Breaking Ties by Elle James
Chapter 8
“Are all the Deltas back?”Beth asked Corporal Ramsey, who’d returned when the Black Hawk landed the second time.
He shook his head. “Team Bravo is still out there.”
Beth’s heart turned somersaults in her chest. “By themselves with no backup?”
“The helo is about to go back to get them after they fuel up. I’m going back with them. Are you coming, too?”
She nodded, making the decision in that instant. She just had to clear it with her commander.
Beth found Jonathan with Dash in the hospital. “How’s he doing?”
“He’d going to be fine. Since we stopped the hemorrhaging, he’s stabilized and the blood transfusion helped restore a little of what he lost.”
“Are you good with the staff you have here?” she asked. “Do you need me?”
Jonathan looked up from the chart he’d been studying. “Of course, I need you.”
She gritted her teeth and forced herself to remain calm. “I mean, do you need me now. I’d like to go back to the village and see if there’s anything I can do to help.” And she wanted to make certain Dawg was okay. Until she saw for herself, she couldn’t relax.
“We can manage without you for a while. But are you sure you’ll be safe?”
She nodded. “I’ll take one of the medics. There’s still a Delta team there, helping the villagers with the wounded. I think I could be of assistance.”
Jonathan frowned. “I should come with you.”
“One of us should stay with our wounded Deltas,” Beth said. “Either you or me. I think it should be you in case you have to do emergency surgery on Dash.”
“But the villagers might need me to help them.”
“Our primary mission is to support the Deltas. If something happened to Dash while you were out helping villagers…” She trailed off.
Jonathan nodded. “I’ll stay. You can do just about anything I can out there, short of invasive surgery. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. Despite what you might think, I care a lot about you.”
Beth smiled gently. “I know you do. I’ll be okay. I’ll stick close to the Deltas. They’ll make sure I’m okay. But I need to go before the helicopter leaves.” She grabbed a medical kit and raced out of the hospital and across the field to the waiting Black Hawk.
The pilot was just strapping himself into his seat when she climbed aboard and sat in the seat beside Corporal Ramsey. The gunner handed her a headset and buckled her harness for her. Moments later, the aircraft lifted off the ground and flew through the air. Before Beth could second guess her mad dash out to the besieged village, the chopper descended into the field beside the smoking buildings.
She climbed out of the helicopter, grabbed the medical kit and followed Ramsey through the maze of destroyed buildings.
Villagers were coming in a few at a time, searching through the rubble for their belongings or the food they’d stored.
Beth’s heart hurt for them. These people had had so little to begin with, to lose even that was devastating.
She worked her way through the village, searching for Dawg. She found several of the Deltas helping the injured or assisting the people in their attempts to salvage what they could. She stopped to treat burns, cuts and busted lips. Ramsey assisted when she applied sutures to a man who’d cut his hand when he’d been thrown against a building. The people she helped were poor, desperate and grateful for anything she could do to make their lives easier.
All the while she helped the displaced people, she searched the faces of the Deltas for one. Had their one night together been enough to build a relationship on? Hell, had she called off her marriage because of Jonathan, or had she come to the conclusion he really wasn’t the man for her? Did that make Dawg the right man for her? They’d only been out once and had made love twice. She couldn’t fall in love with someone that quickly. It had to be lust.
Whatever it was, Beth was determined to find the man and make sure he was all right.
She was cleaning a scrape on a woman’s arm when she spotted him helping a man bring bedding and clothing out of a smoldering building. He carried a flashlight and an armful of soot-covered belongings.
The man thanked him profusely for his help as he gathered his things and his family around him.
Dawg kneeled down in front of a little girl and spoke to her. Beth couldn’t hear what he said, but the little girl grinned in the darkness, her teeth shining a bright white.
Beth’s chest tightened. Though they’d lost so much, they still had each other. The family had remained intact, thanks to the Deltas.
Beth had heard how Boko Haram terrorists had lined up many of the villagers, planning on killing them, execution style. And she’ learned how the Delts had come to the rescue before that tragedy could take place.
On her way over to where Dawg still helped the man and his family, Beth stopped to check on a man lying on the ground.
He lay on the ground as still as death.
Beth leaned over him and pressed her fingers to the base of his neck, searching for a pulse. Just as she found it, his hand snapped up and gripped her wrist. He pressed a handgun to her temple, and he spoke crisply in English, “You will listen to me very carefully, or you will die.”
“Seriously?” Her gut clenched.
“Do as I say, and I won’t hurt you,” he said.
“Okay,” Beth said in her calmest tone though she was shaking inside. “What do you want?”
“I want out of here,” he said. “Alive.”
“And how do you propose to do that?” she asked.
“If anyone comes close, you will tell them to back away. You will walk with me to the edge of the village as if I were any other villager. Now, help me to my feet. One wrong move, and I will kill you.”
“You do realize that if you kill me, they will kill you?” she said.
“But you will die first.” He tapped her temple with the barrel of the weapon. “Do you wish to risk it?”
She sighed. “No.”
With the gun in his hand pressed to her temple, he pulled his feet beneath him and lurched to a standing position, leaning heavily on one leg.
For a brief moment, the gun slipped from the position against her temple. Beth bunched her muscles, ready to spring away from the man and his threats. But the barrel of the pistol pressed to her temple again, reminding her of the finality of a bullet to the brain.
