Running Fire (18 page)

By the time the sun rose over the peaks, Kell had followed another wider, more traveled goat path that would take them into the valley far below. He would look back from time to time, to make sure Leah was doing all right. His body tightened as he thought about loving her. The time spent in that cave was a gift to both of them.

He turned around, always moving his gaze over the slopes, never totally trusting the intel of the drone or the operator flying it. Even they would sometimes miss the Taliban. While drones were useful, they weren't perfect, nor were the pilots. Kell didn't allow himself to think about Leah. About their blossoming relationship or the rage he now held toward Major Grant. All of those thoughts were distractions he couldn't afford to indulge in right now.

Leah continued to look behind her every ten minutes or so, making sure she saw no riders or goats or goat herders on the trail coming up behind them. The horses were fresh and well rested, moving out at a steady, fast walk. Kell had told her that there were Taliban crawling everywhere in these mountains. He'd talked with the master chief at Bravo, planning a route that would hopefully help them avoid meeting any of the enemy. But nothing was guaranteed.

Near noontime, Kell took another, less used goat path that was steep and narrow. The heat of the day flowed through the Hindu Kush and they were now at seven thousand feet, heading down to a cave marked on the map. He knew that without Sergeant Shinwari's careful mapping of the area, he wouldn't have a clue as to which path to take. Finally, the path opened up a bit and Kell stood in the stirrups, looking to the right. There was a wadi gouged out of the mountain from above, slicing to the right of them, the trail becoming rocky and uneven as it flowed downward past the path they were on, for another thousand feet below them. Eyes narrowing, Kell spotted what he thought was the cave, hidden next to the wadi with a cover of brush and trees. Pulling up, he dismounted.

“I'm going to check this cave and clear it,” he told Leah, tying the horse's reins to a sturdy bush.

“Roger.”

Removing his AK-47 off his back, he turned the selector to single-shot and went quickly into the brush, making little noise. Kell moved and crouched by the opening. The cave had a five-foot entrance, narrowing upward. The light was good and he looked around before entering. As he cleared the oval maw, stepping to the rear, Kell spotted another tunnel leading off to the left. In this cave, according to the map, there was water. He heard nothing, moving down the smooth, white tunnel. Finally, around a curve, he heard the water dripping and saw a small pool. No tangos in the cave. They were safe.

Leah saw Kell emerge ten minutes later.

“It's clear. Let's go on in,” he told her, leading his weary horse through the brush.

Leah followed. She was glad to get out of the daylight and hide. Once inside, she dismounted and followed Kell down a large tunnel, the horse's hooves making clip-clopping sounds that echoed and reechoed around them.

She smiled as she spotted the pool of water. The horses eagerly surged forward, desperate for a drink from their half day of working. Leah stood next to Kell as they allowed the horses to drink their fill. He gazed down at her.

“Holding up?”

“I am.”

“Butt sore?”

She grinned. “That's a given.” Leah opened her hand, touching his. She felt his fingers draw around hers, gently squeezing them. Her heart did flip-flops beneath his dark gray eyes. She was turned on just being near Kell.

“Hungry?”

She laughed a little, feeling heat rush into her face. “Yes.”

Kell gave her a wicked grin. “Maybe not for food but for something else?”

“Stop reading my mind.” She laughed, embarrassed. “I think you've created a monster.”

He slid his arm around her shoulders, drawing Leah against him. “Never a monster,” he admonished, leaning down and giving her a kiss. “You're like a flower, Sugar. You're finding out what it's really like to be a woman. And to enjoy being one. Opening one petal at a time in my arms.”

Her body was already hotly responding to his mouth, the way his lips engaged hers, coaxed her mouth open and enjoyed her response. “Okay, not a monster. Maybe a horny woman who wants to explore?”

Chuckling, Kell said, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“All I want to think about now is sex. And you.” Leah eased from beneath his arm as her horse finished drinking. Off to the left was an alcove where they could tie up the horses and get something to eat.

