WAR: Disruption

by Vanessa Kier

  Max pulled Emily to a halt at the edge of the clearing. Four men guarded the vehicles. Two each from Dietrich and the buyer.

  Gunfire erupted from the meeting place. The guards glanced at one another, then ran toward the fight. A moment later, two more men tore out of the bushes near the road and also ran toward the firefight.

  Excellent.

  Max gestured for Emily to wait while he cautiously stepped into the clearing. There was no cry of alarm, so he started checking vehicles. Aha! He found a massive tool kit in the second vehicle. After removing a pair of wire cutters, he motioned Emily over. “Since they’re still shooting at one another, we have time to cut the brake lines of as many vehicles as we can. Do you know where the brake lines are?” He would prefer to do the sabotage himself, but no way would his wounded leg and ribs tolerate him crawling across the uneven jungle floor.

  Emily nodded and took the wire cutters from him.

  “Work fast.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth. “I’m going to load one of the Hummers with supplies so we can use it for our getaway.”

  She darted over to the first vehicle, dropped to the ground and slid easily underneath.

  Once he lost sight of her, Max removed the keys left in the ignitions. Being suspicious types, the drivers must have expected to need a quick escape. Better for him.

  He decided to take the nearest Hummer as their getaway vehicle. He tossed Emily’s backpack inside, then checked out the cargo compartment. Max whistled silently as he ran his gaze over the cases of weapons and ammo. He opened one box that contained a variety of high-end European combat knives. Another box held Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifles and Glock 9 mm pistols. “Damn, these boys mean business,” he murmured. And not just the ordinary rebel kind of trouble. The rebels mainly bought cheaper AK-47s and were happy with them. No, this cargo hinted at that core of better funded, better trained soldiers he’d heard rumors of.

  Just who was this buyer? Kris hadn’t provided details, but a hell of a lot of targeted damage could be done with this level of sophisticated weaponry. He’d bet these rifles were also going to be used in support of the upcoming attack.

  Had Dietrich sold both the prototype and these weapons to the buyer?

  After checking over his shoulder on Emily’s progress, Max unzipped one of the cloth rifle bags on the back seat, keeping attended for any sound of approaching danger. “Holy Shit.” He ran his hand reverently over the CheyTac M200. It was a top-of-the-line sniper rifle for a highly trained, experienced shooter. No way did the rebels have anyone with the skill to properly handle this baby. Hell, Max was an excellent shot with years of combat experience, and even he wouldn’t be able to use the rifle to its full capacity.

  Not to mention that the rifle cost a fortune.

  Well, their bad luck. Max was taking their expensive cargo. He zipped the rifle bag closed and set it on the floor of the passenger seat. Added a few combat knives, a couple grenades, and two G36s with extra ammo to the passenger’s area. Loaded magazines into two of the Glocks, then stuck one pistol and a couple of spare magazines in the map holder on the driver’s door and the same on the passenger’s side door. Just in case they needed to fight on the run.

  A loud boom sounded from the direction of the deal. Men shouted. Branches cracked, indicating someone had broken away from the fighting and was headed their way.

  “Em! Stop. We’re going to have company. Let’s go.” Max hauled himself into the driver’s seat and started the Hummer.

  Emily popped up from beneath one of the Land Rovers on the far side of the clearing and raced toward him.

  As Max drew near, he leaned over and flung open the passenger side door.

  Several of Dietrich’s guards burst out of the jungle. The man in the lead saw Emily and fired. She screamed, pitched forward, then lay unmoving.

  Blood spread across her right upper back. “Emily!”

  The shooter shifted his aim and fired at Max as two of his buddies darted forward, hooked their hands under Emily’s arms, and dragged her over to one of Dietrich’s Land Rovers. Max grabbed the Glock and shot the man aiming at him, but couldn’t fire at Emily’s captors because they held her like a shield.

  Another group of guards exited the jungle and opened fire.

  Shit.

