Page 9 of Her Ruthless Protector

Max wasn’t showing topside.

“Where’s Max?” he shouted into the comm.

“I’m coming, you old lady. He dropped a phone, I just picked it up. Just get them on the truck, and I’ll be there by the time everyone’s loaded.”

You better be.

The truck fishtailed around a corner, slammed on the brakes, and then Cullen piled in. He slipped in the blood and Raiden grunted a laugh. Cullen looked at his arm.

“Ah hell, Raiden, what did you do to yourself? Did you get a boo?”

Raiden flipped him off.

Zed and Asher lifted an unconscious man in a thobe into the truck.

“Is he alive?” Kane asked.

“Yeah, just had to knock him out, he wasn’t being cooperative,” Zed said as he heaved him into the back corner of the truck.

Nick and Max were the last to get into the vehicle. As soon as they hopped in, Leo banged the side of the truck three times, and Sweeney hit the accelerator. They were off. Everybody was tense, waiting to see if there was going to be anybody giving chase. After five minutes, the mood lightened.

Kane shoved his laptop at Max. “You take over, I’m going to look at Raiden. With Leo trying to nurse his boo-boo he might end up losing his arm.”

Max gave a curt nod. “Anybody else hurt?” he asked as he carefully eyed each member of his team. Kane left that to his boss as he concentrated on his friend. He cut open the sleeve of his shirt and grabbed some wipes. Zed was there in a heartbeat, throwing some light on the situation.

“Okay, Cullen was right, it was a boo-boo. You’re going to live.”

“You just had to prove to everyone that you have nothing on Mother Theresa, is that it?” Raiden smirked.

“Just keep it up, Sato and I’ll make sure you lose this arm,” Kane said as he placed a better bandage on the wound, one that would last until they got back to the USS Mason.

“Are you almost done?” Max asked.

Kane kept working on Raiden, but he nodded.

“Good. I want you to look at the stash of computer equipment Raiden brought back from the compound, plus this phone. See if you can find out anything.”

Kane cut his eyes to Max. “You sure do expect miracles.”

“Yeah, I do.”