Tell her I don’t want her to go. Tell her now. Tell her to stay with me.
Ezekiel clearly relayed the information. Like Gino, he was stalling for time, hoping Mordichai or Malichai found the drone before time ran out on them.
She says she has the virus implanted and would die anyway.
I can remove the capsules. I can find an antidote. It’s what we do. I told her that. She knows I won’t let her die. Gino felt almost desperate enough to rush Damon. Once he did, the other GhostWalkers, already silently surrounding the vehicle, staying in the cover of trees and brush, would move in with him. They could easily kill the soldiers surrounding the car, but the drone would fire and take out all of them.
It had been years since he’d felt so vulnerable and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like that Zara wasn’t in his control. He’d put her under his protection and he wasn’t about to fail her.
Tell her I’m going to keep them from taking her. Even if they get her now, they won’t get out of the swamp with her.
They’ll put a gun to her head, Gino.
I’m aware of that. He was accurate with a knife. More than accurate. He knew there were few alive better than he was, but was he willing to bet her life on that? Especially now, when he realized she was already a part of him? Hell yeah. He’d bet his training, his dead calm when he needed it. Tell her.
She said she’s counting on it.
That settled him. Her belief. Just that. She was counting on him. Believing he’d come for her. Be ready, he warned the others.
The door began to open slowly. Damon spoke into his radio. “Delay strike. She’s coming out. Shoot only if they make a move against us.”
Got something. Got something, Mordichai reported. Eastern sky. Nearly two clicks out. Bastards staying low, but it rose just for a second, enough that I caught the movement. Can’t take it out because it sank again, but it would need to rise to make the shot. I’ve got a lock on it now. The moment it comes up, I’ll take it out.
Everything depends on that shot, Mordichai, Ezekiel warned.
Sheesh, Zeke, his brother said, just add more pressure. Malichai is backing me up. It’s going down.
Need Malichai to help out here.
No, you don’t. Joe’s lying up here, and he’s got your six. You awake, Joe?
Mordichai. That was all Joe said, but it was enough.
The team was in place. They had a plan. They worked together all the time, so much so, they always knew what the others were going to do before they did it. Cayenne was new to them, but they were beginning to get a feel for her strengths and how to use them. Bellisia was still too new and would be defending the house, Nonny, Pepper and the children.
“Zara, don’t blow this by doing anything stupid,” Damon said.
Gino had the idea that the soldier was pleading with her and he didn’t like it. At. All. Something was off.
“I can’t do much, Damon,” she said. “I can’t put my feet on the ground.” She pushed the door open and tried to straighten her legs to show him her mangled feet.
“What the fuck did they do to you?” the soldier burst out.
“I’m on painkillers,” she answered. “I just can’t walk, but I won’t slow you down.”
Damon signaled to one of the other soldiers who was guarding the rear of the car. He moved warily, not liking being so exposed, but he came around to Damon’s side, wincing a little when he saw Zara. Her face was still very swollen, but at least she could open her eyes now. They were black and blue, as was most of her face, and the swelling was still horrendous.
Damon shoved his weapon around to the back, letting it hang from his shoulder strap while he reached for Zara. Her breath hissed out in a long rush of pain, and Damon hesitated before bringing her in close to his chest.
“We don’t want to kill her,” Damon told Ezekiel. “We’re going to take her home. She’ll be well cared for there.”
“She’ll be a prisoner,” Ezekiel pointed out. “She seems to matter to you. Don’t you mind that she’s a prisoner?”
“We’re all prisoners in some way, and she has more freedom than most. Sir, stay in the car. It’s safer for you. If you get out, you’ll be shot. I give you my word as an officer that your crew and car will not be fired on if you stay there for the next five minutes.”
“You know we can’t let you take her,” Ezekiel said softly.
“She’ll die if she stays here. Her only chance is with me,” Damon said.
Gino definitely didn’t like that. The soldier hadn’t said with Whitney or that her only chance was to come back; it was with him. As if he had some proprietorial rights to her, including the right to keep her safe. So safe, the other soldier was pointing a gun at her head. When Damon stepped back, the soldier stepped with him, mirroring him as if they were dancing.
Find their sniper, Gino ordered. No one can safely leave that car until you do.
He’s down, Trap reported. Cayenne swept the trees, all clear.
“Bring the car now,” Damon ordered. “Tell the helicopter to meet us at the rendezvous location.”
Of course there was a car. There had to be a car. Damon and the others needed an escape route. They’d need a car and a helicopter. Where would the helicopter meet them? What possible places, close, were there?
Find that helicopter and take it out, Ezekiel ordered.
The gun never wavered from the exact location on Zara’s skull. Exact location. Gino noticed small details like that. Every step they took, that gun was relentless, aimed in the same spot, as if that one spot was more important than any other spot on her head. Like her temple. No, this was specific. He filed that information away. They’d done an MRI, looking for the virus capsules, and Whitney had used a new PEEK-carbon nanotube to hide it in, knowing it wouldn’t show up in a scan. So, what if something else was hiding there as well?
Zeke, you let them get too far from the car, you’re risking them blowing it the moment you exit. That was Mordichai.
You miss that drone shot and we’re all going to die, Ezekiel said.
Miss? I don’t fucking miss. Mordichai sounded outraged.
Gino knew that was their way, talking it up, joking, giving each other shit when the tension mounted. His eyes were on Damon and the soldier walking with him away from the vehicle. The door was still open, Ezekiel sitting on the edge of the seat, both feet out of the car.
“I’d like to move my men to the side of road, no weapons,” Ezekiel said.
Damon shook his head. “Sorry, man. We have to follow the plan. Whitney doesn’t want to hurt anyone, just get Zara back.”
Why would he need Zara back? What about her was so important that he sent pawns to be massacred and a crew to retrieve her? Why? The question nagged at Gino. The GhostWalkers had Bellisia. She had escaped. For the most part, once the women were gone, they were left alone. Whitney would make a try every now and then, but the general consensus was Whitney was keeping them on their toes, mostly testing his supersoldiers against them, not all that actively trying to get the women back.
Gino matched every step Damon made with Zara. He walked backward, away from where there was a hole in the road under cover of the swamp. Any minute a car would be driven up to collect them. Damon kept throwing expectant glances over his shoulder. Gino relaxed, suddenly realizing why the car wasn’t coming. Draden was loose in the swamp. You never wanted Draden after you, not for any reason. He didn’t know how to stop coming at you.
Three. Two. One. Ezekiel did the countdown.