“It’s my job to know these things. Quit asking questions and come on before one of those guards strolls around the corner and spots us.”
His words were enough to spur her into action, and she placed her uninjured, but still filthy, foot into the cradle of his hands. Just like before, he hoisted her up like she weighed nothing. Caroline landed on her feet inside the building.
The stench of hot trash slammed into her senses and she slapped her hand over her mouth and nose, fighting not to gag. No wonder no one was in this building. It smelled like a human toilet shoved into an oven set to broil.
The fact that Reaper joined her without so much as a sniff left her mute. She couldn’t stay here, not without puking every hour on the hour. “What on earth is that god-awful smell?”
“Bodies.”
All Caroline could see in the cavernous room they’d entered were the walls and dirt and tarps covering a mound stacked almost to the ceiling. A mound of . . . bodies. She had to swallow her gorge. She’d seen more dead bodies in one day than she had in her entire life.
“You don’t sound shocked,” she finally managed to say. She was almost desperate enough to lift the hem of her gown and breathe through it like a mask. Almost. The thought of Reaper seeing her completely naked and dirty and surrounded by corpses wasn’t exactly her idea of romance. Not that there was romance in their near or distant future.
“We’re on the border of South Sudan. The two warring factions are constantly killing each other in the streets, along with whatever civilians are unfortunate enough to get in the crossfire. They don’t have enough morgues to keep up with the body count, they don’t have any heavy equipment to bury and hide them like some other countries do. If they started a mass burning, the United States drones would spot them from overhead and spark an international call to action.” With his good hand, he raised his pistol to shoulder level and began silently creeping around the vicinity.
“So, they made a storage depot for dead people?”
“It’s better than you joining them, right?” Reaper moved off to the left. Even though the room appeared empty, Caroline felt about as safe as a robin being circled by a hawk. Knowing she was with a man who could take out an entire team of trained soldiers by himself took the edge off her fear. When he got a good ten feet away from her, she jumped and ran after him, having no intention of standing there next to the window all by herself.
“Are there really bodies underneath those tarps?” she asked quietly.
“Yep.”
Caroline scooted in closer. “That is atrocious.”
Reaper kept moving, completely unfazed. “That, Princess, is war.”
It wasn’t right. In fact, it was so wrong, in so many ways, it made her sick. All those talks her father had given about preserving humanity and protecting those who were too weak to stand up against evil. . . All those international charities she’d funded . . . She’d even spoken at a few, so high and mighty, thinking herself an expert on solving poverty worldwide. Her ignorance and naïveté couldn’t have been more glaring.
When she got home, she would dedicate her life to protecting these innocents. She would take the charities she’d sponsored in the right direction, and she’d actually travel outside the comfort of her manicured and gated mansion in Virginia to bear witness to the crimes against life being perpetrated every day.
“I’m going to stop this.”
They circled nearly the entire room, staying clear of the bodies. Reaper holstered his pistol. “You and what army? These people have been fighting each other since the beginning of time.”
Caroline made a broad gesture in the direction of the tarps. “I can’t just do nothing after seeing that.”
Reaper grasped her bicep, his fingers touching each other. “You can and you will. Right now, you don’t have a choice.”
Before she could respond to that remark, he’d given her his back. She’d learned this was his way of cutting her off. “Regardless, we can’t stay here. There’s no telling if there’s infection or bacteria growing. We’re going to have to find another shelter.”
“And how exactly do you suggest we do that when there are guards patrolling the streets? As soon as we step outside, we’ll be spotted.”
Reaper gestured to the tarps. “Lots of clothes in there. I’m sure they won’t mind if we borrow some.”
Shock stole her breath. He wanted to pilfer clothes from the dead bodies that had been rotting for no telling how long? They were standing on the other side of the warehouse, and she was already about to gag from the stench; getting closer wasn’t an option. Touching them wasn’t an option. “Hell, no.”
He shrugged, tilting his head to the side with the movement as if to say well it was worth a shot, and pulled a flat case from a cargo pocket at his knee and holding aloft a small pouch of white powder.
“What is that?”
“Quickclot.”
He pulled down his shirt, revealing the oozing wound at his shoulder, and sprinkled the powder directly onto the opening without flinching.
“Come again.”
“It’s a hemostatic agent that clots your blood to stop the bleeding.”
Caroline couldn’t keep quiet. “So you sprinkle some magic powder and seriously expect me to take clothing from those poor people’s backs?”
“I didn’t want to—” he emphasized the word want, “—but I’ll do it if we have no choice. Especially if it means protecting you from the threat outside. Those people are already dead. They won’t know if they’re naked or not. You, however, are still alive and I intend to see you stay that way.”
“Well, you better find another way. Because you would have to kill me before I put on their clothing.” She crossed her arms. The movement parted the gown in the back and a hot draft breezed across her bare butt. “I’d go outside naked first.”
His gaze raked her, and if Caroline hadn’t already been halfway certain she was losing her mind, she would’ve sworn she saw something like admiration in his dark gaze. But he blinked just as quickly and the spell was broken. “The goal is to not draw attention to yourself.”
Caroline crossed to the windows on her left, cautious not to be seen. Most of the glass was covered in such a thick layer of dirt no one could see out or in. She took her index finger and smudged a tiny hole just big enough to peer through. “There are clothes hanging on a line in the alley between our building and the next. I’ll go grab some.”
