No Turning Back (28 page)

Oh God, too much. She couldn't bear it.

“Ben... ” It came out a strangled whimper, loud in the charged silence.

“Mmm... Good?”

His deep murmur, on top of everything he was doing, made her eyes roll to the back of her head. Her whole body shivered, the orgasm already building, sensations growing more intense with each shallow thrust. He still wouldn't speed up.

Mindless, she grabbed his thick forearm. His corded muscles moved under her fingers as he caressed her. “God, Ben, please... ”

With a low purr, he pressed his hips and belly tighter to her, then thrust a little deeper before pulling almost out. Again. Again. Four... five... six times. Her thighs started shaking, her body straining to clamp down around the hard length stealing inside her, needing the release he was making her work so hard for.

He wouldn't give it to her, though, just kept up with the gentle, shallow thrusts and the caressing until she ground the back of her head against his collarbone with a feral cry. The nipple he was tormenting sent streamers of sensation down to where he was touching between her legs and moving inside her. Erotic overload hit. The orgasm hovered maddeningly just out of reach, and she jerked her hips in desperation, biting down on her lips to keep the scream of pleasure in her throat.

Ben's mouth found another sensitive spot on her neck and sucked gently. “Shh. Enjoy, sweetheart.” He picked up his rhythm, thrust faster until his strokes became a continual barrage of erotic friction. His touch on her breast and between her thighs remained slow and steady. Too much. Clapping her hand over her mouth to stifle her scream, the orgasm slammed into her, making her come so hard her eyes teared up. As the pulses tore through her, Ben moaned against the side of her neck and shoved deep, sending her up on another wave as he joined her with a deep growl, his arms locking around her.

Crashing back to earth, her head hit the bedroll like it weighed as much as a boulder. She was panting, sweating, gasping for air, too weak to even open her eyes. Behind her, Ben's sigh of deep satisfaction had a weary smile stretching her lips. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and withdrew from inside her, but kept her cradled tight against him as he wrapped her back up in his arms. Strong, protective and caring arms, even if he didn't love her.

“Go back to sleep,” he murmured drowsily.

Too exhausted not to, she dropped her heavy lids and let sleep wash over her in a dark wave.

When Sam awoke next, Ben was gone and the cave was quiet. Since the light slanted in through the flap from high above her, it had to be close to noon. How had she slept so late? Swearing, she whipped back the top of the sleeping bag and grabbed her boots, turning them over and banging them in case any spiders or scorpions had somehow found their way inside. She shoved them on her feet, yanked her hair back into a ponytail, and stumbled from the tent, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The air had a nip to it. The sky was clouding over, thin veils trying to obscure the sun. She glanced around. The site was empty. Why hadn't anyone woken her?

As she rushed out of the cave, she spotted a piece of paper wedged under a rock and a thermos sitting next to it. She sighed.
Ben...
She turned the note over.

Hey sleeping beauty. Guess I must have worn you out. Have some tea, then drag your lazy butt over to the CP so we can get some work done.

Suppressing a grin, she uncapped the thermos and poured herself a cup of the steaming tea, touched by his thoughtfulness. She drank two cupfuls and wolfed down a Power Bar, then washed her face and brushed her teeth with some bottled water and headed to the lean-to tucked into the face of the hill.

From a few dozen yards away she made out the male voices rumbling from inside. Pushing open the flap, she found Ben and Rhys studying some maps laid out on the folding table. They looked up at her when she entered. “Morning. Sorry I slept so late.” She smiled at Ben, heart doing crazy acrobatics. “Thanks for the tea. I appreciate it.”

His warm gaze brushed over her. “Figured you could use the caffeine.”

To help disguise the blush in her cheeks, she nodded to the map. “Any new intel?”

“Yeah. Luke just got word from Karim about a remote camp in the hills about thirty miles from here.”

Hope and adrenaline surged through her. “Is it Nev?”

“Davis is digging around.”

“Is he telling the truth, or has someone turned him?”

“We'll know soon enough.”

