---

Tara couldn’t believe her eyes—the bright flames and debris from the men’s vehicles raining down into the dark forest. Detonating explosives? Was that supposed to be Matthew’s way of distracting the men? The blast still resounded in her ears. Her pulse spiked. “That would have disturbed the wolves. I can’t believe Matthew would have deliberately caused them harm.”

“Relax. He’s former military remember? The guy has probably been waiting for the day when he could get back into action. Remember the glory days. He took out their vehicles, that’s all. The wolves will survive. More to the point—he wants you to survive. Don’t worry about him. He knows how to hide. Tara, Matthew is giving you the chance to escape with your life.”

Guilt suffused her. Yet again she was escaping while someone she cared about stayed behind. Would Matthew die at the hands of these men?

God, let it not be so!

She wanted to scramble down to the sanctuary to his aide. She gasped for breath, knowing her efforts would be futile. Grant urged her away from the scene below and behind the boulder, keeping her close.

Much too close. His body heat emanated warmth she craved a little too much.

“I promised him I would keep you safe.” His whisper was low, husky.

Tara tried to step back but he caught her wrist and held her in place.

“What about me?” she asked. “Don’t I get a choice?”

Grant angled his head. The moonlight hit his face just right. Unease carved lines across his forehead. “Of course. So what are you going to choose? Do you want me to help you escape the men after you? If not, I guess I have my walking orders.”

She hadn’t expected he’d so willingly give her a choice. “It would appear I’m out of options. Except for one.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t run and hide forever. I have to expose the people who destroyed the village if I want my life back.”

The way he grinned made her heart jump around inside.

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

She bristled. “Look, I don’t need you inserting yourself into my life as my personal bodyguard. Or whisking me away from the danger. I’ve survived this long.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you. I know you’re strong. Maybe I shouldn’t have interfered. You would be totally fine, could handle those men on your own.”

“How do we know they came to kill me?”

“Why are you giving them the benefit of a doubt when you were wary of me the first time you saw me?”

“I want to understand how you know so much.”

“My job is to find out the truth.” He stared out into the dark night and lowered his voice even more. “But we don’t have time to stand here and argue about it. Now, are you coming with me, or are you going to stay here and save yourself?”

“I’m coming with.” Did he really have to ask? Well maybe, considering her attitude. She should be grateful he’d shown up, or the men after her might already have her in their grip. She blew out a breath. “It’s my turn to apologize.” She ran her hands through her tangled hair and watched a cloud drift over the moon. “I could use your help, but I don’t know who you are or why you even came looking for me.”

He offered his hand and she took it. “I’m happy to answer those questions when we’re somewhere safe. But we need to keep moving.”

“Where are we going?”

“First, we have to make our way out of the woods. And if we can do that, I hope we can take refuge somewhere and catch our breaths.”

Grant hiked back to the edge of the boulder and peered through his binoculars again, then led her down the other side of the hill into the darkness. The terrain prevented them from making the best time. She stepped around boulders and exposed tree roots, and over cool-running streams. Stopping for a moment, Grant slid off his jacket and insisted she wear it.

“What about you?”

“I’m sweating and you’re shivering.”

She pulled on his too big jacket and savored his body warmth that lingered in the fabric.

“Better?”

“Yes, thanks.” Right. She didn’t need a bodyguard—a man who looked like he stepped out of an epic fantasy—to take care of her. A guy thoughtful enough to give her his jacket. When was the last time any guy had cared enough?

Her mind still couldn’t grasp what she’d been through in Africa—and the man involved. A man she’d looked up to. She stumbled forward and caught her fall on the trunk of a pine.

Grant touched her arm. “Are you okay?”

No. No I’m not okay. But she shoved thoughts of the murderer aside or she would never make it out of these forested mountains. “If you knew this was going to happen, that men were coming after me, why didn’t you plan a better getaway?”

An incredulous laugh escaped him. “What do you mean? Like hiding a small helicopter under the bushes so we could fly away?”

That had her chuckling, despite their dire circumstances. “Well, yeah something like that.”

“Look, Tara. I’m not a spy.”

“Aren’t you?”

“Not in the way you think. Nothing like James Bond. Come on.”

“That’s too bad.”

Oh, now. She hadn’t meant it the way it might have sounded and heat rushed to her cheeks. Good thing he couldn’t see her expression in the tree shrouded forest. “I mean, if you were like James Bond, you’d be whisking me away in your sports car.”

