Carys smiled and pressed her face into Adam’s neck. “You’re such a good boy, I love you so much.”
“You sure did a number on this diaper, didn’t you?” Cullen grimaced. Who would have thought this mission would have called for him to be changing diapers with psychedelic African patterns? Carys had used the children’s bedspread to make up additional diapers for the trip. Cullen used some of the precious water to ensure that Adam was thoroughly cleaned up.
He missed Pampers and Wet-Ones, he just thanked his lucky stars that there were two safety pins to use. He carefully pinned the cloth. He wished Carys, with her small, delicate fingers, was performing the task, but she was caring for Shada.
He put his face close to Adam’s, watching as the little guy attempted to focus. “You ready to get going again? We’re going on an adventure, but first, we must call one of your uncles. What do you think, will Uncle Raiden answer this time?”
He picked him up and rocked him in the crook of his arm like a football as he pulled out his satellite phone.
“We have a big problem,” without any preamble.
“What?”
“I have one traumatized little girl.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cullen’s blood pressure rose. “You better not be talking about Aamira or Leila.”
“It’s Leila,” Raiden confirmed. “A man dressed as an orderly at the hospital was caught trying to take her. He got as far as the parking lot before one of the nurses raised enough of a commotion that we got her. It turns out that he was working with the rebel forces.”
“I don’t get it, why in the hell would they be interested in Leila?”
“She said that her dad was a rebel soldier, but when Kane and I got her to describe his uniform, we realized that he’s not just a foot soldier, he’s a fucking major. We’ve got a real problem. He’s going to be after his family.”
“What about his wife? Does he know that she’s not at the hospital in Khartoum?”
“Yeah, Leila told the phony orderly that she was left behind with you and Carys. Now that they know we’re going to be protecting the kids here, I don’t think they’re going to make another attempt. But you? Yeah, they’re going to be coming after you with guns blazing.”
“Fuck! Carys was already on their most wanted list, this just makes the stakes that much higher.”
“The good news is that maybe they’ll try to take you alive.”
Cullen thought about Carys’ dream and shuddered. She wouldn’t think alive was better if he had to guess.
“They’re not going to get a shot at Carys or Shada.” Cullen’s voice was deadly. Adam started crying. It had to have been Cullen’s harsh words. Cullen shoved the phone up between his ear and shoulder, then started to stroke his finger down the baby’s forehead to the tip of his nose again and again. Then the little stinker opened his mouth like a fish.
“Are you listening?”
Cullen didn’t trust that his finger was clean enough, so he just kept stroking the little boy’s face.
“I’m listening. I’m listening. How long ago was this?”
“Only two hours ago,” Raiden said. “It would take three and a half to get to their house. How far have you gotten from there? You’ve been driving for five or six hours now, right?”
“Shit, Raiden, we’ve only gotten twenty kilometers, tops. We’ve had to go slow so that Shada’s incision doesn’t open up.”
“Hold on.”
There was a hell of a long pause. Cullen peeked around the bed of the truck and saw that both doors of the back passenger seat were closed. Carys must be done administering to Shada. He didn’t find her in the front seat, where had she gone?
He opened his mouth to call for her, then shut it. He’d just gotten the little guy calmed down. He saw her footprints in the red clay. She’d gone deeper into the trees. Maybe it was a call of nature. He’d give her sixty seconds, then he was tracking her pretty ass down.
He said the numbers out loud in a sing-song voice, figuring it would continue to soothe the little guy since he was still puckering up like he needed food. When he said number fifty-eight, Carys came out of the trees no longer wearing her tan hijab.
“You’re this close to being court-martialed,” Cullen said as he held his fingers close together.
“What’s the charge?”
“You’re out of uniform and you were missing in action.”
She held up the long robe. “I rinsed out the baby pee. The smell was going to end up suffocating us as the day heats up even more, and I needed a potty break myself. Am I still in trouble?”
“Yes,” he said seriously. “Let me know when you’re going to leave.”
“You were on the phone, I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Carys, you interrupt. Never walk off without informing me. I’ll give you the same courtesy. Our situation is too volatile.” He said it all with a smile in his voice, but he could see that Carys got the fact that he wasn’t a happy camper.
She bit her lip and nodded. “You got it. I would definitely feel the same way in your position. I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
Cullen shook his head. “Shit, with everything you’ve been through, you’ve been wonderful. I didn’t mean to be an ass.”
Carys grinned and the dimple he was so fond of peeped out on her right cheek. “Uhm, something tells me if you weren’t holding a baby I would have gotten royally chewed out, you were fine.”
He shrugged in agreement. “Speaking of babies, this one is going to start crying for his bottle pretty soon.”
“We need some way to heat up the water for the formula.”
“Since we’re dealing with a glass bottle and a twenty-year-old vehicle, we can work this out. Let’s get a move on. Then you can tell me how our patient is doing.”
She sighed. “Is there any way we can wait just a little longer so she can rest more?”
“No. We have issues. Get into the truck and I’ll show you how we’re going to warm up Bubba’s bottle.”
