by KaLyn Cooper
She stepped up to him, face-to-face. Her warm hand picked up his and raised it to her chest. When he looked down, his pistol was pointed at her heart.
“Do it now.” Her gaze swept over the dead bodies surrounding them. “It’ll just look like I’m another casualty.”
Shots were fired somewhere in the distance, but Ryker could care less. Xena was responsible…or so she thought. He looked into those beautiful golden eyes and remembered how they had sparkled when she came. How they filled with tears when she heard about the mountain people starving. They’d turned dark gold and fierce when she heard about the kidnapped girls. Her gorgeous eyes had been nearly brown and determined as they stepped into battle together. Now, Ryker saw personal sacrifice. She was willing to die so he could have revenge.
His gaze dropped to the gun an inch from her heart.
He quickly holstered the pistol and took her face in both hands. “I can’t kill you. If you died, my heart would die with you. This may sound crazy, but I’m falling in love with you. Started during the first firefight with the bandits. Little by little, deed by magnificent deed, you stole my heart.” He caught his breath and realized he was breathing hard. “Let me correct that, I’m not falling in love with you, I am in love with you.” He lowered his mouth to hers, remnants of the battle still raging in the distance, death surrounding them.
Nothing mattered but Xena.
As they kissed, everything around them faded away. She stepped into him and wound her arms around his neck.
“I…I…” She melted into him.
“You don’t have to say anything.”
Her entire body went limp.
Ryker held her as she collapsed to the ground in his lap.
“Xena, what’s the matter?” He frantically searched her body for…blood soaked his hand when he’d reached her thigh.
“No!” Ryker’s scream echoed in the empty forest.
Chapter 23
“Welcome back to Phillip’s House.” Nagasi bowed deeply as he opened the door. “It’s a pleasure to see you again Dr. Riggs, Captain Clint Riggs, Lieutenant Van Riggs, and Mr. Ryker Tufano. Your rooms are ready. Your tuxedos are pressed and hanging. Your shoes are polished. Mr. Van Riggs, it would delight your mother if you would wear socks inside your shoes this evening.”
“I’m sure it would,” Van said as he headed for the ornately carved steps. “Thanks, Nagasi.”
Clint was right behind him. “Appreciate everything, Nagasi.”
Digger slapped Ryker on the shoulder. “Good luck, son.” The older man took the steps two at a time.
“Mr. Tufano, please follow me.” He fully expected Nagasi to take him back to the room filled with tuxedos but the butler headed up the steps. “Your suite is directly across the hall from Ms. Xena’s.”
“Xena is here?” Ryker said anxiously. He hadn’t seen her in two days and worried about her every excruciating minute. He’d treated her wound quickly and used his belt as a tourniquet. He’d carried her to where he’d last seen the truck which was taking the injured mercenaries to the helicopters. Ryker refused to let go of her on the bumpy trip. As soon as the doors opened, he sprinted to the nearest helicopter. When he passed Digger, her father turned white as a sheet. He lifted Xena out of Ryker’s arms and crawled into the helicopter.
“Take care of her team and your men,” he ordered.
Ryker stared into the night sky until he could no longer see the chopper, then he followed orders. It was close to nine o’clock before he completed his duties. Holden Billings, better known as Loki, was recovering from surgery where the doctor had set his arm pins and plates. Keebler, Larson Aldridge, was heavily sedated but being fed and hydrated with IV solutions. The doctors decided that he needed an orthopedic specialist to deal with his leg.
Pitbull, Viper, Bones, and Gramps had all been hooked up to IVs. The base mess hall had sent over gallons of soup, rice, noodles, and Jell-O. Ryker and Ajax ate with their friends for the first time in almost four months.
Ryker had thought his heart would be filled to overflowing at the moment he was reunited with his team. But it wasn’t. There was a huge hole where Xena belonged.
“Mr. Tufano,” Nagasi said, obviously not for the first time. “Sir, are you not feeling well?”