“And I thought you didn’t need an overprotective bodyguard to help you run from danger.”

“Well, maybe I spoke too soon because at this moment, it would be kind of nice, actually.” She hoped he heard the teasing in her words.

He squeezed her hand, letting her know he had. And something pleasant tingled in her belly.

Who are you Grant McCall? Really.

Tara was on the run for her life from dangerous men, and Grant might not be a danger to her life, but he very definitely could be a threat to her heart.

Miles later, Tara’s legs ached, but still, this experience had been nothing on par with her terrifying escape from Djanzunia. She wouldn’t complain. Wouldn’t ask to stop. She could hike with the best military men, former military included. Right. That was so not true. She might have to whine a little or he would forget she wasn’t in the same kind of shape as he obviously was.

Then he paused. Had he read her thoughts?

He pressed her behind him. Raised a gun into a ready position.

He had a gun? Why hadn’t she noticed that before? Well, shoot, she should have realized he would carry all the gear he needed including a weapon. In fact, Tara had her own weapon stuffed in her duffel. She just hated to use it. She’d seen what weapons could do. Nightmares tortured her every night. But maybe if the villagers had their own weapons, they would have been able to defend themselves. Except it had all happened so quickly.

Her breaths were coming entirely too fast. She really needed to stop and rest. But they continued hiking for another hour until Grant pointed to something ahead of them. She peered closely and spotted an old RV someone had dragged up here. Was this a deer lease? Fortunately for them it wasn’t hunting season—well, unless she counted herself.

“Stay here,” he whispered, and crept forward.

She waited against the tree. No need to worry about hiding in the shadows. Hardly any moonlight dappled the forest floor in these woods.

Seconds ticked by. Then a full minute.

“You can come on over now.”

Tara pushed from the tree and met him at the little trailer. “It’s not much different than the one I slept in at Arctic Wolves.”

He finagled the door and opened it, then stepped inside and shined his flashlight around. “It’s surprisingly clean.”

“What about electricity? You know, for light.”

“There’s no power. We’re only resting here before we continue on. I’ll take the pullout sofa. You can bunk in the bed. We aren’t staying. And we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves with the lights on, even if we could.”

Her stomach chose that moment to growl. Too anxious, she hadn’t eaten anything for supper that night.

He chuckled. “I packed some protein bars. I’m assuming you packed a few in your duffel with some water, too, since you were making a mad dash for freedom.”

“Nothing mad about it. And it’s one bar and one water. I had planned to hole up in a cheap motel up the road.”

“Well, looks like you found it.”

“Except it won’t cost me a dime.”

“It cost you a grueling hike through the woods.”

The hike hadn’t been so grueling with Grant guiding her. Maybe she could have made it on her own, but it would have been harder. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“You know. Showing up when you did. Whisking me away from the bad guys.”

She couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but she had a feeling he smiled.

The horror of what she’d seen seared into her mind, Tara ran through the thick rainforest. Not slowing, not caring about the scratches she received. Or the creatures she disturbed. Her heart had already been ripped from her, and her life would be too if she didn’t escape. Her boots sloshed through mud as she neared another village. This one more populated with a busy market. A place she could blend in and find help? She didn’t know where she would go, only that she had to put miles, many miles between her and the men who’d killed everyone in that village. They must think she had died. Jamila would have told them so.

Then she remembered. Matthew Craig.

“Call me if you ever need anything. Anything at all, and I mean that. I owe my life to your father.”

Tara had never needed to find a phone more than she did at that moment. She approached the busy village, but on the outskirts along the road to the village, Jeeps rolled in. The same Jeeps carrying the same men at the village.

Tara slipped back into the shadowed forest.

---

Grant shook her.

She would wake the dead with those screams. He’d heard her half a mile away. He’d gone to make sure the men hunting her hadn’t closed in on them yet, but they would and soon. The screams made sure of that.

Gripping her shoulders, he gently shook her again. The moon streamed through the trees and the window he’d cracked in the trailer, allowing him to see her sweat-drenched, terror-stricken face.

The sight knifed through him.

“I shall fear no evil,” she whispered repeatedly.

“Tara, honey,”—why had he used the endearment? — “I’m sorry, but you have to wake up. We have to go.”

Her lids slid open and then her eyes widened. She gasped, then sat up.

“It’s okay. It’s me…Grant, remember?”

She nodded. “Did I have another nightmare?”

“Oh, is that what you call it?”

