His answer seemed to be enough to satisfy her, and she sank down against him, allowing herself to rest, regain some strength because she trusted him to get her safely out of here.
Since his arms were full of Abby his team surrounded him, they made it into the tunnel without incident and through safely. The tunnels were long, close to two klicks by the time they finally reached the end, they were about five feet wide and lit sporadically with oil lamps. While they didn’t know what was waiting for them on the other side, it was possible they were going to come up right in the middle of Perez’s compound, right into another trap.
Wolf’s team didn’t alert them to any issues, so carefully King opened the door, and after clearing the immediate area, they all stepped out into the dark night.
Besides Abigail, they all put their NVG on then began the traipse through the jungle to where the helicopter would pick them up.
They couldn’t leave without Alex though.
If they did this would never be over, Abigail would never be safe, and with a threat hanging over his team, he didn’t know what that would mean for them.
“Want me to take her for a while?” Night asked, falling into step beside him.
It was selfish of him, but there was no way he was giving up his hold on Abby, not even for her brother. Her weight wasn’t slowing him down, and they were just over halfway to the extraction point. “I got her.”
All of a sudden, a black blur dropped down out of the trees above them, lunging at him and Abigail. Spider threw himself sideways and to the ground, rolling to take the brunt of the fall and then rolling again to cover her body with his own.
Alex was screaming something incomprehensible and Night tackled him. As much as Spider wanted to be there, bringing Alex down, making him pay for every bruise he’d put on Abigail’s soft skin, every delicate bone he had broken, each piece of her psyche he had damaged by torturing her, this was more important. Holding the woman he loved safe beneath him, protecting her, not just her body but her mind as well. She needed him and he wouldn’t abandon her for anything, not even to exact revenge.
“Got him,” Fox’s voice rang with a finality in his ear that had his entire body relaxing. They still had to get through cartel owned territory to the helicopter, they still had to get Abigail to a hospital to be examined, but it was finally over. Alex was dead, they were all safe. “You hear that, babe?” he asked.
“Hmm?” came her sleepy voice.
“We got him.”
She blinked open her eyes and looked up at him in the dark. “He’s dead?” Her voice shook on the last word.
“He’s dead.” Spider leaned down to touch his forehead to hers. “He’s dead.”
The tears he knew she had been holding back because she wasn’t going to break down and show any weakness to Alex finally broke free and she began to sob. Dragging her up and onto his lap, he pressed her face to his chest in an attempt to muffle her weeping.
Rocking her, holding her tight but not too tight since he didn’t want to cause her further pain, he finally felt like they were free to start their lives together. No secrets, no old hurt and doubts holding them back, free and clear to embrace their future.
3:50 P.M.
Most of the last twelve hours or so were a blur.
Abigail remembered bits and pieces, but everything was fuzzy like she had been experiencing it but also watching it happen to someone else at the same time.
She remembered being carried through the jungle, too tired to even offer to carry her own weight and walk on her own. She remembered the loud buzzing of the helicopter as she was loaded aboard and placed on a gurney where someone started an IV with fluids and blessed painkillers. She remembered being brought into the hospital where she had been treated.
And she remembered that through it all Ryder hadn’t left her side.
She was sure he had other things he was supposed to be doing, like debriefing everything that had gone down in Mexico, but she also knew he couldn’t leave her right now. He needed her just as much as she needed him.
Eventually the drugs and her own exhaustion had her drifting off to sleep, her hand tightly clutching one of Ryder’s as he sat in a chair beside her bed. She’d woken up a couple of hours ago to find him asleep, his head resting on the mattress beside her hip, and since she hadn’t wanted to disturb him she had been lying here thinking.
So many thoughts running through her mind.
Her problems with her parents, everything that Ryder had been through with his abusive father and what had happened to his mother, what Alex had told her while he was taunting her about what he had done to her, everything mixed together until it started to feel overwhelming. Abigail had been deluding herself into thinking that once Alex was captured or dead—preferably dead—it would all be over, but it was far from it.
In fact, she felt like she was just at the beginning of this journey.
Tears started to trickle down her cheeks. After so long trying to keep a tight lid on her emotions it seemed that lid had lost its seal and now her emotions kept bubbling up and out.
“Abby?” Ryder’s worried voice said her name, and she felt him move so he was sitting on the edge of her bed, but didn’t turn from staring out the window. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, everything, I don’t know,” she said helplessly.
Strong arms wrapped around her and drew her up off the pillows and against his rock hard chest.
What would she have done if Alex had succeeded in killing him?
What would she do if she lost him on another mission?
Would she be able to get through this on her own?
Was she strong enough to survive losing him?
Things had been different when they had been together a couple of years ago, they had been different.
Now she both felt like she had gotten that missing piece of herself back when she got Ryder back, but also lost another piece of herself to Alex.
Alex had taken away something from her; she didn’t know how to get back. He had touched her against her will, drugged her, and used her for his own pleasure, intended to sell her like she was just a piece of property. How did she get past that?
“Sweetheart, you’re scaring me, would you please say something.” Ryder’s hand stroked the length of her spine in long, smooth movements.
“Just thinking,” she whispered against his neck.
“About Alex? About what he did to you.”
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway.
“I don’t want you to keep anything from me, Abby.” His hands closed around her shoulders and he pulled her back, holding her at arm’s length, so he could see her face, pin her with those piercing blue eyes so she couldn’t look away.
“I told you already,” she reminded him.
“You’re thinking about Alex drugging you and what he did to you while you were out.” The tightness around his mouth and the darkness in her eyes had her dropping her gaze to the crisp white sheets. This was why she couldn’t talk to him about it, it hurt him too much.
“He sexually assaulted me, I don’t remember it, but yeah, it’s hard to think about, hard to talk about, especially with you.”
“Look at me, Abby.” When she didn’t the grip on her shoulders tightened. “Abby.”