A second later, Luke walked in behind her, talking on a headset using the satellite phone, speaking in rapid Pashto. He went straight to the laptop in the corner, pulled something up on the screen, and bent to write on a pad of paper he pulled out of his pocket. She tilted her head to read it.
Yes.
Coordinates. She watched him, grasping only a word or two of what he was saying. House, maybe dwelling. Foreigners. Her fingernails dug into her palms. Was it them? Close now. They had to be close.

Luke disconnected and met her eyes. “I need a satellite image of these coordinates.”

She took his place and brought up the link, entered the longitude and latitude positions. A few seconds later an image came on the screen. A cluster of rocks in the midst of a parched wasteland. Her heart sank. She'd been expecting a village or compound of some sort.

“Zoom in here,” he said, pointing at the cluster of rocks in the corner.

She did, increasing the resolution and tightening the focus. Blurry images became clear. Huts and the ruins of huts. Men walking around. She went in closer. Armed men, dressed in Pashtun clothing. Sam searched around for any sign of her cousin.

“This it?” Ben asked, jaw working his gum.

Luke studied it a moment longer. “Looks like.”

Sam's eyes went to the largest hut, sandwiched in the center. Her heart drummed in her ears. Nev was in there. Had to be. Staring a hole in the screen, hot tears scalded her eyes.

Ben slid a hand under her hair and squeezed the back of her neck. “All right?” he whispered.

She nodded and pressed her lips together, unable to look away. She wasn't a violent person, but if she'd been able to fire a missile at those bastards she wouldn't have hesitated. The hatred rose up in a thick cloud that threatened to choke her. She wanted them all to die for what they'd done. Every last one of them.

The pressure against her nape increased. “Take a breath, Sam.”

She let out a shaky exhalation, had to get up and walk away for a moment.

Luke spoke. “Let's do regular headcounts and make sure we know what we're going up against.”

“Tonight, then?”

Ben's question made her go rigid. They'd be going out in the dark after all those soldiers on the screen. Just the four of them. She cleared her throat and found her voice. “AWACS imaging is calling for snow this afternoon and overnight. Could get up to six inches.”

“It's gotta be tonight,” Luke said firmly. “Third deadline's in a few hours. I'm sure the other hostage would appreciate it if we went in before then.”

God, if that wasn't the understatement of the year. She rubbed her damp palms against her pants. Ben was going out there to get her cousin in a few hours. Her eyes swept over him, loving every detail. If something went wrong and he was injured, or... A lump wedged in her throat.

As though sensing her gaze, he turned his head, offering a smile. She couldn't have smiled back at him for anything.

“Hey, don't look at me like that.” Ben came over and gathered her up for a hug.

She choked back a sob and wrapped her arms around his back, squeezing as tight as she could.

He pressed his cheek against her hair. “We know what we're doing. And they won't know we're coming.”

She nodded.

He tilted her chin up with one finger. “We'll go in hard and fast. It'll be over before you know it, and you'll be in contact with us the whole time.”

“That's just it. I don't know if I can do my job this time.”

“Sure you can,” he said, steering her away from the others so they could have a little privacy. “You're a pro, Sam.”

Outside, the clouds were thickening and the air was noticeably colder than it had been. Their breath misted from the chill in vaporous puffs.

“With us and your cousin out there, are you kidding? You'll be at the top of your game. You're too anal to accept anything less.”

That forced a watery laugh out of her. “Yeah. See? My anal retentiveness does come in handy sometimes.”

“In this instance, yes, but the rest of the time? You gotta loosen up.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Stick with me, sweets. I'll teach you how.”

She played along, if for no other reason than to support his effort at lifting her spirits. “Could take a long time. Years, maybe forever.”

His eyes gleamed. “I got time. Maybe you haven't noticed, but I can be pretty determined when it comes to getting something I want.”

“I did notice that.” She laid her palm against his scruffy cheek. He turned his lips into it before leaning into her touch. Her heart clenched, full to overflowing. “Be extra careful out there.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Don't joke about this. I can't even hypothetically think about something happening to you.”

“Good, because worrying isn't going to help any of us.”

Unfortunately, that was one of the few things she wasn't going to be able to control about herself.

From behind them Luke cleared his throat, and she pulled away from Ben.

