Mission Made For Two (19 page)

Jake took two steps and pulled her into his arms.  His warm embrace
felt so comforting, so unlike anything she’d ever experienced, tears actually pricked her eyes.  God, what was happening to her?

“No, I’m not happy,” he whispered.  “But you don’t have to be super-human all the time.”

She pulled back from him only enough t
o see his face, though all she c
ould really see was the shadow of his features.  “Did you have a family, Jake?”

He was silent a moment, she supposed a bit shocked by her question.  “My parents were high school sweethearts.  My
dad was a Marine and my mom
a teacher.”

“Were you happy growing up?”

“I suppose.”  She thought h
e shrugged.  “Dad was gone long stretches
, but mom did a good job.  I have a younger brother, so he and I did a lot together.”

“Are you still close with them?”

“My parents are dead.  Th
e
y were killed in a car accident twelve years ago.”  His voice was flat and she heard the pain he still carried.  “My brother’s an Air Forc
e pilot.  He’s stationed in Afghanistan
at the moment.”
He brushed his knuckles over her cheek. 
“Why the
questions?”
    
“I grew up moving from foster home to foster home and finally just living in an orphanage in Chicago.  My fear of snakes is something I’ve always had.  When I was eight, I made the mistake of letting one of the kids in the foster home know I was terrified
of them.  He put one in my bed one night.  I woke up with it draped across me.  Not only did I wet the bed, but I broke my arm and ended up with a concussion when I fell down a flight of stairs trying to get away from it.”

“Sierra…”

“Most of the kids I came in contact with growing up used any weakness you had against you.  The adults weren’t much better.  But I won’t even go into all that.”

“I won’t use your weaknesses against you, Sierra.”  He pulled her back into his arms.

“
I’ll break your arm if you do.”

He chuckled.  “Come on, I found us a place to sleep
t
onight.”
 

S
ierra eyed the small area Jake had found them
. 
It wasn’t quite a cave, yet it was an indention in the side of the hill w
ith enough overhang to provide
protection if it
rained
. 

“You’ve checked it for snakes?” Sierra asked.

“Yep, all clear.  Climb in.  You need to eat,
then
sleep.”

“I’ve already eaten half of one of your protein bars.  That’s all I can stomach.”

“You need food to help replace the blood you’ve lost.  If you get anemic, it’ll just up your chances for getting an infection.”

“You sure are full of lots of advice when it concerns other people.  I remember having similar concerns over you leaving the hospital, but you did what you wanted to.”

“I
had antibiotics and a warm bed to recover in.
  At least you’ve eaten something.
”  He nudged her forward.  “Now lie down.  We’ll need to get moving early.”

Sierra did as instructed
.
  “Do you think we’ll be safe tonight?”

Jake crawled in beside her
and pulled her into his arms.  She laid her cheek on his chest, resting her hand on his stomach
.  “I think so.  Finding anything in these woods at
n
ight, even with infra red equipment is tough.  Besides, Diaz can be patient.  They’ll come behind us, make sure we don’t double back and be waiting for us on all sides.”

“You said you knew someone in
Cotui
who can help us.”

“A man by the name of Cirilo Flores.”

“How did you meet him?”

Jake chuckled.  “He’s a mercenary.
  I met
him when I was in Special Ops. I left him a message back at the coffee shop.  If he got it,
he’ll be waiting for us.
”
 

“And what if he doesn’t get your message?”

“Then we’ll shift to plan B.”

Sierra was almost afraid to ask, “Which is?”

“I’m working on it.” 
Jake’s fingers massaged her scalp, then the back of her neck.  “We should get some rest.  Close your eyes, Sierra.”

Her eyes
closed. Mostly because her eye lids were too heavy to stay open any longer than because he’d told her to. She wanted to tell him that.  He shouldn’t think he could order her around and she’d listen.  Instead, fatigue over took her and she slipped off to sleep.

~***~

Sierra fought against her bindings.  Diaz circled her, smiling, his dark eyes filled with menace.
  Light glinted off of the nine-
inch silver knife blade he waived in front of her.  Where was Jake?

The door opened.  One of Diaz’s guards
entered, shoving a young dark-
haired girl before him.  The little girl stumbled,
then
caught her balance.  She looked up, her sad brown eyes connecting with Sierra.

The air left Sierra’s lungs. The young girl
was straight from the picture she’d seen. 

“D
on’t hurt her,” Sierra pleaded.

Diaz laughed and said something, yet his words were muffled.  Sierra strained to understand him.  Then he turned and touched the little girl
’
s cheek with his k
nuckles.  He moved behind her and
laughed. 

Sierra’s stomach knotted and she fought harder against her bindings. 

Jake appeared in the doorway. 
Fierce and ready for battle.

Then red exploded over Jake’s chest. 
Right over his heart.
 
D
iaz had shot him. 
A gun materializing from
nowhere
.
Sierra met Jake’s disbelieving gaze as his knees buckled.  He dropped.

Sierra screamed. Diaz didn’t waste time.  He grabbed the little girl, his laughter echoing through the room.  Sierra screamed again. Diaz brought the knife to the child’s neck.

