Page 46 of With One Breath (Blackhawk Security)

“Thank you, Cody. Good to see you, too.”

The other man held out his hand, as well. “Devlin Smith.” He studied her for a long moment. “You’re pretty ballsy,” he finally said. “I don’t want to take you back to that village, but I was outvoted.” He jerked his head toward the interior of the cave. “Let’s get in the Humvee, then you can fill us in on the baddies.”

Jase stayed close behind her as they walked into the pitch black of the space. She could see nothing but darkness ahead of her. Not even a tiny spark of light illuminated her way. She kept her eyes on Cody’s back and stayed as close as possible.

Jase’s presence behind her made her shiver with awareness. He was close enough that his breath ruffled her hair, and his closeness was reassuring. She was relieved he was with her. She knew he’d protect her. She trusted him to keep her safe.

Suddenly a large, beige vehicle appeared on her left. A Humvee. She’d seen them during her training and had been told they were well-armored. Not completely impervious to IEDs, but better than anything else available. Mounted on the roof of the vehicle was a large triangle with two protruding tubes, one longer than the other. The triangle appeared to be on a swivel base.

Jase opened the back door. “Hop in,” he said.

She climbed awkwardly over the first seat and slid into the second, clutching her backpack to her chest. Jase slid in beside her, then pulled the door closed.

Dev got into the driver’s seat, and Cody took the seat beside him. Both men swiveled to face Jase. “What’s going on with the uglies?” Dev asked.

“There were fifty or sixty of them this morning,” he began. “Quite a bit north of here. Near the cave where Laila was initially.”

He scowled. “Two little shits from Al Kamen had left her there with doctored water and food and promised to take her to a town where she could catch a plane for Kabul. Instead, the Taliban showed up the next day. Fortunately, Laila was smart enough not to eat or drink anything. That night, she managed to put a lot of space between her and the cave where she was supposed to be unconscious. The Taliban split into two groups to check the caves for her. One went north, the other went south. The southern group is sleeping just south of us. As soon as we leave this crease in the mountain, we’ll see them. And they’ll see and hear us.”

Cody glanced over his shoulder at her and nodded approvingly. “Nice job getting away from them,” he said, then he scowled. “We’re taking you back to that village, but it’s risky. We need to get in and out in as little time as possible.”

“Thank you,” Laila said quietly. “For risking your lives to extract me, and especially for taking me to Al Kamen. I appreciate it more than I can say.” She couldn’t repress the shiver. “It doesn’t matter how good my choices were after Bahram and Feroz left me in that cave. If you hadn’t come along, if Jase hadn’t known what to do, I’d be in the Taliban’s hands by now.”

“Maybe not,” Jase said. He glanced at her, and Laila saw a hint of... something in his expression. Approval? Pride? “She was smart about everything she did. Careful. Thought things through.”

“Thank you for saying that,” she said. “But we both know that without you three showing up, I was as good as dead.” She shuddered, knowing what the Taliban would have done if they’d succeeded in capturing her. “And now I’m asking you to take a dangerous detour.”

“It’s the middle of the night, and we should be in Al Kamen well before dawn,” Cody said. “With a little luck, everything will go smoothly and we’ll be off to Kabul.”

“We have to get past those sleeping men first,” Laila said, curling her fingers into her palms. “And I know that won’t be easy.”

Jase glanced at her. Brushed his fingers over the back of her hand with a light, delicate touch. “We’ve got this,” he said. “We have the weapons to get past those men. You trusted me in the cave. Trust me now to get this done.”

She stared at him for a long moment and saw confidence in himself and his teammates. As if they knew what they were doing and knew they’d succeed.

She nodded once. “I do trust you,” she said, her voice soft enough that only Jase could hear her. “I know you’ll protect me.”

Jase blew out a breath. “Then sit back and relax while we show you the highlights of the Hindu Kush.”

He reached to touch her hand again, and she curled her fingers around his. They were in danger, and she still wanted to touch him. This level of need was foreign to her. Scary. Her emotions were on a crazy carnival ride. Up one moment, down the next. If she thought about it too long, it made her dizzy.

Jase held her gaze for a long moment. She saw longing in his expression. Along with determination.

He leaned across the back of Cody’s seat and all three men began talking. Smoothing her fingers over the place Jase had touched, Laila tried to follow what they were all saying. She didn’t understand half of it, but it sounded as if Cody wanted to go after the Taliban aggressively, driving right toward them, while Devlin wanted to drive straight into the desert, counting on the fact that it would take them a few moments to wake up, realize what was happening and grab their weapons.

In between all the talking, Jase said, “I’ll man the Iron Fist. I’ll enjoy watching their RPG’s explode right in front of them.”

“That’s why you’re in the back seat, buddy,” Cody said, turning around and nodding at him. “You’re uncanny with that bad boy.”

She must have looked confused, because Jase said, “You noticed that triangular thing on the roof?” When she nodded, he said, “That’s the Iron Fist. It can intercept incoming missiles and blow them up. Exactly what we need, because the Taliban won’t be shy about taking shots at us.”

Laila gulped. They were expecting to be fired upon, but none of them looked worried. She’d worry enough for all four of them.”

“One more thing,” Jase said, reaching into the front seat to hand something to Cody in the passenger seat. “I put that C4 into the cave hiding the weapons. I’ll be busy with the Fist. Dev will be driving. Can you detonate the charges?”

“Happy to do it,” Cody said, shooting a smile at Jase over his shoulder. “Usual range?”

“The detonators were our usual ones. So, yeah.”

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