Special Forces Savior (7 page)

Chapter Ten

This was not how Derek liked to go into a situation: totally blind. But he didn’t have much choice. He and Liam poured over all of the intel they could get their hands on about Belisario’s home—which was more like a compound—as Jon flew them down to Colombia.

Derek liked to have the tactical advantage in all professional situations. He even liked having it in personal ones. But he had to admit there was no real tactical advantage for them here.

“Covert entry is pretty much our only option and our only advantage,” he said to Liam. “If we have to go in guns blazing, our chance of success is pretty darn low. We just don’t have the manpower needed to take down Belisario in his own nest.”

“Quiet, it is.” Liam was leaning with his head back against his seat, eyes closed, but Derek knew the other man was aware of everything going on around him. “My kung fu is strong.”

Using night as their cover, Derek and Liam would be parachuting out to land closer to Belisario’s property. It was risky, but it would get them there much faster. Derek was willing to risk just about anything to get them there faster.

Every additional minute it took them to get there was a minute Molly was left alone in heaven knew what type of situation.

Jon would have to land the plane almost ten miles from the property in order not to be seen. It was the only place in the dense rain forest with enough clearing for a landing strip. He would have the plane ready for takeoff upon Derek and Liam’s return with Molly, backup firearms ready in case they were coming in hot.

Although hostage rescue was Liam’s specialty and jumping out of planes into questionable situations was his particular forte, it had been years since Derek had done this sort of thing.

“You’ll do fine. It’s just like ’Stan, only greener.” Derek found Liam looking over at him. They’d both been in Special Forces in Afghanistan for multiple tours. Both knew what it was to take a life, to make the hard call, to do things that left scars on the soul. Even though Derek didn’t use that training any more in his day-to-day duties, his time there had made him into the man he was.

As Special Forces, both he and Liam knew how to infiltrate silently and deadly. That’s what they’d be doing here. Because if they got caught, there wouldn’t be anyone coming to help them. Omega would not be able to acknowledge Derek’s mission in any way. The official word would be that they had acted on their own.

“Besides, I know how to speak Spanish, so that gives us an advantage,” Liam said.

Derek studied Liam. He’d known the other man for a lot of years and didn’t know he spoke Spanish. “You do?”

Liam shrugged. “The important stuff.
Hola hermosa bebé, creo que deberíamos pasar la noche juntos
.”

Derek was pretty sure Liam had just called him pretty and asked him if he wanted to spend the night. Derek rolled his eyes. Knowing Liam, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the only Spanish the other man knew at all.

Of course, Derek also wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the man spoke it fluently. You just never knew with Liam.

“Thanks, Liam,” Derek said.

“Thanks for calling you pretty?” Liam winked at him.

“For doing this. I know the risks. I know you do, too.” Their lives, their careers. Everything. Without Jon and Liam, Derek’s chances of getting Molly out alive would be practically zero.

The odds with them weren’t terribly higher either, but at least they had a chance.

Liam was serious now, a rare occurrence. “I assumed Molly was irrelevant to you. I think we all did.”

Derek stared at the other man for a long minute. “No, she’s never been irrelevant to me. The opposite.” He hardly had words for what Molly was to him. “She’s my light. Pure and lovely and...” Derek shrugged. He wasn’t good with words.

“She’s everything you’re afraid of dragging down into your dark and dirty world. Extinguishing the light.” Liam finished for him. “So you’ve stayed away. Made everyone—including her—think you don’t care.”

Derek nodded. All of that was exactly right.

“Good thing I didn’t ask her out like I considered. I had grand dreams of being the one to help her get over the stupid jerk who didn’t seem to appreciate what was right in front of him.” And just like that Liam’s seriousness was gone. “Would’ve sucked to have my nose broken when you punched me in the face.”

To be honest Derek wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if Molly had gone out with someone else. Especially a friend.

Liam was back to serious. “You’d do the same for me, if I needed help, Derek. And all of us would do anything for sweet Molly.”

“Ten minutes till we’re in the drop zone,” Jon called back from the cockpit of the small plane.

“Roger that,” Derek responded. He turned to Liam. “Any questions about our plan?”

