Page 5 of Flash Bang
Conan laughed, or at least that’s what Ro made of his gravelly rumble.
Conan was using the bandana to wipe the paint off his face as if he’d done it a million times.Who were these guys?
The face that came clean underneath was unexpected. A broad forehead, sharply carved cheekbones and a strong, squared-off jaw, covered in dark stubble. If she’d seen him dressed in a suit, passing her on the streets of Chicago, Ro might have spontaneously orgasmed.Seriously, who were these guys?
“What’s your name, girl? And why were you alone and running through the woods like you were being chased by the devil himself?” Conan asked.
The statement wasn’t far off the mark, and the images of the beaten woman, knife at her throat, came rushing back. Ro shifted, jostling her ankle, which had started to throb like crazy. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to suppress the images and the pain. The shame of forgetting about the woman for even a moment burned sharper than the pain in her ankle.
“It’s Rowan. Not girl, not doll, not anything else. Except maybe Ro, if you’re not a total asshole. I was running through the woods in the middle of the night, by myself, because I didn’t have a choice. It was either that or end up the backwoods bride of three creepy, inbred rednecks. Or dead.” Ro wasn’t convinced dead was the worse option of the two.
“Care to elaborate?” Conan asked, both eyebrows arching this time.
Ro couldn’t think of a good reason not to explain further and told them what she had witnessed. Guilt for not doing something,anything, filled Ro. Hot tears pricked her lids. “I just left her there and ran.”
Zach slid down the picnic table bench, and his big arm came around Rowan in a comforting gesture. For some reason, this time she didn’t pull away.
“It’s okay, Ro. What could little ol’ you do against three grown men? You did the best thing you could possibly do.” Ro looked at him, completely confused by his words.
Zach smiled at her and clarified, “You came straight to us.”
The girl,Rowan,looked at him, and then Graham, and then back to him, before asking, “Who are you? And where the hell am I?” Her earlier attitude seemed to have drained away, leaving her sounding young and lost. She glanced around her, and in the pale glow of solar lights, Zach could see her trying to make out her surroundings.
He was about to answer her questions when Graham spoke.
“You’ll get your answers when we’re satisfied with yours. Your story sounds like complete bullshit to me.”
Her attitude flared back to life. Zach wasn’t sure what Graham’s angle was. It sounded like she’d almost had an unfortunate meeting with their inbred neighbors. For years, Jonah had been telling the rest of the team about the family that lived a few miles from their fence line. With no obvious form of income, Jonah suspected they were deeply involved in the rural meth trade.
“You think my story is bullshit? Then go out there and fucking get her. Go be all Rambo badass commando, and you’ll see that I’mnot fucking lying.”
Okay, someone had issues with being called a liar.Interesting.But Graham was a total hardass. It was embedded in the man’s DNA. It was what had made him a great leader of their Force Recon team for six years. But Graham was solidly in the camp of seeing before believing. Zach had zero facts to base his conclusion on, but his gut said she was telling the truth. She looked pretty busted up over the fact that she’d left some stranger behind when she didn’t have a chance in hell of being able to go up against three armed men. That type of reaction didn’t seem like it would be easily faked. But Zach knew damn well that Graham wasn’t going to leave the security of the ranch to chance. This interrogation was just beginning.
“G,” Zach said firmly, giving Graham a hard look. “The questions can wait.” It wasn’t often that Zach countermanded Graham’s orders, considering it used to be insubordination, but the girl was still freaked and obviously in pain, if the way she cringed every time she moved was any indication.
Graham clearly interpreted Zach’sback the fuck off lookand returned one that saidthis goes bad, it’s on you.But Graham backed off and took a seat on the bench of the picnic table that was parallel to the one where he and Rowan sat.
“You hurt, sugar?” Zach left the bench to go to his knees in front of her, lifting her ankle carefully. She flinched.
“I don’t think it’s broken. At least, I really hope not.” She sounded like she was panicking at the thought.
Zach heard Graham speak into his radio, “Beau, need you at the mess ASAP.”
“Copy that. On my way,” Beau, the group’s SARC—Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman—replied within seconds. As a Navy medic, Beau was the only non-Marine on their team. But since he’d actually gone to med school before joining the Navy and had saved most of their asses at least once, they didn’t hold it against him.
Graham stood and gave Zach a long, hard look. “Don’t move her until I get back.”
Ro watched as the two men shared a look that carried an entire conversation. Both nodded before Conan stalked off.
Ro was relieved he was gone. Except for a few brief moments, his intensity had completely unnerved her. She looked at the man kneeling in the dirt before her. He was almost as big as Conan, but didn’t emit thoseI’m-a-badass-mofo-and-you-better-watch-yourselfvibes that Conan did. He still looked like a badass mofo, but somehow he was more approachable. Strange, that.
“We’ll get you all fixed up, darlin’. Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing,” he said, smiling up at her.Definitely more approachable.
“I’m not the one you should be worrying about. That other woman ...” Ro paused, replaying the scene she had witnessed in her mind. “You need to get her away from them. You don’t understand, they were ...disgusting... and the way they were treating her ...” She shook her head, stomach twisting at the memory.
Zach gripped her calf with his big hand.
“Babe, put it out of your mind for now. We’ll handle it.” Ro was well aware he was trying to soothe her, calm her down, because it must have seemed like she was gearing up for a freak out. Accurate assumption.
