Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Jungle Buck (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Sealed With A Kiss Book 3)

by Margaret Madigan

  She shot her hand out and got hold of it before it disappeared up the tree. Her pulse skittered along, boosted by excitement.

  Groping at her waist for the little box she and April had fashioned to hold one of the salamanders if they managed to catch one, she managed to unclip it one-handed and pass the little amphibian into it.

  She fumbled for her walkie and was just about to depress the button to tell April when she heard a scream from down below and her gut clenched in fear.

  “April?” She squeezed the walkie so tight her fingers went numb. When April didn’t answer she leaned out in her harness to try to see down to the ground through the branches. There was movement down there, but she couldn’t tell what. “April,” she tried again.

  April didn’t respond so Melinda clipped the walkie and the salamander box to her belt and started the trek down the tree. Partway down, her walkie crackled to life, but the male voice she heard made her blood run cold.

  “Doctor Emerson. Your friend is in our custody. If you want to see her alive again, come down from the tree.”

  She stopped her descent and grabbed the walkie. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Your worst nightmare.”

  Melinda rolled her eyes, despite her racing heartbeat. Why did all the bad guys have to be so cliché?

  “I don’t know. I have some pretty bad nightmares,” she spat. “Don’t hurt April. I’m on my way down.”

  “Make it quick.”

  Like she planned to dawdle. The sour taste of fear filled her throat, but anger simmered underneath. She’d assumed being halfway across the planet from Siberia and the Russian mob would keep her safe. They’d never find her in the Amazon. Whoever the guy was down on the ground, he definitely wasn’t Russian, but fate didn’t seem to care what flavor of terror it threw at her.

  As she cleared the branches and made her way down the last twenty-five feet of bare trunk, she got a better look the scene below. Two well-armed men surrounded April, while one stood separate, staring up at her. He must be the genius in charge.

  She finished her descent, and when her feet touched the ground the man approached her, grabbing her upper arm.

  “You’re coming with me, Doctor Emerson.”

  She yanked her arm out of his grasp. “Get your hands off me. Before I go anywhere, I need to get out of my gear.”

  His scowl made her think twice about antagonizing him. Tall, with a dark brown buzz cut, beady brown eyes, and thin lips set in an angry line, he looked more intimidating up close. Of course, the fact that he bristled with guns and knives compensated for the stupidity. The combination of guns and dumb made him more dangerous.

  But when she noticed the name “Norris” embroidered on his camouflage jacket, she fought hard to stifle a snort. He really was a cliché. But a deadly one.

  “Hurry up,” he said.

  “I’m moving as quickly as I can.” She went through the process of detaching all her equipment. “Who are you, anyway?”

  “I’m head of security for Eldridge Logging. I’ve been ordered to find you and bring you back to headquarters.”

  “Why?”

  He made a disgusted sound in his throat then said, “Your boyfriend’s causing trouble. The boss wants you for insurance.”

  “Is your boss Blitz?”

  Confusion slackened Norris’s expression. “Mr. Brian Eldridge is my boss.”

  “Same guy.”

  Now that she’d disentangled herself from the tree, he grabbed her arm again and spun her around, pushing her face against the tree. Before she could protest, he’d locked her hands in cuffs.

  “Okay, ladies, let’s go.”

  Melinda dug in her heels. “No. You don’t need to take April. She has nothing to do with this.”

  “She goes with us if I say so.”

  Melinda took a steadying breath, and tried logic. “Two of us will slow you down. Besides, you can send April back to the village with a message. Does Buck know you’re kidnapping me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then have April send him a message.”

  Norris’s jaw clenched and relaxed as he considered her suggestion. He looked like he liked the idea but didn’t want her to know he liked it. Men like this were all the same—so invested in always being right and always being in control—and the fact that she’d become familiar enough with men like this to understand that about them almost made her laugh.

