Gino looked at his watch. 01:55. He put out his hand. Rock solid. It was a silly leftover habit from his childhood when Ciro checked to see if he was able to continue no matter the difficulty of what he was seeing or doing. In the beginning his hand had shaken a lot, but slowly, over time, he’d become completely able to control his nerves and even his heart rate.
The charter plane was small, and they were cramped inside with the power paragliders, but he took it as a good omen that they’d managed to get this far without discovery. Their gear had gone through customs with the heavy operating equipment the construction company had brought over. No one had noticed anything amiss. No one had suspected they were anything but workers for the company, not even the other personnel.
“Ready,” Ezekiel called. “Rubin, you’re up.”
Rubin had nerves of steel, or maybe he didn’t have any. His brother and he were from a poverty-stricken section of the Appalachian Mountains. They’d survived by hunting, killing with one bullet because they couldn’t afford to waste ammunition. After the last of their family was gone, they’d made their way to the streets of Detroit where they ran into Ezekiel and his two brothers. Ezekiel had taken them in.
They’d been teenagers and had no clue how to survive in a city, but they’d learned fast. Both were soft-spoken and had lazy drawls that somehow gave people false impressions about who they were and what they were capable of.
“Okay. Good luck,” Ezekiel said. “See you on the roof. Stand by … Go.”
Rubin went out without looking back, falling into the dark sky. Farther below, the city was lit up with so many lights, Shanghai blazed like a sun.
Diego followed his brother without hesitation.
Draden shook his head. “I hate this shit,” but he launched himself out of the plane.
Gino went next, making his jump smooth. There was the wind, a vicious hit on his body, but unlike Draden who didn’t like the drop, Gino had always relished the freefall. Moving through the sky, hearing the whoosh and then silence. A perfect silence. For a few seconds, he was part of the universe along with the stars and moon. The night. Part of the reason he loved being a GhostWalker was their creed was so true. The night belonged to them, and falling through the night sky was just a small part of that.
He hit his mark on the roof, but just barely. A gust of wind caught at him at the last minute, trying to blast him off target. It caught Ezekiel full on. He was coming in right after Gino hit, and Gino moved fast to clear a path. Gino and Draden caught at Ezekiel to steady him so the wind pulling at his chute and the weight of the power paraglider didn’t take him over the edge of the roof.
Man, that was ugly, Ezekiel said. Everyone good to go?
Each responded telepathically.
Two up, Diego said.
Three up, Draden added.
Four up, Gino reported.
Five up, Rubin reported.
Okay, drop the gliders here. Gino, keep your medical pack, you may need it.
Like he was going to forget that. The others had traveled light out of necessity.
There’s a camera on that door, Rubin, Ezekiel reminded Be careful approaching it.
Camera’s already disrupted, Rubin reported. Starting electricity glitches.
Draden moved to the keypad and lock. He had the door unlocked, and Gino moved to the front of the line. He “felt” for the energy behind the door and looked briefly beyond it, his eyes burning as he did so. Guard on the lower stairs to the top-floor corridor.
They moved in silence, careful of the slightest sound on the narrow, metal stairway. One sound would blow everything before they were even close. If they took out a guard and he had to report in, that would alert security that something was wrong. If they didn’t take him out then he would be between them and their escape route.
Take him out. Ezekiel made the decision.
Diego slid past Gino, his feet whispering on the stairs. Rubin covered the sound. He moved around the corner and in one motion, shot the guard with a tranquilizer dart. Rubin caught him and dragged him into the stairwell out of sight of anyone walking by.
Gino scanned the hallway. All clear.
Ezekiel nodded. Draden and I are taking left. You, Rubin and Diego have the right side. Move fast. We’ve got to find her and get her out in record time. When she’s found, we’ll converge on her location, and head back to the top as a unit. Questions?
They shook their heads and Ezekiel signaled them to move out. Draden took the lead, Ezekiel on his six. Like Gino, Draden could sense the energy of an enemy. He would know when someone was behind a door. That was no guarantee. Gino had more than once missed someone while training. It could happen, and his brothers’ lives depended on him not making a mistake.
Knowing Zara was held somewhere on this floor made their task easier, but not knowing how many guards or their locations was extremely difficult. They were playing a very expensive game of roulette, one that could cost everyone their lives. Every step, every doorway was a new spin of the wheel and they would have to play it all the way down the long corridor and back up again. Gino just hoped they were on a hot streak tonight.
