Retribution (8 page)

“Huh?”

“We’ve got to move you.”

Now she could make out the words, and his voice sent ripples through her abdomen.

Get your shit together, Sasha. Quickly.
“Yeah, okee-dokee. Gonna move now, with you, to the truck. See? This is me getting up to go with you to the truck. And yeah, do you think you can you help me with that? Oh, and uh, could you not yell at me? Geesh, you say ‘don’t yell’ and then you go and do it—what’s with you?”

Blackness crept along the edges of her periphery, stalking her consciousness like a panther. Just what she needed—another span of time where she was knocked out as Dray came to her rescue. How was this fair? She shuddered and wanted to call him back on top of her; have him beat the fear away.

Dray scooped her up into his massive arms, moved to the Jeep, and settled her in his lap. Her head lolled to the side before he cupped it and pressed her against his chest. His warmth seeped into her, and she sank deeper into him. He was speaking. She could feel the rumble in his chest, the vibration of it an echo inside her. Sasha didn’t really care what he was saying anyway. She was too tired, and her head hurt too damn much. She stilled and then, blessedly, all was silent.

A few minutes later her sister called her name.

“Sasha. You okay?” Hal’s worried voice was barely above a whisper.

“I’m fine, Hal. ’bout you?”

“Pissed. I hurt a little, but listen. I want to tell you how much I love you before we start out hell-bent-for-leather with the Call of Duty men here.” Hal paused for a second.

“Love you too, little sister.” Sasha couldn’t keep the darkness at bay any longer. She was fading, and her sister’s words came to her as if from a long distance.

“We’ll get Lily, Sash. We’ll get her, don’t worry. But right now, we’ve got to stay safe. I love you.”

Her head pounded. Lily. Kharima’s precious baby girl. Her reason for venturing back to hell. She had to find her. Her eyes squinted against the sun that hovered overhead. Its light narrowed to a pinpoint as her thoughts spun down, down, down. She rode the tidal wave of pain down into a black nothingness.

Dray heard the entire exchange between Sasha and her sister.
Who the hell was Lily?
He shook his head and sighed. He needed to focus solely on getting his team and the women out of the present danger.

Con and Bleak burst into the small clearing where the Jeep was parked as if the hounds of hell were on their heels.

“We gotta move,” Bleak pushed out between breaths. “Con set a huge charge to take out the side of one of those hills back there. There’s gonna be rock falling for days.” He hopped in, slammed the door, and began trying to crank the dilapidated vehicle. “If we don’t get out now, we won’t be getting out.”

Dray winced and tightened his grip on Sasha, pushing her head farther into his neck.

“Need to move
now
,” Con reiterated Bleak’s warning as he ran up and jumped in the Jeep. “They’re coming in fast and furious. There are at least fifty of them moving up the last ridge now, and they’re trained.” Con talked as he got settled. “Dray, they’re looking for something, or someone. There were scouts ahead of them, and I think the size of the convoy took them by surprise. But they were definitely in that pass waiting.”

Sasha moaned but settled again. She’d blacked out after their exchange a few minutes ago. Dray had watched Surrey send Sasha’s sister veiled looks as he quickly checked the women over and bandaged Sasha’s head. Hal was doing her best to act as if she wasn’t trying to do the same to Surrey.

It just keeps getting better and better.
“Let’s move out. We’ve got a ways to go before we can request helicopter transpo. We need to get on it. Con, when is that charge gonna—”

A loud blast followed by a huge rumbling of earth interrupted Dray’s question.

“Shit, Con, was that the whole fucking mountain?” Dray should have known if Con did it, it was getting done all the way. “Let’s get out of here.”

The ride was rough, and there was no time to consider what the situation they’d just left behind was all about. They’d sort it out once they got to safety. For now, Dray held in his arms the woman he’d dreamed about for over a year. He’d keep her safe, right here against his body.

He sighed, the sound taken by the wind rushing into the Jeep. His head fell against the back of the seat. Here they were. Back in the hell where they’d met. He glanced down as her head lolled on his shoulder.

