She shrugged and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. One step at a time. Just like it had been one rock at a time. All she had to do was keep moving forward and she’d be rewarded by getting to the base safely.
“Just stuff,” she said softly. “Partly how lucky I am. That when I was taken, nothing mattered but surviving. Not my job, what petty worries I had, my gender, my rank, or anything. It was all about survival.”
“You know you outrank us,” Phantom said from behind her.
The other SEAL had been right on their six as they made their way down the hill and away from the cave. They’d known the second the insurgents realized their captive had escaped, because they’d begun shouting. Avery had looked back up the hill once, only to be reprimanded by Phantom.
“Never look back, you can’t change anything about the bad guys following you. You need to always be focused on what’s in front of you. On places to hide. On what you can use for cover if necessary.”
He’d been right. All looking back did was trip you up, in more ways than one.
Avery shrugged at Phantom’s observation.
“Don’t you want to start ordering us around?” he asked.
Avery turned her head to look at him and tried to read his tone. He wasn’t being belligerent, she decided. Was simply asking a question…but there seemed to be more to it than that.
“Why would I do that?” she asked.
Phantom didn’t respond, but his brown eyes bored into her. Suddenly glad for the sunglasses that hid her own gaze, feeling as if he’d be able to read way too much if he could see her eyes, she sighed and turned to face front once again. It was taking all her concentration to put one foot in front of the other and not trip. Not that Cole would let her fall, but she didn’t want to test it.
“You guys have way more experience in evading than I do. You’re stronger than I am. In better condition health-wise at the moment as well. This is what you do. If this was a battle situation and we had wounded, then I would absolutely take control and give orders. I know you’ve all got medic training, but I’m one hundred percent confident my knowledge supersedes yours when it comes to the medical field. Right now, I’d be an idiot to use my rank to try to order you guys around. It would make me look stupid, and you’d lose any respect you might have for me. Rest assured, until we’re back on base and safe from the assholes who did their best to break me and bury me alive, I’m just Avery. Not Lieutenant Nelson.”
Avery briefly glanced back at him. It had been the right thing to say.
Phantom’s shoulders dropped and a little of the defensiveness went out of his posture. He nodded at her and fell back a bit, giving her and Cole some space.
“What was that about?” Avery whispered.
“I trust Phantom one hundred percent,” Cole told her. “If I had to pick just one of my fellow SEALs to have my back, I’d pick him. But he hasn’t had an easy life. From what I understand, his childhood was hell. He lived with his mom and aunt, and they were extremely abusive. He doesn’t trust easily, especially women. He’s a little too blunt sometimes and that can get him into trouble. That was his way of testing the waters with you.”
“If I ordered him to do something, would he do it?” Avery asked.
Cole shrugged. “It depends.”
“On?”
“If it was something he was going to do anyway.”
Avery couldn’t help but chuckle. “Right.”
Cole smiled at her. “But seriously, he’s a good man. He didn’t let his childhood ruin his dreams of becoming a Navy SEAL. He’s great at his job, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’ll do whatever it takes to get you to safety.”
Avery nodded. That was exactly what she needed to hear. “I’ve watched you guys train,” she said. “I know that you’re the best of the best. I’ll do my best to make your job easier, not harder.”
“And we appreciate that. We need to—”
His words were cut off abruptly when they heard shouting from the road high above them.
“They’ve spotted you guys,” Ace confirmed via the radio.
“No shit,” Rocco returned.
Without a word, Cole tightened his hold on Avery and picked her up so her feet were off the ground. The position was awkward, as she was plastered to his side, but he didn’t run far. He dropped down behind a large boulder and Avery sank to her knees next to him, doing her best to pant through the pain coursing through her side at the brutal hold he’d had on her ribs.
Cole shrugged off his pack and handed it to Phantom, who was kneeling alongside him. The other man put his arms through the backpack so it was lying against his chest. He tightened the straps and nodded at Cole.
Turning to face away from her, Cole ordered, “Get on my back.”
Avery looked from him to Phantom, then back to Cole. She wanted to protest. To say that she was too heavy. Too tall. Too…something, but that would only cause them time. She scooted closer and cautiously climbed onto his back.
“Hold on tight,” Cole warned. “I might not be able to support you at times, so you’re going to have to do whatever you can to hang on. Use your legs to cling to my sides, and whatever you do, don’t strangle me with your arms. You can put them around my neck, but don’t cut off my air. Understand?”
Avery nodded. She didn’t like this. Not at all. But she’d just gotten done saying she wasn’t going to question them, and she knew they were the experts at this kind of thing. If Cole wanted her to cling to his back like a monkey, then that’s what she was going to do.
“And before you ask, you weigh less than my pack does, so this isn’t a problem for me. Okay?”
She nodded and tightened her hold on him when he stood, staying hunched over so they were hidden behind the rock.
“What’re they doing?” Rocco asked Ace.
“Looks like they’re headed down the hill after you. Get the fuck out of there,” Ace told them all.
“If they’re so fired up to make sure you’re dead, why didn’t they kill you before they blew that cave?” Phantom asked.
It was something Avery had already wondered about. She had a pretty good hunch why, but this wasn’t exactly the time or place to sit and have a chat about it.
“We need to split up,” Rocco said. “Gumby and I will head east, toward the base. You and Phantom take the lieutenant and head toward the river to the west. They’ll automatically assume Avery is headed to the base. Between all our packs, and at this distance, they won’t be able to tell which group she’s in as easily. They’ll have to split up to follow us both. With any luck, Avery will look like another backpack as long as she keeps her head down, at least briefly. We’ll be in touch and plan an extraction. Guess we should’ve taken our chances with the helicopter, but it’s too late now. Ready?”
Everyone around her nodded.
Avery wanted to say she wasn’t ready. That she wanted to head toward the base, which represented safety. She didn’t want to go farther away from it. But she kept quiet. She was well aware these men were putting their lives on the line for her. She hated that just as much as anything else. If anything happened to one of them, she’d feel responsible. It was silly, she hadn’t kidnapped herself, but the feeling was there just the same.