Dangerously Hot (A Hostile Operations Team Novel)(#4) Read online

  But here she was. And she’d brought an American military team with her. They’d attacked, but he had escaped.

  Better yet, the Freedom Force had the king. Abdul Halim’s identity was compromised, but it no longer mattered. He would be a hero to the people after this night. After his triumph.

  “Silence, woman!” he roared. He wanted to slice her open from stem to stern, but he would not do it yet. He pressed the knife into her throat and watched blood well up from the tiny cut he made. Her eyes went wide. Her throat worked as she swallowed.

  Abdul Halim laughed.

  She would pay for her crimes against him, most certainly. He would have immense fun extracting his price. All in good time, of course.

  He withdrew the knife and sat up and she scrambled away, huddling against the door. She reached for the handle, though they were going around eighty, but he did not fear she would escape. The doors were controlled by the driver, and he wasn’t about to let her open it.

  Her eyes flashed hotly as she glared at him. He nearly laughed. She wasn’t ready to die, no matter what she said. She would fight him to the end. He loved it when they fought. And when they realized it didn’t matter, and they were going to die anyway…

  Too delicious.

  ***

  Kev slapped Iceman’s hand away as he ripped open Kev’s tuxedo shirt and pressed his fingers to the bullet wound oozing blood like a motherfucker.

  “He’s got her,” Kev said. “Have to save her.”

  Matt hovered over him. There was Hawk and Billy too, their faces looming overhead. Brandy and Flash wouldn’t be far away. Nor would Knight Rider or Whisky.

  But he didn’t care about any of them. He only cared about Lucky. Al Ahmad had her. He’d taken her, and Kev had sworn he would die before he let that happen.

  He’d lied.

  “You still might,” Iceman snapped, and Kev realized he’d been babbling. He had to get it together, had to stop fucking falling apart and concentrate so he could go rescue his woman. He closed his eyes and winced as Iceman used a new experimental plunger device packed with tiny sterile sponges to fill the bullet hole and stop the bleeding.

  “We’re going after her just as soon as we’ve got you patched up,” Matt said.

  “Going with you.”

  “Yeah, I know it.”

  “What the fuck did you guys do?” Kev managed after a few moments of sucking in his breath and working past the pain. The sponges worked fast to stop the bleeding, but pain was another story.

  “Wasn’t us. They had another bomb tucked away. Someone detonated it, probably by accident since it happened when it did. Hawk used the opportunity to take out the suicide bomber.”

  Hawk was as cool as ever. “He was surprised by the explosion and let go of the detonator on his device. I dropped him before he could remember it.”

  “Thank God,” Kev said. And someone had shot him in the ensuing panic. He could still hear Lucky screaming. The sound of her terror had sunk into his bones. He’d tried to get up, but he couldn’t. He’d watched her and Al Ahmad disappear out the door. He’d been crawling toward it when Iceman got to him.

  And then he’d tried to make Iceman go after her, but his teammate wouldn’t listen.

  “The women and children are terrified,” Matt continued. “But no one is hurt.”

  “You know which one is Al Ahmad yet?” Kev asked.

  “Working on it. Knight Rider and Whisky are reuniting the husbands with the wives. Whoever is missing has to be him.”

  “Jesus,” Kev said as Iceman taped the wound. “Hurts like a motherfucker.”

  “Yeah, crybaby, it does,” Matt said. Then he squeezed Kev’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be fine, yeah? We’ll get your girl, mon ami.”

  Kev closed his eyes again and concentrated on overcoming the pain. If Matt was lapsing into Cajun, then things weren’t quite as rosy as he wanted them to seem. If Kev knew anything about his team CO, he knew that much.

  Iceman gave him a shot of painkiller, and then they were helping him up. Kev stood and swayed for a second before he got his head on straight and the room stopped spinning. He started for the door, but several pairs of hands stopped him. He spun on them—or he tried. It wasn’t a spin so much as a stumble.

  “What are we waiting for? We got to go.”

