by Dale Mayer
He didn’t know how many blows she could survive before something major happened inside.
“Now, you…” he pointed the gun at Dane. “You get over here and lift her into the vehicle.”
As Dane walked forward, he could feel the tension in the air. His team would jump the killer at the slightest opportunity and if Dane took a bullet, then he took a bullet – although they’d do their best to make sure it wasn’t a lethal bullet. The bottom line was this guy couldn’t shoot them all and he wasn’t leaving.
Dane crouched down and gently picked up Marielle.
“Easy, honey,” he whispered. He adjusted the weight in his arms and after a sideways look at Mason, made a jagged movement to the right behind the SUV for protection and took off at a run. The guy might have a gun, but Dane had his team.
The gun fired but it didn’t hit him or Marielle. He got her to his truck and sat her in the passenger seat. He looked back to see if the fight was over. It was not only over, he could see Hawk heading into the plane. Good. Carefully Dane took the hood off Marielle and checked her head.
And heard Hawk’s call. Dane paused. Not good news then.
The pilot was dead. And he’d seen a second guy dead on the ground closer to the plane.
He turned his attention back to Marielle, realizing how close they’d come to losing her.
How valuable she really was – and not just to him.
Chapter 12
MARIELLE OPENED HER eyes and shrieked.
“Easy, girl,” said an old woman in a thick and thick gutural accent. “I’m the local doctor. I need to check your head.”
But Marielle didn’t believe her until Dane’s head popped up over the woman.
“Oh, thank God,” she muttered, trying to hold back her joy at seeing him again. “I thought I was done for last time.”
“And you likely would have been if you’d gone quietly with them,” he admitted. “By fighting you managed to cause him to lose time, and that was the time we needed to get to you.”
“I barely remember all that happened,” she said. Her gaze went to the woman. “Thank you for coming. My head is really sore.”
“It’s a hard head,” the women said with a smile. “Now if you’d stop treating it like a ball, it might heal.”
Marielle straightened slightly and looked around. She was in a hotel room of some kind. Hawk and Swede stood guard at the doorway. Dane hovered beside her and there was no sign of the others. Probably outside on watch. She hoped none of them ever left again. Shit happened when they did.
“I don’t feel so good,” she whispered. In fact, she was going to be sick.
She rolled over, hanging her head over the edge of the bed, and Dane shoved a garbage can under her face. She puked several times, her body shaking uncontrollably.
“See,” the woman said. “You are not meant to use your head as a ball.”
Right. She’d be happy to have had someone else’s head banged up for a change. Hers was too damn sore as it was.
A cool cloth was pressed to her forehead. And a glass of water was placed in her hand. She drank a little bit and waited to see if it would stay down. When it appeared to rest comfortably, she drank a little more then collapsed back into bed. She was so sore.
“He dragged me across the airstrip, grabbed my phone and said they needed it too,” she said in low tones. “Everything hurts.”
The doctor’s gaze sharpened. “They said your head was the only injury.” Her hands immediately checked the rest of her.
When she was asked to roll over, Marielle went willing but cried out at the pain. Her shirt was lifted. And she heard Dane’s gasp.
“What’s wrong?” she cried, trying to twist and see.
“Lie still. This needs to be cleaned.”
“No,” Marielle said hurriedly. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“It’s a road rash and filled with dirt,” Dane snapped. “It has to be cleaned.”
And clean it, they did. The whole time she lay with her face down in the pillow, and her body rigid.
She wanted to bawl, to fight, but knew it had to be done, and the crying just made her head hurt more. She wept into the pillow silently. By the time they were done, she was weak as a kitten and her guts churned again. There shouldn’t be anything left to throw up, but her stomach was going to make sure. She shuddered, and leaning over the bed, lost the bit of water she’d drunk. Now the acid bit her throat and mouth. And the rest of her was on fire.
Dane offered her a drink of water. This time she took the drink, swished it around inside her mouth and spit it out.
Then collapsed on the pillow and closed her eyes. “You know, Dane, every time you leave me alone I end up injured and lying in bed.” She frowned thinking about it, then added, “Thanks for that.”
The bed creaked as he sat down beside her, his sigh heavy. “You know I’d have done anything to not have this happen to you again, right?”
“Right. But somehow it did happen. I suppose your bosses want you to dump me off somewhere in Italy now, huh? When all I want is to go home.”
“You’re leaving with us. We’re flying out tomorrow.”
“Can’t fly the plane if the windshield is shot out,” she said, trying to sit up so she could explain, only he pushed her back down again.
“That’s why we’re still here. Another plane is flying in. For us and to fix that window.”
“Nice to have the whole military at your disposal.”
“Hardly,” he said.
“Did you find out who those men were?” she asked. “We had no warning. I heard the shot, and the next thing I knew these men had stormed the plane and grabbed me. I presume the shot took the pilot out just like that. I hope he didn’t have family waiting for him at home.” Tears formed at the corner of her eyes. “That’s so not fair.”
“Hush, you need to rest.”
