by Aliyah Burke
“Hurry.”
Caleb went back to the bed, the room was dark and he reached out to wake Kami. “Wake up, Kam.”
“Kami,” she mumbled.
He smiled. “We have to go now.”
She must have heard the urgency in his tone for she sat up without another word. They grabbed their stuff and made it out to the main room where the couple sat with a lantern on the table. Fen had a bag that she handed to Kami and the man gestured them along, insistently.
“Thank you,” Kami said as they followed Qiang.
The man took them though the dirt streets of the village to a small grove of trees. The lantern barely illuminated it but he could make out an old dusty truck. It kind of reminded him of Deek’s.
“You go now, extra gas in the back.”
“Get in,” he said to Kami. He cringed at the loud creaking from the door hinge but she slid across and he put the bag on the seat, opened it and dug out a chunk of the money from Nik. “This is for you,” he spoke to Qiang while pressing the money into his hand. “Thank you so much for your assistance.”
“Good luck,” Qiang whispered. Then he and his light vanished back into the night.
He searched for the keys, found them in the visor and put them in the ignition, said a prayer before turning it over. It sputtered and coughed, but it started. Thank you, Jesus. He shifted into gear and got them off and on their way. Over the rumble of the motor, he heard Kami readying a weapon.
“You okay?” he asked as he whipped around the first corner, hit the high beams and gunned the accelerator.
“Getting better with each passing second you get me closer to a way out of here,” she stated bluntly.
“In the bag there’s a phone. Will you hand it to me?”
She dug and handed it over. “You had a phone this entire time?”
He took it and set it by his leg. “Yes. It’s not like I had exact coordinates to give them. This entire area is crawling with rebels. I couldn’t risk calling for help and having them get shot down before we even made the rendezvous.”
“So why now?”
“I’m sending them somewhere specific. All we have to do is get there. This way, I have you with me, I don’t have to give coordinates or anything like that. Maybe they won’t know where we’re going and give us a better shot of getting out alive.”
He cut the wheel sharply to the left and used the trucks momentum to slide them around the still soggy corner. Straightening out, he slowed down just a bit and reached for the phone resting precariously against his leg. Flipping it open, he turned it on and when it was ready, pressed the send button. He’d already checked that it had one number preprogrammed in it. It wasn’t a number he knew but he had a good idea of where it would connect him.
“How is she?” the Russian accented voice asked after the first ring. That was Nik. He wasn’t a man given to lengthy discussions, short and to the point.
“Alive. Hurt. But alive,” he said instantly.
“Where are you?”
They careened around another corner, backend fishtailing in the mud. “Running at the moment. But if you can get us something by where I left from I’d sure appreciate it.”
“It’s on its way now. Any idea of how it’ll be?”
“No, but we’re headed in that direction.” He swallowed. “It’s just the two of us.”
The word Nik uttered wasn’t in English, but Caleb got the gist of it.
“Keep her safe.”
Click. The call ended.
“What was that about? Or rather who was it?”
“Your Uncle Nik.”
Her gasp was audible. “He’s behind this?”
He tossed the phone to her and licked his lips before answering. “I think the less you know about ‘this’ the better.”
Whatever she’d been about to say was cut short by another gasp. This one created from fear. Another vehicle blocked the road. An older truck like the one he drove. The headlights shone on the begrimed green vehicle. That feeling he got when his senses were on full alert warning him of impending trouble was present and making itself known. Downshifting, he kept his foot hovering over the clutch.
“Hang on,” he uttered. He didn’t like this, not at all. She was too exposed. “Get down. As much as you can.”
He gunned it and flew toward the nonmoving truck. Plowing into the corner of the tailgate, he barreled on through, shifting as he went. Gunfire ripped through the night, he could hear it tearing into the side of the truck. Ducking his head, he didn’t slow. The rear window shattered before he took the next corner and sped away.
“You okay?” No answer. “Are you hit?” Still nothing. “Damn it, Kami, answer me!”
“So now, I’m Kami again?” she questioned, her voice sounding a bit winded.
“Don’t push it,” he warned even though he smiled. He sobered. “Are you hit?”
“No…no, I don’t believe so.” He couldn’t begin to explain his relief at that. “What about you?” Apparently, she read his pause correctly for she continued, “Don’t lie to me, Caleb I can smell the blood. How bad is it?”
“Across the arm, when they got the back window.”
“Does this thing have a dome light that works?”
Seconds after she asked, the entire thing sputtered and died. Caleb tried to revive her but there was no luck. They had just lost their transportation.
“Fuck!” He slammed his hand upon the steering wheel, embracing the sharp burst of pain. Thunder rolled overhead and he almost swore again.
“What do we do now?”
“Continue on foot. We got pretty far down so”—he hopped out and grabbed his bag, “—let’s keep going.”
The light had begun to creep in but along with it rolled thick black angry clouds, keeping the slight respite from the dark almost at bay. She joined him by the tailgate and stared up at him.
