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He prayed his diversion had bought the rest of the SEAL team time enough to get away from the ISIS rebels. They would expect him to seek refuge and escape from the occupied village before attempting to reconnect with friendly forces.
Jake wondered what had happened to the drone that was supposed to be flying over while they were on their mission. Had the drone been in the vicinity of the village, they would have known the ISIS group was on its way and either been prepared for the attack or gotten the hell out of Dodge before they’d arrived.
Instead, they’d been outmaneuvered and outgunned. If Jake hadn’t rammed the other truck, they would have been mowed down by the sheer number of bullets the terrorists could have unloaded into them.
Hut by hut, Jake led the way, making it to the edge of the village. He paused to assess the chances of strolling across a wide, barren expanse of land. By himself, he could low crawl or run in a zigzag line long enough to achieve the safety of cover behind some of the larger boulders at the base of the nearby hills. With the woman, he wasn’t sure he could reach safety before they were discovered, and he didn’t know her physical capabilities.
He ran his gaze over her length. “Can you run?”
The woman tilted her chin. “I was on the track team in high school.”
“I didn’t ask if you were on the track team.” He drew in a deep breath, let it out and asked again, “Can you run now?”
She frowned. A nearby shout made her jump. “Yes. Yes, I can run.” She inched closer to him.
“Then on the count of three, I want you to take off in front of me and run like the hounds of hell are on your heels. Keep as low as you can. I’ll be right behind you. Don’t slow down until you reach those boulders at the base of the hills.” He touched her arm. “Can you do it?”
Her eyes round, she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded.
After one more glance around the vicinity, Jake whispered, “Go.”
For a moment, the woman didn’t move. Then she took off like a bullet shot from an M4A1 rifle. He’d never seen a woman run as fast as that woman ran from the Niger village.
He almost smiled, but he didn’t have time to admire her resilience and strength. He took off after her, staying as close as possible to block the bullets someone might shoot their way. He had the bulletproof vest, but the woman had nothing.
Once they were over halfway there, he began to think they’d make it without being noticed. That was not the case. The sharp report of gunfire echoed off the hillsides.
Jake automatically ducked lower, and he was glad to see the woman in front of him doing the same.
With over two hundred yards between them and the village, they could potentially make it to the hills without being shot. Hitting a still target at two hundred yards was hard enough. Hitting one that was moving was even harder. He closed the distance between himself and his lady counterpart, keeping his back between her and that village. Fifty yards. All they needed was another fifty yards, and then they could duck behind the cover of the boulders.
Something slammed into his back, pushing him forward. He stumbled and plowed into the woman, sending her flying forward. She hit the ground on her hands and knees, but kept moving, crawling as fast as she could go.
Jake regained his footing, scooped up the woman, set her on her feet and hustled her toward the boulders.
Bullets kicked up dust at their feet as they rounded a man-size rock that had fallen from the bluffs above.
After a few deep breaths to refill his lungs, Jake stared at the woman who wasn’t breathing any harder than he was. “By the way, I’m Jake.”
“Alexandria Parker. Most folks call me Alex.” She looked past his shoulder. “I can hear voices coming nearer. Let’s go.”
She stepped out with purpose, heading away from the village and up into the hills.
Jake followed. “You weren’t kidding about running track.”
“I run whenever I get a chance,” she said without slowing to catch her breath. “Even over here in Niger.”
When they came to a bend in the trail, Jake glanced back, his pulse picking up again. “Well, you’re going to have to keep running. They’re coming after us.”
Alexandria picked up the pace, climbing higher and faster. Soon the village was completely out of view behind a hill. They couldn’t keep up the pace, but, thankfully, neither could their pursuers, and they didn’t have the benefit of ATVs to speed up the search.
“If you’re up to it, we should keep moving until nightfall,” Jake suggested.
“I’m good to go,” she said, her breathing a little labored. But she didn’t slow, didn’t falter, just kept going.
Jake thanked his lucky stars this woman wasn’t one to fall to pieces when the going got tough. A glance ahead at the rocky path provided a good indication that the going promised to get tougher. And they had no food or water to sustain them if they had to hide out for any longer than a day or two.
At the moment, though, their number-one need was a safe haven from gunfire.
The path into the hills forked. When Alexandria turned right instead of left, he didn’t question her choice. It made sense to choose the path least traveled. The other appeared to be recently disturbed.
The crack of gunfire echoed off the hillsides. As they slipped over the top of a ridge, Jake glanced back.
Several men dressed in the black garb of the ISIS rebels were climbing the path they’d taken.
“Wait on the other side,” Jake commanded.
Alexandria dropped below the ridge and did as told.
Hunkering low to the ground, Jake steadied his rifle and peered through the scope, focusing on the movement below.
His hands tightened on the rifle. “Damn.”
“What?” Alexandria started to climb up beside him.
Jake held out a hand to stop her and replied, “They’re following our path.”
“Good,” Alexandria whispered. “They found the candy wrapper I left.”
Anger surged as Jake sank back behind the ridge and stared at the woman as if she’d lost her mind. He stopped short of grabbing her by the arms and shaking some sense into her. “Why the hell did you do that?”
Her lips firmed and she lifted her chin. “The other path led to where the orphans and villagers are hiding in the caves. I didn’t want the militants to find them.”
His ire abated as he stared into the eyes of a woman who had sacrificed her own safety for that of others. He couldn’t fault her for that, not when he’d done the same for his team. “Okay. I get it. But that doesn’t make it any easier on us. We can’t stop moving until dark.” He glanced one last time over the top of the ridge.
They’d lost some of their lead. They’d have to get a move on to gain ground. He’d counted six of the ISIS fighters. The predators outnumbered the prey, but they still had the lead. With only a few rounds remaining in his magazine, Jake couldn’t risk a firefight. He had to get himself and Alexandria back to his team before they were caught or died in the arid landscape.
Chapter Three (#uf80de86b-b6e9-5d24-8278-a71cd4081eae)
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.