  “Fine. You,” he said pointing at April. “Go back to the village. Tell the leaders we meant what we said. We’re going to bulldoze their village, and if they don’t get out we’ll bulldoze them too. And tell her asshole boyfriend he better stand down and leave, too, or I’ll personally kill the pretty doctor.” He leaned in and took a long sniff of her hair. Melinda closed her eyes and clenched her teeth until he was done. “Maybe I’ll have a little fun first, though.”

  The hell he would.

  April’s black eyes opened wide with fear, and she swallowed hard. She’d seen firsthand not so long ago what terrorists could do to people she cared about when the Russians first attacked the pharmaceutical company where she and Melinda worked. Watching their coworker shot and having him die in her arms had changed April. It occurred to Melinda that maybe that’s why April pushed Cody away. Was she afraid to get close to anyone again?

  “It’s okay, April. Do as he says.”

  “But what about you?” April asked as the men uncuffed her and shoved her in the general direction of the village. Her eyes filled with tears and her voice trembled. She had to think she’d never see Melinda again.

  “I’ll be fine. Tell Buck I’m fine.”

  At the moment, she was. Adrenaline and anger had her seething so bad she couldn’t see straight. She’d spent a long time wallowing in and suppressing her fear and anger, but now it belched from her gut like a geyser.

  Her attitude might change when she met the guy in charge. Those guys were usually smart, competent, and a lot scarier. In the meantime his lackeys, while loaded down with weapons were light on intelligence. They were trained to take orders.

  April ran to Melinda and hugged her hard. “Stay alive,” she whispered. “We’ll come get you.”

  Tears burned the back of Melinda’s eyes. Despite her fear, April summoned up her courage.

  “I found one of the salamanders. Take the sample box back with you,” she whispered as April hugged her.

  April reached down and yanked the box from Melinda’s belt, then backed away, tears streaming down her face. Finally, she turned and headed into the forest.

  Melinda knew damn well Buck would come for her, and she felt sorry for Blitz and his people when he did. Until then, she’d do her best to make Blitz wish he hadn’t kidnapped her. After all, she had to get back to Buck so she could open up to him. She’d vowed she would, and this time she sure as hell meant to do it.

  As April disappeared through the jungle on her way to the village, Norris took hold of Melinda’s cuffs and propelled her in the opposite direction.

  “How’d you even find me?” Melinda asked. The jungle was huge. It seemed unlikely they just happened onto her.

  “We stopped at the village first. When you weren’t there, we started asking questions.”

  “You better not have hurt anyone.”

  “What’s it to you? Just a bunch of dumb natives.”

  She planted her feet and stopped in her tracks. “What did you do to them?”

  He pulled on the cuffs, trying to drag her backwards, but she refused to budge. He pulled harder, dumping her on her ass.

  Squatting down to her level, he said, “Get the fuck up or I’ll drag you the rest of the way.”

  “What did you do to them?” she repeated.

  “Jesus fucking Christ. We did do anything. Roughed them up a little. Told them to get the hell out. The crazy chief bitch spit on me and the medicine woman shook a rattle and hissed at me, but I delivered the message the boss told me to.”

  “So how’d you find me?�
��

  He grinned. “Your pretty boy helper told me.”

  “He told you?” Melinda couldn’t believe Cody would betray her.

  “I had to convince him, but he it didn’t take much. His face won’t be so pretty for a while. Now get up.”

  Grabbing her cuffs he stood up and yanked, pulled her arms up behind her and contorting her shoulders until they screamed with pain.

  She got up.

  They hiked for a mile or so, by Melinda’s calculations, then broke out of the tree line onto a dirt road cut like a slash through the jungle.

  Norris pushed her toward a nearby Land Rover.

  They drove for a while until they finally entered a large clearing filled with several small trailers, tents, trucks, some large equipment, and men loitering around.

  The driver parked the Land Rover near one of the trailers, and a man stepped out onto the little wooden porch outside the door.

