Читать книгу Five Ways To Surrender - Elle James - Страница 12

Chapter Three

Alex’s calves and thighs were past sore and now bordered on numb, but she kept climbing. Dusk settled in around her and Jake, making it more difficult to judge distance. She slipped on the path and almost tumbled down the hill they were on.

Jake grabbed her arm just in time and jerked her backward, slamming her into his broad, muscular chest.

She clung to him, appreciating his strength for a brief moment. He didn’t seem to be winded at all, whereas she was breathing hard and every muscle in her body quivered with overuse. Sure, she ran and kept in good shape, but she hadn’t been climbing hills, which required the use of a different set of muscles.

“We need to find shelter for the night,” Jake said, his voice so close to her ear it warmed the side of her neck.

She pushed against his chest and straightened. “I can keep going.” It was a lie, but she refused to be the one to hold them back. If the rebels caught up to them because of her, she would be responsible for the outcome.

“You might be able to keep going, but I’m tired and I don’t have any desire to fall off a cliff in the dark.”

“Okay.” She stared up at the bluffs surrounding them. “These hills are riddled with caves. Will a cave suffice?”

He nodded and glanced up. “Yes.”

Alex’s lips twisted. “We passed several in the last valley. But, of course, when you’re looking for one you can’t find one.”

“We’ll keep moving. Maybe there will be one over the next ridge.”

Jake took the lead, picking his way through the brush and bramble. The trails had become nothing more than animal paths, crisscrossing the sides of hills and seeming to have no rhyme or reason to their course. He headed toward a pass between two hills, climbing up a steep slope to reach it. He didn’t linger on the ridgeline, dropping to the other side quickly to keep from being silhouetted against the fading light.

Alex did the same. When she stood beside him on the other side of the ridge, she scanned the hillsides, cliffs and valley below.

“There.” Jake pointed to several dark areas along the side of a bluff, across the narrow valley from where they stood.

Alex squinted. The dark shadows could be caves. The only way to know for certain was to get closer and check them out. With darkness settling in around them, they had to hurry or they’d be stumbling around in pitch black before the stars came out to shed a little light on their situation. And when the stars came out, that might allow for enough light that their pursuers could pick them out against the slopes and give away their hiding place before they even reached it.

Jake eased down the slippery slope one side step at a time.

Alex sucked in a deep, tired breath and hurried down the hillside, slipping and sliding on the loose gravel and stones. Her feet flew out from underneath her and she sat down hard, her momentum carrying her downward faster than she’d intended and bruising her backside as she went. She reached out, flailing for purchase, grabbing at the brush or anything that would slow her descent. The roots and brush she tried to hold on to ripped from the dry soil, barely slowing her fall.

“Watch out,” she called out as her body picked up speed, heading straight for the man who’d saved her from the ISIS rebels. And she could do nothing to stop herself.

About the time Jake turned to see what was happening, she plowed into his shins, knocking him off his feet. He fell, landing on top of her.

Instead of slowing her fall, he slipped down the hillside with her, like an avalanche of human flesh, plummeting to the bottom.

When she finally came to a halt, Alex lay for a moment, trying to breathe.

Jake was still on top of her, his face dusty, his eyes wide. “Are you all right?” he asked.

She tried to say something, but she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs to pass her vocal cords. “Can’t...” she wheezed.

“Can’t what?” he asked, untangling his legs from hers. Finally he pushed up on his arms, still leaning over her.

“Breathe,” Alex said on a gasp. She filled her freed lungs with precious air. “Though we needed to get down the hill fast, I believe there could have been a better way than using me as a human sled.”

He chuckled and leaned over on one arm so that he could push the hair out of her eyes. “Sorry. I couldn’t move out of your way fast enough.”

“No, it was my fault. I should have taken better care coming down the side of the hill.”

“How bad is your backside? After sliding down a rocky hill, it’s bound to be bruised and cut. Roll over, and let me take a look.”

Alex shook her head. “No time. We have to make it to those caves before we’re spotted by the ISIS rebels. We might make it there before them, but if they see us, we might as well be sitting ducks.” Though her back hurt and she was bruised and scratched, as he’d guessed, she couldn’t give in to self-pity. They had to keep moving or risk capture.

