SEALs of Honor: Markus (6 page)

Of course a rescue topped all her wants. But only by the good guys. She wasn’t ready to throw in the towel and let one of those assholes get her again. Although she might be warm and fed if she did. But the alternative was so much worse. Still there was hope. She’d caught a glimpse of Mary’s father out there, and he had more bush smarts than anyone. All it took was one person to help get those men and have the women tell the rescuers where she’d gone.

The irony hit her.

Her justification for running had been to get help for the others. But apparently circumstances had turned that on its tail. She needed a rescue herself.

If she wasn’t in so much danger she’d laugh. She knew the women would tease her when they saw her again. But in the meantime…she might have done something monumentally stupid even if it was also understandable. Maybe the kidnappers had planned to shoot her after they ate her damn baking.

She sat down at the base of a tree and closed her eyes.

Why the hell had she left?

She was just nodding off to sleep, the cold seeping into her bones like only Mother Nature could when she heard something crackle on the left.

Hunkering lower, holding her breath, she waited. There were few trees here to climb, but if it was a four-legged predator she’d pick out one in a heartbeat. Although if it was a bear, chances were good the tree would be no protection at all. Depended on the bear. Too many damn grizzlies out here to count on that.

A branch crackled.

Shit. She closed her eyes and shuddered.

“Want some company or are you happy to just sit here and enjoy the evening.”

The voice was so gentle, so understanding, she figured it had to be from her imagination. She opened her eyes slowly to see a soldier crouched down studying her. Thank God. But was he friend or foe? She felt that gaze assess and determine in a flash if she was hurt or in need. When he pulled a canteen out from a strap and opened it for her, she knew he had seen and judged her correctly.

“Sorry,” she whispered, her teeth chattering.

“For what? Taking a chance on life instead of death – don’t be. Getting away from the men was a good idea as long as it worked. Racing blind out into the woods – not so much.”

She laughed, grateful he knew who she was and what she’d done. But then she was pouring water down her throat and the laughter died behind the ravaging thirst. She drank and drank.

He let her instead of warning her to not be sick. She appreciated that. She drank a lot of water on a regular basis and after today, well…

Finally she could feel her body was tanked up enough to lower the canteen and realized she’d almost emptied it on him. “I’m sorry, I should have thought of you too.”

“Not an issue. I have more.”

“Thank God.”

“You okay?”

She knew what he was asking. She was pale and thin, her skin still recuperating from the lovely drug treatments she’d been through and didn’t have the robust color or fullness that a healthy person had. Instead it was thin and transparent. Her hair wasn’t much better. Even in the moonlight she’d look more ghostly than a real specter.

“I am now,” she said, but her teeth were still chattering. He had his jacket off and wrapped around her shoulders, instantly enveloping her in a huge warm hug.

She moaned in joy as heat seeped into her bones. “It’s summer. How can it be so cold out?”

“When the sun goes down the cold races in when you’re north this far. The heat doesn’t stay like it does when you’re more south.”

He gently reached out and rubbed her arms. “Can you move?”

She nodded and tried to scramble to her feet. And tripped. He held her firm while she regained her footing. “Sorry, I’m more frozen than I expected.”

“You’ve been out here for hours,” he said, his voice soothing. “Your muscles need a moment to get the blood recirculating.”

“Yeah, not what I expected either. I’m new to Alaska and hadn’t expected the sheer vastness of the area.”

“No one really does unless you live here,” he said.

“I knew if I escaped that I’d be heading into the wilderness but before leaving I thought I’d heard a river or water close by and had intended to head in that direction. But honestly, once on the loose I ran and never did think of my original plan.”

“Don’t blame yourself. You got away. That’s what counts.”

“Are the other women free?”

“In progress.”

“Good, although I’d hoped you’d say the assholes had been captured, or better yet – dead.” She smiled up at him. “When I saw you at first, I wasn’t sure if you were one of the bad guys or the good guys.”

“I’m one of the good guys all the time.” He laughed. “Haven’t had an update on the situation at the cabin yet, but I trust my team. They will do what needs to be done.”

“I hope Betsy and Mary are all right. I hated to leave them.”

“I’m sure they hated to see you go, too.” He grinned, the smile lighting up the dark shadow on his face. “Especially if they know the country and understand the desolation of being out here alone.”

“Yeah, they probably think I’m a fool.” She tilted her face to the sky. “At least it’s not raining.”

Just then droplets hit her face. She gasped in outrage and glared at the sky. “Really? Haven’t I been through enough? Do you have to soak me too?”

The soldier in front of her chuckled. She turned to study his face. “My name is Bree Henderson.”

“I’m Markus Donner. And I’m part of a military operation training here. We just happened to be doing an exercise when Jake found me and asked for help.”

“Lucky for us. Or fate,” she added in a low voice, sending a wary glance to the sky. “Or a higher power.”

“Whatever works for you.” His voice deepened into neutral tones.

“You don’t believe.” She laughed. “Not sure I blame you.”

“I used to think about it. Then I didn’t.” But he didn’t offer any more.

“Sometimes I wonder if there is any point to this thing we call life. But I’m still here and don’t deserve to be. So I have to make the best of it.”

Markus stopped to look at her.

She smiled up at him.

“Don’t deserve to be?” he asked cautiously.

“I almost died a year ago. Surgery, aggressive medical treatment and a slow recovery, and lo and behold I find myself still standing.”

He reached out and tucked the jacket tighter around her shoulders. “Then we don’t want to lose you out here.”

“That would be a foolish way to die after all I’ve been through.” She gave him a perky smile.

