Smoke Road

by Toby Neal

  Her voice was desperate and tiny, and she wondered if, dear God, she was getting sick too. Nani stumbled down the hallway, looking into the cramped rooms that had been the sleeping quarters of the soldiers. Peaches gazed out at her from the doorway of the third room from hers, showing her where Luca was.

  He lay face down on the cot, fully clothed. Peaches trotted to his side, swiping his face with her tongue. He didn’t move.

  Nani rushed across the room to touch Luca’s neck, searching for a pulse. It was there, steady and strong. “Oh, thank God.”

  His hand came up to grab her wrist with crushing force. “Don’t touch me.” His voice was guttural, hoarse.

  Nani dropped to her knees beside him as he squeezed her wrist.

  They were both physically spent. They hadn’t eaten, nor hardly drank in the days it had taken for the men to die, and then they’d both collapsed from exhaustion. Luca wasn’t awake; he’d never hurt her like this if he were conscious.

  “Luca. Wake up. It’s me, Nani,” she cried. “Let go, you’re hurting me!”

  He flung her hand away. “Get the hell away from me.”

  Nani cradled her wrist to her chest, quick tears stinging her eyes. He was in shock, in grief, just like she was. He probably had PTSD too—no one could live through all he’d endured and not have some trauma.

  Anyone waking a soldier in a combat situation was taking a chance.

  Nani stood with all the dignity she could muster and walked out, leaving Peaches whining and agitated beside Luca.

  Nani found her way to the large group bathroom. There was no hot water, but even the cold water and harsh disinfectant soap felt incredible. She scrubbed herself almost to the point of abrasion, taking extra time to make sure that all the black soil from the grave was out from under her nails, then turned off the shower and pushed the plastic curtain aside.

  Luca was in the stall across from her, stripping. She clutched the small, thin towel tight to her body as she reacted to the sight. However inappropriate, however awful the timing, she couldn’t seem to help how he lit her up.

  He dropped his pants and boxers and hauled his shirt off over his head. His massive back was scarred in several places, the heavy corded muscles framing a graceful spine. He had twin dimples above a truly impressive butt, and when he turned around his eyes blazed anger and—was that betrayal?

  Luca yanked his shower curtain shut and turned on the water.

  He blamed her for the men’s deaths. Luca thought Nani was holding back intel, that she’d lied to him and that she’d led them into this charnel house, to this truly dead end.

  “I think we were set up when I was given this assignment,” Nani’s voice projected over the rush of the shower. “I think we were given either a placebo vaccine or an outdated one. I would never have set you up or set the men up.”

  No answer, but she thought she heard a snort from the other side of the curtain.

  “I can’t believe you think I don’t care, after what we just went through.” A refreshing wave of anger swept over her. “If you think I’d ever knowingly go through what we just did...” Her voice broke. “I cared about those men. Every one of them.”

  The shower curtain rattled on its pole as he swept it open. He was magnificent naked but contempt darkened his honey-brown eyes to the color of bitter ale. She kept her gaze on his face though he was fully nude and beyond mouth-watering, and oh how tempted she was to look where she shouldn’t.

  “You have to believe me. I don’t know anything more than you do.”

  “All women will lie. Summer death leads to fall’s grave. Don’t make me fight you.”

  There was a cadence to how he said the words that brought her eyebrows snapping together. Whatever Luca was saying wasn’t about her. She’d never lied to him. And this full frontal nudity display? Two could play that game.

  Nani straightened her spine, tightened her abs, and dropped her towel to her feet, holding his gaze with her own. “Speak for yourself. I’m no liar, but it would be interesting to count up the number of women you’ve lied to.”

  They faced each other, tension and heat vibrating between them, and Luca broke first, grabbing his towel off the peg and whipping it around his waist. “You think you’ve got anything I want? I’ve had a hundred women better looking than you, and never had to lie to get them right where I wanted them. You’re embarrassing yourself, Dr. Kagawa.”

