"Zara, no one else has to get hurt," one of the soldiers said. He glanced at his watch. "You don't have much time before you make up your mind. The next round takes out the car and everyone inside it."
Gino could tell by his voice the soldier meant exactly what he said. If he put a bullet in the man's throat, killing him, it wouldn't save them. That would be the signal to fire. Don't let her get out. The second you do, they'll blow the car.
They're going to blow it anyway, Ezekiel said calmly. Her only chance is to go with them. You can recover her once she's out of here.
You're not disposable. The moment she's out of the vehicle, they'll blow the car. Gino shook his head. He had to resist sending another plea to Mordichai or Malichai to find the drone. The two were Ezekiel's blood brothers. Rubin and Diego, both inside the vehicle, had been raised with them. If Mordichai or Malichai could find the drone and take it out, they would.
The window rolled partially down. "How do I know you won't kill everyone in the car when I get out?" Zara asked.
Zeke, she can't walk.
He'll have to reach for her. Hold her. The other two we can take. The timing has to be just right.
"Whitney doesn't want them dead. He wants you home. Alive. You can't survive here. You know that. Come home, Zara."
Gino willed her not to open the door. Once she was in the open, if they had a sniper, and most likely they did, she could be taken out at the first sign something was going wrong.
"She can't walk," Ezekiel said. "She was tortured and her feet messed up."
The soldier's body jerked, clearly reacting to that news. "Zara, did you give them any information?"
Gino frowned. Information? What information? She'd gone in to destroy their computers, wipe the drives clean so there was no chance of Cheng having data on the GhostWalkers. They didn't need him selling the intelligence to the highest bidder. So, what information could Zara have that would make the soldier tense up like that?
"Of course not. I'm going to come with you, Damon, but if you hurt these men in any way, I won't go with you. I've got a weapon and I'll use it on myself. You know me, you know I will."
Gino heard the resolve in her voice. This is fucking crazy, Zeke. Stop her.
It's our only chance, Gino. They don't know you and the others are out there.
Tell her I don't want her to go. Tell her now. Tell her to stay with me.
Ezekiel clearly relayed the information. Like Gino, he was stalling for time, hoping Mordichai or Malichai found the drone before time ran out on them.
She says she has the virus implanted and would die anyway.
I can remove the capsules. I can find an antidote. It's what we do. I told her that. She knows I won't let her die. Gino felt almost desperate enough to rush Damon. Once he did, the other GhostWalkers, already silently surrounding the vehicle, staying in the cover of trees and brush, would move in with him. They could easily kill the soldiers surrounding the car, but the drone would fire and take out all of them.
It had been years since he'd felt so vulnerable and he didn't like it. He didn't like that Zara wasn't in his control. He'd put her under his protection and he wasn't about to fail her.
Tell her I'm going to keep them from taking her. Even if they get her now, they won't get out of the swamp with her.
They'll put a gun to her head, Gino.
I'm aware of that. He was accurate with a knife. More than accurate. He knew there were few alive better than he was, but was he willing to bet her life on that? Especially now, when he realized she was already a part of him? Hell yeah. He'd bet his training, his dead calm when he needed it. Tell her.
She said she's counting on it.
That settled him. Her belief. Just that. She was counting on him. Believing he'd come for her. Be ready, he warned the others.
The door began to open slowly. Damon spoke into his radio. "Delay strike. She's coming out. Shoot only if they make a move against us."
Got something. Got something, Mordichai reported. Eastern sky. Nearly two clicks out. Bastards staying low, but it rose just for a second, enough that I caught the movement. Can't take it out because it sank again, but it would need to rise to make the shot. I've got a lock on it now. The moment it comes up, I'll take it out.
Everything depends on that shot, Mordichai, Ezekiel warned.
Sheesh, Zeke, his brother said, just add more pressure. Malichai is backing me up. It's going down.
Need Malichai to help out here.
No, you don't. Joe's lying up here, and he's got your six. You awake, Joe?
Mordichai. That was all Joe said, but it was enough.
The team was in place. They had a plan. They worked together all the time, so much so, they always knew what the others were going to do before they did it. Cayenne was new to them, but they were beginning to get a feel for her strengths and how to use them. Bellisia was still too new and would be defending the house, Nonny, Pepper and the children.
"Zara, don't blow this by doing anything stupid," Damon said.
Gino had the idea that the soldier was pleading with her and he didn't like it. At. All. Something was off.
"I can't do much, Damon," she said. "I can't put my feet on the ground." She pushed the door open and tried to straighten her legs to show him her mangled feet.
"What the fuck did they do to you?" the soldier burst out.
"I'm on painkillers," she answered. "I just can't walk, but I won't slow you down."
Damon signaled to one of the other soldiers who was guarding the rear of the car. He moved warily, not liking being so exposed, but he came around to Damon's side, wincing a little when he saw Zara. Her face was still very swollen, but at least she could open her eyes now. They were black and blue, as was most of her face, and the swelling was still horrendous.