“He shouldn’t have died.” She lay there thinking of the deaths she’d been involved with this last day. “This is why I didn’t want anything to do with building weapons,” she whispered. “There’s so much death already. And over what? They don’t even have the research.” God, she hoped they didn’t. She hadn’t heard her workplace had been broken into. But how else had Michaels planned to get his hands on her work? She hated to even think about it at this point.
“No, and they aren’t going to get it either.”
Just then Shadow entered. He held out a cell phone to Marielle. “This is yours – minus the tracker they had in it. At least now your calls aren’t going to be traced.”
Hesitantly she took it from him, her stomach knotting a little more. “A tracker?”
He nodded.
She looked to Dane, and seeing his grim look asked, “Any idea when they put it in there?”
Dane shrugged. “I was about to ask you that question.”
“I have no idea. There’s been no time since I arrived, but if it was done at home, then…” she looked down at the phone in her hand. “Or at work…”
She closed her eyes. “Damn. I wonder how long this has been going on.” Then she remembered the email from just before the barrage on the plane.
“They sent me an image of a dead man. And my locket on his chest.” She opened her email on her cell phone and showed it to them. “Supposed to have come from Michaels.”
Dane took it from her and nodded. He handed it off to Shadow. “He was the shooter from an assignation. A company man. I wouldn’t worry about these right now. You need to focus on getting better. It’s all good.”
She nodded but wasn’t sure she believed him. “Promise…no, you can’t.” Just because she wanted it didn’t mean it was fair to ask him.
“Promise what?” He leaned forward. “That you’ll get home safe and sound? I’ll do my best. Promise that you’ll survive this? I’ll do my best.”
“No,” she said, her voice barely audible and on the next breath asked what she really wanted to know. “Promise you won’t leave me alo
ne?”
His head lowered right to hers, she could feel his breath, the heat of his body. The surprise, yet not shocked, response to her request.
And he whispered against her ear. “I’ll do my best.”
And that had to be good enough. A SEALs best was damned good. She’d heard the stories of Hell Week and BUD/S training and all the over the top stories portrayed in the news about the almost secret organization that no one ever really talked about. But she was here in the middle of the team. She should be safe.
And she would be safe.
As long as Dane didn’t leave her.
With that promise, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Just before going under, she felt something so soft so tender she knew she had to have imagined it, but she’d have sworn he’d kissed her.
*
DANE STEPPED BACK, his frown deepening as he studied Marielle’s lack of color.
“She’s going to be fine,” the old doctor said to him.
He turned to stare at her. “How can you be sure?”
“I’ve been looking after people for a long time,” she said. “Sure, I’ve lost a few over the years, but she won’t be one of them. You’ll need to keep an eye on her, of course, but in another day or two she’ll be as right as rain.”
He studied her closely, wondering if she was as full of crap as she sounded or was she seriously going on instinct and over fifty years of experience when she diagnosed Marielle’s condition. They didn’t have much choice in the matter. They had brought her to look at Marielle and she’d done that.
They might have to still rush Marielle to the closest hospital in the night, however, in the meantime, she could rest here with all of them hovering over her. They needed to fly out as soon as possible for her sake, but their mission wasn’t over and that was major. So…this was the compromise.
He watched Mason escort the doctor out of the room. Half the team was either on guard or tracking their suspects. Shadow was on the computer tracking down the money. Someone had to know something somewhere. And that included finding out who the two dead guys from the airport were, and who they worked for. They had new strings to pull. He wanted to do something, but right now it was his turn to watch Marielle.
Dane turned to stare at her, checking on her breathing. She slept soundly. Deep. Maybe too deep. Worried, he leaned over and checked her breathing. No change since the doctor had checked her over. He was just being paranoid.
“How is she?” Mason asked. “Any change?”
“No. She’s still the same.”
Mason handed him a laptop. “Might as well do something useful.”
“Anyone sleeping,” he asked, knowing they had to grab rest where they could.
“No. They all want revenge for our pilot. The falling out of thieves has given us two major threads to yank, so let’s make good use of that opportunity.”
Happily, Dane shuffled to the bottom of the bed where Marielle slept and got to work.
At least he had something he could do.
Chapter 13
SHE’D SPENT A lot of time in bed since meeting Dane. That was the first thought in her mind when she woke. And a lot of time fully dressed in bed. Alone. How disheartening. She glanced around to find Mason working on the laptop, Swede sitting in the corner with his head resting on his folded arms. Her gaze lit on Dane next. And she smiled. He sat head back against the wall at the foot of her bed. His eyes closed. She bet if she moved, he’d wake up in a flash. Nothing got past him.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, opening his eyes to stare at her. “Better?”
She offered him a sleepy smile. “Much better. You don’t look like you got any sleep last night though.”
He shrugged, his gaze never leaving her face as he carefully catalogued the change in her condition. She loved that careful attention to detail. And couldn’t help but wonder if that was going to be the same attention he brought to bed? She’d love to find out. However, considering there were another half dozen men in the room with them, she didn’t think they’d ever find time alone for private moments.
