Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 10) (25 page)

“One o’clock,” Bauer told him. “Any second now.”

Staring through his sight, Adam homed in on that spot and waited. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the first of the reserve enemy force came swarming over the crest of the ridge like ants. Two dozen of them at least, their bodies partially obscured by all the sand and grit flying through the air.

Tuck’s voice came through his earpiece, calm and steady. “Maintain suppressive fire and get ready to fall back on my command.”

Adam fired at one guy in the lead, hit him in the lower chest. The next he hit in the shoulder, but the guy went down and rolled around on the ground so he focused on the next target.

He could hear rounds whizzing past every so often, but they were high, over his and Bauer’s heads. His heart was beating fast but his hands were steady on his weapon as he engaged target after target.

But no matter how many he and the others took out, more just kept on coming. “How many more are there?” he asked over the comms.

“Thirty or so that we know about, but there may be more hidden out of sight,” Tuck replied. “Everybody hang tight. Sniper team’s moving around to our eight o’clock.”

Yeah, but where the hell was the air support, and the other Blackhawk?

The first one couldn’t carry all of them out of here. They had to wait for the second to arrive before they could evacuate everyone and they were going to need some serious firepower to allow them to do that. The deteriorating viz was going to make that a challenge for the pilots, but staying here much longer was damn near suicidal.

The enemy was getting closer now. Close enough that Adam could see each individual scarf covering the lower part of their faces.

Someone on the sniper team announced their position, holding off and to the rear left. A bullet hit the ground not five feet in front of him and Bauer, pelted him with bits of rock. Adam squeezed the trigger and fired two consecutive shots, dropping the fighter in the lead.

But more appeared on the horizon.

We need to get the hell out of here.

He thought of Summer huddled under that blanket in the back of the helo, thought of the hell she’d already been through and a protective rage built inside him. He wanted her out of here now, safe from any further threats.

He’d just fired at another fighter when he finally heard it: the faint throb of rotors above and to the right. Sparing a quick glance in that direction, he made out the vague silhouette of another Blackhawk against the rust-brown sky. “Second ride’s here,” he reported to the others.

“Roger that. Fall back,” Tuck ordered.

The sniper team announced that they were headed for the second helo.

Adam got up and ran a few yards toward the first, then dropped to one knee and covered Bauer as he did the same. They leap-frogged their way back toward the waiting Blackhawk while the enemy kept gaining ground.

Sand struck the helo’s main and tail rotors, creating a glowing ring of sparks. Vance and Cruzie were directly beside the door now, Tuck and Evers only yards away.

Adam was halfway to them when the lead fighters in the advancing force began firing at the helo. Half a dozen rounds struck the tail, pinging off the metal in bright sparks of light.

Summer was in there.

On a rush of adrenaline Adam whirled and opened up on the enemy. They’d all spread out now, fanned across the open space as they charged toward Adam and the others. He sprayed out his shots while Bauer did the same, trying to mow down as many as possible and buy them time.

But as many as he shot, more took their place.

Bauer shouted at him over the din. “Let’s go, move!”

Adam turned and raced headlong for the Blackhawk while the rest of his team covered him and Bauer. He could see the sniper team doing the same at the second helo, saw more sparks fly as enemy bullets pinged off the metal body.

Then a new noise sounded over the chaos. Adam looked up in time to see the unmistakable outline of an Apache gunship burst out from behind the crest of the hill.

Yes!

It rose sharply overhead and immediately opened up its chain gun on the enemy force. He saw the muzzle flashes, heard the buzzing sound but didn’t look back.

Only when he was within a few strides of the open door did he look over his shoulder. Black-clad bodies lay strewn everywhere on the horizon, the Apache’s harvest.

He leapt aboard with Bauer right on his heels, his gaze immediately moving to the rear of the aircraft. Summer was still wrapped up in the blanket. He saw the flash of pure relief in her eyes when she saw him, and a tidal wave of emotion crashed over him. He climbed over Colebrook and Schroder to get to her.

