by Pamela Clare
Hard Pursuit
Pamela Clare
Contents
Hard Pursuit
Acknlowledgements
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Thank You
Also by Pamela Clare
About the Author
Hard Pursuit
A Cobra Elite novel
Published by Pamela Clare, 2020
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Cover Design by © Jaycee DeLorenzo/Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs
Cover photo: curaphotography
Copyright © 2020 by Pamela Clare
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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All rights reserved.
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No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic format without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials by violating the author’s rights. No one should be expected to work for free. If you support the arts and enjoy literature, do not participate in illegal file-sharing.
This book is dedicated to nurses, doctors, and first responders around the world who travel to the places where their skills are most needed. Through their dedication and compassion, they represent the best of humanity, risking their safety to stop suffering and save lives. This includes nurses and doctors who continue to serve on the front lines in this prolonged and deadly battle against COVID-19.
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May you be richly blessed for the service you so freely give to others.
Acknlowledgements
Many thanks to Michelle White, Benjamin Alexander, Jackie Turner, and Shell Ryan. Additional thanks to Jacque Michelle Golden-Raines and Pat Egan Fordyce for reading through early copies of the story and sharing their feedback.
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Special thanks to Nicola Brooks for once again helping with Glaswegian slang and to my mother, Mary White, RN, for helping with the medical scenes in this story.
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I also want to thank my romantic suspense readers, those fans of the I-Team series that have stayed with me and new readers who discovered me through the Cobra series. You are the best. Writing for you is a joy.
Prologue
Amundsen-Scott Station
South Pole
Kristi Chang picked at her breakfast of reconstituted scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon, a lump in her throat. She’d been dreading this day for a couple of weeks now. Today, Malik was leaving. He and the rest of the Cobra team were flying back to Denver, while she would remain here for the next six months working as the station RN.
Would she ever see him again?
The question made her throat go tight because she already knew the answer.
On the first night she and Malik had slept together—the night they’d inadvertently kept the entire A1 Berthing Area awake—they had agreed to sex with no strings. It had made sense at the time. They’d known each other for less than a week, and the only thing that had mattered to Kristi in that moment was getting him into bed.
They had both just joined the 300 Club by streaking to the South Pole marker through temperatures below minus one-hundred Fahrenheit, so she’d gotten a good look at his naked body with its muscles and scars. A former Army Ranger, he was a walking anatomy lesson wrapped in smooth, dark skin. Pecs. Abs. Biceps. Quadriceps. Glutes. He even had obliques, for God’s sake—to say nothing of his big, beautiful cock. She hadn’t thought beyond how it would feel to get her hands on him. But then, neither of them could have predicted the chain of events that had kept him here for more than a month.
Treason. Murder. Attempted murder. Spies on station.
Kristi had never imagined she’d treat gunshot wounds here.
In the midst of the danger, Malik had ruined her for other men. He was sweet, caring, funny—and he knew how to use that body in bed. Not that they’d limited themselves to having sex in bed. To avoid keeping people awake, they’d found other places on station to have sex—the hydroponic greenhouse, the sauna, the weight room.
Now, the danger was past, and the Cobra team was going home.
She heard Malik’s voice and felt the energy in the galley shift as he, Thor Isaksen, and Lev Segal walked in, women and men alike turning to look at the three Cobra operatives who had saved their lives.
“That bolt-action relic might be good against polar bears, but it’s not so great against an enemy shooting back.” Malik moved through the food line, his gaze gliding over the room, his lips curving in a smile when he found Kristi.
Her pulse skipped.
Thor, who’d served with Danish special forces, seemed confident. “When we get home, I’ll take you on—my bolt-action rifle against the modern military rifle of your choice.”
Kristi was gratified to see Thor doing so well. Two weeks ago, he’d been shot trying to save Samantha’s life and almost died of blood loss and hypothermia. Kristi had fought hard with Dr. Decker to keep him alive.
Lev, a former Israeli operative, laughed. “There’s no way you can put as much lead downrange with your bolt-action as Jones can with a semi-auto.”
Thor grinned. “Firepower is about hits on target, not just spraying bullets.”
Samantha Park, who was now Kristi’s closest friend on station, walked in and got into the food line behind the men, her gaze meeting Kristi’s for a moment. Kristi could tell that Samantha was fighting despair, too. She and Thor had hooked up at some point in the past few weeks. Everyone could tell they were crazy about each other, even if they didn’t know it.
Did Malik feel anything for Kristi?