And there was probably a rule against it while on a mission or some such thing. She yawned, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
“Still tired,” Dane asked, frowning.
“No, not bad. Just waking up. And…” she struggled to sit up, hating the weakness in her limbs. “Waking up also means needing to go to the bathroom.” Feeling embarrassed, yet knowing she had no option but to get up and go, she swung her legs over the side and sat up.
The room didn’t sway. Her eyes didn’t see stars. In fact, she was feeling pretty decent. Now the real test.
She made it upright, swayed slightly, righted herself as she saw Dane hop to his feet in case she needed him, and carefully made her way to the bathroom.
She could hear the men’s voices after she shut the door but not the actual conversation. She used the facilities and washed her hands. After trying to straighten her hair in the mirror, she opened the door again to find Dane waiting for her.
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Now back to bed with you.”
With him watching her progress, she returned to the bed and sat down with her back against the headboard and her legs stretched out.
“You don’t want to sleep some more?”
“No. This is good.” She wanted to tell him to stop worrying but didn’t think it would make any difference. “I know I was throwing up before, but right now my stomach is empty.” Then she remembered the phone. “What did you find out about those men?”
Dane glanced at the others, then said in low tones, “Both were mercenaries. Neither will be missed.”
That confirmed a question she hadn’t wanted to ask about the fate of the man who’d dragged her across the tarmac. Apparently they’d killed him. Then again he hadn’t given them much choice. “And have we tracked who they worked for. Or who paid them to kidnap me? Or are we assuming it’s the same company as the one Michaels worked for? He wouldn’t share that name, by the way.”
“Can’t assume anything, but we tracked him to Germany. He worked for Tenesco, then ChemTech and disappeared under the radar for a while but recently popped up on Hyack’s payroll so that’s the assumption we’re going on right now.”
“Right.” She wiggled to get comfortable. “Any chance of food?” she asked hopefully. “Can we go out for a meal?”
Dane shook his head. “No, but we have some here. We’re keeping a low profile.”
Right. So no restaurants. She wondered what that meant in this case. Army rations. She was hungry enough that might work, but she wasn’t sure her stomach would agree with it.
Dane got up and headed to the small kitchenette area. There was some kind of coffee machine with a glass carafe. She smiled. Those supposedly made the best coffee of all.
He put on the kettle and opened a small fridge tucked in the cupboard below. He brought out a selection of meat and cheeses and cut several thick slabs of bread for the meal. This was her kind of meal. Now if they were on a river’s edge or a mountain path with a beautiful view, she’d consider this a wonderful picnic. Sequestered inside the hotel room with men sprawled like relaxed lions all around her was a surreal setting.
A nice one. Not that the men considered her anything but a witness, maybe a victim to be looked after. And was that because they were concerned for her so she didn’t end up in the enemies hands or so she was available to hand the information over to her government?
Still it was tough to consider them as friends when she didn’t know them. Yet…inside she knew them. Honorable and caring at the most surprising of moments. From several of them, she’d definitely seen a male speculation. But from others there was a complete lack of interest. She’d noticed it in Mason the most. As if he was the most settled. And Hawk but she’d not been around him much. She glanced over at Swede. The big man had to be uncomfortable as he took up a large portion of the hotel room floor sleeping.
Sh
adow, on the other hand, was hunched over the computer so intent on what he was doing, she couldn’t imagine he’d even recognize where he was.
He was well named.
Blending into his surroundings, so focused on being where he was at the moment, he was taken for granted.
Odd in a way.
She reached for a piece of sausage, only to have the same piece snatched out from under her fingers by Dane.
She gave him a mocking glare. “That was my piece.”
“Too late. Around here, if you’re slow you lose out.”
Swede came off the floor in a smoothly coiled motion. “Did you say food? You’ve been eating and didn’t tell anyone,” he accused, walking over to observe his culinary choices.
Dane smirked. “Damn right. I wanted some myself. Not lose it all to you.”
Swede brought over another plate full of food and sat down on the side of the bed. Between the three of them, she realized she felt safe. Happy. Content.
Then she spied Masters’ cage. “Oh my God, I forgot about the poor cat.”
Dane snorted. “No one was allowed to forget about the cat.” He pointed at Shadow, and she saw what she’d missed the first time. Masters was sprawled across Shadow’s legs. Sleeping.
“Wow, it didn’t take him long to settle in.”
“That’s because Shadow is half animal,” Swede said with a straight face.
Shadow snorted. “Not likely. I’m all animal.”
The others grinned.
“And yet no one offered you any of our lunch.” She lifted her plate in Shadow’s direction. “Please, come. I have lots.”
His head shifted and he slashed his glance at her and the pieces of sausage and cheese still on her plate.
He grinned. “You aren’t bigger than a cream puff. You’d better finish that so you can grow. Me, on the other hand, will go over and clean up the last of the food as soon as I set this search up.” He pounded the keys several more times. “There.”
He got up, carrying Masters who didn’t say a word. He just watched as he was carried over and laid down on the bed close to Marielle, then scratched by all hands close enough.