Line of Fire (10 page)

“I’m in this with you to the end, Princess. Whatever happens to you happens to me. We either make it out together or we go down together. Okay?”

She gazed up at him seriously. “You know as well as I do that you could make it out of here without any trouble if you were alone. If the situation becomes hopeless, why wouldn’t you cut your losses and at least get out yourself?”

He blinked in surprise. “That’s not how we do business in Charlie Squad. We all make it out together or not at all.”

“You honestly wouldn’t abandon me if it came down to a choice of both of us dying or saving yourself?” Disbelief filled her voice.

What or who had turned her into such a cynic? With a finger under her chin, he tilted her face up and forced her to look him in the eye. “Kimberly, I am a man of my word. I have told you the way it’s going to be and I mean it. It’ll be all or nothing with us. Got it?”

She stared at him with a combination of skepticism and pain. “Heroes only exist in comic books, Tex,” she whispered in a choked voice.

He snorted inelegantly. “Heroes are all around you, every day. They come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they perform tiny acts of courage and sometimes they pull off stunts so spectacular you wonder where they even got the notion to try.”

She shook her head, denying the truth of what he said.

His gut clenched with a need to convince her she was wrong. “Heroes are the family members who’ve lost loved ones to tragedy but go on. They’re the teachers who work with kids society’s given up on.” He cast around for more examples. “What about single parents? Hell, people with lousy jobs they hate, but who go to work every day rather than take a handout. The world is full of people doing decent, brave, honorable things.”

She answered quietly, “That’s where you and I are different. You look for the best in people and I see the worst.”

“Who did a number on you to make you like this?” he asked angrily.

She shrugged. A world of pain—and the unspoken answer to his question—shone in her eyes. She knew who’d made a cynic out of her, all right. Ten to one her old man had something to do with it.

But he’d pushed enough for one day. He backed off, literally and figuratively, and kicked the termite mound. He ate several more handfuls of the larvae quickly. If he found some “real” food for Kimberly, he’d let her have all of it.

“Let’s get going,” he said quietly. “There’s another hour of good light left.”

She sighed and fell in behind him.

He added over his shoulder, “I’ll keep an eye out for something non-disgusting for you to eat.”

Her hand touched his back lightly. “Thank you,” she murmured.

He wasn’t entirely certain what she was thanking him for, but he nodded in response.

They’d walked about twenty minutes when, abruptly, he heard noise. Off to their right this time. He hit the dirt with Kimberly until the sound of people passing retreated.

A sinking feeling settled in his stomach. This was not good. Not good at all.

Chapter 6

K
imberly sensed the tension in Tex as they crouched behind a bunch of roots. Something was seriously wrong. Well, in the current context, more wrong than usual.

She listened hard and heard the faint sounds of people passing by, more muted conversation in Spanish. They sounded farther away than the last bunch who’d come close. Why was Tex so much more uptight about it this time?

She opened her mouth to ask him, but then caught the expression on his face. Oh, God. He looked worried.

He gestured at her with his hands. She got the impression he wanted her to stay put while he went and had a look around. She nodded uncertainly. He moved off in a crouch, disappearing into the heavy undergrowth.

She curled up in a little ball, hugging her knees to her chest. She’d thought she knew what fear was before this jungle adventure. But she’d been wrong. This gut-wrenching, deadly serious, life-on-the-line stuff brought her concept of fear to a whole new level.

Had her father been this afraid in Vietnam? Had he ultimately cracked under the pressure of living up to people’s expectations after the magazine spreads raving about what a brave guy he was? Was that why he’d burst into his unreasoning rages for all those years after the war, screaming in some Asian language and attacking anything and anyone who happened to be near him?

Lord knew, she was having a hard time living up to Tex’s expectations of her, and all he wanted her to do was follow along behind him and eat some bugs. How could Tex do a job like this day after day, putting his life on the line for total strangers like her? Why did he court fear like this?

He could’ve jumped out of that truck alone and gotten away easily on his own. Why hadn’t he taken the easy way out? Was he right? Did heroes really exist? Was he one of them?

