by Kaylea Cross
They both acknowledged with radio clicks and he followed Axelle through the bush and along the rocky path. The old guy must be damn good or damn lucky to have spotted them near that other collar. He must have night vision equipment to move so swiftly at night too. Or he had insider information.
Dempsey moved closer to Axelle. “What can you tell me about the locals in this area?”
She shot him a glare from beneath fine black brows but refused to answer him. Great. He’d managed to alienate her when he was supposed to be winning hearts and minds. Though taking a bullet or getting blown up wasn’t conducive to positive relations either, and he swore he felt eyes all over him.
They tramped silently over the ridge. They were only about three miles from her camp but it was three miles up and down, and she was done and too stubborn to let him help. He knew all about stubborn. The sun was sliding down the western slopes when they finally approached the yurts.
A headache began to pound his temples, and he knew Axelle was holding on to her temper and composure by the thinnest of strands.
As the three of them crested the last ridge, he saw the tall redheaded man from the camp, riding toward them. The guy—Josef, he remembered—carried the AK-47 and the look in his eyes was both fierce and determined.
“Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot!” Axelle yelled. At whom he wasn’t sure but they all tensed.
The man pulled the horse to a halt in a cloud of dust and leveled the gun in their direction. Dempsey and Taz shouldered their weapons.
“Step away from the woman.”
“Josef, it’s okay—” Axelle went to take a step forward but Dempsey gripped her arm. He didn’t want her in the firing line if things went south.
“Let her go. Get behind me, Axelle. Now.” Josef yelled.
Shit. This guy was in a state.
Every sense sharpened. Dempsey stood ready to defend his unit and Axelle. He’d started to include her in his list of responsibilities, which was a mistake because he might be gone by morning. And she wasn’t exactly the sort of woman you looked after.
She moved in front of him again and raised her hands to try to calm down her student. Dempsey put his rifle down. He needed more hands to deal with Axelle Dehn.
“You don’t understand, Josef. These men helped me catch and release G-man yesterday. They’re going to help us find the poacher.”
Assuming the poacher was the same guy they were after. Dempsey winced and the student spotted it. No choice, he wrapped his arm around Axelle’s waist and brought her firmly against his body. Her muscles stiffened in shock. This could rapidly turn into a shoot-first-ask-questions-later interlude, and he wanted to get control of the situation before it deteriorated further. He drew his SIG which had an extended 20-round magazine, and Taz kept his carbine trained on the big guy.
“Relax,” he breathed in her ear. “Trust me.” He shifted her until he had her sideways to Josef—who could be in league with the Russian for all he knew—and tried to shield her with his body. “Drop the weapon, Josef.” He could feel the pounding of Axelle’s pulse against his wrist. “And we’ll tell you what’s going on.”
Josef’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “If I do that you’ll kill us both.”
“No, I won’t. I’m not about to kill anyone but I need you to drop the rifle so I can explain who I am without worrying you’re going to nail us.”
Axelle pushed hard against his arm.
His pistol did not waver from the other man’s chest, and at this distance he would not miss. “Put the rifle down and get off the horse or you’re a dead man.”
“Axelle?” Her student asked with a nervous swallow.
He could feel her body heat through the layers of clothes. She took a deep breath. He could almost hear her thinking. Surely she’d figured out that if he’d wanted to hurt her, he’d have done it in the mountains where no one would have found her body.
This was the moment of truth. Did she trust him? He’d helped her beloved leopards. They’d walked hand-in-hand down a mountainside. They’d slept side by side in a shallow cave. She’d confessed her fear of enclosed spaces. But he hadn’t given her anything in return except name, rank and number.
Silence stretched taut through the air. He watched a bead of sweat drip down the side of Josef’s face. Maybe Axelle did believe he was nothing but a cold-blooded killer…
“Put the rifle down, Josef,” she said finally.
