Blind Ambition (18 page)

“Alexa,” he warned, his voice low and dangerous.

Stiffening her spine and her resolve, she stood tall and held his angry gaze. Softly, she said, “If you can honestly tell me that my presence on this mission will do more harm than good, then I’ll stay here.”

He glared at her for several beats. Then he looked to Todd and Jason in turn. His hands balled into fists, the muscles in his forearms rippling in response. “
Fuck.
”

She held her breath.

He glanced through the windshield and took several slow, deep breaths. “Fine,” he said without facing her, his voice tight. “You win.”

Somehow it didn’t feel like a victory.

An hour later, Dan crouched at the edge of the jungle and ignored the itch of sweat trickling down the back of his neck as he surveyed the SIR camp.

Five guards—that he could see—were stationed around the perimeter, holding AR-15s, standing just outside the bright glow of the floodlights attached to the front of each villa.

Next to the Jeep Dan had disabled, a dented blue van stood with its cargo doors open as two men wrestled a third-row bench seat from the back. They set it next to a dilapidated boat shack, while a third man loaded the cargo space with blankets. Across the quad, a door opened and a man in a red shirt stepped out of the building carrying a sleeping infant.

Dan hustled back to the team on silent feet and met Alexa’s worried gaze. “It looks like they’re prepping to move the kids.”

A black bandana covered her bright hair, and like the rest of them, her face, neck, and hands were dark with shades of green, brown, and black greasepaint.

They’d hardly spoken in the last hour, but he was acutely aware of her. Every breath that fell from her lips, every step she set on the spongy soil, her scent. Her fear. She was a distraction. Which was exactly why Dan hadn’t wanted her to come along. That and the fact that she was putting herself in danger. Again.

He could hardly breathe at the thought.

Shit
. Yeah, he was undeniably, head-over-fucking-pathetic-heels in love. Jesus, what the hell had he been thinking coming to St. Iz? Had he really believed he could see her again and
not
turn into an idiot?

No. He’d known. He should have told Kurt he couldn’t take the job, but that had never been an option. No matter the outcome, he couldn’t have walked away from this mission. From her.

She didn’t love him back, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except keeping her—and those children—safe.

Dan wrenched his red-tinted flashlight from his pocket and shone it onto a rough map of the resort that he and Alexa had drawn up on the yacht while Todd and Jason were off “liberating” another kayak.

“There are at least five armed guards spread out across here.” He pointed out the locations of the men he’d spotted. “There’s a cargo van here. I think that’s how they plan to evacuate the kids.”

He laid out the rest of what he’d seen.

“Why don’t we let them take the kids?” Jason asked.

Alexa gasped, but Dan held up his hand and she clamped her mouth shut.

Jason squeezed her shoulder. “Not to let them get away, but to even the odds. We’re vastly outnumbered, and though I don’t doubt our ability to take these men down, it could get messy. We can’t afford that with you and the kids in close range.”

“Yeah,” Todd chimed in. “If someone sounds the alarm, there’s no telling what these guys will do to the little ones before we can get to them.”

Dan gave Todd his best shut-the-fuck-up look, but the man merely shrugged. Dan focused on Alexa. “What Jason’s suggesting is that we take the van after they’re out of the camp, so we only have a few guards to deal with instead of an unknown number with superior firepower.”

“Exactly.” Jason nodded. “Plus, with the kids already in the van, we can drive them straight to the airfield. No baby brigade necessary.”

“Why can’t we just drive them all the way to Sancoins, then?”

“Too risky,” Dan said. “We don’t know how long it will take the rebels to realize what we’ve done, but we want to have the kids far away from here by then.”

“Okay,” she said. “How do we do it?”

He didn’t like her use of “we” but they’d already been down that path, so he swallowed the curse on the tip of his tongue. “There’s only one road out, so we either need to block it or figure out another way to get them to stop.”

Jason crossed his arms. “If we block the road, then we have to unblock it to escape. And if we take out a tire, then we’re driving on a flat.”

Everyone stood silent for a second.

“They have no idea what happened to us, right?” Alexa asked. “No idea if we got away together. Only that the Jeep is gone.”