  “There’s nothing we can do until we hear from him.” Matt’s voice again, soft and firm. “She’s not wearing a tracking device, and there’s nowhere to go. We have to wait for intel.”

  Kev shoved at their hands. “Fuck that. We’re going.”

  “There’s nowhere to go, Big Mac. Stand down.”

  Kev blinked at them all, his brain working hard to process what they were saying to him. Lucky was with that madman, and they had no idea where he would take her. Or even if he would keep her alive.

  His knees gave out again and he sank onto the tiles. Goddamn. He’d done it again. He’d failed to protect someone he loved, and he was going to lose her…

  “Abdul Halim bin Khalid al-Faizan!” It was Knight Rider. He skidded to a halt, waving his hands excitedly. “He’s a fucking defense contractor. He sells guns to the Qu’rimi army, for fuck’s sake.”

  Iceman and Billy pulled Kev upright and steadied him. “You hear that, Big Mac. We got a name. We’re going after the bastard.”

  ***

  Lucky huddled against the door, dividing her gaze between the city rolling by and Al Ahmad. She didn’t trust that he wouldn’t kill her right away, though part of her was banking on his sick fascination with torture. She’d escaped once before, and he would want to make her pay. Especially now that HOT had interfered with his plans.

  She didn’t know what had happened back there at the school, but the fact there was an explosion and the suicide bomber lay dead—not blown apart—told her that the explosion hadn’t been his doing and that someone in HOT—Jack, probably—had dropped him before he could detonate.

  Her heart felt as if someone had pierced it with a hot needle when she remembered what else had happened. The team attacked and the gunman watching Kev had shot him. She could still hear the explosion, still feel the concussion of the gun. And she could hear Kev’s body dropping onto the tile.

  She wanted to put her hands to her head and squeeze the sound out of it, but she couldn’t. She had to think. Had to stay focused and use whatever opportunity she got to stop this evil man. She didn’t care if she had to sacrifice herself to do it. Because why would she want to live in a world without the man she loved?

  Kev was dead and she was too. But not without taking this bastard with her.

  The guys weren’t coming for her. She wasn’t wearing a tracking device, and there was no way they could find her. Maybe they’d figure out who Al Ahmad was, but she couldn’t count on that because she didn’t know what the situation was back at the school. If HOT hadn’t set the explosion, someone else had—which meant they could have killed the men who’d been taken from the room. It would take a long time to identify the bodies, and the woman and girl with Al Ahmad wouldn’t know he wasn’t among them for days. By the time the team figured that out, it would be too late.

  Her captor seemed agitated. He’d made several calls, but not all of them appeared to connect. His terse demands for information were met with various answers he didn’t seem to appreciate. She hoped that something was going very wrong for him. Perhaps the king was being uncooperative after all, or perhaps he’d been rescued at the last moment.

  The car slowed and turned into a parking garage. When it came to a stop after navigating several levels, Lucky jerked at the door, but it didn’t open. And then it did, and she tumbled out and hit the concrete. The driver stood over her with a gun pointed at her heart.

  Al Ahmad walked around the car and kicked her. His booted foot connected with her hip, and she winced as pain exploded in her body. But she refused to make a sound. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, not this time.

  A hot breeze blew through the garage
, ruffling Al Ahmad’s robes and the keffiyeh on his head. “Get up, woman. We’re going on a journey.”

  Lucky pushed herself to her feet, though her hip ached and she’d scraped her hands falling onto the concrete. Her hijab had come loose when he’d grabbed her earlier. She’d tried to fix it but apparently not too successfully since it whipped violently in the wind. A moment later, it tore free and blew across the empty garage. Her hair whipped into her face and she dragged it back so she could see the man she needed to kill.

  The driver grabbed her arm and shoved her toward a stairwell. She went up first, stumbling and trying to keep her feet beneath her. The wind grew stronger as she got to the top. That’s when she realized they were on a roof and a helicopter sat on a pad, rotors spinning.