When they had to take a guard down, they knew they risked being heard or seen. Each time they had to do it increased the chances of them being discovered. If a radio call was not answered, they knew someone would come looking. The best thing to do was not to touch anyone. In and out like ghosts. The problem was that was easier said than done. In the end, in spite of all enhancements, they were still human beings with limitations. This floor, and the surrounding area where they were keeping Zara prisoner, was bound to be more heavily guarded.
Anything, Zeke? Gino asked.
They were going door by door down that unexpectedly long hall. So far it was very quiet. Too quiet. They still had to worry about an ambush. Whitney very well could have set them up. What his reasoning could be, none of them knew, but it was such an unusual situation, him asking for help from the GhostWalkers after all the shit he’d pulled on them, none of them were feeling particularly confident in his motives.
We’re stuck about twenty feet from where we split. There’s a guard standing here talking to someone over his radio. Sounds like he’s giving a goddamned dissertation to someone on the other end. We can’t proceed because if we tranq him, whoever is on the other end of that call will know something’s wrong.
Gino found himself cursing under his breath. The knots in his stomach were pulling tighter. The woman needed them to find her now. Something was off. Not enough guards. Had they moved her? Where the hell were the guards? One in the stairwell and one a few feet down the hallway didn’t make sense.
The floor was essentially planned in a circle with the elevator being at the twelve o’clock position. The middle consisted of a long solid wall dividing the two corridors. It was an odd floor plan, but one Cheng seemed to favor. A gun could be shot down that long straight corridor easily, so maybe it was all about defense. Or offense.
Zeke, can you screw with the battery to drain it so they have to go and replace it?
Shit. I should have thought of that. Thanks, Gino.
There was a small silence while Gino waited, counting his own heartbeats.
Yes, it worked, he’s leaving.
Gino, Rubin and Diego inched their way another few feet until they came to another door. This one housed a few men. Three? Four? Gino wasn’t certain, the energy was blending together, but he felt them. He held up his fist and then indicated the room was occupied. He was feeling something else. Smelling something else.
He was a hunter, just like the others, enhanced with cat DNA, and his sense of smell was very acute. This was metallic. A coppery scent. Blood. His heart sank. He hoped to hell it wasn’t Zara’s blood he was smelling. It was possible this was Zhu’s private torture chamber. He wanted to believe that some other poor son of a bitch was on the receiving end of Zhu’s brand of torture that he’d read about. The man rivaled every war criminal known to the world.
Gino couldn’t make himself believe the blood belonged to anyone but Zara. His Zara. So, yeah, he wasn’t as fucking detached as he should have been. Putting a bullet in her head wasn’t going to work for him. If she was operating for Whitney, helping him set up an ambush for the GhostWalkers, no doubt she’d been emotionally blackmailed into it or brainwashed. Whatever the reason she was there, they had to get her out. He had to get her out.
He didn’t stop to think why he was so drawn to her when he hadn’t even laid eyes on her. If he looked at that too closely, he knew he’d be in trouble. He didn’t want to know the reason. He didn’t even care. He was taking this thing one step at a time, and the first step was locking himself down with discipline. He couldn’t yank open the door to the room where he was certain five guards were inside playing cards, instead of working as they should be, and spray them with hundreds of bullets until their bodies were riddled with holes like he wanted to do.
I found the guards playin’ cards in a room here, Zeke. What the fuck? I thought they were all terrified of Cheng. Why are they so sure they won’t get caught? Gino posed the question to Ezekiel.
Could be they know they’re safe for the moment. There was speculation in Ezekiel’s voice. Find her fast, Gino.
He didn’t need to be told twice. The laid-back guards could be a setup. He moved around the room with Diego and Rubin. Heading quickly down the hall, he kept his hand lifted, palm hovering toward each door they passed in order to feel the energy. Movement caught his eye and he dropped low, signaling Diego and Rubin.
Guard ahead. Two doors, standing just inside the alcove. The scent of a cigarette drifted to him. What the hell? These men weren’t on high alert. They didn’t appear to be expecting trouble at all. It occurred to him, Cheng didn’t believe anyone would try to come for her. Or maybe she hadn’t broken. Maybe he didn’t know yet that she was the one to wipe his computers clean.