“What kind of issues?” she turned toward the truck. She was fast, she had the bottle at the ready and her arms out to receive Adam by the time he got to her side of the vehicle.
“Hop in and I’ll tell you.”
9
“Clever,” Carys said when Cullen handed her the cigarette lighter. “I forgot cars had these.” It was awkward to hold it underneath the glass bottle and hold onto Adam, but she managed it. After the water was heated, she put in the powder and shook up the mixture.
Finally, as if he knew his dinner was close, he let out a lusty cry.
“My baby,” Shada said weakly from the back. “What is wrong?”
“He’s just hungry,” Cullen assured her in Arabic. “Dr. Adams is getting his bottle ready right now. How are you feeling, ma’am?”
“I’m fine, sir.”
Carys heard the fear and deference in Shada’s voice and she was torn between sorrow and anger. But before she could follow that bunny trail of emotion, Adam’s squalls got louder, demanding all her attention.
“Please, Doctor, I am better, may I hold my son?”
Carys closed her eyes. Shada wasn’t doing better. She needed to rest. Carys had administered another small dose of painkiller, but she heard the longing in the woman’s voice, and what’s more, she knew that the bonding between mother and child was extremely important.
“Yes, Shada. Let me make sure his formula isn’t too hot.” She needed to do one thing at a time. She looked over at Cullen. She was so tired—she couldn’t understand how he was holding up as well as he was. As if he could feel her eyes on him, he glanced over at her.
“Is it cool enough now?”
Shoot, she hadn’t been paying attention. She tested some milk on the inside of her wrist. It was warm, but not too warm.
“Give the bottle to me,” he said. “I’ll hold it while you give Adam to his mom.”
She nodded and undid her seatbelt and got up on her knees,
leaned over the front seat and placed the baby in Shada’s shaky arms.
“Do you have him? You don’t have to do this.”
Carys hadn’t even finished the sentence before mother and baby were cuddled together. Carys leaned even closer. “Shada, open your robe and let Adam nestle against your chest. It’s good for him to feel your skin and hear your heartbeat, okay?”
She saw the woman’s eyes flicker up to the back of Cullen’s head.
“He is an honorable man, he will not look for the brief moment that it takes you to do this small thing.”
Shada nodded and moved her clothing so that Adam was soon skin to skin. Even before he got his bottle, he immediately settled. Shada’s smile was breathtaking. The bruising on her face was still horrid though. Who would have beat up a woman who was nine-months pregnant? He had to be a monster.
“My son, I am here for you,” Shada murmured as she kissed the top of his head.
Carys thrust her hand toward Cullen and he placed the bottle into it. She handed it to Shada, who then started to feed her hungry baby.
“Carys, sit your cute tushie back down and put on your seatbelt,” Cullen growled in English.
For once, Shada didn’t even flinch at Cullen’s less than soft tone. But he better darn well not pull that again. Carys sat her tushie down and made sure they were on a straightaway. When she felt secure on where they were driving, she hit Cullen in the shoulder.
“What the hell was that for?” he sputtered.
“She gets scared at any man’s angry tone of voice. So, keep it calm.”
“But you are abusing me and acting like a drill sergeant is okay?”
Carys looked over her shoulder. Shada’s eyes were wide with amazement. “I think I’m being a good role model for her.”
“Great, she’s going to think that American men are pussy-whipped,” Cullen sighed. But Carys couldn’t help but notice that he was holding back a grin.
“You promised to tell me why there is a target on our back.”
“Leila’s all right,” he started.
Carys’ throat clenched. She didn’t like how this was starting. She sucked in air in a small sip, then blew it out. He’d said she was fine. That was the important thing.
“Okay. She’s good. Got it. What happened?”
“One of the rebel forces got to her. Raiden figured out that her dad is high up with the rebels. Somehow, they got word that his family was taken to the hospital by Americans. They tried to take her, but a nurse caused an uproar, so Leila got away, but not before she gave him some information about us.”
“How high up?”
“All Leila could do was describe his uniform and tell my team how people referred to him. By the sounds of it, he’s the right hand to the colonel of the rebel Rapid Support Forces. That’s the man who used to report up to one of the many generals that have been in power. Who knows which one that is these days. The colonel is still out there coordinating things.”
“What’s the father’s name?”
“Kafeel Mubarek. He and the Colonel are both wanted for war crimes. It’s bad stuff, Carys.”
“Hell, all I have to do is look at what he’s done to his wife and children to know what the bastard is capable of,” she said bitterly. “How does Raiden think he’ll be able to find us?”
“One good thing is that the RSF isn’t using helos, so we’re good that way. But they have some fast trucks and Jeeps. He expects that they are close to his house now. The one thing we have going for us is that we didn’t go the way they expected. They will have thought that we went the straight way back to Khartoum. Instead, we headed east.”
“And here I’d been thinking you were nuts.”
His head swiveled. “Really?”
She smiled. “No. I figured whatever you were doing must be the right thing. I trust you implicitly to keep us safe.”