“Thank you, but I’m fine.” Or at least he thought he was. He didn’t remember climbing the steps or walking down the hall to the now open door. Ryker glanced across the hall. “Did you say that is Xena’s room?”
“Yes, sir.”
Ryker turned and opened her door. He was not going to wait another minute to see her.
She stood on one leg, the other bent and bandaged at the thigh.
“Ryker.” Her smile was the only answer he needed. In two steps he enveloped her in his arms and crashed his lips on hers. Her nearly naked body, covered only in a matching bra and panties, felt warm against his. This is where she belonged.
“Thank God you’re all right.” He kissed her once again.
Xena pulled him down on the side of the bed. “I understand you saved my life. Thank you.” She gave him that coy little smile. “Does that mean I owe you my life?”
“No. You don’t owe me anything.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “I’d do anything for you. I love you. I wanted to be sure to tell you that again.”
She kissed him long and slow. “I don’t think I told you how much I love you.” She shook her head as though to clear it. “I remember kissing. When you told me you loved me, everything inside was like fireworks at the end of a long night. Then I heard, she’s leaking and there was blinding pain in my leg.”
“How is your thigh?” He started to reach down and touch it but stopped.
“It was a through and through. Muscle only.” Xena took his hand in hers. “Six-to-eight-week recovery. Rebuilding those muscles is going to be a bitch.”
The timer on Xena’s phone chimed. “I need to get dressed for Mother’s party tonight. Nagasi has your clothes laid out in the bedroom across the hall. I had him put you there rather than next to my brothers.”
Ryker kissed her one more time before he stood. “We have a lot to talk about but let’s get through tonight’s party first.”
“I might need some help getting down the steps,” she called out as he reached for the doorknob.
“I’ll be happy to help you with anything you need.”
“All I need is you.” Her words carried him on a cloud of love as he crossed the hall.
An hour later, she texted him saying she was ready to leave. He was about to knock on her open door when he heard her talking.
“Thank you, Charley. I’ll be sure to tell him.” Their gazes met and she signaled him to come in. “And the flowers are gorgeous. Are you sure you don’t mind Clint hitching a ride back to the United States?”
Pause.
“I’m not sure right now. Can I let you know tomorrow morning?”
“Thank you, for everything.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Xena punched the button to end the call. “That was Charley. She scheduled a hospital plane to pick up Ajax and the rest of your team in three hours. She’s already talking to the base doctor, and he’s promised to have everyone prepared for flying.”
Ryker’s heart sank. He had expected to return to Eden and see his former teammates before they left. “Do you know where she’s sending them to?”
“No. Not exactly. She did say, though, that she’s arranged for them to go to a private hospital back in the United States under aliases. As far as the Navy is concerned, they all died in the explosion. She’s working on a solution for that, and a whole bunch of other things.”
“What about me? How am I supposed to get back to the United States?” Not that Ryker was in any rush. He hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“There’s a private jet that will stop at Addis Ababa airport tomorrow morning to pick up you and Clint.” She stared into his eyes. “I might go to the United Stat
es, too.
Ryker threw his arms around her and kissed her. “Will you come home to Indiana with me?”
There was a knock at the door. “Xena, are you ready to go?” Her father and two brothers waited patiently in the hall. Digger looked more like Dr. Riggs, the esteemed college professor married to the illustrious Linette Riggs. His long hair was smoothly pulled back into a short ponytail at the base of his neck. The salt and pepper scruff was gone, replaced by a decent mustache. The perfectly tailored tuxedo made him look handsome and respectable. Her two brothers cleaned up well also.
When Xena stood, most of her long, bandaged leg was revealed.
She was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
Crutches and all.
“I just need a hand making it down the steps.”
Ryker shoved her crutches toward the men at the door. He then picked her up bride-style and started for the stairs.
“Oh, my,” her mother fluttered from the foyer.
One of her mother’s bodyguards stepped forward. “The limousine is waiting.”
The second bodyguard nodded from the door and opened it. Ryker kept on walking until he placed her on the seat in the limousine.