Thor and Samantha went to sit at a table, just the two of them. Malik made his way to Kristi, while Lev sat with Ryan McClain, firefighter and acting station manager.
Malik’s gaze searched her face, his brow furrowed as if there was something he wanted to say. He seemed to change his mind. “Hey, beautiful. How are you doing?”
“It won’t be the same here without you Cobra guys.” She’d meant to say that life wouldn’t be the same for her without him here, but she’d stopped herself.
She had agreed to no strings. She couldn’t ruin the fun they’d had by getting clingy and making demands now. Besides, what good would it do?
Their futures didn’t overlap. He flew around the world doing security work, while she had nursing commitments stretching out over the next eighteen months. When she finished her contract here, she would visit her parents and brother in San Francisco and then fly to Nigeria to work for an international aid organization for a year. It was part of her crazy goal to work as a nurse on all seven continents and see the world while her parents, both doctors, were still in good health and didn’t need her help.
He grinned, his dark eyes looking straight into hers. “You’ll get a lot more sleep.”
No man had eyes as penetrating or as intense as Malik’s.
“You say that like it’s a good thing.” She willed herself to smile. “Are you excited to se
e sunlight again?”
If she kept the conversation light, maybe she wouldn’t cry.
“Make sure you’ve got all your shit,” Isaksen called from the hallway. “Anything that’s left behind stays behind. We won’t be coming this way again.”
“Copy that.” Malik shouldered his duffel, glanced around the tiny room that had been his home for the past month.
When he’d arrived at the South Pole, he’d wanted to finish their mission and get home as quickly as possible, away from twenty-four-hour darkness and the bone-chilling cold. Now, he found himself wishing for another week, a few days, even an hour.
Kristi.
The thought of saying goodbye to her put a hitch in his chest. Yeah, he was going to miss her. He wouldn’t lie. She was beautiful, smart, funny, sexy as hell—and fucking incredible in bed. He’d gotten laid more in the past month than in the previous six months combined, and still he burned for her.
Get a grip, man.
They had agreed from the start that this was sex with no strings. She’d wanted that arrangement as much as he had. He couldn’t go back on his word now. Besides, there was no way for them to be together.
He had his life, and she had hers. She would spend the next six months here, take a short vacation, and then head to Nigeria—not a good idea, in his professional opinion—while he flew back and forth from Denver to the company’s next job site.
Still, he wished he and Kristi had spent a little less time screwing and a little more time talking. There was still so much he didn’t know about her, so much he’d love to discover. Would she miss him, too?
He’d thought they might get time to talk this morning, but he’d gotten word during breakfast that the plane was arriving ahead of schedule. That had cut short what little time he’d had left with her. He and the guys had to be ready to board when the C-130 Hercules Globemaster landed. Any delay might result in the fuel or propellers freezing, and that would have fatal consequences.
Malik stepped into the hallway, closed the door to his room.
Segal did the same. “I can’t wait to feel the sun on my face again.”
Isaksen chuckled. “So, cold is your kryptonite, huh, Segal? I didn’t think you had any weaknesses.”
“I don’t.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
The three of them left the berthing area and walked toward Destination Alpha—the station’s main entrance. Kristi stood near the door, wearing blue scrubs, Samantha beside her, the two of them waiting to say goodbye, neither of them looking happy.
“There’s your collateral damage from this mission,” Segal muttered. “I hope you’re both satisfied.”
Isaksen ignored him with his usual Viking detachment, but Malik’s temper flared. “Sounds to me like you’re jealous, brother.”
Segal hadn’t hooked up with anyone on this mission, not even when the work was done and they were just waiting for a flight home. “Is that what you think?”
Segal rolled his eyes and walked outside into the cold. The man must really want to get out of this place.
While Isaksen walked over to Samantha, Malik headed straight for Kristi, doing his best to seem casual and upbeat. He lowered his duffel to the floor. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She slipped easily into his arms, her cheek resting against his chest. “I wish you could stay a little longer. I’m not tired of you yet.”
He chuckled, kissed her silky, dark hair. “I’m not tired of you, either.”
For a moment, they stood there, neither of them speaking, Malik inhaling her scent, doing his best to memorize the feel of her.
She was trembling.
He caught her chin, lifted her gaze to his, saw tears on her cheeks, the sight striking a tender place inside him. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She sniffed. “Sorry. I’m just having an emo moment. I hate goodbyes.”
He could understand that. “Don’t apologize.”
Malik drew her against him once more and held her while she wept, her sadness cutting at him, making it harder for him to keep his own emotions in check.