“Rendezvous with each other on the ground. Get into the estate at the weak spot in the wall near the northeast corner. Find our girl and get her out. All undetected.”

That was the plan. Now all they had to do was pull it off.

* * *

M
OLLY
DIDN
’
T
PARTICULARLY
like autopsies. She did have a degree in forensic pathology, was a certified medical examiner, so not liking autopsies was probably a little odd. But she had never been able to distance herself from the body on her table, and sympathized about what had happened to them.

And since she worked at Omega, most autopsies she performed were often pretty gruesome deaths. Most of the time Molly was able to foster out the autopsies to one of the other two pathologists employed by the lab; neither ever seemed to mind.

But sometimes, like now, it had to be Molly. It was late in the evening, everyone else had gone home. The two bodies in the morgue were Omega agents who had been killed in a hostage rescue situation. She knew them. Not as well as she knew some of the other agents, but enough that what she was doing—removing bullets that would later be used in the case against the criminals who did this—was harder. But she wanted to get it done as soon as possible so the bodies could be released to the grieving families.

She felt eyes on her from across the room, and looked up. There was Derek standing silently watching her.

It had been two years since that night he’d shown up at her house. The night she thought about all the time. The night that had haunted her dreams and caused her to wake up aching for Derek. The night that had changed everything for her.

The night the two of them had never once spoken about.

When she’d awakened the next morning—after multiple bouts of lovemaking, since every time she’d even slid away from him, even when he’d been sleeping, he’d pulled her back to him and tucked her against him—he’d been gone.

Molly thought maybe he’d been too drunk to remember what had happened. But medically she knew that was highly unlikely. If Derek had been sober enough to...ahem, perform...that many times, then he hadn’t been inebriated to the point of blocking the night out of his subconscious.

Then she had feared even worse: that she’d just been a one-night stand, a conquest Derek would boast about to his friends. The thought had made her ill. But there had been nothing that anyone had ever said or did—no knowing glances or sideways winks—that had insinuated that Derek had spoken to anyone about it. Since that night, Derek himself had been polite, respectful.

Distant.

He never touched her. Not even casually like he had before. He was very deliberate in the not touching her, although Molly didn’t think anyone else noticed. It wasn’t as if they’d walked around arm in arm before that night. But now, nothing.

And Molly, pansy that she was, had developed some sort of stutter anytime he was near. She’d always been a little awkward around him, but after that night she was a complete moron. Everyone assumed that she was just a socially awkward scientist who got tongued-tied around a super-sexy, mega-hot agent she had a crush on. Which was true.

No one suspected her body remembered every single touch and lick and nibble from their night together causing her to go into overdrive every time Derek was around. Which was also true.

Derek did an excellent job of being distant and making sure no one suspected what had happened.

But every once in a while, Molly would catch him watching her with a look in his eyes that melted everything inside her. There was only one word for it.

Heat.

He was quick to blank his face, to school his expression back into its blasted neutrality as soon as he realized she’d seen him. He was so good at it that soon Molly would wonder if she had seen the heat at all.

But now, looking at him across the small morgue attached to the lab, she could see the heat. He didn’t do a thing to hide it. She took off her gloves and laid them on the nearby table. He walked over to her without taking his eyes off her face.

And enfolded her in his arms.

She could feel his face buried in her neck, his arms crossing low across her waist and hips. His big body was almost doubled around hers, he had her so close. Molly extracted her arms, trapped between their bodies, so she could wrap them around Derek.

The two dead men had been his colleagues, his friends. As hard as it was for her to have those bodies on the table, it had to be much worse for Derek.

She stroked her hands up and down his back saying nothing. Neither of them said anything. Derek didn’t know how to ask for comfort now, for a gentle touch, any more than he’d known how to ask for it when he showed up at her condo two years ago. But that didn’t mean he didn’t need it.

And Molly would give it, would always give it if it was in her power to do so.

But her leg hurt so badly. And her face.

She moaned. No, pain wasn’t part of the memory. There had been no pain in the long minutes where she’d held him before he had gently disengaged himself, kissed her on the forehead, and walked out as silently as he had arrived.