“Sierra.
  Sierra, wake up.” 

She blinked and looked up into Jake’s familiar face. 
Alive.
  He was al
ive.  She’d only been dreaming.  Her heart pounded so hard, she thought it might beat out of her chest.  Perspiration bathed her body and
cotton lined her mouth
.

“
It’s just a dream.”  Jake spoke to her as if she were a frightened animal. 

She sucke
d in air and nodded.  “I’m fine,
”
she lied.

“You’ve been saying that since you woke up yesterday.”

“That’s
‘
cause
it’s true.”  She sat up and rubbed her eyes. 

“Want to talk about it?”

“Would you?”

“No.”  He chuckled.  “
Can you go back to sleep
.”

She loo
ked over her shoulder at him.  T
he image from her dream haunted her.  Watching the life seep out of Jake’s beautiful eyes would kill
her.  Getting involved with another agent
was
stupid.  Jake had been right to begin with.
  She swallowed and settled back beside him.

They lay so
close,
Sierra could hear his heart beating.  “
I don’t really have bad dreams that often.”

“You’re lucky,” he said quietly.

She turned her head. “Do you dream about Katherine?”

“Yeah.
  I dream about arriving at that warehouse and
wa
tching the flames destroy it.”

Guilt was a powerful emotion.  Jak
e carried more than his share. 

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.  “Go to sleep, Sierra. Morning will come too soon.” 

She snuggled against him, knowing even as she drifted off tha
t falling for Jake was stupid.

~
***~

When Si
erra woke again, dawn filtered
through the trees
.  Jake was already awake. 

“Eat something, then I’m going to check
and re-bandage
your wound and we’ll get a move on,” Jake said as he knelt in front of her with the back pack.  “I’ve already run surveillance around the area. No sign of Diaz’s men.”

Sierra pushed upright.
  “You should have woken me when you got up.”

“You needed to rest.”

“You’re getting soft, Harding,” she said, but she did feel
a little
better. The sleep had definitely helped.  Her side was extremely sore, but she didn’t feel feverish and she was actually hungry.

Jake
unwrapped
a protein bar and handed it to her.  “Eat the whole thing.”

She arched an eyebrow.
“Yes,
sir.”

“You’re worrying me with all that compliance,” he said dryly.

“There’s just no pleasing you, is there?”

“Now
that sounds more like the woman I’ve come to know.”

Sierra smiled and bit into the chewy bar
, she watched him dig around inside the bag.  He pulled out the canteen, the bottle of aspirin and the first aid kit.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked.

“Already had mine.”
  He lifted her shirt
and shook his head.  “You’re bandage is bloody again.”

Sierra glanced down
.  “I
t
hought bleeding was good. 
Keeps it clean
.”

Jake’s lips quirked.
  “
But having an open wound out here running around isn’t good.”

She picked up the canteen and took a swig of water to wash down the dry bar
, conscious of how little they had left.  Jake had purification tablets, but she wasn’t looking forward to using them.
They made the water taste like crap
. 

Jake removed
her bandage.  The wound was
puckered and red. 
With the tips of his fingers, he pressed
the skin around it.

“Some swelling, but doesn’t look infected.
  I’d feel better if we had antibiotics.”

Sierra set the canteen down.  “I’ve never had anyone worry over me.”

Which seemed a little sad when she said the words out loud.
  But it was what it was. From the time she was old enough to have memories, she didn’t remember anyone really
caring
about her. 

He met her gaze.  “What happened to your parents?”

“All I know is that my mom dropped me off at the city orphanage one da
y, saying she couldn’t take care of me anymore
. 
Never heard from her again.”

Jake frowned.
  “How old were you when you went into social services?”

“Three.” 

That seemed to trouble him eve
n more.  His scowl deepened.

“I
t’s not a big deal, Jake.  Kids
enter the system all the time. Some are lucky, they get adopted out and others…” Sierra shrugged. “Well, they do the best they can.”

“Is that what you did?”

Images from her childhood flashed inside her head. 
Sit down and shut up, Sierra.  Can’t you just stay out of trouble?  You’re nothing but a brat. 
A trouble maker.
  You’ll never amount to anything.

She couldn’t rememb
er many kind words spoken to her during
her trip through the system.
  Of course
,
she had been head strong and hard to deal with on her good days.
 
“Yep.
That’s exactly what I did.  It wasn’t always pretty
, but I survived.”  She shoved away the memories Jake was intent on making her dredge up and chuckled.  “And here I am. 
Running around the jungle with you.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed, but he must have decided she wasn’t going to talk anymore about it.  He was right.  Focusing on the past made her feel v
ulnerable.  Protecting
herself—
and not just physically—
had been a way of life.  Anytime, she’d let someone get too close, they’d eventually turned that against her.

She looked
at her side, where Jake gently
cleaned
her
w
ound with an antibiotic wipe.
  Somehow, Jake had slid
under her radar.  She’d never known love, so she couldn’t say that’s what she felt.