“But Father Tom…he couldn’t see either. He might be hurt.” Again she tried to pull away.
A strong arm clamped around her. “Don’t worry, he’s fine. Alex and my men will take care of him,” Nick replied softly. His hands continued to roam over her, as if to establish she was indeed unhurt.
“Your men…?” With the aid of the fire-lit cave, she counted seven of them, all dressed in black, with powerful guns, harsh faces, and a multitude of weapons strapped to their bodies. Alex crouched next to Father Tom, holding a water bottle to his lips, and two men stood with Hendrik and Edda. Anothe
r knelt next to an injured rebel soldier, only this one wasn’t being as gentle as the others.
She took in the scene, her heart lurching wildly when she realized Nick had mounted a full-scale rescue.
For her.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She fought to remain calm, but it was no use. When he pulled her against his chest, she gave up, relief from pent-up fear erupting in huge, racking sobs.
“Shhh, it’s all right. You’re safe now,” he murmured in a deep, soothing tone.
In some distant part of her brain, she knew she shouldn’t display such weakness, and she definitely shouldn’t lean on Nick, of all people. But she couldn’t help it. The last week had been horrific. She’d been certain either death or an even worse fate had awaited her.
When her sobs subsided to sniffling hiccups, she wiped her nose on her sleeve and raised her head.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose it like that.” Her voice faltered as he lifted her chin with one finger. Her gaze collided with steely gray eyes.
“Don’t you dare apologize. You’ve been through a harrowing ordeal. I would be more disturbed if you didn’t let it out in some way.”
Nick’s voice was a firm, reassuring hope amidst all the carnage surrounding them. Sighing, she burrowed into him, the need to lean on him too great to ignore. She closed her eyes as his lips brushed her temple.
“Are they…are they all dead?” She refused to look toward the cave and the bodies within.
“Don’t think about that now, yineka mou,” Nick replied with another soft kiss. Her heart skipped a beat at the familiar endearment. His wife, he’d called her. God, how she’d loved it when he’d called her that.
But that was in the past.
Technically, she might still be wife, but in name only. Pain she’d thought numbed by time and distance sliced through her with the lethality of a newly sharpened knife. Again she tried to pull away.
“Stay.”
Struggling against the temptation to do as he bade, she looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw Alex approach them.
Alex tugged her into a strong but gentle hug, then pulled back a bit to look down at her. “Next time you decide my cousin needs his ass handed to him, send me a memo. Trust me, I can devise more fun ways to jerk his chain than subjecting him to this mosquito-infected hell hole. Agreed?”
Her chin threatened to wobble at the brusquely masked worry she glimpsed in his blue eyes.
“Agreed,” she whispered.
After planting a kiss on her temple, he turned to Nick, a wry smile twisting his lips when Nick immediately pulled her close to his body.
“We have a small problem. We’ve only counted fourteen soldiers. There’s no sign of the leader, Mwana. We need to get a move on in case he’s in the vicinity. Our gunfire could also have attracted unwanted attention.”
“Yes, he left hours ago,” she told them. “He has another camp about an hour from here but…I think he has another secret camp nearby. He never sleeps in the same place two nights in a row.”
Nick turned as a second man joined them.
“We’ve found two more concealed entrances to the cave and several passages that lead to dead ends. We came across some old mining equipment, and I think this is one of the abandoned diamond mines. As a hideout it’s perfect, which is why I don’t think we should hang around.”
Nick gave a curt nod. “Right, let’s get the hell out of here. Are the others well enough to travel?”
Alex nodded. “The Dutch woman’s fine. So’s the priest. He’ll probably need to be carried, but that’s not a problem. Unfortunately, the other guy, Morgensen, caught a bullet, but he should make it. He’s being patched up. We’ll leave as soon as he’s ready to go.”
Belle’s relief at hearing Father Tom was unharmed disappeared at the news that Hendrik had been hurt. This time, Nick didn’t stop her when she pulled away, but his hand remained in the small of her back as she went to the injured man.