  She knew without asking that this was Blitz. He carried himself like Buck did—with alertness and authority. Unlike Buck, he wore a cynical expression. How Buck couldn’t have seen that about him, she had no idea.

  “Welcome to my field headquarters,” he said as Norris hauled Melinda out of the vehicle.

  She twisted to present her cuffed hands to him. “Not much of a welcome.”

  “Precaution, I’m sure,” Blitz said.

  Norris shoved Melinda toward the steps and up to meet Blitz.

  “Did she give you any trouble, Norris?” Blitz asked, ignoring her as unimportant.

  “Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He actually puffed his chest. The beta always seeking approval from the alpha.

  “Good job. Now, Doctor, how about you come in and we’ll have a chat,” Blitz said.

  He wore a bandage and sling on his shoulder, and Melinda wondered if Buck had done that to him. She hoped so.

  Inside, the trailer was tiny. A desk, kitchenette, and bedroom in the back filled the space. A disturbing number of bullet holes in the floor added to the threatening ambiance.

  “Will you remove these, please?” she asked. “I’m not really a threat to you.”

  “Probably not. But I’m not stupid, so I’ll err on the side of caution. You stay in the cuffs.”

  Melinda sat in the chair opposite the desk, her shoulders strained as she tried not to sit on her own hands.

  “Why am I here?” she asked.

  “Insurance. McCormick is stubborn. He still buys into the whole hero complex of the SEALs and the military in general. You’ll guarantee he behaves and allows us to get the job done.”

  “You really don’t see the error in that logic, do you?”

  “He’ll do as he’s told if he wants you back in one piece.”

  He said it with such nonchalance she believed him. It wasn’t a boast or a threat. He didn’t spit the words in anger or with glassy-eyed zeal. He just said it like he meant it, like announcing he planned to have chicken for dinner.

  “And if he continues to be stubborn and heroic and comes after me?”

  “I’ll give you back to him one piece at a time.”

  Her anger stuttered and fear surged full throttle. Buck would definitely come for her, and Blitz had to know that. Why would he want to hurt Buck like that? Carving Melinda up had nothing to do with her. He’d never even met her, and although her research stood in his way, that was really just an inconvenience he’d already dealt with. But hurting her would crush Buck. Why did he want to do that?

  “Why?” she asked.

  “I’m good at understanding people’s weaknesses. Buck is easy to read. He’s a classic hero. Brave, principled, willing to sacrifice anything to save people and preserve freedom and democracy. It’s actually kind of boring and I’m embarrassed to say I used to be just like him. My life got a lot better when I let all that go.”

  “So now you’re okay with casual killing and dismemberment?”

  He chuckled. “I see why Buck likes you. You have spunk”

  “Sarcasm is a new defense mechanism.” As she said it she realized the truth in it. She really should just shut up. Her insides quaked, and she felt like she might puke. While Norris was just a douchebag following orders, this guy gave the orders and although something had obviously broken inside him, he wasn’t a fanatic. He was just a man with the power to do as he pleased, and he was used to getting what he wanted. In a lot of ways he reminded her of Mikhail Abramovich, the Russian mobster she’d dealt with in Siberia. “You’re not the first terrorist asshole to kidnap me.”

  “I’m not a terrorist, Doctor. I’m a businessman just trying to do my job. You’re the security that will allow that to happen.”

  She wanted to ask him if he really believed that. Was he so used to everyone doing what he told them that he assumed Buck would too? But pointing out that Buck would never just leave her in Blitz’s hands might make him rethink all the ways it could go wrong and adjust for those possibilities. She didn’t want him to do that.

  “If the villagers and Buck leave so you can log the area, you’ll let me go?”

  “I’m a man of my word. Of course I will.”

  She had another question, but she almost didn’t want to ask it for fear of the answer. “What will you do with me until then?”

