by C. R. Hill
Sierra wasn’t going to be able to do that. She couldn’t make her hand work. “Jake, you’ll have to lift me.” God, she hated being weak like this. Again.
He reached in and using her good hand, she clamped onto his bicep. He grabbed her beneath the arms. The lift was excruciating on her injured shoulder. By the time her feet touched the ground outside, her face was bathed in sweat and nausea roiled in her stomach.
Flores and Alfredo had also climbed out. Flores had blood at his temple and a cut above his eye, his brother too had blood on his face. But for the most part they were lucky they were all still in one piece.
Jake’s hand went to the side of her head. “You’re bleeding.”
She looked at him. “You too, but it’s not my head that hurts. You have to get my shoulder back in place.”
“And then we have to move,” Flores said tersely.
“Get our guns,” Jake instructed and pulled Sierra to the back of the SUV. She saw what had stopped them. A tree. A row of them lined the road.
Jake pressed her back against one. “Take a deep breath.” His mouth thinned as she obeyed and he gripped her arm.
She nodded. Jake pulled. Tears sprang to Sierra’s eyes and she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as she stifled the scream that fought to get out. Her shoulder popped back in place. Sharp relief accompanied it. It still hurt like hell, but it was the kind of pain she could live with.
Flores and Alfredo joined them. He’d just lost three of his friends and the anger was etched in his face.
“We head back toward the town,” Jake said. “Diaz won’t set off grenades in the midst of all those people.”
They all nodded and took off through the trees. They’d driven probably ten miles from Flores’s home, but cutting through the trees would cut off half the distance.
Sierra’s head was beginning to hurt now that her shoulder wasn’t throbbing so badly. They were moving at a steady jog. She touched the side of her head and her hand came away wet, but the cut didn’t feel that big.
They came out of the trees at a road. The whine of an engine rumbled to their left.
And right.
They ducked back into the trees as two jeeps came within view.
Jake looked at Flores. “You and Alfredo go back the way we came. They don’t want you.”
More jeeps were coming. Diaz had a freakin’ army. Flores wanted to argue.
“Go, Flores,” Jake said again. He slid the backpack off his shoulders and slipped his hand in the side pocket. He pulled out the compact with the tracking signal then handed Flores the bag. “Take this to the chopper. If it’s our help, then this is what they want.”
Flores took it and without another word, he and Alfredo disappeared into the darkness.
Sierra hoisted her gun on her shoulder. Jake did the same.
A voice boomed over a speaker as one of the jeeps halted. “Come out and you won’t be harmed.”
She and Jake were out gunned. She was glad they’d made love one more time, since it would probably be their last. “Do you believe him?” Sierra asked.
“No. But it might buy us some time. If there are USOI agents in the area, they’re coming for us.”
“And if that chopper’s not our guys?”
He looked at her. “Then I’m glad we made love one more time,” he said echoing her thoughts. He leaned toward her and kissed her hard on the mouth. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
“You either.”
Throwing their guns down, they walked onto the road. They were now at the mercy of a man who hated them both.
~***~
Sierra’s butt bone knocked against the bottom of the jeep as it traversed the road. She and Jake were seated in the back across from each other, their ankles were tied and their hands were secured behind their backs. When the soldier had jerked her around, she’d almost cried like a baby at the abuse to her already injured shoulder.
But she’d stifled that cry because, unlike Jake, these men would use any weakness they found, against her.
Jake’s eyes were narrowed, his expression pensive. She wished she knew what he was thinking. She’d interpreted the rapid Spanish the men had exchanged and they were being taken to a house on the outskirts of the town.
Their only hope at the moment was her compact. She’d stuffed it into her boot. If Trent had the cavalry near here, they’d find them. She just hoped it wouldn’t be too late.
The blood had dried on the side of Jake’s head, dirt streaked his cheeks and there was a bruise forming on his chin no doubt from the accident. Still he was the sexiest man she’d ever seen.
She chuckled, despite the situation.
Jake looked at her like she had lost her mind.
She shrugged and whispered. “I was just thinking how sexy you looked and then how totally absurd that probably was.”
He shook his head, but his mouth lifted slightly. “You’re brain works in mysterious ways, Sierra.”
“So, you have a plan B in case Trent and our guys don’t show up?” She asked the question, though she really didn’t think he did. It wasn’t his place to come up with a plan anyway. She’d started this whole mess by coming down here on her own.
“Working on it. Just stay alert. We may only get one chance to get loose. I suspect we’re not dead yet because Diaz is hoping to retrieve what you stole from his safe.”
“Which you smartly sent with Flores.”
One of the men up front hit the jeep frame with the butt of his rifle. “No talk!”
Sierra looked back at Jake and wiggled against her constraints. Her side was bleeding again. She could feel the wet stickiness of it.
Jake wiggled some in front of her. Then all of a sudden his hands broke free. His wrists were bleeding and she wasn’t sure how he’d gotten loose, but it didn’t matter. Moving slowly so the guys in the jeeps behind them couldn’t tell what he was doing, he leaned forward and worked the ties on his feet loose. Then he loosened the ones on her feet.
