9
Mack feltthe second she capitulated and didn’t waste a second before burying his fingers into her thick mass of silky brown hair and angling her head back. Her lashes fluttered, slick and dark against rosy cheeks. Her lips parted, waiting for him to capture them with his own. His entire body went taut with anticipation.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had wanted a woman so badly. Enough that she distracted him from his mission. He had to get her out of his system any way he could. He lowered to her, and the ground seemed to shake under his feet. This connection was something he didn’t understand, but he had to explore it. Her sweet breath crossed his face, licking up his skin in a soft, petal-like caress.
Their entire world rumbled, and Mack could feel it in his bones. And then the rumbling turned into a roar that grew louder and louder. Crap, the rumbling had nothing to do with the siren in his arms. “Marley.”
With her eyes closed in a dreamy relaxed look on her face, she said, “Mmmm?”
“The guerrillas are back. Get your ass up that wall, pronto.”
Mack didn’t give her time to react. He turned her body to face the wall, wrapped his hands around her waist, and lifted her as high as he could. She flailed for a second before latching on to the vines. “Mack?”
“It’s okay. Get your grip. I won’t let go until you do.”
Men started shouting in the distance, but their voices were too close for comfort. Mack and Marley were minutes away from being discovered, and with a giant wall at their back, there would be no escaping this time. “Move it, Marley. Those guerrillas are headed directly toward us. I can’t hold off an entire group with one gun. We need to get into that cave.”
“Aren’t you coming?” She glanced over her shoulder, looking down at him with uncertainty. It suddenly struck him how tiny her waist was in his grip—this fierce woman was fragile, too. A protective instinct rose in him like he’d only felt when he’d held his newborn son in his hands.
“Right behind you, babe. Now scoot.” She rose and Mack couldn’t resist sliding his hands around to her bottom to give her an extra push up. He grunted in appreciation. She had just as much there as she had in the front—soft, womanly curves that had been hidden by the flight suit.
Mack forced himself to let go, ignoring the urge to explore her more. The shouting was getting nearer.
He strode off to the north, planting false tracks leading away from the wall. Then he covered their footprints with some loose brush. Mack dove down to the nearest vine and quickly ascended the wall, pulling up just behind Marley within seconds. He stopped when his head was beside her waist. “You’re going to have to move a little faster, honey. We are sitting ducks up here.”
They still had ten feet to go before they reached the cave and the vines were starting to thin out. He heard the trucks squeal to a stop somewhere below them. “Marley,” Mack said in a sharp tone.
The truck door slammed, which seemed to spur her to action. She scrambled the rest of the way up and over the ledge, disappearing from his sight. Thank God. He hadn’t been able to tell exactly how deep the cave went. If it didn’t hide them from sight, they’d be as good as dead. Mack heaved himself up and over the ledge, briefly taking in the small, flat cave whose entrance was just big enough for him to crouch in. He nodded to Marley, who was well back from the ledge, then lowered onto his belly and scooted forward so that he could see down below.
The rough stone dug into his bare forearms, scraping his skin raw. They were only thirty feet up, but the thick vegetation of the forest partially blocked his view. Even so, he could sense their nearness. Sense the presence of evil. These men were here to do them harm. Careful to keep the end of his rifle from hanging out over the ledge, Mack eased forward a slight bit more, enough to give him a view of the guerrilla who stood right where he and Marley had kissed moments before.
There was a slight movement behind him.Marley. He yanked her roughly away from the edge, slapping his hand over her mouth to stifle any startled gasps. She read his silent warning and stopped moving altogether, her wide eyes piercing into him again. He wanted to give her comfort, he wanted to tell her everything would be all right, but that would be a lie. And Mack didn’t lie.
Despite the footprints he’d planted below, the possibility was very real that the guerrillas would figure out they were hiding in the tiny cave and come after them. He had one clip, and while he had no idea how much ammo was in it, it was certainly not enough to kill them all. He’d be able to take down a few more with the knife in his boot, but he didn’t kid himself. It would be impossible to take down the entire army, no matter how ragtag they were.
Just because someone lived on a site without running water or electricity didn’t make them stupid or weak. And while he might not know much about these locals, enough internal reports had skated by his desk for him to know they killed without mercy or hesitation if they thought an enemy was near.
An American soldier and female Air Force pilot weren’t just any enemies either—they were trophies to be displayed in the most gruesome way possible.
If they were captured, Mack would be the lucky one. He didn’t have the same vulnerabilities as Marley. Not that she couldn’t fend for herself—she had put a bullet in that soldier’s head, saving Mack’s life. But she would be no match for a large group of men, and they would take her humanity and rip it to shreds along with her body.
Mack’s hand tightened on his gun. He would die before he let that happen. Carefully, he peeled his hand off her mouth and put his finger to his lips. Marley nodded in understanding. Mack eased himself back toward the ledge and angled his head so that he could see just over it with one eye. Two other men had joined the tracker, and they spoke in low hushed tones. They were smart. Their voices would easily carry to the jungle and alert anyone to their presence. One of the men gestured to the north.
