Hunter threatened.
“Let her go. I’ll follow her if it makes you feel better, to make sure she gets to Mack safe and sound.”
With a low growl, Hunter released her ankle and Marley had to resist the urge to shake out her leg. She did the most prudent thing instead and thanked Riser before beating a hasty retreat toward the edge of the woods.
“He went the other way, darlin’,” Riser’s voice grated. Marley did an about-face, this time circling around the group of men so as not to get trapped again. She made it about three feet into the woods before she allowed herself to breathe again. Needing to release the adrenaline pounding through her veins, she found the nearest tree she could find and collapsed against it, hands on her knees, panting for air. As if the close proximity to her pocket triggered something in her brain, Marley peeled open her pocket and fumbled for her phone.
Remember Maddie. You’re doing this for Maddie. Mack can save her. She swiped the screen and unlocked it. She just needed to see her baby’s face and then she’d turn her life over to Mack’s strong capable hands. The first thing that popped up was the last text message, Ramsey’s terrible words threatening her even now. Marley gulped, the bile rising in her throat at the thought of any harm coming to her daughter.
Mack would know what to do. He always knew what to do.
“I should have known.”
Marley choked to see Mack’s brutal visage lit up by the light from her phone, his features stark.
“Mack—”
He snatched the phone from her hand and scanned the screen. His lip curled and she felt any hint of warmth drain from her body. “I was coming to tell you—”
“Shut up. Don’t open your lying mouth again.”
“But—”
“Shut your mouth!” Mack roared.
Marley instinctively cowered, her hands trembling. Oh God, she had to make him listen. She had to make him hear the truth. “Please, Mack, please listen to me.”
Mack turned the phone around, grabbed the back of her neck, and shoved the screen within an inch of her face. “This message tells me everything I need to know. You were lying to me the whole fucking time. I believed you. I…” Disgust dripped from his every word. His intense gray eyes were nearly black in the darkness.
Marley felt her hope for the future crumble. “It’s not how it looks. I don’t work for him.”
Fingers loosened the tight hold on her neck and he flung her away, violence radiating from his pores. He gave her his back, shoulders heaving with harsh breaths ripping through the night air.
He wouldn’t believe her. She wasn’t sure she would believe her either. She’d stayed silent for too long, and the most plausible reason was that she had worked for Mankel the whole time.
This man who never trusted anyone had opened up to her and she’d betrayed him. Completely betrayed him. Oh, God.
But she couldn’t give up, not now. Not ever. She had to make him believe her.
Marley threw herself at his knees, clasping her hands around his legs. Mack tried to shake her off, but she wouldn’t let go. She would never let go. “Mack, he’s got Maddie in his crosshairs. He said I had to lead you to that location or he’d kill her. You have to believe me.”
Mack glared down at her, his lips curled in the same snarl as before. “You know, I really thought you loved your daughter. But no mother would use her child as an excuse. I bet you don’t even have a daughter.”
Chapter 24
Marley kneeled at his feet, tears streaking down her face, her eyes wide and pleading, the picture of a tormented mother. And he didn’t believe one fucking word coming out of her mouth.
“Get off me.”
A blinding rage fueled by indescribable hurt ripped through his body, making him feel like his spinal cord was being ripped in half. He’d trusted her. He’d saved her life. And the whole time she’d been playing him like a fool.
“I should have listened to my men. I was blinded by a pair of nice tits and a round ass.” Mack’s throat closed off like a vice, making it impossible to get out another word, so he just shook his head, the phone burning a hole through his palm.
“Mack, please. He’s threatening Maddie, just look at the phone.”
His fingers flinched reflexively and nearly crushed the phone in his hand. Mack took a deep breath, trying to force himself to calm down, but the oxygen only fueled the fire burning through his veins.
“You are good, I’ll give you that. You played the mommy bit to perfection. You’re not even in the Air Force, are you?” Mankel must’ve trained her for a long time to earn such blind devotion from her. Her act hadn’t cracked, not once. Tears continued to pour straight down her face and his stomach roiled. “Let go of me before I put a fucking gun to your head.” He’d never harm her like that, but he wanted her to feel just a little bit of the pain he did. The raw acid she had poured over what little bit of his soul he had left.
“You wouldn’t do that.” There was a thread of worry in her voice.
“You might’ve fooled me, but I wasn’t acting, Marley. You should have noticed by now; I don’t have a problem with killing people I don’t care about.”
Marley flinched and his heart clenched in response. Dammit. Even though the truth had finally slapped him over the head with a ten-pound hammer, he still had concern for her feelings. He was more fucked up than he’d thought.
“You don’t mean that. Just look at the phone. I . . . I was coming to tell you about the messages. To ask for your help.”
