Dangerous Pleasure(71)

Jafar paused.

“You owe me,” Paige repeated as the tears rolled down her face. “You still owe me.”

And just what the hell would Jafar owe her?

“She is a beautiful woman,” Jafar sighed, his hold against the side of Abram’s head tightening. “And yes, I owe her much. Without her, perhaps I would be dead.”

Surprised, Abram wondered what the hell had been going on over the years that he was unaware of.

“And this is how you repay your debts?” Abram asked him. “With blood?”

Behind him, he felt Jafar breathe in slowly, deeply, as though preparing himself. As his body tightened, Abram tensed as well, covering his own anticipation within Jafar’s.

“I’m sorry, cousin,” Jafar said. “But I cannot afford your escape or theirs.”

As the words left his mouth the viperous red lines of the laser rifles’ sights cut through the night, pinpointing Jafar and each of his men as black ropes and army rangers slid soundlessly into position.

They surrounded Jafar’s team of men as Abram let his gaze move to Paige once again.

Something in him tightened each time he allowed his eyes to meet the grief in hers and to acknowledge the fear that filled her face as Jafar kept that knife at his throat.

“Release him, Jafar,” the commanding voice of the black-masked ranger closest to him ordered.

“I cannot do this.” The lazy amusement in Jafar’s voice was at odds with the tension in his body.

“Don’t make us start picking off your men,” he advised when Jafar refused to move. “We will.”

“We are called martyrs for a reason.” Jafar mocked them though the knife never moved.

It wasn’t going to move. What fucking game was his cousin playing? If Jafar was going to cut his throat, then he would have already done so.#p#分页标题#e#

Abram found it a little too easy to slam his elbow into his cousin’s diaphragm as he caught the wrist holding the knife at the same time.

Thrusting Jafar’s arm to the side as he held his wrist, Abram broke away from the hold, twisting the wrist as he moved and taking his cousin to his knees.

Abram released him. He jumped back to safety behind the rangers now circling the team of terrorist soldiers.

“Drop your weapons and we’ll leave just as quietly as we arrived,” the commander ordered. “Otherwise, we’ll kill, if we have to.”

The terrorists’ weapons were tossed carelessly to the ground as Abram moved quickly to Paige. They were gathered up and confiscated to ensure a safe escape, but Abram had other things to take care of besides watching the soldiers’ defeat. He had to get to Paige. He had to ease her fear and her tears before she broke his heart with them. Her arms flew around his neck as she cried out his name. The broken sound of her voice and the trembling of her body had all his protective instincts screaming.

“We have to go,” he whispered into her ear as the rangers moved to help Tariq into the harness that would lift him into the hovering helicopter.

Easing from her he took the harness from the waiting ranger and helped her into it before strapping on his own and clipping it to the rope.

Just in time.

As they were lifted into the darkened sky, the lights of the Matawa’s vehicles began cutting through the winding vehicle paths that eventually led to their location.

Once the Matawa arrived, there would be no escape without bloodshed.

Within seconds the ropes were pulled into the helicopter, the rangers climbing in and securing their passengers then themselves, before the helicopter shot through the sky.

“Captain Mustafa, we’ll be landing at a hidden airbase and loading you on a transport plane straight to D.C.” Commander Ramsey jerked the mask from his face as he made the announcement.

David “Race” Ramsey settled back against the frame of the stripped-down Black Hawk helicopter as he stared at them.

“Thanks for arriving on time, Commander Ramsey.” Tariq grinned. “It looked as though you might be running late for a minute or two there.”

Race gave a small chuckle as his blue eyes twinkled in amusement.

“General Jack Walters will be waiting in D.C. to debrief you, Captain Mustafa, and Ms. Galbraithe.” Ramsey grinned at Tariq. “One of you are going to have to advance in rank soon, before things get confusing.”

“Yes, sir,” Abram responded, only half listening as he felt Paige tense in his hold.

“Captain Mustafa?” she whispered.

“A formality, nothing more,” he answered quietly, praying no one would explain before he had the chance to do so himself.

Ramsey’s lips quirked, obviously catching the less-than-honest response.