  Nani bent and grabbed her towel, breathless at the cruelty. His words bruised her in the same way he’d twisted her wrist: over the top, too hard, too painful, too much, as if he was making sure she’d run from him. “Hypocrite,” she spat at him. “You’re the liar.”

  He looked over his shoulder and lifted a black brow in that way she’d once found attractive. “Try to get through to Washington one more time and if you can’t raise them, this operation is done. We’ll part ways right here.”

  He walked away, bare, wet feet padding on the tile.

  Nani gazed after his huge gladiator’s body, numb with shock. “Wow,” she glanced at Peaches, who had stayed behind, her eyes glued to Nani. “He really hates me.”

  The dog whimpered, hanging her head in agreement, and trotted after her master.

  Nani had embarrassed herself. He was absolutely right. Those tender feelings that had curled within her like baby fern fronds, awakening something new? Pure fiction. He was what he’d initially appeared: a lone wolf, jaded and broken, too bitter to be who she’d thought he was for just a few, sensation-drunk moments.

  She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  Back at her bunk, Nani booted up the laptop and hit the satellite scramble link for the hundredth time, at least, since they reached this godforsaken place. This time the icon lit up, connecting.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Luca

  Luca woke instantly to the sensation of her hand on his shoulder. “Luca.”

  He wasn’t sure when she’d begun using his first name but sometime during the hellish hours it had taken his men to die, titles and even nicknames had become irrelevant, though he still wanted to find the right one for her, someday.

  “Luca, I heard from Washington.” She’d removed her hand immediately after waking him, no doubt remembering how he’d grabbed her before. A feather touch of regret twisted his mouth as he rolled over and sat up. But, she was not to be trusted.

  “What did they say?”

  “They said...” Nani’s throat worked. Her haunted dark eyes skittered around the room, refusing to meet his. “They said they need us to go on, even without the men, and find Hillish’s compound and identify if he is there. They will call in a strike once they know he’s on the premises.”

  Luca cursed and Peaches whined at his tone even as Nani retreated to the doorway. Her gaze was on the window, rosy with dawn light. She was looking anywhere but at his body, bare but for a pair of black boxers. It was hard to believe he’d ever had her coming unglued, her sexy sounds music echoing around them.

  It seemed like another world, not just a few days ago.

  He wanted to do that again and where they’d been headed, in his room before they were interrupted by the storm, would have been nice, too.

  “I thought we could reorganize our supplies and just take the Humvee.” Nani didn’t look at him as she spoke.

  “I’ll organize the weapons and supplies.”

  By the time he stood, she was gone.

  They repacked the Humvee in silence, but by then, Luca had a plan. “I think I should infiltrate the compound. Do recon. From where I’m standing it looks like most everyone is dying. If we are even able to call in a strike force they’ll need to know details.”

  Nani was packing a bedroll into the back of the Humvee. Her butt was so spectacular, so big and round and firm; he hadn’t really got to explore just how it felt, only enough to imagine grabbing it in both hands from behind and just...

  Nani turned.

  She’d caught him looking. She probably even knew wha
t he was thinking, as her eyes flared wide and her mouth tightened. He gazed at her deliberately, daring her to call him on it, to say something so he could unload all the grief and anger he was carrying but she flushed instead, turning away and biting her lip. “I don’t like that idea. Too dangerous.”

  It almost sounded like she cared what happened to him.

  “Just walking and breathing is dangerous right now. I found some clothes that will work as a disguise, but I need you to shave my head. I gotta blend in with those assholes.”

  He’d found a gleaming cherry-red, brand-new Harley Davidson parked in one of the storage units. The owner had also owned the requisite worn jeans and Texas Rangers shirt that Luca needed for his costume.

  He’d found a photograph of the dead soldier in the man’s sock drawer. He was a black man with silver at his temples and a body that reminded Luca of his own. In the picture, the dead man was hugging a little girl. His daughter? His niece? A living man would have taken that photo with him and ridden his brand-new Harley back to Austin. Instead, Luca Luciano would ride that hog through the Texas plains on what was, more than likely, a suicide mission.

