Chapter Fourteen
Elin kicked beside Hale as they swam back up into the pool. Without his strength and power in the water, she would never have made it.
They surfaced near the waterfall, and she took some deep breaths. Hale pressed a finger to his lips and she nodded. They swam toward the edge of the pool. The cavern was eerily quiet.
They had no weapons, except for the small, sphere-shaped grenades he’d given her. The metallic balls were heavy in her pocket, and Hale had said he’d developed them himself. Besides, she had a former Navy SEAL with her. He was pretty deadly, too.
And he was hers.
Elin stumbled a little pulling herself out of the water before she righted herself. Oh, that knowledge excited her and left her dry-mouthed. She still had scars on her heart from her failed marriage, and her feelings for Hale had bloomed fast, in the middle of a dangerous mission they still hadn’t finished.
But she knew this was the real deal. Knew it deep in her bones. She also knew he’d never hurt her. Hell, he’d almost gotten killed rescuing her.
It was herself she didn’t trust. Elin had promised to love Matthew and he’d promised to love her—but it hadn’t lasted. She knew they were both to blame, that they’d both given up somewhere along the line.
She shook her head. She needed to focus on getting Drift and staying alive. On keeping herself and Hale alive. She could obsess over whatever this was with Hale later.
They crept across the cavern. Where the hell was Drift? Hale had his head tilted, and then he pointed to the far side of the cavern.
A hidden rock door that she and Hale hadn’t discovered earlier was wedged open. God, it looked like someone had taken a jackhammer to it. The slab of rock was cracked, and propped open with a large rock. They hurried over and, as they crossed the space, Hale knelt down and picked up a large rock. She watched him settle it in his hand. In his other hand, he held two metallic grenades.
“You have your grenades?” he murmured.
She fished them out.
“The silver one is a smoke bomb,” he told her. “The black one is a magnetic bomb.”
“You’re a handy guy to have around, Carter.” She ran the balls through her fingers.
He gripped her hand, squeezed. “Don’t forget that.”
They paused at the propped-open doorway, and she heard the echo of voices inside.
“Search every tunnel, if you have to,” Drift ordered. “Carter has the ring. I’m sure of it.”
Elin pointed inside and Hale nodded. She peered around the edge.
Inside was a large, rectangular room with rough rock walls. It was lined on each side with what looked like stone bathtubs hewn out of rock.
“Looks like it was a smelting room.” Hale’s voice was a deep whisper.
A place where the ancient miners had smelted their gold and turned it into bars. The Silk Road team was clustered in the center of the space. Elin glanced up and spotted some rotted timbers attached to the roof. Maybe the remnants of some sort of old type of crane.
She looked back at Hale and he nodded.
Elin set her shoulders back and pulled out the small balls. She tossed them, aiming for the group. She heard the quiet rattle as they rolled across the ground. Some of the men were turning, frowning at the sound.
The magnetic grenade exploded first, strips of highly magnetized metal bursting out.
The men closest to the grenade jerked as they were tugged in by the strong magnet. Belts, weapons, and anything else metallic stuck to the grenade. The men all cursed and struggled, landing in a tangle of limbs.
Elin smiled. She’d never seen anything like it and she wanted more of those little grenades.
Then, the smoke grenade went off with a bang.
Smoke filled the room, and the Silk Road guards started shouting. Elin and Hale rushed in.
She moved to the left, taking one man down with a hard chop between his shoulder blades. A knife fell from his hand and clattered to the ground.
Nice. She snatched it up and jumped over him. She looked up to see a woman stumble out of the smoke. Elin kicked the woman in the gut, sending her flying.
“Elin!”
Hale’s cry made her spin. Another attacker, a mountain of a man with a shaved head, charged out of the smoke. He had an assault rifle aimed at her.
She ducked. Bullets sprayed above her head, and she heard something crash. A second later, Hale swept past her. He slammed his rock into the man’s head. The man made a strangled groan and collapsed.