A shiver shook her frame. She’d heard what the ISIS men did to women they captured, and she didn’t plan on finding out just how bad it was.

Jake rose and held out his hand.

She took it in hers, let him pull her to her feet and straightened her torn shirt.

He turned her hand over in his and studied the cuts and scratches. “You’re bleeding.”

Alex tugged her hand free and wiped it on her jeans. “I’ll live. We need to move.”

For a moment, he remained standing in front of her. Then he nodded. “We’ll take care of it when we get to the cave.” He hooked her arm and set off through the brush and across the narrow valley. At the valley’s center was a narrow stream with running water.

Jake squatted on his haunches and scooped water into his palm. He splashed it up into his face, washing away the dust. Then he scooped another handful and drank.

Alex dropped to her knees and slipped her sore hands into the cool stream, letting the water wash away the dirt and grit from the cuts and bruises. Then she scooped some and drank, praying she didn’t get deathly ill from contaminated water.

“We don’t know when we’ll find water again, or how long it will be until my men come back for us,” Jake said. “Drink up. But make it fast.”

Not willing to give their pursuers time to catch up, Alex drank as much as she could in a few precious minutes and then pushed to her feet.

Having crossed the stream, Jake held out his hand to Alex and helped her to navigate the wet stones in the shallow water, guiding her over. Her foot slipped on the last rock.

Jake pulled her into his arms and held her long enough for her to get her feet beneath her. And long enough for Alex to appreciate the warmth and solid strength of his body against her.

Heat seared a path from where their chests met all the way to her core. When he set her back from him, she ducked her head, afraid he might see the awareness in her eyes. The man had a hard body, one most women would find hard to ignore and even harder to resist.

Thankfully, Alex wasn’t most women. She couldn’t be so easily influenced by a man with delicious muscles and narrow hips. And the way he wore his uniform trousers, fitting snug across his tight bottom, shouldn’t affect her, either. Shouldn’t...but it did. Having spent the last couple hours with the man, following him through thorny brush and bramble, she should be too tired to think about how sexy this stranger was. Perhaps because she was tired, she was thinking naughty thoughts when she should concentrate instead on survival.

Squaring her shoulders, she picked up the pace. Darkness and distance made it harder to see that tight butt, and she didn’t want to lose him. Not out in the middle of the hills in Niger. She wasn’t sure what wild animals they might encounter. They weren’t far from one of the major national parks and wildlife preserves. For all she knew, they’d need those last few bullets to protect them from lions or other, more dangerous animals than the humans hunting them.

* * *

JAKE KEPT MOVING, determined to find a cave to hide from the men following them. Alex would need to rest before they continued on to find a way out of the hills and away from the ISIS terrorists that had taken control of the village.

Once they’d crossed the creek, he headed up the side of a hill, following an animal path to the dark, shadowy maw on the face of a bluff. By the time they reached the cave entrance, the path was nothing more than a thin trail, probably created by some surefooted sheep, goat or deer. He’d snagged Alex’s hand and held on as they navigated the treacherous hillside.

If either one of them slipped, it would be a long, bumpy way down. He wasn’t sure Alex could withstand another beating courtesy of a fall. Her hands were scratched, as were her elbows. And if her torn shirt was any indication, her back would be pretty messed up, too.

Jake had wet a bandanna while at the creek and stuffed it into one of his cargo pockets on the side of his pants. When they stopped, he’d attend to her wounds. She couldn’t afford to get an infection. Not when he was unsure of when his team would send out a drone to search for their whereabouts. The rescue mission could take days to find him. If the ISIS terrorists continued to hunt them, a drone might lead them straight to their location before help could arrive to extract them.

At the cave entrance Jake took out a small flashlight from his shirt pocket, aimed his weapon into the darkness and switched on the light, careful not to shine it for too long in case the ISIS predators were close enough to see the beam.

The cave didn’t go back far enough for them to hide in the depths. Anyone who climbed the hill and peered inside would see the man and woman huddled against a far wall.

“Too shallow,” Jake muttered.

“There’s another one farther along the bluff.” Alexandria motioned toward the west.

