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“No, I’m not coming home until I complete my mission.”
“Jia, I don’t want you doing this,” Rajiv insisted. “It’s too dangerous—”
“Russell will keep me safe. He wants to kill Han, too, so it makes perfect sense for us to team up.”
“What about your engagement?” Rajiv asked.
She glanced at Russell, who was not looking at her but was still standing so close that she knew he could hear every word. “Killing Han has been my mission for thirteen years. Nothing is going to stop me.”
Rajiv sighed. “All right. I’ll make a deal with you. Come home, and I’ll let you go with Rinzen and Tenzen to track Han.”
Now Rajiv was taking her seriously? But even with this new offer, she knew she had made the right decision. “I appreciate it, but I’m sticking with Russell. He has skills that our uncles don’t have. And I firmly believe he is my best chance at success.”
“But you don’t even like him,” Rajiv protested. “The last time I saw you with him, you slapped the hell out of him.”
Jia groaned inwardly. Only once in her life had she slapped a person, and everyone seemed to be stuck on it. Even Russell was watching her now with a wry look on his face. She turned her back to him and lowered her voice. “I get along with him fine now.”
“I don’t want you working with him,” Rajiv grumbled. “I’m not sure he can be trusted.”
A spurt of anger shot through her. “How can you say that? He’s saved your life more than once. And he saved mine the other night.”
“I know,” Rajiv gritted out. “But he’s not . . . stable.”
“He’s as steady as a rock!” she argued. “I trust him with my life, and so should you. Now I have work to do, so I’ll call you later. Bye.” She punched the Off button and turned to give the phone back to Russell.
He didn’t take it. He was staring at her like she’d grown another head.
“Something wrong?”
“No.” He grabbed the phone and vanished.
She’d defended him. She’d fussed at the Grand Tiger and head of her family on his behalf. In spite of his astonishment, Russell cautioned himself not to misinterpret the situation. Her defense was probably nothing more than an indication of her desperation to succeed. He was a means to an end. He signified the successful killing of Han. But what if he meant more to her than that? She’d said she trusted him with her life. Steady as a rock. She believed in him.
How could he resist her now?
Rule number one, he reminded himself. Focus on business. After teleporting onto a roof in Han’s camp, he listened in on conversations. Nothing new was going on, so he teleported back to the bluff where Jia had remained. Her nose hadn’t detected any vampires in the area other than him. Without further ado, he grabbed her and teleported to the next camp.
An hour later, they had investigated eight more encampments with no results. Because of their close proximity to some of the camps, he used hand signals to communicate with her. Other times, he leaned close to whisper in her ear. She was growing increasingly tense each time he teleported her to a new place, but he figured it was disappointment over their lack of progress.
“There are thirty camps in all,” he whispered in her ear when he slipped his arms around her once again. “And no guarantee that Han is hiding anywhere near them. Locating him could take us several nights.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
Why did she sound so breathless? “Are you tired? Do you need a break?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Let’s get on with this.”
“All right. The best spying place for the next camp is high in a tree.”
Her hands clamped down hard on his shoulders. “What?”
“Don’t worry. If our combined weight is too much, I’ll just levitate.” He teleported to a thick branch, positioning Jia next to the trunk.
She gasped when the branch dipped.
He levitated while helping her grab onto the trunk. Then he grasped another branch to pull himself forward so he could scan the interior of the campsite. It was much the same as the previous nine camps—a few soldiers barely doing the minimum.
“Do you smell anything?” He turned to Jia.
Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she was hugging the trunk tightly, her grip so hard that her knuckles were white. Perspiration beaded her forehead, and her breathing was fast and shallow.
“Jia? Are you all right?”
Her face was deathly pale, and her cheek pressed hard against the bark. “D-don’t mind me. Go on with your business.”
He recalled finding her hanging from the silken rope outside her house in Tiger Town. Her eyes had been shut then, too, and her face pale. “You’re afraid of heights.”
Her eyes flickered open. “Is it that obvious?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
She winced. “Do what you need to do. I’ll be fine.”
He took hold of her upper arm. “I’ll teleport you out of here.”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t take me back to Tiger Town.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because—” She grimaced. “I look like a scaredy-cat.”
His mouth twitched. “We all have issues.”
“I can’t imagine you being afraid of anything.”
A memory flashed through his mind of the night soon after he’d awakened as a vampire, when he’d learned that all of his men had died in Vietnam without him and all of his loved ones in the States were gone. He understood fear too well. Even if he lived for an eternity, he never wanted to experience another night like that.
“I’ll teleport you down to the ground.” He eased around behind her so he could get a better hold on her.
She trembled, her fingers digging into the trunk. “I hate that you’re seeing me like this.”
“It’s all right.” He burrowed a hand between the tree trunk and her waist, the bark scraping his knuckles. “You should have warned me. I thought were-cats were good climbers.”
“I was. Then . . . I wasn’t.”
“What happened?”
She shook her head slightly, her cheek still glued to the tree.
“I have a good hold on you.” With his right hand, he squeezed her upper arm. With his left arm, he tightened his grip on her waistline, pressing her back against him. “Let go of the tree now. I have you.”
Still clutching the tree, she slowly moved her head back till it rested on his shoulder. “It happened thirteen years ago.”
That was how long she’d wanted to kill Han. “How old were you?”
“Eight. My father was the leader of our village, and he refused to bow down to Master Han.”
Russell winced. “Han attacked?”
She nodded her head. “Dad told me to hide in a tree as high as I could climb. I saw him and my mother and brother killed. And hacked—” Her voice broke.
Russell squeezed her tighter and tilted his head so his cheek rubbed against her brow. Eight years old? Far too young to witness something that horrific. “I’m sorry.”
“The ground below me was full of terror. I stayed in the tree till the next night, when Grandfather came with a troop of soldiers. They had to carry me down. Since then, I’ve been afraid of heights.”
“I understand.” How terrified she must have been trying to climb down that silken rope. His poor, brave Jia.
“I didn’t want to tell you. I know you’re looking for a reason to be rid of me. Who would want a coward—”
“You’re not a coward. You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met.”
She turned her head toward him, her eyes wide with shock. “Then you . . . don’t want to be rid of me?”
“No. You’re my . . . partner.” He kissed her brow.
With a sigh, she released her grip on the tree, and he teleported her down to the ground.
What the hell was he doing kissing her again? He released her and quickly stepped away. “See if you can catch Han’s scent.”
“Right.” She inhaled deeply, clearly trying to calm her nerves. Then she closed her eyes and rotated slowly, sniffing at the air.
With her eyes shut, it was safe for him to study her. She was a natural beauty, her face sweet and oval-shaped, her skin clear and luminous, her hair thick and shiny, her body slim and graceful. It was so tempting to take her into his arms and kiss her. A real kiss. On the mouth. But how could he, when she was engaged?
