He gathered his gear and retreated to his forward position where Isaiah waited. They didn’t need to be around when this went down. “Tell me when they’re close.”
“Copy that.”
Tucker wanted to chew Isaiah out for using his mental talent instead of his voice, but mind-talking had worked incredibly well before. He could get used to it.
“I forgot to buy ear protection.”
“You won’t need it. We’ll be far away by the time it blows.” Tucker kept this voice low, slapping the dense shrubbery out of his way as he cut the distance between Melissa and him.
Isaiah was quiet for all of a minute. “Will this make another mess?”
“Hell yeah. Get your ass moving or you’ll catch flack, maybe body parts.”
Isaiah started humming while they set a steady pace west. Tucker counted to ten. It was either that or deck his musically inclined and very nervous fellow agent. He got to forty-nine when the whine of heavy engines and motorcycles growled through the jungle far to his left.
“Keep low and keep moving,” he commanded Isaiah, needing to get to beyond Siegel’s camp to Melissa before those IEDs blew. Timing meant everything. He stopped short the moment he smelled campfire. “Which way?”
Isaiah pointed straight ahead. “She’s still due west, but she’s not running anymore.”
“She okay?” The not knowing ate Tucker alive.
“Yes,” Isaiah hissed, nodding ahead, “but you’ve got a kid with an AK walking perimeter around this camp. He’s jumpy as hell. Watch your step.”
“Got him.” Tucker kept his eye peeled on the kid while he cut farther north, circumventing the camp.
He and Isaiah were ahead of schedule when the first IED blew and the ground shook. Two more explosions thundered in quick succession, a no-brainer when panic hits a densely packed grouping of soldiers or traitors. The moment they ran to get clear of the blast zone, they’d no doubt triggered the other two booby traps.
If this army worked like most, the cocky son-of-a-bitch in charge would’ve been the guy staring at the M4 round at the end of Jackman’s finger, and wondering what the hell? If he was as good as he thought he was, he might have figured out the meaning of the bloody trident, but in the end it wouldn’t have mattered. Tucker had rigged a simple detonator. All those guys had to do was get close enough to trigger the three sets of IEDs. By the time the trap was sprung, Jackman and anyone within a twenty-foot radius would’ve been dead.
Isaiah ducked behind a scrubby patch of pine. “Quick! Get out of sight!”
Tucker joined him as three men and two women ran eastward past them, all armed. He lifted his brows at his buddy.
“They’re the guys who were chasing Melissa. She’s on her own now. That way.” Isaiah scurried around the pines, running.
“Is she okay? Anyone else coming at us?” Tucker asked, out of breath now and limping again. The pain in his side sharpened, but the twist in his gut hurt worse. He had to get to Melissa.
“She’s five hundred yards ahead.” Isaiah slowed, his fingers to his right temple, his face dark with shadow. “Damn. We need to hurry.”
Tucker hadn’t slowed down, his weapon up and his scope scanning for Melissa. “Just tell me where she is. What’s going on?”
“The Vietnamese Army is in these woods, too.” Isaiah put his index finger to his lips and crouched low. “She’s directly up ahead, but so are they.”
“How many?”
“All of them.”
Tucker crouched into stealth mode, all but belly crawling like he used to do in training. He flattened his palm and motioned for Isaiah to do the same. “Stay to the undergrowth,” he commanded. “Use the shadows below the brush and behind the trees. Where is she?”
“We should see her any second now,” came Isaiah’s report.
Tucker tapped his right temple, wishing for that ocular lens tucked deep inside his swollen eyeball. He could spot Melissa sooner if both his eyeballs worked.
There she was, crouched alongside a downed log under an overgrown shrub with her hands over her head. Good girl, he sent to her. I’m here, babe. Look for me. See me.
Nothing. She stayed tucked into herself, no doubt shivering, and damn, he wanted that slender body of hers tucked up against him where he could keep her warm.
“She can’t hear you,” Isaiah sent. “She’s not aware we’re here yet. She’s still panicked and hiding from Siegel’s men.”
Tucker nodded his agreement with the astute observation. Seeing her was half the battle. She was alive and safe, scared but hidden for the moment. “Where’s the army?” he asked Isaiah.
