“God, Rush, I—” He broke off on a curse.
A red wavering dot caught her attention. It was hovering on the center of her chest. She gasped in a breath and raised her head…
Just as Declan slammed into her.
The sound of the gunshot was like thunder in her ears.
She felt Declan’s body jerk. She felt him turn and she saw him raise his gun. He fired back down the tunnel.
But not at their assailants.
At the floor.
He triggered the booby trap.
A huge slab of rock slammed down and closed off the tunnel. She heard the horrible sounds of screams as someone got caught.
Then she heard Declan’s quiet groan.
“Declan.” God, he’d been shot. How bad was it?
He slumped against her and she helped him down to the ground. He’d leaped in front of a bullet for her.
“How bad?” Please be a flesh wound, please be a flesh wound.
He sat back, and when she saw the blood over the front of his shirt, her heart stopped. “Declan—”
“Can’t…worry about it now. Need to get out of here.”
She could hear Anders and his men banging on the other side of the rock slab.
“To where? You’re hurt.” The enormity of it crashed down on her. He was hurt, and they were stuck far from civilization, with a psychopath on their trail.
Declan needed help and she couldn’t get it for him. Anxiety and fear twisted inside her.
“Need you to bandage my stomach. First aid kit is in my backpack,” he ground out, sucking in a breath. “Then we go.”
She reached over and opened his backpack. She grabbed the small kit and then lifted his T-shirt. The bullet wound was to the side of his stomach. Bright-red blood bloomed. She pressed a wad of gauze onto the wound, hating it when he groaned.
“Wrap it.”
She wound the larger bandage around him.
“Help me up.”
She slid her arm behind his back and jammed her shoulder under his arm. Awkwardly, they got to their feet.
“Water,” he said.
She frowned. “You need a drink? Let me—”
“No. The water, there’s a current at the back.”
She looked and saw that at the back of the pool, the water was moving.
Like it was draining downward.
“There’s an opening under there—” he heaved in a shaky breath “—I think we need to swim.”
His usually tan face was pale, and when she looked down, she saw blood had already soaked through her bandage. And he was talking about swimming through caves.
“Declan, we can’t—”
“Not going to let fucking Anders touch you.”
The fierceness in his voice made her heart clench. Well, she wasn’t going to let Anders hurt Declan, either. Not any more than he already had.
“Come on,” she said decisively.
They hobbled to the edge of the pool, then waded in. It gradually got deeper and deeper. When the cool water hit his wounds, Declan muttered a curse.
“Hang in there,” she said.
“Get my flashlight out,” he said. “It’s waterproof.”
She did as he asked.
“Rush…”
She raised her face and for a second was caught by the emotion on his face. Here was the Declan he kept hidden from everyone else. Her Declan.
He pressed his mouth to hers, the kiss slow and frustratingly short. She vowed it wouldn’t be the last one.
What if the underwater tunnel went on too far? She tried not to think about drowning.
He grabbed her hand. “Ready? Go!”
Together, they plunged into the water.
Chapter Fifteen
Dec tried to ignore the pain, but it was bad.
Even swimming through the dark, calm water, he felt the energy flowing out of him.
Get Layne to safety. That was all he could focus on right now. Get her away from Anders and find a way to contact his team.
She was holding his hand in a death grip, and his flashlight gave off the tiniest beam of light in the dark water. The tunnel was wide enough for them to swim side by side.
But they needed to surface soon.
He kept kicking, could feel his lungs start to burn. Beside him, Layne’s movements were starting to slow and become uncoordinated.
He kicked harder, wincing at the burn in his gut.
Layne’s kicks had slowed to sporadic movements. She was still valiantly trying to go forward, but he knew she’d be fighting not to take a breath.
They weren’t going to fucking drown in the middle of the world’s largest desert.
He delved deep and found some last well of strength. He kicked hard. Above, he thought he saw a glimmer of light.
Layne went limp.
No, dammit. He kicked, his lungs at the breaking point, his energy gone.
They broke the surface.
He heaved in air and dragged Layne up. She coughed and spluttered, her hair plastered to her head.