A shiver ran over her.

“You’re cold?”

Without asking permission, Grant drew her up and into his arms to warm her. He’d keep telling himself that was the reason, but he wasn’t that gullible. He’d been drawn to this woman before he’d even met her. He’d seen the pictures of the two WHO workers—they both had a similar appearance, one a microbiologist, the other a virologist. In Tara’s profile he’d read that she’d wanted to go into the forgotten places of the world to fight diseases. Well, she’d certainly done that. And when he’d seen the photograph that had surfaced proving she was still alive, he’d been relieved as any other God-fearing human should be, but it had been more. He’d felt that relief to his bones—because well, he’d dreamed about her. Even in her photographs he could see her profound empathy for others. He’d cared about her in a deep way on some level, before he’d even met her. That was wrong on so many levels.

He should have used his training and killed the emotional connection he’d had with her before meeting her in person. Except he feared that meeting her had sealed that connection. Somehow, he had to fight it and keep her safe. That’s the only reason he was here. Keep her safe and learn the truth.

She shifted away from him. “I’m all right. I hope my screams weren’t too loud.”

Well, now, there was the bad news. “We’re being hunted, Tara. I came back to wake you up when I heard the screaming. We have to get moving.”

“What?” Tara wrapped her arms around herself.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t what you wanted to hear.”

“Not really. But I’m glad you know what you’re doing. Once again you’ve discovered them before they ambushed us.”

“We’re only one step ahead of them now, whoever ‘they’ are.” He had his suspicions, of course, but the key players hadn’t been identified.

Once he knew they were safe for any length of time, he might get the chance to question her about what she’d seen. He might find out more about their pursuers. He assumed they wanted to kill her, but maybe they wanted her alive—to start.

He opened up the trailer, looked around, then motioned for her to follow him quickly and quietly.

When they settled into the trailer, he’d been about to tell her everything about his mission, who he worked for, so she would feel free to share what happened with him, when he’d heard her soft snores. Then he drifted to sleep on a smile.

Unfortunately, that had only been an hour ago. Not nearly long enough.

The rest of this night would be grueling.

At least Grant had a plan, and he had resources in place. The thought of surprising Tara brought another smile to his lips at a time when there really wasn’t much to smile about.

More importantly…They were breathing. They were moving. They were alive.

For now.

They hurried through the Siskiyou Forest. Grant wasn’t an idiot—Tara had been trained for certain kinds of experiences, but not all-night military exercises. One thing he’d learned was to never leave yourself without an escape plan.

An hour later, both of them huffing, he almost offered to carry her. She would refuse, of course.

“We’re almost there.” He trudged over an incline.

“There? Where. Are. We. Going?” She broke her words up between breaths as she followed him and slid down an embankment.

“Careful now.” He beat her to the bottom.

She mimicked his actions to land on her feet. “What is this place?”

“It’s a forest road.”

“Yeah, I see that.”

He shined his flashlight around, chasing away the darkness. Had he miscalculated? He’d been following the GPS coordinates on his watch all night. He kicked at the dirt road. Wait. There it was.

Grant rushed down a ways and over to the side of the road. He shoved aside the branches and pine needles and grinned, then stepped back to reveal his surprise. “I’m more resourceful than you thought, yeah?”

“So you were James Bond all along and holding back on me?” She smacked him in the arm. Nothing hard. Yet something entirely too friendly.

“The time for holding back is over. It’s time for both of us to lay our cards on the table.” He started pulling the rest of the camouflage off an old black beamer. “Sorry to disappoint you. It’s not an expensive sports car.”

“Even an old BMW 325i isn’t cheap. Why’d you pick this?”

“When I realized I needed to set a plan in place, I didn’t have a lot of time at the car lot. I wanted a stick shift, and I’m partial to German cars. It’s old, but it’ll do.”

She climbed into the passenger side, then leaned closer when she fastened her seat belt, but she faced him, her blue eyes mere inches away. He felt the pull of attraction, and for five whole seconds he had the strong impression that she would kiss him.

He didn’t breathe for those five seconds.

“What are you talking about? This is a classic.” She winked.

He appreciated her ability to bring levity to their dire circumstances and brush aside their obvious attraction. That had been a close call. He needed to complete this mission as soon as possible and be free of Tara’s pull on him.

Seat belt fastened, she smiled and sat back in her seat, putting enough space between them that he could breathe again.

What was it about Tara Parrish that had him struggling for air?