Oh no, she was dreaming again. And was about to wake up to the living nightmare surrounding her. She didn’t want that. She wanted to stay here in Derek’s arms where she was safe.

“Molly.” His finger stroked down her cheek. She felt so secure here. Like nothing could ever hurt her again.

“Molly.” The voice was firmer now. She knew she was waking up because everything hurt and Derek hadn’t talked to her, he’d been silent.

Well, if she was waking up, she was going to get a kiss in first. She’d always wished she’d kissed him that day in the lab. She drove her hands through his hair and pulled him down to her, not giving him any choice. She kissed him.

And, ah, it felt so good. So real. She so should’ve kissed him that day. She felt his fingers slip into her hair and pull her closer before moving away. She felt cold without him.

“Molly, sweetheart, I need you to wake up. We’ve got to get out of here.”

She decided not to fight it anymore. She had to wake up and try to find a way out of this. But she wanted to stay in the dream with Derek. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered to her dream.

“I won’t, honey. I promise. But I need you to wake up.”

Molly reluctantly opened her eyes to find herself looking in Derek’s blue ones, her fingers threaded in his hair.

Chapter Eleven

Molly was alive.

When he’d first seen her lying on the floor at such an awkward angle, Derek had feared he’d been too late. But then she’d moved just the slightest bit and relief crashed through him.

He rushed over to her, cringing as he saw the bruises covering her face, picked her up and laid her on the small cot. She wasn’t dead, but that didn’t mean she was going to be able to assist them in getting her out of here.

Time was of the essence. The man who had been guarding her door wouldn’t be bothering anyone, but all it would take was one person coming to check on Molly and all hell would break loose.

“Molly.” He stroked a gentle finger down her damaged cheek. She moved just slightly.

And then she smiled the sweetest smile, cuddling her face down into his hand. Whatever she was dreaming about, it definitely wasn’t bad. That reassured him somewhat; better than terror controlling her dreams.

“Molly,” he said more firmly. Her smile had faded, but she still hadn’t awakened. She could have a head injury or have been drugged.

Then she’d done the damnedest thing: wrapped her hands in his hair and pulled him down to kiss her.

He’d kissed her back before he could even think about it. It was all he’d wanted to do anyway. But sanity soon resumed. No matter how much he wanted to kiss her, this wasn’t the time. They had to go.

“Molly, sweetheart, I need you to wake up. We’ve got to get out of here.”

She’d begun to fret and held on to him tighter. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.

Derek was so thankful to hear her voice, now she just needed to open her eyes. “I won’t, honey. I promise. But I need you to wake up.”

And she did.

He watched a plethora of emotions slide over her face: fear, confusion, relief, joy, embarrassment. Her hands dropped out of his hair.

“Derek?”

He smiled at her.

“How did you find me?” she continued.

He framed her face with the gentlest touch he could. “A combination of people committed to finding you and a couple of lucky breaks.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I thought they were going to kill me.”

Derek wanted to know why; wanted to know all the details she could tell them about why Belisario had taken her. But not now.

“We’ve got to go. Every second we spend here is stolen. Liam will cover us as best as he can, but he can’t take out all of Belisario’s men.” Not that his friend wouldn’t try if he had to. “Can you walk?”

They’d work on walking first. Hopefully she could run, too. He helped her sit up on the cot, noticing every wince. But she didn’t stop or hesitate as he got her up onto her feet.

But she swayed and would’ve fallen if Derek didn’t have an arm around her. He needed to know exactly what type of injuries they were dealing with. And Molly seemed to have a hard time staying awake. Head trauma?

“Molls, I need you to focus. Can you tell me the worst of your injuries? Do I need to carry you?”

It would make things harder, but Derek was prepared to do it. And despite the kiss that seemed to have rooted from a sweet dream, Derek had to face the very real possibility that Molly had been raped while they’d had her here.

He could see Molly try to gather herself, to concentrate. “My left leg is in a lot of pain—it was kicked—but I don’t think it’s broken. I was drugged. Rohypnol, I think, or something similar. They gave me too much which is why I keep sleeping.”