Dan nodded, even as dread put the screws on the muscles in his neck and shoulders.

“Use me as bait.”

“No.”

She huffed. “You guys will be there to back me up. All I have to do is stand in the road and act like we got separated somehow, or that you got hurt and I’m looking for help.”

He was shaking his head, but Jason and Todd were nodding.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” she said, her voice like shards of ice, hands on her hips, “but you can’t just barricade the street and point rifles at them. The risk of getting into a firefight with the kids in the van is too high.”

“Right,” Todd said.

Dan skewered him with a look, but it went right over the man’s head.

“We can’t block the road or disable the van, and trying to rescue the kids at the compound is too dangerous.” She paused and looked at each of them in turn. “They’ll stop for me. I’m worth two million dollars to them.”

As if anyone could put a dollar amount on her value. She was sure as shit worth more than two million.

She held Dan’s gaze and pressed a dainty fist to her chest. “Let me do this.”

He put both hands on top of his head and looked up into the dark canopy. Fuck, fuck,
fuck.
What choice did they have? Alexa was right. She was here and she could be useful. He let out a long, slow breath and glanced at Jason. The man raised an eyebrow, reminding him of an earlier conversation where he had suggested Dan recuse himself from the mission because he was emotionally compromised.

He glared at Jason, aware that he was absolutely emotionally compromised.

“She’s right,” Jason said, his voice grim. “But whatever we do, we need to bust ass if we’re going to get in place before they move out.”

Dan growled and resisted the urge to kick something. He hadn’t asked for the man’s opinion, but he knew better than to ignore it. “Fine,” he managed through gritted teeth. “Let’s go.”

ALEXA MADE LIKE A ROCK under a canopy of banana palms while Dan removed the makeup from her face with wipes he’d pulled from his backpack. She wanted to drop a witty quip on him to ease some of the tension, but his touch was so soft, so tender that she could hardly force air into her lungs, let alone conjure a clever line.

Yet for all that he was gentle, his face was unreadable beneath the dark paint, the hard angles of his cheekbones and jaw blunted by the lack of reflected light.

He stuffed the used cloth into his pocket and held out the pack to her. “Here. Get your neck and hands.”

They were about a quarter of a mile down the road from the Bent Palms, hiding in the dense growth along the road. Todd and Jason were already in place, Todd closer to the resort so he could warn them when the van was coming, and Jason up ahead.

Without using guns, their team was going to have to disarm the guards as quickly as possible. The rebels might expect Dan to be hiding close by, but Jason and Todd were the ace in the hole.

When she was done cleaning off the greasy makeup, Dan gestured for the wipe. “You missed a spot.” He took a long, leisurely swipe beneath her ear, sending shivers along her spine before he stopped near her collarbone.

For a long moment he stared at his hand hovering over her skin. His gaze met hers in the dim light, but quickly bounced away. Then he stood back to inspect her, clearing his throat. “Okay. Take off the bandana.”

With shaky hands, she removed the wrap from her hair and handed it to him. “I’m too clean. It rained on us, and we were covered in mud before.” Her lips tingled at the memory of kissing him under the palms. She was itching for a repeat, but even if they had time to indulge, it wouldn’t be fair to Dan.
She
had pushed
him
away after their lovemaking.

“They don’t know about the mud,” he said, turning away to stuff the wipes and scarf into his backpack. “But you are overdressed.”

Some part of her balked at stripping for the rebels, but then she thought of Flore and Carter and the other children. Her shirt wasn’t white, and it didn’t reach her knees, but it would have to do. She quickly shucked her pants and handed them to Dan to stow.

While she was glad he had agreed to her plan, she also felt sick at the thought of facing the SIR soldiers again. So many things could go wrong.

She pressed a hand to her stomach and took a deep breath.

Dan faced her took hold of her shoulders. “You don’t have to do this.”

Steeling her spine, she held his fierce gaze in the dim moonlight that filtered through the broad leaves. “Yes. I do.”

“We can find another way.”

She shook her head. “If I were one of the guys—”

“But you’re
not
one of the guys.” His hold tightened. “God
dammit
.” Striking fast, he closed the gap between them and kissed her hard. He was not gentle or loving or hungry. This was an angry kiss. A fearful kiss. A desperate kiss.