“I’m afraid there are way too many foolish deaths out there.”

There was something in his voice that made her pause. She searched his face, the shadows of the night highlighting his cheekbones, the depths of that gaze obsidian. He was beautiful in a raw way. Not refined. But big, bad…and yeah…beautiful.

Then she realized what it was in his tone that caught her. The haunting. The memory. He had lost someone dear.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, understanding his hurt.

“For what?” he sounded surprised but that gaze was wary.

“That you lost someone in a stupid way.”

His gaze dropped to the ground. “There is no smart death for those left behind.”

She reached up and stroked his steel cut jaw. “And some deaths are more stupid than others.”

He turned to look at the night around them. “Are you still sick? Do you need medication?”

“No, just food,” she admitted. “I have no energy these days. It was hard to get back to the business of life when still recovering, but I have no money so my choices are limited.”

“No medical insurance.”

“When I had a job, yes,” she said lightly. “Then when I lost that job, I lost my benefits.”

“Did they know you were sick?” he asked, his voice harsh.

“They did.” She shrugged lightly. “They also expected me to die sooner than later.”

“They had no right to take–”

She placed a finger on his lips. “No, but that’s one of the things you learn when you hit a rough patch. Many times people would rather ditch you than help you. They didn’t want to see what I was going through. It was costing them and that was something else they were trying to avoid. If I died early, all the better. If I was around them while dying, it made it harder on them. It made them see their own mortality.”

“You could have fought back,” he said in a hard tone.

“Sure, but I was involved in a much bigger fight at the time.” She waved her arm. “One that took precedence over anything else. The treatment was all consuming. Healing was a full-time job. There was no option to fight the petty people looking to cut ties before I caused them any damage. Sad to say but there it is.”

“Yet they gave you treatment? Didn’t withhold it because you couldn’t pay?”

“I sold my condo, drained my savings account, and eventually my old car to clear up the last of the bills. I found myself standing on a street corner after they drove away with my car and all I had were the clothes on my back. Sure I could have kept the furniture maybe as I didn’t get much for it, and I got rid of all my clothes…voluntarily.” She smiled and glanced down at her frame completely swallowed in his jacket. “They didn’t fit anymore and I’m months if not years away from filling them out properly and now that I no longer have a job like I did, I no longer have any reason to keep those kind of clothes.” She laughed and kicked out her foot, the old sneaker showing wear and tear. “I couldn’t even fit in my shoes. Who knew losing that amount of weight meant your shoes wouldn’t fit?”

“It happens,” he said, his gaze more distant.

Right. Back to that losing someone issue.

“Well, I’m regaining my strength and relearning a new appreciation for my life. It’s like being reborn. And I’m grateful for every day I have.”

Markus nodded slowly, then reached around to his pack. “I don’t have much but I do have a protein bar, if that appeals.”

“The packaging appeals I’m so hungry,” she whispered in delight. “I can’t get full and when I do, I’m hungry within an hour again.” She accepted the small bar and ripped it open, taking a bite immediately. It didn’t taste the best, but it was food and she needed that.

“You’ve placed a lot of demands on your body. Healing is hard, and if you lost muscle then the body is working to do twice the work with only half the strength.” He lifted the collar on his jacket and pulled it around her neck tighter. “Let’s get you back. With any luck, you might still sleep in a real bed for the rest of the night and have a big breakfast in the morning – or noon depending on when you wake up.” He motioned at her to step forward but she shook her head. “I need to finish the bar first.”

The bar was done in just a few bites and with her mouth lamenting the loss of food and her stomach resigned to accepting the little bit it received, she stepped out expecting him to follow.

Her arm was grabbed gently. She turned to stare at him, one eyebrow raised.

“This way,” he said and motioned to the opposite direction.

She sighed. “Figures.”

*

Her skin was
so pale. He’d seen dead people with more color. And her hands were icy. He worried about hypothermia, but she was moving along at a decent clip. Although he felt it was bravado without substance. That her energy would fail quickly, and she’d be unable to keep on her own two feet. He studied the sky. The rain held at a light drizzle, but the moon hid behind clouds and the air was heavy. A storm was brewing. And would likely dump on them before too long.

He could hole up and let the ugly weather pass. He figured they were eight miles out. She wasn’t going to make it.

He could carry her. She didn’t weigh more than a hundred and ten pounds, maybe one-fifteen max. But it would be hard on her. Likely painful as she had no padding to cushion the jostling.

She came to a sudden stop. Alerted, he stepped up beside her, put his hand on the small of her back. Bushes moved in front of her. He tucked her behind him and blended the two of them into the trees. The woods were alive. To the four-legged animals of the world, this was their time. He respected that. As long as they left them alone, he’d leave them alone.

He watched a wolverine slowly trundle forward and disappear into the rough grasses heading toward the water. He smiled. Now that was one predator he’d like to avoid. They were in a class all alone.

“So beautiful,” Bree whispered behind him.

“And one of the most dangerous animals out there,” he responded in a low voice. “But he’s entitled to live his life too.”

“Thank you,” she said, reaching out to squeeze his hand then released it.

He started and turned to look down at her. “For what?”

“For being kind to all creatures.”

He smiled. “I’m always kind to everyone and everything.”

She tilted her face to look up at him. He felt her gaze as it touched on his face and locked there as if assessing the truth of his statement. Assessing his character. A glance that danced across his cheekbones, his chin, then up to his eyes. He waited, trust was a big issue here. He needed her to follow his orders as he gave them. Then she did something that charmed him. She reached up and stroked the worry lines at the corner of his eyes.