Diego inched into position, slithering along the hallway, moving fast, using toes and elbows to propel himself forward, his tranq gun already aimed and in position to fire. He was so accurate, Gino would have bet he could shoot the wings off a fucking fly. Rubin set himself for a burst of speed as Diego released the dart. It hit the side of the guard’s neck, the needle delivering straight into the carotid artery, so the drug would take him fast. Rubin leapt to catch the guard and his weapon, dragged him into the deeper shadow of the alcove and positioned him in a chair that was against the wall.
She’s here. Be careful on the approach, Zeke. There are several guards on this side massed together and they’re bound to decide they need to do their jobs. Gino sent the warning and stood just outside the door the guard had obviously been watching.
He inhaled, taking the scent of blood and fear into his lungs. No, not fear. Terror. He’d been in enough hotspots and had caused men to feel petrified to know what terror smelled like. There was a taste to it. It was tangible. And it was coming from that room in violent waves. He pushed down the need to rush in and forced himself to get a feel for the energy in the room.
Hostility. So much fear beating at him. Zara was panicked, but she also was feeling extremely determined. He opened the door cautiously, sending in soothing energy to try to offset her fear. There was blood all over the bed. A trail on the floor leading presumably to the bathroom. His heart caught in his throat.
His body warned him and he stepped back automatically even before his brain fully registered the threat. An object whooshed toward his groin, just missing him by a scant inch. He caught at it and tugged hard. She came out from behind the door on her knees, falling toward the ground. Stark naked. Covered with dark, purple bruises just rising all over her swollen body. Her back, buttocks and thighs were a mass of purple and black stripes. Long. Ugly. Deep. He swore as he caught her, preventing her from hitting the ground.
Get the guard’s shirt. Screw that. He didn’t want anything touching her skin from this place. Not one thing. Forget I said that.
“Zara, my name is Gino Mazzo. I’m a GhostWalker, and we’ve come to get you out of here.”
The tension didn’t diminish at all. She pushed at him. He understood. If she could see him through the slits in her eyes, he wasn’t pretty. He tried again, keeping his voice low, afraid she would hurt herself more if she fought him, or alert the other guards.
“Bellisia sent us to get you out. She gave us the information on this place. We don’t have time for you to fight me. There are guards all over,” he whispered to her as he gently turned her over, cradling her to him.
Fuck. Fuck me, Zeke. I’m going to fuckin’ burn his house down. And rip whoever did this to her from limb to limb. He knew a lot of ways to kill a man. He knew even more to hurt one. If this was Zhu’s work, he deserved a taste of his own medicine.
The whip had torn her flesh, long stripes of open wounds from just above her breasts to the tops of her feet. He hadn’t looked at the soles of her feet. How she’d even managed to crawl in an effort to attack someone was beyond him. She’d had to drag those lacerations on her knees and shins over the tile. No wonder the floor was smeared with blood.
Her eyes were all but swollen shut. He thought she could see out of the slits, but both eyes were black, her nose was swollen and on one side of her face her cheek was ripped open; on the other, her temple. Her fingers bunched in his shirt.
“He’s coming back soon.”
The terror in her voice shook him. This whole fucked-up mess shook him. Who did this kind of damage to a woman? What kind of courage had it taken for her to crawl through the room, find a weapon—the cane the fucker used on her—and wait on her lacerated, bleeding knees for a try at her attacker? She had to know it would fail. What was she trying to do? Get herself killed? His heart stuttered. Of course that was what she was doing.
Rubin, get me warm water fast. There in the bathroom.
“Baby, I’m going to lay you down right here on the floor. I need to address these cuts and then I’ll get a shirt on you and get you out of here. You with me?” He kept his voice soft, pressing his mouth to her ear, trying to convey the sense of urgency and the need for silence.
She shook her head. “Go.”
“Two minutes, baby,” he whispered, already pulling out the antibacterial field dressings. Ignoring the way she shook her head, he began to wipe her down with one of the wet cloths Rubin handed him, hating that Rubin used a second one to start at the bottom of her feet and work his way up. Gino knew he was feeling far too proprietorial over her. Under the circumstances his reaction to her was inappropriate. They had to do whatever it took to get her out of there fast.
Gino kept the strokes as impersonal as possible, especially as he moved over her generous breasts, down her rib cage and belly to her sex. He was gritting his teeth by the time Rubin met him at her thighs. They tossed the cloths, and both started again with the antibacterial pads, cleaning the wounds. Next, he bandaged them lightly with gauze, having first put a salve on the field dressings.