A kiss she felt down to her toes.

Just as she found her bearings and started to kiss him back, he pushed her away. “Keep your head down. Be smart. You’re no good to Flore if you’re…if anything happens to you.”

Still struck dumb from his bruising kiss and the dark look in his eyes, she just stared as he faded into the jungle.

Turning, Alexa wiped her lips as she moved on shaky legs to the center of the muddy, rutted road. She’d never felt more alone. Rationally, she knew that the guys were out there watching her, ready to jump in and protect her. But fear still weighed down her limbs and made her breaths hard-won in the damp air.

She scooped some mud from a puddle and smeared it on her shirt, arms, and legs. Her hair was probably plastered to her head from the bandana, and sweat had soaked her top, so it wasn’t like she looked fresh from a shower, but still… Every second she could delay the rebels from becoming suspicious gave Dan and his team precious time to disarm them.

God, was she delusional to think she could pull this off? What if—

From down the road, three sharp bird whistles cut through the din of chirping bugs and frogs. No time to second-guess her choices.

The van was on its way.

The grumble of a sick engine preceded the beater as it rounded the bend, its headlights cutting across the leaves, blinding after so much darkness. Alexa bent at the waist and wrapped her arms around her middle.

As soon as the lights touched her, she shielded her eyes and froze. Then she staggered toward the side of the road.

Through the van’s open windows, a man shouted. “It’s her!”

She stumbled in the soft earth as the large vehicle skidded to a stop with a squish and a door opened, a high-pitched dinging sound warning that the keys were still in the ignition.

Thwack, thwack.
Footsteps approached from behind. “Oy, stop!”

Alexa pushed to her feet and tried to scramble out of reach. She didn’t even have to pretend that her trembling limbs were nearly useless. Her heart pounded so hard she pulsed like a pool of water under a dripping faucet.

A rough hand gripped her shoulder and spun her around, bringing her face to face with George, one of the guards who’d taken her to see the children earlier. “Where’s your man?” he asked, his rushed, angry words tinged with fear.

She kept her mouth shut and her eyes fixed on the gun George had pointed at her chest. Behind him, Dan was sneaking up along the passenger side of the van.

The door burst open and the other rebel dropped to his feet, his rifle trained on Dan. “Down! Down!”

No!
Oh, God. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Where were Todd and Jason?

George spun her toward him and snagged her around the throat, now holding the gun to her temple. “No funny business, or I shoot her, Army Man.”

Dan dropped to his knees and clasped his hands behind his head, eyes down.

Her stomach roiled.
No, no, no.
If anything happened to him…

A soft
thud
came from behind, and George bumped against her with a strangled exhalation. Then he released her and crumpled. She yelped in surprise, jumping to the side.

When she looked up, the other rebel was face down in the mud with a knife in his back. She finally realized that her captor, now at her feet, had suffered the same fate. Her first instinct was to kneel down and help him. But Jason materialized from the dark jungle, yanked the blade from George’s back, and wiped it on the man’s shirt.

He slipped the knife into a holster on his hip, shoved the dead man’s gun into the back of his pants, and braced Alexa’s arms. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and locked her knees so she wouldn’t collapse. Now was not the time to lose it. She was okay. Dan was okay.

Her glance strayed to George. She’d seen dead people before—too many—but this was different. For the first time in her life, she was glad. Bile rose in her throat.

“Stay here,” Jason said, his voice gentle but firm, like a nanny to a beloved but errant child. “Once we clear the van, you can check on the kids.”

She envied his calm, his cool confidence as he and Todd approached the back of the van while Dan covered the front with a rifle.

The three of them were so different, and yet the same. If she hadn’t known better, she’d think nothing fazed them. But Dan had once assured her that he got scared just like anyone else. The difference was that he acknowledged the fear and kept going in spite of it. Those who couldn’t didn’t make it through PJ training. “Fear is good,” he’d said. “If I’m not afraid, I’m not alert, and I’ll make a mistake. The secret is not to let it overwhelm you.”