Master of the Game (Rush Series Book 3) (22 page)

Devon’s
head snapped up and she moved her pitiful face around, trying to locate him.
She struggled to find him through the small slit open in her left eye. Her
throat burned as she swallowed the lump lodged there. He was alive! She
couldn’t believe it. Her heart clenched painfully in her chest as she struggled
to take in the fact he was standing within feet of her, alive and well. Her
body began to tremble so violently she was barely able to remain standing.
Through pitifully swollen lips that trembled as well, she gasped, “I… I thought
he’d killed you. Oh, my God, I’m so sorry, Ben.”

Alex
swallowed just as hard as she’d done as he struggled to keep his emotions
reined in. He took several deep breaths as he kept his eyes trained on her,
weighing his options. He felt as if someone had punched a hole in his chest. If
it were just him, this situation would be almost comical, he’d faced much worse
situations, but when there was a civilian involved – an untrained civilian – it
complicated things. That he was emotionally involved with the civilian
complicated it even further – which was the very reason he knew not to become
involved.

“It’s
not your fault, Little Devil,” he reassured her.

The use
of his nickname for her removed the tight hold she’d had on her emotions and
tears seeped through her swollen eyelids and ran unchecked down her cheeks.
“Please don’t give them what they want. I’m begging you. Don’t let them win.
I’d rather die than give it to them,” she sobbed to him.

Anger
and frustration at not being able to go and comfort her consumed him. Once
again he took a step toward her.

“Once
you tell me what I want to know, she’s yours,”
Taggert
said, brokering his deal.

Alex
stopped short and inhaled silently. Drawing on years of training, he cleared
his mind and with detached, new eyes, he glanced around the site.
Taggert
was standing approximately ten feet away from him,
holding a gun. Devon stood with Sara behind her at about the same distance. It
didn’t appear Sara had weapon and stood by looking bored.

“Devon,
I don’t want you to worry about anything, okay? I’ve been in much tighter
predicaments than this and it worked out.” He gave a small chuckle. “Remember
the story I told you about when I was in Afghanistan? That was tough, but I was
able to work my way out of it. You’ll do the same thing here… work your way out
and through. Soon, we’ll be sitting in a hot tub, reminiscing about it. Shake,
rattle and roll, baby. For now, I’m going to take Tag here to where I’ve hidden
his treasures. You just hang on with all your might, all right?” He’d kept his
tone smooth, even, and calm as he stared into her face.

Her
mind whirled at his words.
Shake, rattle
and roll
? Her chest rose and fell as she struggled to breathe. She didn’t
want him to help them. Anger filtered through all her emotions. She’d rather
die than let them have what they’d killed others for… what they’d killed Roman
for. Where was all that self-defense he’d expounded on and on about? Then it
hit her and she comprehended his words… his intent. Slowly, she nodded her head
once. “I will. I’ll wait for you,” she assured him as she braced her legs.

“Okay,
baby. Don’t be scared, I’m going to take care of this now.” Glancing toward
Tag, he said with a nod, “Okay, let’s go.” Alex took a step forward and
stumbled over the uneven ground and seemed to fall. He caught himself and
raised himself to a squatting position.

At the
same time, Devon fell and rolled backward, knocking Sara off her feet like a
bowling ball hitting pins. Alex reached into his boot and removed a Bowie
hunting knife concealed there when Tag turned his head at the commotion at the
tent’s entrance. Catching the tip of the knife within his fingers, Alex threw
the knife with all his might, catching the other man square in the center of
his throat.

Tag
gasped and gurgled as he dropped his gun in order to free up his hands. He
began to struggle to breath and slowly sank to his feet. Alex rolled to his
feet and rushed to Tag kicking the gun away before moving over to where Devon
struggled to keep Sara locked within her arms. Sara was twisting and turning
trying to gain purchase, but Devon refused to let go.

“Let go
of me, you bitch!” Sara screamed.

Alex
pried Devon’s arms from around her and lifted her up and into his arms,
wrapping her close to his chest, and burying his face in her hair, he said,
“Oh, God, baby. I’m so proud of you. You did perfect.”

Sobbing,
she said, “I thought you were dead. I thought I’d lost you and Roman on the
same day. I couldn’t take it… it was too much.”

Running
his hand up and down her back in comfort, keeping one eye on Sara, he murmured,
“
Shhh
,
it’s
okay. It’s okay.
Calm down. Everything will be okay.” After pressing his lips against her head,
he pulled back. Come on
,
 
come
sit in a chair. Let me take care of Sara and then check on
Lanier.”

She
clutched his biceps. “Please don’t leave me,” she implored him, as she again
struggled to see him through the small slit in her eye.

He
wrapped his hands gently around her face. “I won’t, I promise. I’ll be right
here.”

When
she finally nodded, he moved her to a chair and slowly lowered her battered
body down. He’d just begun to move toward Sara Daniels when from every
direction, men dressed in black uniforms holding menacing weapons began to
advance toward the campfire. He breathed a sigh of relief; his team had
arrived. He’d never been so happy to turn a mission over.

Devon
had just sunk into the comfort of the camp-chair and exhaled deeply, her
travail
over,
when from the small slit in her eye she
spied movement in the jungle. When she finally understood what she was seeing,
she sprang from the chair and stumbled toward Ben, who was still walking away
from her. “Ben, watch out!
There’s
more of them!” Not
having a full range of sight, she slammed into the camp-stove causing pots,
pans, utensils, food, and other paraphernalia to scatter in every direction in
a loud crash of metal against metal. The abrupt stoppage of her momentum had
her bouncing back to fall hard onto her butt, jarring her. It took a second or
two for her to get the wind that had been slammed from her body back. By that
time several men dressed in black uniforms began to surround her. When one of
them bent to grab her arm she jerked away and began to scream, “Run, Ben, run.
Don’t worry about me, please go.” Because deep down she knew he wasn’t the type
of man to leave a defenseless woman in the hands of the enemy, she began to
sob.

