Tactical Rescue

Blue eyes flashed in fury. “He was protecting the country!”

“He shot an unarmed woman! Tried to murder her!”

“No! I didn’t! I didn’t shoot her!” Seth yelled. With a simple slip of the tongue he made his attempted disguise worthless.

Zack nearly chuckled through gritted teeth. “Oh, you didn’t, did you, Seth? But you did steal sensitive information from your own country for a quick and easy payday?”

“You have no clue what I did or why I did it!” Seth flicked his handgun’s safety switch off. “You stay away from me. You stay away from my sister. Or I’ll kill you.”

A muffled cry filled the air to Zack’s right. Female. Frightened.

There was somebody trapped under those rocks and screaming for help. Seth’s neck turned toward the sound. Zack kicked Seth’s knees out and sent him sprawling. The Glock fired into the air. But Zack wrestled the weapon from Seth’s grasp before he could fire again and leveled a swift blow to his jaw. Seth hit the pavement. His head snapped back. There was a chain around Seth’s neck. A small blue computer memory stick hung from it. The stolen government computer files? Zack grabbed it and yanked it hard, breaking the chain from around Seth’s neck. Then Zack ran for the rock pile. The voice had gone silent.

“Hello!” Zack scanned the rock pile. “Hey! Is somebody there?”

He tried to shove his visor up. It wouldn’t budge. Then he heard it. A gasp. A cry. A voice, faint but strong, and coming from under the rocks. He saw fingers sliding out of a gap. A slender hand, clad in a climbing glove.

“I’m here. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He climbed across the rocks, crouched down and touched her hand lightly, just enough to reassure her. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Seth scrambling to his feet.

Zack’s brain went into triage mode. He had to stop Seth. He had to save the woman beneath the rocks. He couldn’t let a traitor escape. He couldn’t let a civilian die.

“Please, Lord,” she gasped. “I don’t want to die down here.”

The woman’s prayer yanked Zack’s attention back to the rocks. Seth disappeared over the other side of the rubble. Zack grabbed a boulder, hoisted it up and threw it off the pile. Then he looked down. Dark, determined eyes looked up at him. Black hair lay dusty and wild around a sun-kissed face. Her delicate lips parted but no sound came out. Zack’s heart beat painfully in his chest, with the same unexpected sting he’d felt as a teenager, as he looked across the gym martial arts mats and suddenly laid eyes on the most beautiful person he’d ever seen.

It was Rebecca.

TWO (#ulink_8e00a046-93b5-5d66-bb13-a743bb8a17dd)

Rebecca nearly cried out in frustration as a black shape suddenly blocked out the tiny patch of blue sky that had appeared over her head. It took her two deep breaths to realize she was staring straight into the helmet visor of the man from the motorcycle. He must’ve realized it, too, because he said, “Hey, sorry,” and reached to yank the helmet off.

Another gunshot split the air. He muttered something about a second gun and disappeared from view.

She closed her eyes and tried not to panic. Thank You, God, that I’m still alive and nothing seems to be broken. When she’d seen smoke from the explosion rushing up toward her, and felt the rock slide out from under her feet, she’d held tight with everything she had, until there was no ground left beneath her and nothing to do but fall. Then she’d protected her head with her arms and focused on controlling her slide the best she could as the world around her was swallowed up in smoke, heat and falling rock.

More shouting from above her now. A gun blast rattled the rocks. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing through her fear, even as she could feel it threatening to take over her mind. A vehicle engine rumbled in the distance. There was the sound of someone scrambling over the rocks above her again.

“Hey.” The voice was male, deep and with just a hint of grit. “I’m back. You okay?”

Rebecca opened her eyes.

Her heart stopped. His helmet was now off. And she found herself staring straight into the gray eyes of the only man who’d ever managed to make that heart flutter a beat.

Zack. She opened her mouth but couldn’t find her voice. Zack Biggs.

Is that really you?

“Hang on, I’m going to get you out of here.” He disappeared again and she heard rocks shift above her.

No, he couldn’t be Zack. She must’ve bumped her head so hard she was seeing things. Her mind filled with a mental image of what Zack had looked like the last time she’d seen him. She’d been seventeen years old and dressed in the only sparkling formal dress she’d ever owned. The sports banquet had been over. She’d still been clutching her martial arts trophy: Rebecca Miles, Technically Flawless. Zack had stood outside in the courtyard, pounding rain beating on his head and running down his face. Looking sad and angry and as though he’d just lost something.