Damon shoved his weapon around to the back, letting it hang from his shoulder strap while he reached for Zara. Her breath hissed out in a long rush of pain, and Damon hesitated before bringing her in close to his chest.
"We don't want to kill her," Damon told Ezekiel. "We're going to take her home. She'll be well cared for there."
"She'll be a prisoner," Ezekiel pointed out. "She seems to matter to you. Don't you mind that she's a prisoner?"
"We're all prisoners in some way, and she has more freedom than most. Sir, stay in the car. It's safer for you. If you get out, you'll be shot. I give you my word as an officer that your crew and car will not be fired on if you stay there for the next five minutes."
"You know we can't let you take her," Ezekiel said softly.
"She'll die if she stays here. Her only chance is with me," Damon said.
Gino definitely didn't like that. The soldier hadn't said with Whitney or that her only chance was to come back; it was with him. As if he had some proprietorial rights to her, including the right to keep her safe. So safe, the other soldier was pointing a gun at her head. When Damon stepped back, the soldier stepped with him, mirroring him as if they were dancing.
Find their sniper, Gino ordered. No one can safely leave that car until you do.
He's down, Trap reported. Cayenne swept the trees, all clear.
"Bring the car now," Damon ordered. "Tell the helicopter to meet us at the rendezvous location."
Of course there was a car. There had to be a car. Damon and the others needed an escape route. They'd need a car and a helicopter. Where would the helicopter meet them? What possible places, close, were there?
Find that helicopter and take it out, Ezekiel ordered.
The gun never wavered from the exact location on Zara's skull. Exact location. Gino noticed small details like that. Every step they took, that gun was relentless, aimed in the same spot, as if that one spot was more important than any other spot on her head. Like her temple. No, this was specific. He filed that information away. They'd done an MRI, looking for the virus capsules, and Whitney had used a new PEEK-carbon nanotube to hide it in, knowing it wouldn't show up in a scan. So, what if
something else was hiding there as well?
Zeke, you let them get too far from the car, you're risking them blowing it the moment you exit. That was Mordichai.
You miss that drone shot and we're all going to die, Ezekiel said.
Miss? I don't fucking miss. Mordichai sounded outraged.
Gino knew that was their way, talking it up, joking, giving each other shit when the tension mounted. His eyes were on Damon and the soldier walking with him away from the vehicle. The door was still open, Ezekiel sitting on the edge of the seat, both feet out of the car.
"I'd like to move my men to the side of road, no weapons," Ezekiel said.
Damon shook his head. "Sorry, man. We have to follow the plan. Whitney doesn't want to hurt anyone, just get Zara back."
Why would he need Zara back? What about her was so important that he sent pawns to be massacred and a crew to retrieve her? Why? The question nagged at Gino. The GhostWalkers had Bellisia. She had escaped. For the most part, once the women were gone, they were left alone. Whitney would make a try every now and then, but the general consensus was Whitney was keeping them on their toes, mostly testing his supersoldiers against them, not all that actively trying to get the women back.
Gino matched every step Damon made with Zara. He walked backward, away from where there was a hole in the road under cover of the swamp. Any minute a car would be driven up to collect them. Damon kept throwing expectant glances over his shoulder. Gino relaxed, suddenly realizing why the car wasn't coming. Draden was loose in the swamp. You never wanted Draden after you, not for any reason. He didn't know how to stop coming at you.
Three. Two. One. Ezekiel did the countdown.
The men remaining in the car popped open all doors and came out shooting, rolling on the ground, each targeting a soldier. Gino was on the man holding the gun to Zara's head. He'd outpaced him, getting a perfect line to his throat, not willing to take any chances. One tiny knife went straight through the space where the trigger met the weapon, severing the trigger finger. The second knife, thrown a heartbeat after the first, hit the soldier in the throat and buried itself there.
Gino was already running, knowing Damon would turn back toward the car, expecting the drone to fire, to blow it up. He ran between Zara and the possible bomb. He didn't stop. He trusted Mordichai, but it would be stupid not to take precautions. He moved fast, slamming his body hard into Damon's, driving him backward. At the same time, he reached for Zara.
She wrapped her arms around his neck without hesitation and he kept going, running for the relative safety of the swamp, aware Damon had a semiautomatic and knew how to use it. Right now, it was pointed between his shoulder blades. He knew, because he had that itch that warned him.
He heard the bullet hit Damon's head, and Zara cry out almost simultaneously with the sound of Joe's rifle. Gino kept running. Once in the thick brush, he took to the ground, trying to protect her as they went to earth. Even so, he knew he'd jarred the hell out of her body. Her breath was coming in ragged pants and she bit off a moan of pain.
"Sorry, princess," he whispered as he set her on the ground. "Lie flat." He lay over her, his body covering hers, his gun out and ready, although the others had disposed of the soldiers.
