Honor Reclaimed (HORNET #2)

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

Oh, yeah, she was still pissed. Not that Seth blamed her for it. He deserved the silent treatment and probably more.

Phoebe had barely looked at him all day, even though they now rode the same horse since both his and Ian’s animals had escaped during the firefight yesterday. The village had provided Ian with a donkey, which, as Jean-Luc pointed out, had the same shining personality as the bomb tech.

Phoebe had snapped a photo of the made-in-heaven pair and laughed about it with the guys—until Gabe ordered her to ride with Seth. She’d protested, of course, but it was either Gabe’s way or the highway and her arguments had died a quick death.

At least the trip was uneventful. No more run-ins with unfriendly locals, which was either a stroke of awesome luck or a sign of bad things to come. Seth suspected the latter, though he didn’t say so out loud. No sense in jinxing it if they had just gotten lucky.

Seth tried to strike up a conversation with her several times during the day-long ride. Tried to apologize, too, but she wasn’t having it. What did he have to do to prove he really was sorry? Grovel? Yeah, probably, but that was kind of hard to do from the back of a horse when his passenger wouldn’t speak to him.

He was mulling over ideas when their ragtag caravan cleared the top of a ridge and Phoebe stiffened up in the saddle, nearly knocking him in the chin with the top of her head. “Wait. Stop.”

He pulled their mount to a halt and she climbed down.

“Oh my God. The dog’s still here.” She took off at a sprint toward the ruins of an old Soviet tank.

Gabe swung around as everyone else also came to a stop. “What is it?”

“She said something about a dog.”

“What dog?” someone asked, but Seth didn’t bother taking the time to answer. He handed his horse’s reins to Gabe and ran after her.

Phoebe was on her knees in front of a scruffy dog and spoke soothingly to it in Pashto as she reached out a hand. The animal shivered wildly and got to his feet, his tail tucked between his legs. Though on the skinny side, he had the powerful build of a German Shepherd with ears that stood upright. His body was a red-brown color and his face was completely black, as if he was wearing a mask.

“Oh, you poor thing. Someone bring me water,” she snapped over her shoulder and rubbed the dog’s head. “I saw his owner tie him here when Zina and I arrived. That was days ago.”

Seth squatted down beside her and picked up the empty collar still chained to the tank’s main gun. Apparently, the dog had slipped out of it, but hadn’t run away. “Maybe his owner ties him here every day. Look, his bowls are right over there.” But both of the dented metal dishes were empty and turned upside-down like the dog had pawed at them when he ran out of food and water.

Phoebe shook her head. “Something’s wrong.” She accepted the bottle of water Jesse handed her and flipped the dog’s dish over to fill it. “Do you think he can eat one of your MREs?”

Seth was already a step ahead of her, digging in his pack for the Meal Ready to Eat labeled beef stew. He didn’t bother with heating it and ripped open the pouch, dumping the contents into the second bowl. The dog devoured it, so he grabbed another one.

“Uh, Phoebe?” Jean-Luc called and they both glanced over. He stood at the edge of the hill, staring out over the village. “Did it look like this last time you were here?”

She gave the dog one last pat on the head and stood. “Oh. My. God.”

“I’ll take that as a no,” Jean-Luc muttered.

Seth joined them and found himself looking down at a ghost town. Or no, not completely abandoned. Other animals roamed between the mud huts, including an untended herd of goats.

Really not a good sign.

“Oh, God. Tehani’s family.” Phoebe spun away and jumped onto their horse, urging it into a run with a “Hyah. Hyah.”

Shit.

Seth grabbed Jean-Luc’s mount and swung up into the saddle. He caught up to her easily at the edge of town, probably because their horse had been carrying two riders and was already exhausted. But when he grabbed her reins and eased her animal to a stop, she simply leapt down and continued running on foot.

“Phoebe, don’t.”

If she heard him, she gave no sign and ran toward one of the mud houses. She tore through the front door and went from room to room, shouting, “Darya! Nemat!”

Seth stood in the doorway without comment until she came back to the main room, a ragged teddy bear clutched to her belly.

“Phoebe, they’re not here.”

Tears streaked her dirty face. “Something’s wrong. They left everything they own. They’re not nomads. This is their home. Why would they leave everything behind?” She hugged the bear tighter and stared at a forgotten head scarf on the floor. “Maybe they decided to go to Kabul after all? Maybe they’re on their way to the shelter to see Tehani right now.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

Seth struggled to find a comforting response—except no way Tehani’s family was headed to Kabul without taking at least some of their belongings and he wasn’t about to lie to her. Something was very wrong here.

“Not liking this,” Gabe said behind him and he glanced over his shoulder to find the rest of the team standing there in full view of Phoebe’s breakdown. He faced them, but positioned himself in the doorway to offer her a modicum of privacy.

“Yeah, me either. She’s right. These people aren’t nomads. They wouldn’t up and leave like this unless they were forced.”

Gabe nodded and motioned for the men to go inside the house. After a second of hesitation and the reassuring touch of Phoebe’s hand on his back, Seth stepped aside to let them pass.

Everyone was subdued and grim-faced as they packed into the small main room. Seth stuck close to Phoebe’s side, unwilling to let her out of his sight.

Ian was the last to enter and the dog trotted in behind him, tail wagging.

“What?” he sneered when everyone gaped at him with expressions ranging from disbelief to suspicion.“I’m a bastard, not a monster. I wasn’t about to tie him back up and leave him there. Nobody should be chained up like that.” A beat passed in awkward silence before he lifted his chin and met Seth’s gaze. “And I mean that. Nobody .”