The weight that was pressing against her limbs lightened. She wriggled her other arm out of the rock.

“All right, I’m going to reach in and lift you out of there.” He peeled off his leather jacket and leaned in toward her. “Just grab hold of my arms, and I’ll hoist you up.”

The arms she grabbed ahold of were solid muscle and as smooth as marble encased in silk. The T-shirt-clad chest that pulled her in was as perfectly sculpted as a statue. The face she looked into had cheekbones cut like an action hero’s, and his black hair was grizzled gray at the temples. Could this man really be Zack? If so, didn’t he recognize her? Her tongue felt tied. His strong arms were practically carrying her down to the road, and here her brain couldn’t even figure out how to make sense of what was happening. A good chunk of the cliff side now blocked the road leading to her campsite. The man who’d set the detonators was nowhere to be seen. The motorbike lay in a twisted wreck on the south side of the rocks. The Zack she’d known had had a passion for motorcycles and had admired the General’s vintage collection. But he also could never have maneuvered a bike like that. He set her down gently. One hand hovered over her shoulder. “Are you hurt?”

“Scratched and bruised, but okay,” she said. “But what about you? That looked like a pretty major crash.”

“I’m fine.” He stepped back. His shoulders straightened. His arms crossed. Everything about his stance screamed military.

“Where did that other man go?” she asked. “Do you know who he was, or where he went, or why he sabotaged the road like that?” She was talking too fast, which tended to happen when she was uncomfortable. And right now her nerves were in overdrive. “I don’t have a cell phone on me, but there’s one in my camper, which is a short walk from here. My truck’s there, too. We need to report this to police. This road’s a write-off, at least for going south. And your bike’s wrecked. But if we take my truck and drive north, there’s a back way we can take to Timmins. It’ll only take a couple hours.”

He just looked at her. Then he ran one hand slowly over his face and looked down the road.

See, this is why you can’t possibly be my Zack, no matter how much you remind me of him. Because my Zack would be hugging me right now and reassuring me, instead of just standing there.

“Sorry, we haven’t done introductions.” She stepped forward and stretched out her hand. “My name is Rebecca Miles.”

His eyes met her gaze. She knew those eyes. Dark gray. Like flint, the moment just before it sparked a fire. His mouth opened. A phone started ringing behind her, so loudly she almost jumped. He ran past her, back up the rock pile to his jacket, and grabbed a cell phone out of the pocket. “Keats here.”

Keats? His name was Keats? Even though she’d just told herself he couldn’t possibly be her high school crush, somehow hearing a different name come out of the man’s mouth landed heavy in her stomach.

She watched as he stood on the rock, his back to her and his phone to his ear. If he’d had a phone, why hadn’t he called the police already? The conversation was quick. He hung up, picked up his jacket and walked back down the rock slide toward her. Deep frown lines cut along his brow.

“Keats, is it?” she asked.

He paused, as though he’d just been asked a very difficult question.

“I’m sorry,” she added. “I couldn’t help but hear when you answered the phone. But that’s all I heard.”

“Yes.” He pulled off his right glove and reached for her hand. A strong, firm grasp enveloped hers. “Sergeant Keats. Reconnaissance specialist. That was my CO—my commanding officer—on the phone. I apprised him of the situation. My phone battery is pretty much dead right now, and he’s going to call all this in to the police. And yes, I’d like to take you up on your offer of a ride to Timmins.” There was a searching look on his face, as if she was supposed to be reading something else between his words. “What were you doing up on that hill?”

“Searching for a falcon’s nest,” she said. “I’m a filmmaker and videographer. So, Sergeant Keats, is it safe to presume that the man who nearly blew us up is some target you’re up here chasing?”

“No.” His frown grew deeper. “I’m not on assignment. I’m on leave actually, until Thursday. I’m due back at base in two days. Just let me grab my bag off the bike and I’ll be good to go.”

“But what about the man who blew up the road? I heard arguing and gunshots—”

“He’s gone.”

Her hands slid onto her hips. “And?”

“And, he blew up the road.” Now his arms crossed over his chest. “We struggled. I disarmed him. He ran off to where he’d hidden his vehicle. I thought he’d gone. But then he returned with a new weapon. It discharged. I disarmed him again. He left. I now have two illegal Glocks in my possession, and I’d like to go put them in my bag, as I don’t much feel like leaving them here.”

It was all useful information, but hardly warm and reassuring. And didn’t tell her what she wanted to know.

“But who was he and why did he blow up the road?”