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She missed him until she was certain she couldn’t draw another breath without him. And then she thought of the child she carried and she found the strength.
Would it grow easier? she wondered. That lonely sense of bleak acceptance. The knowledge that a part of her was forever torn away from her. That the man who held her heart was out there, alone, fighting, in danger. Always in danger.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I love you, Micah,” she whispered into the night. “I hope you know, I will always love you.”
Two Weeks Later
Off the Coast of Africa
The island was several miles off the coast of Africa. A rising volcanic mountain thick with trees and undergrowth that surrounded and protected the mansion that sat in the middle of it.
The moonless night was perfect for a landing by water, but it was damned tricky getting through the heavy forest that ringed the mansion.
The team was alone on this mission. Five men made their way through the junglelike growth while Jordan manned the beaten, rusted freighter they had hijacked for the trip to the island.
It was a four hour hike. The jungle was thick with crawling, biting, sometimes lethal vermin. Snakes were in abundance here.
Micah ignored the conditions, the snakes and the mosquitos that Noah swore were bigger than his grandfather’s cats.
Six weeks. They had tracked Orion for six long, unending weeks. He had slipped off the roster and gone cold a year before the rumored hit against Risa. The list of his aliases was two pages long; his ability to change his appearance was almost legendary. But after they’d found his handler, things had gone a little more smoothly.
The mousey little Cuban, Josef, had been their informant. He’d turned on Orion out of fear that with his retirement Orion would want to get rid of the last link to his former life. Josef had been right. Orion had blown the little Cuban’s villa to hell and back, thinking Josef was still in it.
No messy bloodletting here. Just a lot of explosives. Josef had been with the Elite Ops teams. His butler hadn’t been. Orion thought he’d killed Josef, while Josef was spilling his guts and every little secret he knew about Orion to the team. Those secrets had led them here, to an unnamed island, a whole lot of nasty privateers, and Orion.
Micah slipped up on yet another of the jungle soldiers Orion employed. His arm went around the thick neck, his hand braced against the other side, and with one sure movement, he broke another privateer’s neck.
Nothing messy. No blood, no guts. Just silence.
Another little pop to Micah’s side assured him that Noah had another of the bastards out of commission.
Hell, how many were there, anyway?
With the aid of the night-vision devices Micah wore, he picked out two more. He was on them like their shadows. Silent as death. He twisted the first neck, popped it, and before the other man could turn around, he was dropping to the ground as well.
They were close. The lights set around the mansion could be seen through the thick growth of greenery now. There were a few dogs barking; a soldier snapped a command to shush them.
Cheap dogs equaled nervous dogs, Micah thought with a grin. The guards were so used to the animals’ barking at shadows that they weren’t even aware of the danger approaching them.
Moving into position, Micah shimmied up the nearest tree and braced himself in the thick branches as he pulled the tranquilizer gun from the pack on his back.
It was quieter than a gun and at times more effective.
He tapped the mic to his communication device twice to signal he was in place.
Three more taps came through the receiver at his ear. Noah, Travis, and John were in place as well.
The fifth tap signaled Nik’s readiness to break the security on the gate once the guards were out of the way.
Micah took aim and began firing.
Pop. Pop. Pop. A series of muted shots seemed overloud in the silence surrounding him as he watched the first three guards drop. Three more shots and the dogs were down. If everything had gone according to plan, then the others were down as well.
“Heat Seeker clear.”
“Wild Card clear.”