  Bullets tore into the interior of the vehicle before Max managed to slam the passenger door closed. More bullets thudded into the vehicle’s exterior, but didn’t penetrate. Armored. Good to know. He slammed his foot on the accelerator and the Hummer leaped forward. He had to rescue Emily before—

  The men across the clearing threw Emily into the back of the Land Rover. “No!” He was almost there. Almost—

  One of Dietrich’s Hummers cut him off, trapping him against one of the buyer’s Land Cruisers.

  Max reversed and swerved around the Land Cruiser, but ended up playing dodge with the other Hummer until he finally faked them out and raced past them.

  But while he’d been maneuvering, the Land Rover holding Emily had sped into reverse. It slowed as Dietrich ran out of the jungle holding the briefcase with the second prototype. The passenger side door opened.

  Max couldn’t take a shot because Dietrich’s guards were keeping him under heavy fire. But he raced toward the Land Rover as fast as he could, zigging and zagging around the buyer’s stationary vehicles. Behind Dietrich, Johann, who held the buyer’s briefcase, jumped into one of Dietrich’s Hummers.

  Just before Dietrich climbed inside the Land Rover, he glanced into the back seat at Emily. With an evil smile, he gave Max a mocking nod. Then he ducked inside and the Land Rover raced toward the road.

  Agony tore through Max’s chest as he chased after them. They might as well have tied a chain to his heart, attached it to their bumper, and yanked it out as they drove away. That pain wouldn’t be any worse.

  Max blinked to clear the moisture from his vision.

  Shots fired behind him. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed more of Dietrich’s men running into the clearing. They fired at Max, then piled into Dietrich’s remaining vehicles and joined the chase. Just before the jungle blocked his view, Max saw the buyer’s men reach the clearing. Guess Dietrich’s guys hadn’t managed to kill everyone after all.

  Keeping Dietrich’s vehicles in view, Max drove out of the jungle and turned left onto the road. To his surprise, the other vehicles seemed content to stay ahead of him without shooting. Which made him suspect Dietrich wanted to lead Max to a spot where his team could better ambush him without the buyer’s men interfering. Or else Dietrich hoped to outrun Max, leaving him to despair in the dust.

  Hearing a crunch of metal behind him, Max glanced back. The second of Dietrich’s Hummers and one of the buyer’s Land Cruisers lay on their sides on the road. They must have tried to slow to make the sharp turn north, discovered their brakes were out, and flipped. As he watched, another vehicle crashed into the back of the Land Cruiser.

  Good for Emily, she’d managed to disable several vehicles before being kidnapped.

  God, even that thought made his heart ache.

  Bullets slammed into the rear of his vehicle. Who—?

  He checked his mirror again. Well, damn. One of Dietrich’s Land Rovers and one of the buyer’s Land Cruisers must still have working brakes, because they were tearing after Max while alternating between shooting at him and shooting at each other.

  The buyer’s vehicle sideswiped the Land Rover, but Dietrich’s man managed to keep it on the road. Then the Land Rover tried to run the Land Cruiser off the road.

  Max pulled away from the tussling vehicles and focused on the vehicles he was chasing. By staying in the rear position, the Hummer provided protection for Dietrich’s Land Rover. Max couldn’t use the grenades for fear of causing the Hummer to rear end the Land Rover.

  He wouldn’t risk that Emily would be shot in a crash.

  An explosion went off behind him and he momentarily lost control of the Hummer. After he’d wrestled the vehicl
e straight again, he checked the rearview mirror. The buyer’s Land Rover sat in the middle of the road, engulfed in flames. Looked like Dietrich’s men had tossed a grenade. If so, it hadn’t work out so well. As he watched, the Land Rover swerved across the road and crashed into a tree.

  Okay. Two more down. Max gave his Hummer more gas.

  The jungle on either side of the road gradually thinned, then gave way to maize fields. Unfortunately, Dietrich’s vehicles had drawn farther ahead. Max pushed his speed as fast as the Hummer would go, but the vehicles were evenly matched and he didn’t make much progress.

  Dietrich must have decided that he was done playing with Max, because the back window of the Hummer lowered to reveal an RPG launcher.

  Oh, shit.

  Max swerved into the field as Dietrich’s man fired. The grenade exploded in the road several hundred feet away. Still, the force of the blast hit the Hummer like a punch from a giant fist. The impact threw Max so hard against the steering wheel that he saw double.

