Finding Dani (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 3) (6 page)

After the rebels did their final sweep, the village was empty. And still he waited at least thirty minutes before leaving the cover of the dense jungle. There was no one to witness it as he crept forward, darting into the tents to grab items he knew to be valuable. Still, he was careful, keeping to the waning shadows as the sun started to go down. And when he had what he wanted, he wrapped some cloth around a long stick and lit it on fire.

This can’t be helped, he told himself. The village elders would rebuild, like they always did when tragedy struck. Anuma began to set the tents on fire, the embers flying high. That was when he heard the unmistakable thump, thump of the helicopter blades.

The chopper came in fast and low and was the same one from their rescue. He stood frozen, flaming torch still in hand as it passed by. The glare of the sun obscured his vision of the pilot and co-pilot, but the five men with guns in the back were pretty clear.

He dropped the torch and ran, the satchel around his back bouncing with every movement.

How did they know?
It was too soon. He couldn’t get caught yet.

Not yet.

***

“Was that—?”

Dani’s hands gripped the belt strapping her in as she leaned as close to the window as she could. Her face was almost pressed against the glass. “Anuma? Yes, it was,” she answered.

Damon swung them around and turned toward the now burning village. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“Good question. But I want to know why he’s burning the village down. Can we land?”

“Yeah, I saw a flat spot close by.”

When they landed, the five Marines in the back jumped out with weapons ready. They fanned out and took point, while Dani followed. Damon stayed close, one hand resting lightly on her back and the other holding his gun. He was protecting their backsides.

“What do you know about your guide?”

Dani shook her head. “Not much when I really think about it. He was cleared through the CDC and the local government and he’s been on several assignments with different teams in Ghana.”

“What about personally? Where’s he from?”

The heat of the fire was reaching them, heating Dani’s face and making them all sweat. “He’s from Sierra Leone and he speaks French, English, and Swahili. All fluently. He doesn’t talk a lot, but he likes Travis. They do the majority of contact tracing for us, so they are together fairly often. Maybe he’d know more.”

Damon pulled her to a stop at the edge of the burned village. The tents and structures of the village burned fast so that in the short walk, there was nothing left but burning piles. The smoke was a dark cloud and the acrid smell of what was left burned her nose.

Anuma was nowhere to be seen.

“I just don’t understand,” she said, staring at the devastation.

“And maybe you never will. For now, let’s see if we can salvage anything from your tent and get back to base. Lead the way.”

Dani admired the way Damon could focus on only what was important at the moment, whereas she had been so overwhelmed with questions and sadness that she’d felt rooted to the spot, unable to go forward or back.

“It’s on the other side, near the temporary hospital tent.”

Damon turned her toward him, holding out a bandana. “Put this over your nose and mouth; it’ll help with the smoke.”

“Okay,” she mumbled.

“We’ll figure it out, Dani. I promise.”

She looked into his light topaz eyes and immediately felt safe. He would take care of it, because she couldn’t. It wasn’t something she understood. Dani worked to save people, to make their lives better. Not destroy them. Or destroy their way of lives. How could Anuma do something like this?

She took a deep breath through the bandana, finding that the smoke wasn’t as bad with that filter on. Then she nodded and led the way through the burning piles, picking her way around fallen structures and burning clothing.

The tent she’d shared with Hailey and Claire was a bit further away from the others and was where she’d seen Anuma standing before they’d landed. He’d dropped the torch, probably hoping it would light up as well, but only one side of the structure had burned completely. The rest was smoldering.

Dani ducked inside before Damon could stop her and searched for her bag of samples that she’d kept under her cot. It wasn’t there.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Damon said, right before the iron bar that was his arm snaked around her waist. She was pulled up and back against him as he got them out of the tent.

There was a popping noise and then the whole thing fell over sideways. Small flames grew into larger ones as fire began to consume the spot she’d just been standing in.
 

“I’m sorry; I didn’t realize—”

“That the whole damn thing was about to come down on your head?”

Dani turned in his arms, trying to take a step back, but he wasn’t going for it. “Thank you for pulling me out.”

Damon pulled on her braid, forcing her face up to his, and her breath caught because she thought he might kiss her. It was a silly whim, but she wished he would. Her heart was beating faster from the near miss with the collapse. It couldn’t be because her body was flush against his, feeling all that hard, hot flesh against her softer body.

“Do not do that again.”

His tone was hard and he emphasized every word. And only once did his eyes stray from hers. But when they did, they focused on her lips and made them tingle.

“Want us to chase the fire bug, Shadow?”

The lance corporal’s voice cut into the moment, but Dani was glad it broke the spell. Damon let go of her and she moved away to steady herself. She tuned out the conversation, turning her mind instead to her missing bag and the mystery of why a good man would set fire to an entire village.

Chapter 7

“How did it go at the village?” Claire asked, as Dani sat down with a plate of food.

They were in the mess tent where soldiers and medical staff filed in and out, eating and socializing. The food was unimaginative, but it was hot and tasted decent. It was lunch time and she was hungry, having slept through breakfast. It had been a long and depressing flight back from Ghana.

“How does everyone know where we went?” Claire was the second person to ask that since she’d picked up her food.

Claire rolled her eyes. “How do you think?”

“Hailey?” It was a guess, but Hailey tended to know more than she should in any given situation.

“Yep.” Claire poked at the brown mass on her plate. “She used those baby blues to weasel the info out of a horny radio operator.” She stabbed at the food again. “What
is
this?”

“That is military meatloaf,” Damon said, sitting down across from the two women.