It was also probably helping to keep the pain under control, or at least make her not focus on it, so the drug wasn’t totally a bad thing. But too much still in her system so many hours later was definitely a concern. At least it wasn’t a concussion.

And the question he didn’t want to ask. “Sweetheart, it’s better for me to know now rather than when we’re out in the middle of the jungle on the way to the plane—did they...” He couldn’t get the word out. “Were you sexually assaulted?”

“No. But it was part of their plan, I know.” Her huge brown eyes were laced with terror. “But you got here in time.”

Derek closed his eyes. Yes, he was thankful. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. Literally or figuratively.

A low whisper came through the headpiece that was attached to his radio. “You got her?”

“Affirmative.”

“Can she travel?”

“Affirmative.”

Derek heard Liam’s short sigh of relief. “Then quit making out or whatever you’re doing and get going toward the wall.”

“Roger that. Leaving in just a moment.”

Very few of Belisario’s men were up and around. It was the middle of the night and they had no reason to believe anyone even knew Molly was there, much less expect any sort of rescue attempt.

Their mistake.

Derek knelt down and put a pair of tennis shoes that he’d brought on Molly’s feet, since hers were bare. He brought clothes, too, but she was wearing relatively decent clothing, dark yoga pants and a T-shirt, so they weren’t needed. Derek wrapped an arm around her and began hustling her toward the door.

“Once we’re outside, stay as close as you can to the shadows. This whole place is surrounded by a wall with barbed fencing on top, but there’s one place that has an opening we can fit through. We have to cross to the other side of the estate. Liam is covering us and will meet us there.”

She nodded and he brought her through the door, deliberately keeping his body between her and the guard who was lying dead outside it. They walked quickly and silently through the dark hallway before Derek cracked the larger outside door, wincing as it made a small sound which seemed to echo in the darkness. Since opening the door slowly seemed to be causing more noise, he jerked it open quickly.

Derek wasted no time pulling Molly through the doorway and outside, shutting the door quickly behind them. It still made a noise, but an open door would be a sure giveaway that something was amiss.

Outside was even more dangerous because there could be roving guards, or even someone who just came outside to have a cigarette, who could happen upon them and send this entire operation straight to hell. Knowing Liam was out there with his sniper rifle gave them a certain measure of safety. But if he had to use it, things would be going to pot quick, the sound would notify everyone of their presence.

Molly was doing her best to stay with him. To get low when he did, and stick to the shadows. He could tell her leg was hurting her from how she limped. Her shoulders seemed stiff, as if she couldn’t get a full range of motion without pain. And one eye was almost swollen shut.

But she didn’t complain, not a peep, even when he’d had to throw her to the ground—hard—when a guard had appeared suddenly from behind a nearby building.

They made it to the rendezvous point at the wall, but Liam wasn’t there yet. Derek began giving Molly a boost up.

“What about Liam?” she asked.

“He’ll be here.”

She still looked concerned.

“Baby, hostage rescue is what Liam does. Hell, he thrives on this sort of thing. He’ll be here. We’ve got to make our way through the fence.”

Derek was helping Molly through the hole in the fence when from his higher vantage point he saw Liam. But he was running rather than keeping to the shadows. Derek knew that wasn’t good, even though no alarm had been raised yet. He urged Molly through faster, and helped her down the other side of the wall.

“What?” she asked him, after seeing his face.

“Liam.”

She paled. “Is he hurt?”

“No, but he’s running. That’s not good.”

Out in the thick underbrush of Colombia’s rain forest, Derek started moving with Molly. Liam would catch up with them soon enough. They had ten miles to go to get to the plane. Alone, Derek could probably make it in about two hours, given this terrain. But with Molly’s condition, it would probably be at least three times that.

They were out of Belisario’s estate, but the danger was far from over.

Derek knew Molly needed food and drink, both to give her energy for the journey ahead of them and to continue helping flush the drugs out of her system. He stopped for just a moment as he reached into his small military-grade backpack to pull out water and nutrition bars. He handed both to Molly.

“Here. The bars don’t taste the best, but they’re packed with nutrition. Try to nibble on one pretty constantly if you can. And water is critical. No doubt you’re already dehydrated, which isn’t a good way to start a trek through the jungle. That’s probably why you still have so many side effects from the drugs. Drink every couple of minutes if you can.”

