by Kaylea Cross
“One more, but it’s deeper. Hang on a sec.” He shifted onto one knee and dug in his back pocket, coming up with a jackknife loaded with all sorts of tools. With a pair of tweezers at the ready he took hold of her foot again and looked up at her. “This is gonna hurt, but I need to get it out before it buries itself in there and causes more problems.”
Khalia nodded and clenched her hands in the folds of her dress. The light blue cotton was torn in several places and stained with dirt from where she’d hit the ground. The right shoulder seam was barely holding together. She pressed her lips together and fought not to wriggle when the tips of the tweezers dug into her tender flesh.
“Sorry,” he said without glancing up at her, forehead furrowed in concentration. “It’s a ways in there.”
“It’s fine,” she murmured, wishing he’d just hurry up and get it over with already. Having him kneeling at her feet made her feel silly and only intensified the need for the feel of his arms around her. But he’d made it clear where the line between them stood, so she wanted him to leave so she could lock the door and be alone for a while to get herself together.
It took a few minutes for Hunter to get the remaining fragment out of the side of her instep. This one hurt more than the other and she tensed. He set the shard on the vanity and she relaxed, ignoring the painful stinging. “Your tetanus vaccines up to date?”
“Yes.” This was such an insane conversation. Untold numbers of people had just been blown up, and she and Hunter almost with them. If they’d been any closer to the blasts… She swallowed and wrapped her arms around herself, fighting off another bout of shivers that kept rolling through her.
Hunter didn’t miss her reaction. “If your legs are steady enough after this I’d recommend a hot shower. It’ll help with the shaking,” he offered, again without looking at her. She was glad for the small amount of privacy it afforded her. The truth was she was freaking terrified and barely holding her emotions in check. Only the fear of humiliating herself in front of Hunter kept her true reaction at bay. He’d protected her with his own body and she hated the thought of seeming weak and emotional in front of him. He was calm, decisive, had been even during the bombings. His hands were completely steady as he tended to her feet. The pulse in his throat was slow and steady.
It was as though the explosions hadn’t affected him at all.
She didn’t even want to think about what sort of training, or what he must have seen in the field during his time in the military that would enable him to compartmentalize such a horrific event so easily.
After pulling a third and final fragment out of her skin, Hunter pressed the washcloth to her foot until the bleeding stopped, then stood and rinsed the tweezers in the sink. His elbows were raw and bloody, the heels of his hands scraped raw. Her impulse was to tend to him in return, but knew he’d rebuff her help with some gruff comment that would make her feel even worse so she stayed silent.
He searched her eyes before speaking again, as if gauging her emotional state. She bit down hard to stop her jaw from trembling. “Make sure you wash out all those cuts and scrapes as best you can when you shower. With soap if you can handle it.”
Yeah, she could handle the sting of soap in her cuts and scrapes. What she couldn’t handle was what had just happened—what could have happened if they’d been any closer—and his calm apathy right now. She lowered the facecloth from her cheek, tossed it onto the granite vanity with a fleshy plop, and asked the question burning a hole in her brain. “That wasn’t… You don’t think that had anything to do with Fair Start, do you?”
Hunter shook his hands in the bowl of the sink and reached for the hand towel hanging from a ring in the wall next to the light switch. In the mirror, he met her gaze. “Highly doubt it. There are a lot of foreign dignitaries in town, so maybe the government buildings were a temptation too great to pass up. Whoever did it had it planned well in advance though. Packing two separate trucks with that amount of explosive and finding their way to an open route in that mess?” He shook his head, the light casting bronze-tinted highlights in his dark hair. “Either they got lucky with the accident clogging up traffic, or they set it up that way in the first place. My money’s on the second guess.”
She shivered at the certainty in his voice, in his eyes. She looked away before he could see the fear in her own. “Thanks for getting those splinters out.” Her feet stung and throbbed along with the rest of her, but mostly she just felt cold and tired and…numb.
Rather than answer, he leaned a hip against the edge of the vanity and folded his arms across his chest, regarding her in silence. After a long pause she looked up at him.
“You okay?” he asked quietly. The genuine concern in his voice nearly undid her.
Not even close. “Yeah.” What did he expect her to say? It had to be obvious how rattled she was. Maybe she was crazy, but for a second she thought she saw a gleam of admiration in his eyes.
“Trust me, a hot shower will help get rid of the shakes. Take your time and make sure you keep warm when you get out. I’ll send you some antibacterial ointment and band aids and something to eat.” She made a face at the thought of eating but he continued. “Ray will want to see you as soon as he gets back. You’ll need to eat, even if you don’t feel like it. It’ll help boost your blood sugar and counteract the shock.” He sounded like he spoke from experience and he likely did.
Nodding in reply, she held her breath while he crossed to the door where he paused and looked back at her. “You’re safe now and everything’s fine. Gage and I are just down the hall if you need anything, okay?”
That glimpse of understanding, of that tiny bit of softness from him made her throat tighten. “Okay.” It came out a mere whisper.
When the door closed behind him with a solid click, Khalia gave up the pretense of being brave and slumped forward. She buried her face in her trembling hands and let the shudders and tears run through her.
