Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(2)

Arrow pressed his lips together. Three Caucasian men wandering around the city wearing all black, with a woman and child in tow, would definitely attract attention. The kind they didn’t need. He opened his mouth to speak, but Morgan beat him to it.

“We should split up,” she said quietly. “We’re slowing you guys down. If we split up, you can move faster with Nina,” she told Ball, nodding at the child now sleeping in his arms.

Arrow could see how much the suggestion cost her. She was gripping Nina’s shirt in her fist so hard her knuckles were white.

Black looked toward Arrow with one brow raised. From the second they’d stepped outside the hovel where they’d rescued the pair, Arrow’s teammates had realized he had a connection with Morgan. It worked like that sometimes on their missions. They were trained to watch the reactions of the women and children, and if they showed the slightest inclination to trust one of the men over another, the team did what they could to encourage that. Trust was a huge issue when rescuing kidnapping victims. And having a victim trust even one of them made the mission that much easier.

They’d read Morgan’s body language as easily as he had. Not to mention the way he’d been hovering over her. Black was asking, without words, for Arrow’s opinion on splitting up. There was no doubt that he’d be the one going with Morgan.

Arrow turned to the woman at his side. He towered over her slight five feet three inches. At an inch over six feet, he was used to being taller than the people they rescued, but her diminutive height was one of the things that made his protective instincts rush to the surface more than usual.

He slowly moved his hand and lightly brushed his fingertips against her upper arm. It was covered with a ratty gray T-shirt, but he could feel the heat of her skin through it. “Are you sure?” he asked. “It would make things easier, but if you don’t want to be separated from Nina, we can make it work.”

She tilted her chin up to look him in the eyes, which Arrow loved. She was scared and nervous, but hadn’t been beaten down to a point where she refused to meet his gaze.

“I want to do whatever will get Nina safe the fastest.”

Arrow had known that was what she’d say. He turned to Ball. The former Coastie was standing patiently next to them. He was a foot taller than Morgan, and he held the child in his arms easily. “We’ll meet you there.”

The hair at the back of Arrow’s neck stood on end, but he ignored it for the time being. He didn’t like being separated from his teammates, but splitting up was the right thing to do at the moment. Once they were ensconced in the safe house, they could figure out their next steps. They needed to get in contact with Rex and let him know that Nina was safe, but also that they had a surprise addition.

They had the proper paperwork to get Nina out of the country, including her passport, among other legal items, but they had nothing for Morgan. They had chartered a jet to get home, but even so, they couldn’t just plunk a mysterious, unidentified woman on the plane and expect authorities to be okay with it.

“Be careful,” Ball said, his gaze intense.

Arrow knew what he meant. They had no idea about Morgan’s story. Who took her. Why she was being held. What had happened to her. She was a total unknown in this scenario. Nina’s father, they knew well enough. Rex had researched him and shared everything he’d learned before they’d left. But Morgan was a mystery.

He nodded at his friend.

“Got your radio?” Black asked.

Arrow nodded again. Each of them had a radio that they used to communicate with each other. They had a range of a couple of miles, but for anything beyond that, they had to use specialized satellite phones.

Morgan took a step toward Nina and Ball, but hesitated when Arrow’s hand fell from her arm. Knowing she needed the reassurance, Arrow followed her and put his fingertips on the middle of her back. He could feel how tight her muscles were, but she merely approached Ball and stood up on tiptoe. She still couldn’t reach the sleeping child’s face, so Ball leaned down.

Morgan brushed her lips against Nina’s cheek and stepped back. “Take care of her,” she whispered. “She’s been through a lot.”

“Does she need a doctor?” Ball asked, putting one of his large hands on the back of Nina’s head, holding her securely to him as he straightened.

Morgan shrugged. “Probably. She hasn’t been eating too well, and she’s been complaining that her tummy hurts. I figured it was probably just upset because of stress and not eating all that much, but I don’t know.”

Ball nodded. “Black’s got medical training. He’ll take a look at her, and I know her mom will have a doctor waiting for her when we get back to the States.”

“What about you?” Black asked.

“Me?” Morgan asked.

“Do you need a doctor?”

Arrow saw the instant change in her demeanor—and blinked in surprise. All emotion disappeared from her face as she shook her head.

“Not right this second, no.”

He wanted to argue. Wanted to reassure her that whatever had happened wasn’t her fault. That he’d make sure she got all the medical attention she needed. But her closed-off expression and the blankness in her eyes, not to mention the fact that it was getting lighter and lighter the longer they stood around talking, kept him silent.