More shots rang out. Two. A third. Drone down. Helicopter in air, heading your way, Mordichai reported.
It wasn't as easy to bring down a helicopter as the movies made it look. They'd done it, more than once, but it wasn't easy. Mordichai, Malichai and Joe would concentrate on three targets. The pilot. Probably Mordichai, the best of the three. Malichai would go for the tail rotor, and Joe would go for the engine. He was counting on Mordichai. The moment Mordichai killed the pilot, they would load Zara back in the car and get the hell home.
Gino felt her body heave under his. He frowned. "You crying?"
There was a small silence and he imagined she was making up her mind whether to admit it to him or not. His hand found her face, fingers tracing the tears there.
"Trying not to," she admitted.
A surge of adrenalin hit hard. "Damon? You like the guy?"
"Most of the soldiers aren't very good to us," she answered slowly--slowly enough that he knew she was reading his mood. "They know eventually Whitney will insist we go into their breeding program and we'll have no choice. They're ... vulgar. Not dirty and kind of sexy, if you know what I mean, but just rude and vulgar. They treat us like we're so much less than they are. Damon was one of the few who wasn't like that. He treated us with respect."
Gino took a breath. Let it out. He swept his hand down the back of her head. "I'm sorry, then, that they had to cap him, baby."
She struggled with tears, managed to press back another sob and nodded. "Damon would have followed orders, Gino. He would have killed me, both of us. Me and himself. He wouldn't have allowed you to keep us alive."
"Why?"
"Why?" she echoed.
"Yeah. Why? Bellisia is with us and he hasn't cared all that much. Cayenne and Pepper are with us too. And the little viper chicklits."
"Little viper chicklits?" she repeated.
He rubbed his chin on top of her hair. "That's what some of us call Wyatt's triplets, just to annoy Pepper. They pack venom in their bites and when they're teething, the little munchkins like to bite."
"How extraordinary."
"Why would Whitney be okay with us keeping the other women and the children, but not you? He promised the major general that if we went to get you, he would leave you alone."
She turned her head in order to look up at him. Her face, so swollen, was an abomination after seeing the photographs of her flawless, soft skin. He stroked his finger gently over the terrible bruise where Cheng's gun had struck her. He wanted to go back and kill the bastard.
"Whitney did that? He called a major general about me?"
Gino nodded. "Our boss, Major General Tennessee Milton. Whitney called him and Major General gave the order to Joe, but it was voluntary status only."
"Why?"
He didn't hesitate. "It was unsanctioned and considered a suicide mission."
Her breath caught, and then she asked, "But you volunteered. Why?"
"Everyone did."
"Why did you?"
Shit. He didn't want to tell her that. The truth would make him sound like a stalker. "Not sure I want to give you that, princess. You're still making up your mind about me."
"I already made up my mind about you," she whispered. Her gaze slid away from his.
His gut clenched hard. "Baby, you know I'm not leaving it there. Look at me."
Her fingers dug into the dirt, pulling up a few rotting leaves. "Tell me why you volunteered."
He sighed. "You look at me and I will, but I'm warning you, I look like some kind of stalker."
"That's good."
The amusement in her voice surprised him. It was shy, but it was there. "Read everything about you I could get my hands on. Got every image the Internet had available. It's all on my personal laptop. Fell hard. Long fall, Zara, and surprising, but the real thing is far, far better than anything I could have thought I saw on the Internet."
"I'm not like that." There was hurt in her voice now, and she closed her eyes and turned her face away from him.
"Like what?" He kept his hand in her hair, fingers working her scalp. He half expected her to be upset that he'd gotten every piece of information available about her onto his computer, but hurt wasn't the emotion he anticipated at all.
"Like what you see on the Internet. I detest traveling. I know I'm not supposed to waste my brain and all that, I've been told enough times how selfish and worthless I am for not being grateful for my opportunities, but I can't help how I feel. I'm not like that superconfident woman you see on the Internet, Gino. I'm not her."
"You don't have to talk in front of everyone in order to not waste your brain, Zara. Trap is the most intelligent man I know. Wyatt runs a close second. They do all kinds of good. They don't talk about it, or give speec
hes. Trap would light himself on fire before going public like that."
She turned her head back toward him. "Really?"
He brushed a kiss along that long, wide bruise. "Absolutely. So, baby, I've got to ask you again, why is it that Whitney would rather have you dead than with us?"
"He always plants a virus in us before we leave the compound. That way he ensures we have to return."
She was telling him the truth, but definitely hedging. "Yeah, we know that. So why send Damon as a safety net? He promised Major General. Going back on his promise to Major General isn't a smart move or a good political one. Whitney still has friends in the White House. If Major General, a very popular man by the way, goes against him, he might lose those friends. So, again, Zara, why does Whitney want you dead or back with him when he leaves the others alone?" Gino poured icy cold into his voice, wanting her to know he meant business.
She didn't answer him.