“Aye, laddie.” A voice came out of the ether. “We’re not here for you or the woman. You need to put the rifle down, and at least give us the chance to say our piece.”
Axelle turned her head to whisper in Dempsey’s ear. “He’s one of yours, right?”
He nodded. His aim never wavered.
“Let me go. Josef isn’t going to shoot anyone.” Her fingers were no longer pushing against his arm. They gripped him tight as if in reassurance. God, he liked that feeling.
“Are you sure?” He glanced hesitantly at the big man atop the horse. He looked as fierce as a mamma bear protecting her cubs. Perhaps his feelings were deeper than that of a student for his supervisor.
She nodded and he let her go. Trust went both ways. He even lowered his SIG but he wasn’t about to holster it until the AK was slung across the guy’s back.
Slowly the big guy dropped the rifle’s muzzle toward the ground. His shoulders heaved as he seemed to realize they weren’t about to murder him on the spot.
He climbed off the horse and came toward the woman. Dempsey had to force himself not to react.
“Where the hell have you been?” Josef asked. “I’ve been worried sick since the horse came back without you, but one of the traps was sprung and I knew you’d want me to deal with that first…” His eyes pleaded for understanding.
Axelle nodded and Dempsey realized these cats meant everything to this woman. More than her own survival. “Did you release a leopard?” Hope lifted her voice.
Josef shook his head. “The trap was empty when I got there.”
There was a stretch of silence and she finally remembered he was there.
“Sergeant Dempsey here”—she held his gaze for a brief moment—“helped me release G-man, who had a wounded back leg.” She fisted her fingers around the fabric of the fake collar, “Then we tried staking out G-man’s collar in case the poacher came for him.” Her voice broke and Dempsey had to force himself not to take her in his arms to try to comfort her. Especially when the Dane glared at him with more than a professional light in his eyes. Oh yeah, the guy had feelings for Axelle all right, but she was oblivious.
A spark lit his bloodstream. She hadn’t been oblivious to him. No, there had been definite hints of attraction even though she’d tried to conceal it. Of course, that was before she’d called him a manipulative cold-blooded killer.
“The poacher didn’t fall for it,” Dempsey told the Dane. “Instead we found a skinned goat staked out with this fake collar attached.” He watched Axelle struggle to regain control.
Her eyes hardened. “I don’t know if this sonofabitch found out about the soldiers being here or about us uncollaring the leopards, but either way he wants to punish us.” Her jaw firmed. “So we better find our last five cats and release them before this bastard finds them.”
“Er…there’s a problem with that.” Josef spoke hesitantly.
“What do you mean?”
“The Trust emailed us back.”
Dempsey exchanged a look with Taz.
“And?” There was a quiver in Axelle’s tone.
Josef cleared his throat. Whatever he was going to say he knew his boss was going to be furious. “Under no circumstances are we to remove the collars or try and track this hunter ourselves.”
“You have got to be kidding me? Do they know what’s at stake?” Axelle closed her eyes as she raised her face to the sky. Her skin was like marble—pale and flawless.
“They said the head of the Trust is going to visit Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry ASAP to try
deal with this, but it could take a week.”
“By which time the leopards will be dead.” Axelle planted her fists on her hips.
Dempsey took a step forward as he holstered his handgun “It looks to me like you need us as much as we need you.” He watched her face. Thoughts rapid-fired inside that brain of hers, and her lips thinned when she reached her conclusion.
The frost in her gaze turned to flint. “You want to use the leopards as bait.”
“My plan is to capture a man responsible for taking hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent lives.”
“And you intend to use one of the world’s most endangered species to bait the trap.” She got in his face. “Don’t you, Sergeant?”
“He’s already after them. You should be grateful for our presence rather than bitching at me about it.” Dempsey bit the inside of his cheek to stop from losing his temper even more. They’d had a rough night. She was upset. He got it. “Your snow leopards are getting some of the best soldiers in the world as bodyguards. You should be thanking me, Axelle.”