  “I think that should be a last resort. We need to try to stay away from The Center if we can possibly help it.” She bent her head. “You have to promise me you’ll be careful.”

  “I’d think you cared if you hadn’t already shot all of us up with a vaccine that didn’t work,” Luca accused. “I found a shave kit. Meet me in the bathrooms.”

  He’d turned away before she could respond. Luca grabbed his costume and headed to the bathroom, stripping down to his boxers to avoid getting hair on his clothing. Nani came in, and he heard the soft sound of her breath at the sight of him. Yeah, she liked his body just fine. Too bad the connection he’d thought they had was all an illusion.

  He handed her the haircut kit, a neatly zippered packet. She took it silently and removed the scissors. Luca sat down on a stool.

  The soft snick snick of the scissors and Nani’s controlled, even breathing raised goose bumps on Luca’s skin as she lifted his thick black hair and cut it off in hanks. He shut his eyes, consciously relaxing, even as his body hardened from her nearness.

  “I used to cut my brothers’ hair,” she recalled, turning on the clippers. “Not this short, though, obviously.”

  “Obviously.” Luca wanted to ask her about her brothers, but refused to encourage her or let her think she was forgiven. Because she wasn’t.

  Her scent and presence wrapped around him like a silky veil, beguiling and addicting, hinting of the pleasure and oblivion they could share. She passed in front of him, her tiny waist even with the top of his head, her lush thighs and feminine mound almost near enough to taste.

  Luca closed his eyes and pictured his men, lying in that grave, bundles of death piled on top of each other. It was her fault.

  That terrible thought was the only thing that kept him from grabbing Nani and pulling her close, wrapping his arms around that ass and burying his face between her thighs.

  When she’d come to tell him that she’d reached her contact in DC, her wet hair clung to her neck and her shirt outlined the shape of her small, shapely breasts. Why hadn’t she put on a bra? He could see the pointed shadows of her nipples even now.

  More manipulation.

  The way she’d stood there in front of him in the shower, totally nude and exposed. He closed his eyes and held his breath, watching a slow motion movie of it in his head: the swell and dip of her breasts, the sensual curve of her tiny waist flaring out to that spectacular ass, the dark hair between her thighs.

  Holy shit had been his only conscious thought before saying whatever nasty thing he could think of to get the strength to leave.

  She’d never know how hard it had been to pretend that he didn’t want her.

  Nani buzzed his hair down to the skin, and even the harsh tug of the clippers felt good because it was her hand doing it to him. “Looks pretty white under here. You’re going to have to get dirty, mess yourself up a bit, or it’s not going to look genuine.”

  “That’s the plan. I’ll be riding a Harley I found in one of the storage units.”

  “All right then.” Nani packed the supplies back into the case and set it neatly on a shelf.

  “I’m bringing a rocket launcher from the weapons locker. We need some kind of gift for me to buy my way in.” Luca couldn’t stand up yet because he could feel the weight of his erection, heavy between his thighs. She had to leave so he could get dressed.

  Damn her hold on him.

  “What about Peaches?”

  “I’m taking her. They won’t suspect a skinhead on a red Harley with a dog and an RPG.” Luca grinned, and it felt unfamiliar, a tic of his facial muscles.

  “I don’t like it. But I don’t have anything better for us to try.” Nani spun and walked out.

  So much for Dr. Bright Ideas.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Haunani

  Nani changed up the gears of the Humvee as she accelerated on the long, straight highway. Peaches, sitting on the passenger seat, whined restlessly and pressed her nose against the closed window, trying to see Luca, currently following them on that cherry-red Harley.

  Nani’s brothers would have loved that motorcycle, but it looked like it was made for Luca. He was every inch the skinhead thug in the chain-crossed, worn leather boots; tight, faded jeans; and leather jacket with the sleeves ripped off emblazoned with an American flag.

