Free Fall (Elite Force #4)(16)
Author: Catherine Mann

What a joke.

He was cowering in this stinky cubby like a scared rabbit. The past eight months hadn’t made him stronger. They had only made him desperate to escape this kind of life. He would do anything to make that happen. Even if that meant letting them go through with their plan to murder hundreds of people at the embassy? Right now he thought yes, he could even do that.

The American soldiers that stormed the compound speaking English and shooting guards, they didn’t know what they’d taken with them. He’d watched through a crack. They’d stuffed stolen artifacts in their clothes and packs, maybe to protect themselves, maybe to sell. The Americans had no idea what the bastards would do once they realized what the Americans had really taken. It wouldn’t be long either since it would be the first thing they looked for. They were already tearing apart the compound now, searching for it, the key to their plans to set off something horrible at the American embassy.

Except it wasn’t here. If he could find it, he finally would have something of value, something he could sell, a ticket out.

He was scared, but he had skills now and he had an advantage. He knew which way those four Americans had gone. If he could find them first, he could get what he needed and barter it for enough money to get away. He would leave Africa and go to India and study Sanskrit. He would be a student, not a soldier.

Although first, he had to be a soldier just a little while longer. Ajaya clutched his rifle to his chest and focused on images of his mother, his sister, and little brother. He envisioned them alive, leaving with him.

A lot more comforting than remembering their dead, bloody bodies as he’d hidden in the scrub brush, stuffing a fist in his mouth to stifle his screams.

And he realized he wasn’t a scared rabbit now after all. He was a cornered lion, ready to kill.

Chapter 4

Stella curled up with the woven cloth around her, determined to sleep, knowing she needed to store strength in case they had to evade for any length of time.

Her head resting on the crook of her arm, she hugged the cottony fabric tighter around her again. It seemed wrong to use something so beautiful, so carefully woven, for protection against night crawlies, but she was practical. She needed to rest, so she cocooned herself in the rectangular kanga.

Not that sleep came easy. She could have blamed it on her micronap earlier, or the fact that violent forces could stumble on them at any minute. Except she knew the real cause of her restlessness sat a few feet away. Jose. The feel of his arms around her lingered. His unexpected hug had rocked her to her toes, making her question all of her so-called resolutions to stay away from him forever. Even trying to clear the air had her heart in her throat and she’d balked.

She’d held strong against the urge to contact him for the past month because she’d known seeing him would hurt. A lot. There’d been no way to foresee how much. She needed to accept there would be no easy break-off, no way to clear regrets. She needed to move on. She wasn’t fool enough to think she could change him. He said he didn’t want to settle down. He absolutely did not want children because of his own messed up childhood with an alcoholic mother. Because of his fears about staying sober himself. Even though he’d been dry for five years, he was convinced he couldn’t risk having kids.

Nothing she said had changed his mind, and she couldn’t keep lying to herself. Whether he’d been telling the truth or concocting an excuse he knew would make her run, he’d pushed her away and he’d meant it.

She wrapped her heart up again, as tightly as she wrapped her body in the patterned fabric, tracing her fingers along the scripted border. She would keep up her guard when she was with Jose. But here, in her dreams, she could think back to those early days after they’d met, the days when she’d dared to hope there could be a future for them…

***

Stella had been on her fair share of dates in her life, but this first date with Jose definitely ranked as the most unique.

He’d invited her to go with him on a long distance trip to the “zoo” as casually as if they’d been home in the United States rather than in Africa. As she sat beside Jose on a rocky ledge overlooking a jungle waterfall, she had to admit Queen Elizabeth National Park was a little more than a zoo.

In the week since she’d rescued Jose from the Gulf of Aden, they’d both been tied up with work. He’d been instrumental in the final takedown of a local pirate ship. She’d worked debriefs with the CIA.

She’d been damn proud of how well she’d focused on her job even with the distraction of heated glances exchanged with the sexiest man she’d ever met. Then she’d gone to her quarters on the local base six days after they’d met and found him sitting on the floor outside her room. But rather than hit on her, he’d asked her out on a date.

An old-fashioned, so damn sweet request that she’d melted.

The next day, they’d slipped away on a helicopter to Uganda, to Queen Elizabeth National Park for the weekend. She wasn’t even sure how he’d arranged for the chopper transport, and she decided she didn’t need to know. For the moment, she could simply go with the flow. She was glad for the date to escape the sense of failure that she hadn’t learned anything new yet about what happened to her mom.

And most of all? Finally, she could spend time with Jose “Cuervo” James, take time to discover if there was more to the attraction than just lust. Although with the hiking pace he was setting, neither of them would have energy for much of anything at the end of the day.

Four miles into their trek at the park, she’d learned the man had endless energy away from work as well. And patience. He sat with her on a rocky ledge near a waterfall, watching the wildlife. She scoured the trees with buttress roots protruding, somewhat wary of the snakes and other beasties hiding in the verdant rain forest, but the glittering view was well worth any tugging wariness. The shady spot provided relief from the heat while she went mellow, soaking in the view.

How could one man pour so much energy into sitting still? Without moving a muscle, he positively hummed with more vitality than most radiated while running a marathon. Minutes ticked by while she watched him watching the monkeys and chimpanzees swing from branch to branch.

His eyes slid over to her. “What?”

She smiled back, seeing the attraction she felt echoed in his eyes. “I’m just intrigued by how intently you’re studying the monkeys.”

“They’re cool dudes.” He pointed toward the trees growing together with linked limbs. “For me it’s like how others ‘people watch’ at the mall. I enjoy figuring out their different personalities, their quirks, their cliques. It’s always different.”