“Davis is coming back in. All intel says we've got the right place. Briefing's in five.”

Grappling to get herself under control and back into work mode, Sam lifted Ben's hand and kissed the back of it on her way past him. He was right. Worrying wouldn't help. She had to be professional, more now than ever before.

And if she had to make a tough call along the way, well... She'd just have to deal with that when the time came.

Near hostage location, late evening

He heard voices nearby. Disjointed at first, then clearer over the pounding in his ears. Gasping in shallow breaths, Tehrazzi fought to open his eyes. He was still alive. But how could that be? His hand moved painfully to his belly where the knife remained embedded deep in his flesh. The burn was hideous. All consuming. He forced it to the edge of his consciousness.

When he glanced around in the dimness, he discovered he was on a shallow ledge a few meters below the edge where he'd fallen. His teeth chattered in the cold. He tried to sit up, had to use his legs to push himself into a semi-reclining position against a rock. Its cold edge dug into his back. The voices drew nearer, coming closer as though they knew he was there.

“He fell there, where the blood is,” a man said.

The other murmured something he could not decipher. Were they speaking of him, or Assoud? His gaze climbed up the side of the cliff. Had he killed Assoud? He'd shot him in the chest.

“Wait,” one of them said. “I saw something.” Scuffling footsteps. Then, louder, “Can you hear me?”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath. “Yes,” he called softly, not wanting to raise his voice because the added pressure would make him bleed faster. He might still die. These people were his only chance.

A minute later, two grizzled faces peered in at him. One of the white-bearded men swept his hat off, and Tehrazzi recognized him as the elder from one of the nearby villages he sponsored.

“Allah be praised, you are alive.”

The two men lifted him and carried him down the mountain while he ground his teeth together to keep from screaming as the wicked blade shifted with each step they made. He lost consciousness partway down and woke to find himself on a litter nearing the village walls.

They rushed him into one of the huts that reeked of piss and goat dung and summoned a doctor, a man his own age who was visiting from Jalalabad. He examined the wounds and proclaimed they should get him to a hospital where he could operate. That could not happen. Tehrazzi could not leave while his teacher was so close.

“Is it mortal?” he gritted, sweating as he fought to keep the pain at bay, gripping the bloodstained folds of his robes in white-knuckled hands.

“I do not know.” The doctor probed at the knife, muttered to himself.

White-hot pain shot through Tehrazzi's belly. He faded a bit, but came to when he overheard a snippet of conversation in the room.

“It is said the bodyguard is hunting for the Americans.”

Tehrazzi's whole body tensed. Assoud was alive?

“One of the boys saw him limping down the mountain. He questioned him about their location.”

He licked his dry lips. “The boy... ”

The man jumped, staring at him with wide eyes. Had they thought he was dead?

It hurt to speak. “Does he... know where they are?”

“Yes,” one of the men answered. “Karim said the wounded man is going there tonight.”

To kill his teacher. Unacceptable. A tide of anger rose from his racing heart. “Bring the boy to me. He must take me there immediately.”

The man patted his shoulder. “You cannot go tonight, nor for a very many nights.”

But he must. It was Allah's will. He glanced down at the knife hilt, then back to the doctor. He couldn't go anywhere with the blade embedded in his gut. “Can you remove it?”

The physician met his eyes. “Perhaps. But it has perforated your bowel. You could bleed to death before I was able to sew you up, and even if you didn't you'll likely develop a serious infection.”

Tehrazzi had to get to the Americans before Assoud did.
He
must be the one to finish it. “So be it.”

Back at the command post, Sam used the time before the briefing to check and recheck her equipment, making note of which satellites she could access and for how long they would be able to transmit images.

Beyond the cave's shelter, snowflakes began to drift down from the leaden sky. They seemed to dance in the air as they fell, scattering over the ground in fluffy white tufts.

Footfalls outside alerted her that Davis had returned for the briefing. He greeted her and went straight to where Luke had set everything up, his nose and cheeks pink from the cold. Ben came over to help her up and brought her over with a steely arm draped across her shoulders, completely uncaring that the action announced the claim he'd stamped on her. It warmed her to her toes.