Shadow in the Mountain by KaLyn Cooper

Chapter 7

Ryker stood patientlyas Xena said goodbye to another African embassy staffer. He, like so many others that evening, pulled her aside as they had an intense conversation. He thought he’d played his boyfriend role very well, but the conditions his teammates suffered plagued him the entire night. He stood amid wealth and opulence and if the pictures were accurate, his friends survived in squalor.

“I’ll pass that along.” The smile she gave the mid-forties foreign service agent looked real, but after spending the last four hours with her, Ryker knew it wasn’t. He doubted the information would go any further.

“It was great seeing you again.” Another lie. Her withering glance his way was his cue.

He stepped very close to Xena. “Our car is waiting.” Ryker wrapped his hand around her elbow and held the gaze of the astute American agent. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but Ms. Riggs is expected elsewhere.” Without allowing either of them to say another word, he placed his hand in the small of her back and guided her out the door.

The bodyguard called Blade stood beside a white town car. “Your chariot awaits.” He opened the back door and she slid in, Ryker right behind her. As soon as the driver’s door closed, the car started moving away from the embassy. “Are you going back to Phillip’s House for the night?”

“No. Take me to Dark Angel.” Xena kicked off her shoes and pulled the dress up to her thighs.

Beautiful, long, and tanned with just the right amount of feminine muscles. He usually wasn’t a leg man, but he couldn’t ignore hers.

Damn. Ryker had no right to look at her as a woman. She was simply a teammate for this mission. But he was male. After spending hours holding her soft hand in his, touching the small of her back where the dress draped loosely over her naked skin that his fingers brushed constantly, smelling her light spicy fruit perfume as he held her in his arms dancing, he’d been half-hard all night.

Xena Riggs was a gorgeous woman.

“Yes.” Blade pumped his fist, breaking Ryker’s stare. “I take it this means we are going to Eden?”

“Hell, yeah.” Xena hiked the dress nearly to her hip.

The sound of ripping Velcro caught Ryker’s attention.

“This damn thing was scraping my inner thigh all night long.” She rubbed the red mark only inches from the apex of her legs as she held a holstered gun in her other hand.

Shit. She was armed all night. He’d slow danced with her and had no idea how close his thigh had been to her weapon. He wondered if there was a slit through the side of the dress so she could grab her gun quickly if needed.

“Like the view?”

Fuck. She’d caught him staring.

He decided not to lie. “Matter of fact, I do.”

Xena held his gaze. Her face was completely unreadable, and he hoped his was as well. She was a beautiful woman. Although he hated to admit it, Wesley was right; she was fucking hot.

Blade cleared his throat and looked at them in the rearview mirror. “Do I need to pick up your mother?”

“No. She’s staying here. I doubt she’ll be leaving Phillip’s House until after her birthday party next week.” Xena settled into her seat and pulled out her phone. “If you need to contact anyone back home, do it now. We’ll be out of cell service in about ten minutes.”

Ryker took advantage by sending a text to his mom and dad, letting them know they arrived safely and intended to move on with their meetings in the morning. He also warned them that they would be without cell service but not to worry. He hit send as he started to lose bars.

He put his phone away and waited for Xena to do the same. He hated being at the mercy of someone else. Although he’d read through most of the information in the folder, he didn’t remember seeing any reference to Dark Angel. He wondered if this person was going to take them all to Eden. And he’d never gotten a straight answer as to exactly where Eden was located. He would ask that, and several other questions, as soon as she was finished fiddling on her phone.

To amuse himself, Ryker looked through the darkened windows into the late night. The city slid away quickly as they climbed a mountain on a major thoroughfare, forests lining both sides.

“Xena, there’s a tree blocking the road ahead.” Blade didn’t reduce his speed. “It’s probably an ambush.” He flipped something up and passed back an Israeli Uzi submachine gun.

Xena yanked down the back seat. “Get into the trunk.” She gave Ryker a shove.

