Page 90 of Acting on Instinct
Rory kept pawing and barking.
“Okay, buddy, get down.” Ty gestured the command. As soon as Rory was by his side, Ty lifted the mattress to find that it had a solid base with a release handle. Tugging it up, it rose smoothly on hydraulic lifts.
And there lay Kira on her side with a pillow under her head.
She was white and sweaty, but even as he looked down, processing the miracle, Ty could see Kira’s chest rise and fall. Alive.
“Got her?” T-Rex called.
“Got her,” Ty called back.
Rory jumped into the box, whole body wriggling as he danced around Kira, licking her face.
Ty followed Rory into the cavity and scooped Kira into his arms. “Ambulance stat!”
T-Rex stepped into the bedroom, “Just hold her upright like that. Help is two minutes away.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ty
Sometimes, Ty hated being at the beck and call of his job.
It was a sentiment he’d heard throughout his career with Delta Force from his brothers who missed births, deaths, and significant firsts. All of them were painful sacrifices made by military families. He knew all that when he’d signed up. And each time he reupped.
But this was the first time that Ty truly understood.
He’d hated to leave Kira after the robbery to head to the fort for what he’d thought was going to be a training evolution, and right now he was seething that he was back in the air on White’s jet, heading in the opposite direction from Kira.
His orders were to jump.
Ty jumped.
In two more months, he’d have more control.
And Kira would have the consistent support he wanted for her.
His stomach still gripped. Ty wasn’t celebrating anything yet, not Kira’s rescue, not Cerberus.
He’d hold off until it was all concrete—his boots on American soil, a handshake for Nomad letting him know his brothers had taken care of business, his mission was complete, and Kira curled on the couch reading her books, sipping her coffee, and looking carefree because the boogeyman that had haunted her life was gone.
There was one last box to check before that aspiration could be realized.
Fatima knew what the hell put Kira in danger; the CIA and FBI were champing at the bit to get her away from her husband’s punishments and over to the United States so they could better understand what they’d found hidden in the padding of the wedding album.
“Fine,” Ty had said, clapping his hands together, “let’s do it and get it done.” He’d said it even though Kira was unconscious at the hospital getting tested for what the kidnappers had doped her with.
She was under White’s protection.
White wouldn’t fail Echo, and she certainlywould notfail Kira.
Yeah, Ty saw White’s face when she got over to Kira’s gurney.
White had to turn her protective duty over to a local CIA officer as she got Echo up to speed with their new assignment: Fly to Tanzania, save Fatima from her husband, and get her on the jet. Fly back to Spain to pick up Kira and White and head home. “Piece of cake.”
Not such a piece of cake when they found out they were flying in without the knowledge and blessing of the Tanzanian government. “William and Nadir have too many friendly and profitable connections. Nadir would get a heads-up.”
Echo had no idea where they were heading once they got to the city.
