“Baby, listen to me.” Gino’s voice was soft, a whisper of sound, but it was all command.
There wasn’t anything else she could do—or wanted to do—but listen to him. She needed to hear his voice. That take-charge, reassuring tone that made something shaky and scattered all over the place, deep inside her, begin to settle.
“You have to find one person to trust through this, and I’m asking you to let that person be me. I’ll get you home safe. As long as you’re with me, no one is going to get to you, harm you, or take you back.”
She reached up and caught at the wrap around her eyes. She had to see him. She had to know he meant what he said, and how could she do that simply relying on her ears? She heard truth in his voice, but she needed to see it. His hand closed over hers very gently, but she couldn’t move her fingers let alone get rid of the bandage.
“I need it off,” she said, willing him to understand.
Apparently, he did, because he pushed her hands down and then his returned to the dressing. He slowly unwrapped the gauze and took it down from her face. She blinked a few times, surprised she could pry her eyelids open. She lifted her lashes completely for the first time since Cheng had hit her with his gun and Zhu had added to the mess by beating the shit out of her. Whatever Gino had used over the last few days had taken the swelling down dramatically.
Gino Mazza was intimidating. He had the widest shoulders and a chest that went on forever. It wasn’t that he was massively big, just muscular. She didn’t know a man could have so many muscles. The tight tee he wore stretched over so much definition she was afraid to breathe. His face was carved, as if from some immovable matter such as marble, or better yet, steel or iron. Granite. She didn’t know, only that it worked. He was both beautiful and terrifying to look at. She’d never seen eyes so intense. So compelling. If he walked into a room full of people, she was certain everyone would stop what they were doing to look at him. He was that scary—and that enthralling. If she wasn’t counting him hers, believing him to be her protector, she would have been screaming for help.
He had gorgeous eyes. She’d noticed them before when she could barely see through the tiny slits she’d been able to make; now, she was staring full-on into those, black, obsidian eyes. They gleamed. Shone. Almost as if there was a red or blue flame beneath them.
“I don’t like you leaving me.” She knew there was a reprimand in her sulky voice. She hated what that revealed to him.
“I told you I would be right back, princess. I was gone less than ten minutes.”
Could that be true? It had to be longer. It seemed a lifetime. She nodded to let him know she was listening. She willed him to keep talking. His voice steadied her as nothing else could.
“What did they want?” It was bad news. There was nothing on his face to give it away, but she felt his energy and he wasn’t happy. His expressionless mask hid his feelings from the world, but she would always know the truth, because he couldn’t hide his moods from her. Every emotion was part of his energy whether he liked it or not, and when his energy merged with hers, she felt everything he did.
“Nothing I didn’t expect,” he assured. “Cheng went to his friends in the government and complained about you, said you ran and hid inside the embassy and that you took valuable information on something he was researching for them. That it pertained to agriculture, but that in doing their research, they had discovered a new, biochemical weapon that could cause untold harm. They want you and the information back immediately.”
Her heart sank. She pressed her palm tightly over her heart. “I knew they’d do something like that. Does the embassy want me handed over?”
“The Chinese government doesn’t want you handed over. It would be risking an international incident. They also don’t want Cheng angry with them. He provides them with all kinds of information they wouldn’t get otherwise.” Gino swept his hand down her head, his fingers finding their way to the nape of her neck where they massaged to ease the tension out of her. “We’re leaving now for the airport.”
“Zhu will stop us.”
Gino shrugged, not in the least concerned. “He can try, but we’re slipping out a back way and we’ll have a military escort. Even if the Chinese were lying, and they weren’t, they aren’t going to want a shootout with us on their streets. They want you out of here so they can tell Cheng you were already long gone. I don’t think they believe Cheng about the biochemical weapon either.”
“I just want to get to American soil.” She knew Whitney would be waiting, but she didn’t want to think about that until she had to. She just had to get out of China and Zhu’s reach and then she’d deal with the rest. She didn’t doubt for a minute that Zhu wouldn’t stop coming for her. She tried to tell herself that once she was on another continent, he would leave her alone, but she knew better.
Her fingers found the dark tee stretched so tightly across Gino’s chest. Her fingers were shaking, but she dared to touch him, to gather the material into her palm and close her fist around it. “He’ll follow,” she warned, hoping he wouldn’t think she was a hysterical female. She knew she was acting like one, but she couldn’t make herself stop. “Zhu will follow.”
He nodded his head, his hand coming up to hers, catching her wrist between his thumb and index finger as he held her fist to him. “I’m well aware of that. He let me know with that little macho bullshit stare-down at the gates that he wasn’t going to let it go. Don’t worry, princess. One thing at a time. First, get you on the plane out of here. While we’re in the air, I’ll continue to work on you. You’re already healing fast. Your feet are the worst. The rest is deep bruising and lacerations. I know it hurts like hell, but there won’t be any permanent damage, unless it’s to your feet. He wanted your body flawless, but he didn’t want you to be able to run.”
Her heart clenched wildly in her chest. He believed her. He knew Zhu was coming after her. That was both terrifying and wonderful.
“After we’re home, I’ll get you to safety and we’ll sort things out.”
Safety was wherever Bellisia was. Bellisia had managed to escape Whitney. Zara wanted to see her as soon as possible. Once the capsule with the virus broke open she wouldn’t have much time. If Bellisia could tell her how she survived, maybe she could stay. Otherwise …
Her gaze jumped to Gino’s face. She didn’t want to be away from him. Never in her life had she felt safe, not until she was in Gino’s presence. “I’m putting you in danger.” She had to at least acknowledge that she knew what she was doing to him, what she was asking of him.
His smile was slow in coming, but when it did, it was gorgeous. It took her breath and sent her stomach into a slow roll. “Baby. Really? What the hell do you think I do for a living?”
She hadn’t thought about that. He was a GhostWalker. He had to be. She knew Whitney was extremely proud of the GhostWalker program and the soldiers who had volunteered. Unlike the girls he’d gotten from an orphanage to experiment on, these men had patriotically decided to serve their country. The experiments were done over and over on the disposable girls until Whitney felt he’d gotten it right, then he performed the operations on the male soldiers. GhostWalkers took on extremely dangerous jobs.
Still, it wasn’t about Gino being a GhostWalker. The others with him were GhostWalkers, and they didn’t feel the same to her. Gino was different. Colder. Darker even than the others. Scarier. Not in terms of what he could do, but what he was willing to do. She needed that coldness to keep her safe.
“I suppose that was a rather silly thing to say.”