He couldn’t risk untying her hands, and alerting their captors.
Just like in the jungle, they seemed to have the uncanny ability to communicate with only a look. Sierra could see a pistol lying on the seat between their two captors. If he could get it, they’d have a chance. He nodded to her, basically telling her to be ready.
He sat back against the side of the jeep and put his hands behind his back.
They were entering a curve in the road, the sides lined with trees. This might be the best place they’d have to get out as the curve was sharp enough to hide them from view at intervals from the jeep behind.
Jake nodded at her. As they entered the first part of the curve, he moved. He reached through the window, grabbed the gun, shot the guard riding shotgun in the head, and the one driving in the knee. The driver howled and steered the jeep off the road.
“Hang on,” Jake yelled as the jeep stopped abruptly against a tree, throwing them both against the back of the jeep. The slam into the jeep walls jarred her shoulder again, sending pain shooting down her arm.
One more bullet stopped the driver from grabbing his own gun. They had only seconds. Jake scooped her up and basically tossed her over the side of the jeep. He jumped out behind her and steadied her, since her balance was off without the use of her hands. They slid down a hillside and started running, Jake basically pulling her along. Shouts behind them told them they didn’t have much of a head start. Jake stopped them though. “We need to get your hands untied.”
She couldn’t run as fast as him with her hands behind her back and he knew it. She could hear their pursuers. “Just leave me, Jake.”
“I won’t leave you behind, Sierra. We’ve already discussed that.” His words and fierce look made Sierra’s heart squeeze, but she also didn’t want to be responsible for him getting killed. This was even more serious than the jungle.
As quickly as possible he worked on her ties. A knife would make it quicker, but the guards had taken them when they’d
been captured. Finally he got it loose and she pulled free. By that time, the sound of boots crunching through the forest was too close for comfort.
Jake shoved her forward, and pulled the gun he’d used on the guards from his waistband. “Go.”
She dodged trees, heading east, which hopefully was closer to help. Sierra concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as they climbed a steep embankment. She still wasn’t a hundred percent and the blood seeping from her side, wasn’t helping her energy level.
“I don’t hear them anymore,” Jake said as they stopped at the top.
“Surely they didn’t just give up,” Sierra said around sucking in deep gulps of air.
“Something’s up.”
“Something’s always up where Diaz is concerned.”
Jake looked at the woman beside him. She was fighting to stay on her feet. She’d wanted him to leave her as if that was even a possibility. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her until neither of them could think straight. But now wasn’t the time.
“Sit a minute, Sierra. Let me check your side.”
She looked at him, her brown eyes sparkling in spite of the pain he knew she was in. “You just want to get me out of my shirt again.”
“And your pants, but that’s going to wait until you’re in one piece and we have a nice comfortable bed. Now sit.”
“Promise?” She asked and plopped on the ground as though her legs had just turned to jelly.
He lifted her shirt, which was sticky. “Damn, I don’t think there’s a stitch left. Using his teeth, he worked a hole in the bottom of his tee-shirt and pulled a strip it. Wadding it up, he pressed it against her side. “Hold that.”
She looked up at him. Her eyes were weary now that she’d stopped moving. “What are you going to do?”
“Just a little recon. I’ll be right back.”
He didn’t give her a chance to argue with him. It was too quiet in the trees.
He circled back, keeping low. Then he heard it and a smile split his face. The cavalry had finally arrived.
Chapter Nineteen
A shower and clean clothes almost made Sierra feel human again. Of course, Jake and Trent had both made her go to the hospital before she did anything else.
The doctor had put staples in her side, given her a shot of antibiotics, a bag of fluids and a prescription. He’d also told her to take some time off.
Not much chance of that happening until they found Diaz.
She walked out of the locker room at headquarters and headed to the debriefing room. Jake had showered and shaved, and now in a clean pair of jeans and another black tee-shirt, he sat in a chair as Andy Bradshaw, one of their tech guys, worked on the phone they’d brought back.
“Anything?” she asked and walked toward them.
Andy had the phone hooked up to some sort of electronic gadget that she assumed was pulling numbers from it.
He wrote something down, then handed Trent the piece of paper. “This number is the one that was programmed into it,” Andy said.
Trent looked at her and Jake. “I think our mole is Senator Cassidy.”
“Any idea why?” Sierra asked.
Trent nodded. “I think she’s basically being blackmailed to help him. Her sister has some health problems that prevented her from having a child and prevented her from being eligible for adopting here in the States. But she adopted a baby two years ago, supposedly from Russia. After looking into the paperwork, it doesn’t pan out.”
“So she bought a baby from Diaz,” Jake said.
“That’s what we think,” Trent agreed. “Diaz found the connection and we think he’s been blackmailing the Senator ever since for information on our members. I was looking for money being paid into someone’s account, but he wasn’t paying her in money. Only in silence.”
“Okay, so once we make sure she’s the mole, we put a stop to it and go after Diaz for real,” Jake said.