“It’s almost un-edible in the hands of a less talented cook,” Gunner continued, sitting down beside Damon.

“Is it really meatloaf?” Claire asked.

“No one actually knows,” Gunner said, winking at her. “But you can live on it.”

“Where’s the rest of the team?” Damon asked.

Dani saw the slow scan of the crowd that he did, looking for the rest of her crew. She’d looked herself and didn’t see Travis, Hailey, or Martin. And who knew where Anuma had taken off to? He’d disappeared so thoroughly that the soldiers had lost his trail at the edge of the jungle.

“I haven’t seen anyone but Claire since we landed,” she said.

Claire’s nose scrunched as she sniffed the white lump that looked like mashed potatoes. She took an experimental bite before saying, “Travis is sulking in his tent. I saw him leaving as I was coming in for food.”

“What’s he upset about?” Dani asked. She was steadily eating for the fuel, and it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

“He doesn’t like not knowing where you went. And, if you ask me, he’s jealous,” Claire said.

“Someone has a bit of unrequited love, huh?” Gunner grinned at Dani.

His plate was already clear, as was Damon’s. They didn’t waste any time on the meal either. Damon leaned forward on his elbows, fixed on the conversation. His hair swept forward over his forehead and Dani had the ridiculous urge to reach over and push it back. His hair was longer than normal, but he’d always been the rebellious one of his family. At least, that’s what Gabriel always said. She thought that maybe he was a bit envious of his wilder brother.

“Who even says that—” Claire laughed, “—unrequited?”

Damon grinned and said, “Well—”

Gunner shoved him, “Don’t do it.”

“He reads Victorian romance novels when he’s bored.”

Dani stared at the man, who now had a faint redness around his ears. Gunner Halverson, she knew, was a man of many talents. He was wealthy from inheritance as well as from his own inventions, had a doctorate from M.I.T., and regularly consulted on top secret government problems. The nature of those, well, no one really knew about except for a few key people very high up in the pecking order.

And, on top of it all, he was drop dead gorgeous.

“Wait, you read romance novels?” Claire asked. Then covered her mouth as she laughed. “You
so
do not look the type.”

Damon continued ruthlessly, “And paranormal romance.”

Dani bit her lip to keep the laughter inside. It felt good to smile about something, and Gunner’s rapidly darkening complexion was becoming hilarious. She cleared her throat before saying, “I think it’s nice that you read widely.”

Gunner elbowed Damon. “He reads the same books.”

Damon grinned, not the least bit embarrassed. “I only read books by Elizabeth Richardson, and only because Zach makes me.”

Claire gasped. “I love her books.” She turned and looked at Dani. “She’s the one I told you about that writes that psychic detective series. I have all seven of those books and am rabidly waiting on book eight.”

“Yeah, well, our buddy Zach is married to her, and he makes us buy every single one.” Gunner’s face was still pink around the cheeks.

Damon shrugged, “They’re great books.”

“True, but knowing the main character is based on Zach makes reading the sex scenes just awkward,” Gunner said.

Dani laughed out loud this time, imagining these two tough guys reading some steamy romance love scene while trying not to imagine their friend. She envied them that closeness, that willingness to buy a book in support of their friend’s wife, and even read it. She only had that with Claire, and only because they’d been on so many assignments together.

Through the mesh of the tent entrance, Dani saw Travis walk by. She wanted to catch him and find out what was going on with him. Maybe get a feel for where his head was at. She stood up and grabbed her tray.

“I’m sorry to leave abruptly, but there’s someone I need to speak to.”

Damon stood. “I’ll come with you.”

Dani shook her head and motioned for him to sit back down. “This is something I need to do alone.” She could tell he didn’t like that answer, but he reluctantly sat back down.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep these two occupied for you, Dani.” Claire winked at her and nodded toward the door.

She’d obviously seen Travis as well and knew Dani wanted to talk to him. Walking toward the front, she dumped her tray off and headed outside. She caught sight of Travis as he rounded the corner, a towel thrown over his shoulder and his shower bag in one hand. She wanted to catch him before he got to the showers.

***

“Hey, Travis, wait up.”

He stopped at the sound of her voice. Hers was a bit low for a woman, rich and smoky, and it had followed him into more than one of his more erotic dreams about her. He’d stopped in the shadows and waited for her to catch up to him.

“I’ve been looking for you,” she said.

If only. “Well, you found me. What’s up?”

She reached out and touched his arm. The same way Hailey had hours before, only this time, his body lit up in a way that it only did when Dani touched him. Oh, he knew Hailey had a thing for him, but that would pass. She got infatuated with any guy she was in contact with for more than a couple of hours. She was a kid. Dani was a woman.

A woman he’d been patient with, hoping she’d finally see him as a man. Not a co-worker.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You haven’t seemed like yourself lately, and with everything that’s happened, I wanted to touch base with you and make sure you were alright.”

She removed her hand as casually as she’d touched him, and he missed the warmth she left behind. Dani rarely touched anyone, so he took that as a good sign.

“Actually, I’m worried about you.”

She looked surprised. “I’m fine.”

“Are you? Taking off with that Damon guy isn’t safe, Dani.”

Waving her hand in a dismissive gesture, she said, “He’s a safe pilot. And we had five of the military guys with us as an escort. Perfectly safe.”

Travis ran a hand through his hair. It was frustrating trying to talk to Dani about anything except work. That was the only thing she wasn’t closed up about. “I’m not talking about flying back to the damn village, Dani. Even though that wasn’t a good idea; I’m talking about Damon himself. He’s not safe.”