Page 75 of Protecting Bree
“Smiley?” she asked, the fear and uncertainty easy to hear in that one word.
“I’ve got you,” he told her, seeing exactly what he needed. Up ahead, there was a gate in the perimeter fence. Upon closer inspection, he saw there was a small lock holding it closed. Reluctantly, Smiley put Bree on her feet. “Hold on to the fence for a second, sweetheart.”
Her arm tightened around his neck. “Don’t leave me!” she exclaimed, panicking.
Smiley turned to her, put his hands on her face, and leaned down so his forehead was resting against hers. “I’m not leaving you. I’mneverfucking leaving you. I just need to get this gate open, then we’ll be on our way again.”
He’d never been so proud of Bree as he was in that moment, when she took a deep breath, nodded, and took a step to the side, putting her back against the fence. “I’m sorry. I know you aren’t going to leave. I just…I can’t believe you’re here.”
Moving slowly, Smiley lifted the scrap of material on her chest and tried to cover up her exposed breast. Shelooked down, then brought her hand up to hold the slip in place.
Feeling anger course through his veins, Smiley turned toward the fence before he did something stupid, like turn around and hunt the men looking for her and kill them one by one with his bare hands. He had no doubt he could do it. With the way he was feeling, they’d be dead before they knew what hit them. But he’d promised not to leave Bree, and no way in hell was he breaking that promise.
He turned toward the gate and took a deep breath, then lifted his leg and kicked at the lock with his boot as hard as he could. The small, flimsy lock broke upon impact, metal parts flying in all directions. Then it was a simple matter of lifting the latch and pushing the gate open. He turned back to Bree and picked her up again without a word.
He walked through the gate, intending on not looking back, but Bree stopped him.
“We should close it. So they don’t know for sure we came this way.”
She was right. Adrenaline was making it difficult for Smiley to think. That, and holding a wounded and hurting Bree.
Turning back toward the gate, he went to put her down, but once again she was thinking more clearly than he was.
“Just get close, I’ll shut and latch it.”
Leaning down, Smiley did just that, and Bree pulled the gate closed then reached out and lowered the latch.
If anyone looked closely enough they’d see the broken lock on the ground, but closing it might give them a fewprecious minutes to lose themselves in the slums surrounding the port.
Smiley wasn’t happy about not being able to take Bree immediately to a doctor, or hell, straight to the airport to get her out of Ecuador. Still,nothingcould dim the immense relief he felt at finding Bree.
Taking her back to the motel for now would be ideal. But it was on the opposite side of the port. He wouldn’t risk taking her back through the dockyard, nor could he possibly know if the assholes searching for them had enough manpower to spread out to the nearest streets…
He needed to find a place to hole up. To wait for Tex to find him using the fucking tracker in his underwear and come to his aid.
Any other time, in any other situation, Smiley would resent having to go to ground, but right now, Bree was his only focus. He absolutely would not risk her safety after everything she’d been through. He’d hide for years if it meant keeping her safe and secure.
Smiley began to jog once more. The small forested area on this side of the shipyard gave way to dirt roads, then asphalt. They began to pass more buildings and cars until they were in the midst of civilization once more. But that didn’t mean they were safe. There was no telling where the loyalties of anyone they came into contact with might lie. Ecuador was full of honest, hardworking people, without a doubt, but like any country in the midst of a violent uprising, people did what they had to do in order to survive. And this neighborhood wasn’t in good shape. Even as he jogged with Bree in his arms, Smiley could hear gunfire in the distance.
They weren’t safe here. Castillo could have spieseverywhere, people who would be more than willing to give up two Americans for a hefty payday.
Kicking himself for dropping his phone, Smiley looked around for a place to hole up. To check on Bree. To breathe for a moment before meeting up with his team.
The sun was just beginning to light up the world around them, which would soon mean more people out and about and more eyes on them—and Bree was in no condition for anyone to be looking at her. She was practically naked. That could result in a wholedifferentset of worries if he didn’t find a place to hide pronto.
Then, he found what he was looking for. Down an alley was a dilapidated building. Actually, it could hardly be called a “building” anymore, from the looks of it. The roof was half caved in, but from the street, Smiley couldn’t see past the wall that had fallen inward.
Praying they could get inside and hide from any prying eyes, Smiley carried Bree down the dark alley toward the structure. Checking to make sure there wasn’t any glass to cut her more than she was already, Smiley put Bree on her feet.
“Give me a second,” he told her.
She nodded, and he didn’t like the faraway look in her eyes. Moving quickly, he ducked under the partially collapsed doorway and looked around. There was nothing of value in the small space, just rubble and glass. But it would work for now. At least until Kevlar and the rest of his team could pick them up.
Returning to Bree, Smiley saw her weaving on her feet with her eye shut.
“Come on,” he said, kicking himself when she jerked violently. “It’s me, Bree. Just me.”
“Sorry,” she told him.