Mack squatted, forcing Marley’s arms off his calf muscles. She just clung to his ankles instead. The fury in his veins turned to ice and he slipped a finger under her chin, holding her face a few inches from his. “I wouldn’t help you if you were on fire right now. You are dead to me.”
A fresh wave of tears spilled over her eyes and Mack had to clench his jaw to keep from swiping a thumb over her cheek to wipe them away. He needed to get away from this woman; he had to clear his head. She’d so completely distracted him, he’d been ready to go off mission and drive her back to her daughter himself. And Mack had thought he had Mankel figured out after all this time. He’d never seen her coming.
“I don’t care about me,” Marley said in a soft v
oice. “Just my daughter. You have to save her.”
Her words gave him the briefest pause before he shut off his reaction. Another lie. She was going to fly this one out until the end. Mack put his hands on his knees and stood, that little movement using all his energy. “Get away from me. You’re safer with the men than you are with me.”
“Mack, please. Look at the messages. You’ll see.”
“I said, let go.” He didn’t shout or yell—his voice actually got softer with every word. But if she didn’t get away from him right now he might actually snap. He’d never been so close to committing violence toward a woman in his life, but no matter how badly she’d hurt him, he’d still rather chop off his own hand than harm her physically.
Marley’s arms dropped from his ankles and she let her head fall to the earth, her quiet sobs rending the night air. Every whimper, every crack in her voice was another knife to his heart.
He gave her his back, unable to stare at her like that, inconsolable, without lifting her into his arms. God, he was so stupid. This is why he hadn’t been in a relationship since Barbara. His emotions were a tool to be used against him. Marley was a means of revenge.
But a niggling doubt had wiggled its way into his thoughts. What if she was telling the truth? Mankel wasn’t above using someone’s child against them as leverage. Maybe he should look at the phone . . .
Mack heard a rustling behind him and spun to see Marley making a run for it into the jungle. With a feral smile he launched after her, his legs pumping with adrenaline as he closed the distance between them within seconds. He threw her to the ground beneath him. Marley fought wild and hard, coming at him with a right hook, which he blocked easily, and then a left. That one glanced off his chin, but he twisted her arms over her head and shoved his knees between hers so she couldn’t get in a kick to his groin. An almost animal-like ferocity filled his being. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Marley tossed her head from side to side, avoiding his gaze and bucking up, trying to toss him off her. The movement only brought her heat into contact with his crotch. His cock got hard instantly, his treacherous body still responding to her.
Marley froze, her eyes going wide.
“That’s right, honey, keep struggling. It feels good.”
Marley’s nostrils flared, she heaved, and then all at once her body seemed to deflate beneath his in surrender. Fresh tears in her eyes, she turned her head, robbing him of her gaze.
Mack’s hard-on disappeared instantly at the sight of her tears. Dammit. What the hell was wrong with him? She’d hurt him and he should want to hurt her back. The sight of her tears should give him joy, not anguish.
Angry at himself, Mack shoved up from the ground and yanked her up with him, keeping her hands caged in one of his, her cell phone was still gripped in the other. “Try that again and I’ll hogtie you.”
He waited on her answer but none came; she just continued to keep her face averted and her shoulders slumped. Mack turned, intending to drag her back to camp, but Marley began struggling again, wildly trying to yank away from his arms.
He easily subdued her, squeezing her wrists until she cried out and stopped. “What the hell is wrong with you? You lost. Your only hope of surviving this trip is my mercy—and every time you fight me that mercy dies just a little bit more.”
She finally looked at him again. He expected pleading and despair, but what he got was a fiery fortitude that nearly knocked him to his knees.
“If you won’t help me save Maddie, I’m going to fight you every step of the way. The only way you’re going to make me stop is to kill me.”
Her words careened through him, casting doubt on his conclusion about her. “Drop the act, Marley. You’ve been caught red-handed. Give up.”
Her brown eyes turned to steel and she lifted her chin higher.
Mack’s blood beat in his ears and he clenched his jaw so tightly, he was surprised his teeth didn’t break in half. What the hell was her game? Even the best CIA operatives knew when to call it quits and give up. She was restrained, completely at his mercy, and yet she was still acting like a mother who loved her daughter.
“If I look at this phone and the messages prove that you’re lying, you’re going to wish you were dead.” Still restraining her, he held the phone out in his palm. It had gone back to the lock screen. He knew it would be awkward for her to unlock it with her hands held together, but he wasn’t going to give her another opportunity to catch him off guard.
