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“Wait. What’s this? Shit!” The urgency in Travis’s tone immediately grabbed Luke’s attention, and he whipped around just as Travis held out the binoculars.
Luke took the glasses, but he didn’t need them. Sally, a small figure at this distance, ran headlong through tall grass and wildflowers, on a direct line toward him, but her gait was jerky and awkward. She raced over the ground, sliding, tripping, catching her balance, her hands held behind her back. What the hell was she doing?
“There!” Travis pointed toward the river.
Two black-robed, face-masked figures sprinted on a diagonal course that would soon cut her off.
Luke raised the glasses. He had to be wrong…but his gut told him he wasn’t.What the fuck are they doing here?And where were Daniel and MacGyver? He groped for the weapon tucked against his back.Shit! They were too far away.In a blind rage, he tossed the binoculars to Travis and sprinted for the Jeep.
Another yell went up, and Luke swung around. The newcomer’s height, shape, stance and coloring left no doubt in his mind.Ahmed Kazi,the snake who inhabited his nightmares, screamed at his men to catch her—to catch Sally—and finished his command with a volley of words in their native language. His blood turned to liquid fire in his veins. The son of a bitch had died the night Luke was rescued, or so he’d thought. He hadn’t realized he’d spoken the name aloud until Travis grabbed his arm.
“Ahmed? You’ve gotta be kidding. Isn’t that the SOB who killed Ian?”
Luke didn’t answer, just started for the Jeep again, a singular purpose running through his mind…until he heard Sally’s strained voice. He jerked around just as Travis grabbed a fistful of his shirt.
“Luke, it’s a trap! Don’t come in! It’s a trap, Luke!” Her thin voice drifted to him on the wind, and he barely comprehended her meaning before she lost her footing on a small slope and fell.
Luke turned and tore the Jeep door open, but Travis’s hand still held him. “I have to get to her, man. They’ll kill her.” He ground out the words, trying to shrug off his friend.
A glance down the hill confirmed his fears. The two fighters were on her. One of them raised a long knife, the type they favored for beheadings and such.Fuck!He swung on Travis, knocking him up against the Jeep, but suddenly Coop was there, pinning Luke’s arms behind his back. He struggled as though Sally’s life depended on it…because it did. Couldn’t they see that?
He glanced toward where she’d fallen…and his world went still. The knife dropped in a long arc as the man wielding it fell to his knees to gain more force for the kill.Just like Ian. Luke had learned the hard way that the human head survived for a few seconds after being separated from the body. The horror consumed him all over again. His own blood, pounding in his head, deafened him. Coop released him and stepped away, watching warily…for the beating he expected, no doubt.
Luke’s legs gave out and he dropped to his knees. He raked his hands through his hair helplessly. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Instead of keeping Sally safe, he’d brought the enemy right to her door. He’d been watching for someone who wanted to harmher, but it’d been him who was being hunted all along.
He’d thought he’d hit his lowest point in that prison in Afghanistan, but he hadn’t even been close. Without Sally, there was no reason to go on.
Jen.Luke had told Sally he’d take care of her daughter—he couldn’t let her down again. The game was still on. He had unfinished business and it was going to end here—today.
“How many are there?” Luke didn’t miss the fact they’d both stepped back as he rose to his feet.
“I’ve counted six so far, including the blond-haired bastard.” Travis offered him the field glasses, which Luke accepted and placed around his neck.
Six was doable. He’d taken out that many during training exercises. “Daniel? MacGyver?”
“No sign,” Coop said.
Luke reached behind him for the handgun shoved in his waistband and pulled out the clip to check his load, an action born of habit and caution. Replacing the clip, he thrust the gun between his back and his jeans again, then met Travis’s gaze. “I could have stopped them—distracted them long enough Sally might have gotten away. You don’t know—we’ll never know.” His voice rising and close to breaking, he clamped his mouth shut. It’d been a mistake to start this now. Raw and bleeding, his emotions were too close to the surface.Concentrate on what needs to be done.
Travis strode toward him, and Luke tensed. “Your head’s all fucked up, Luke. What’s the first rule? Huh? Those dickheads are out for your skin. Why else would that traitorous scum be here? If you’d rushed in there, you’d be dead now.”
Shaking with fury and despair, Luke closed the space between them until they were nose to nose. “Do you think I give a rat’s ass? I’d gladly give my life if there was one fucking chance she could have walked out of this.” He dropped back and turned to survey the cabins, now quiet and, for all appearances, deserted.
“That’s why I stopped you. You weren’t thinking straight. She would have died anyway, the minute they got their hands on you. They didn’t need her for anything but drawing you into the trap. She said it herself.Shemade the choice to warn you. Don’t you think she could guess what would happen when they caught up with her?” Travis pointed toward the meadow where Sally had fallen.
He was right about one thing. This whole damn clusterfuck was Luke’s fault. “You and Coop head back to town.”
Coop and Travis exchanged a glance.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Coop said, issuing a disbelieving laugh.
Travis folded his arms in front of his broad chest, making it clear he wasn’t moving either.
“Yeah, you are. There’s been enough collateral damage.”
Coop’s chest expanded and he took a step toward Luke. “Since when are yourbrothersconsidered collateral damage? Those dirty motherfuckers attack one of us, they attack us all. Or have you forgotten?”
Coop’s words jarred Luke. Maybe he’d feel the same if he was in their place, but he wasn’t, and all he cared about was finding MacGyver and Daniel, hopefully alive, then taking out as many of the murdering terrorists as he could…before they killed him.