Hunkering down beside her, he slung his weapon across his back and pulled her into his arms. “You okay?” he shouted over the sudden increase in volume as the Blackhawk’s engines powered up.

She nodded, face pressed into the side of his neck, her arms curled against his chest. “Just glad you’re safe.”

After all this, he should be saying that to her. “We’ll be outta here in a minute,” he told her, stroking a hand over the tangle of her hair, which was all crusty and smelled of smoke and gasoline.

He buried his nose in it and held her tight as the pilot rocketed the bird into the sky. After a few seconds he looked back, past his teammates and out the open door. As the Blackhawk banked to turn them toward Amman, he got his first clear view of the battlefield below.

There were at least forty bodies scattered over the ground that he could see, and another ten still moving around. All he knew was, he was damn glad to not still be down there.

The pilots leveled them out and cruised back toward Amman. Adam settled back against a bulkhead with Summer curled against him and drew the first deep breath he’d had in a damn long time.

Schroder came over and crouched next to them, putting a hand on Summer’s shoulder. “How you doing?” he asked, giving her his patented lady-killer smile, the one he’d used with much success until Taya had come along and changed his world.

“I’m okay,” she said, still pressed against Adam. “Just cold.”

“Can you humor me and let me take a look anyhow?”

Summer seemed to hesitate. “Let him check you over, doll,” Adam told her, easing her away, worried she was in shock and might not be aware of her injuries. At a minimum she’d suffered some smoke inhalation, may have burns inside her throat from breathing in the hot fumes.

Reluctantly she sat up and lowered the blanket around her. She was only wearing her underwear and Schroder moved in closer, angling his body to block her from anyone else’s view.

Adam began stripping off his gear, his uniform. He peeled off the T-shirt he’d been wearing under it and tugged it over Summer’s head, even though the other guys were all pointedly looking elsewhere, trying to give them as much privacy as possible.

Adam shifted her off his lap so Schroder could get a better look at her. He hid a wince when he saw the reddened area on her hands and arms, where the heat of the fire had singed her. It wasn’t blistered but the sight of it still made him want to snatch her up and never let her go because it reminded him of how close she’d come to burning in that fucking cage.

Pushing out a slow breath to calm himself, he watched as Schroder did a thorough examination. He checked her skull, her eyes and didn’t seem concerned by anything he found there. The sole of her right foot was bleeding from a few cuts and there were mottled bruises marring her ivory skin.

He wanted to stroke his fingers over each mark, kiss each one of them better. Instead he ran a hand over her hair, just to remind her that he was there and not going anywhere.

Schroder cleaned the cuts on her foot, put ointment on them and her minor burns before bandaging her foot up and tucking the blanket back around her. “There you go,” he said to her with a kind smile.

“Thank you,” she murmured, and immediately leaned back into Adam.

Something in his chest eased at the gesture, and a sense of peace filled him as he wrapped his arms around her once more.

The aftermath of this was going to be hard, he already knew that. But they’d gone through so much already, he knew they could handle this if they stuck together.

This time, he wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to be there for her every step of the way, help her overcome this no matter what it took.

Back in Amman a flurry of activity awaited them. A security team was waiting for them at the airfield, and whisked them straight to the operations center.

Adam refused to let Summer out of his sight the entire time. He folded his arms across his chest and watched her closely while she answered questions and gave statements.

On the one hand he understood that the director and other intelligence officials needed to talk to her immediately in the off chance that she might give them something that would help them round up other ATB cell members, but on the other hand he wanted to tell them to leave her the hell alone and then carry her out of there. She’d been completely traumatized by what happened and was ready to drop.

The sweats someone had loaned her hung on her small frame, making her look even more fragile and lost. He stayed with her through the two interviews then ran out of patience. She was done, and he couldn’t stand watching her suffer through this ordeal another moment.

