Cover of Darkness (37 page)

The Americans were planning a surprise attack. His teacher, the man who had created him, the only man he'd ever truly feared, had come at last.

A wave of fear crashed over him. Took him under, deep inside his subconscious where all his doubts and suspicions slept. It almost suffocated him.

His teacher would kill him. He must flee. Terror stole his breath, tightened all his muscles until they twitched. The Americans would order an air strike, and blow away the hillside to get him.

They'd almost done it the night Ghaliya had saved him.

His heart beat a frantic rhythm beneath his ribs. He'd never escape their aircraft from here.

His wild gaze refocused on his prisoner, a debilitating weakness taking over. How would he escape? He had to move, now, before it was too late. He'd have to leave his prisoner behind—

His prisoner.

He stilled. His mind cleared.

Daoud's daughter. Of course.

The paralyzing fear ebbed. It fell away until calm settled over his racing heart. His heartbeat slowed, his breathing evened. The sweat dried on his clammy skin.

Allah had sent her to him for this reason. He knew it to the marrow of his bones. She was the answer. His teacher would not risk killing her, not even to get to him. She was too close with his family. Nothing mattered more to his teacher than his wife and son. Killing Daoud's daughter would hurt them 349

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

deeply. No, his teacher would not sacrifice her life to kill him.

While she was here, he would be safe.

She was his only protection now. He had to keep the Americans from getting her.

He could escape. Take her along to prevent them from shooting him. God had protected him from his teacher before.

Why spare his life unless he was meant to live, to serve His higher purpose?

Yes, he would use her to escape. Mind free, he left her staring after him with wide eyes to arrange safe transport.

Day 13, Desert outside Basra

A few hours before dawn, Dec crouched in position at the head of his team, muscles tense as he waited for the green light. They'd inserted by helo, fast-roping into a shallow canyon three clicks from their target near Basra and proceeded on foot to maintain surprise and silence. Luke hunkered beside him, scanning through his NVGs, while Rhys was behind with the rest of the team, maintaining the GPS

and satellite coms with Ben at the TOC in Baghdad.

Tehrazzi was reportedly in these hills, over the ridge in a cave where the air force had launched a series of DJAMs earlier to destroy the hidden weapons cache. Current intelligence said Tehrazzi felt safe there, that because of the recent air strikes the biggest danger was over. It worked to their advantage, because he sure as hell shouldn't be expecting a team of SEALs to come storming into his camp, on a mission to destroy the cell before Tehrazzi and his followers could reach the Iranian border. That's what the top brass wanted.

350

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

Dec had a different focus. The most important part of the mission: extract the principal. Again.

All night he'd been tormented with fears for Bryn's safety, but now he had to keep his mind on his task. His men's lives depended on him maintaining his focus. At Luke's signal, they started forward, keeping low as they picked their way over the rough ground, dropping to their bellies at the top of the ridge. Luke indicated that he saw three armed guards at the perimeter and Dec relayed the message to the team, murmured it into his mike for HQ. He called everyone into position and gave directions using hand signals: circle around to the east and come in from behind, immediately surrounding the camp. Looking into his comrades'

camouflaged, serious faces, his adrenaline pumped hot, his muscles gathering for the burst of speed. At Luke's command he took off at a run, passing him as he led his teammates down the slope.

He landed on the balls of his feet to muffle the sound, his boots hitting the sand with quiet thuds. His quads and hamstrings hummed with power as he sprinted down a rise and into a wash, throwing himself flat with his riflescope to his eye. As the others fell in beside him, his eyes scanned the horizon for any new threats. When everyone came back with an all clear, Dec pushed up and moved them to a protected position behind a group of boulders less than two hundred yards from their target. From here, the scent of smoke from the campfires reached them. Low voices carried on the air.

Estimates put fifteen to thirty men down there.

"LT, sentry at ten o'clock high."

351

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

Dec's head swung around and up to his left. Sure enough, a figure stood poised on the rim of a cliff. His heart pounded.