“Good, because I’ve got more bad news.” He again glanced over at her, gauging her response. When he saw her nod, Cullen blew out a stream of air through his teeth. “You and your team have been targeted by the RSF—they’re trying to make the new prime minister look bad.”
“How do you know we’ve been targeted? Are you sure?”
He didn’t say anything as he avoided a huge pothole.
“Cullen, are you sure?” They were speaking in English, but her worry must have come through because Shada asked if everything was okay.
“Yes, Shada,” Carys assured her in Arabic. “He’s telling me about some friends. Everything is fine.” She gripped her fingers together until the knuckles were white. “Has something happened?” she asked in English. She kept her voice even.
“Look, I don’t have names, but things got out of hand. I just know that some of the people involved with the Doctors Without Borders contingent have been killed.”
Her hand shot out and she gripped his thigh. Her nails dug in. “How many?”
“Four.” He hesitated. “But two more are missing. The C.I.A. found your name, I’m assuming with some others, on a list that they got from the rebels.”
“I don’t care about that,” Carys tried to keep the tears and anguish out of her voice so as not to upset Shada. “I care about my friends. Were they Americans?”
“I don’t know.”
“You need to stop the truck.”
“No Carys, I really don’t.”
“Yes, you do. I need to get to my phone, and it’s in my backpack in the bed of the truck. I need to find out who was killed. I have to talk to Jamal.”
“You’re not getting it, Carys. Those men we just left behind could have called to someone else. We could still be in the shit. As long as we’re on this road, we are not stopping for any reason.”
Her stomach clenched. Dead was one thing, missing was something else entirely. She didn’t think she could ever handle that again.
As if he read her mind, he picked her hand up off his thigh. “You said you trusted me implicitly, is that true?”
“There are situations that are too much for anyone.”
“Carys, I might have told them that you were the one with the gun, but that was just a diversionary tactic. It was the way to get out of there with the least amount of suspicion. I could have killed them just as easily.”
He squeezed her hand, then she felt his thumb caressing her palm. “Hell, I could have taken them out even more easily than how we handled it,” he grinned. “But all that gunfire would have scared the hell out of Shada, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“There you go. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You can take that to the bank.”
Carys felt herself relax. But she couldn’t stop the tears as she thought about her friends who had died or were missing.
He was not happy. Not happy at all. He had done exactly what Kane had told him and so far they’d passed next to nothing and now he was using one of the precious cans of fuel. It was time for Kane to pull a fucking rabbit out of his ass.
“Do you have me located?” he growled at his friend before he had a chance to greet him on the phone.
“No, I was busy evacuating personnel instead of taking a pleasure drive through the country with a beautiful woman,” Kane gritted out.
What the hell?
“What the hell are you talking about?” Cullen demanded.
“A bomb went off at the embassy. Two marines were killed. We still have over two hundred Americans who haven’t made it out of here, and six are high-value targets.”
“Ah, shit.” Cullen pictured the fresh-faced new Marine recruits excited at their first big assignment. He shut his eyes, then turned it off. “Kane, what went wrong? Does this have anything to do with the medical personnel that were targeted? And why in the hell are high-value targets still there? I thought you and Max would have had that shit shut down and them evac’d out hours after Raiden and I hit the road.”
“Ah, hell, Cullen. The sad part is, I kind of get it.” Kane sounded tired. “They’re a
ll in the state department, including the ambassador who’s been trying to help Prime Minister Hamdok. He just got his country off the terrorist watch list, our people were attempting to show solidarity with his new regime.”
“Dammit, Kane, you’re suckering into the do-gooders. That’s unlike you. Stop it! Knock them over the head and get them the hell out of there.”
In his mind’s eye, he could see Kane raking his hand through his short hair. Sometimes his friend needed to be saved from himself. So did Max for that matter. This was Cullen’s job; if somebody was going right, he’d pull them left. He always played devil’s advocate to keep his friends safe, even if he disagreed with his own thoughts on the situation, because when it came down to it, the only thing that really mattered was keeping his brothers alive. He didn’t give a shit if people thought he was argumentative half the time, he just kept his people safe.
“Cullen, give us some credit, will you? We’re not just following their lead. I was just saying I could understand their position. The real problem is—”
“The airport’s closed.” They said simultaneously.
“Don’t tell me there isn’t a back-up plan. What is it?” Cullen demanded.
“Two Ospreys are being flown in from the carrier that’s parked out in the Red Sea.”
“That will take care of some of the people, what about the rest?”
“Some will go out with the high-value targets, but the rest will go out on a flight from the Khartoum airport to Egypt. The Ospreys will be dropping off thirty pissed-off Marines. They’ll protect the airport.” Cullen heard Kane’s blood-thirsty grin through his satellite phone.
“Okay, now I get why you’re in a shit-ass mood, but now back to what matters, which is my problems.”
Kane laughed, which is the reaction Cullen had been aiming for.
“Yeah, well while you’ve been on the phone, I grabbed the comp, and got your phone signal and zeroed in on your coordinates. I figured you’re low on fuel and I see you’re in the middle of nowhere.”
Her Tempting Protector: Navy SEAL Team (Night Storm Book 2) Page 9