By the time she’d calmed enough to shower and finish dressing, almost half an hour had passed. A knock came at the door. Expecting it to be Ray, she was surprised to find Gage standing on the other side of the peephole. “Hey,” she said, standing back to let him in.
His bright blue gaze swept over her in a quick assessment, taking in her damp hair and yoga pants, the thick knit sweater she’d wrapped around herself to keep warm. “Brought you some stuff for your feet.” He handed her the ointment and bandages Hunter had promised. The pang of disappointment that he’s sent Gage instead of bringing them himself caught her off guard. He’s not going to come back and coddle you, for crying out loud. Get over it.
“Thanks.” She sat on the edge of her queen-size bed and started bandaging the cuts on her feet.
Gage stuck his hands in his back pockets, obviously in no hurry to leave. Had Hunter asked him to stay with her? “So, how you holding up?”
She stopped what she was doing to meet his eyes. Did he want her to lie? “Honestly? I’m not sure.”
A wry grin curved his mouth. “Not the nicest introduction to Pakistan.”
“No.” Worse than she’d ever imagined, and she’d imagined plenty of awful things in the past few weeks.
“Well if it’s any consolation, you held it together better than most civilians would have under the circumstances. You impressed the hell out of Hunt, and that’s not easy to do.”
That piqued her curiosity. She set the tube of ointment aside. “He said that?”
“Pretty much.” He lowered his tall, muscular body into a wing chair near the bed, leaned back into it. “We called Ray to tell him you were all right. You want something to eat while you wait for him to get back?”
“I couldn’t eat right now, but thanks.” Her stomach was way too iffy at the moment to even contemplate putting anything in it, despite Hunter’s earlier advice.
Gage nodded and opened his mouth to say something else when his cell beeped. Pulling it out of a front pocket in his cargo pants, he checked it and looked up at her with a grin. “My
daughter, checking in on me. Must’ve seen the bombings on the news and got worried about her old man.”
God, how scary for her. Khalia knew all too well what it felt like to know your father was in harm’s way and see it splashed all over the news. To stop that line of thought, she wrapped the folds of her sweater tighter around her body and changed the subject. “You have a daughter?”
“Thirteen. Going on twenty-five.” He was smiling as he texted his daughter back.
She waited until he was done before speaking, curious about him and desperate for a distraction. “Do you see her often?” He had to be close to forty. How much longer did he want to live this kind of life?
Gage shook his head, regret evident in his expression. “Not as often as I’d like. This line of work means I travel a lot. Even when I’m stateside I teach training courses, things like that.”
“That must be hard on her.”
“Yeah, especially when I miss birthdays and holidays with her. She’s a great kid, though that’s more her mother’s doing than mine, I’m afraid.”
“Oh. Are you still…together?” From what she understood, a lot of marriages didn’t work out for Special Operations members.
His smile turned rueful. “No, and we’re both better off apart.” He shrugged as he set his phone down on one muscular thigh. “We were young and thought everything would magically work out in the wash, but the truth was we never should have gotten married in the first place. Now Janelle lives with her full time.” He tilted his head. “What about you?”
“Never been married. Came close to getting engaged a few months ago though. I would have gone through with the wedding, too, if my father hadn’t stepped up and pointed out how incompatible we were. Couldn’t have been easy for him to say it to me, but thankfully it made me open my eyes before it was too late.” Though deep down she had to admit she’d known there was something wrong with the relationship. She just hadn’t wanted to face it until her father confronted her.
Gage grinned, his manner completely disarming. “Disaster averted.”
“Exactly.” She smiled wistfully and shook her head. “God, I miss him.”
“I’ll bet. But coming over here and carrying on his legacy, that’s something to be proud of.”
If he only knew what a wuss she really was, he wouldn’t think so. “Thanks. You know,” she added, “you’re a lot easier to talk to than Hunter.”
Gage chuckled. “Yeah, I get that a lot. What can I say, I’m a people person. Special Forces guys have to be, since the majority of our job is spent teaching other people. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“See? You and I have something in common. We’re both awesome teachers.”
She smiled wider, liking his easy going nature and his efforts to soothe her mind. “I knew I liked you for a reason. And if we get a chance, maybe one day you could show me how to do that wicked turn you did back there with the truck.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners and a chuckle rumbled up. “That J-turn’s pretty slick, huh? Yeah, I could show you how it’s done. As long as you don’t tell Hunt. He’d tear me a new asshole if he found out I was teaching you that kind of stuff.”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt us, right?”
“Exactly.” Grinning, he stood. “I like you, Khalia. And I know you’ve had a rough start to your trip, but in spite of all that I don’t want you worrying about anything while you’re here. Hunt’s one of the best, which is why Tom’s got him leading this team. You couldn’t be in better hands than his, and the rest of us will take care of you too, I promise you that.”
He was so sweet. All those badass tattoos didn’t fool her one bit. She wanted to hug him out of sheer gratitude. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
Gage was still smiling as he made his way to the door. When he opened it, Ray stood there, fist poised to knock. His face was pale and pinched with worry. When he saw her he expelled a sigh and seemed to sag in relief. The moment he stepped inside and held out his arms, Khalia rushed straight into them while Gage quietly closed the door behind him to give them privacy.
