Her Kind of Hero: The Last Mercenary. Diana Palmer

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СКАЧАТЬ swallowed. “She gave me up for adoption on the grounds that she couldn’t support me. I went into a juvenile home, and from there to half a dozen foster homes. I only saw her once in all those years, when she took me home for Christmas. It didn’t last long.” She stared down at the jungle floor. “When she married your father, he wanted me, so she told him I’d been staying with my grandmother. I was in a foster home, but she got me out so she could convince your father that she was a good mother.” She laughed hollowly. “I hadn’t seen her or heard from her in two years by then. She told me I’d better make a good job of pretending affection, or she’d tell the authorities I’d stolen something valuable—and instead of going back into foster care for two more years, I’d go to jail.”

      3

      Micah didn’t say a word. He repacked the first-aid kit into his backpack with quick, angry movements. He didn’t look at Callie.

      “I guess you know how to use that gun,” she said quietly. “If we’re found, or if it looks like Lopez is going to catch us, I want you to shoot me. I’d rather die than face what you saved me from.”

      She said it in such a calm, quiet tone that it made all the more impact.

      He looked up, scanning her drawn, white face in the soft light from the lantern. “He won’t get you. I promise.”

      She drew a slow breath. “Thanks.” She traced a fingernail over the camouflage pants. “And thanks for coming to get me. Lopez said he didn’t have any plans to ransom me. He was going to let his men kill me because he thought it would make you suffer.”

      “What did you tell him?”

      “That you were my worst enemy and you wouldn’t care if he killed me,” she said carelessly. “But he said you did care about your father, and he was the next victim. I hope you’ve got someone watching Dad,” she added fervently. “If anything happens to him…!”

      “You really love him, don’t you?” he asked in an odd tone.

      “He’s the only person in my whole life who ever loved me,” she said in a strained whisper.

      A harsh sound broke from his lips. He got up and started getting things together. He pulled out what looked like a modified cell phone and spoke into it. A minute later, he put it back into the backpack.

      “They’re on the way in.” He stood over her, his face grim as he picked up the small lantern and extinguished the light. “I know you must be cold. I’m sorry. I planned a quick airlift, so I didn’t pack for a prolonged trek.”

      “It’s all right,” she said at once. “Cold is better than tortured.”

      He cursed under his breath as he hefted the backpack. “We have to get to that small clearing on the other side of the stream. It isn’t deep, but I can carry you…”

      “I’ll walk,” she said with quiet dignity, standing up. It was still painful to move, because she’d been tied up for so long, but she didn’t let on. “You’ve done enough already.”

      “I’ve done nothing,” he spat. He turned on his heel and led the way to the bank of the small stream, offering a hand.

      She didn’t take it. She knew he found her repulsive. He’d even told her mother that. She’d enjoyed taunting Callie with it. Callie had never understood why her mother hated her so much. Perhaps it was because she wasn’t pretty.

      “Walk where I do,” he bit off as he dropped his hand. “The rocks will be slippery. Go around them, not over them.”

      “Okay.”

      He glanced over his shoulder as they started over the shallow stream. “You’re damned calm for someone who’s been through what you have in the past two days.”

      She only smiled. “You have no idea what I’ve been through in my life.”

      He averted his eyes. It was as if he couldn’t bear to look at her anymore. He picked his way across to the other bank. Callie followed obediently, her feet cold and wet, her body shivering. Only a little longer, she told herself, and she would be home with Jack. She would be completely safe. Except…Lopez was still out there. She shivered again.

      “Cold?” he asked when they were across.

      “I’ll be fine,” she assured him.

      He led her through one final tangle of brush, which he cut out of the way with the knife. She could see the silver ripple of the long blade in the dim light of the small flashlight he carried. She put one foot in front of the other and tried to blank out what would happen if Lopez’s men caught up with them. It was terrifying.

      They made it to the clearing just as a dark, noisy silhouette dropped from the sky and a door opened.

      “They spotted us on radar!” came a loud voice from the chopper. “They’ll be here in two minutes. Run!”

      “Run as if your life depended on it!” Micah told Callie, giving her a push.

      She did run, her mind so affected by what she’d already endured that she almost kept up with her long-legged stepbrother. He leaped right up into the chopper and gave her a hand up. She landed in a heap on the dirty floor, and laughed with relief.

      The door closed and the chopper lifted. Outside, there were sounds like firecrackers in the wake of the noise the propellers made. Gunfire, Callie knew.

      “It always sounds like firecrackers in real life,” she murmured. “It doesn’t sound that way in the movies.”

      “They augment the sound in movies, mademoiselle.” A gentle hand eased her into a seat on the edge of the firing line Micah and two other men made at the door.

      She looked up. There was barely any light in the helicopter, but she could make out a beard and a mustache on a long, lean face. “You made it, too!” she exclaimed with visible relief. “Oh, I’m glad. I felt bad that you and the other man had to be decoys, just to get me out.”

      “It was no trouble, mademoiselle,” the man said gently, smiling at her. “Rest now. They won’t catch us. This is an Apache helicopter, one of the finest pieces of equipment your country makes. It has some age, but we find it quite reliable in tight situations.”

      “Is it yours?” she asked.

      He laughed. “You might say that we have access to it, and various other aircraft, when we need them.”

      “Don’t bore her to death, Bojo,” a younger voice chuckled.

      “Listen to him!” Bojo exclaimed. “And do you not drone on eternally about that small computer you carry, Peter, and its divine functions?”

      A dark-haired, dark-eyed young man with white teeth came into view, a rifle slung over his shoulder. “Computers are my specialty,” he said with a grin. “You’re Callie? I’m Peter Stone. I’m from Brooklyn. That’s Bojo, he’s from Morocco. I guess you know Micah. And Smith over there—” he indicated a huge dark-eyed man “—runs a seafood restaurant in Charleston, along with our Maddie and a couple of guys we seem to have misplaced…”

      “We СКАЧАТЬ