Zed heard a shot ring out as he saw the boat up ahead in the moonlight.

Was that a baby crying?

He ran for all that he was worth. Then he heard three more shots and splashing.

“Come on, Nurul, follow me,” a woman yelled.

What the hell?

“I’m going to kill you, you bitch,” a man’s voice rang out. “Don’t think this is the end of things. I’ll find you.”

Well, a man and a woman speaking English indicated that Raymond and Marcia were alive. Raymond sounded pissed, so score one for the good guys. Zed spotted two small shapes on the shore and as he got closer, the cries of the baby grew louder and louder.

“It’s going to be okay, Nurul. I promise. Since you can’t understand me, I also promise you that we’ll find a unicorn that will take us to safety,” Marcia said in a calm and comforting voice. Zed grinned. He liked her style. He wondered who the woman with the baby was. The other woman said something in a language Zed didn’t understand, but he could tell she was crying along with the baby.

Zed was closer to the women than he was to the boat, but neutralizing Raymond was the smart move. He started toward the river, but then saw that Raymond was pushing off from the shore at the same time he lifted his rifle and fired more shots at the women.

“Get down,” Zed shouted to Marcia. Zed raised his rifle and took aim at the same time Raymond dropped to the deck. He’d obviously heard Zed’s shout. Dammit.

“Help us,” Marcia shouted.

“I need to stop Raymond, or he’ll come back for you,” Zed objected.

“Forget Raymond. He hurt Hana, we need to get her to a doctor.”

Zed looked back at the boat. Goddammit, it was already floating toward the middle of the river. He headed toward the women.

When he reached the trio, Marcia started talking again.

“Come on, we have to hurry. Raymond said there was some kind of camp down river.”

Zed looked down at the little brunette giving him orders and barked out a laugh, he couldn’t help it. “Before you start acting like my commanding officer, aren’t you going to ask who I am?” Zed asked sardonically.

“You were shooting at Raymond and trying to help us. I pray to God you’re one of the good guys.”

Underneath all the dirt on her face, he saw the swelling on her cheek and eye, and he took note of the tear tracks. He couldn’t tell if her attitude was an act or sheer bravado. He saw her lower lip tremble. Ah, hell.

“Marcia, didn’t you know, the bad guys think they are the good guys,” Zed said gently. He tried to get a look at the mother and baby, but the mother jerked away from him, cuddling her child close. “Who’s Hana?” he asked Marcia.

“You called me Marcia,” she said excitedly. “Mr. B. sent you.” A smile broke over her face, and it hit him right in the gut. “Hana is the baby. He yanked her away from Nurul, I’m pretty sure he broke her arm, that’s why she won’t stop crying. After that, he threatened to kill Nurul’s father if she didn’t get Hana to stop crying.” Marcia’s voice broke, “Then the bastard killed him.”

Zed watched as a tear spilled down her face.

“Marcia, we need to go,” he said as he looked toward the water. Even though the boat was down river, he would still feel a lot better when they were hidden in the trees. “You can tell me everything when we’re safer.”

Marcia nodded.

“Are either you or Nurul injured, or can you walk?”

“We can walk,” Marcia assured him.

When they got a little further in the jungle, then he could take a look at the little one’s arm. If it was broken, he could work to set it. He could also call Dex to find out if any of the medication he had in his pack would be acceptable to give to a baby. He hoped so, he hated to hear her in so much pain.

“I’m going to lead, and we’ll have Nurul follow me, and you’ll take up the rear, okay?” he asked Marcia.

“Makes perfect sense,” she said. “I’ll holler if she’s having trouble keeping up.”

“Let me know if you’re having trouble too. I can see he hit you,” Zed said indicating her face. “What else did he do? Is there any immediate treatment that you need?”

“Seriously, I’m fine. We just need to take care of Hana and get the heck out of here.”

He gave her a considering look and decided she wasn’t lying to him. Using hand signals, Marcia and Zed made it clear to Nurul she needed to follow Zed into the jungle. He carefully chose the easiest path possible. When they had gone maybe a quarter of a mile and came to a log that would allow the women to rest against, Zed called a halt to their trek. Hana’s shrieks had subsided to whimpers which were even more heart-wrenching. When he tried to help the mother sit down, she waved him off.

“You better let me,” Marcia said.

Marcia helped to ease the young woman down onto the jungle floor, helping to hold the baby’s head. When she was done, Marcia slumped down next to her, and Zed crouched down beside Marcia.

