Page 119 of Kai
“Well, we got him.” Releasing his hold on me, he bent down, dragged the heavy merc out of the dinghy, and dropped him on the platform. “He’s ours now.”
“So,” I said, eager to know the details. “No traps?”
“No traps I could detect… so far.” He leaned on the railing to catch his breath. “Looks like Li made a run at killing Levine, and the fucker beat the odds.”
My gaze shifted to the merc. He lay in the puddle of seawater dribbling from his clothing. His hands were zip-tied behind his back, and so were his ankles. His face showed a couple of bruises, a cut lip, and a swollen eyelid, plus the broken nose I’d given him.
Kai bent over, released the set of cuffs that tied the merc’s feet to his hands, and then grabbed the man by the edges of his orange life jacket. With a huff, he dragged the man up the stairs. I followed, unsnagging Levine’s heavy boots when they got caught on a step.
“Is he going to survive?” I asked.
“If he doesn’t piss me off again.” Kai paused, shifted froma double to a single grip, then continued to haul the merc up the last couple of steps. “From what I could tell, he looks like he went through a shredder.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Or a blowhole, perhaps?”
“Or a blowhole, a jujitsu black belt, and a missile attack,” Kai agreed with a smirk. “He’s got nasty cuts and scrapes everywhere, and a gunshot wound in the back of the thigh. Either you or I landed a round on Levine. He’s gotta be hurting. None of that shit stopped him from coming at me soon after I fished him out of the ocean and gave him some hydration.”
“Son of a bitch,” I bit out. “You saved his life.”
“Turns out dickhead doesn’t practice gratitude.” Kai dropped his load on the deck and steadied himself on the gunwales to catch his breath. “As soon as he saw an opening, he mutinied.” Kai scrubbed a hand over his face, then shook his head, sending droplets everywhere.
Guilt weighed me down. Judging by Kai’s stiff movements as he knelt next to the merc, he’d had a painful night.
“This fucker is going to get a piece of my mind when he wakes up.” I knelt opposite Kai. “I can’t believe he survived a missile. Lucky for us, but a fucking missile?”
“This one’s hard to kill, remember?” Kai unstrapped the front of the man’s life jacket, slid out his combat knife, and sliced the life jacket along the sides and shoulders.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m going to get rid of his gear and clothes.” He tossed orange life jacket pieces to the far corner. “We need to make sure he doesn’t have any weapons he can use against us. I’ve got him tranq’ed, but I won’t take risks with you on board. We need to keep him tied even while we strip him down. I’m not letting this fucker hurt you, not on my watch.”
My heart did a happy flip in my chest, celebrating hisprotectiveness, his love.
Kai removed the life jacket. He tackled the man’s camo jacket next, slicing his blade along the seams. Ripping the shirt at the shoulders, he cut around the sleeves. While he worked, I took off the merc’s heavy boots and peeled off his soaked socks. I hissed at the smell. I didn’t want to touch the asshole, but the man couldn’t fight us while he was out.
The sooner we did this, the better.
Leaving the sleeves in place, Kai grabbed the front of the merc’s shirt, ripped it off, and checked it closely before he set it aside. He turned the man onto his side and cut off the pressure bandage that bound his ribs.
“Okay,” he murmured as he worked to divest the merc from the rest of his clothes. “You can check for scars on his back.”
“Scars?”I drew back, aware of the rip of Kai’s knife rendering through fabric. “Why?”
“Because he may have a geolocator implanted under his skin.” Beneath the neoprene, Kai’s biceps bulged elegantly as he tackled the man’s pants.
A grimace twisted my lips. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you’re a scientist, Cece, not a special operator.” Kai exhaled even as he continued his work. “Even though you’re crazy smart, you can’t foresee every single contingency in life. We talked about this. Remember?”
“Yeah,” I murmured, although breaking my lifelong patterns didn’t come easy, because they were—well—patterns.
But if Li and the NWO kept trackers on their mercs, we were in trouble. I gulped down a surge of panic.
“Easy, Sorceress.” Kai didn’t have to look at me to sense my terror. “They’re not here yet, and Bellator’s not tracking any threats. That’s something.”
“True.” I took a deep breath. “Off I go to find me somescars.”
“Check his clothing, too,” Kai instructed. “Sometimes, they stitch a tracker in their clothes.”