  Images of all the possibilities played in her head. As the only woman in a camp full of men, some of the images were far worse than dismemberment. But Blitz didn’t strike her as the rapey type. Not that she knew him well enough to be sure.

  “You’ll be my guest. If Buck doesn’t behave, you’ll be a tool to send him a message. While we wait to see what he does, we’ll continue our logging, moving forward into the contracted areas.”

  He stood and rounded the desk, gesturing for her to follow him to the door. Her mouth went dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. She swallowed a couple of times to try to wet it, and raced through all the self-defense she’d ever learned. Not even her previous experiences in captivity helped with this situation.

  “Come on,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “Says the man who threatened to dismember me.”

  He held up a clarifying finger. “Only if Buck doesn’t behave. I take no joy in it, but sometimes extreme measures are necessary.”

  “It’s just business,” she said, standing. Despite her thundering pulse, she faced him. He stood inches taller than her, but she looked him in the eye.

  He nodded. “It is.”

  Outside, she followed him to some piece of heavy equipment parked in the middle of the clearing. Several men with weapons watched their progress.

  “Turn around,” he said.

  She paused for just a moment, but really, what was the point of defying him? So she turned.

  He unlocked the cuffs then threaded them through a piston on the machine and relocked them in front of her.

  “This is just to keep you secure, and so we can all keep an eye on you.”

  He actually patted her on the shoulder and smiled.

  “You’re just going to leave me here? Alone? All night?”

  “You won’t be alone. My men will be nearby.”

  Blitz turned and took a couple of steps toward the trailer.

  “You want him to come back, don’t you?” Melinda asked. She didn’t know where the question came from. It just popped out.

  He turned back to her, a smirk on his face. “Like I said, he’s easy to read. Of course he’ll come for you. Either way, he’ll be out of my way. Whether he leaves as he’s told, or comes here for you, he won’t be where I’m logging.”

  “That’s not what I asked. You want him to come back. Why?”

  His smug, aloof mask slipped for a moment and Melinda got a peek at the festering resentment underneath. His eyes turned hard as stone, and his mouth fell into the kind of glower that turned her blood to ice in her veins. Talk about a man with anger issues. Holy shit.

  “That, Doctor Emerson, is between me and Buck McCormick.”

  She couldn�
�t find her voice in the face of that kind of bitter animosity, so she just nodded. Suddenly her urge for sarcasm disappeared amid a new respect for the power some people were capable of wielding.

  CHAPTER 8

  Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. The words ran on a continuous, rhythmic loop in Buck’s head as he ran back to the village. That they hadn’t pursued him worried him even more than if they had. Why wouldn’t they follow him? Was it like an angry guard dog chasing an intruder out of his territory then losing interest and returning home?

  The answer came to him as he followed the footpath into the village: They expected him to come back.

  Which, of course, he would, assuming they’d got to Mindy first.

  Please let Mindy be in the lab.

  The village was in chaos. People scurried in and out of houses loading bundles and packs on their backs, or stacking them on small carts or travois. Some had bows and quivers full of arrows hanging across their shoulders.

  He headed for the lab, but he was only a few steps in that direction before he heard April’s breathless voice behind him, calling his name.

  She ran between a couple of houses, then stopped in her tracks and rested one hand on her knee, wheezing. In the other hand, she held what looked like a little takeout box.

  He went to her and knelt down. “Are you okay, April? What happened? Where’s Mindy?”

  “They…took…her…” April panted for breath between the words.

  “Goddammit.”

  “They said to tell the elders they’d be bulldozing the village whether people were here or not.”

  “What about Mindy?”

  “They took her for insurance that you leave, too. They’ll kill her if you don’t.”

  She stood and the worry in her eyes made him tired. April and Cody and Mindy weren’t trained for this kind of thing, and it scared them. They didn’t deserve to be scared.

  “Did they say when they’d be logging the area? It’s a couple of miles between here and there. It’ll take them a while to cut through that to get here, even if they started immediately. So we have some time.”