  No. Can’t…pass…out… Have…to get…to Emily…

  After a few shakes of his head and a lot of blinking, the world returned to focus. Ignoring the pain in his head and ribs, Max checked that all the critical lights on the dashboard showed the Hummer was still operational, then resumed driving. He skirted the shallow crater left by the grenade and returned to the road. But he’d lost so much time, he could barely make out the other vehicles ahead of him.

  He tamped down a flare of panic. There was no choice but to keep going. He was not giving up on Emily.

  Several minutes later, he realized that the humming in his ears wasn’t a side effect from the blast. A helicopter was approaching. Goddammit, if he didn’t act fast, Dietrich and his men would airlift Emily out of here.

  He’d promised he’d keep her safe, and he’d failed.

  Jagged needles of pain tore into his heart. He licked his lips and tasted blood. And tears.

  Well, why the hell not? He loved Emily. Dietrich had her and would hurt her. Maybe even kill her.

  The odds of getting Emily back were near to impossible. But those odds had never stopped him before. He had a couple of grenades. The assault rifles. Plus the CheyTac, which had better range and power.

  As a plan formed in his mind, Max checked the signal strength on the sat phone. Good to go.

  His hands shook as he picked up the phone. His vision swam in and out of focus and the pain in his head pounded with such intensity, it could have split granite. He braked. Closed his eyes and gathered his senses.

  Then he dialed Kristoff.

  “Hello?” His friend’s voice sounded half-wary, half-pissed.

  It had never sounded so welcome.

  “Kris, it’s Max. I need your help.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  WHEN EMILY WOKE up she didn’t know where she was. Then the bouncing, jarring movement and the sound of an engine clued her in that she was in a vehicle. But what—?

  Oh, no. Cutting the brake lines. Running. Pain.

  She’d been shot.

  Max!

  Was he alive? Dead? Alive but a prisoner?

  She tried to sit up. Pain tore through her shoulder. She gasped and opened her eyes.

  Two sets of legs hung off a car’s seat in front of her. A large, black, military style boot nudged her shoulder. She looked up and saw a white man wearing one of Dietrich’s uniforms staring down at her. He had a pistol holstered at his waist and an assault rifle on his lap. He gave her a chilling smile, then looked away.

  The man sitting next to him could have been his twin. He had the same closely shorn hair and black uniform. Both men radiated tension. Competence.

  “The woman is awake, Herr Dietrich,” the man closest to her said.

  “So. You are the young woman who has become Maximilian’s companion.” The cultured voice spoke with a faint accent. German? She couldn’t tell.

  Barely moving her head, she stared up into the emotionless gray eyes of Dietrich, who had turned to address her from the front passenger seat. You wouldn’t know from looking at him that he’d just escaped a gun battle in the jungle. He’d combed out his hair and cleaned his face and hands. A sharp contrast to the bloodstained, dusty men guarding her.

  “I do apologize for my man shooting you. The heat of battle, you understand.”

  Emily remained silent.

  Dietrich’s eyes twinkled at her in amusement. “Too afraid to speak? I assure you, we mean you no harm. You are simply leverage in case Max decides to cause trouble for us.”

  Max was alive!

  “If you require proof, you will notice that my man has treated and bandaged your shoulder. This should prevent excessive blood loss, allowing you ample time to reach a medical facility. Once we are safely away.”

  Emily focused on her shoulder, not wanting to move in case it caused more pain. Yes, she felt something pressing against her skin that might be a bandage. She gave Dietrich a slight nod of acknowledgment. The man certainly had an odd habit of tending to the wounds of his prisoners.

  “Of course, my buyer’s reinforcements might arrive before you get very far.” Dietrich gave an elegant shrug. “A delicate girl like you would bring him a high price in the right market.”

  Emily pretended as if she were dancing the role of an arrogant queen and didn’t let any of her fear show on her face.

  “Ah, that does not scare you? Perhaps you believe Max will rescue you?” Dietrich’s smile was condescending. “Only time will tell, hmm?” With that, he turned to face forward again.

