CHAPTER3
Rafe
The female’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped in Arsen’s arms. At least she wasn’t fighting him anymore.
“We need to get out of here,” Sig muttered.
He was right. We needed to leave before we were found. “Move out,” I told them.
Arsen slung the woman over one large shoulder and we ran from building to building until we were about to exit out the east side of the village.
A groan next to me alerted me to the fact that she was waking up. I’d hoped she’d stay unconscious longer. A gasp sounded and I motioned for Arsen to stop.
“Scream and I will make this uncomfortable for you,” I told her.
Her brows drew together telling me she didn’t speak Russian. I spoke English, but I wasn’t about to let her know that. It was bad enough we were taking her. I needed to make sure I could trust her before I spoke to her. I’d put enough of a growl to the words I was sure she understood the threat, even if she didn’t know my words.
The boom of the explosion rocked the buildings around us. We’d stopped right at the last building before venturing out into the dark. There wasn’t much cover past this point and I needed the woman to stay silent.
She sucked in a breath and I could see her eyes widen as a plume of fire shot into the air. It’d come from the place we’d just pulled her out of. They’d stumbled into a fight that wasn’t theirs. Pity filled me for the others we’d left behind, but we couldn’t save them all. Hell. I shouldn’t have stopped to pull her out, but from the minute I spotted her climbing out of their downed helicopter all of our plans had changed.
When the terrorist cell had followed them to the building, I’d debated with myself. I’d planned to hang around long enough for their people to come get them. With each minute that ticked by it became clear that their rescue wasn’t going to be in time. We had taken up a position across the street, picking off a few of the insurgents as they approached the Americans. Enough to keep it a fair fight without drawing attention to ourselves.
As far as the Americans or any other government knew, we weren’t here. We were ghosts for the next four years. An elite team of mercenaries that’d been hired to find high priority targets and either abduct or dispose of them.
We’d hopped around so many countries in the last ten years we didn’t really have an allegiance to anyone, not even the countries in which we were born. The only people we listened to were those who paid our fee and only so long as the money kept coming in. Once they stopped paying us, we weren’t beholden to them any longer.
We were a year into this assignment and already it’d changed us. Unlimited power and free will tended to do that to a man and we’d lived most of our adult lives this way. We did whatever we wanted without fear of repercussions. That was one of the reasons I had zero worries about taking a U.S. Soldier. Even if someone came for her, they wouldn’t find her. We were too good for that.
The fire from the building lit up the sky enough that I could see her clearly. The woman’s face went bone white and her hazel eyes met mine. “My team!”
“Shhh,” Sig warned.
She glared over at him. “Don’t fucking shush me,” she yelled. “My team is back there.” Her eyes were desperate when they met mine again.
Her team was dead. We would be too if we didn’t get the fuck out of here. The fact that her first concern wasn’t about being kidnapped but was for her people said a lot.
“Shut up,” I told her, still in Russian. The last thing we needed was to get into an argument here. We were all still in danger. It would be better if she thought we couldn’t speak English. It would stop her from trying to argue.
“I don’t understand you. Do you speak English? We have to go back for my people.”
I doubted she realized tears were streaming down her face. Her dark hair was slicked back into a bun and I longed to release it and see how long it was. What the soft looking tresses would feel like against my skin. There was no time.
Setting my rifle on the ground, I pulled my shirt off over my head.
The woman’s mouth dropped open and her eyes widened on my chest. I didn’t bother to contain my smirk. I was a large man—maybe not as big as Arsen, few were—but I could tell she was impressed at the sight of me shirtless.
She quickly averted her eyes when they locked with mine. I tore the fabric into thick strips.
Her brows lowered again as she watched. All the while Arsen had her draped over his shoulder. He had an arm banded over the backs of her thighs. The woman had pushed her hands against his back so that she was able to lift up and watch me.
I brought the first strip of fabric up to her mouth and a look of offended disbelief crossed her face when she realized what I was about to do. That was when she started fighting. The Americans knew how to train their military, so I wasn’t surprised when she landed a kick to Arsen that had him grunting in pain.
Sig stalked over and slid his hand into her hair, above her bun, and yanked her head up. Her cry of distress was muffled as I shoved the makeshift gag into her mouth. Still she fought, but we quickly tied her hands and feet. She couldn’t outmatch the three of us.
“Let’s go,” Sig hissed, eyes scanning the buildings around us.
The insurgents had originally been looking for us when the Americans had flown over. Now that they’d killed them they’d be back on the hunt for us.