“Are you all right?” The bruising on her face had been agonizing to think about while they’d been walking. Zed kept his voice low, so he didn’t disturb the baby.

“Yes, why?” Marcia asked.

“Querida, your face,” Zed gently cupped her cheek. It felt inordinately warm to the touch, he prayed to God that none of the bones in her cheek had been broken.

“This is nothing,” Marcia smiled grimly. “I’ve had worse when I played goalie on my soccer team. It’s Hana we have to worry about.”

“Fair enough,” Zed kept his laugh quiet. “Tell me what happened,” he said as he dropped his hand.

“I shot Raymond three times, but I failed. I didn’t manage to kill him.” Zed could tell that Marcia had been replaying the events in her mind and was angry at herself. She needed to calm down.

“Marcia, start at the beginning. Take me through what happened after Raymond kidnapped you. I especially want to know anything he might have said about why he took you, and what he planned to do with you.”

Marcia didn’t immediately start talking, she took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. She reminded him of one of his colleagues who was going to brief their lieutenant.

“After he took me, it was what you would expect. He tied me up, and it was a forced march to the river.” Marcia looked off into space for a moment, and Zed knew there was more than she was telling him, but then she continued. “The important thing is, I finally figured out how to get information from him.”

“How?”

“He likes women to be all subservient. As long as I kept up that attitude, I could ask him questions. He didn’t tell me much, but he said some things. It was frustrating. When I tried to get more from him, he caught on and got angry.”

Before he could ask her what, she was continuing.

“Did Mr. B. fill you in on the off-the-books ops he’s been running?” she asked.

Zed nodded.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Raymond was in on the one that went south, the one where the Saudi palace was bombed. His friends died, but he got out alive. He’s holding a major grudge. At the heart of this, he wants Mr. B. to suffer, so torturing his daughters is high on his list, but the guy is greedy too.”

Zed waited.

“There’s somebody named Jefferies. I couldn’t get a bead on who that was, but apparently, Raymond thinks Jefferies will pay for me. I don’t know what my value is to him, or what he’s going to do for me.” She gave Zed a hard look, “I never let on that I wasn’t Lesley Brockman.”

“Good girl.”

Suddenly she wasn’t in report mode. She raised her eyebrow. “I’m not a dog.”

Zed bit his lip. “Well okay then,” he drawled. “The phrase good girl has now been wiped from my vocabulary.”

“Good boy.” He raised an eyebrow, and she sighed.

“Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, Jefferies. He said he could get a really good price for me. He said something about Mr. B. having access to a slush fund for his ops and being able to funnel money for my safe return. That’s all I got before we got to the river…” She bit her lip.

She went silent, lost in thought.

“What happened?”

She shook her head.

“Marcia? How’d you get on the boat?”

She was still silent. Something had happened, but for some reason, she couldn’t share it yet. Zed tried another tactic.

“How did you get a gun?”

“After we got on the boat, Raymond was demanding I make him food. Then he wanted something to drink, so I went into the galley. In one of the cupboards, I found a really old pistol. It was loaded, so I hid it in my jeans.” She pulled it out of her pants and handed it to him.

“Jesus, Marcia, this is a relic. It could have gone off at any time and killed you.”

She tried to pull it back out of his hand, but he wouldn’t let go of it. “Hey, I wasn’t stupid. I made sure the safety was on. Anyway, what the frick else was I supposed to do? Raymond was a murderer.”

She was right. Zed took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

She nodded her head. “Thanks.” She peered up at him in the gloom of the night. “What’s your name, anyway? Are you a Ranger?”

“Master Chief Petty Officer Dante Zaragoza at your service, Ma’am,” Zed held out his hand.

He watched her frown for just a moment. Then her face cleared. “You’re a SEAL.” She took his hand, hers small and dainty in his.

“And you’re smart. Most civilians don’t know the different military ranks for the different branches of service.”

“Yeah, well most people don’t spend time in Harold Brockman’s house. How’s Mr. B., Debbie, and Christie? When Zed didn’t immediately answer, she continued, “I know Mr. B. was bad this morning. Is your team going to be able to get him help in time?”

“Men are double-timing him out right now. They won’t stop until he can be evacuated by helicopter. There is a surgeon waiting for him on the aircraft carrier. With this team taking care of him, he’ll live,” he assured her.

“Well okay then,” she gave a sharp nod. “What can we do for Hana?” Zed was already shrugging out of his backpack.

“I’m going to make a call and verify what we can do for her.” Zed looked over at the mother who was cradling her child and eying Zed warily. He gave her his warmest smile. She didn’t respond in kind. He couldn’t say he blamed her, considering her baby had just been injured by an American man. He grabbed the satellite phone out of his pack and called Dex.