They left the shallow cave and eased along the narrow path, lit only by the stars beginning to pop out one by one in the indigo sky. Again Jake held Alexandria’s hand, helping her to keep her balance.

When they reached the second cave, he shined his light into the darkness and couldn’t see the back wall. He stepped inside, his weapon pointed into the blackness.

“Aren’t you afraid of animals?” Alex whispered.

“I’m more afraid of having to shoot one. If I fire a round, I give away our location.”

“And if a lion comes at us?” Alex asked, her voice shaking.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep us alive,” he assured her. “Stay behind me in case something does jump out. Or better yet, wait here.”

He entered the cave.

Alex followed. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather face a lion than a militant.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, and continued his perusal of the interior of the cave.

“So, what are you? A Special Forces soldier or something like that?”

His lips quirked. “Something like that.”

She stayed close enough behind him that he could almost feel the heat of her body, but not so close that she hampered his ability to use his weapon.

“Don’t the Special Forces soldiers work in teams?”

“Yes.”

“So?”

“So what?” He stalled, shifting the beam of his flashlight back and forth to cover every inch of the cave floor and the dark crevices that could contain wild animals. He even checked behind a large boulder near the back of the cave.

“So, where are the rest of your teammates?” she asked.

Completing his inspection, he turned to face her. “The cave is clear.”

“And you haven’t answered my question.” She raised her brow.

“We were separated in battle.” He took her hand and led her to the back of the cave and pointed to the cave floor. “You might as well bed down for the night back here. If someone does come into the cave, they won’t see us immediately.” He turned to leave.

She touched his arm. “Where are you going?” Her voice held a note of panic.

He covered her hand with his. “I’m going out to scout for a few minutes.”

“Do you have to?” she asked, smoothing her hands over her skirt nervously.

“I like to know what other options we have if we need to beat a hasty retreat.” He handed her a small penlight. “Here. Keep this. It’s not much, but it will give you a little light to see by. I’ll need my bigger flashlight out there.”

Alex held up the flashlight that looked more like a ballpoint pen, and cocked an eyebrow. “Like that’s going to do me any good against a lion.”

“No, but this might.” He pulled a handgun out of his belt and handed it over.

“I haven’t fired a gun since my father showed me how when I was a teen.” She smiled.

His lips turned upward on the corners. “I’m surprised you’ve fired one at all.”

“Oh, my father was all about taking care of yourself.” She weighed the handgun in her palm. “He wanted me to be able to defend myself. I think he wanted me to test for the concealed carry license. Only I didn’t feel comfortable carrying a gun in my purse. Most of my friends only carried makeup, a credit card, driver’s license and the keys to their cars. I was afraid someone would take the gun out of my purse and shoot himself accidentally. Thus, no gun in my purse.”

“Do you know how to operate this, or do I need to show you?”

“I can figure it out,” she said. “Especially if my life depends on it.”

“Good. I’ll be back shortly.” He touched her hand holding the gun. “Promise not to shoot me?”

Her lips twisted. “I promise not to shoot you.”

And he left to go down into the valley and back up over the pass to see if the men who’d been following them were still on their tail.

He paused just short of the top of the ridge. Inching just to the top, he peered over to the valley below. On the valley floor, he could see the warm glow of a campfire and shadowy figures gathered around the flames.

The ISIS rebels weren’t far behind them, with only a ridge standing between them.

Jake returned to the creek, rewet the bandanna and hurried back to the cave. If the cuts and scratches on Alex’s back were deep, they could become infected and cause her a whole lot more grief if left untreated for any length of time.

They could stay the night, but they’d have to leave early the next morning, while it was still dark, to be gone before the terrorists made it up over the ridge.

When he arrived back at the cave, he eased into the darkness, searching for the woman who’d escaped the village with him. Nothing stirred. No sounds of breathing or indication that anyone was there.

His pulse sped as he switched on his flashlight, using the red lens setting, making it harder for anyone outside the cave to see but illuminating the interior up to three feet in front of him.

Where was she? Had he entered the wrong cave? Or had some of the rebel forces found their way around him and made off with the pretty teacher?

He drew in a shaking breath and whispered, “It’s me.” Then he waited, his breath lodged in his chest.