Page 60 of Lethal Pursuit

She met his gaze with a maddening calm. “I just saved our right flank and mortally wounded Mohammed,” she replied in a heated whisper.

Jackson shook his head. If they hadn’t still been in danger and if she hadn’t been so banged up, he would have grabbed her and shaken her. “Don’t pull that shit ever again.”

Her mouth parted in shock. “I’ll do whatever I have to in order to protect our position,Sergeant.” The last word was a hiss.

She was pulling fucking rank on himnow? “Not. Ever. Again,” he bit out. He didn’t care that she was an officer and he wasn’t. Out here at this moment, rank didn’t mean shit. It was his duty to protect her, not the other way around. “We had the flank covered.” And she’d scared him shitless by risking herself like that. They were so close to making it out of here—he’d never be able to live with himself if he didn’t get her out safely. Maya didn’t respond, but she didn’t have to. Her one good eye and the other that was open a slit were boring holes in his face.

“Don’t see any movement over there,” Haversham whispered. “Think he’s got more men left?”

“At least a few dozen more,” Sandberg replied, crouching behind the smaller boulder. “What do you think?” he asked Jackson.

“I think we find another way outta here and haul ass to the LZ,” he said to him.

Sandberg nodded. “We’ll double back. Let’s go.” He reached for Haversham to help him up.

Staying low, Jackson rushed over to Maya’s position. She wasalready up, hunkered down behind the pitiful cover she’d chosen. Her eyes shot sparks at him when he came down on one knee beside her. “I’m down, but I’m not out,” she snapped in a harsh whisper. “You need to remember that and lose this protective alphamale bullshit. Just because I’m the only female doesn’t mean you—”

He cut her off with a single, slicing look. “Save it. I’m done arguing about this. I’m carrying you outta here, and you’re gonna get home in one piece because I’m gonna make it that way. And you’re never gonna put your ass on the line like that again unless the rest of us are dead. And I mean every last one of us. Got me?”

A muscle in her jaw worked as she glared at him, and when she spoke her voice was unsteady. “I don’t want you risking your life for me.”

His anger evaporated at the fear on her face. Though he wanted to touch her and reassure her, now wasn’t the time. And if he relaxed his stance for an instant, she’d take that slack and run with it. “Too bad, because that’s what I do.” He’d done it for complete strangers in the line of duty without a second thought, but with her it was personal. Every single instinct he possessed was focused on protecting her, because she washisand she’d come to mean more to him than she’d ever realize.

Something moved in her expression, a weird mixture of wonder and apprehension before she put the calm mask back in place. Without giving her another second to argue, he checked to make sure the coast was clear and lifted her over his shoulders once again.

Sandberg was already a few paces back up the trail they’d taken. Jackson followed, half turning every few seconds to make sure they weren’t being followed. The hell of it was, they all knew the enemy was still out there. They just didn’t know when the next attack would come.

* * *

WHEN THE MENdragged Mohammed into the rock crevice where he waited, Khalid took one look at the fatal wounds in the boy’s belly and felt his knees give out. Denial shot through him as he reached out a hand to brace himself on the rock before he fell. The men setMohammed down and glanced up at him in uncertainty.

“Leave us,” he whispered, his throat so tight he could barely get the words out. The men left to tend to the other wounded. Khalid swallowed hard and went to his knees beside Mohammed. His young face was lined with agony, the scent of his blood strong in the air as it poured in a continuous stream from his body beneath his clutching hands.

“I am s-sorry,” Mohammed gasped out, eyes glazed with pain, glimmering with unshed tears.

Khalid couldn’t stand it. Ignoring the fiery burn in his ruined shoulder, he placed one hand atop Mohammed’s, over the terrible wounds. With the other, he cupped the boy’s bearded cheek. His own bullet wounds throbbed, sending needles of agony along his limbs until he thought he’d vomit. “Do not apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for.” A helpless rage twisted inside him. So young. So full of promise and goodness. The very best of their cause and a future leader who would have shone as brightly as the sun someday. All wasted.

Because of that traitor Jihad and the female who had helped the others escape.May they all burn in hell for this.

“I d-didn’t...listen...”

He hadn’t listened when Khalid had shouted at him to come back, screamed at him not to make the reckless charge. He closed his eyes and bit down against the overwhelming tide of grief crashing over him. When he opened them, he was unashamed of the tears stinging there. “I’m not angry at you, Mohammed. You were so brave.”

Those dark, trust-filled eyes stayed on his. Searching for acceptance and trust. Things Khalid had been searching for his whole life until Mohammed had given them to him. “Wanted to...p-prove myself.”

Because he feared Khalid had blamed him for the prisoners’ escape. The knowledge was almost too much to bear. “You already did.” He stopped talking because his voice had cracked and he couldn’t go on.

Mohammed’s brave facade began to crumble. His legs shifted restlessly on the ground in a futile effort to escape the pain and he rolled his head, eyes squeezed shut. “Hurts.”

“I know, son.” And there was nothing he could do to ease it for him or speed the process of dying along for him. He didn’t even have anything to ease his pain—here, where opium grew more plentifully than anywhere else on earth. It could take another hour or two for him to die, maybe more. Khalid could not stay that long if he hoped to catch the enemy. But he refused to abandon Mohammed here to die alone. The boy deserved a better fate than that.

No. Therewassomething he could do, he realized. He could give Mohammed one final act of mercy to repay him for his loyalty and kindness.

Fighting back a growl at the surge of pain in his left arm, he reached behind him into his belt and took hold of the knife hilt. He paused there a moment, fingers wrapped around the cool metal.

Allah,let me be swift. Let me strike true so that he does not suffer a moment longer.

“Mohammed, pray with me.”

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