Page 44 of Strangers in Love

It took another second to realize that he was talking to someone on the other end of a radio. Multiple someones, I assumed, though no one replied. I hoped they were all okay, and their lack of response had been pre-planned. I didn’t want anyone to lose their life trying to save mine.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed my arm just tight enough to move me, and we made it a few more feet before my brain registered where we were going.

I pulled away. “We have to get–”

“Fuck this.”

Before I could ask what he meant, I was in the air and over his shoulder, shock rendering me momentarily speechless. We turned a corner, and this hallway was darker. I considered screaming at him to put me down, that we needed to go back for the others. Even as I thought it, I rejected the idea. Yelling would just draw more attention to us.

But I still didn’t want to be hanging over his shoulder like I was some damsel in distress.

Or a sack of potatoes.

Getting us both killed while I argued a point that was primarily based on my wounded pride and partial humiliation wouldn’t do anyone any good so I decided I’d wait until he put me down before speaking. When I was firmly on both feet, I could convince him and everyone else who made up his group to come back for the others. After all, he’d need to stop fairly soon. It wasn’t as if he could carry me for miles.

Thirty-One

Eoin

This wasn’t exactlyhow I’d imagined the rescue going. Everything going to hell,thatI’d almost expected. No matter how good Cain and the other guys were, we’d all known that getting in and out without anyone knowing we were there would be virtually impossible. We had five trained people with weapons, radios, and a basic idea of what we were walking into. What we didn’t have was outside support.

If any military team, specialized or otherwise, had tackled a similar situation, they probably would’ve had blueprints and eyes in the sky or on the ground to see what the people inside couldn’t. Chances were, they wouldn’t be running through a door, civilian over their shoulder, without knowing whether or not there’d be guns waiting on the other side.

The danger and the not knowing were just part of the job. Cain hired only experienced ex-military for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest was because we understood the risks we’d take for jobs like this. Granted, this wasn’t typical, but Cain wanted to be able to call on his people for anything and know we’d never be caught off guard.

Except this wasn’t something we’d covered.

Yes, we’d talked about what to do if we found Aline and she was too hurt to move. We hadn’t, however, talked about how to reason with a crazy woman who wanted to spend more time getting shot at and lower the chances of us getting out in one piece on the off chance we could rescue a bunch of strangers that we didn’t have the resources to help.

It was great she wanted to help people, and that itself wasn’t really a surprise since she’d been over here to do just that, but this was putting her life at risk for people who could be total assholes. Even if they weren’t, Aline was my mission. Not some strangers who could completely fuck up the team’s plan to get us all out safely.

As soon as I’d seen that stubborn look in her eyes, I’d known there’d been no point in arguing with her. We’d just been putting ourselves at risk. So, I’d done the only thing I could think of. I’d picked her up, thrown her over my shoulder, and got our asses out of there as fast as I could.

I really expected her to start yelling, maybe even hitting me, telling me we had to go back, but she didn’t. Maybe I’d shocked her into realizing just how dangerous our situation was, or maybe she just wasn’t used to people telling her no.

Okay, technically, I hadn’t reallytoldher no, but the basic idea was the same. I didn’t think she was spoiled – shehadspent the last six weeks teaching kids in Iran – but that didn’t mean she wasn’t used to getting her own way. This time, though, she wouldn’t.

I shoved my gun into its holster as I skidded to a stop at the door, praying no one would catch us unarmed. I needed to keep my grip on her legs so she didn’t fall off my shoulder, which meant the only way I was going to get this door open was to use my gun hand.

“Are–”

“We’re not safe yet,” I interrupted as I used my foot to keep the door from latching and reached for my gun again. Once I had it in hand, I used my elbow to push the door open and stepped out of the building and into the same shadowed alcove I’d been in only fifteen minutes or so ago.

The other guys weren’t here, but I didn’t wait for them. The plan was, once we’d either cleared all the rooms or one of us had found Aline and alerted the others, we’d get out any way we could and go straight to our pre-selected meeting spot. Bravo.

Either Aline had finally decided to make my job easier, or she’d finally figured out that she should be scared. I didn’t really care which one it was, only that she’d gone completely still and silent. A tug on the back of my shirt told me she’d grabbed on, and a strange satisfaction went through me at the thought that she found it safe to hold on to me.

I could hear shouting, but it came from the opposite side of the building. I considered putting Aline down so we could be a little more flexible with how we moved, but my gut said she still might try to go back for the others.

Once we were at a point where she probably wouldn’t be able to find her way back, then I’d put her down. Freedom had said that neither of them had gone far from Neutral Ground while they were here, which, combined with the fact that she wouldn’t really be able to see much of anything while she was hanging over my back, meant once we were at our first rendezvous point, she’d have to rely on me to get her where we were going.

I needed to get us there quick, though. Besides the fact that no matter how strong I was, I couldn’t carry her indefinitely, she had to be getting dizzy from the blood rushing to her head. And I had a bad feeling that once we were safe – or safer anyway – I was going to be way too aware of what her body felt like pressed against mine.

I pushed that thought aside and focused on retracing my steps. Sort of. Since it was more about speed than stealth, I worried less about going from shadow to shadow and focused on getting to the hole we’d cut in the fence as fast as possible. I could still hear gunshots, but they didn’t sound any closer. I didn’t let that make me careless, though. Just because no one was shooting at us right this second didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen in the next moment.

We made it to the fence before I heard the shouts closer than they had been. I couldn’t make out the words, but they were definitely coming this way. I scanned the fence line, and for a heart-stopping second, I thought I’d gone the wrong way and missed the hole completely. Then I saw it and realized that it was going to be a tighter squeeze this time.

“Fuck,” I muttered. I hadn’t even thought about how I was going to get through with her on my back. “This is gonna be close.”

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