Her body shuddered continuously while they worked. Gino found himself sweating. He ripped off his jacket, pulled his tee off one-handed, and shrugged back into his jacket almost all in one move. “Okay, Zara, you’re doing great. I’m going to put this shirt on you. I know it’s going to hurt, but as soon as it’s on, we can get you out of here.”
He was aware that Ezekiel and Draden had joined them. Along with Diego, they were guarding the hallway. Gino could feel the precious minutes ticking by. She tried. He could tell she wanted out of there, but she couldn’t lift her arms very well. The whip marks covered her entire front and arms, the cane marks her entire back, legs and feet.
“Sorry.”
The whisper broke his heart. “You’re doing great, princess. Let me dress you.” He even tried for impersonal when he spoke, but he knew he failed when he got a sharp look from Ezekiel. Like Gino, Ezekiel was a doctor, and he knew Zara was a mess. There would be no walking on her feet. Very gently he put her arms in the sleeves and pulled the shirt over her head. She whimpered, but immediately pressed her lips together to stop the sound. Her body never stopped trembling. The shaking had turned so violent he was afraid she might have a seizure.
“This might hurt a little, but we have to get you out of here. You can’t make a sound, understand?”
She nodded.
Gino shifted his medical pack and Ezekiel took it from him to shoulder it. Taking a deep breath, Gino reached for her, getting an arm behind her back and one under her knees. He lifted her, cradling her close, trying to shelter her with his body, trying to convey they would get her to freedom. He was up on his feet and nodding to Ezekiel.
Draden took the lead, Diego followed. Gino with their package was in the middle with Ezekiel and then Rubin in the rear. Draden could feel ahead for the guards. Rubin was still disrupting electricity and cameras, not enough to alarm the security personnel, just enough to alert them that glitches were happening throughout the building and the problem would have to be checked out in the morning.
Ordinarily, Gino would have packed out the wounded on his back to keep his hands free. He elected to give control over to Ezekiel and the others in order to keep Zara’s front from rubbing along his shoulder and making the lacerations worse while he took her out of there.
Halfway down the hall, a door slammed, and they froze. At the same time, the elevator began to climb from the parking garage toward their floor. Immediately, Zara stiffened in his arms. The shivers, running through her body indicating pain, turned to tremors so strong she nearly jumped out of his arms.
She began to struggle, making small mewling noises, her head turned toward the elevator. Gino didn’t understand how she even knew it was moving, or how she saw it through her swollen eyes, but she was beginning to lose it.
Shut her the hell up, Ezekiel snapped. They had to keep moving, and up ahead were guards. If she gave them away, they were all dead. I don’t care what you have to do.
“Stop it now,” Gino hissed, his mouth against her ear. When she didn’t stop, he took her earlobe between his teeth and bit down hard. It was that or knock her out, and that was coming next. He wasn’t going to let them all die, nor were Cheng and Zhu getting her back.
Startled, her attention went from the elevator to him. “Keep your eyes on me. Stay quiet or everyone is fucked.” He kept his voice low, a mere thread of sound, but it was commanding. He meant it.
She stayed tense, her eyes bouncing beneath those swollen lids. The sight of her so terrified turned his stomach. He had to gain control, get her to choose his brand of authority over her terror of her captors.
“Zara, you fuckin’ do what I tell you. You look only at me. No matter what happens, you keep centered on me. I’ll get you out.”
Her breath came in ragged, labored puffs, her fear of whoever was in the elevator so strong, he didn’t think he could overcome it long enough to get them to safety.
“You don’t stop, you give me no choice but to knock you out.” He’d put pressure on her carotid artery and give them a few seconds to clear guards and make a run for it. “Look. The fuck. At me.” He enunciated each word when her terrified gaze started to slide toward the elevator.
It took a moment before she settled and it was infinitely slower than he would have liked, the seconds ticking by, seconds they didn’t have. The group kept moving though. They had to be on the roof before the elevator reached the top floor and anyone realized anything was wrong.
Take out the guards. Ezekiel issued the command, knowing full well they were racing the elevator.
Diego, Draden, Rubin and Ezekiel went on the hunt, moving fast now, counting on the element of surprise as they came right up on the five guards exiting their card game. Four darts went in accurately and Rubin hit the fifth guard as he was lifting his gun. They double-timed it, moving fast, heading for the stairs.
One guard approaching the stairs.
Hell. A shift change? They’d taken out the guard on the stairs entering the building. If this was his replacement, the elevator could be holding an entire new set of guards. The sound of boots hitting the floor was loud as the guard ran toward the stairs, calling out in his own dialect.