She jumped violently when a hand touched her arm.

“Easy, darlin’,” Tex murmured. “There’s a patrol of four guys ahead and to our right. And there are three guys paralleling our course on the left. I want to turn around and go back the way we came for a little while and see if there’s anyone behind us.”

She frowned. Something he’d said the night before tickled her memory. Something about a net closing in…“Have they surrounded us?” she gasped, her heart in her throat.

“Maybe. That’s what I want to find out.”

She looked wildly all around her.

He held her shoulders in his big, steady hands. “Don’t panic on me, Princess. I know what to do in a situation like this, okay? Nothing that’s happening here is beyond the scope of my training. You’ve got to trust me.”

Like she had any choice in the matter. She nodded her understanding. She stood up when he did, and walked nervously behind him as they eased back toward the south.

Funny, but she actually did trust him. They might not make it out of this alive, but if anyone
could
pull it off, that person was Tex. Now if only she could soak up some of his confidence. They hiked until the light began to fail and the lush green palate of the jungle had faded to gray.

Tex stopped abruptly and veered off to one side, motioning her to stay put. She saw him squat down. He appeared to dig at something at ground level with his knife. He came back in a few seconds and they continued on. What was that all about?

Her speculations were cut short by another sharp signal from Tex to get down. She dived to the ground, her heart pounding.

He belly-crawled into a thicket, gesturing over his shoulder for her to do the same. She pushed with her feet and dug in with her elbows. She moved a couple inches.

Ugh. How was Tex slithering along so effortlessly in front of her? New respect for his strength washed over her. She scrambled forward by inches, breaking several fingernails in the process of sliming along behind him. She breathed a sigh of relief when he stopped under a heavy stand of plants.

Something moved on the ground in front of her. She lurched in surprise. It moved again. It was the biggest ant she’d ever seen, dragging an entire leaf across the ground. She shuddered. At least it wasn’t a snake. She hated them with a passion. Oh, she knew snakes were good for the environment and rodent control and all that, but gut-level, hard-wired terror threatened her whenever she saw one, even on television.

“Stay here,” Tex murmured.

He disappeared again. He was gone longer this time and night had fallen by the time he came back. She didn’t hear him this time, either, but she sensed his presence a second before he touched her arm.

He moved up beside her on the ground. His body was warm and reassuring against hers. She rolled into his strength, glad when his arms gathered her close. His hands roamed up and down her back, rubbing soothingly.

“Miss me?” he murmured.

More than he knew. And certainly more than she was willing to admit to him.

He breathed into her ear, “As I thought. We’re pretty much surrounded on three sides. For some reason, the patrols are herding us to the north.”

“Herding us?” she murmured in dismay. That didn’t sound good at all.

“Yeah. They don’t know exactly where we are, but they know the general vicinity. They’ve established a tight line of troops in a U-shape and are moving steadily to the north. We either keep moving in that direction or they’ll catch us.”

“Why do they want us to go that way?”

“Don’t know. Maybe they have a camp up north, or maybe your kidnappers are waiting in that direction.”

Panic clutched at her. “We’re trapped?”

“Not by a long shot, darlin’.”

“What are we going to do?”

“For now, we get some rest. The patrols I saw have camped for the night and they won’t be closing in on us anytime soon. You’re dead on your feet, so we’re going to take a break.”

He sat up and reached into his shirt. “Speaking of which, I found these for you.” He held out several gnarled sticks the thickness of her wrist.

She sat up beside him and took the dirt-encrusted objects. “Uh, thank you?” she said questioningly.

He grinned, a flash of white in the dark. “They’re edible roots.” He took one from her and peeled it with the knife, exposing pale flesh.

“The plant it comes from is related to ginger. Tastes pretty good. It doesn’t have a lot of nutritive value, but it’ll fill your stomach.”

Right now, that was just fine with her. Her stomach felt about ready to gnaw its way through her spine.

