Heatseeker (Atrati) Read Online Free Page A

didn’t expect to get an answer anytime soon. Not that he wasn’t going to ask her when she woke, but he had a feeling Rachel wasn’t going to think she owed him any explanations.
    Doc sighed, her Latin temper calming a little. “I can’t argue with that.”
    “Good.”
    “Damn it, Trigger, I didn’t mean—”
    Kadin cut Eva off. It was really bad when she started swearing in English. “You’re the medic. Tell me she wouldn’t improve with some rest and nourishment.”
    “That’s not the point. Until we get her on a plane back to the States, she’s at risk for recapture. This organization she’s been gathering intel on isn’t some fly-by-night operation. They had an in with the Zimbabwean army and no doubt have all the connections they need here in Morocco.”
    “Then I’ll just have to keep her safe, won’t I?”
    “ We, Kadin. We’re a team. Remember?”
    “I remember.”
    “Fuche!” That meant phew, or something like it, and Kadin let out a breath of relief, but Eva wasn’t done. “Roman wouldn’t have let the mark dictate the plan for evac.”
    “Roman isn’t our captain anymore. I am.”
    “Then act like it.”
    “I am. I made the call. We’re leaving tomorrow. Deal with it.”
    Eva frowned, no doubt cursing him out in Spanish in her head, but not a word of it passed her lips.
    He forced himself to say, “If you’re okay in here, I’ll go get some shut-eye.”
    He didn’t want Rachel out of his sight.
    “This is your tent, and don’t think you’re going to take over mine. She’s stable. You can watch over her while she sleeps as easily as I can.”
    “You’re the medic.”
    “And you have a calming influence on her.”
    “She looks plenty calm.”
    “Exactly.” Doc sighed. “Ten minutes ago, she was having nightmares. She was so tense, she looked like she was having convulsions. I tried to calm her, but I didn’t want to sedate her, you know? Her entire body went lax when she heard your voice, telling the boys to chill. And she’s stayed calm the whole time we’ve been talking.”
    He shouldn’t have been loud enough earlier for his voice to carry. It just went to show that this rescue had him seriously rattled. And no matter how much he’d known that was going to happen, he’d still insisted on taking the assignment.
    He had refused to trust Rachel’s rescue to anyone else.
    Eva scooted around him and pushed up the tent flap. “My advice, as team medic, is for you to settle your ass down beside Miss Gannon and give her a sense of safety. I don’t think she’s had much of that lately.”
    “Shit.”
    “Not inside the tent, please.”
    “Smart-ass.”
    “I am smart.”
    Kadin ignored the last, knowing, with Eva, chances were good he wasn’t going to get the final word. He went to lie down beside Rachel, doing his best not to jostle her.
    Her eyes fluttered open as he settled beside her. He doubted she could see him well in the shadows cast by the low tent light, but she smiled as if she recognized him. As if she was glad he was there.
    Go figure. She was probably still disoriented.
    Though weak, the smile remained. “Hey, Marks,” she whispered.
    Amazing, resilient, incredible woman.
    “Hey.” He wanted to reach out and touch her so badly, his hands literally ached with the need.
    “Didn’t think I was ever going to see you again.”
    “Me, neither.”
    “Glad I was wrong,” she slurred in a barely-there whisper.
    For a moment, he was too stunned to reply. Finally, he forced out a gruff, “Me, too.”
    But she’d slipped back into sleep as fast as she’d come out of it, and he didn’t think she’d heard his last reply. That was okay. She had to know he was glad to have gotten her out of that hellhole.
    Even with their past, that had to be a given.
    Giving in to his need, he wrapped his fingers gently around her badly abused wrist so he could feel her pulse. Only when he’d detected the steady thrum of her heartbeat did he let himself doze,