Isaiah nodded to his left. “They’ll be here soon.”
Tucker edged close enough to toss a small stone at the log where she was hiding, concerned if he stepped out into the open, he’d be seen. Melissa looked up at the soft thump, her face streaked with dirt. Their eyes connected. She bit her bottom lip, the sexiest thing he’d ever seen in his life. Tucker sent her the thumbs up immediately followed by the hand signal to hold her position. She nodded that she understood.
“You’ve got fifty or so soldiers filtering through the trees at your left, Tucker. How do you want to do this?” Isaiah asked mentally, his question laced with worry.
Tucker couldn’t take his eyes off Melissa. Did she have any idea what just seeing her did to him? How much she meant to him? That he felt like he could finally breathe again just at the sight of her pretty face?
He held his index finger to his lips to signal her to keep quiet. “You tell me, Isaiah. Is anyone north of us?”
“Not as far as I can tell, but I’ve got to be honest. These guys are hard to read. Maybe it’s because they’re all wearing brain buckets.”
Tucker stifled a smile. Isaiah was learning military-ese. “I’m going in,” he breathed, not willing to wait. Shedding his gear bags, he blurted, “Cover me.”
“You’re clear. Make it quick.”
Tucker did, a blur in the late afternoon shadows. He skidded into Melissa’s boots first, sliding along her body, sandwiching her between the log and himself, his back to Isaiah. There were no words. All he could do was gather her into his chest, his nose in her hair and her face in his neck. “You’re safe. I’ve got you now.” And I’m going to live.
She hiccupped a funny, sad sound. “Tuck,” she choked, clinging to him, her arms wrapped around his neck. “You’re here. It’s really you.”
“Are you hurt? Can you walk?”
Melissa shook her head. “I’m fine. Just scared out of my wits. I heard shooting. What’s going on?”
“This is dangerous country right now. There’s a platoon of Vietnamese soldiers working their way north toward us. We’ve got to move. Can you keep up?”
She nodded. Her eyes brimmed with tears she hadn’t let fall, but her chin was stiff. “I can. What do you want me to do?”
“See Isaiah?” He pointed over his shoulder back at his partner. “On my count, keep low and go to him. He’s got you covered. Go fast. One. Two—now!”
She lifted to her feet, the warmth of her body the last thing his fingers wanted to release. But he let her go, and she flew. He made his return on her six, and carefully gathered his gear while the three of them angled northward and away from the nightmare.
Distant gunfire drifted through the trees.
“We’ve got another patrol at our east,” Isaiah reported, his finger to his temple again. “It’s a good thing we found you when we did, Mrs. McCormack. Those soldiers are engaged with your friends. Hear that?”
“They aren’t my friends,” Melissa said. “What are you doing here?”
“We saw your kidnapping at the airport.” Tucker pulled her next to his hip, his arm around her, needing her inside his comfort zone, needing to be inside of hers. He shouldered his bags away from her, a dangerous, possessive heat taking over his soul. “Did they hurt you, baby? Tell me who did what.” And I’ll go back and kill them.
“We’d just lande
d, ma’am,” Isaiah interrupted quietly, his weapon up and walking point like a good grunt. He truly had the makings of a decent soldier the way he scanned the way forward as well as keeping watch on their rear. “We saw the whole thing from the windows at Tân Sơn Nhất.”
“They didn’t hurt me, not after they took me to that camp back there. What a mess.” Melissa ran a hand over her disheveled braid, but kept a straight path due north. “They acted like they were humanitarians, like Doctors for Charity, only they wanted me to think they were taking care of the Cambodian president’s old guard. He said they couldn’t go home, that they’d be killed by the rebels and shot for treason, but they were really running drugs. And I’m so stupid, I fell for that lie.”
Tucker caught the anguish in her tone, but he needed a name. “Who’s he?”
“Simon Siegel. He’s their leader and he’s a Navy SEAL, too. Did you know him?”
Contrary to popular belief, all SEALs did not know each other. “Never heard of him,” Tucker admitted, matching his gait to Melissa’s, his palm flat to the small of her back, and his heart full. “We ran into Jackman and a few of his guys. That’s what drew Siegel out of camp.”
