Elle James - Five Ways To Surrender

Jake eased down the slippery slope one side step at a time.

Alex sucked in a deep, tired breath and hurried down the hillside, slipping and sliding on the loose gravel and stones. Her feet flew out from underneath her and she sat down hard, her momentum carrying her downward faster than she’d intended and bruising her backside as she went. She reached out, flailing for purchase, grabbing at the brush or anything that would slow her descent. The roots and brush she tried to hold on to ripped from the dry soil, barely slowing her fall.

“Watch out,” she called out as her body picked up speed, heading straight for the man who’d saved her from the ISIS rebels. And she could do nothing to stop herself.

About the time Jake turned to see what was happening, she plowed into his shins, knocking him off his feet. He fell, landing on top of her.

Instead of slowing her fall, he slipped down the hillside with her, like an avalanche of human flesh, plummeting to the bottom.

When she finally came to a halt, Alex lay for a moment, trying to breathe.

Jake was still on top of her, his face dusty, his eyes wide. “Are you all right?” he asked.

She tried to say something, but she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs to pass her vocal cords. “Can’t...” she wheezed.

“Can’t what?” he asked, untangling his legs from hers. Finally he pushed up on his arms, still leaning over her.

“Breathe,” Alex said on a gasp. She filled her freed lungs with precious air. “Though we needed to get down the hill fast, I believe there could have been a better way than using me as a human sled.”

He chuckled and leaned over on one arm so that he could push the hair out of her eyes. “Sorry. I couldn’t move out of your way fast enough.”

“No, it was my fault. I should have taken better care coming down the side of the hill.”

“How bad is your backside? After sliding down a rocky hill, it’s bound to be bruised and cut. Roll over, and let me take a look.”

Alex shook her head. “No time. We have to make it to those caves before we’re spotted by the ISIS rebels. We might make it there before them, but if they see us, we might as well be sitting ducks.” Though her back hurt and she was bruised and scratched, as he’d guessed, she couldn’t give in to self-pity. They had to keep moving or risk capture.

A shiver shook her frame. She’d heard what the ISIS men did to women they captured, and she didn’t plan on finding out just how bad it was.

Jake rose and held out his hand.

She took it in hers, let him pull her to her feet and straightened her torn shirt.

He turned her hand over in his and studied the cuts and scratches. “You’re bleeding.”

Alex tugged her hand free and wiped it on her jeans. “I’ll live. We need to move.”

For a moment, he remained standing in front of her. Then he nodded. “We’ll take care of it when we get to the cave.” He hooked her arm and set off through the brush and across the narrow valley. At the valley’s center was a narrow stream with running water.

Jake squatted on his haunches and scooped water into his palm. He splashed it up into his face, washing away the dust. Then he scooped another handful and drank.

Alex dropped to her knees and slipped her sore hands into the cool stream, letting the water wash away the dirt and grit from the cuts and bruises. Then she scooped some and drank, praying she didn’t get deathly ill from contaminated water.

“We don’t know when we’ll find water again, or how long it will be until my men come back for us,” Jake said. “Drink up. But make it fast.”

Not willing to give their pursuers time to catch up, Alex drank as much as she could in a few precious minutes and then pushed to her feet.

Having crossed the stream, Jake held out his hand to Alex and helped her to navigate the wet stones in the shallow water, guiding her over. Her foot slipped on the last rock.

Jake pulled her into his arms and held her long enough for her to get her feet beneath her. And long enough for Alex to appreciate the warmth and solid strength of his body against her.

Heat seared a path from where their chests met all the way to her core. When he set her back from him, she ducked her head, afraid he might see the awareness in her eyes. The man had a hard body, one most women would find hard to ignore and even harder to resist.

Thankfully, Alex wasn’t most women. She couldn’t be so easily influenced by a man with delicious muscles and narrow hips. And the way he wore his uniform trousers, fitting snug across his tight bottom, shouldn’t affect her, either. Shouldn’t...but it did. Having spent the last couple hours with the man, following him through thorny brush and bramble, she should be too tired to think about how sexy this stranger was. Perhaps because she was tired, she was thinking naughty thoughts when she should concentrate instead on survival.

Squaring her shoulders, she picked up the pace. Darkness and distance made it harder to see that tight butt, and she didn’t want to lose him. Not out in the middle of the hills in Niger. She wasn’t sure what wild animals they might encounter. They weren’t far from one of the major national parks and wildlife preserves. For all she knew, they’d need those last few bullets to protect them from lions or other, more dangerous animals than the humans hunting them.

* * *

JAKE KEPT MOVING, determined to find a cave to hide from the men following them. Alex would need to rest before they continued on to find a way out of the hills and away from the ISIS terrorists that had taken control of the village.

Once they’d crossed the creek, he headed up the side of a hill, following an animal path to the dark, shadowy maw on the face of a bluff. By the time they reached the cave entrance, the path was nothing more than a thin trail, probably created by some surefooted sheep, goat or deer. He’d snagged Alex’s hand and held on as they navigated the treacherous hillside.

If either one of them slipped, it would be a long, bumpy way down. He wasn’t sure Alex could withstand another beating courtesy of a fall. Her hands were scratched, as were her elbows. And if her torn shirt was any indication, her back would be pretty messed up, too.

Jake had wet a bandanna while at the creek and stuffed it into one of his cargo pockets on the side of his pants. When they stopped, he’d attend to her wounds. She couldn’t afford to get an infection. Not when he was unsure of when his team would send out a drone to search for their whereabouts. The rescue mission could take days to find him. If the ISIS terrorists continued to hunt them, a drone might lead them straight to their location before help could arrive to extract them.

At the cave entrance Jake took out a small flashlight from his shirt pocket, aimed his weapon into the darkness and switched on the light, careful not to shine it for too long in case the ISIS predators were close enough to see the beam.

The cave didn’t go back far enough for them to hide in the depths. Anyone who climbed the hill and peered inside would see the man and woman huddled against a far wall.

“Too shallow,” Jake muttered.

“There’s another one farther along the bluff.” Alexandria motioned toward the west.

They left the shallow cave and eased along the narrow path, lit only by the stars beginning to pop out one by one in the indigo sky. Again Jake held Alexandria’s hand, helping her to keep her balance.

When they reached the second cave, he shined his light into the darkness and couldn’t see the back wall. He stepped inside, his weapon pointed into the blackness.

“Aren’t you afraid of animals?” Alex whispered.

“I’m more afraid of having to shoot one. If I fire a round, I give away our location.”