“Have you tracked her down? Is she okay?” Dex immediately asked.

“Yes and yes,” Zed answered. He saw Marcia’s smile, it was obvious she could hear Dex.

“Thank God. Did you kill that son of a bitch?”

“Nope, but Marcia shot him.”

“Is he dead?” Dex asked hopefully.

“Nope. I think the bullets might have hit his body armor, but I sure as hell don’t want to get on her bad side.”

Dex chuckled. Zed looked over at Marcia. Good. She was grinning. She’d been clear-headed and strong, but it was good to see her smiling.

“How are you planning on getting back?” Dex asked.

“First, I have a bit of a problem. It’s a good one. Marcia managed to rescue a mother and child from that asshole, but not before he broke the kid’s arm.” Zed peered over at the child. “Dex, the kid is between one and two years old.”

“Motherfucker!”

“My thought exactly. I hope to hell one of Marcia’s three shots were in Raymond’s balls.”

Marcia snickered.

“Why isn’t the kid screaming his head off?” Dex asked.

“She already has for the last forty-five minutes. She’s down to just whimpering.”

“How can I help?” Dex asked.

“You know the medication I have with me. Can you find out what is safe to administer to a kid who is…” again Zed looked at the toddler. “I’d say she is probably twenty to twenty-five pounds.”

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Marcia, are you or the mother hurt?”

He watched her brown curls sway as she shook her head.

“Dex, Marcia and the mother are physically fine, except Marcia has a hell of a bruise on the side of her face. Can you get me the coordinates to the nearest outpost?”

“I’m on it. I’ll call you back as soon as I have answers.”

“Dex,” Zed started.

“I’ll make it fast.”

“Good man,” Zed said and disconnected.

“Zed, do you guys always read each other’s minds?” Marcia asked.

Zed scrubbed his hand through his short black hair. “I think it’s part of being a team.” Hana started to cry again, and they both looked over at her. Marcia turned back to look at Zed. “Dex will call back in under three minutes, trust him.” He liked the fact that even though he’d introduced himself as Dante, she’d picked up on the fact his name was Zed. She was smart.

Zed grinned as the phone in his hand vibrated.

“Whatchya got?” Zed asked.

“Normally, you would give the baby child strength Tylenol. What you’re going to need to do, is give her one-third of a tablet of the Tylenol you have in your kit, then put her arm in a splint. In four hours, alternate with a third of a tablet of ibuprofen.” Zed handed over his first-aid kit and flashlight to Marcia.

“Knife?” she held out her hand expectantly.

He shook his head. She rolled her eyes and handed him the tablet. He precisely shaved the dosage for the little girl and handed it to Marcia.

“Show-off,” she said as she snagged his camelback water pack. “Do you have something for the baby to sip water out of?”

Zed fished around in his backpack and found his collapsible cup with his utensils and handed it to her. Marcia efficiently poured some water into the cup, and he watched as she showed the medicine to Nurul. She pantomimed feeding the pill to the baby, and the mother quickly caught on. With a little coaxing, Hana eventually swallowed the tablet along with some water.

“Zed, are you listening to me?” Dex asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you,” Zed interrupted. “You said the Eco-Tourist camp is about five miles down-river. I think that will take us about three hours to get there at night in this terrain. Tell me about it.”

“It’s tiny. It’s run by a family. At the max, they have twelve tourists.”

“How’d you find that out?”

“Their website,” Dex laughed. “Okay, so three hours to get there?”

“Maybe four,” Zed conceded.

Marcia gave him a pointed look.

“Hold on Dex. Marcia has something to say.”

“Is there any way that we could rest here for an hour or so?” Marcia asked Zed.

Shit, he should have thought of that. She’d been on the move since they’d overtaken the camp that morning.

“Absolutely,” he told her. Then he took a really good look at the mother and the baby. “It might be a good idea to just wait until morning before we start again.”

Marcia gave him a relieved smile and turned to the others while he went back to talking to Dex.

“Did you hear that Dex?”

“I did. Zed, do you anticipate Raymond to be at the camp?”

He looked over at Marcia and saw she was occupied with getting the mom and baby comfortable for the night. He pulled out a survival blanket from his backpack and handed it to her and got up to walk a bit away, so he could have some privacy.