“That was you? All that gunfire and noise was you?”
“Isaiah did it,” Tucker teased, feeling lightheaded and at peace for a moment.
“Hardly. Your man’s the real deal, ma’am. He’s got nerves of steel.” Isaiah stepped lightly but doggedly through the jungle fauna, clearing the way when the brush was too thick and holding back branches so he didn’t accidently whip Melissa. The kid was quite the gentleman.
“You did good,” Isaiah offered, out of breath but still going strong.
“I always do good.”
“No, I mean psychically. You connected with me in your head, like you’re doing right now. You’re a psychic. I told you so.”
Tucker could only growl at that annoying revelation, but the kid was right. They had stayed in contact without speaking. Mental communication had become second nature without Tucker consciously intending it to. Damn it to hell. “Don’t you need to hum or something?”
Isaiah just grinned. “No, but tell her you love her. Stop being the conquering hero. She needs to hear it. She’s waiting and you’re hurting her feelings by not saying it.”
“I am?” The thought had never occurred to Tucker. She was there in his arms—wasn’t that enough? Women were so complicated. “She’s smart. We might have had our problems, but she already knows how I feel.”
Does she?” Isaiah rolled his eyes skyward, his brows arched. “She’s a woman, Tucker. She’s sensitive and she needs to hear you say it. Tell her. Give her what she needs, not what you think she needs, you moron.”
Ha. That was humorous, Isaiah calling him a moron, but if the kid was right? Tucker stopped walking. This wouldn’t take long.
“Melissa,” he said, his heart on the line and suddenly climbing up his dry throat. He licked his lips and tried hard to swallow. Not happening. His throat clamped shut. Somehow, this felt entirely different than when he’d said those three little words to Nicole. This time it felt like he was betting his soul in the biggest gambling den on the Vegas Strip. Like he stood to lose his ability to breathe because no air would be left on the planet. This might take longer than he’d planned.
He tugged Melissa into his arms, scared out of his wits now and wondering, what the hell? “There’s something you need to know.”
“Yes, Tuck?” She came easily. Expectantly. Her blue eyes glowed, setting his blood on fire. How did she do that, get under his skin just by looking at him?
He framed her gentle face in his big callused palms, his thumbs rough and ragged on her petal soft cheeks, so thankful he’d caught up with her, and really afraid for the first time in his life that he could’ve lost her. She meant everything to him. The sun. The moon. Every last star in the sky. Nothing else existed, but her. And Deuce.
Melissa lifted her fingers to his swollen face, worry etching the laugh lines at the corners of her eyes while she feathered the touch of an angel over his bruised cheek. “You look like you’ve been in a war. What on earth happened to you?”
“This isn’t about me, babe. This is about you.” And there, in front of God, Isaiah, and that tiny slice of Vietnam, Tucker closed the distance between him and the woman he loved. He kissed her lips softly. At first. But fire was a dangerous thing to play with, and Melissa was the perfect accelerant to the overly dry tinder in his tough-guy heart. He’d waited so long for her.
Heat burst through every cell in his all-male body at first contact of his mouth on hers. Her breath fanned his lust into a bonfire. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any other woman before. His body hardened. God, she had to feel what she was doing to him. He couldn’t exactly conceal what had to be the father of all hard-ons. The flash fire of what had started as a tender kiss morphed into an inferno of blistering need to protect and love her. To shelter her. It threatened his military control on the situation.
He eased a fraction from the honey of her mouth and whispered his secret into her moist, wet lips. “I love you, Melissa,” he ground out, his fingers sliding down her arms and waist to purchase the curve of her hips. “I love you so much I can hardly breathe when you’re out of my sight.”
She whimpered, her fingers on his collarbones, holding him tight. “Say it again.”
He growled playfully. “I love you, damn it, woman. I have for months. Hell, since I first saw you in California. You’re my every second of my every day. Marry me, damn it.”
He glimpsed another eye roll from his smart-assed junior partner over Melissa’s shoulder. “What?” he sent to Isaiah mentally.
“Wow. How romantic. Did you ever consider that maybe, just maybe, Melissa doesn’t like your foul mouth? She’s a lady, Tucker. Treat her like one. You might be surprised what a difference it makes.”