He deliberately used her first name, reminding her they’d moved beyond this pissing-contest stage to what he’d thought was approaching friendship.
“I should, should I?” She tried to stare him down, but he didn’t look away. She took a step closer and they were almost nose to nose. “I am uncollaring those leopards as soon as I catch them. They will not be used as bait by anyone, especially not the best soldiers in the world.” A whirlwind of emotions cascaded through her dark eyes. But it wasn’t the anger or determination that clamped down on his tongue. It was the pain.
He looked over at Taz, breaking eye contact. Letting her win. Because winning didn’t matter when it came to staring contests. It only mattered in life and death, and football. “Even though your bosses have ordered you not to?”
“The survival of a species is more important than bureaucratic red tape.”
“You could lose your job.” He looked back at her then. Gauged her reaction.
“I don’t need the Conservation Trust to dictate terms to me when it comes to international law.” Her eyes glittered. “I’m still the person in charge of this project on the ground. Don’t you forget that.” She stabbed him in the chest with her finger even though he wore body armor. It probably hurt but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Even if they give you a direct order?” he asked quietly. Things weren’t going according to plan for either of them.
She leaned close again and he could feel her breath on his lips. “No one orders me around when it comes to the survival of my animals, Sergeant. You’ll use those leopards over my dead body.”
That was what he was afraid of.
She turned and started marching back toward the camp. Her student followed with the horse like an overgrown sheepdog coming to heel.
The troop came together.
“She’s a firecracker.” Scottish, belligerent and proud, Craig Cullen eyed Axelle with a wild glint in his eye.
“She’s a bloody pain in the arse.” Dempsey pulled up his sleeve to check the scratches, which were starting to itch. Even though he’d helped her he’d got nothing in return but blind hostility, and that was despite the stirring of attraction between them. He frowned. Maybe it was because of it.
His wounds were healing. He tried not to wonder about hers.
“Bloody hell.” Baxter walked up behind him. “You look like you had sex with a tigress.”
Dempsey’s temper flashed and he was thankful he could hold his tongue. It must have shown in his eyes though, even in the dim shadows of twilight. Dempsey met Taz’s gaze and some silent understanding passed between them. He might have called Axelle a pain in the backside, but it didn’t mean he didn’t care about her. Taz accurately read the nature of his feelings for a woman he’d only just met.
“It was one of her bloody snow leopards,” Dempsey told them.
“You wrestled a snow leopard? For fun?” Taz asked.
A reluctant grin tugged his lips. “It was fun. Anyway, it turns out Dr. Axelle Dehn is the lead biologist on this snow leopard project. Our target appears to be hunting leopard. Did you see anything while I was gone yesterday?”
“Not much.” Cullen scouted ahead as they headed toward the camp. “The big guy spent most of the day on the ridge listening to the radio transmitter. When did you figure out they were biologists?”
Dempsey grunted out a laugh. “When I found tranquilizer darts in her saddlebag a fraction of a second before she got behind me and shoved a Glock up my arse.”
Cullen grinned. “You’re getting old.”
“I can still beat you in a footrace.” But he felt old. As old as the mountains. He’d seen so much death throughout his lifetime he sometimes wondered why they bothered. To protect innocents, he reminded himself. That was what he’d dedicated his life to and he’d quit when he was dead or Returned To Unit. Same thing.
“We’ll contact HQ but I think our best bet right now is sticking with the biologists and staking out the leopards. When our man shows we’ll make sure he has nowhere to go.”
“Corner him like the rat he is,” Cullen agreed. “The orders were dead or alive but this guy must have fuckloads of information…”
“Let’s try for alive unless he’s a threat. Then all bets are off. We’ll stay out of sight until we receive orders. Maybe the old fecker doesn’t know we’re here. He might have realized the biologists were uncollaring the leopards and got pissed off.”
“It might not even be him,” Cullen put in.