“You with me Zed?” Dex asked.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Zed answered. “In answer to your question, yes, I think Raymond is going to be waiting for us. I don’t have the full story yet, but he has a hard-on for Marcia. I’m not sure if he wants to kill her or capture her, but I can tell you this, he’s not going to let her go.”

“Then wait until the day after tomorrow for an extraction. That’ll give Gray and the others time to be part of the rescue effort. They’ll make sure you and Marcia are covered.”

Zed looked over at the two women and the baby and weighed their options. He really wanted to get the child proper care. “I’ll take it under advisement. We’ll see how Hana is doing. I don’t want her to suffer needlessly.”

“Makes sense. Just keep me up-to-date.”

“Dex, we have another issue I need you to check into. Marcia said that Raymond was planning on handing her over to a man named Jefferies. He said they expected Brockman would skim monies from the ops.”

Dex was silent for a long moment. “Any amounts mentioned?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. I’ll check this out. This girl did good. She did damn good.”

Zed looked over at Marcia and smiled slowly. “Yeah, she did,” he agreed. “Call me when you find out something.”

* * *

Zed walked over with a huge armful of leaves. “This should make it more comfortable for them to rest. I also have a change of clothes we can lay out on top of this to act as a sheet.” Marcia watched in fascination as Zed made a makeshift bed in less than two minutes. Nurul gave him a sad smile and nodded her head in thanks.

“Looks like Hana is feeling better,” he said.

Zed’s teeth shone white in the dark. The man had an outstanding smile.

“I think the medicine and splint are allowing her to sleep. I just hope that Nurul will be able to sleep tonight.” Marcia shoved the heel of her hand against her forehead. She couldn’t get the picture of Raymond shooting Nurul’s father out of her mind. She jumped when Zed’s hand touched her shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay, Marcia?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Why wouldn’t I be? I’m the bait who managed to get Nurul and her father to come to the shore and allow that monster come into their lives, why wouldn’t I be okay?” The pain in her cheek increased tenfold as she ground her teeth together, trying to stop a sob from escaping.

“Marcia, you can’t blame yourself.”

“Oh really?” she said bitterly. “Who else is there to blame? I should have refused Raymond. I should have fought him. I should have just told him no.”

“You had no way of knowing this is what would have happened,” Zed said softly. She wanted to shrug off his hand, it felt warm and comforting, and she didn’t deserve it. She ground her teeth together even harder, then gasped at the pain that pierced up into her eye. Zed cupped both of her shoulders.

“Querida, you have to relax, you’re hurting yourself.”

“I deserve to hurt,” she cried out.

Nurul called out her name. Dammit. Marcia brushed off Zed’s hands and bent to Nurul who had been resting with Hana.

“Shhhhh, I’m fine Nurul,” Marcia crooned. “Everything’s fine,” she smiled. She stroked her hand down Nurul’s arm. “Go to sleep. Everything will be just fine, I promise,” Marcia continued to speak softly until the young woman’s eyes closed.

“You’re good at that.”

Marcia turned tiredly to look at Zed. “I’m good at what?” she asked.

“Giving comfort.”

“Yeah…well…” What could she say to that?

Nurul moved, it was clear she had fallen asleep and was now stretching out. Marcia scooted away from her to give her a little more space, but that meant she moved closer to Zed.

“I ran out of blankets and extra clothes,” he said.

“I don’t need it. I can just lay on the ground.”

Zed gave her a considering look. “That is definitely an option. I can go and get you more leaves, and I’ll try to make you something as comfortable as possible. Or you can just lean on me. It’s your choice.”

Well, that wasn’t a choice at all. The man was huge. After spending a day with another big man who was a psychopath Marcia was stunned at the level of trust she had for Zed. It was as if a long-buried part of her recognized his innate honor.

“I don’t know. The cold ground or your body heat. I have one question. Do you snore?”

Zed chuckled, and Marcia grinned. He slowly reached out and put his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to his side.

“Kane is the one who snores, we’re constantly rolling him over during missions. Since nobody has kicked me, I figure you’re safe.”

The man’s smile was positively wicked. Marcia took one last look at Nurul and Hana, then relaxed against Zed’s warmth.

“So how often do you SEALs cuddle for body heat?”

“Every mission,” he quickly replied. “I spoon with Cullen, he’s our medic.”

Marcia giggled. As soon as she heard the laughter come out of her mouth, she slapped her hand over her face. How could she laugh after what she’d done?

“Honey, what is it?” Zed turned her, so that they were face to face.

“What am I thinking?” she gulped. “How can I possibly smile at anything after what I’ve done?”

