Her pretty lips tightened into a determined line. “They tried to kill you, Tyler. If they try it again, I hope you don’t hesitate.”
“They tried to kill you, too.”
“Yeah, they’re not making the nice-guys list.”
He was relieved that she could make light of it. She might have started out timid and scared, but she’d adapted quickly. And speaking of that…“The nice guys list—would that be the list of guys you can date?”
She looked up with a sly smile. “I won’t be dating nice guys anymore.”
An erotic thrill zapped him right in the ego, knowing his lovemaking had changed her life. He also felt a twinge of jealousy. “What kind of guys will you be dating?” he asked, the harmless euphemism “dating” leaving a sour taste in his mouth. But he didn’t like giving words to the thought of her making love with another man.
“Good question. What was it you called yourself? A badass? I guess that’s what I need to look for.”
She seemed to be having fun with the idea, but the implications bothered him. It wasn’t like he had any claim on her, but he didn’t want to see her get in trouble with the wrong sort of man. “Jess, please tell me you don’t mean you’ll be looking for guys with motorcycles and guns who will haul you off in the dead of night against your will.”
She laughed. “That did get my attention, didn’t it? But no, give me a little credit. I’ll be looking for a guy who will treat me like an equal in bed and out, who has a normal, healthy appetite for sexual intimacy, and who doesn’t assume I’m so emotionally fragile that I’ll break into hysterics if he wants to have wild monkey sex on the kitchen table.”
He squashed an instant of outright amazement and shook his head to rid it of the image. “Jess, I don’t think what we had qualifies as wild monkey sex.”
She bit her lip thoughtfully. “No, but I think maybe I could get into that once in a while. I’ve missed out on a few things, you know. I need to catch up.”
Heat rushed to his groin and he thought he could help her start to work on that right now. He fitted a full magazine onto an AK-47 without taking his eyes off her, wondering if they’d have another chance to be alone together before they left Luxor.
His phone buzzed, bringing him back to the present. Laying down the gun, he grabbed the phone. “Yeah.”
“It’s Kyle. We lost him.” He heard him blow out an exasperated breath.
Doubts crashed in. In the predawn night, with one of the bad guys about to lead them directly to the hostages, they had somehow lost him. It stretched credibility. “How?” he managed to growl. “Where did he go?”
“Into the fucking desert, man. There’s nothing out here. No cars, no camels, nothing. Even when we killed the headlights, he would have heard the car because there’s nothing else around. And let me tell you, killing the lights is not a good idea. It’s dark as hell out here. Mitch followed a bit longer on the scooter, but that’s noisy, too, and the guy’s cautious.”
Donovan’s gut tightened. “Mitch wasn’t with you?”
“No, Avery is. We had two vehicles on him. But we couldn’t let him know we were trailing him, so Mitch had to fall back when he took some weird turns out in the desert. When the guy turned into the Valley of the Queens, we had to ditch our vehicles anyway, because they’re not allowed. The place is guarded, but our friend must be connected because he got through. We tried to follow on foot, but lost him.”
Donovan swore under his breath. “So where are you now?”
“Near as I can tell we’re somewhere between the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. These damn wadis are like a sandy, wider version of the Grand Canyon. There are lights and guards near the temples and tombs, but not where we are. And get this—not a fucking river in sight. I don’t know, Tyler, could we be wrong about Wally? Are you sure this is right?”
Something wasn’t right. It might be Wally’s information about a river, but it might also be the way Mitch conveniently lost their suspect when no one else was around to see it happen.
“Stay until it gets light,” he told Kyle. “If he comes back out, you’ll be able to pick him up.”
“Understood. What about all that shit about a river? This isn’t making sense, Tyler.”
Donovan raked a hand through his hair in frustration. “Wally’s information is the only lead we have. We’re sticking with it.”
“Fine,” Kyle muttered. “But you tell me how to find a river in the middle of the fucking desert.”