Elin rose, just as another man rushed out of the smoke at her. He was also a big bruiser, and he held a combat knife easily in his right hand.
“Come on, then.” She held her knife up. She had trained with a fellow agent who specialized in knife fighting.
They circled each other, an edgy smile on the big guy’s face. Clearly, he thought he could take her down easily.
Go ahead, asshole. Underestimate me. He darted in and Elin spun. She saw him frown, surprised she wasn’t where he expected her to be. She came in low, sliced her blade against his arm, and opened up his bicep.
With a pained shout, he leaped back, slapping his other hand over the bleeding cut.
Elin smiled.
With a roar, the man rushed at her. She didn’t dodge or duck. She jumped straight at him, surprising him yet again.
His knife moved past her and her knees hit his chest. She stabbed her knife into his shoulder. Once, twice. He was already falling when she leaped off him.
That’s when she heard Hale’s harsh grunt. She swiveled.
Her gut cramped. A Silk Road man was behind Hale, a garrote wire around Hale’s throat. The man was pulling hard, and Hale tugged at the wire, his face twisted with strain.
He fell to his knees, and Elin raced toward them.
***
“I’m gonna mess you up, pretty boy.”
The Silk Road man leaned in close behind Hale. The bastard was strong. As the man kept trash-talking in Hale’s ear, he focused on keeping the wire off his throat.
Hale had a finger up under it and it was biting into his skin. Blood slid down his hand and arm.
“Once you’re good and bleeding, then I’ll make you watch while I hurt your woman.”
The insurgents had done that to Hale. Made him watch while they’d tortured his friends. He’d watched them all die, one by one.
His breathing turned harsh, his mind whirled. Suddenly, he was in a different desert, deep voices speaking Arabic all around him.
God, he was going to die here just like his friends.
“Hale!”
The feminine shout broke him out of his overpowering memories. His eyes snapped open. He saw a knife land in front of him, scraping on the rock before it hit his knee.
Elin’s voice. Elin.
Energy flooded him. The woman he loved was here, fighting for her life, fighting for him. He’d escaped that long-ago hellhole. He’d survived.
And since then, he’d dishonored his team mates by living a half life. It was time to fucking change that.
Hale threw his head back. The back of his skull cracked against his captor’s nose, and the man howled.
The garrote wire loosened a little and Hale quickly pushed forward. He reached down, his fingers brushing the knife.
Suddenly, the wire pulled tight again, cutting into his skin. Fuck.
Hale couldn’t breathe. He looked up and saw Elin fighting with another guard. Fuck this. He pushed forward, letting the wire sink into his skin. He felt the slide of warm blood down his neck.
His fingers brushed rock, then metal. He grabbed the knife, clutched the hilt, then rammed it back behind him.
His attacker grunted. The wire fell away.
Sucking in air, Hale spun on his knees and buried the knife in the man’s gut. A few short, well aimed stabs, and the man fell back, clutching his bleeding stomach.
Hale leaped up and sprinted toward Elin.
He skidded to a halt. Her attacker was down. She was standing there, chest heaving, calmly taking the man’s rifle.
She was fucking magnificent. And all his.
Suddenly Drift appeared from the dissipating smoke, a gun aimed right at Elin’s back.
No! Hale shoved his hand in his pocket and grabbed the Seal of Solomon.
“Drift!” Hale tossed the ring.
Drift turned and saw the ring. He dodged away from Elin and leaped to catch the ancient artifact.
Then Hale heard something else that made his blood run cold. A buzzing sound echoing off the rock walls.
Elin’s head snapped up, her eyes widening.
The drone shot out of a nearby tunnel. It was identical to the one that had attacked them at the outpost.
Gunfire sprayed the room.
Elin took three running steps and dived into Hale. They slammed together, hitting the ground. Hale rolled them behind one of the stone tubs, just as more gunfire peppered the rock all around them.