  Her heart sank as the driver shoved her forward. The helicopter door swung open as they ducked beneath the rotor. The man picked her up and tossed her into the craft, and then he and Al Ahmad got inside and slammed the door.

  The helicopter lifted off the pad and rose into the night-darkened sky. Below them, the city sparkled bright. Lucky’s eyes filled with tears as she gazed at the lights. She’d been happy for a few hours in Baq. She’d been in love and she’d been hopeful for the future, even while she’d been terrified it wouldn’t work out.

  Well, she’d been right to be terrified, hadn’t she? Kev was dead and she was alone. And Al Ahmad wasn’t finished with her yet.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  When Kev woke, his head was pounding and his throat was dry. He sat up abruptly and clutched his head as pain shot through it.

  “Man, don’t do that,” Iceman said, coming over and handing him a bottle of cold water. “You got shot, dude.”

  “Lucky.” His voice came out as a croak, and he twisted off the cap and slugged down some water.

  Iceman gripped his shoulder. “Calm down. We’ve got a vector on her and we’re on the way.”

  Kev blinked. And then he realized that his surroundings rattled and hummed; he turned his head and tried to focus. It was dark and the environment was tinny. Hollow.

  That’s when it hit him they were in a military transport and the turboprop engines were turned full bore. They were going somewhere as fast as possible in a C-130 Hercules.

  He shook his head and focused until the other guys came into view. They were suited up and getting ready to jump. He lurched to his feet.

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No. Fuck no.” It was Matt. His CO stood and ranged over to him, looking like six foot two of pure pissed-off Cajun. “You got shot, Kev. The bullet passed through and we’ve patched you up, but you’re out of commission until this op is over.”

  “Do I have a fever?”

  Matt glanced at Iceman. Iceman shook his head.

  “Then I’m going.”

  “The landing could make you start bleeding again.”

  “I’ll take that chance.”

  Matt’s eyes flashed. “How helpful do you think you’ll be to her if you’re bleeding out in the fucking desert?”

  “I’m not going to bleed out from a bullet wound that missed an artery, and you know it. It’s packed tight and it’s got clotting powder on it. I can feel the fucking burn.” He sucked in a breath, his lungs filling. He ached, but he could function. “What if it was Evie out there, huh? Then what?”

  He ground his teeth together when Matt didn’t reply. “If you don’t let me go, you’d better leave at least two people behind to watch me or I’m following you out that door.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Matt blew out a breath. He looked utterly furious. And then he deflated like a popped balloon—but only for a second. “Suit up, asshole. If you fucking die, Lucky will kill me. And then I’ll follow your ass around in the hereafter, saying I told you so, motherfucker. You got that?”

  “Yeah, I got it.”

  Matt waved a hand. “Fine. Knight Rider, give this eager volunteer his gear, would you?”

  “Copy that,” Sam said, coming over with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Knew you’d be going with us. Never doubted it for a moment.”

  “Care to tell me where we’re going?” Kev said as he started peeling out of the remnants of the tuxedo.

  “Abdul Halim al-Faizan took a company helicopter out of the city an hour ago. Turns out the government has been tracking his movements for some time now, for various reasons. They’ve shared the information with us, thanks to Mendez leaning heavily on somebody in the Qu’rimi government. We have satellite coordinates for his destination.”

  “What about the king?”

  Sam snorted. “That’s the bitch of it. The king we saw was a body double.” He shrugged. “Don’t know if they always intended to send a double, or if it was a last minute switch, but the King of Qu’rim is safely tucked away in his royal palace.”

  Kev’s heart fell to his toes. Sonofabitch. Not that Kev wasn’t glad Al Ahmad didn’t have the real king, but the moment he discovered the truth, he would take it out on those around him. And Lucky, if she was still alive, would be a perfect target for his anger. Kev’s gut clenched hard.

  “Does Al Ahmad know yet?”

  Sam’s eyes clouded, as if he knew what Kev was thinking. “We don’t know. The fake king ordered the stand-down the Freedom Force asked for at the mine, but it’s taking some time to happen. It’s a trap, obviously, and they need time to get assets in place. But the longer it takes, the more suspicious it looks.”