He wasn’t sure he’d actually been invited to Linette Riggs’s sixtieth birthday party, but Digger had insisted he attend. Entering the embassy was a repeat of the previous time. They walked straight in as a few stragglers were processing through security.
Mrs. Riggs stopped fifteen feet from the ballroom door. Turning to her family she asked nervously, “Do I look okay?”
Digger lifted her chin with two fingers. “Sweetheart, you look beautiful. How did I ever get so lucky?” He bent his head and gave his wife a slow kiss.
Xena squeezed Ryker’s hand. She’d been holding it since he crawled into the car. Without a word, they both understood that this party was not pretend.
For thirty minutes, Mrs. Riggs worked the room like the professional politician she was. Xena’s father was equally as suave.
Ryker had immediately brought Xena to a table so she didn’t have to wrestle with crutches. As a ploy to keep her mind occupied, he asked, “I know a total of five people in this room of nearly two hundred. Oh, correct that, I’ve met the ambassador and his wife, but I couldn’t tell you their names. Who else is here?”
She pointed out a Saudi prince attending with their ambassador to Ethiopia. Zesaro Neberu, the billionaire who owned all the mining rights in the country stood with the Ethiopian mine manager, Mekonnen Seraw. In the next group, the Ethiopian Prime Minister was being grilled by the Prime Minister of Eritrea. Xena continued naming every person in the room. It looked more like an Eastern Africa peace conference than a party for her mother, at least in Ryker’s opinion.
An hour and a half later, stuffed to the gills with a mix of American, African, and Middle Eastern food and drink, Ryker leaned back in his chair watching Adam and Linette Riggs dance. Xena’s father was an amazingly wonderful dancer as he twirled his wife around the room.
“Where the fuck is that bitch?” A drunken Wesley Schultz staggered into the room. “Xena. Where the hell are you?”
Several people tried to quietly stop the ambassador’s stepson but he shrugged them off as he wandered into the party.
Xena grabbed her crutches and stood. “Wesley, I’m right here.” Her tone was carefully modulated.
The frat boy, as Ryker thought of him, stepped his way to their table. “You fucking bitch. You ruined everything.”
“Wesley, why don’t we sit down and talk about this?” She suggested in a casual voice.
Ryker positioned himself so he could step between Wesley and Xena if he had to.
“Those were my Navy SEALs. I had six countries bidding on them. The Taliban were willing to pay me a million dollars apiece. But, no, you had to go off and rescue them.” Wesley stepped closer to Xena and poked his index finger toward her. “That was the second time you’ve fucked things up for me.”
“Wesley, want to have a seat and we’ll talk about this?” Xena gestured to the chair next to hers.
“I’m not in a sit-down-and-talk-to-you-quietly mood.” He threw his arm wildly in the air, gesturing to everybody at the party. “I want everybody here to know what you did.”
“Okay, what did I do, Wesley?” Xena’s anger was boiling. Her brothers knew it too as they moved in on either side of Wesley.
“You dropped those fucking SEALs off too early. Kofi Tamru wasn’t there yet. They were supposed to kill him, then all die in the explosion.” Wesley started to pace in front of Xena. “With Tamru out of the way, Nebil Yared could take over the rebellion. He’s an amazing general. He could run this country better than Tamru or the fuckheads in charge now.”
“Wesley, how did you know that American Navy SEALs were coming to Ethiopia?”
Ryker crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. Xena was in interrogations mode, and she was fierce.
Wesley dramatically rolled his eyes and almost tipped over. Clint caught the drunk young man and righted him roughly.
“Duh. My stepfather is the ambassador. Who do you think asked for the SEALs in the first place?”
“So, why did you contact Nebil Yared when you found out the SEALs were coming?” Xena had the attention of every person in the room.
“He’s our partner. Me, Ford, and Yared. We own a mine together…and doing really well.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out several gold nuggets.
A soft gasp went through the room.