Had he seen them?

"Four o'clock high."

Shit.

"One o'clock low."

Christ. He didn't like the feel of this at all. They were being surrounded. And if they fired now, they'd give away their position before they made their attack. He glanced back at Luke, whose jaw muscles bunched as he clenched his teeth together.

"Rhys," he whispered into the radio, loud as he dared, never taking his eyes off the man on the cliff to his left,

"request close air support."

"Roger that." Rhys called in the request over the radio to the carriers located offshore in the Persian Gulf.

They'd have to haul ass to gain better cover, and then the air force could pick the sentries off. The trick was getting the timing just right so that they were already moving when the jets or gun ships rolled in to lay down covering fire.

Distant shouts shattered the silence, echoing through the warm air. They'd been spotted.

No way the enemy should have seen them yet. Jesus, had they walked into an ambush?

"Time's up," Luke muttered as more of Tehrazzi's men scrambled into position above them, hovering like vultures.

"Get down there and cover all exit routes. Make sure that bastard doesn't slip away again."

352

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

"Go, go!" Dec commanded, tearing out into the open, sprinting for the camp.

A thump reverberated through his chest. Acting on instinct, he hit the deck and covered his head as the mortar round exploded to his right. The blast rattled his ears and scorched his retinas, blinding him as he staggered to his feet and took off again. Another blast, closer this time, two more in rapid succession. In the bright flashes he saw his teammates hunkered down and spread out behind him, Tehrazzi's followers rushing toward them with RPGs and rifles.

Dec raised his weapon and squeezed off a few rounds, dropping two of them, arms flinging upwards as they fell.

Bullets zinged past, tracers glowing red in the darkness. He flattened himself as deep as he could into the cool sand, fighting to stay in control, his mind racing.

Please, let Bryn still be alive in there
.

Another mortar round exploded right beside him, the impact enough to knock the breath out of him. He struggled up onto his elbows and fired again. Where the fuck was the air support?

Luke dropped down beside him, yelling in his ear. "Gun ships are six minutes out."

"Keep moving," he shouted back, sweeping an arc of fire in front of them. If they could eliminate enough of the enemy to free Bryn, the air support could take care of everything else.

Heart bursting, he leapt up and plowed onward, picking off men as they came into view. More and more streamed out of the cave. Shit, their intelligence had been way off the mark. If they made the attack now, they'd take heavy casualties.

353

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

Dec fired off another round and looked out at the camp, thinking of Bryn as he gauged the distance. Too much open ground to cross. He swept his eyes over his men, lying flat as they picked off the enemy, then back to the camp. He felt like he was being torn in two. He wanted to go now, rescue her, but he had others' safety to think of. He was responsible for the lives of his men. There were seven of them. One of her.

A curl of smoke from a campfire across the ridge rose into the air. Bryn was right there, might still be alive. If she was, she'd be terrified. Alone. Cold. Was she praying for him to find her? A picture of her formed, curled tight in a ball, rocking herself, eyes puffy from crying.

He thought his heart would break.
I'm here, baby. Please
hold on.

Rounds whizzed past, thudding into the sand around them.

He shot off another burst. They had to move back. Going forward now was suicide. His stomach knotted. The decision had already been made for him. He didn't have a choice. He was an officer. His first responsibility was to his team. Much as it killed him, he had to take his heart out of the equation.

That left one option. He had to take his men to safety. When the air support cleared off some of the enemy, they could make another attempt.

"Fall back," he shouted, heart heavy as a rock in his aching chest. Lungs burning, he led his team to the relative safety of the cliffs, the spurt of adrenaline propelling him over the last stretch of open ground. The team closed ranks in a semi-circle, firing up at the cliff and around their horizon. Rhys 354

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

moved in beside him, shouted down at him. "Air support inbound."

"When?"

"Two minutes."

"Relay the coordinates."