The commotion
of Devon slamming into the camp-stove caused Alex’s momentary breath of relief
to turn to cold fear, until he understood the reason for it. Quickly – but
apparently not quick enough, as her fear attested to – he finally reached her
and brushed off the hands of the team-members who were trying in vain to assist
her.

He sank
to his knees and pulled her once again into the comfort of his arms. She threw
her arms around him in a death grip. “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you run? I
wanted you to save yourself. You should have run,” she cried into the crook of
his neck.

Once
again, he murmured against her ear, “
Shhh
,
shhh
, baby. It’s okay, they’re the good guys. They’re here
to help us.”

Once he
was able to convince Devon the truth of his words and she’d calmed once again,
he helped her up, but when he tried to take her back to her seat, she clutched
her arms around him, refusing to budge. He tucked her head under his chin,
their bodies tightly ensconced. He pressed his lips against the side of her
head before murmuring, “Okay, Little Devil, we’ll stay like this for a
while.”
 
He finally lifted his eyes up to
meet the eyes of Mitch Mallard, the team leader.

“Well,
damn, Alex. Could you have left something for us to do?” Mitch grossed.

Alex
gave the man he’d done countless mission with, a wry twist of his lips. “Mitch,
I’m afraid
there’s still lots
to do. Miguel Munoz is
on the loose with the missile hulls. All his known accomplices are dead, with
the exception of these two. I also haven’t had a chance to review the tapes.
I’ll leave that to you as well. I need a medic to take a look at Devon here
before anything else.”

“
Sarge
?”
Mitch
turned his head to another member of his team. The man was standing over
Taggert
Lanier’s body and made a cutting motion across his throat.

“Well,
it looks like there is only one survivor,” Mitch said to Alex. “Is that your
work?” he asked, indicating the knife in the dead man’s throat.

Alex
nodded. “I’ll leave the rest to you. I’ll wait with Devon until she’s been
looked over. I want out of this god-forsaken jungle as soon as possible.”

Touching
the tips of his fingers against his forehead in a mocking salute, Mitch
replied, “Will do. We will need to debrief her as well before you go.”

Alex
gave a sharp nod of his head.

Chapter 12

Over
the top of her head, Devon listened to the sexy, slightly Southern accented
voice of Ben Allred. The words swarmed around her, but she wasn’t interested in
what was being said, only the reassurance of his body pressed against hers, and
the life-affirming vibration of his voice box. Occasionally, she’d feel the
press of his lips against her head, almost as if he needed the reassurance of
her as well.

She
wasn’t sure how long she stood within the circle of his embrace before he
pulled back to look into her face, which she could only imagine was a mess.
“Little Devil, this is Thom, he’s a medic. I want him to examine you, okay?” he
asked gently.

“You
won’t leave me?” she asked as panic filled her at the thought of him deserting
her.

He
brushed hair gently away from her face. “No, I’ll be right here. We’ll leave
together once you’ve been checked out, alright?”

She
swallowed but nodded. The man he’d referred to as Thom offered his arm to her.
“I’ll bring you right back,” Thom promised her before leading her to her tent
so he could examine her with privacy.

She lay
back on the cot when indicated. With gentle hands, Thom moved over her body.
She watched his face as he moved about.

“That
Alex is something, isn’t he?” Thom asked her conversationally.

“Who’s
Alex?” she asked.

Thom
eyebrows drew together. “Have you been having problems remembering things?” he
asked concerned.

Now it
was her turn to draw eyebrows up in confusion. “I don’t think so, why do you
ask?”

He
gently pried open her swollen eyelids and peered into them with a penlight
instead of answering her question.

He
completed the exam in silence. “Outside of being banged up, I think you’ll be
okay. I don’t see any debilitating injuries. I’d like for you to see your own
doctor when you get home. Okay?” he asked, helping her to her feet.

She
nodded. “Can you take me back to Ben now?”

“Who’s
Ben?” he asked.

She
laughed. “Now who’s having trouble remembering things?”

His
face broke into a smile, “Oh wait, is Ben, Alex?”

Her smile
faltered. “I don’t know what you mean.”

His
eyebrows drew together as before, but he just shook his head dismissively. “How
‘bout I just take you back to where I got you from?” he said good-naturedly.

Her
head began to swim as she struggled to understand the conversation she’d just
had. Grasping Thom’s hands
with her own,
she allowed
him to pull her to her feet, her body aching as every muscle in her body
protested the action. Thom chuckled, “I imagine you’ll be sore for several
days. I recommend a nice long, hot soak.
I promise, it’ll
work wonders.”

As they
walked across the compound, her mind went back to Ben’s words about them
sitting in a hot tub together reminiscing. She found the idea very appealing.
Maybe she’d remind him of that.

She
found Ben with his head together with man he’d called Mitch. They were pouring
over a map laid out on a portable picnic table. Ben straightened when she made
it to the table.

“Well,
how is she?” he asked Thom.

“Battered
and bruised, but nothing appears broken. She’ll be sore for a while. She will
need to have
a
once-over by her own doctor, but I
think she’ll be okay,” Thom replied.

“Mitch,
if you don’t need me anymore, I’d really, really like a ride out of here,” Alex
said.

“I have
two members of the team returning today, you’re more than welcome to catch a
ride with them,” Mitch replied.

“Can
you be ready to go by then?” Alex asked Devon.

“I need
to check on my mother. I think Miguel may have hurt her.”

“We’ll
call when we get to the road,” he promised.

From
the table, Mitch commanded his attention, “Hey, Alex, can you help me with
something?”