Hot Zone (Elite Force #2)(62)
Author: Catherine Mann

Ten. Not eleven.

He hooked his arm out the open window while the Humvee driver coordinated his route with the truck ahead. Hugh barely registered what they were saying, his thoughts scattered as hell even as he kept his eyes on the dusty city in the distance. Had he miscounted the number of kids? He didn’t think so, but it was possible. His surveillance of the beach cottage had been late at night from a distance. He could have counted one baby twice.

But if he hadn’t?

That meant Jocelyn was out there somewhere with a vulnerable child at a time when lawlessness was rampant. There simply weren’t enough security forces available to search for her. They’d been lucky to shut down the home base of the smuggling operation.

He just hated loose ends. Hated that there was a chance justice might never be served for heaven only knew how many children had been shuttled through her illegal organization.

Now he needed to find Amelia and let her know what happened. And yeah, he needed to see her. To reassure himself that she and Joshua were safely with their family.

It had been scary as hell having her and the kid vulnerable on his watch. Yet it hadn’t flipped him out the way it would have a couple of years ago. He would never be whole, but then again, maybe he wasn’t walking the same tightrope he used to—a razor’s edge between himself and danger.

And he had Amelia to thank for that. She’d reminded him that he mattered and his efforts mattered. Whereas before, he’d been throwing himself into hellish situations as much to tempt fate as to save people. He wouldn’t rest easy until they were on an airplane to the States.

And then?

Would he contact her in the “real” world? Ask her out in a regular kind of way? It wasn’t as if she lived on the other side of the universe. Only a few hours apart.

The ground shook under his feet. Exhaustion or another aftershock? Just the Jeep stuttering along a rippled stretch of land leading to the airstrip. He was supposed to meet McCabe here—which was code for the major figuring out if he could trust Hugh back in the field.

The line of vehicles stopped one after the other. The temporary base that had been set up shortly after the earthquake had grown since he’d seen it last—more tents, portable hangars, more parked aircraft, and definitely more personnel. The suspects and children would be held here until local authorities sorted through the kidnapping mess.

At least this place was on the outskirts of the devastation, a tent city of sorts constructed on open land. Uprooted trees and buckled earth were the only signs of the recent earthquake.

He vaulted out of the Humvee, scanning for McCabe—but looking for Amelia. She and Joshua had been brought here to reunite with her brother and sister-in-law.

Amelia was here.

His pulse ramped at just the thought of seeing her. God, he was turning into a sap. He was even pumped about seeing the kid—

Except the child would be with his parents now. As life should be. Still, his feet slowed and he wasn’t sure why. He should be relieved to have Amelia to himself, to talk to her, to figure out where they would take things next.

The ground vibrated under his feet. Aftershock or airplane taking off? He scanned the dirt runway, already moving to the most open space, away from anything that could collapse on top of him. And where the hell was Amelia?

Shit.

It had to be an aftershock. He hoped. Because the alternative sucked.

The ground steadied. He waited. Still steady. Exhaling, he shrugged a kink out of his neck just as McCabe stepped from around a tent. The major stalled in his tracks. He grabbed the tent pole, paling.

Hugh strode toward him. “You okay, sir?”

“Yeah…” He straightened slowly, his camos crusty and his eyes red rimmed, no doubt from round-the-clock shifts. “Just damn glad to see you alive.”

McCabe hauled him in for a hug, thumping him between the shoulder blades, and Hugh had to admit he was choked up too.

“There were times it was touch-and-go.” He pulled away, but wasn’t in any hurry to be under shelter. The wide-open spaces looked better and safer all the time. “This place has turned into such a lawless mess since the quake.”

“And every time the earth starts shaking again—like a few seconds ago—people go a little batty.”

“Understandable.” Hugh thought back to that time underground with Amelia, how she’d held it together in spite of how often it had seemed the building would collapse the rest of the way on top of her.

“Last report puts the count at seventeen aftershocks since the original earthquake, with more undoubtedly to come.” Squinting into the sun, McCabe stared out toward the ocean. “At least they canceled the tsunami warning.”

“There was one?”

McCabe looked over his shoulder at him, grinning. “Sometimes being out of touch can be a blessing, my friend.”

“That it can.” Hugh stepped alongside him and they stood together quietly. Hugh took in the still earth, the flow of business moving at a steady clip. Not dragging, but not too hurried either.

McCabe finally turned to him again. “Take twelve hours, check in with a doc, and then you’re going to report in for duty.”

“I can report up now.”

“No offense, but you’re not known for understanding human limitations. Take twelve hours. I’ve got half our guys out there now.” McCabe was a lighthearted dude—except when he wasn’t. And right now, he was wearing the no-bullshit expression. “You can join the rest when we rotate.”

“Yes, sir.” He knew an order when he heard one.

McCabe clapped him on the back once more before starting toward his Humvee. He called over his shoulder. “Just in case you were wondering, the lady you saved ran into that storage tent about ten minutes ago. She looked pretty upset.”

Hugh snapped to attention, his focus zipping over to the supply tent, drab gray and so densely packed with pallets he couldn’t see inside. He thought about her inside alone, and given the family reunion she’d just had, he could too easily figure out what must have happened. She’d passed over her nephew to his parents.

A baby she’d grown attached to this week. How could she not, after all they’d been through? She’d been ready to die for that child. Had fought to stay alive for him after the earthquake, making sure Hugh never forgot the boy was there, insisting he was alive when anyone else would have given up. Joshua owed her his life.

And again she’d given him a chance at a bright future in handing him over to his parents.