  “Settle down, girl.” She might as well have been telling herself that. Walking around Luca’s seated bulk to shave down his hair had been an exquisite exercise in torture, not that she wanted that big, rugged lug with his soulful, deep-set eyes—more striking now that his hair was gone.

  Even his ears looked good to her: sensual curves set tight to his skull. His strong, square jaw was a counterpoint to his plushy, kissable mouth with its strong angles and hints of sweetness. Luca wasn’t exactly handsome, he was something more—she could look at his face all day. Damn it!

  Nani was way into him, and he clearly had made up his mind about her. She might as well have been the traitor that unleashed the flu, herself.

  Peaches whined again.

  “Oh, all right.” Nani hit the automatic window, and the German Shepherd stuck her head out, thick fur ruffling in the unexpectedly cold wind that swirled into the cab. Nani refocused her gaze on the road ahead and frowned at the clouds massing at the horizon, darkening the afternoon into premature evening.

  With communications down, there was no way to track the weather, and it looked like a bad storm was headed their way. The Center was several hours north, and it appeared their trajectory would take them right into the path of the storm ahead.

  Better than staying at that haunted outpost for even one more minute.

  Half an hour later, Nani could hear the storm, right up ahead. It looked like hail was pelting the landscape. They needed to take cover.

  She spotted a ranch road and took it, spying a barn and house in the distance. Checking the rearview mirror, she checked that Luca was following. Part of her had wondered if he’d just keep going, ride into that storm like the stubborn man he was.

  The clouds above were black and shot through with lightning bolts. Peaches barked sharply as a gust rocked the Humvee and brought in a swirl of dust.

  Nani came to a stop in front of the house where the barn sheltered them partly from the storm. A pickup truck with rusted fenders was parked in the drive.

  Luca drew the motorcycle up beside her rolled-down window. His face was chapped with cold, his scalp red and patchy from exposure, but definitely dirtied up.

  “This is twister weather,” Luca shouted above the eerie howl of the wind. “We need to wait this out.”

  “Absolutely.” Nani opened her door. Peaches leapt out past her, ecstatic to be reunited with her master. The dog trotted around, sniffing, and barked a warning.

  A man stepped out onto the house’s porch, a shotg
un leveled at them.

  Nani’s heart softened at the sight of the man, defiantly holding up a double barrel shotgun against their superior firepower and physical strength. She raised her hands to show the man she had no hostile intent. “I’m a doctor.”

  Luca had already drawn his weapon at Peaches’ bark and stepped in front of her. Was he trying to protect her, like that man was protecting his home?

  The thought brought a stab of pain to her chest, and a throb of hunger to her core.

  God, she wanted him.

  “We’re taking shelter here from the storm,” Luca called, after a long moment. Nani could almost hear his brain whirring as he assessed the threat and decided this man posed no danger.

  However, the man’s cold stare still looked frightened, and she didn’t blame him. Luca was a scary sight in his current get-up, with Peaches growling at his side.

  Nani stepped out from behind Luca. “We have some extra food supplies. Is there anything you need?”

  Luca scowled at her. “No use getting any closer. He could be sick.”

  Now Nani frowned. “Human decency calls for us to offer help. I didn’t become a doctor so I could deny my skills to those who need them.”

  A woman appeared behind the man. “Our supplies are running low and my daughter has an infection.”

  “Don’t come any closer,” the man yelled. “Only the woman can approach.”

  “We’re a package deal,” Luca growled, unlocking the back hatch of the Humvee. “Do you want help or not?”

  The man stood aside silently in answer, and his wife and daughter came out to peer down at them.

  Nani picked up her backpack of much-depleted medical supplies, and she and Luca filled a box with a variety of freeze-dried food.

  Peaches led the way as Luca climbed the steps, his bad leg trailing a bit. He kept the family covered with his weapon until Nani elbowed him in the side gently.