Page 11 of Hearts Under Fire
The sand sifted beneath them as they ran, the cold wind biting. Alexis kept the rising sun at their backs and scanned their surroundings for any good cover. The terrain was slowly becoming visible in the morning light, the sky painted yellow and orange. The area didn’t have many good options to choose from, and they only had minutes before their head start wouldn’t do them any good, and anyone with a good vantage point and a pair of binoculars could spot them. It wouldn’t take long before a sniper with even the most basic of skills would pick them both off without trying very hard.
To their right was the crumbling remains of a city, either ancient or destroyed by bombings, Alexis couldn’t tell. There wasn’t much cover, and it would be one of the first places searched by patrols. And they didn’t have time to search for a good hiding place among the rubble.
They pushed on, running hard and looking for anywhere safe to hide, fear, adrenaline, and anxiety rising with the sun.
Suddenly, she spotted a dried riverbed that sloped down into a holloway. It must have been used as a road at some point after the river dried up, because she could see old wagon tracks and tire prints. It reminded Alexis of the entrance to the cave in which they’d found Sgt. Krantz’ crew. She turned straight for it. At least they could take cover in the riverbed. The downward slope would provide them some cover against prying eyes. It wasn’t ideal, but intuition told her they’d find something better than a ditch at the end of the riverbed.
Heat bathed their backs, and Alexis cursed as the sun finally broke over the horizon. She slid down the riverbed embankment, sending dirt and sand into the air. She could hear Kate sprinting and sliding along a few steps behind her, keeping up without much difficulty. At least her fitness was up to scratch. There was a small round opening at the bottom. It was only afew feet wide at most. She took the risk and slid down inside, freefalling for a few feet before her boots hit a cave floor.
Turning, she had a few seconds to glance up before Kate dropped down inside. She caught her around the waist before she could hit the floor, but the strain proved too much for Alexis’s shoulder. Pain spread, stars danced in her gaze, and her knees went weak. She lowered Kate to the ground. A groan of pain escaped her as lightning shot through her shoulder.
Ignoring her injury, Alexis turned and surveyed their surroundings. They were in a small underground pocket about eight feet deep that couldn’t be more than ten feet square. The floor was hardpacked dirt and rock, and the walls looked like stone, too. The entrance was on one side, and Alexis would bet it was due to erosion of the riverbed.
“Shit, I think this dried riverbed just saved our lives,” she exclaimed with a chuckle, high on the adrenaline and disbelief that they’d found such a well-hidden shelter.
Alexis turned back, a massive smile beaming on her face, to find Kate stock still, her skin pale and hands shaking with tremors. Guilt surged through Alexis. She was attempting to bring levity to the situation, as she tended to approach danger with excitement and enjoyment the way many combat rescue officers did. Most people, Kate included, clearly didn’t welcome danger the way she did.
“Oh babe, I’m sorry. Listen.” Alexis paused and dropped to her knees next to Kate. She drew her trembling form into her arms. The urge to protect and shield her from the fear was overwhelming. Alexis’s hand caressed Kate’s back and arms and she murmured softly into Kate’s ear. “As long as we weren’t followed, we should be safe, at least until the sun goes down.”
Kate nodded against Alexis’s chest, and she drew back to meet her eyes. Fear swirled there, along with uncertainty and something else Alexis couldn’t identify.
Alexis wanted to say something, anything that would make it better, make them safe. She knew there wasn’t anything she could say to accomplish that, so she went with the only thing shecouldpromise.
“I’ll protect you, Kate. I’ll do everything I can to get you home and keep you safe. This is what I do. I’m very very good at this. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
Kate’s face was inscrutable, but there was a slight quiver in her jaw. Alexis rubbed soothing circles into her arms with her thumbs. She had never felt the desperate need to soothe and calm someone before, and it was all-consuming.
Suddenly Kate's brown eyes narrowed, and she pushed Alexis back firmly and grabbed her by the arms, immobilizing her.
“Holy shit, you’re bleeding. You’re wounded,” Kate accused. The tone of her voice betrayed her fear.
Alexis shrugged and winced as the movement pulled on her shoulder. A little V appeared between Kate’s brows and her small, agile hands began removing Alexis’s tactical vest and shirt to get a better look. Alexis wanted to kiss the small juncture between her brows, smooth away the stress there.
Kate removed the top carefully folding it in half and laid it across Alexis’s lap, her hands skimming the tops of Alexis’s thighs. Every touch and gentle graze sent electricity through Alexis, ramping her up a bit at a time. Alexis hadn’t ever thought being treated for a gunshot wound would be a turn on, but Kate’s exacting and precise movements were driving her crazy.
Now Alexis sat in only her sports bra- her shoulder injury bared to Kate’s gaze, Kate whipped gloves out of her pocket and gasped. Blood smears spread from her shoulder down to her side indicated there’d been at least minor blood loss.
“When did this happen?” Kate asked, her tone procedural. The tender look in her eyes was gone as a distant professionalglimmer took its place. Alexis hated the distance Kate had thrust between them, but she answered anyway, just to keep Kate talking to her.
“When I realized you and I wouldn’t make it to the helo, I tried to drop to the ground as the enemy fired on us. I’m pretty sure I was hit then. I didn’t notice it until we started running. It’s not as if we could have stopped anyway. And besides, it’s just my shoulder. This is minor.”
One stern brow arched in disapproval, and Kate’s words came out deceptively calm as she began to clean the wound.
“Minor? You aren’t the medic here.” Her tone gave Alexis the impression that Kate didn’t agree with her.
Alexis sucked in a breath as Kate probed the wound with gauze. It seemed to Alexis that Kate was as distressed by Alexis’s injury and the pain it caused as she was.
“I didn’t restock my pack when we left the cave earlier. I don’t have a lot of supplies. Luckily, the bullet was through and through. But Alexis…” Kate’s voice faltered, almost a whimper.
The whimper tugged on Alexis’s heart, and she wrapped her arms around Kate’s shoulders, pulling her in closer.
Slapping some fresh gauze over the wound and securing it with tape, Kate cleared her throat and continued, clearly attempting to put space between them. “The bullet almost nicked your artery. I genuinely don’t know how it missed. By all accounts, based on the trajectory of this wound,” Kate said, while pressing her hands over the entry and exit wounds, “the artery was in its path. With the running and exertion after the fact, it’s a miracle you didn’t bleed out.”
Silence descended upon them. The only thing Alexis could hear was the pounding of her own heart and Kate’s soft breaths tickling against the skin of her throat. The warmth from Kate’s hands seeped into Alexis, who had cooled from the brisk temperature. Kate’s words rang in her ears on repeat, and thevery real fact that she’d almost died occurred to Alexis. Her insides turned to ice, and she tried to swallow the lump that had appeared in her throat.
“What?”
Kate shook her head, unwilling to repeat it out loud.