Operation Date With Destiny (15 page)

She kicked at his arm hold
ing
the syringe, sending it flying across the floor and before he could react, spun and sent a high kick to the side of his jaw, knocking him off balance and sending him sprawling backwards.

Squaring back off, Destiny was preparing to launch into another series of lethal kicks, when from behind his back Rothman pulled out a weapon. In the space of a heartbeat—she saw a blur of movement from the corner of her eye, and was knocked to the ground, just as the loud roar of a handgun blasted past her head.

Immediately she sprung from the ground and launched herself at
Rothman
, sending a series of kicks and arm blocks to his body, spinning, moving, twisting and all the while driving him further back towards the doorway. She knew where to aim her blows and kicks to inflict the most harm and even though Rothman was big—he wasn
’
t fast and she was able to land a barrage of blows to his body before he could get enough control over his gun to s
queeze
off another shot.

The sound of machinegun fire roared outside and Destiny
realized
the men had
finally
managed to break through and were storming the village
,
pushing the gunmen back and forcing them to retreat. Rothman saw his men fleeing towards the vehicles and gave up trying to block any more of Destiny
’
s attack
,
making his escape—turning only once clear of her reach to aim his weapon at her. He squeezed off a shot but as fast as Destiny was—she wasn
’
t fast enough to dodge this one and the burning sensation in her side made her gasp in pain, the force of it sending her sprawling backwards inside the hut.

Her side protested with each gasp of breath she tried to draw in, and the pain was so intense she found it hard to breathe for a moment. Outside she could hear gunfire and men yelling. The smell of smoke soon filled the air and Destiny
realized
they needed to move.

She wasn
’
t sure how many men were still outside but she had no weapon and she was wounded. She lifted her head and ignored the sharp sting from her side to look for Jackson.
Seeing him on the stretcher, she was about to sigh her relief when she
noticed
something else.
Pon lay nearby—equally still and with a
large puddle of blood creeping its way across the floor around him
.
Destiny let out a low, mournful moan of despair.

Taking a slow, painful breath, she managed to
scramble
on
her
hands and knees
across
to the body
lying
crumpled on the floor.
“
Pon,
”
she whispered, struggling to turn him over and collapsing against the wall once she did, his body
lying
across her lap.

“
Destiny,
”
he breathed softly, his eyes fluttering open briefly.

“
It
’
s okay. Help
’
s coming. Hang in there.
”

“
I
’
m sorry. I
’
m so sorry,
”
his voice was like a whisper of a thread and he seemed to struggle with the effort to keep his eyes open.

“
It doesn
’
t matter now, just stay awake
,
okay? The others will be here soon. We
’
ll get you help.
”

“
I wanted to be your hero,
”
he said so softly she had to lean down to hear the words as they barely escaped his lips.

She held on to her old friend tight and willed her strength i
nto his body.
“
Please don
’
t go,
”
she begged, but there
were
no more words and she knew deep down inside that he was gone.

She wasn
’
t sure how long she sat there—it couldn
’
t have been more than a few minutes—but it could have been a lifetime for all she knew, before she felt someone lifting Pon
’
s body away and scooping her up from the floor.

Her side throbbed and burned but the pain was a welcome relief. It took her mind off the terrible reality that Pon was dead.

It was nice to be held, to be wrapped in a pair of arms that held her so tightly and to hear the sound of a heartbeat thudding reassuringly next to her ear. She was alive—she was safe—it was over.

She heard the thump of the rotor blades as the helicopter landed, and the wind and dust and gravel whipped around her head, then she was being lowered on to the floor of the machine and all around her men were climbing in and slamming doors shut. She turned her head and saw Jackson
lying
on the stretcher beside her and sent a silent prayer of thanks
.

****

Tupper knelt beside
D
estiny as Maloney tried to get a look at where she
’
d been hit.

Holy Christ—she
’
d been hit.
The thought squeezed his heart like an iron fist. He
’
d seen men
shot
—hit by damn explosives
. H
e
’
d seen more wounds and blood and gore than any man had a right to see—but right now, looking at this woman who lay beside him wounded and bleeding, just about tore his guts out.

“
You don
’
t look so good,
”
Maloney said, glancing up at him quickly in between reaching for his supplies.