Why haven’t you answered? He’s on his way up.
Whoever that guard was, he had tried to warn the guard in the stairwell of presumably Cheng’s or Zhu’s arrival. When the guard didn’t answer, he’d rushed to warn him in person. Diego shot him with a dart as they rounded the corner. He didn’t bother to pull the body out of sight. They just stepped over it and kept going up the stairs to the roof.
Gino glanced at the elevator. They only had two more floors before Zara’s torturer would join them. He was tempted to hand over Zara to one of the others, fall back and put a bullet in the fucker’s head, but he kept going, holding her close, trying not to jar her as he took her up the stairs fast.
Draden jammed the door to the roof after them as they all raced to their power paragliders. Ezekiel took Zara as Gino strapped himself in. Then she was put into the harness as carefully and quickly as possible. Ezekiel clipped her to Gino’s torso.
“Hold on as best you can. Keep your face buried in my jacket. The wind is going to feel fierce. We’ve got a distance to go,” Gino told her.
Diego and Rubin were away, heading toward their destination, a park about thirty miles from the building. They had to have favorable winds to make it and Gino sent up a quick plea to whatever gods might be listening as he took his glider right off the building, following Diego and Rubin. Behind him, Ezekiel and Draden trailed them.
They weren’t out of the woods. Ordinarily, Gino would have kicked back and enjoyed every second of soaring through the night sky. He loved it. He’d always loved the peace up there, especially at night. It was quiet. Serene. He wasn’t a laid-back kind of man. He spent a great deal of time watching, always on guard, and up here, in the sky, he could fully relax, even with a woman strapped to his chest. Unfortunately, he knew it was possible they wouldn’t quite make the park, not unless the winds rushing behind them, pushing them, were favorable. Even if they made it, they still had to make the run, a quarter of a mile at least, to the embassy.
Whoever was in that elevator would find the tranqed guards and know they had to have used the roof to escape. Cheng had a lot of clout with the government. He wouldn’t be able to say he had taken Zara prisoner, although he might claim she was an industrial spy. Gino kept his eyes on the woman as they rode the night together.
She hung limply in the harness, and that worried him. He didn’t have a way to reassure her. He could only watch over her, and hopefully she felt him there, felt his resolution to keep her safe. She probably equated him with Zhu, talking so roughly to her. He was rough. He didn’t have it in him to be gentle and refined like his father had been. He had no charm. That hadn’t gotten his father anywhere.
It had been Joe’s father and the three bullets that had nearly ended Gino’s life along with the dead bodies of his family that had shaped who he was. He was more Ciro’s son than Joe was. Joe was more Gino’s father’s son. Maybe they’d been born into the wrong families. Hell. Gino found his gaze drifting back to the woman.
There was a pull that had never been between him and a woman before. It was strong. Too strong for his liking. He fucked hard. He fought harder. He did whatever job had to be done without flinching. Women didn’t influence him. He had been taught respect, first from his own father and then from Joe’s, but no one led him around by his dick. This one … He shook his head trying to figure out what the pull was and why it was her. It had been there since the moment he saw her picture and read the file on her.
Landing was going to be an issue. He needed to stay out of the trees inside that park and away from any objects on the ground. They hadn’t been able to check out the park itself, so there were no specific landing marks to hit. He had to trust their leaders, Rubin and Diego, to find them a clearing for all five of them to put down, drop gear and make a run for it.
Their contacts at the construction company had a large van already waiting and the men would pack away the power paragliders and rush them back to the construction site where they would be broken into pieces and put into the bins with broken equipment to be shipped back to the United States. If it wasn’t clear, the driver would keep moving. There was no way to trace the gliders back to the construction company.
The glider came in low over the park, skimming brush. He winced, hoping his woman didn’t have her bare, dangling feet ripped up by leaves and twigs. The soles of her feet had been damaged by the cane and there had been three whip lacerations where Zhu had torn the top of her foot open. Gino found that strange when the man had taken such care not to leave lasting evidence on her body. Her feet were never going to be the same.
Rubin and Diego dropped their paragliders and ran back to help him as he guided his to ground. They caught at Zara, unhooking the clip and harness before Gino had a chance to stop the thing moving altogether. Between the two men, they managed to pull her free and out of the way. Already men were hauling Rubin’s and Diego’s gliders to the van.
