“Nothing. Nothing will happen.”
“Knox can’t carry me and guard our escape. If they get here before you’re safe, I’m sending him with you, while I…”
“No. Don’t say it. Don’t think it.” I lift my pistol. “I’ll never leave you. We’ll fight…”
“Don’t argue. We haven’t come this far only to fail now. You will not fall back into Benefield’s hands. Do you understand?”
I do, and I hate every word of what he’s saying. My attention shifts to Knox, looking for support from him, but the expression on Knox’s face mirrors Max’s.
“Give me that.” I point to the rifle on Max’s back. “Let me help.”
“Not giving you a weapon you don’t know how to use. Not to mention it’s heavy and will only slow you down.”
“Don’t leave me, Max. Don’t make me go out there alone.”
“I have no intention of leaving you, but if things go south…”
“They won’t.” And there’s no way in hell I’m leaving him behind. Max may have come here to rescue me, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he gets out of here with me.
Whatever it takes.
“We ready?” Knox bends his knees, grabs Max’s arm, and wedges into the fold of Max’s arm to support him.
“Ready.” Max’s lips firm into a hard line. He looks at me, demanding I agree to his silly demands.
It’s quiet. Too quiet.
Benefield’s men are looking for us, and it will only be a matter of time before they discover where we are. I glance at Max’s pant leg. The bleeding has stopped and a quick look behind him doesn’t show any blood on the floor.
At least we’re not leaving a trail of blood for Benefield’s men to follow.
I push the door open and hold it while Knox and Max navigate their way outside.
“Run, Eve. Run as fast as you can, and don’t look back.”
I bite my lower lip and run.
Thirty-One
Max
Hot kiss.
Hotter body.
Wickedly intelligent woman.
Brave. Keeps her shit together in a crisis.
Eve is definitely my perfect mate.
I finally have my girl in my hands, and damn if it doesn’t feel like heaven.
Why the fuck did it take so long?
I know why.
This entire undercover crap is for the birds. I’ll never volunteer for this shit again. My poor cock is ravenous and aching for a taste of Eve, and for the first time since I came to this wretched place, it feels like there may be a chance for us.
A chance.
Hell, I want forever, but I’ll start with a chance.
Strawberries covered in sugar with cinnamon spice. That’s what she tastes like. I can still taste her on my tongue. Knox and his whole we need to get out of here thing put a total damper on what is surely the best kiss of my life.
Knox slings my arm over his shoulder. There may, or may not, be men on the rooftops. Not that we can do a damn thing about it. We have to sprint for cover, then lose Benefield’s men after a little evasive action in the jungle.
Both of our earpieces are defunct, but Knox’s contact lenses still function. All we need is to get to a place with clear reception to link back up with our team.
Exfil, for us, is blown.
The team won’t stay behind for us. They’ll come back, but they won’t stick around. The whole Never leave a man behind thing is just as pertinent now as ever, only Forest adds in the Good of many outweighs the needs of a few. This means our team will rescue all the abducted women and free them from a life of slavery. After their safety is ensured, our team will circle back to save our asses.
Until then, Knox and I fall back on the training we received in the Navy: survive, evade, resist, escape. S.E.R.E. is a brutal course meant to break the strongest man down into his most basic parts. That’s where strength is found, and we lean on that now.
It’s also learning how to trust your partner and let them carry the load when you can’t. I do this with Knox. We perform the best three-legged race in the history of man. Which simply means we put my bum leg between us. Knox will shoulder as much of my weight as I need while we run for cover.
My leg hurts like a motherfucker. I can walk on it. I’m just not fast. I take a step on my good leg. Knox uses his leg opposite me, then when I put weight down on my injured leg, Knox bears the burden on his. We work together, a tightly run machine, and manage to make it to the edge of the jungle only a little behind Eve. My girl’s got some legs on her, and despite what I said, she doesn’t leave us behind. Eve runs a stride or two ahead, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure we’re keeping up.
Not that I thought she’d ever leave me behind. My girl, she’s a Guardian in the making. Just look at the way she runs with those monkeys riding her shoulders.
Monkeys? I’d laugh, except I’m in a good deal of pain. I thought bubbles was a great nickname. Little did I know… I may have to change that to monkey.
We cross the open space between the buildings and make it to the edge of the trees without incident. There’s no sign of pursuit. No gunfire shot from the tops of the buildings.
We see smoke. Tons and tons of acrid smoke fills the air. Our team planned on breaching the walls, a strategic strike meticulously planned to minimize loss of life, but they didn’t bring that much firepower.
My assumption is Benefield’s men fought back with more firepower than anticipated.
Left wondering about the degree of devastation, my thoughts turn toward my team, hoping none of them were caught in that.
“How’re you doing?” Knox helps me through the underbrush. He’s breathing hard, but so am I.
Eve stops. Glancing left and right, she looks like she’s searching for something. Once in the trees, the monkeys screech and holler as they grab limbs and climb into the vegetation. Eve watches them scamper away, and I can’t help but smile at their excitement to be reunited with the jungle they call home.
“Where to, Eve?” I bend down to look at the damage to my leg. There’s blood, but not as much as I would’ve expected. I’ll take a closer look later.
She peers into the forest, biting her lower lip in a way that makes me want to kiss her again. Holy hellfire, but that kiss rocked my world.
“This way.” She glances at my leg. “How bad is it?”
“Bad enough to slow me down, not so bad that I can’t move. We’ll stop once we’re in a safer place.” I don’t like being this close to Benefield and his men. It won’t take much for them to track us down.
We follow Eve deeper into the vegetation until we come to a stream. She guides us along the water’s edge until we reach the ten-foot perimeter fence. I sit on a rock, tending my injury, while she and Knox move fallen limbs out of the way.
Not happy about this either, we’re practically telling any pursuit exactly where we’re headed, but I don’t see a way around it. We’ll lose them as we head deeper into the jungle.
As for my leg, the bleeding’s nearly stopped. The bullet didn’t go all the way through, which is good and bad. Bad in that I’ll need to get it out. Good in that the injury could be far worse. No major blood vessels were nicked. As long as I can keep it as clean as possible, I should be good.