Molly nodded and they started moving; they couldn’t stop. Liam would catch up with them. But he was worried about Molly. She didn’t seem very steady on her feet.

Lights were coming on at Belisario’s estate, and they could hear lots of yelling. Damn it. Now they had no choice but to run, no matter what state Molly was in.

“You okay?” Derek spoke to Liam through the communication unit.

“I’m over the wall,” he responded, obviously on the move. “But they definitely know something is up. It might take them a little bit of time to figure out which way we went, but not long.”

Derek looked over at Molly and spoke into his mic. “We’re going to be slow going. No way around it.”

“Plan B?”

Plan B involved Liam, who was moving much faster than Derek and Molly to leave a more obvious trail for Belisario’s men to follow in the wrong direction. He would then double back and meet them at the plane.

It wasn’t a perfect plan. And it was downright dangerous for Liam. But it was their best option.

“Roger, Plan B. But Liam, be careful.”

“
Moi
, not careful?” Liam chuckled, then clicked off.

“We’ve got to go, baby.” She had taken the opportunity to sit while he’d been talking to Liam. Derek hated the way he was going to have to push her, but it was the only way. He trailed a finger down Molly’s pale cheek. “Let’s go. Right now.”

She got up and started following him. “Is Liam okay?”

“He’s all right, out of Belisario’s estate. He’ll meet us at the airplane.” No need to tell her the whole plan. She’d just be upset that Liam was at risk. “Getting you out is the priority. He’ll be okay.”

Glancing over at her, he could tell that Molly didn’t like it. But she took a swig of water and kept following. Derek looked down at his GPS, especially formulated for use in the dense terrain. With the shape she was in, he didn’t want to add on any more distance than was needed to get directly to the plane.

He grabbed his machete out of the holder strapped to his thigh, but cutting only when absolutely necessary for them to get through. Liam would be leaving a more obvious trail for Belisario’s men, but too much hacking would also make his and Molly’s route apparent if the men happened on it.

They traveled without speaking. Even though the moon was full, most of the light didn’t make it onto the jungle floor because of the dense trees and bushes. But artificial light would basically be a beacon for their pursuers, so that wasn’t an option. The darkness just made everything more difficult. Even so, Derek kept up a pretty grueling pace, determined to put as much distance between them and Belisario’s compound as possible. They weren’t running full-out, but they were moving much faster than a walk.

Derek heard a soft cry from Molly and turned, but wasn’t in time to catch her as she fell all the way to the ground. This was the second time she’d tripped.

“Let’s stop,” he said, quickly helping her up.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’ll be okay. I just can’t see very well.”

With one eye almost swollen closed, he wasn’t surprised. But she hadn’t stopped, hadn’t complained, had kept his grueling pace for the past two miles.

“You’re amazing,” he told her, meaning every word. He knew trained agents who wouldn’t be coping as well as she was.

He could see her roll her one good eye. “Oh, yeah? Did you figure that out before or after I just did a face-plant in the middle of the jungle floor?”

Derek couldn’t help his short bark of laughter. He pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. The acerbic wit of hers was going to be his undoing.

“Drink more water.” He pulled back and handed her the canteen.

“Won’t we run out?”

“No, there’s plenty of water sources around here. And this canteen has a triple filter system. It could make a mud puddle safe to drink. So don’t drink sparingly.”

She nodded and took a huge sip.

“Good.” He nodded in approval. “Don’t forget to eat, too. You ready to get going?”

“Yep.” She smiled, but he noticed her deep breath as if she was trying to steady herself, prepare mentally.

This time he took her hand and hooked it into the back waistband of his pants. “Don’t let go. No more face-plants.”

“Yeah, well, you’d just better hope I don’t try to get fresh with you.”

There was nothing he’d like more, but knew that couldn’t happen even if there weren’t people hunting them. But he smiled at her. At least she wasn’t stuttering. “I’ll take my chances. You’re doing great, honey. About eight more miles to go.”

Eight miles was a long way to go for someone traumatized, injured and drugged.