cliff. Noooo. You had to climb up a really tall tree in the dark, in a jungle, with an absolute stranger who could be just as much the enemy as the people who kidnapped you.”
A smile twitched at the corners of Diesel’s mouth at Brantley’s long monologue. He knew she was talking to keep from freaking out, but it was funny and kind of cute. She’d kept up with him in their mad dash to evade her captors. And she was a bodyguard and appeared to be capable of protecting herself. To Diesel, that spelled one tough chick.
Until she’d climbed a tree and looked down toward the ground.
Diesel pulled himself up to the next branch and the next, until he finally slung his leg over the limb Brantley was straddling, hugging the trunk with all of her might.
Diesel scooted closer.
Brantley glanced over her shoulder, nervously. “Don’t knock me off.”
“Wasn’t going to.” He inched toward her. “You know, there’s enough room for two to sit here all night.”
“So you say.” She didn’t let go of the tree trunk.
In the dark, Diesel couldn’t see her fingertips, but could imagine them curled into the bark.
When he was close enough to touch her back, she flinched.
“I’m not going to knock you off. I was hoping to reassure you that this limb is big enough for the two of us.” He wrapped his body around hers. “You’re as tense as a tightly wound rattlesnake with a brand new button on his tail.”
Brantley snorted. “Did you just fall off a horse in Texas?”
Diesel chuckled. “How did you know I was from Texas?”
“Lucky guess.” She inhaled, her back rubbing against Diesel’s chest. Letting the breath out in a long stream, she laughed. “I don’t suppose you know of anyone who’d hire a bodyguard who couldn’t keep her client safe?”
“Not off the top of my head. But then the odds were stacked against you on this assignment, from what I know.”
“Damned guide was in on the kidnapping,” she stated. “I should have seen it. Hell, I should have shot him when I realized he was taking us the wrong way.” She shook her head. “But I didn’t.”
“You might have had an international incident on your hands had you killed him.”
“Yeah, and he was driving when I considered it, at a breakneck speed, with Klein out front on the hood.”
“On the hood?”
“You know, in some kind of seat they rig up for the hunter. He was going after a leopard.”
“I thought they were protected.”
“Ferrence paid a hefty price for a real safari hunt. I think the guide assured him he could shoot just about anything.” The disgust in her voice was evident.
“You don’t much care for Mr. Klein?”
“Not really, but that doesn’t mean I wish ill on him.”
“Then why work for him?”
“I’m not. I work—worked—for his father, Matthew Klein. He hired me to protect his son. And a lot of good that did. I wouldn’t be surprised if he demands a refund.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“Why not? I didn’t do my job.” She snorted. “I can’t even get down out of this tree.”
“We’ll worry about that in the morning, when we can see what we’re doing.”
“Hell, I’m putting my trust in a stranger. I don’t even know you.”
“We can fix that. Hi. I’m Dalton Samuel Landon, but my friends call me Diesel.” He reached around her, peeled her hand off the tree and gave it an awkward shake. “And you are?” As soon as she let go, her hand found its way back to the tree.
“You must already know who I am since you were sent to rescue us.”
“Reese Brantley,” he supplied. “How did a girl like you end up as a bodyguard to Ferrence Klein?”
She stiffened. “What do you mean a girl like you?”
He chuckled. “Sorry. I meant how did you get stuck as a bodyguard to the Klein legacy?”
Her body remained rigid for a few seconds longer, and then she relaxed. “His father didn’t want him to know he’d hired a bodyguard. He told Ferrence I would be his assistant while he was in Africa. Had he hired a male, Ferrence would have guessed.”
Diesel nodded. “And Ferrence didn’t want daddy’s protection?”
“No. Not when he’d made plans to hunt endangered species.” Again, Reese’s body tensed. “Had I known he’d come to hunt anything but some plentiful deer, I’d have told his father where his son could go.”
“I take it he was more interested in a trophy than food?”
“He was hunting a leopard when the driver veered off course.” She half-turned toward him. “By the way, where are we? I have a feeling we aren’t in Zambia anymore.”
Diesel’s arms tightened around her. “We’re not. We’re in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
The woman sat stiff. “Okay. Well. We’ll just have to get the hell out of here. I don’t suppose your team is coming back anytime soon?”
“They will.” He couldn’t say when. Since they had Klein to get out, the powers that pulled the strings might not want to redeploy the team to extract one SEAL and one civilian. Not in a hostile country. And not when they weren’t supposed to be there to begin with. With current tensions between the new presidential administration and international trade relations, Diesel wasn’t sure they’d risk a second insertion into the DRC.
“In the meantime,” Reese said, “we’ll have to get out of this area, or risk being caught.”
A sound alerted Diesel. He touched Reese’s arm. “Shh,” he said softly. “I hear someone coming.”
Reese froze and listened. The animals and insects were suddenly silent. A slight breeze rustled the leaves around her. Then the snap of a twig alerted her to movement below.
Someone whispered in a language she barely recognized, and didn’t understand. Then shots rang out, and the rapid report of a semiautomatic weapon filled the air.
Diesel pressed his body against her, smashing her against the tree trunk. Something hit close to where her fingers dug into the bark, splintering wood fragments over her hand.
As quickly as the burst of bullets began, they