Once the man was steady on his feet, he moved the gun to point it at her side, half-hidden from view by her body. “Now, walk,” he said.
Beth moved toward the edge of the village, careful not to jostle the man and his gun. She wanted to live to see another day back in the States where she had a date with a handsome Delta.
Though he moved with a limp, he set off with purpose, heading away from the people congregating around the center of the village. As they neared the outskirts of the village, a shout sounded behind them.
“Beth?”
Her heart skipped several beats at the sound of Dawg’s voice behind her.
“Keep moving,” the man beside her said, jabbing her in the ribs with the hard metal of the handgun.
She winced as pain shot through her. Still, she kept moving.
Dawg would realize soon that she wasn’t going of her own accord, and he’d come to her rescue.
“Beth?” he called out again. “Wait up.”
Beth ignored him again, getting closer to the edge of town. Though she wanted to be rescued, she was afraid her captor would try to shoot Dawg.
Dawg followed, closing the distance between them a little at a time. “Beth, wait.”
When Beth and her captor reached the edge of the village, Beth ground to a halt. “I got you this far, you can make it on your own now.”
“Not without you. You’re my ticket to freedom.”
“Look, I’ve got too many people waiting for me to help them. You can make your escape without me.”
He pressed the gun into her side. “Or you can die now.”
Anger rippled through her. This man was one of the men who’d destroyed the village. She’d gotten him this far. But to let him walk away from the devastation without any resistance wasn’t right. Not after what he’d done to the innocent people of the village.
“Go on. Keep moving,” he said, his tone firm, his hand unwavering on the gun.
“No.” Beth stood her ground, praying the man didn’t fulfill his promise to kill her. “Go ahead, run into the brush. I’m not going with you. And if you don’t go soon, I’ll yell and alert the villagers that you’re among them. Without the rest of your friends, you are nothing. They will kill you in a slow, painful death.” She tipped her head back toward the village. “And that man following us is a trained killer. He’s coming for me. You only have seconds to make up your mind.” She glanced over her shoulder at the silhouette of Dawg moving toward them in the darkness.
The man looked too, giving Beth the opportunity she’d been waiting for.
She shoved him hard and dove to the ground, rolling to one side.
The terrorist stumbled, the injury on his leg making movement awkward. Then he took off, running into the brush and darkness.
A moment later, Dawg caught up with Beth. “Are you all right?” he asked, pulling her into his arms.
She nodded and pressed her cheek to his chest, so very glad they were alone and away from prying eyes. Her body shook, and tears filled her eyes. “He told me was going to shoot me.”
“Th man you were with a second ago?”
She nodded. “He was one of Boko Haram. He wanted me to go with him as his ticket to escape.”
He held her at arms’ length and stared down into her eyes, his own eyes reflecting the starlight. “How did you get away?”
“I told him I wasn’t going with him, and that the man behind me was a trained killer. When he looked, back, I shoved him hard. He took off.”
“That’s too bad he got away. But then I’d rather he get away than put a bullet in you.” Again, he crushed her in his arms and pressed his lips to hers.
The same electric current she’d felt with him back in Texas rippled through her, making her want to hold him tighter, to lie with him naked and make love with him through the night and into the morning. But they were in enemy territory. Not to mention, they couldn’t act on their feelings. Not in theater. They could both be court-marshalled and kicked out of the military. Whatever they were feeling had to stay on the down low until they returned to the States.
But it felt so good to be held. And what would it hurt to steal one kiss?
Beth tipped up her chin. “I know this is wrong, but I want to do this. No…I need to do this.” She pushed up on her toes and brushed her lips across his.
He crushed her in his arms and returned the kiss with a searing one of his own, claiming her tongue and holding her like there might be no tomorrow.
When, at last, they came up for air, Beth laid her cheek against his chest. “We should get back to the others before they come looking for us.”
He nodded and smoothed the hair back from her forehead before pressing a light kiss there. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off you for the duration of this deployment.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugged him hard then stepped away. “We have to. We can’t let this ruin our careers. We’ve both worked too hard for what we have. I refuse to let you get thrown out of the Army, and I won’t leave unless it’s on my own terms. Come on. The helicopter pilot didn’t want us to stay too long,”
Dawg captured her hand and brought it up to his lips. “At least we have something to look forward to when we get back home.” He brushed his lips across the back of her knuckles and released her.
They walked back to the center of the village together where they found the rest of Dawg’s team preparing to leave.
Beth found Corporal Ramsey and collected the medical kit. The helicopter landed, the pilot waiting for the Deltas and the medical staff to climb on board. They loaded quickly. Every second they were on the ground was an opportunity for the enemy to fire on them.
Once everyone was accounted for, the Black Hawk lifted off the ground and flew back to their base.
Beth was glad she’d gone, even if she’d almost been kidnapped to shield a terrorist during his escape. Dawg had hugged and kissed her like he really did like her and want to be with her. The spark was still there, giving her hope for the future. A future that might see her settling down with a Delta.
After checking her patients, Beth headed for her quarters, peeled off half of her clothes and laid down on her cot, enjoying the cool night air. She lay there for a long time, thinking about Dawg, about Jonathan and about her career. The more time she spent with Dawg the more she liked him.
Was it love?
Maybe.
She hoped they would have the opportunity to find out.