  The truth was, Emily knew Max would do whatever he could to rescue her. Only… He was just one man and he wasn’t at full strength. If she wanted to make it out alive, she had to help herself.

  The guards were too close for her to try anything now. Still, she’d wait and watch and hope for an opportunity to exploit. Because if she’d learned anything from this ordeal, it was that she was adaptable. More creative and smart than she’d given herself credit for. And while she still wasn’t certain if she wanted to make a new career in photography, she wanted to live so she could make a difference in the world. So she could become a positive force, counterbalancing the harm caused by Dietrich and the rebels.

  And she wanted a future with Max.

  Ignoring the pain in her shoulder and the fear of what the men might do to her, she focused on gathering as much information about her surroundings and her captors as possible. Because she intended to escape at the first opportunity.

  WAR Headquarters

  The Democratic Republic of the Ivory Coast

  West Africa

  “WHO WAS THAT?”

  Kristoff’s shoulders jerked in surprise and he spun around. “Dammit, Wil. What are you doing here?”

  Max’s brother stood in the doorway, giving him the teasing smirk that always made Kris want to kiss him.

  Too soon. Much too soon. Besides, we’re in the middle of a crisis.

  Wil shrugged and moved into the room. His new protheses must have settled in, because he moved without a limp. “Let me guess, Emily rescued Max but the situation went south and now they’re in deeper trouble than before. Right?”

  Kris sighed. “Yes.” Wil had been called back to base after talking Emily through the process of grinding up the seeds and putting the poison in the water supply. This was the first time they’d spoken since.

  “Typical Max,” Wil growled. “So how bad is it?”

  Kris shook his head. “No.”

  Wil halted. Raised his brows in the same you-and-what-army-are-gonna-make-me look that Max got. “No? I don’t believe I’ve asked a question.”

  Dammit, he did not need to be dealing with the Lansing stubbornness right now. “No, you can’t help. We’ve got it covered.”

  “Kristoff, dammit, I told you to stop protecting me!” Wil took a threatening step toward him, moving into Kris’s personal space. Now that he could walk again, he topped Kris by a couple of inches. It was a strange feeling, looking up
to meet that fierce gaze, when Kris had been used to tilting his head down all those weeks when Wil had been confined to his wheelchair.

  This new position felt almost submissive. And didn’t it figure, his dick twitched at the idea of being dominated by Wil.

  Hoping none of his thoughts showed on his face, Kris turned to straighten some papers on his desk.

  Wil stayed in place a moment, then backed up.

  Huh. Maybe Wil had sensed the tension, too. Maybe Kris wasn’t alone in this after all.

  Yeah, right. Wishful thinking.

  “What did Max say?” Wil demanded.

  Right. Max. Dietrich. Trouble.

  Kris bit back his sigh. “Dietrich has a second briefcase with another prototype. The buyer tried a double cross. There was a firefight. Long story short, Dietrich’s men snatched Emily. Max is barely conscious, but determined to ride to the rescue.”

  “So let’s go.”

  Kris shook his head. “Even if we had a helicopter gassed up and waiting to take off, it would still take a team nearly two hours to get there. We’d be too late.”

  Wil swore viciously and Kris turned around. His heart ached at the helplessness in Wil’s eyes. Because he knew the man wanted the same thing he did—to be able to swoop in and save both Max and Emily. “But there’s some hope,” Kris added. “MacKay’s team is already on its way. They think they’re rescuing Max from Dietrich’s camp. I just need to redirect them.” He hesitated, then added, “I don’t know if they’ll make it in time, but you know those guys. They’ll bust their balls to get there.”

  Wil spun and slammed his fist against the wall. He stood a moment with his head bowed and his body vibrating with tension.

  Heart pounding with what Kris had to admit was mostly arousal—an angry, dominant Wil fired him up—he dialed MacKay.

  “Lachlan? It’s Kris. Change of plans. Max is on the move. Here are his latest coordinates.”

  Wil turned to face Kris. “You tell him I don’t care what laws his team breaks,” he said loud enough for Lachlan to hear. “They goddamn better bring my brother back alive.”