Page 18 of Delta Mission
“I have a good mind to do exactly that. Let you go. But you know I can't.”
Closing her eyes, she rocked her head from side to side like she was trying to work a knot out of her backbone. Or preparing to punch me again.
I let go of her and waited till she looked at me. “It’s one thing for those assholes to display a dead body. It’s another for them to take a woman captive. Especially a DEA agent.” I kicked at the dirt. “The fuckers on those horses are coming back, and when they do, we do not want to be here.”
Turmoil swirled in her dark eyes. “Okay, but can we hide their bodies in—”
“No,” I snapped, taking control. “If we move them, they’ll know there are survivors and they’ll come looking for us.”
She pressed her hands to her head like she was trying to eject a headache. “This is so messed up.”
Her chin quivered, and I yanked my gaze away.
If she started crying, it would break down one of the walls I’d built around my heart.
I scanned beyond the village, searching for swirls of dust, the telltale sign someone was heading our way. But the landscape was still and getting darker by the minute.
We needed to get out of there and find shelter ASAP.
I adjusted my grip on my weapon. “Let’s go.”
I marched past the burned-out Hummer.
“Hey, Channing.”
“What?” I spun to her.
“The woman who murdered Lyle knows I’m alive.”
“You didn’t kill her?”
Her jaw dropped. “No, I didn’t kill her. I was too busy trying to stop the blood pouring out of Lyle’s neck.”
Fuck.“Where’d she go?”
She nodded at the building opposite. “That shelter also has a trapdoor. She escaped through the drug lab.”
“Did you go after her?”
“Yes, but I didn’t find her. But there’s a tunnel at the end.”
“Show me.” I strode to the shelter and stepped through the doorway.
Lyle lay in a pool of blood. Icy terror gripped me.A woman did this.If the men in this village got hold of Makenna . . . I shuddered as I stomped on that thought.
These fuckers were going to pay. I stood next to Lyle’s body in an attempt to shield Makenna from the bloody mess.
Her rigid expression showed her fortitude, and she was all business as she strode to the secret door and raised it. “Down there.”
Kneeling on one knee, I peered into the darkness. “Is this where you got the ladder from?”
She nodded, and the way she swallowed suggested she was fighting her emotions.
I rested my hand on her shoulder. “You okay here if I get the ladder?”
She nodded again.
“Don’t move from this spot.” I squeezed her shoulder and stood.