Gino heard Zara cry out, a small, keening wail that tore at him. He wanted to rip Rubin and Diego in half. He dropped the equipment, went straight to her and gathered her up, swinging her into his arms and set off at a jog toward the embassy, Rubin and Diego running in front and back of him, matching his pace exactly. Ezekiel and Draden caught up, Ezekiel moving into position directly behind Gino so that Diego brought up the rear. Draden added into the formation, not missing a beat, jogging right past Gino and the others to take the lead position.
They were used to running in formation. They constantly scanned their surroundings, were aware of all traffic on the street. Gino knew by now, Zhu and Cheng would know Zara was gone and she only had one place she could go—the American embassy. All they had to do was drop an army of their guards into a car and haul ass to the embassy to stop them from getting her inside those gates. Not only was that a very real possibility, it was a probability.
The embassy loomed up before them, the high fence surrounding it. Soldiers went on alert, watching them running toward them. A car’s tires screeched around the corner.
“Americans! Open the gate! Open the gate!” Draden called out. “We’re Americans.” They didn’t slow, but doubled their pace, Gino holding Zara tightly to him. Rubin moved over to the street side, running with him, hiding their package from the car rushing toward them. Draden had his military ID out, waving it at the guard.
“Captain Ezekiel Fortunes,” Ezekiel identified himself as they came up on the embassy.
The car screeched to a stop and Cheng’s men poured out, armed to the teeth, running at them. The embassy gate swung open and Draden stepped inside, spun around and watched as Gino, with Ezekiel and Rubin, sprinted inside the gates. Diego kept up the rear, and like Draden, spun around to face Cheng’s security guards and their weapons. The guards closed the gates right in their furious faces.
“Sir,” one American sentry said to Ezekiel. “I’m required to see your ID.”
“Captain Ezekiel Fortunes,” Zeke snapped. “We need to get this woman inside. She’s been tortured. We all are carrying our IDs, so give us an escort inside and we’ll each show them immediately.” He handed his over. “She needs medical attention.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gino felt Zara stir in his arms while Zeke sorted their identities with the guard at the gate. He wasn’t listening. The tension in her ratcheted up another notch. Her body shuddered. Shivered. “Need your coat, Rubin.”
Rubin immediately shrugged out of his jacket and helped Gino wrap the shivering woman in it. She had her head turned away from Gino’s chest and was looking out the gate toward the security guards. Her breath left her lungs in a long rush of fear. Gino not only heard the small whimper of terror, but felt it. His eyes followed the turn of her head to the sleek car that had pulled up in front of the gates. A man slid out of the leather interior.
Bolan Zhu. Gino recognized him from his photographs. He looked like a movie star, his dark hair slicked back, his suit immaculate. He simply stood on the walkway, eyes on Zara’s face. Gino turned her so she couldn’t see the bastard. They all knew the big son of a bitch was the one doing the torture for Cheng. If her reaction to him was anything to go by, she was petrified of the man.
Deliberately, Gino locked eyes with the bastard. Let him know where the true threat was. Zhu could beat a defenseless woman, but it was something altogether different to come at a man looking forward to the altercation. He didn’t smile. Not even a taunting smile. He didn’t feel like giving him that much of a warning. He just stared at the fucker and then, contempt on his face, leaned down to nuzzle the top of Zara’s head.
“I’m right here. I’ve got you,” he whispered. “You’re safe.”
She shook her head and pressed her swollen face against his shirt. “I’ll never be safe.”
“Princess,” he said softly. “Look at me.”
She raised her head and peered up at him. He felt the impact all the way through his guts—through that monster punching at him to get out and rid the world of a man like Zhu who would commit such a crime against an innocent. Zara Hightower needed protection, not the cold monster lurking inside him, but he knew it was the same thing. His monster was her protection.
“I take care of what’s mine. He won’t get his filthy hands on you again. That’s my promise to you.”
He held steady while those little pinpoints of what was left of her eyes searched his. She must have caught a glimpse of that demon inside of him, the one ready to be let loose, the one punching and stabbing to get free.
“You understand me?” Because he was telling her so much more than the words conveyed.
She swallowed again and nodded.
“Keep your eyes on me. Don’t look at him. Don’t think about him. A man like that is beneath contempt.”