“See? This is what we got paid. Dividends on our investment.” The drunk man in his mid-twenties grinned proudly. He whipped around, stumbling toward the ambassador who had moved in closer to his stepson. “See, father. I’m not a worthless idiot. I know how to invest and make a profit.”
The U.S. representative to Ethiopia pasted on a smile. “Wesley, son, that’s great. Why don’t we step into my office and you can tell me all about this wonderful investment?”
Wesley pulled his hand and quickly shoved the shiny rocks back into his pocket. “No. This is mine. I found this investment. Yared said it was a great chance to do something on my own.” Wesley looked dejected. “I didn’t have much money, but Ford has lots of money. We showed him the mine and he invested right away.”
Ryker’s gaze swept the room and landed on Zesaro Neberu. The billionaire couldn’t take his eyes off the ambassador’s inebriated son. “Wesley, who did you buy the mine from?”
Wesley’s face brightened but the man next to Neberu started to shake. “Mekonnen Seraw.” The idiot was helpful in pointing toward the mining manager.
Seraw pulled the gun from Neberu’s bodyguard and pointed it at their boss. “Yes, I pretended to sell them the mine. Yared needed the gold to help fund the rebellion which will return Ethiopia back to the people. That gold belongs to the Ethiopian people, not you.”
“What do you mean you pretended to sell us the mine? We paid you good money.” Once again Wesley reached into his pocket extracting chunks of gold. “We got dividends.”
Seraw laughed. “You foolish children. Yared and I needed to buy mining equipment. Sharing a few pieces with you is nothing compared to what we’re taking out of that hole in the ground.”
“You lied to me,” Neberu spoke for the first time.
“It was so easy to convince you that it was no longer economical to continue operations on that mine. You have more money than any man needs, yet our countrymen are starving. More than half of our children do not know how to read or write because the government can’t afford schools. Yared was going to change all that.”
“You lied to us.” Wesley pulled a gun from his jacket, raised it, and shot Seraw in the head.
Pandemonium erupted.
Neberu’s bodyguards physically picked him up and ran out of the room followed by screaming men and women.
Clint tackled Wesley and took away his gun. He easily flipped the stunned drunk onto his stomach and tied his hands behind his back. Van grabbed the gun an
d pointed it at Wesley’s head.
Ryker grabbed Xena, flipped their dinner table on its side, and hid behind it.
“Where’s Mom?” Panic filled Xena’s golden eyes.
One glance to the side confirmed that her father had kicked over another table and they were crouched behind it. “Your dad’s got her. They’ll be fine.”
The ambassador approached Clint. “Please release my son.”
“Your son just murdered an Ethiopian citizen.”
“My son is ill. I’ll be sending him back to the United States tomorrow morning on a diplomatic flight. Now, Mr. Riggs, release my son. I’m going to escort him to his rooms.”
Wesley writhed on the floor. “Let me up. Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, pipsqueak. I know who you are.” Clint stared at the ambassador.
“Untie him and let him up.” Adam Riggs’s commanding voice echoed around the empty room.
Clint took his tactical knife from his pocket and cut the ties. He quickly jumped out of kicking range.
With his arm around his stepson, the ambassador and his wife left the room.
Only Ryker and the Riggs family remained.
Adam Riggs put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and placed his lips on her temple. “Well, sweetheart, it was a memorable birthday party.”
“They’re going to be talking about this one for a decade.” Linette looked up at her husband. “Take me home and feed me cake. It had better be chocolate.”
“I intend to soak mine in bourbon.” He pulled his wife closer, turning to face her. “I haven’t been that scared in thirty years. If anything had happened to you.” They held each other for a long minute.
“Come on, kids. Let’s go home.”
Chapter 24
Xena’s heart was shattering as she stood on the tarmac at Addis Ababa airport. The private Learjet was fueling but she didn’t have much longer to stay in Ryker’s arms.
After the hellacious ending to her mother’s birthday party, Xena couldn’t sleep. Since sex wasn’t allowed, she’d lain next to Ryker in her favorite oversized, fading Navy T-shirt. He wore his boxers and nothing else, as they held each other all night.