Kell gave her a good-natured smile. “Both compliments. I'm going to get us some MREs and we'll sit down and take a breather. The horses can use a time-out, too.”

As they sat near the pool and ate, Leah asked, “What's our destination today?”

“I'm hoping we can get down to about six thousand feet,” he said. “There's another cave, no water, but we'll stay there the night. After that, we can make a run for Bravo. We'll be within fifteen miles of it, a good day's ride, but doable.” Providing they didn't run into groups of Taliban. Providing the drone was still available and working. Nothing could be relied upon a hundred percent and Kell knew it. He kept all of it to himself, not wanting Leah to be stressed out.

“Do you have to check in with the master chief?”

“Soon as I'm done chowing down, I'll raise him on the sat phone. Gotta see if that drone's still active around this area, and find out where the Taliban have moved and if we've got a clear shot at that cave or not.”

Leah grimaced. “I'm so afraid of running into a group. There's no place to turn around on these paths. No place to hide or protect ourselves.”

“I know. It's a dicey way to travel.” But they didn't have any options. Kell saw the anxiety in her eyes even though Leah didn't say anything. A little fear was a good thing because it kept them sharp. “How's your head injury? I forgot to ask this morning.”

She touched her hair. “Fine. No headache.” Leah lifted her arm, the dressing still on it. “No problem here, either.”

“What will happen with your flying status once we get back to Bravo?”

Shrugging, she said, “I'm sure a flight surgeon will check me out, make sure I'm ready to fly again.”

“Does that mean you have to go to Bagram?”

“God, I hope not,” Leah muttered, finishing off her MRE. She set it aside. “I'm hoping one will come to Bravo to check me out. I don't want to go to Bagram. I don't want to have to interface with Hayden.” She felt an ugly chill down her spine, trying to ignore it.

Kell saw her eyes became dark. “Be proactive and when we get back to Bravo, make a call and request the flight surgeon come to you.”

Snorting, Leah said, “You're right. I'll do that.” She grimaced. “Kell, I'm feeling a lot of anger toward Hayden. It's never happened before.”

“That's not a bad thing, Leah. You have a lot of banked rage over what he did to you. Maybe long overdue? Anger isn't a bad thing, you know. It's how we handle it that counts.”

Leah looked around and then her gaze settled back on Kell's thoughtful expression. “My marriage, if you can call it that, was a total sham. I see that now more than ever. Hayden used me. And—” she rubbed her hands down her pants “—I don't know what to do with my rage. I'm afraid if I see him, I'll hit the son of a bitch.”

Kell said nothing. If he ever saw Major Grant, he'd be hard-pressed to do nothing, either. Leah was struggling. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her tightened voice. “Maybe part of healing is working through this anger, Leah. Talkin' about it is good.”

“Maybe,” she muttered. “Right now, all morning, I've been thinking about him, Kell. What he did to me. How I stupidly allowed him to maneuver me to get to my father.” She gave him a frustrated look. “Why didn't I see it coming?”

“I don't know, Sugar. It's more important you learn from it, remember the signs, the way he manipulated you, so that you never let it happen again.”

Rubbing her face, she rattled, “I swear, I want to put my fist right through his mouth.”

“Glad you're angry at him and not me,” Kell drawled, teasing her a little.

Leah stood up and started to pace. “I've never hit anyone, Kell. But the feelings coming up in me are full of unadulterated rage.”

“It's okay to feel that way.” Because he wanted to kill Grant, pure and simple. Kell wouldn't act on it, but damn, he wanted to deck the bastard for all he'd done to Leah. As a SEAL, his hands were considered lethal weapons. He knew many ways to kill. And all SEALs were under orders to never allow their training, even in a bar fight, to escalate. They had to stand down. Stand back. Hopefully de-escalate the conflict.

He'd been in bars before when the local guys found out he and his team were SEALs. They never started fights, but they sure as hell finished them. And of course, when it happened, the master chief had to get involved, convince the local police not to press assault charges against them. It always worked, but Kell was more than aware of his lethal capabilities. Still, it would feel good to take Grant down. The bastard was a sexual predator and an abuser. And he was still on the loose, still able to do it again. That's what really bothered Kell. He got away with it once, with Leah. How many other women since her had suffered a similar fate?