She nodded again, and once more, Gino lifted his gaze to Zhu’s. The bastard was staring at him, stupid enough to think he might be intimidating. Zhu thought Gino was like the others, a white knight. Maybe he would have been, but that was long gone, ripped from him when he was a child and he’d been shaped into something completely different. He was a demon now, still rescuing the innocent, but with so much more in his arsenal.
Zhu refused to look away, or go away. He wanted Zara to be afraid of him. The man didn’t realize she’d already recognized the monster in Gino and was willing to give herself to him for his protection. She saw. She believed. That was enough for Gino.
Gino turned with Zara in his arms, cradled close to his chest by his heart, and he walked away without once looking back.
The moment he was inside, he was a different man. He was an officer. A doctor. A surgeon, and he expected complete cooperation. He showed his ID but had no patience for the rest. “I’m a doctor,” he snapped. “This is my patient. No one touches her until I know she’s safe and has been treated. Take me to a private room where I can treat her.”
“Her name?”
“Zara Hightower.”
There was a small gasp. The military guards, Houghton and Hurley, exchanged shocked looks. “The Zara Hightower?”
Houghton was already moving, not waiting for an answer. Gino followed him. “Zeke’s arranging a flight out of here as soon as possible on the first scheduled plane back to the United States. We have to get her out of the country before the authorities realize she’s gone.”
“She can’t just leave the country without … There are protocols. She’s a guest here.”
Gino sent him one look over Zara’s head. It was enough. Gino let him see the demon, the one from hell ready to do damage to anyone opposing him. Houghton pulled open the door to a suite with a bathroom. Gino indicated the bed with his chin. Rubin and Diego had followed while Ezekiel went to make hasty arrangements to leave the country. Draden stayed with him to ensure his safety.
It was Rubin who ripped back the covers to expose the sheets while Diego ducked into the bathroom to run hot water onto cloths. He brought back towels.
“We’ll need clothes for her for later. Something soft. Don’t worry about underwear. Her body’s too torn up.”
Houghton’s gaze found Zara’s lower legs and thighs with their terrible striping. “Who the hell did this?” Anger was in his voice now. On his face. Yeah, he didn’t much like seeing a woman, an American at that, treated to torture.
“Houghton,” Gino said softly. “We have to get out of here before he goes to the government. You’ll need to find us a plane out.”
Houghton nodded and left them. Gino jerked his head toward the door and Diego and Rubin obeyed his silent order. Zara wasn’t too aware of her surroundings, the trauma throwing her into shock, but later, he didn’t want her to be embarrassed every time she looked at his friends.
“All right, princess, it’s just the two of us. I’m cutting off this shirt and treating your wounds. First, I’m injecting you with morphine. I need to know if you have any allergies.” He hadn’t read that she did. Her body hadn’t once stopped the terrible shivering, some of the tremors so severe she looked as if she was having a convulsion.
“Zara, when I ask you these questions, baby, you have to answer them so that I can help you. Understand?” He smoothed back her hair. In spite of her ordeal, that hair was every bit as soft as it looked. More even. “We have to clean you up fast and get you back to the United States where I know you’re going to be safe. I’m taking you to Bellisia.” He figured it wouldn’t hurt to remind her that her best friend was waiting. “I need to take the pain away for you.”
Another shudder went through her body. He saw her eyes shift to his face. “Trying.” She managed. “So scared.”
“I know you are. You’re doing great. We’re almost out of here. Any allergies?”
She shook her head. Gino didn’t wait, but injected her with morphine. He was almost desperate to take away her pain. Her fingers traveled up his chest and found his jacket, curled there and held on. That little gesture disturbed him as nothing else could have.
She didn’t look away from his face. Not once. Not when he injected her. Not when he could see the drug take her, not when he cut his own tee from her body.
“What’s your name?” Her voice was whispery soft. Trembling still, but the terrible tremors were easing with the drug floating her.
“Gino. Gino Mazza.”
“Thanks for getting me out,” she said softly, her voice beginning to slur, letting him know she was already drifting. Her fingers clutched at his arm. “Don’t leave me.”
That was distinct. Very distinct. Her lashes, caked now with sticky infection, fluttered, but refused to go down. She was waiting for his answer. Refusing to give in to the painkillers.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here, standing guard.”
Her eyes searched his face. Something in the hard angles and planes gave her reassurance. He was certain that close scrutiny would have frightened anyone else.
“Go. To. Sleep.” He made it an order.
A ghost of a smile touched her lips. She relaxed completely, still holding his hand, but her fingers went slack and those lashes finally drifted all the way down.