Rhys crouched behind the protective wall the team made for him and whipped out a grid map, yelling rapid instructions over the radio. An RPG round shrieked overhead and impacted higher up the cliff, slamming them into the rock face as chunks of debris rained down on them like deadly hail.

Dec gasped for breath and rolled to his knees, shaken and disoriented. As the ringing in his ears dissipated, he caught the high-pitched roar of the cavalry. Fighting to stay upright, he kept firing, hearing Rhys on the radio.

"Air support in thirty seconds—" His voice cut off sharply, the whites of his eyes gleaming. They were too close to the target.

Thirty seconds, and Bryn was still in there...

Dec's heart tripped. "Move out! Go, go!"

He grabbed the man nearest him and tore over the open ground, spewing rounds for covering fire. When he glanced back, all his teammates were hauling ass, but the roar of a jet engine pierced the din. For an instant he caught Luke's stunned gaze, then a streak of light split the air. A missile, off course, hurtling toward them. "Take cover!" he bellowed, diving onto his front. The warhead roared through the sky.

Impacted. A massive shockwave rumbled. The earth rolled beneath his feet. Pitched him upward. His vision dimmed. He 355

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

hurtled through the air. Crushing pain ripping through his chest, then darkness.

The sudden gunfire outside, popping noises, like fireworks, made her breath catch. Her heart lurched. A battle. With Americans? Dec might be out there. Was a team trying to rescue her? Shouts reached her as men ran past the dugout, barking orders. They scrambled past down the slope. She struggled to her side, lay there with her muscles tensed.

She'd prayed for a rescue, begged Dec to come for her.

But what if he was out there right now, and something happened to him? She loved him. She probably wasn't going to make it out of this shelter. She didn't want Dec to die for her. She at least wanted him to make it back home.

Voices. Outside the opening. She recognized Tehrazzi's.

Her belly tightened. Was he coming back to kill her?

He appeared through the blanket flap. His eyes met hers as he approached, pulling a knife from his belt.

She shrank back, stomach clenching at the wickedly sharp blade he wielded.
Oh God, this is it. I'm going to die.

Smothering a scream as he stalked over, she squeezed her eyes shut, and turned her head away as though it would shield her from what he was about to do to her. She braced herself for the first terrible burn of the blade in her skin.

He grabbed her shoulder and flipped her onto her stomach.

A scream of denial and fear stuck in her throat. But he didn't stab her. He seized her foot and sawed through the tape. He let go, and her legs and arms fell apart. Her legs hit the ground with a thud. She jerked her gaze up, staring at him warily while she got to her knees. His green eyes touched 356

Cover of Darkness

by Kaylea Cross

hers for a moment before he bent and grabbed her wrists.

She ducked her head and flinched as he sliced her hands free.

They dropped to her sides, leaden as the blood rushed back.

She sucked in a breath at the hot sting.

"Get up."

Eyes wide, she gaped at him. Was he going to free her feet as well?

He slid his knife back in its scabbard at his waist.

Her breath trembled in and out. She eyed him warily.

"You may thank Allah for sparing you. He has let you live so that you may help me escape."

The hell she would. Her eyes narrowed. Her fingers flexed, the burn fading. Strength flowed into her muscles along with the blood. A terrible rage invaded her. This man had taken everything from her. Her father. Her freedom. Her chance with Dec. Maybe her life, when he was finished with her.

No more
. The words echoed in her skull. She would not go with him without a fight. She would show him just how strong she was. He would pay for what he'd done to her. In blood and bruises wrought by her own hands.

He produced a roll of duct tape, advanced toward her.

She stared holes into his face. "I don't think so."

He stilled a moment, as though she'd surprised him. Then he grinned. "Give me your hands."

She trembled with fury. "Come get them."

His jaw tensed, irritation snapping in his eyes. He reached for her.

Bryn shot her hand around his wrist, wrenched it up and back and threw him over her hip. He hit the ground with a 357