Surrey had wrapped her head in gauze and cleaned her face up. She had a large bruise forming over her left eye where she’d been hit with the butt of a rifle. He hoped the son of a bitch who hit her was wallowing in hell right now. Hoped he was grateful for the quick death because Dray wouldn’t have been as nice as that RPG blast. He let his gaze wander over her. She was so still, her face lax as they jostled and bounced along the rocky terrain in the Jeep.

Dray held her close as if she were preciously fine china that would break at any second, and then he leaned down and breathed her in as he’d done so long ago. He’d never forgotten her smell and taste in the long months since he’d been close to her. He licked his lips and remembered.

Her long, ebony lashes rested against her pale cheeks, and her honey-colored brows arched slightly above her closed eyes. Her hair had grown since he’d last seen her and now reached her shoulders.

Whose hair grew that fast? It was in a choppy cut that accentuated and framed her facial structure. Her slightly upturned nose was red from the cold of the drawing night air, and her lips were slightly parted. He drew her closer and tucked her face between his chest and neck. Sasha hit him like a body blow every time. He breathed in deeply and cursed when it was infused with her scent.

Dray wished they were alone. He’d take her lips under his and lave the seam with his tongue until she parted them to allow him entrance. He wanted this woman like hell on fire, and his body hardened under the sudden rush of arousal. He’d probably combust if they ever got around to actually sharing a kiss. He breathed out roughly as the phantom taste filled his mouth. The lemon drops he carried paled in comparison to Sasha’s flavor.

They hit a nasty bump in the almost non-existent road, and it jarred her awake. Her eyes flew open and slowly focused on him. Their gazes locked, and Dray was pulled into her. Fire flashed in the depths of her whiskey eyes, purple and bright, there and gone. She was so in trouble when they got out of this. As if she’d read his thoughts, her eyes widened and she licked her lips.

His muscles locked down.
Fuck me. You shouldn’t have done that, baby.

He lowered his mouth and damn if she didn’t meet him halfway. Her eyes stayed open as their mouths met, and sensation radiated up his spine, short-circuited his brain. The brief contact was measured with her sigh, and he licked along the inside of her bottom lip.

She was so divinely sweet. Nothing tasted like Sasha. Where he got the strength from he didn’t know, but he lifted his lips from hers, and she closed her eyes. He raised his face, and she moved back into him, tucking her face near his collarbone.
Triple damn.

He glanced around to see if anyone had noticed his actions and met Surrey’s intent gaze. His friend arched a brow as if to say “You need to get a room,” and then his mouth twitched and he resumed looking out the Jeep’s window, anywhere but at the woman he held in his own arms.

Surrey had some kind of feelings for Sasha’s sister. As to the depth and breadth of those feelings, Dray had no idea. They’d tied one on after a particularly nasty mission in Pakistan last year, and Surrey had divulged information he probably wished he hadn’t. Dray hadn’t known who the woman was who’d set Surrey off; he’d just assumed it was someone back home. He’d no idea it was twenty-two-year-old Halloran Bennoit, the soon-to-be-lawyer from Gainesville, Georgia. The funny thing? Hal seemed just as intent to dismiss Surrey as Surrey was to dismiss her.

Neither was doing a very good job.

Shit, he was one to talk. Dray let his head fall back on his shoulders but tried to hold her tightly enough that the bumps they kept hitting wouldn’t wake her. They had at least another hour before they met up with transport. He decided he needed to keep an eye on the scenery before he made the mistake of waking Sasha up for a replay.

*

Sasha had been doing her best to feign sleep. Dray was potent, taking her breath and stealing her mind with a single touch of his lips against hers. His hair was still that beautiful deep auburn color, a little shaggy with a tendency to curl at the ends, and his face was the stuff of dreams—strong planes and high cheekbones with a straight nose. He had dark-green eyes under thick, straight brows the same color as his hair. His lashes were long and thick and again, that same deep auburn color.

It was his voice, though, that ripped her apart. She remembered his voice. Whispers in her ear jerked her from sleep most evenings in a fever of arousal so hot she knew her sheets had scorch marks. And those lips drew her like a moth to a flame, brought her soul up from hiding, and she wanted them on hers. Again. Right now. She licked her bottom one, wishing it was his.