That was it. Isaiah had to go, but hell. The kid might be onto something. Tucker stammered, his question still unanswered. “Umm, I mean, what I meant to say was...” he thought fast, “... would you do me the honor of accepting my name as yours? Of taking my hand in yours? Of... of...” He grasped for something just as flowery and twice as romantic.
“Of letting me love you forever, you dumbass,” Isaiah prompted, his brow spiked, “only don’t say ‘dumbass.’”
“Of letting me love you forever?” Tucker finished.
Melissa’s pretty pink lips parted. Her mouth dropped open. “Who are you? Where’s the Tucker Chase I used to know?”
He almost swore, but caught himself just in time. She turned him into a needy little boy who wanted to please her more than he wanted a new rifle for his collection. “I’m not taking chances. Not anymore. Not with you. I love you, Melissa McCormack. God knows I do. Hell, I’ll quit the Bureau if it makes you happy. Marry me.” Please say yes.
Isaiah crossed his arms over his chest and turned away, his head shaking, but Tucker purposefully forgot he existed. His lovely lady had yet to reply, but she’d placed her fingers on his chest, her eyes glistening. Her lashes came down, and...
She wasn’t going to turn him down, was she?
“Oh, Tuck.” The tears spilled over. She chewed at her bottom lip, and his heart sank. She didn’t want to look at him. Why not? Because of Brady? Here it comes. Melissa was too smart to marry another military guy. She’d been through enough hell with the first. What made Tucker think she’d want to go through that again?
He gulped what was left of his pride and prepared for the letdown. Damn. It would be a long, lonely walk back to Hồ Chí Minh City to catch that red-eye flight if this woman scorned him. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Felt like a Bradley tank.
“Yes,” she said softly and sweetly, sniffling as she lifted her chin and met his gaze. “I love you, Tucker Chase. From the very first moment I saw you, I’ve loved you.” Up on her tiptoes, she leaned those pillowy breasts to his chest and...
Oh, what the hell. He scooped he
r off her feet and into his arms. He dipped her backward, one hand under her head to hold her steady while he kissed her good and proper.
The aching fire of lust roared up his spine, an electric shot mingling with the rock-solid surety of his love. This woman was breaking his heart. There was no way he’d let her get away now. They were meant to be together, and this time, there would be no stupid mistakes to foul things up. He would listen better. He’d work harder. Hell, he’d quit the Bureau if it meant making her happy.
For two cents he would’ve laid her down right there in the grass, but Isaiah was close by. Hopefully keeping an eye out for trouble and not gawking. And the Vietnamese Army was too close for comfort.
He tucked her back under his chin, his heart pounding with that flood of endorphins and his head in the clouds. He needed a cigar.
“Ahem,” Isaiah murmured. “We really ought to keep moving.”
Suddenly aware that he’d taken far longer than he’d planned with his declaration of love and the impromptu marriage proposal, Tucker took his eyes off Melissa. It had all spilled out of him once he’d started, but he knew he’d been meaning to say it for awhile now. “Oh, yeah. This is my junior agent, Isaiah Zaroyin.”
“Your junior agent?” Isaiah offered an incredulous eye roll before he shifted his weapon and offered a hand to Melissa. “It’s an honor to meet you, ma’am.”
She beamed and returned the handshake. “Hi, Isaiah. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Damned if a distant gunshot didn’t spoil the magic.
Chapter Fifteen
Tucker tugged his rifle off his shoulder into a steady grip. “Let’s move.”
Melissa meant to follow him anywhere. She’d never been so happy to see anyone in her life. How incredibly lucky could one woman get? Downright miraculous, was what this was.
Another spat of gunfire erupted at their rear, the very real need to run and hide adding speed to her feet. Tucker pulled her into an easy lope at his side, but something was wrong. He ran with a limp, and he’d winced when he’d hugged her. One eye was black and swollen shut. Dark bruises marked his cheekbones and brow. The skirmish with Jackman must’ve been rough. He looked as if he’d been in a brawl instead of a gunfight.
King of Hearts (Deuces Wild Book 1) Page 14