Fresh out of the shower after hitting the hotel gym, Hunter glanced up from his phone when Gage entered the room. “How is she?”
“Just fine. Ray’s with her now.”
“Good.” He was actually surprised at how well she’d held up so far. Not too many women he knew could experience something like a double suicide bombing with mass casualties without falling to pieces or becoming hysterical. Khalia had done neither. Instead she’d been silent on the way back to the hotel, closed down. Only the trembling in her body and the pallor of her skin had told him just how shaken she truly was. It had taken an act of will to stop himself from holding her tight until she felt safe again.
“Any word on who claimed responsibility for the attack yet?” Gage asked.
Hunter nodded at the TV, currently showing a news broadcast about the bombing. More than a dozen people had been killed outright in the blasts, and almost a hundred more were wounded. “TTP, but no surprise there.”
“Fuckers.” Gage set his hands on his hips. “You want to change the schedule at all?”
Gage knew him too well. “Yeah, I want to delay her arrival in Saidu Sharif by twelve hours. If someone out there’s gunning for her after all, I’m going to give them a smaller window of opportunity to work with. I’ve already talked to Tom. I’ll update everyone else tonight then hold a full briefing in the morning. In the meantime, let’s go over the map of the school one more time.”
Together they reviewed the topography of the school’s location, the access roads leading to and away from it, as well as any other trails visible on the satellite map. Plugging up every access point wasn’t an option, so he had to make an educated guess about where the enemy might strike from and make contingencies for it. Working it over with Gage made the task easier. The man was solid, smart, and a great operator. Hunter was glad to have him as his second-in-command.
After a couple of hours’ discussion and planning they stopped to eat.
“You gonna let her know about the schedule change, or should I?” Gage asked, rising to toss his container in the trash.
“I’ll do it.” It surprised him how much he wanted to personally check in on her again.
“Hell of a thing, what she’s doing. I like her.”
Hunter smirked. “You like everyone, and everyone likes you.”
“Not true. And my ex-wife would be the first to tell you that.”
It didn’t bother Hunter that Gage was on friendly terms with Khalia. He was good enough at his job that Hunter didn’t mind relaxing the protocol about interaction between him and their Principal on this assignment. Over the past two years working together Gage had earned his trust, and along with it, the right to operate with more latitude than Hunter might allow the others on the team. Still, Hunter had to admit there was a tiny part of him that wished he didn’t have to maintain his distance from her.
Gage spoke up when Hunter reached the door. “Go easy on her, Hunt.”
He paused and looked back at him with an upraised brow. “Are you seriously telling me how to do my job?”
Gage’s expression was all innocence as he held his hands up in self-defense. “I’m just saying, you don’t need to be all hard-ass with her. She got the message about not being best friends loud and clear, so she’s not gonna throw herself at you or anything.”
That drew a grudging chuckle out of him. “Occupational hazard, women throwing themselves at me.” Although the idea of Khalia throwing herself at him was a hell of a lot more appealing than it should have been. The attraction was there. She was subtle about it, but he’d noticed the glimmer of female interest in her eyes the few times he’d caught her checking him out. The interest was definitely mutual. Under different circumstances he’d be making moves on her in a big way, but not when she was a client and he was in charge of her safety over here.
“Yeah, my heart
bleeds for you, man,” Gage said dryly. “Call me if you need backup.”
“Not a chance in hell.” Gage’s laugh followed him out into the hallway.
When Khalia opened the door Hunter was surprised to find her alone in the room. She was dressed in a pair of black stretchy pants that hugged her thighs and a light gray sweater that belted at her waist. Her hair was a mass of coffee brown curls that spilled halfway down her back and she didn’t have a trace of makeup on. Still sexy as hell, even with the scrape on her cheek. And her smell. God, the air was infused with that mix of shampoo, lotion and feminine warmth. She smelled so good it gave him the insane urge to bury his face in the curve of her neck and breathe in more of her.
Focus, jackass. He glanced around the room, taking in the rumpled bed where she’d pulled the covers back on one side, the room service tray bearing two sets of dishes wedged into the corner. “Where’s Ray?”
“He went back to his room to call his family so I could call mine in private because I knew they’d be freaking out.”
“Your mom?”
“And brother.” She stepped back and gestured for him to come in, then went and sat against the mound of pillows stacked at the headboard.
“Is your brother involved with the foundation too?” From her file Hunter knew he was two years younger than her.
“No, it isn’t his thing, so he hasn’t been involved from the get go. He owns a restaurant in Phoenix.”
Interesting. He crossed to an armchair positioned across from the foot of the bed and sank into it. “You look better.”
She met his eyes, a glint of humor lighting their pale depths. “What, you didn’t like my shell-shocked, I-just-narrowly-escaped-being-blown-up look?”
“I like this look better.” More than was professional of him, if he was honest. She had color in her cheeks again and she seemed much steadier. But that’s not what he wanted to talk to her about. “I’ve decided to make another change to the schedule.”
She leaned forward and sat cross legged on the bed, giving him her full attention. “Okay…”