Then from outside the station came the sound of the approaching plane.
Segal stuck his head through the door. “He’s landing. Let’s move out.”
“They have to refuel,” Malik shouted back. “Chill, man!”
But the clock was ticking. After a month of spending every night together, he and Kristi now had only seconds left.
He stepped back, cupped her cheeks in his palms. “I wish you’d cancel your contract and go to Botswana or Zambia or Tanzania instead. Nigeria is an amazing place, but with Boko Haram, the drug trade, bandits, and human trafficking, it just isn’t safe. I’ve been there. I know what I’m talking about.”
She nodded. “I’m not sure I can change it, but I’ll try.”
Segal stuck his head inside again. “They’re refueling. Time to roll.”
Kristi jumped into Malik’s arms, pressed her lips to his.
He kissed her hard and deep and long—then lowered her gently to the floor, searching for the right words. “Take care of yourself, Kristi. You’re amazing. You know that, right?”
She took one of his hands, held it. “Promise me you’ll stay safe. No getting shot or blown up.”
“I’ll do my best.” He put on his mask, picked up his duffel, and followed Isaksen out into the frigid cold of austral winter.
Kristi watched Malik go, determined not to shed another tear. She was a big girl. She’d walked into this willingly, knowing he wouldn’t stay. She couldn’t fall apart now.
Beside her, Samantha sniffed, wiped her eyes—and then turned and disappeared into the coatroom. Kristi knew what she intended to do and followed. Quickly, they put on their snow pants, hats, gloves, masks, and parkas, and hurried outside and down two flights of stairs to the ice below to watch the plane take off.
They stood in silence, watching as the men walked to the skiway, where the plane waited, the Aurora Australis blazing in the dark sky above them. Fuelies rushed to get the C-130 refueled and in the air again as quickly as possible. Even from a distance and in the dark, Kristi could tell which of the three men was Malik from those long, sure strides, each one taking him farther away from her.
One at a time, they boarded—Lev first, then Malik, who glanced back over his shoulder and waved to her, then Thor, who turned and waved to Samantha just before the doors closed. Then the fuelies stepped away, and the plane was ready to depart.
Samantha gave a little sob, and Kristi could hear her whispering, “Don’t crash. Don’t crash. Don’t crash.”
Flying in Antarctica in the winter was extremely dangerous.
Kristi took Samantha’s gloved hand in hers, neither of them speaking as the plane headed down the skiway, slowly gaining momentum. Then the rockets fired in a burst of orange, and the plane left the ground.
Kristi sniffed. “Well, I just said goodbye to the best sex of my life—and the nicest man I’ve ever known. I’m going to miss Malik so much.”
The two of them stood there, watching until the plane’s lights had vanished. Then, together, they walked back up the stairs and into the warmth of the station.
1
Kinu Village
Kaduna State, Nigeria
Eighteen months later
Kristi Chang opened the plastic vial with gloved hands and squeezed the cholera vaccine into the mouth of a sweet little girl who couldn’t have been more than five. “What a great job you’re doing. You’re standing so still.”
When every precious drop was in the child’s mouth, Kristi tossed the vial into the trash, watching to make sure the girl swallowed. “All done.”
She was lucky that most people in Nigeria spoke at least some English, the country’s official language. She spoke fluent Mandarin and decent Spanish—two languages that were useless here. In rural areas like this, people were more likely to speak Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba—or any one of the more than five hundred languages and dialects native to
the country.
The little girl gave her a shy smile.
“Now, it’s your mama’s turn.” Kristi opened another vial and stood to administer it to the little girl’s mother, who was visibly pregnant. “You’re all done.”
Normally, they might hesitate to administer cholera vaccines to pregnant women, but these weren’t normal times. The risks to a woman’s fetus or her pregnancy from cholera far outweighed any risk from the vaccine.
It had been a long, wet rainy season, and Nigeria was in the midst of a cholera epidemic that had already left hundreds of people dead of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Rural areas in Kaduna State had been hit especially hard. Kristi was here with four others from her mobile medical unit and a group of Nigerian public health volunteers to vaccinate as many villagers as they could and to provide whatever medical care might be needed.
Rural parts of the country often lacked access to basic medical care, so their team came prepared for everything, complete with a van equipped as a mobile operating room. Kristi, as one of only two registered nurses, spent most of her time assisting Dr. Adamu. So far today, she had treated several people for malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV, and assisted the surgeon in removing a teenager’s inflamed appendix.