“Marcia, you’ve done nothing wrong,” Zed said softly.

She tried to jerk out of his hold, but he was having none of it.

“Let me go,” she hissed.

“No.”

“You’ve got to,” she let out a little sob. “You’ve got to. Don’t be nice to me.”

“Oh Baby, why wouldn’t I be nice to you?”

Marcia tried to get up, but he held her even closer to his body.

“Honey, listen to me, what you’re feeling is normal. You’ve been through so much today. You need to rest.”

“You’ve got to let me go,” she whimpered. “I need to be alone.”

“That’s the last thing you need,” he said softly. “Marcia, you had no way of knowing what was going to happen, now did you?”

She didn’t answer. She felt his big hand cupping the back of her head, his other hand was stroking her back. She shoved her face into his chest, heedless of the slight pain in her cheek because the comfort she received more than made up for it.

“He killed him like he was nothing. Oh God, Zed, it was awful. Nurul lost everything, her home and her father, all because of me.”

Zed was saying something, she couldn’t hear him over her sobs, but she could feel him, feel his warmth, feel his strength. Marcia had no idea how long she stayed like that, but when she came back to herself, she found herself on his lap, whimpering. He was holding her as tenderly as Nurul had held Hana.

Why didn’t she feel embarrassed? She pushed away just enough so she could look at his face and saw compassion and empathy. It was magical. Another tear dripped down her face, and he caught it with his thumb.

“You didn’t tell me not to cry,” she said in wonder.

“Why would I?”

“Because…because…”

“Oh, honey,” he pulled her close again, and she rested her head against his chest, soaking in his comfort like a flower soaks in the sun. She felt him shift. He handed her the cup filled with water.

“You need to drink,” he said quietly. Her mind went back to when she’d said the same thing to Christie, and she nodded. She took the cup and sipped the warm water.

“What about you?”

“I’ve had some.”

Now that the mundane had entered the quiet of the jungle, Marcia realized the intimacy of her position. She shifted, pushing to get off his lap. Zed didn’t question. With easy strength, he moved her, so she was once again resting by his side.

“Better?” he asked.

She nodded shyly.

“Morning’s going to come sooner than you think. We’re going to need to get a move on.”

“Why? I thought we were going to wait until tomorrow night before the helicopter was going to come and rescue us.”

“I want to get close to the camp, then I’m going to acquire food. Hana especially needs milk.”

How could she not have considered that? She pushed the heel of her hand into her forehead, so angry with herself.

“You need to stop that,” Zed said as he pulled her hand away.

“I should have thought of that. It’s my job to think of things. I’m supposed to be taking care of them.”

“Why?” he gave her a questioning look. “Why is it your job?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Marcia, you’re twenty-three. You just met Nurul today. Why is it your job to be taking care of her and her baby?”

“It’s always my job to take care of people,” she said reasonably. “It’s what I do.”

His brown eyes glittered down at her. He was so handsome with his black hair and sharp cheekbones. “What did you ask?”

“I asked who do you take care of?”

“Mr. B., the girls, Lesley...Rick” Why was he asking these questions? Why was he frowning?

“Who takes care of you?”

“Mrs. B. was wonderful.” God, she hated thinking of her. It hurt worse when she died than when her parents did. And then a month later Rick said he was sick of how moody she’d become. He said she wasn’t paying enough attention to him. She tried, she really tried, but Debbie and Christie needed her, and she was still so sad about Mrs. B.’s death, she just couldn’t give him the attention he wanted.

“She died, didn’t she?” Zed asked.

“Yeah,” Marcia nodded. “Then everything fell apart.”

He stroked her shoulder. “Can you tell me?”

It must have been the quiet of the jungle, the warm air, the intimacy of the silky night that had her considering talking to this man. But she’d bared so much of her soul, she needed more.

“Have you ever experienced loss Zed?” she finally asked.

“I’m thirty-six, in the military, so yeah,” he breathed out heavily, “people who have meant a lot to me have died.”

She could see the truth in his eyes. “Just your teammates?”

“No,” he said quietly. “My abuela right after I became a SEAL.”

“It’s killing me Christie and Debbie have been subjected to it.”

“They’ll survive, they have their father.”

“And me.”

“Why? Why do you think you have to take care of everyone?”

It was the first time that anyone had ever asked her that question, and Marcia didn’t know how to answer it. She looked up at him, confused.

“Come closer. It’s time for you to get some sleep,” Zed said as he tugged her closer to his side. With one last look over at Nurul and Hana, Marcia settled in against Zed and closed her eyes.