Without saying a word, she quickly punched in her code. Mack pulled up the messages screen. The first one that popped up was the order for her to lead his men into an ambush. But this time he gritted his teeth and slowly dragged the screen down. Ice-cold shock hit him square in the face. There was a very clear photo of a little girl playing on a swing set in someone’s backyard. It was the picture he’d seen yesterday, only now it wasn’t blown up to fill the screen and he saw the message directly beneath it—a message threatening her life.
“He’s going to kill her, Mack. He’s going to hurt my baby if I don’t lead you to that spot. I swear I never wanted to hurt you.”
Mack stared down at the phone to see when the message was sent.
Marley flinched.
“Yesterday, back at the river, you weren’t looking at old pictures of Maddie, were you?” He already knew the answer. He’d seen this snapshot.
In a trembling voice, Marley said, “I got the first message when you went to hunt for food.”
His peripheral vision blurred like he was staring down at the phone from a long tunnel “And instead of telling me then, you had sex with me. You let me believe that you really cared about me while you were planning on leading us into a trap.”
“I was in shock and I was trying to figure out what to do. I trust you with my life, Mack, but I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to Maddie. Tonight, I decided I could trust you with my daughter’s life, too. That’s why I was coming to find you. I realized I couldn’t sacrifice you or your team, no matter what. I was coming to ask you for help.”
Mack latched on to her honest, pleading voice, wanting for all the world to believe her, but he couldn’t—not completely. She’d planned to betray them; her actions would’ve gotten him and his entire team killed. His men would’ve followed their leader blindly into a trap, all because he had decided to trust her.
“I can understand why you would consider it, but I don’t understand the complete betrayal. I’ll help you rescue Maddie, but that’s it, nothing more.”
Mack let his arms fall down at his sides, the rush of rage gone, leaving him depleted. She’d betrayed him. He couldn’t get that thought out of his head. The two women he’d loved had both lied to him. Barbara had hidden her illness from him. If he hadn’t come home on leave, he wouldn’t have even been there to hold her hand while she died. All because she was trying to protect him. And Marley had lied to him to protect someone else.
Mack squared his shoulders and offered Marley a hand up. Electricity sizzled where they touched and he immediately let go, rubbing his hand down the side of his pants. He was man enough to admit that he had a weakness for her, and he would make it a point to keep his distance in the future. He’d let Riser take over instead, since he seemed to get along with her the best. And Mack’s life could go back to normal—alone except for his men.
“Can I trust you not to try to run off in the middle of the night?”
Marley flinched before answering, “If you give me your word you’ll do everything in your power to protect my daughter.”
“You have it.” Mack turned and went back to camp, forcing Marley to follow him at a run. And she did follow him, just like he had known she would. When they entered the camp, not a single one of his men lifted his head or gave any indication they were awake, but Mack knew they’d all undoubtedly heard every single word of their exchange.
Shame like he hadn’t experienced since Barbara’s death washed over him in a well-dese
rved tidal wave. He was unfit to lead these men; his blindness could have caused each and every one of them to die.
He wrapped his palm around Marley’s arm and forced her back into the middle of the circle and down to the ground. She settled into a cross-legged position, watching his every move. This small, beautiful woman had nearly been his downfall.
“If you move an inch from this spot, our deal is off.”
Marley licked her lips and Mack couldn’t help but follow the movement, remembering how good she tasted.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
He couldn’t stand to look at her for another minute. “Men, stop pretending to be asleep. We need to talk. Now.” Every single man in the circle got to his feet, all of them locking gazes on him. Their expressions would be inscrutable to most, but not to Mack. Not when he knew exactly what was on their minds.
He was weak. Marley had found a chink in his armor and sunk her claws in deep. He couldn’t blame them if they turned their backs on him, hell, he would be tempted if he were in their shoes. “Over here, circle up.” Mack nodded his head, indicating the spot in the clearing farthest from Marley. He positioned himself so that he faced her, keeping an eye on her in case she decided to be stupid and run. “I’m guessing y’all heard pretty much everything?”
“Seeing how you two were shouting most of the time, we couldn’t help it.” Riser scrubbed a hand over his scruffy neck, looking slightly sheepish.
Where was the anger?
Ranger chimed in, “Sorry, boss.”
They kept their voices low, but from the way Marley stiffened it was obvious she heard every word. Damn, he didn’t want her to hear anything of what they said. But if they stepped farther into the woods, he’d lose sight of her. Besides, he had her cell phone now. She wouldn’t be communicating with anyone.
“Then you know our pilot here was leading us into an ambush.”
Marley stiffened even more and Mack forced his gaze from her. A couple of the guys glanced at her and then promptly ignored her. Part of him was glad they were keeping silent. The last thing he wanted to do was put himself between his men and Marley. Because despite the fact she’d stabbed him in the back, he’d still protect her.
Men of Mercy: The Complete Story Page 165