Page 25 of Lethal Pursuit

His eyes stung hotter. “I know. Can you tell me where?” If he suspected she had internal injuries, he’d yell for a guard and keep on yelling until they let him treat her and agree to release her. He didn’t care what they did to him after that.

He’d made the decision after the ordeal of advanced SERE school that in the event of being captured, he’d rather die fighting than live on his knees. But he’d live on his knees if it would save Maya. He’d do goddamn anything for that, including sell his soul.

“Maya?” He kept his voice low and steady, despite the tearing pain in his chest. She needed calm now, for him to anchor her. “Tell me where it hurts.”

She sucked in another shallow breath, bit back a cry. “R-ribs. Wrist. Face. Feet.”

Feet? Had that fucker pried her toenails out or something? The sense of vertigo returned. He closed his eyes and pulled in a deep breath to steady himself. “What about your chest or stomach, somewhere inside? Does it hurt inside anywhere?”

“Mmm-hmm.” The response was uttered from between gritted teeth.

His pulse shot up. “Where, honey?”

“Ev-everywhere...”

Jackson closed his eyes. He couldn’t fuckingdoanything. It torehim up inside to know that. Even if he started shouting for the guards and by some miracle they let him tend to her, he had no equipment or supplies. Taking a calming breath, he opened his eyes and tried to see her in the darkness. She was quiet, but he could hear her shivering and those soft, little choked noises she made, as if she didn’t want anyone to know she was crying and was doing everything in her power to hold them in. Having seen firsthand just how strong and formidable she was, it broke his heart.

Lying down on the cold stone floor, he stretched out against the bars of his cell and pressed against them as hard as he could, desperate to get closer to her. When he spoke again, he did so in Spanish so that if any of the captors were listening they wouldn’t be able to understand. This was for Maya alone. His voice was an aching whisper. “Maya. I’m right here, baby. Can you touch me?”

She took a shuddering breath and then those heartbreaking noises stopped as though she refused to let any more out. Was she ashamed? God, he wanted to hold her.

“Come here and touch me,” he urged softly, trying to give her the compassionate human connection she needed.

He heard her shift in the darkness, followed by the swift intake of a pained breath. He gritted his teeth against the urge to tell her to stop and willed her to come closer. There might not be anything he could do to alleviate her suffering, but he could at least try to give her some kind of solace.

He tracked every torturous inch of her progress with the sliding noises along the floor, her throttled groans of pain. All the while he kept urging her softly in Spanish, hoping his voice at least anchored her. At last she was close enough for him to register the warmth of her body on the other side of the bars. She reached through them to place a shaking hand against his face. Jackson’s throat closed up. He leaned into her touch, pressing his cheek hard into her icy palm, and rubbed gently. Her breath hitched on a sob.

“I’m here,” he whispered hoarsely. At that moment he’d have given anything to be able to make the bars disappear and have his arms free so he could hold her, soothe and warm her. “You’re not alone.”

She shifted those last few inches until she was laying full lengthagainst the bars. The only places they touched were her hand on his face and a few inches of their thighs, but he could feel the heat of her body and hoped the shared warmth would stem the worst of her shivering. Every time her muscles shook, it jarred her body, hurting her even more.

He turned his face into her palm and kissed the center of it, not trusting himself to speak. Then those trembling fingers traced over his face like she was trying to see him with her touch and traveled down to curl into his uniform, clutching the fabric as if it was a lifeline. He thought his heart would crack in two. “Just hang on, baby. Hang on to me.”

She expelled a rough breath and held on.

Doug spoke for the first time, his low-pitched voice carrying the English words from the cell behind him. “We’re here for you, Maya. You’re not alone. We’re going to get through this together, all of us.”

She said nothing, only shuddered and kept breathing in a shallow pattern that alarmed him. It killed him to be so close and yet be unable to help or touch her more than he was. An unknown amount of time passed, and her breaths evened out so much he thought she must be asleep. But her grip hadn’t relaxed on him and when she shifted, a ragged cry slipped free. The sound sliced through him like a scalpel. He pressed harder against the bars. She needed to feel him, feel his body up against her, his heartbeat beneath her cheek.

Lying as close to her as he was going to get, he did the only thing he could think of to soothe her.

He opened his mouth and began to sing softly.

* * *

MAYA’S FINGERS HADlong since gone numb from clutching Jackson’s uniform shirt, but she refused to let go. The bars keeping them apart dug into her flesh, though she barely noticed the discomfort through all the other pain. Her ribs, face and the soles of her feet throbbed and burned until she wanted to scream from the relentless onslaught. Everything else just plain hurt.

Crawling to Jackson had been almost unbearable, but being able to touch him took the sharp edge off the fear and despair. The slightheat she could feel coming from him helped warm her a little. Yet the black void of hopelessness was there, waiting for her, ready to swallow her. She’d almost fallen in.

With that single session, that fanaticalmalparidohad managed to break her. She’d screamed for him, endlessly. Her throat was swollen from it. It shamed her.

In the midst of her despair, Jackson’s low, melodic voice filled the darkness. It rolled over her senses like a caress, penetrating the shock and cold inside her. Singing. He was singing to her because he couldn’t touch her and it was the best he could do instead.

Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to drift, holding tight to his uniform and his voice. That low, beautifully modulated voice brought a sudden rush of tears to the surface. Her heart swelled until it felt like it was jammed against the inside of her bruised ribs.

Maya let the sound of it stroke her battered soul, vaguely recognizing an old Rat Pack song. She didn’t really hear most of the lyrics and they didn’t matter. The sentiment behind them did, and his effort to reach out to her. Somehow he’d known she needed him to ground her, keep her from going too deep in her head. She didn’t care that the Sec Def was in the cell next to Jackson and could overhear everything.

Jackson sang two more songs to her softly before falling silent.

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