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When his body started to shake, a smile crossed my face as I usurped one last moment of control, squeezing my muscles. That set off an explosion within both of us. As another intense orgasm swept through me like a tidal wave, he issued several husky growls, thrusting hard and fast.
Then he erupted deep inside of me, filling me with his seed.
As he collapsed around me, pushing us down onto the bed, a strange thought about the future entered my mind. Sadly, he wasn’t there, as if he no longer existed.
As if he’d died for the cause.
The thought was so overwhelming that tears formed in my eyes. I was already falling for the man. What if I lost him in the process?
CHAPTER8
Santiago
“Get up. Get the fuck up! We need to get out of here!” I hissed, trying to move. Gasping, I jerked up my head, trying to figure out what I was seeing. Fire. Fuck. One of the tanks was on fire. What the fuck had happened?
Grunting, pain tore through the entire lower half of my body as I struggled to move. What the hell was keeping me down? I felt around me, able to grab my weapon. Then I clawed the mud, trying to dig myself out of a hole as I slowly remembered.
Ambushed.
Fuck! The grenades had come out of nowhere. A crack of lightning almost had me jumping out of my skin, but as the flashes crisscrossed the sky, I caught a silhouette of shadows all around me. “What? James! Marshall. Justin. Where the fuck did you go?”
Rain started to fall. Cold, drenching rain. Blinking, I glanced up toward the sky, trying to piece together what little I remembered. Please, God. Get us out of here.
Almost paralyzed with fear, I took the butt of my rifle, using it to dig as I twisted my torso, trying to get away from whatever was holding me down. I couldn’t move my legs. There was no feeling in them. Gasping, I heard a rumble and the earth moved, but not from vibrations from the storm. There were troops coming. Enemy troops.
“Guys. We need to get out of here. Let’s roll!”
There was only the crackle of thunder in reply.
I fought harder, digging my fingers into the muck. I refused to give up, finally freeing one leg then the other. I slammed my fist on the ground, smashing the butt of the weapon into the earth, fighting my way inch by inch until I managed to roll over, taking gasping breaths as I stared up at the sky. I was so thirsty, my throat tight, my lips cracked.
Panting, I opened my mouth, allowing rainwater to fall inside. When another bolt of lightning crashed down somewhere close, I turned my head to the side, the eerie blue light casting a shimmer across the broken earth.
And across Justin’s face, my buddy’s broken and bloodied face.
“Fuck!”
I jerked up, gasping for air, immediately placing my hand across my mouth. The air was suddenly stifling. Leaning over, I rubbed my eyes, trying to pull myself completely out of the nightmare. Everything around me was fuzzy, my mind starting and stopping several times as if a rewind and play button was being hit over and over again.
The horrific images played out several times before slowly fading into the darkness, but I would never forget the horror of seeing them. All of them. Blood was everywhere, debris and twisted metal strewn across the landscape. How long had it been since I’d had the dream? I broke out into a cold sweat, fighting to get the last images out of my mind.
Sleep hadn’t come easily for me after my return. Even being on the island, it had taken a day of complete exhaustion to be able to get more than a couple of hours at a time. Tonight was no exception. I hadn’t expected to be shoved back into the memories, but it was likely inevitable given the mission I’d accepted.
Willow.
I’d ravaged Willow’s body more than once yet when she’d fallen asleep in my arms, I’d tensed, fearing the worst, convinced soldiers would make their way through the jungle at any time. Just like what I’d experienced a few years before. I’d tried several times to talk myself out of taking the damn job. Now I knew why.
I didn’t care about the odds of that happening or the fact no one knew I owned a place here. I hadn’t even told my brother, although he’d questioned me more than once. We’d gotten into an argument about the fact I hadn’t told him where I was living. And the hatred that had been born over our different opinions on our father had put a rift into our relationship that I expected could be permanent.
The one thing I’d always done was follow my instincts. Now I was following orders that had an open end. While the rescue was necessary, the fact I had no clue when she’d be able to return to her life both troubled and pissed me off. It was as if Broderick had hidden a part of the responsibility and the reasons why.
While Broderick had mentioned he’d make contact within a week, I wasn’t holding my breath. I was required to contact the handler after I’d accomplished the first goal of my mission—finding a safe location. After that, I was only supposed to utilize the unknown contact if absolutely necessary, an emergency situation. I’d ignored making contact upon arrival, which I knew was partially because I’d been miffed at the entire situation. More so now that I’d gotten more details from Willow.
I turned my head, studying her for a few seconds. She was sleeping peacefully. What hadn’t I been told about her family situation? In my mind, her mother’s position as well as her blatant hatred of the human race made her the likely target. But what was the connection to Castillo if this wasn’t about ransom or a simple human trafficking situation? The quick answer was greed. The better answer was revenge.
But was this personal or professional?
Castillo owned more than fifty percent of another pharmaceutical company, a legitimate operation in the United States and South America that he used likely for money laundering. While it had been investigated in the past, from what I’d read, no one had been able to pin anything on him. He paid his taxes to the American government. He’d followed all required protocol with regard to testing and he’d only had the typical share of lawsuits.