He’d appeared so intent just minutes ago, and her breath had notched in her chest. When had she made the decision that she wanted him for her own? When had she decided she wasn’t going to give him up again? She didn’t know the exact moment, but perhaps somewhere in her dreams laid the answer. It had been torture the first time she’d been forced to leave him, and she’d not had a moment’s rest or peace since.

Forget Kashar el-Din. Dray Bonner was the one who prevented her from moving on with life. Struggling through the pain and night terrors el-Din caused her was nothing compared to the emptiness in her life because Dray wasn’t in it. He was hers, or was going to be anyway, and she defied anybody to get in her way. Her decision made, Sasha took a deep breath, gave in once more to the pounding in her head, and fell back into a fitful sleep.

* * * *

The heavy thump of helicopter blades in the darkening sky brought Sasha awake. At some point her hair covering had been replaced, but now it whipped off as she opened her eyes, the material tickling her cheek as it took flight because of the wind created by the chopper. She glanced to her right and discovered Hal, head in her hands, hunkered over ignoring the noise around them. Sasha located the hovering aircraft and could just make out two dark shapes against the setting sun calling the craft in to land.

Hal glanced up as Sasha touched her arm. Her sister’s right eye was swollen shut, and her upper lip had a small cut on it. Hal smiled slightly at something behind Sasha. Sasha glanced around. Surrey was walking toward the Jeep with Dray close behind. If Surrey’s face was closed off, Dray’s was carved from granite. He moved to her and started to pick her up when a chunk of upholstery exploded out of the headrest of the seat behind her.

Then all hell broke loose.

Dray pushed her down, mouthing something that looked like, “Stay.” His eyes were hard and promised hell if she didn’t obey him.

Sasha hunched down farther in the seat, pulling Hal with her while Dray and Surrey pulled out nasty looking automatic weapons and began firing in the direction the shot had come from. Bullets peppered and zinged the Jeep, the percussive thumps as they struck the metal sending fear surging through her. It could not be safe in this tin can of a car.

She managed to kick the door open, and both she and Hal crawled out. Dray moved up behind the driver’s side door and fired into the hills around them. Surrey moved out of the gathering dark and began alternately shooting toward the threat and herding them toward the chopper. She’d never moved so fast in her whole life.

She was almost in the chopper when her heart ascended to her throat. Where was Dray? Her head swiveled, gaze seeking him out even as the helicopter blew dust and her own hair into her eyes. There he was, behind the open door of the Jeep. Adrenaline flooded her system, damn near giving her wings. Without thought or question, she moved toward him. She was not leaving without him a second time. He would fly out with her or she wasn’t going.

He turned to her, his face a mask of horror as he frantically motioned her back to the chopper. She was about twenty feet from him when his look, lethal and dangerous, stopped her cold. His eyes flared in the twilight and desperation chased across his features. Something kicked up rocks beside her, the shattered earth hitting her in the arms and legs. He motioned her back to Surrey even as he turned and fired into the hills above them.

She swept into motion and headed toward him. He had to come with her, damn it. She couldn’t leave if she didn’t know he was okay.

His lips moved, but his words scattered with the wind. She continued forward, and terror skated down her spine as he was picked up and thrown slightly back by an invisible force. He went down and didn’t move.

She stopped, breath caught in her chest, fear a blade against her heart. Dray turned his head toward her, eyes glittering dangerously in the strobe light that emanated from the chopper. He held up a hand and she moved to him, her only thought to get to him, protect him from any more harm.

A huge arm snaked around her midsection and pulled her against a broad chest. She fought and kicked, striking hard legs. The arm didn’t move.

“Stop it!” she screamed to be heard above the helicopter, felt her words ripped from her and tossed away into the weakening light. She was pulled away and shoved into the chopper beside Hal.

She turned on Surrey like a lioness.

“I’m not leaving without him, Surrey,” she yelled. “Go back and get him; do not leave him there!”

Surrey shook his head in the negative and pointed in the direction of the hills above them. Sasha immediately looked to where Dray had been seconds ago and saw nothing but the Jeep. He was gone, and if she understood what Surrey was trying to communicate to her, Dray had tracked their shooter into the hills above them.

“No, Surrey, let me off this thing. I have to go to him. Let me off, he’s hurt!”