Cynthia Eden - Alpha One

Jasper staggered. “Go time,” Logan heard him say.

And yeah, it was. Keeping a hold on Juliana, Logan tapped his receiver. “Is there another civilian here?” He had to be sure. He wouldn’t leave an innocent to burn.

He motioned for Jasper to take the leap out. He had Juliana; there was no need for the other agent to stay any longer. Jasper yanked out a cable from his pack and quickly set up an escape line. In seconds, he began to lower his body to the ground.

“Negative,” Gunner responded instantly. “Now move before your butt gets fried.”

Gunner wouldn’t make a mistake. He and Sydney Sloan had the best intel there was. No way would they send the team in without knowledge of another innocent in the perimeter.

Juliana blinked up at him. “Y-your voice …”

Aw, damn. He’d lost most of his Southern accent over the years, but every now and then, those Mississippi purrs would slip into his voice. Now wasn’t a good time for that slip.

“You’re goin’ out the window …” Another explosion shook the building. Her captors were packing some serious firepower. Definitely don’t want her getting away alive . “Your choice—you goin’ through awake or asleep?”

“There’s a man trapped back there! He’s tied up— he’ll burn to death .”

She wasn’t listening to him. Fine. He grabbed her, tossed her over his shoulder, held tight and dropped down on the line that Jasper had secured for him.

By the time she’d gotten any breath to scream, they were on the ground.

“Take her,” Logan ordered, shoving Juliana into Jasper’s arms. “Get her out of here.” She was the mission. Her safety was their number one priority.

But …

He’ll burn to death .

Logan wasn’t leaving a man behind.

He grabbed the cable and started hauling his butt back up into the fire.

“WHAT THE HELL is he thinking?”

Juliana stared around her with wide eyes. She was surrounded by two men, both big, strong, towering well over her five foot eight inches. They had guns held in their hands, and they both wore black ski masks. Just like the other guy. The guy that, for a moment, had sounded exactly like—

“Alpha One,” the hulking shadow to her right said into his wrist. “Get back here before I have to drag you out of that inferno.” Wait, no, he wasn’t muttering into his wrist. He was talking into some kind of microphone.

Alpha One? That had to be the guy who’d jumped out of the window—with her in his arms. Her heart had stopped when he’d leaped out and she’d felt the rush of air on her body. Then she’d realized … he’d been holding on to some kind of rope. They hadn’t crashed into the cement. He’d lowered her, gotten her to safety, then gone back into the fire.

“There’s someone else inside … John …” Juliana whispered. The fire was raging now. Blowing out the bottom windows of that big, thick building. Her hell.

They were at least two hundred feet away from the fire now. Encased in shadows. Hidden so well. But …

But she couldn’t stop shaking. These men had saved her, and she’d just sent one of them right back to face the flames.

She couldn’t even see the men’s eyes as they glanced at her. The sky was so dark, starless. The only illumination came from the flames.

Then she heard a growl. A faint purr … and the man to her right yanked her back as a vehicle slid from the shadows. Juliana hadn’t even seen the van approaching. No headlights had cut through the night.

The van’s back doors flew open. “Let’s go!” a woman’s sharp voice ordered.

The men pretty much threw Juliana into the van.

“Where’s Alpha One?” the woman demanded. Juliana’s gaze flew to her. The woman had short hair, a delicate build, but Juliana couldn’t really discern anything else about her.

The man climbing in behind Juliana pointed to the blaze.

“Damn it.” The woman’s fist slammed into the dashboard.

But as Juliana glanced back at the fire, she saw a figure running toward them. His head was down, his body moving fluidly as he leaped across that field.

The van started to accelerate. Juliana grabbed on to the side of the vehicle. Were they just going to leave him? “Wait!”

“We can’t,” the woman gritted out as she glanced back from the driver’s seat. “That fire will attract every eye in the area. We need to be out of here yesterday.”

But—

But the guy was nearly at the van. One of the guys with her reached out a hand, and her “hero” caught it as he leaped toward them. When he landed on the floor of the van, the whole vehicle shuddered.

Juliana’s heart nearly pounded right out of her chest. Her hero was alone. “John?”

He shook his head.

“Logan, what the hell?” the woman up front snapped. “You were supposed to be point on extraction, not going back to—”

Logan?

A dull roar began to fill Juliana’s ears. There were thousands of Logans in the world. Probably dozens in the military.

Just because her Logan had left her ten years ago that didn’t mean …

“There was no sign of another hostage,” the guy—Logan—said, and his voice was deep and rumbling.

A shiver worked over her.

Juliana sat on the floor of the van, arms wrapped around her knees. She wanted to see his eyes, needed to, but it was far too dark inside the vehicle.

One of the other men leaned out and yanked the van doors closed. The sound of those metal doors shutting sounded like a scream.

“‘Course there wasn’t another hostage!” This came from the woman. “She was the only civilian there. I told you that. Don’t go doubting my intel.”

He grunted as he levered himself up. Then he reached for Juliana.

She jerked away from him. “Take off that mask.” She could see now. Barely.

He pulled it up and tossed it aside. Not much better. She had a fast impression of close-cropped hair and a strong jaw. Without more light, there was nothing else to see.

She needed to see more .

“You’re safe now,” he told her, and his words were little more than a growl. “They can’t hurt you anymore.”

His hand lifted, and his fingertips traced over her cheek. Her eyes closed at his touch and Juliana’s breath caught because … His touch is familiar .

His fingers slid down her cheek. Gentle. Light. It was a caress she’d felt before.

There were some things a woman never forgot—one was the touch of a man who’d left her with a broken heart.

This was her Logan. No, not hers. He never had been. “Thank you,” she whispered because he’d gotten her out of that nightmare, but she pulled away from his touch. Touching Logan Quinn had always been its own hell for her.

The van rushed along in the night. She didn’t know where they were heading. A heavy numbness seemed to have settled over her. John hadn’t made it out.

I’m not … perfect .

“We’re the good guys,” one of the other men said, his voice drawling slightly with the flow of Texas in his words. “Your father sent us after you. Before you know it, you’ll be home safe and sound. You’ll be—”

Rat-a-tat .

Juliana opened her mouth to scream as gunfire ripped into the vehicle, but in the next instant, she found herself thrown totally onto the floor of the van. Logan’s heavy body covered hers, and he trapped her beneath him.

“Get us out of here, Syd!” Texas yelled.

Juliana could barely breathe. Logan’s chest shoved down against hers, and the light stubble on his cheek brushed against her face.

“Hold on,” he told her, breathing the words into her ear. “Just a few more minutes …”

Air rushed into the van. Someone had opened the back door! Were they crazy? Why not just invite the shooters to aim at them and—