***
Elin couldn’t see a way out. The drone swiveled, still firing. Her hands tightened on her stolen rifle and she watched bullets send the few remaining Silk Road team members scattering.
“We can use these tubs for cover,” Hale said, “and make our way toward the exit.”
She eyed the long line of stone tubs. They gave solid cover, but when they ran between them, they’d be out in the open.
More gunfire had them both ducking.
“Come on.” Hale grabbed her hand and tugged her up.
They sprinted as fast as they could and dived in behind the next tub. Bullets slammed into the ground nearby, flecks of rock pinging at their skin.
They both dropped down to the floor and Hale covered her with his body. She tried to elbow him off, but the big, overprotective hero wouldn’t budge.
More bullets rained down around them. They were pinned down.
Hale lifted his head and cursed. “Dammit.”
Elin followed his gaze and saw Drift across the room, hiding behind another tub. He had the Seal of Solomon in his hand.
And he was only two tubs away from getting to the exit.
“No fucking way.” Hale crouched, every muscle in his body tense. “That bastard is not getting out of here—”
“Hale! It’s too dangerous.”
He gripped her chin. “He hurt you. He tried to kill you.” Hale pressed a bruising kiss to her lips and then leaped over the tub.
Her heart jumped into her throat. She turned and watched as he ran like a football player—zig zagging across the room. He shoved one Silk Road man out of the way, then dived and slammed into Drift. The two of them rolled across the floor, each wrestling to get on top of the other.
The drone swiveled, opening fire in their direction.
No, you don’t. Elin jumped up and scrambled over to one of the downed bodies. She swung the rifle up and dropped down on one knee. She didn’t bother aiming. She just wanted to cause a distraction and give Hale some cover fire.
Hale and Drift rolled out from behind the tub, out in the open. The drone started turning.
Right now, Elin didn’t care about the ring or the mission or her job. She just wanted to get Hale and herself out of there alive.
She fired at the drone. Her first shots missed and she swallowed back her threatening panic. She fired again and this time, one of her shots hit it. She watched it wobble. Yes! She’d hit something vital. It lowered to the ground and Elin grinned.
But as its guns moved, she realized that while she’d stopped it flying, she hadn’t damaged its weapons. It opened fire.
Bullets hit near Hale and Drift. Hale’s body jerked.
“No!” Elin aimed again and fired at the drone.
Hale fell backward and Drift rose up, a smile on his face.
Her gun clicked empty. Screw this. She tossed the rifle and leaped over a tub, running fast. She flew at Drift, jumping into a roundhouse kick. Her boot slammed into the man’s jaw. The ring flew from his hand, hit the ground with a ping, and rolled away.
She raced over to Hale. “Move.” The left leg of his cargo pants was soaked with blood and she stomped back her panic. Please don’t have hit something vital. Slinging an arm around his back, she tried to move him. “Cover. Now.”
He was trying to move, but he couldn’t get his injured leg under him. And he was so damn heavy.
She grunted, tugging on him. The closest tub looked like it was miles away.
With a sudden roar, John Drift leaped at them. “The ring is mine!”
In a split second, Elin let go of Hale and braced for Drift’s weight. As he hit her, she used the momentum to swing him around.
The drone opened fire and Elin held Drift up like a human shield in front of her and Hale.
The actor’s body shuddered under the bullets hitting his back. He stared at Elin, his mouth open in shock and his eyes wide.
“Mine,” he choked out.
“No, asshole, mine. And you’re over.”
Blood dribbled out of his mouth. She shoved him away and spun back to Hale.
“Come on.” She slid an arm around him. “Let’s move.”
Elin heard a mechanical whirr. Dread sliding down her spine, she looked over her shoulder and saw the drone was back in the air, but only a foot off the ground. It wasn’t stable, bobbing like crazy.
But as she watched, its guns swiveled and aimed right at them.
Time slowed down, and she tightened her hold around Hale. They were trapped, several feet away from cover, and directly in the line of fire.