While the rest of his team went into its usual post-op debriefing he argued his case with DeLuca and the director and finally won his request to take her back to his hotel so she could clean up and rest. By the time he finally got her out of there he was in pure caveman mode, his sole focus on protecting her from everything and taking care of her.

There was a metric shit-ton of paperwork and reports still to be filed but all that was trivial bullshit compared to what Summer was dealing with, and there was still a possibility that he could be pulled away from her again tonight. Director Foster and his people had begun interrogating the guy Colebrook had taken prisoner and Foster was determined that they help the Jordanians destroy whatever was left of this ATB cell
tonight
.

Adam clenched his jaw and fought back the ten arguments that immediately leapt onto his tongue. His wife was teetering on the brink of collapse from exhaustion and he wanted to do whatever he could to see to her comfort right now. It made him insane that he might have to leave her later on.

He drove her to the hotel alone, insisted on carrying her up to his room despite her protests. Two FBI agents were already posted outside the door when he got there.

One of them, a female agent that reminded him a little of Celida, stepped forward to show her ID. “SA Maya Thatcher,” she announced, then slid it back onto her belt. “The room’s secure.”

“Thanks.” He stepped around her, paused when he saw Taya waiting in the hall.

“Hi,” she said softly, giving Agent Thatcher a brief nod before focusing on Summer. Adam felt Summer tense in his arms but then Taya gave her a disarming, gentle smile. “I’m Taya, Schroder’s girlfriend. I just wanted to see if you guys needed anything.”

Adam could have kissed her for her thoughtfulness. “If you could send up some food, that’d be awesome.”

“Sure. If you think of anything else, just call me.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Agent Thatcher unlocked the door for him and he carried Summer inside. The instant the door closed behind them, an overwhelming sense of relief hit him. He hadn’t realized just how tightly strung he’d been or how much he’d been craving the quiet until now.

He set Summer on his bed, then crouched down to check the bandage on her foot. It was perfect and there was no blood seeping through, but of course he shouldn’t have expected anything else, since Schroder was a pro.

He stilled when a gentle hand settled against the side of his face, and looked up.

“I want a shower,” she said.

“Yeah, of course.”

He pulled her to her feet and followed her to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and cringed.

“I look like hell,” she said.

Adam stepped up behind her, circled his arms around her waist and set his chin on top of her head. Her bright auburn hair was oily and covered with soot and fire retardant. She had dark purplish-blue circles beneath her eyes and her forearms and hands looked like they’d suffered a bad sunburn. “You’re still beautiful to me.”

She gave him a weary smile. “Thanks.”

He reached for the shower nozzle and turned the water on while she stripped. As she stepped beneath the spray she winced, and he realized the heat of it must have stung the burns on her arms and hands. “Too hot?” he asked, immediately reaching for the knob.

“No, it’s okay,” she murmured.

Adam shucked his own clothes and stepped into the shower with her. Summer stood beneath the water, unmoving, and he could see the exhaustion in every line of her body. He ran his hands gently over her body, cataloguing every scrape and bruise, then worked shampoo into her wet hair and rinsed.

He washed it three times to try and get rid of the acrid smell of the gasoline and smoke. Then he soaped and gently cleaned her body, careful of her sore arms, rinsing away the dirt and grime, but he couldn’t wash away the memories or the fear that haunted her.

After they were both clean he shut off the water and bundled her up in a towel. He put toothpaste on his toothbrush and handed it to her as she was finishing toweling off her hair. “Here.”

“Thanks.” When she was done brushing her teeth she stood up, slipped her arms into one of his clean T-shirts and then put on the hotel robe he’d snagged from the back of the door.

There were so many things he wanted to say and to ask, but he didn’t want to push her for conversation right now.

Summer turned to face him, the bright lights over the mirror glinting off her clean hair. “So I’m guessing you got my message in that video, huh?”

“Yes.” Running a hand over her hair, he kissed her softly, careful not to abrade her soft skin with his whiskers. “That was so damn brave, and
smart
.”