Page 14 of Rescue Me (Tempting SEALs 6.10)

Thank God she was able to keep up, her hand a small, hard ball of a fist clutching the back of his belt. He’d always wanted Dr. Goodall’s small hand down his pants, Sam thought wryly as he shoved a large leaf out of the way, then held it so it wouldn’t lash back. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind.

He was aware of her every breath as she trudged along behind him. He was pushing it, trying to put as much distance as he could between them and the compound before they realized she’d flown the coop. Trying to get to the river. Trying not to give her the tongue-lashing she deserved for coming to a war-torn country in the middle of fucking nowhere to prove a point that wasn’t even important.

A rustle in a nearby shrub made him turn his head just in time to see the horizontally striped butt-end of an okapi. The deerlike animal, closely related to a giraffe, darted through the underbrush unleashing a troupe of chimps, who chatted and screeched their annoyance at being woken.

A glance up at the jigsaw puzzle pieces of charcoal-colored sky now visible between the tree canopy told him dawn was on its way. Once the sun rose, the animals would be in search of food and water, making them even more alert to predators. Which was precisely why Sam had set up the extraction point at the most likely spot they used to drink.

The original plan had been to arrive hours before the beasts of the jungle came down to the river. Letting the activity of the animals mask their departure. So much for that plan.

Changing strategy as he walked, Sam decided that he’d park Beth somewhere upriver, and go down and get the boat on his own. He’d move faster and could, if necessary, misdirect anyone on their tail.

They would come after her. Thadiwe had worked too damn hard to get a physician here. He wasn’t going to let Beth go without a fight.

Well, Sam wasn’t going to give her up without a goddamned fight either.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“I know people in low places.” He didn’t bother mentioning that he’d almost puked with fear when those people had informed him who had snatched Beth.

He’d come to Africa to bring her body home.

FIVE

SAM HAD SAID IT would take three hours to get to the river. Surely they’d walked for longer than that? While Sam moved through the stygian darkness with a lithe, powerful sure-footedness, Elizabeth’s calves and lungs burned, and her skin itched despite the temperature-regulated suit. She was damn sure Kess wouldn’t be huffing and puffing, mentally begging to stop so she could sit down and rest. No, her sister would be leading the way. She might not know where she was going or how to get there, Elizabeth thought with a small smile, but no one following Kess would know it.

The only reality in Elizabeth’s world was her grip on Sam’s belt as she stumbled blindly in his wake, stubbing her booted toes on roots and vines. And while she could easily picture him in her mind’s eye, that image didn’t in any way gel with the man who’d come to rescue her. With the man who’d kissed her so passionately it had made her blood race through her veins and her heart hammer.

She hated not being in control. And she hadn’t been in control of her own fate from the moment she’d been snatched from Lynne’s hotel room.

“How’s the hand?”

It throbbed, but that was to be expected. “Okay.” “Tell me if it isn’t. Don’t try and be brave. An infection here can kill you.”

“I’m a doctor, Sam. I know. Thanks to you, it’s f—”

Suddenly his palm covered her mouth. Elizabeth gulped down the reactive scream, but felt it vibrate in her chest as he whispered against her ear. “Shh. Company.”

She froze. Oh, God. She hadn’t heard anything out of the ordinary. If walking in the pitch dark through a rain forest filled with snakes and monkeys and more birds than anyone could imagine could be considered ordinary.

“Down.” He tugged at her arm, bending low with her. His voice was so muted it was almost more a feeling than a sound. His arm brushed hers and she realized he was removing the pack from his back. She heard a soft thud as it landed on the damp ground next to her. “Know how to fire a gun?” he whispered, his lips against her ear.

Elizabeth shook her head. “I sew up holes in people, not make them.”

“I’ll give you a crash course.”

She shook her head again. A tiny thrill of adrenaline swirled in her belly. A big believer in self-defense, she’d spent too much time in the ER to actually pull a trigger. Or so she thought. Life or death.

Despite her refusal, Sam wrapped her non-sliced hand around what was clearly a big gun. A very big, very heavy gun. Her fingers closed around the ribbed stock. It felt weird, foreign. “I’d rather you take it,” she whispered back urgently. It was only as she flexed her stiff fingers that she realized just how tightly she’d been gripping his belt.

Sam positioned her fingers, his touch playing havoc with her good judgment. “Won’t need it. Safety’s off. Point and shoot. Fires eight hundred rounds a minute. You won’t miss. When I come back I’ll whistle like this.” He whistled a sweet, sharp, incredibly realistic bird call. Elizabeth hoped to hell no birds came to see who was calling them.

“Wait—you’re leaving me?”

Screaming sounded more humane than aiming a gun and taking a life. The scream was again building in her chest. She tamped down the fear. She needed to think rationally and be alert. Being scared right now wasn’t an option. She eased into a slightly more comfortable crouch by millimeters.

Now she heard them. Footsteps. Leaves rustling. Breathing. She wanted to plead with Sam to hunch down with her, to wait until whoever it was passed. But she knew he’d be proactive.

He brushed a quick kiss across her nose, light as a butterfly’s wing. “Stay low.” One second he was right there, the next he was gone. She knew he’d left, not because he made any noise, but because she could no longer feel his presence beside her.

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