Dempsey nodded and trudged down the valley to the yurts. If only he could forget the fierce flash of betrayal in Axelle’s eyes the moment she’d worked it all out. Because, yes, he’d always intended to use her leopards as bait. He was a soldier and he had a job to do—he was still planning on getting rid of her poacher, which would ultimately save her cats. But maybe too late…
He reined in his runaway thoughts and concentrated on the barren landscape. It didn’t matter what Axelle Dehn thought of him. With any luck he’d be gone before daybreak and she’d never cross his path again.
* * *
Axelle shoved back the yurt flap. Anji flung up his hands in surprise and gave a nervous laugh. “You’re back. You scared me.”
“There’s a lot of that going around.”
He smiled at her, brown eyes twinkling. “Josef was worried when the horse came back without you, but I told him you be okay.”
Anji had more faith in her than she did. He returned to whatever he was doing with the cubs.
She strode to the computer and opened her email and read the message. Christ, the Trust really had forbidden her to release the animals. She inhaled deeply and tried to calm the rage that continued to burn inside. They thought she was overreacting and had no proof, and in the next sentence they told her it was too dangerous for her and Josef to go after a guy with a gun. Josef came slowly into the tent. She didn’t know if he was scared or angry. He had a right to be both.
“Did you reply to this email?” She was vibrating with emotion. Moisture filmed her eyes but it wasn’t tears.
“No.” He stood behind her.
“Did they ask for confirmation of receipt?”
“No.” He frowned.
She pressed delete. “Then it never arrived.” She held his gaze. “Are you okay with that?”
His blue eyes flicked to the computer screen and back. He nodded.
“Good. I’ll resend the original email again after we get a few hours sleep.”
“What about those men?”
“What about them?” She wanted to pretend they didn’t exist, that she’d never met Dempsey or exposed some of her darkest secrets in the shadow of the mountain. She should have known he was buttering her up so he could use her. It was all about the mission. That was what made a man a soldier.
She went and stood before the fire because she had no new answers and was so tired and wrung out she could barely see straight. She needed a few
hours’ sleep before she got back to releasing collars. Surely the man hunting the leopards was also tired? Surely he needed sleep? She helped herself to salted yak’s milk tea and flatbread. Grimaced. You might acquire a taste for local food but it didn’t mean you didn’t miss Starbucks.
The cubs clambered over Anji’s legs and drew a smile from her lips. “How are they doing?”
“They eat plenty.” He looked up and smiled. “They survive and get fat, Inshallah.”
The ice around her heart cracked a little. “Good.”
“I fix other fire in your yurt.”
“Thanks.” Propriety demanded she sleep separate to the men but for the first time in years she didn’t want to be alone.
She hugged herself with little comfort. The memories of Gideon had been brief but searing. She didn’t let herself think about him often and that brought its own guilt. He’d been a wonderful man. An honorable man. She’d loved him fiercely. He’d joined the Marines because his best friend had died fighting for his country and he’d been compelled to do the same. Pity he hadn’t asked his wife’s opinion first.
She didn’t think about him because it hurt too damn much.
“Did that guy really help you release G-man?” Josef broke into her thoughts.
She nodded. Some of her anger cooled. Dempsey had helped her; in fact she might not have caught G-man at all if he hadn’t been there.
A man hunting terrorists would use any means available, and she’d do the same to save her cats. She squeezed her temples with her thumb and index finger. She needed to apologize to him but at the same time she hoped she never saw him again. “He said he’s British Army but he’s not wearing a uniform.”
“Special Forces.” Josef’s eyes gleamed. “Probably SAS. Some of the most respected soldiers in the world. Dangerous men.”
He’d exuded danger and skill. But, except for that first heart-stopping moment when he’d disarmed her—easily disarmed her, now she thought about it—she hadn’t been scared of him at all. Not even when he’d grabbed her in front of Josef.
“Why? Why are they even here?” She dragged her fingers through her bedraggled hair.