Tupper ignored the comment and did the only thing he could to distract his own terrified thoughts—he launched into an attack.

“
What the hell were you thinking back there?
”

He saw Destiny turn her head and glare at him, before closing her eyes against the pain once more.

“
Tupp—not now man,
”
Del said calmly from across the chopper.

“
She almost got you guys killed!
”

“
What?
”
Destiny
’
s eyes opened to stare at him fiercely.

“
I told you to get the hell out of that compound and you disobeyed an order—you could have been killed.
”

“
You would have liked that wouldn
’
t you,
”
she snapped although the pain of her wound was obviously responsible for taking some of the bite from her tone.
“
One less problem to deal with.
”

“
Oh yeah—cause you dying would have really helped me! Are you forgetting the whole Manila thing?
”
he snapped.
“
You blackmailed me
,
lady!
”

“
You don
’
t have to worry about Manila. You
’
re not a wanted man.
”

“
Yeah
,
right! There
’
s
ten
pounds of cocaine sitting in a police evidence room with my name all over it that says different!
”
he growled.

“
There
’
s
what
?
”
Tate cut in from across the chopper
.

Tupper ignored the other men now looking on with more than a little alarm and tried not to look at the blood seeping from her wound that Maloney had exposed as he ripped the shirt
open
to work on it.

Destiny pushed away Maloney
’
s hands, gritting her teeth as she fumbled at her leg pocket to retrieve a small plastic packet which she threw at Tupper.

He caught it with one hand against his chest automatically, and frowned
down
at her.

“
I called your bluff. I didn
’
t set you up.
”

She what?
Then as his confusion cleared he stared down at
the packet to see
his dog tags and wallet.
She what!

“
Trust me—you
weren
’
t
that hard to bluff.
”

“
You set that whole police raid thing up?
”
H
e knew his voice had risen a few notches and that he wasn
’
t bein
’
cool about this—but seriously!
No freakin
’
way!

“
No, the raid was real—you would have ended up in prison if you
’
d stayed.
”

“
Lady you are off your freakin tree! You know that?
”
Holy shit!

Maloney reached for her wrist and frowned.
“
Tupper—back off
. N
ow.
”

He looked down and saw Destiny
’
s eyes flutter shut and
realized
how pale she looked. His anger dissipated into thin air within an instant to be replaced by a
full-fledged
panic.

“
What
’
s going on
,
Doc?
”

“
She
’
s lost a lot of blood—I need to get this line in. Would you back the hell up
,
Tupper?
”
Maloney snapped.

“
Come on
,
Tup,
”
Tate said grabbing his arm.
“
Give Maloney some room to work. He
’
ll take care of her.
”

“
Don
’
t you lose her, Doc.
”
His warning came out more like a pathetic plea but he didn
’
t care if the others noticed or not. All he knew was this woman had stormed into his life and he wasn
’
t ready to give her up.

Chapter
Ten

When Destiny opened her eyes the first thing she
realized
was how tender her side was. The second was the sound of waves crashing nearby
and was
more than a little disconcerting.

She tried to sit up, but her
wound protested
painfully and she remembered Maloney had been there
when she
’
d woken earlier
. She vaguely recalled him taking out her IV and telling her something about antibiotics—but she
’
d fallen back to sleep again.

She eased up, careful not to jar anything
, and gradually managed to swing her legs off the side of the bed and wait until she wasn
’
t dizzy before getting to her feet.

Where the hell
am I
?
The bedroom had a wide window, the plantation shutters opened to let in a warm breeze, heavily scented with salt and sea water. Through them, she saw the beach and ocean stretching as far as she could see. Maybe she was dead? Was this what heaven was like? She touched her side and
realized she
’
d been bandaged up and it was more than a little tender.
O
kay so she didn
’
t think she was dead—surely wounds weren
’
t supposed to hurt if you were dead? She looked around the room and saw her pack and moved towards it. Glancing down she
realized
she was wearing a large t-shirt…a large,
man
’
s t-shirt
and turning her head slightly she breathed in a familiar scent.
One that she shouldn
’
t be enjoying half as much as she was right now.

Slowly she withdrew a pair of cargo pants from the pack and pulled them on beneath the shirt—deciding
to
giv
e
up trying to struggle with removing the shirt at the moment and leaving it on.