“You’ll have to put protection on the Senator. If Diaz thinks she’s been made, he’ll try to take her out,” Sierra said.
Trent rubbed his neck. “We’ll take her into custody immediately.”
Sierra sat on the edge of the table. “So, what about Diaz? Any idea where he is now?”
“Some ideas,” Trent said. “But you need to rest, Sierra.”
She caught Jake’s gaze and arched her eyebrow at him, daring him to say anything. He lowered his gaze to the table.
“I’m fine, boss. I want to see this through.”
“Jake, what do you think?” Trent asked.
Jake looked back at Sierra, his expression intense. The war he fought with himself played out behind his eyes. She waited, knowing that his answer held more importance than whether Trent let her go. Their future rode on what he said now and they both knew it.
“I think she’ll be fine.” Jake nodded at Trent. “We started this, we should both finish it.”
Trent’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded in return. “Okay, both of you get some rest. You won’t pull out for at least forty-eight hours. That’ll give me enough time to neutralize Cassidy and set up the mission.”
~***~
After Trent arranged a car for them, Jake drove them to Sierra’s small apartment in silence. She was exhausted, yet she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep. She was revved up not only over the mission, but over Jake’s acquiescence of her going. He’d wanted to say no. She knew that like she knew her own name.
But he hadn’t and that meant more to her than any declarations of affection he could utter.
He parked the car in the parking garage and took the elevator to her fourth story apartment.
Once they were inside, she turned to him. “Why did you tell Trent I should be in on the mission to take down Diaz?”
He blew out a breath a raked a hand through his hair. “I put myself in your position and knew how I would have felt if I’d been side-lined.”
“But you didn’t want me to go.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not thrilled with it, no.”
His frown was so deep, it made her laugh. Like a little child who hadn’t gotten the toy he’d wanted. She walked to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “With you watching my back, everything will be fine.”
Blue eyes locked with her gaze. “You’re not a hundred percent.”
“I feel a lot better than I did a couple days ago.”
Using both hands, he speared his fingers into her hair cradling her head. “You have to promise me you won’t take undue chances.”
She leaned into him for a quick kiss, then smiled. “I promise. Now, I think you said something about getting me out of my shirt and pants once we had a nice comfortable bed. I have a king-sized one in the other room.”
Pulling her fully against him, he kissed her with the kind of heated intensity only he possessed. When he let her up for air, her knees were ready to buckle. Good thing Jake scooped her into his arms and took her to bed.
~***~
Sierra looked at her reflection, glad to have her natural hair color back. It would take longer to grow out, but that was okay. The shorter locks weren’t too bad and Jake didn’t seem to mind.
Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. Spending an entire night in his arms, making love, not once but three times was not good. She was too involved.
But what else could she do. The man lit her on fire. Never in all her years had she felt anything even remotely like what she felt for Jake. She still wasn’t sure it was love, but then she didn’t know if she even knew what love was if it hit her full in the face.
She didn’t think she’d ever been loved. Her mother had gotten rid of her at three. She had no memory of the woman who’d given birth to her at all. Yes, there had been a few adults who had been nice to her, but Sierra had never made it easy. She could see and admit that now.
She’d had a giant chip on her shoulder. Always waiting to be let down or for someone to use a weakness against her. Jake hadn�
�t done that yet though.
He’d told Trent to let her go on this mission, even though he didn’t want her to. And he didn’t want her to because he was worried. She could see that now.
Which still didn’t help her figure out her feelings.
She shook her head at her image. “You really have gotten yourself into a mess this time, Sierra.”
~***~
Sierra watched the car pull up outside the dilapidated building. Between satellite imagery and some discreetly asked questions, they’d learned that Diaz had fled Santo Domingo after she’d blown up his home.
His private plane had flown to Bolivia. From there he’d been tracked to this isolated town, just north of the mountains.
The driver’s door to the car opened and Michael Toraz climbed out. He looked around, then shut the door.
After he disappeared inside, Trent’s voice sounded in their earpieces. “Okay, ready your positions. Wade? Zach? You in position?”
Wade Riley and Zach Chambers were both expert snipers. They’d taken position on either side of the building about a hundred yards away.
They both checked in with, “ready”.
Trent went through the roster, Matt, Lanny, Adam, Kate, and David, all of whom Sierra had worked with before. Jake was the only one who was finally working on a team with the unit.
She glanced at him as they were positioned together between two buildings fifty yards away, wondering how he was handling being a part of the big group after so many years of working alone. His gaze was fixed on the target, his body vibrating with the tension of the mission.
“Ready, Sierra?” Trent asked.
“Ready,” she answered. And she was. Ready to be done with this. To have Diaz locked away and the children safe again and Daniel’s death avenged.
Once Jake gave his okay, Trent gave the go signal. They all converged on the building. Matt and Adam took the door out, then they all streamed inside. The assault rifle in Sierra’s hands felt heavy. She didn’t want to use it. As much as she hated Diaz, she wanted him to really be punished for his crimes. To suffer the way only prison would make him suffer.