“Why the hell would I want to do that?” He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his pistol.

“This car is bulletproof, but the trunk is the safest place.” She glanced at the gun in his hand. “Good. You can use that if they get through us.”

Blade handed back a Heckler and Koch MP7. Ryker jammed his gun back in the holster then grabbed the H&K. He checked the chamber. “I’m not going anywhere, but you need to crawl in the trunk.” He pushed on the back of Xena’s head with the other hand on her firm ass.

“What the hell are you trying to do?” She whirled around to glare at him.

“Protect you.” Could she be any denser? He held up the submachine gun.

“Do I look like I need protecting?” She jammed the magazine into the Uzi. Without shifting her eyes away from Ryker’s, she yelled, “Blade. Roof.”

“Ryker, NVGs. In the trunk.” Blade called as he closed the distance to the downed tree.

Dropping to his knees, Ryker scavenged through the trunk and found a box filled with night vision goggles. As he was crawling back out, he found loaded magazines for both submachine guns so he grabbed several. After tossing a pair of NVGs to Blade, he handed the set to Xena then put on his own.

“Flip to thermal,” Xena ordered.

“Going dark,” Blade announced and turned off the car lights. “Roof opening.”

Instead of the roof sliding back, it quickly popped upright to form a shield. Xena picked up the bottom of her formal dress while she stepped onto the seat. Gun to her shoulder, goggles covering her face, she stood scanning the woods.

Ryker was a second behind her. As though they had been fighting together for years, they stood back-to-back each scanning one hundred and eighty degrees. “I see six. Three…no four…are behind the tree. I’ve got two in the woods on my side.”

“Same count with two more on my side. Got that, Blade? Eight total.” Xena announced. “All of them have weapons. Take them out.”

Before he could ask if that meant that they were to wait and return fire, Xena started shooting. The bad guys immediately shot back. In short bursts, like he’d been taught, Ryker took out the two on his side within seconds and started on those hiding behind the downed tree.

In less than thirty seconds, none remained standing or blocking their way.

“My side is clear,” she announced.

“All clear,” Ryker replied. He scanned the area looking for their backup.

“Brace. Plowing through,” Blade called from the front seat.

The tree moved relatively easily, sweeping everything out of its way, including the bodies. Ryker and Xena stayed in their positions scanning three hundred and sixty degrees.

No more attackers.

“Drop,” she ordered.

Ryker stepped off the seat and dropped down. He immediately moved to the side so Xena could return to the interior of the car.

“Blade, close the roof.” As though its hinges had been released on Xena’s orders, it slammed down and vacuum sealed.

“I’m turning the lights back on in five…four…” Blade counted down before he flipped on the headlights. “Damn good shooting, you two.”

“Who the hell were they and why the fuck were they trying to kill us?” Ryker hadn’t had time to think, only to react to the announcement of an ambush. He let out a long breath. He was more concerned with the possibility that someone had discovered he was back in Ethiopia, and they wanted to finish what they’d started three months ago—killing his entire SEAL squad.

“Bandits.” Xena touched the end of the warm barrel with her finger before she set the gun on the leather seats. When her gaze met his, he raised his eyebrows needing more of an explanation.

“This is one of the three main roads out of Addis. Anybody rich enough to own a car is wealthy enough to have something of value in that automobile.” She opened a hidden panel and pulled out two bottles of chilled water, handing one to him.

Ryker could have kissed her. He was thirsty beyond belief.

“Or they could have been trying to steal the car.” She cracked the cap and drank deeply. “There are thieves and robbers everywhere in Africa.”

Xena sucked down the last of her water. “We just eliminated eight more bandits.” Her smile lit up the car. “And we were in our first firefight together. I think we did well. We make a pretty good team.”

Ryker had to agree. “Damn good shooting, princess. Where did you learn to shoot like that?”

“Same place you did.” But her smile was sly, as though she had a secret.