Seth opened his mouth, but wasn’t quite sure what to say in response. At his side, Phoebe touched his shoulder and gave Ian a warm smile. “That was kind of you.”

Ian grunted. “I don’t do kind.”

“All right, gentlemen,” Gabe said. “Enough chit-chat. I know you’re all tired from the long ride today, but we need to keep pushing toward the compound. Now according to Tehani, we head three miles northeast from here. It’s going to be a steep climb and we’ll be on foot, so we should plan to reach the compound sometime in the middle of the night. We’ll spend time on recon and if it looks like our objective is inside, we’ll make plans to go in before dawn. Phoebe.”

She looked up at the sound of her name.

“You’re staying here.”

She opened her mouth, no doubt to protest, but Seth caught her hand and gave it a hard squeeze in warning. It was enough of a distraction, giving her time to think before she started arguing, and she must have seen Gabe’s logic because she agreed.

“Rehydrate and check your gear. Secure anything that might make noise,” Gabe said to the team. “We leave in ten. And Phoebe, make sure that dog stays here with you.”

She nodded and reached for the dog’s reattached collar, giving the scruffy animal a scratch behind the ear. “I have him. You guys be careful up there.”

The team filed out. Seth started to follow, but she let go of the dog and ducked past him, blocking his path.

“That goes double for you,” she said softly. “I don’t want to see you coming back with anything more than a bruise. And I plan to check, too. Thoroughly.”

Her hands tracing his body, dipping inside his shorts…

Fuck. Heat gathered at the base of his spine and there was a sudden, noticeable lack of room in the front of his pants. He cleared his throat and stepped back, resisting the urge to adjust himself. “You’re, uh, not still mad?”

“Oh, I am. You were a complete ass last night.”

He winced. “I know.”

Phoebe closed the distance between them and clasped his cheeks in her palms, forcing him to meet her gaze. “But that doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt, so come back in one piece, okay?”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that—it had been forever since anyone besides his family cared enough about him to worry about his safety—so instead of replying, he bent and pressed his lips to hers.

Wasn’t enough.

He gripped her hips and drew her against him, slanting his mouth to a better angle over hers. The kiss did a flurry of strange things inside him. Jacked up his pulse, made him aware of every heartbeat, every expansion of his lungs as he drew air in. Even the brush of his clothes against his skin was too much sensation. He felt at once hot and cold, covered with goose bumps, and the surge of heat along his spine coalesced in his balls as an aching need. It had been a long time since he’d been inside a woman. Given half an opportunity, he would have stripped her bare right there in the abandoned house, buried himself in her willing body, and spent the next several hours sating himself.

Okay, several minutes . It had been a long time and his staying power probably wasn’t what it used to be, but it didn’t matter right now because he had a mission and she was going to stay here where it was safe.

Maybe when this was over…

The thought had him jerking backward in surprise.

Phoebe opened her eyes and scanned his face. “What’s going on inside that head of yours?”

That’s what he’d like to know. He’d spent the last four years living hour-to-hour, day-to-day, not thinking about the future. Because, until HORNET, he had no future. And even then he’d viewed his employment with them like an unsteady bridge, always swaying, constantly on the verge of collapse. He’d woken up every morning expecting Gabe to call and tell him his latest screw-up was his last.

Phoebe was steady. She was solid and real, a focal point he could fixate on. He had a future with her. It probably wouldn’t go any further than one night together, maybe a fling, but that didn’t matter. She gave him something to look forward to.

He dipped his head again and put every ounce of reverence he felt toward her in his kiss.

“Harlan,” Gabe called from outside. “We’re moving.”

Damn, he didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay right here for the rest of his life.

When he finally drew away, Phoebe’s eyes remained closed, but a small smile played around the corners of her mouth. “Hmm.”

He brushed his lips across her temple. “Remember where we were. I want to pick up right here when I get back.”

“Harlan!” Gabe called again.

“Fuck. Hang on!”

Her lids opened and her eyes went all soft as she traced the stubbled line of his jaw with one finger, ending at the indent in his chin. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He swallowed hard. His heart was thundering in his chest like he’d just run a 4-minute mile. “I’d like to try last night again. Without the me freaking out part.”

She smiled and started to say something, but Marcus popped his head through the front door. “Yo, Gabe’s getting pissed.”

Phoebe let go of him and stepped back, still smiling. “Better go.”

He nodded and made it to the door before she added, “I’d like to try last night again, too, so please be safe out there.”

He couldn’t help the grin as he joined the team out front and bent to pick up his gear. When he straightened, he realized they all stared at him as if he’d just walked out of the house stark naked. And even though he was fully dressed, in that second he felt stripped bare. Exposed.

“All right, gentlemen,” Gabe said, cutting through the awkward moment in his usual no-nonsense way. “Let’s go. We have a hike ahead of us. And, Harlan? Next time I tell you to move, you sure as fuck better move. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Seth muttered and secured his gear on his back. He jumped up and down a few times to make sure nothing rattled or came loose.

The men fell in line behind Gabe.

Seth hesitated, glancing back as he brought up the end of the line. Phoebe knelt in front of the squat mud house, arms wrapped around the dog as she watched them go. Her head scarf hung loose over her shoulders, her hair a riot of copper in the dying evening sunlight. Already the temperature had dropped by a good ten degrees, and the night promised to be a chilly one.

“Find some blankets,” he called. “Don’t start a fire. You don’t want to risk drawing attention to yourself.”

She nodded and lifted a hand in a wave.

She was safe here.

Sucking in a breath, Seth forced the paranoia down and jogged to catch up to the team. He had a job to do and had to put her out of his thoughts for the next several hours.

Distraction equaled death in these mountains.