Gabrielle shook her head. “No good. If the door is nailed shut, it would be too tricky, and we would make too much noise trying to open it.”
“Do you have a plan B?” She better, because walking out of here all guns blazing was out of the question.
Gabrielle checked around and smiled. “I think I have an idea.”
***The alarm was blaring so loudly Gabrielle was unable to hear Captain Thorne’s voice over the noise. Guards were running all around, ignoring them, exactly as she had planned. It wasn’t easy to come up with something on the spur of the moment, with an angry SEAL behind her. As if all of his ops went as planned. She refrained from reminding him that if his own mission had gone to plan, she wouldn’t be there trying to save his hide.
The smoke became thicker by the minute. The old mattress in the storage room did the job without a glitch. They were in the basement, and since smoke goes up, it was an easy feat. The extra bit of luck was finding a black coverall and cap. It fit snugly on him, but ultimately appeared more like a uniform. It hid his blood-stained pants and shirt, and the cap tucked low on his face hid most of his features and dark short hair. The final touch was her getting back into pregnancy mode, being carried in the arms of this man. As expected, her blonde hair, flowery dress, and imposing stomach drew attention away from the captain. In the complete chaos, they were able to exit the building through the front door.
Gabrielle lifted her head to whisper close to his ear, “Go right around the block. My jeep is parked there. The black one.”
The captain nodded and continued walking. It must have hurt him to hold her weight. She suspected the guards wouldn’t have gone easy on him. In fact, he was lucky not to have been transferred to a more secure facility. It had probably been in their plans, and if it had been the case, she would have needed more time, and a lot more resources to accomplish the rescue. The police station holding him had extra cells in the basement but was not as secure as a prison.
From a distance, she detected sirens. Firefighters, no doubt. They would be long gone by the time the station did a head count and saw the two dead guards and their prisoner gone.
As they arrived at her jeep, the captain gently put her down, and she unhooked the hidden backpack.
Reaching for her keys, Gabrielle unlocked the door and hopped in. The captain sat in the passenger seat without a word. Were all Navy SEALs so temperamental? She knew women with fewer mood swings than him.
She drove around, making circles to be sure they were not followed. The captain glanced back several times when he was not examining her profile. She didn’t see it, but she could sense his gaze on her.
Once reassured they were alone, she headed for the secured house located in a gated community Bea had arranged for them. Gabrielle had already installed all her gear there. Damn the jetlag and other plans, it had become too risky to leave the captain in the police station any longer. There were too many variables.
Once on the highway to Pretoria, she reached for the black bag on the backseat and dropped it on the captain’s lap.
“What is it?”
“Civilian clothes, clean and free of blood. And I hope in your size. We will soon arrive at the gates of a secured compound and the guards won’t like to see blood on you. Too many questions. As I wasn’t sure how badly they would have beaten you, I chose pants and long sleeves.”
Gabrielle couldn’t hear what he answered apart from a deep muffled thank you. The man twisted in the tight confinement but was careful not to bump her or the wheel. He unzipped the coverall and removed his blood-stained shirt. Damn, he was a gorgeous man, with his dark short hair, stubbly square jaw, and intense light green eyes. But it was the darkening bruises on his torso and abs which caught her attention. The guards didn’t go easy on him, and he must be in a world of pain. It dawned on her that he’d carried her in his arms for almost a quarter mile without even blinking. She knew Navy SEALs were a tough bunch but given his condition she felt newfound admiration for the man. She had been in tight spots herself and even if being beaten up was not necessarily the first form of torture for a woman, sustaining a great amount of pain while keeping a level head wasn’t an easy feat.
Out of respect, she kept her gaze fixed on the road, but from the corner of her eyes, she could see the tanned expanse of the skin of his thigh … and upper thigh. Damn, the man was riding commando! Even badly bruised and in a foul mood, he could raise her internal temperature in a heartbeat.
Once seated back down again, his muscled thighs clad in dark jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt defining his sculpted chest, his gaze went back to her.
“You said you were sent by the Admiral. Why didn’t he send my team to get me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why you? Where is your team? We’re going to them?”
“No, sailor. I’m your only army.”
Her statement seemed to make him ponder for a moment and he smiled. Too bad his gorgeous mouth dripped with sarcasm when he said, “Admiral Feander assigned a single woman to get me back? You’re that good?”
Gabrielle angled her head at him. “I got you out and am bringing you to safety. What other proof do you need?”
“Wow, I insulted you and you kept your cool. Impressive.”
“You think you’re the first asshole to make this type of remark to me? I save people, I don’t change people. I was asked to get you out of trouble and back to your daddy. That’s all, Captain.”
With that comment, the captain fully turned to her. “You were asked, not ordered. Nice choice of words. It means you’re a hired mercenary.”
Hired mercenary. Gabrielle smiled at that thought. She was way beyond mercenary—she had a purpose.
“Captain, you’re making major assumptions. I’m no longer a mercenary, trust me.”
“Lady, I only trust who and what I know. And you, I don’t. Unless you’re generous enough to give me more info.”
“Knowing your Admiral sent someone to save you isn’t enough?”
“My Admiral, as you say, sent a single woman to help and it’s not standard procedure.”
Gabrielle pondered how close he was to the Admiral. Only one way to find out.
“Are you a friend of Admiral Feander, Captain?”
The man glared but did not confirm nor deny. He was in protective mode.
“I would say your lack of an answer is an affirmative. If you’re a close friend of James Feander, he perhaps told you about Purgatory.” Bea hadn’t told her not to tell the captain who she was, after all.
“Purgatory? You mean he wasn’t kidding when he told me about this independent organization, offering rescue services? I didn’t know he was crazy enough to ask that bunch of wannabes for help.”
“Wannabes?” Now Gabrielle laughed. “If only you knew who those wannabes were, you would shit in your pants, sailor.”
The Captain scoffed. “You can fool yourselves, but cute girls are not sent on rescue missions.”
“Mmmm. I haven’t been called a girl in a long time. I think they hit you on the head too many times. You need to take a nap, sailor boy.”
“And even if your group is legit, most of what you do is completely illegal … even unsanctioned by the government.”
“Yeah, right. As if all you do is legal and sanctioned by your government.”