Page 22 of Her Righteous Protector

“Raiden, you take up the rear behind the Samira, Nazy, Kostya, Nic group.” Raiden nodded. “I want you guys going first. Make sense?” All of his men nodded. Max handed Raiden Lark’s backpack and Samira’s cloth bag.

He told Samira, Lark, and the girls the plan. Samira carried Nazy over to Taja and gave her a big hug. Then she stood up and went to the door. Nazy clung to her mother when Nic tried to take her into his arms. It took him a minute, but somehow he got the little girl to giggle, and then she clung to his neck.

“Okay, start moving,” Max commanded. Nazy waved to her sister over Nic’s shoulder. Samira blew her oldest daughter a kiss.

Max watched as they all headed out the door. Max walked over to Lark and Taja then got down on his knees. “What do you think about me carrying you, habeebti?”

Taja gave a shy smile.

“That’s good.”

He got up and turned to his men. He tapped his mic. “Cullen you’re covering us. Kane, you’ve got Lark, and Ezio you’re taking the rear.”

“Imagine that,” Ezio said dryly as he touched the bandage on his head.

“Fuck that noise,” Kane growled at him. “If you screw up while you’re watching our backs just because you have a concussion, I’ll lay you out on your ass.”

Ezio grinned.

“We’re going to wait another ten minutes, then we’re going.”

Ezio picked up the two small bags of food and water that Kostya had dropped by the door. He rummaged around the small apartment to see if there was anything else that might be of use. He came back from behind the drape with a ragged-looking stuffed cat and two blankets that he had rolled up. Good. They would help in the Nuri cage. So would the ChemLights.

* * *

“I don’t like this,” Lark said as she looked at Kostya and Max. It was the fifty-third time she had raised an objection. It must be a reporter thing. Max looked over at Raiden sitting cross-legged inside the cage with Taja on his lap and his iPhone playing music softly next to her ear. Any man who had a mophi had also given theirs up for the cause, anything to keep the kids occupied during the journey. Nazy was sleeping in her mother’s lap with the stuffed cat in her arms.

“Lark, shut up and be reasonable.” Kostya glowered at her.

Max saw what apparently Kostya didn’t; Lark was scared for the girls and Samira, and she was hiding it under a layer of bitchy.

“Ms. Sorensen, it’s going to be alright, this will work,” Max said trying to reassure her.

She swung her head to glare at him. “How? It’s over seven hundred kilometers to the Torkham border crossing. I looked it up—the Chaman border crossing is only two-hundred and fifty kilometers, why aren’t we crossing there?”

“Two reasons. We used that crossing to get into Afghanistan two days ago and they’ll recognize us coming back with the same payload. Second, we need to get to Islamabad. That will be the easier airport to get the Nuri family out of Pakistan. Torkham is a lot closer to Islamabad than Chaman.”

Max watched her tortured expression as the bags were piled higher on the truck and the faces of the girls were covered up.

“Lark, you’ve got to trust us. This is our job, this is what we’re trained to do,” Kostya said in a soft voice.

Lark turned to Kostya and Max could see that his words had gotten through. “I just wish I could be with them.”

Kostya ran his hand down her arm. “I know you do, but Raiden is our medic; he needs to be the one with them. You know that’s the best choice, and those cages are too small for one more person.”

She bowed her head and nodded. Max noted that when Kostya’s hand landed next to hers, she grabbed it and tangled her fingers with his. If that would help her get through the next day, then he was all for it.

His phone vibrated. The text was from Zed; he’d needed to stretch his legs, so he’d sent him out to hunt and gather. His ETA was five minutes. They’d given most of their food and water supplies to Raiden and the Nuris, knowing that they would have an opportunity to get more.

Asher and Kane jumped off the top of the truck. “We can move out when Zed gets back,” Asher said.

It still was an hour before dawn; they needed to get Lark loaded as soon as possible.

“Ezio, Cullen, and Ms. Sorensen, you get into the cab with Zed. He’ll drive you to the next truck that Leo’s driving. We’ll follow on foot.” He didn’t need to tell Cullen what his job was. He got in last so that Ezio and Lark were placed in the middle. Cullen was literally riding shotgun in case there was trouble.

Max, Kane Asher, Nic, and Kostya started hauling ass. It was four kilometers to the next truck, but they needed to stay out of sight. It took them more than a minute, and Max was more than a little pissed to see that Kostya was already at the truck pulling off bags of plaster without looking winded by the time he got there.

“You’re injured,” Kane said quietly when he saw Max’s face.