“Hang on a second,” he muttered as the first bit of rain began to fall. Hurrying to the driver’s door, he reached through and popped it into neutral. He returned to the back and pushed, his feet dug into the soggy muck until they found purchase, allowing him to move the truck. He didn’t let up until the old thing went over the side and rolled down to be swallowed up by foliage.
Facing Kami, the feeling in her eyes struck him. It burned him. He knew that look, she was aroused. His cock stiffened instantly and he wiped his hands off on his pant legs to give himself some time to recoup.
“Let’s go.”
“We need to get somewhere I can dress your wound,” she said.
The sky opened up, drenching them in a matter of seconds. Hoisting his bag, he set off down the road and then off it into the mountain, hoping their tracks would be effaced by the time the rebels made their way to that point. With a deep breath and a prayer, he pressed on, adjusting his track based on the coordinates on his watch.
Chapter 7
Kami ignored the pain in her own body as she concentrated on the task before her. When she finished the last stitch and knotted it off, she didn’t even bother with a knife, just leaned in and bit the thread. Caleb shivered slightly at that and she couldn’t help but notice.
He was a hard man not to notice. Large, powerful, and it didn’t help he’d been in her dreams for years now. Sitting back on her haunches, she stowed the needle and remaining silk. Seven stitches it had taken to close the laceration left behind by the bullet. He was lucky; it could have gone into him through the armpit and into a lung.
“There you go,” she whispered and sinking fully onto the hay, they sat on.
He’d hidden them out in a small barn on the outskirts of another village. They’d walked all day and now with dark beginning to fall he’d brought her here. Which she was glad for, her body more than ready to stop moving for at least a month.
“Thank you,” he replied in a similar tone.
She glanced up at him and found him staring at her. “What? Do you hear something?”
He never took his gaze fro
m her face; she could feel the heated flush begin to overtake her. Wordlessly he shook his head. This strange flux of feelings assuaged her and she wanted to look away but in the grayness of the approaching night and onslaught of rain, she could no more look away than she could stop the rain.
Her breath caught when he leaned closer, or so she imagined. She could feel the tingling of goose bumps explode up and down her skin. Then he blinked those sinfully long, thick lashes and said, “Get some sleep.”
If not for her exhaustion and pain, she could have hit him for leaving her wanting so bad. She actually ached for his touch. Swallowing her disappointment, she merely nodded and lay back in the surprisingly sweet smelling hay. It was a plus. Hay, no animals, and shelter from the rain.
What more can a woman ask for? A lot but she wasn’t going to nitpick. Not yet anyway.
Caleb lay near her and without asking; she slid closer to him and curled up against him, sharing his warmth and taking comfort for the protection of being in his arms. He stiffened but didn’t demand she move away and that…she took as a good sign. With the pure scent of Caleb in her nostrils, combined with rain and fresh hay, she again drifted into a restful sleep.
She woke pressed tight to his hard body. His arms closed around her, keeping her right there. Burrowing into him, she fought back the desire to fall back asleep. He was awake, somehow she knew that.
“Time to go?” she asked in a whisper.
“Yes.”
Tipping her head up she found his down so he could see her. Blue eyes of incredible intensity stared unrelenting at her. The growth on his lower jaw made her want to touch it, feel it sliding across her skin, how it would tease and tantalize. Her nipples beaded behind the swath of material he’d used to bind them. A deep longing grew in her core, bringing with it, wetness and awareness of just how impressive this man was.
No concern for consequences, she eliminated the distance between them and placed her healing mouth upon his. He groaned and moved back, she followed, determined to keep them joined. Her tongue touched the seam of his mouth and just like that, he allowed her in. He was rigid against her, but he didn’t stop the kiss. She explored him at her leisure, acquainting herself with his rich taste.
Stroking his tongue created a low rumble in his chest she could feel. She did it again and the sound grew even more dangerous. This time she withdrew her tongue and nipped at his lower lip.
Caleb swore and tore his mouth from hers. His eyes shot lightning and she could feel a reaction deep within her. He wanted her. He couldn’t hide that.
“Don’t do this,” he rasped.
Disappointment filled her and she frowned up at him. “You can’t stand me touching you, can you?”
“That’s not it, Kami. Not at all.” His words were ragged and graveled.
“Then what?”
Caleb closed his eyes and she witnessed the clenched jaw before it vanished, and he again stared at her. He placed one hand on the side of her face, moved his thumb along her cheek. Flutters began in her belly. “I’ll tell you what,” he growled. “When you kiss me like that, Kami, it takes all my control not to rip those damn clothes off of you. I want you. But what I want to do to you…you are in no condition to handle. I’m doing my damndest to be a gentleman here but you’re not making it easy. Trust me, sweets, I want you to touch me, all over. I want to strip you bare and take you up on what you offered to me five years ago.”
Her skin tingled at his deep drawl. It was as if she could feel his touch all over her body when in actuality all he did was continue to rub his thumb along her cheek.
“Caleb,” she whimpered.
“Not here and not now, Kami. But I promise you, it will happen.”
His words contained such conviction she shuddered all over again. When his touch retreated, her feeling was an earmark of emptiness. He held her gaze for a few more seconds, the eyes smoldered and she fought off another wave of blinding craving.