“You were in the Navy?” He didn’t know that Ethiopia had a Navy. Why should it? It was a landlocked country.

“I served five years in the U.S. Navy after college. Everyone in my family served in the military, except Mother. She serves our country in a political way.”

Before he could question her more about her service, they emerged from a copse of trees into a field seemingly on top of a small mountain. But, no, no crops were growing there, only grass surrounding a landing strip. Ryker wished he was still wearing the thermal night vision goggles. He would bet armed men hid in the trees.

At one end of the runway sat an unusual helicopter. It was completely flat black with gorgeous silver wings painted on the sides.

“What is this?” The words came out of his mouth before he realized he had spoken aloud.

“It’s a Russian prototype. They’re trying to convince my dad to replace his fleet with these.” Xena stepped out of the car and strode toward the chopper.

Ryker scrambled to catch up to her, but Blade was already at her side. He threw his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Good shooting, babe.”

She put her arm around his waist and leaned into him. Her loving smile as she looked up at the supposed bodyguard spoke volumes. “Thanks. I learned from the best.”

“You most certainly did.” Blade glanced over his shoulder at Ryker before he steered her toward the unique helicopter.

Message received loud and clear. He would keep his hands, and salacious thoughts, off Xena. It was better for the mission, anyway. He was in Ethiopia for one reason—to save his teammates.

Just as Ryker caught up to Xena and Blade, Nagasi seemed to emerge out of the black of night. “How was the party?”

She looked at Ryker as though asking for his opinion.

“Informative,” they said at the same time.

Nagasi smiled at Ryker as a teacher would at a struggling student who got the right answer. “Well done. Your bags from the house are already on board.”

“I’m going to go get the checklist started,” Blade announced and handed the keys to the car to Nagasi.

The butler turned his attention to Xena. “The extra items you asked for are in the cargo hold. All the munitions are armed and ready.”

“Thank you, Nagasi.”

The older man scanned Xena head to toe. “Please send the dress back with the next courier. I believe it can be salvaged.” He repeated the process with Ryker. “Same for you. You may keep the shoes, but I seriously doubt you’ll be needing them where you’re going.”

Ryker hated to admit they were actually very comfortable, especially for dress shoes. “Thanks. They fit very well.”

“They should. Berluti Scritto uses only the finest Italian leather.” The butler looked at him expectantly, as though he should recognize that the brand or name.

Ryker had no clue.

Xena leaned over and whispered in his ear. “They run about two thousand dollars a pair.”

Ryker wasn’t sure if he wanted to leap out of the footwear and give them back or hug the butler. “Thank you. Again. I really appreciate them.”

The whine of the engine drew everyone’s attention.

“We need to go,” Xena announced.

“Safe travels.” Nagasi turned and walked toward the car.

As they approached the helicopter, Blade got out of the pilot seat and walked around the helicopter, touching and checking. Ryker was astonished when Xena lifted her magnificent dress practically to her waist and crawled in the pilot seat.

“Jump in the back,” she ordered over her shoulder.

As he settled in the surprisingly comfortable seat, Blade handed him a helmet from the copilot position. “Thanks for covering our girl. I’m Jim Oleson. Call me Blade.”

“Ryker Tufano. They used to call me Trek.”

The slightly older man chuckled. “Ryker on Star Trek?”

“Yeah.” He never really cared for his handle and didn’t want to continue this conversation with Xena’s lover, so he popped the helmet on his head. Perfect timing. The engines started to scream.

“Ryker, once we get home, I could use a drink.” Xena’s voice came through the comm system clearly. “There’s a whole lot I need to show you before we leave tomorrow morning.”

Blade’s head popped up and his gaze swung to Xena. “Your dad has new intel.”

“Let’s hope it’s good news.” Xena lifted the bird off the ground so smoothly Ryker didn’t realize they were airborne until he could see the lights from Addis. “I need to wrap up this mission before mother’s party next week. She’d kill me if I missed it.”