She took the hunk he sliced off for her and put it in her mouth. It did taste faintly of ginger. It was the texture of a raw potato and hard to chew, but she felt worlds better when she’d finally eaten her fill of it.

“Come here,” he said, holding out an arm to her.

She sank gratefully into his embrace. His chest was a warm, reassuring wall and his heart thumped slow and steady underneath her ear.

His arm settled comfortably around her shoulders. “Get some sleep if you can. We’re going to move out hard in a few hours.”

She groaned into his shirt. He reached up to massage her neck and shoulders. His strong hands used just the right amount of gentle pressure to melt away the kinks in her muscles.

“Don’t think about it now,” he murmured. “It’ll be time to go soon enough. Just concentrate on relaxing and staying in the moment.”

The moment frankly wasn’t that bad. Tex was warm and strong and relaxed. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was that, for a trained killer, he wasn’t such a bad guy.

It seemed like only minutes later when he gently shook her awake with a murmured, “Time to go.”

She groaned under her breath. Her back, legs and shoulders ached like she’d been lifting rocks.

“How long was I asleep?” she mumbled.

“Four hours. It’s midnight. Time to rock and roll.”

The tension in his voice sounded almost like enjoyment. Nah. Nobody could get a rush out of running for their lives in a pitch-black jungle in the middle of the night.

Tex sprang to his feet energetically.

Darned if he didn’t look hyped up about the trek to come. “You’re not actually enjoying this, are you?” she asked in amazement.

He blinked down at her. “This is what it’s all about. I don’t enjoy being in danger, but…” He searched for words. “This is the moment when I show those bastards out there why I’m the best and they’re not.”

Thank goodness he was on her side in this game of cat-and-mouse.

“Grab on to my shirt and don’t let go,” he instructed. “We’re going to move fast tonight. I’ll try to describe what’s coming by way of terrain if nobody’s close. But if I hear anything and go silent, just try to feel through my movements what’s coming in front of you.”

Fast didn’t do justice to the way they tore through the jungle. It was like riding a roller coaster with her eyes closed.

She had to hustle to keep up with him, and more than once found herself hanging on to his shirt and practically letting him drag her along. The big sniper rifle banged into her wrist until she shifted her grasp to Tex’s belt. That worked well and they settled into a rhythm together. She did, in fact, learn rapidly how to gauge what obstacle came next by how the muscles in his back contracted or stretched.

She felt like an extension of his body and they moved practically as one. They settled into an almost sexual rhythm of Tex leading the way and her mimicking his every movement down to the smallest nuance.

Kimberly reached out with her mind, trying to “see” the movement of Tex’s body. She felt his every breath, his every tensing at a new sound, his total awareness of everything around them. His essence flowed over her and through her until she felt him in her blood, in her bones.

He stopped now and then for brief rest breaks. But even then, the deep connection between them didn’t cease. She felt it each time he lifted his head to listen, each time he used his intuition to test the jungle around them for the presence of others.

The hunter in him permeated her. The way he embraced the velvety-black darkness, became a part of the night, she sensed it all. It was completely unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. It was primitive and wild, a heady thing to have power over. No wonder Tex relished this.

He didn’t have to tell her when he was ready to head out again. She just knew. She stood up with a quick stretch of her tired back muscles.

Big, hard hands settled on her waist and slid around to her back. His knuckles dug deeply into the muscles there, wringing a groan of delight from her. His arms tightened, pulling her close. He picked her up easily and held her against him for several seconds, her feet dangling just above the ground. Her spine creaked and stretched deliciously. It felt wonderful to be surrounded by so much male power.

“Better?” he murmured.

She blinked. Better? Most definitely. “I could use some more of that,” she purred.

“When we stop for the night, remind me to pick you up again. It helps align the spine.”

Her spine…Right. Her spine. She frowned at his shadowed form.

A brief flash of his teeth. “That was what you were talking about, wasn’t it?” he murmured.

“Of course,” she mumbled.

“Mmm, hmm,” he replied with laughter in his voice. “Come on, Princess. Let’s shock the hell out of these goons and really put some distance between us and them.”