  “Fifteen minutes to the DZ,” someone called, and Kev finished buckling into his parachute. Sam inspected Kev’s gear, though the jumpmaster would do it again before they fell out of the plane and into the dark sky below.

  “Let’s go get our teammate,” Sam said with a grin. “No man or woman left behind, right?”

  ***

  They’d flown for close to two hours before the chopper set down on a rooftop pad on what turned out to be a fortified compound in the desert. Lucky had been shoved into a room with barred windows, and then the door had slammed shut with a resounding clang.

  The room was empty of furniture other than a bed, a night table, and a chair. There was an adjoining room with a toilet and sink. Lucky gave up trying to find something to defend herself with after a few minutes and went over to look out the windows. She could see nothing but concrete walls.

  She hugged herself tight and turned again, eyes blurry. Goddammit, she just wanted this over with. If Al Ahmad was going to kill her, she wanted him to do it.

  Not that she wanted to die, but she didn’t want to think about it for hours or days either. The last time he’d captured her, he’d kept her in a room like this one and she’d nearly gone mad. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, generating warmth.

  She didn’t want to be at his mercy ever again. Didn’t want to beg and plead for her life while he carved his marks into her flesh. Or worse.

  She didn’t want to think about worse.

  “Stop it,” she hissed. “Just stop and think, dammit.”

  He wanted her scared, there was no doubt about it, and he wanted to torture her. He wanted to break her and make her beg for death. But he was preoccupied with his coup at the moment. She’d listened to his conversations during the flight since he hadn’t gone to any lengths to keep her from hearing. Why would he when he was planning to kill her?

  The king had ordered the army to stand down at the mine, but it was taking time. Apparently, whoever the commander in the desert was, he wasn’t just laying down arms and walking away. Smart man.

  She had no idea where they’d taken the king, but she suspected they’d spirited him out of the city as well. Was he here in this compound too? Perhaps that’s why Al Ahmad had come here.

  If so, maybe a rescue force was on the way. Maybe there was still a chance.

  She took a deep breath and forced herself to search the room again. She might be going down, but not without a fight. And not without doing some damage on the way. It’s funny what you were willing to do when you had not
hing left to lose.

  She thought about using the night table as a weapon, but it was bolted to the floor. She stopped tugging on it and yanked open the drawers. They were empty.

  Lucky tore the bedding off the mattress and upended it. The mattress sat on wooden slats, and she tested each one. They were solid. She nearly gave up, but she was determined to tug on them all to see if one came free… and one did.

  Or, it didn’t come free, but it wriggled when she tugged. Upon closer inspection, she spotted a hairline crack running along the top half of the slat.

  She stood on the slat and bounced—and it came free with a loud crack. Triumph surged in her veins as she worked the broken slat back and forth until she had two jagged pieces. The wood was solid and the edges were sharp. They’d do some damage if she managed to stab somebody with them. She quickly remade the bed and tucked both the broken pieces beneath the pillows where she could reach them easily.

  And then she sat on the edge of the bed near the headboard and waited for someone to come for her.

  The room was quiet, but she could occasionally hear voices filtering into her prison. At one point there were booted feet on the concrete over her head, and she guessed she was on the top floor.

  She reached under the pillow and put her hand around the slat for comfort. It wasn’t much, but it was something. She was not going to take whatever happened without fighting back.

  She thought about Kev and about how he’d admitted that he loved her tonight. Was it just a few hours ago now they’d been held captive in another room and she’d thought their lives were over? She scrubbed an angry hand over her face. It came away wet.

  They’d had so little time together. And it had been fraught with so much tension and unresolved feelings. Even if they’d made it out of Qu’rim alive, they would’ve had a lot to work through if they wanted to be together. And maybe it wouldn’t have worked out, just like with her and Marco. Maybe the past was simply too much to overcome.

  Lucky tightened her fingers on the slat. She would never know, would she? Kev had been shot in Baq and she was once more locked up and awaiting a madman.