Leah continued to pace. It actually felt good to move and get rid of the pain of riding in that awful wooden saddle. Finally, she came and sat down next to Kell.

“Tell me something about your growing-up years that I don't know already.”

He held her curious look. “So you can compare?” Or maybe just to talk about something more positive, to get her mind off the anger rolling through her?

“Yes.”

“That's tough to do, Leah. Your life took different twists and turns than mine did.” He touched her cheek and felt her pain. She was wrestling with not only her marriage, but how she saw herself in relation to her family. He'd told her most things a few days ago, but added in a conspiratorial tone, “We grew up in rural Kentucky. I went barefoot until my ma told me I had to have shoes in order to go to school.”

Leah smiled, lulled beneath his accent, the warmth in his gray eyes. “Really?”

He leaned against the wall and put his MRE aside. “Yeah, we three boys were wild hellions when we were young. We tracked, we hunted and we got into all kinds of adventures.”

“Maybe that's why you're in black ops now.”

Shrugging, Kell said, “It didn't hurt that we already knew how to recon an area, live off the land, track and shoot like snipers,” he agreed, smiling a little.

“Where are Cody and Tyler now?”

“Ty is with Seal Team Eight and Cody is with his A team in southern Afghanistan, near Kandahar.”

“And are they married?”

“Them?” He chuckled. “No, not by a long shot. Cody is a partier by nature. He likes women and they like him, but no moss is growing under his feet.”

“And Tyler?”

“He's the youngest among us,” Kell said. “He's introverted, but sees the positives in life. Loves adventure. And he dearly loves blowing things up. My youngest brother wants to live life to its fullest and have no regrets.”

“And you?” Leah asked, holding his gray gaze. “How would your brothers describe you?”

“The quiet one,” Kell admitted. “I'm the introvert. The loner. The one who gets touched by the beauty of the earth, the kid who lay on his back and watched clouds form and shape and drift by for hours at a time.” He smiled a little, tipping his head back on the wall. “You'll hear a lot of other things—” and he gave her a wicked look “—when you come home with me for Thanksgiving. They'll fill your ears with tales about me.”

“True stuff?” Leah asked, smiling, feeling warmth open her heart, because the look he gave her was intimate. She felt as if she were his woman. She
wanted
to be his woman. But was it really possible? Leah didn't have an answer.

“Oh,” he murmured, chuckling, “part truth, part a big windy.”

“Big windy?”

“Lies,” he said. “Hill-speak for not telling the truth.”

“You're the oldest?”

“Yes, I am. When we were little, they hated that I was older than them. Cody and Ty were always trying to make me look bad in front of my parents. I was responsible for them, and if I couldn't keep them on the straight and narrow, my folks would land on me with both feet.”

“You've always been the responsible one.”
Like me.

“Someone's gotta do the duty,” Kell drawled, meeting and holding her stare. “You'll find out plenty about my two brothers when we're at home. They play hard and they work hard. They're good men. They have integrity and their word is their bond.”

“Your mother and father are like that, right?”

Nodding, Kell said, “Yes. Even though we were like little wild animals growing up, we were taught right from wrong. To tell the truth and not lie.”

“Does your Mom ever want you boys to get married and settle down?”

Kell grinned. “All the time. She comes from a big family of ten. She was used to having a mob of aunts, uncles and two sets of grandparents around her growing up. We keep trying to tell her that being in the SEALs or in the Special Forces isn't good on a marriage. Too many of my SEAL friends who have married, have broken up, like we did. It's a hard life on a woman or a woman with children. The man just isn't around that much, and it all falls on her shoulders.”

Leah absorbed his words. “Worse,” she added, “because you're black ops, you can't tell your wife anything. Not where you are. Or what you're doing.” How would it feel to live with a man when he could never share half of his life with her? Leah didn't find that very positive. Why get married if the two were never together? Or rarely?