One second she was deadweight in his arms, and the next she was flailing, trying to get away from him.
Rex immediately went down on one knee. If she squirmed out of his hold, he didn’t want her to get hurt by falling to the ground. “Easy, Avery, it’s Rex…er…Cole. You’re safe.”
She stilled and her eyes opened. She was squinting, the sunglasses she’d been wearing lost to the river. “Cole?” she asked in a tentative voice.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Then she surprised him by reaching up with one hand and palming his cheek. “Are you all right?”
Rex heard Phantom give a startled snort behind him, but he didn’t take his eyes from Avery’s. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks to you.”
She looked around. “And Phantom?”
“I’m here. And I’m fine too,” Phantom said, stepping to the side so she could see him.
The longer she was awake, the more aware she became. Rex knew the second she realized he was holding her because her hand dropped and she wiggled a bit. “Were you carrying me? I can walk.”
“You passed out,” Rex told her. “We needed to get away from the river.”
“Oh.” She tried to sit up. “I’m okay now.”
Ignoring her, Rex stood up again and began walking.
“Cole? Did you hear me?”
“I heard you,” he told her. “I’m just ignoring you.”
She sighed in frustration, and Rex had to hold back the smile that was threatening to break free.
“I could order you to put me down so I can walk,” she said.
“You could,” Rex agreed. Then added, “But I’d ignore the order, so you might as well save your breath.”
She was quiet for a minute or so before asking, “How far do we have to go?”
“Not sure,” Rex said. “We need to get far enough away from the river so if we were followed, the insurgents don’t have a good idea of where we might’ve gone. We also need to get to higher ground. We lost our radios in the river, so we’re going to have to use the sat phones we’ve got in our packs to contact the rest of the team and arrange for extraction.”
“Will they still work?” she asked. “I mean, after getting wet in the river?”
Rex nodded. “We’ve got dry bags inside the packs holding the phones and other odds and ends that wouldn’t survive a dunking. Bandages, water purification tablets, that sort of thing.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Speaking of which, Phantom, can you grab another gel pack for Avery?”
“Sure thing,” the other man said. A minute or so later, he came up beside them and handed another one of the high-calorie, protein, and carbohydrate gels to Avery. He’d already torn off the top.
She took it with a grimace.
“I know they aren’t the best-tasting thing in the world, but your body needs it,” Rex told her gently.
She nodded. “I know, but I’m really not that hungry, believe it or not, and as you saw, my body didn’t like the last one.”
“I get it. Your body hasn’t swallowed anything other than water in over two weeks. Take very small sips and do your best to see how much you can get down.”
One of the things Rex liked most about Avery was that she didn’t complain for the sake of complaining. Hell, she didn’t bitch about her situation at all. She was a credit to the US Navy.
They walked on, and as Avery did her best to consume the energy gel, he and Phantom discussed their next course of action.
“We have to assume the insurgents saw Avery with us,” Phantom said. “They’ll be all over this area by morning. Especially since we weren’t able to get out on the other side of the river like we’d planned.”
“Agreed. So I’m thinking we double back and head for the same mountain we just left,” Rex said.
Phantom thought for a minute, then nodded. “That’s a good plan. They’ll expect us to have gotten out on the other side, then double back and head for the base and presumed safety, but I don’t think they’d guess in a million years we’d go right back to where we’d started.”
“Just tell me we aren’t going to spend the night inside a cave,” Avery pleaded softly.
Rex shared a look with Phantom. Using a cave for shelter was the smartest option. They could light a fire to help dry their clothes and other things in their packs that had gotten wet. They’d also be hidden from any drones flying overhead. But it was obvious by the slight tremor in Avery’s voice that it would do her psyche more harm than good.
Rex opened his mouth to reassure her that, no, they wouldn’t be sleeping in a cave, when she shook her head.
“Sorry, ignore me. A cave makes the most sense, tactically. The last thing we want is to be out in the open.”
Surprisingly, Phantom commented before Rex could. “No. That’s exactly what they’d expect us to do. And the last thing we want is to be predictable. Besides, you’ve already seen what Afghanistan has to offer in the way of cave hospitality. We need to expand your horizons.”
Rex tightened his hold on Avery as she smirked. “Right. Maybe we can find a three- or four-star hotel while we’re walking around. I could use a nice long soak in a hot tub and a massage.”
Amazingly, Phantom chuckled. “I’m not sure about that. A rent-by-the-hour motel is probably more the speed you’re gonna get.”
She was quiet for a moment before saying in a low, earnest tone, “Thank you for coming for me.”
“You’re one of us,” Phantom said simply. “We protect our own.”
“Besides, once we heard it was you, there was nothing that was going to keep us away,” Rex added.
He looked down at her—and knew he’d never forget this moment for the rest of his life. Her auburn hair was in complete disarray. It had begun to dry and wisps were curling around her face. She was still very pale, which made her freckles stand out even more on her nose and cheeks. He could feel her ribs clearly through her shirt under his arm and the bruises on her face stood out in stark contrast to her skin tone, the greens and purples almost obscene. He knew the pain she must’ve felt when she’d received them had been intense.
But she was smiling.
Some people would be complaining about each and every ache. She could’ve been paralyzed with fear that she was being hunted by a mob of men who wanted to kill her. She’d just survived being starved, beaten, and buried alive. Not to mention the frantic and frightening run down an Afghani class-four rapid, where she’d almost saw him die in front of her.
But she was fucking smiling.
“Once I heard it was you, nothing was going to keep me away,” he clarified.
He saw her interest. The same connection he felt toward Avery was reflected back in her eyes.
“Yeah, he was pissed he hadn’t asked you out. And a SEAL never fails. So he had to come all the way over here to see if you wanted to have a coffee or something,” Phantom teased.
Rex looked over at his friend in disbelief. Phantom wasn’t a kidder. Didn’t really join in the good-natured teasing he and the others engaged in from time to time. For him to be bantering with Avery so much was way out of character.