He got to his feet, shouldered his bag, and reached down to offer her a hand up. Not much later and she was following him back down through the increasing thickness of foliage. They had been in mostly conifers higher up, now they tramped through both sub and tropical forests. The air thick and heavy with the promise of more rain.
She stumbled over a thick root and gasped at the sharp pain that exploded up through her body. Stars flickered before her eyes and with a whimper; she remained on her hands and knees.
“Kam?” Caleb squatted beside her. “What’s wrong?”
Breathing was a chore, she held up a hand in a feeble attempt to convey what she needed. It didn’t work for he asked again. She found a rhythm that didn’t hurt too badly to breathe and finally managed to open her eyes.
“Just had the wind knocked out of me,” she lied.
“Can you keep going?”
“Until I’m dead I’ll keep trying to get out of here. I want to go home.”
At the conviction of her words, he smiled and helped her up. Damn it! She didn’t know how much further she could go, honestly.
“We’ll go a bit slower. There’s another village up here. I’ll get a vehicle if they have one.”
“What if…they won’t sell it?”
“We’re taking it then. I’m not stupid Kami; I can see you’re in immense pain. I’ll rob anyone I have to in order to get you home and to a doctor.”
Warmth spread through her at those words and helped keep the pain at bay. There existed no doubt in her mind; Caleb Moser meant each and every one of those words. She dug deep within and found the strength to get up and continue.
αβ
Kami moaned and shifted before opening her eyes. Disoriented she scanned the room which she currently occupied and noticed a few faded posters of pinup girls; otherwise it didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary. Not that it helped her identify where she was.
She could hear voices coming through the door that sat partially open. Her head was jumbled and she shook it a few times while sitting up, cautious of her ribs. She noticed she still wore Caleb’s shirt but nothing else. At the foot of the bed sat some folded items and she found clean underwear, shorts and slip-on shoes, gratefully she slid them on. She just sat back down when a knock came to the door.
“Kam?” Caleb asked before he stuck his head in.
The mere sight of him made her heart constrict and her pulse increase tenfold. He looked so damn good. He’d knocked back his whiskers again but still had some on his face. The naturally dark skin he’d been graced with even darker given his time outdoors made her mouth water how it covered his powerful body. Then to see those azure eyes staring at her with, dare she say it, ownership and possessiveness in them.
“Where are we?” she queried.
“Final point before we get you home.”
“I…I don’t remember coming here.”
He sighed heavily and entered the small room the rest of the way, pushing the door closed behind him. “You wouldn’t. You passed out not long after I stole the next vehicle. I hooked up the last IV I had and headed here, stopping only when we had to. I told people you had the fever so they wouldn’t get to close, and paid people off to let us keep going. We’ve been here for half a day. The plane is refueling now so we’ll be leaving soon. Sunset.”
Leaving. Home. Words she’d never believed she would hear again. She took as deep a breath as she could and moved to stand before him. There was so much she longed to say to him but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, she swallowed and pointed at his arm.
“How’s it feel?”
“Fine. You did a great job. There’s some food out there, think you can eat something?”
She nodded, disappointed he hadn’t kissed her. From the heat in his eyes, she would have bet he longed to. Unfortunately, he did no such thing. Merely raked his gaze over her then stepped back, allowing her to exit the room first.
She didn’t see anyone he could have been talking to and wondered if it had been that phone. The table had some fr
uit, bread, and meat on it while a small television played some show she didn’t understand. Taking a seat, she reached for a roll and some fruit. Her stomach was in knots, fear that being this close to making it home would somehow be yanked out from under her and she’d end up in that hut out in the middle of nowhere again.
In her peripheral, she noticed Caleb lower his physique to the other chair. Unlike her, he seemed to have no problem eating and attacked his food with gusto. All that stopped when a picture of Evan flashed across the screen. Her heart constricted painfully in her chest and she froze, desperately wishing she could understand.
“What are they saying?” she asked in a hushed whisper.
“How they are still searching for the whereabouts of Evan, you, and Missy. There’s been ransom demands made for you and Evan but not one for Missy. How concerned your family and friends are but they refuse to talk to the media. They’re listing your father’s credentials as a country music star and talking about your family.”
A ransom demand? How would they retrieve it? It didn’t make sense. From the way they treated her, it sure didn’t seem like she was being ransomed. After all it is not easy to ransom a dead woman. But they didn’t kill you. Sing offered you a bit of protection. Perhaps, but that was more because of her value as a doctor than anything.
Her heart hurt thinking of the pain this caused her family. Dropping her head, she stared at her plate, unable to see images of her pulled from the press and shots of her family as well. Picking up the bread, she began to tear it into small pieces and setting them down on the white dish. Soon the sound vanished and silence descended upon them. She glanced up when Caleb sat back down, his eyes full of compassion as he stared at her.
She licked her lips and ate a piece of bread. “Where did you learn to speak…whatever it is you’re speaking?”
“Mandarin? I learned when I first joined the Corps. Mama always told me it would be smart to learn more than just English. So after Spanish I went with Mandarin.”
