Page 40 of Her Tempting Protector

“Well, shit, boy, you could climb Mt. Everest in that thing.”

“The problem is my cargo. Carys has been clear—I can’t be rocking her patient around.”

“You don’t have much of a choice, man. I need you to go east, totally off-roading, then circle back towards civilization. It’s the only way to keep you off the bad-guys radar but get you someplace where you can get some petrol. You need to determine how many klicks you can make on the turn based on the fuel you have—just go far enough that you’re out of sight. I’ve got the satellite imagery right here in front of me. You’re not dealing with any big obstructions, but just a lot of rough driving. Since the truck has the clearance and isn’t a total piece of shit, then I can get you three klicks outside of Wad Gala.

“You don’t want to drive into the city, they’ll be looking for you. You’re going to have to do your thing, Subterfuge Man. Somehow, you’re going to have to circumvent that city and get over to the main highway that will take you directly into Khartoum without having any of the rebels spotting you and pulling you over. It’s simple.”

“I want a new father,” Cullen whined.

Kane didn’t say anything for so long Cullen almost wondered if he’d lost the connection, but he knew his friend; he was just letting him digest all the shitty news he’d just laid on him.

“I’m good with everything but the four-wheeling adventure. I think Shada could end up dying, Kane.”

“Talk to Dr. Adams. I’m betting she might end up in bad shape, but if she can survive, she can be cared for when she arrives in Khartoum. If you’re caught out there with your dick waving in the wind doing nothing, she’s dead for sure.”

Cullen closed his eyes. Kane was right. That’s what he got paid for, making the hard decisions.

“Help me out, Kane, give me the longitude and latitude of where I’m heading.”

“I’m sending it through to your phone right now.”

* * *

“Carys,” Cullen called from the front of the truck. He was always careful to make sure that Shada couldn’t see him. He wanted to protect her modesty in this situation as best as he could. Carys backed out of the back seat and Cullen couldn’t even work up the energy to admire how her butt looked as she wiggled backward. She took one look at his face and turned back to Shada.

“I don’t want Adam to get too much sun, I’m going to shut the back doors, okay?”

The woman must have nodded, because Carys went and shut both back doors. She then joined him at a slow pace. She knew that he didn’t have good news.

“Just give it to me straight, I’m already imagining the worst.”

“We don’t have enough gas to make it to the next town by this road. The only way we’re going to make it is if we cut across through the trees out toward the desert. The area through the trees is going to be really rough, it’s not going to be as bad through the desert, but I’m not going to lie to you, that will be rocky as hell without some kind of path or road.”

“And this is the best decision possible, Cullen?”

“It’s the only decision.”

Cullen watched as Carys took a slow breath and shut her eyes. Then she opened them. This time, her eyes looked bottle green, as if they were powered by steel.

“Okay. Let me set some things up in the back seat. We are down to my last bag of saline, so we need to get our butts to a real hospital quickly, so I’m determined to look at this as a good thing.”

It was then that it really hit home that Carys was a doctor, a woman with a will of iron who made life and death decisions. She would have made a damn fine SEAL.

“Carys, about Adam,” he started.

“I know, he needs to keep up with us. Shada isn’t going to be in any shape to take care of him back there. I’m going to have to make sure she’s comfortable with pain meds, and what’s more I’m going to have to make sure she doesn’t move around much, so I’m going to swaddle her down as much as possible.”

“You mean tie her down?”

She shrugged.

“I think I can rig something up with the seatbelts back there.”

Carys shook her head. “Wait until I administer the morphine, then see what you can do.”

He gritted his teeth and nodded. Somehow, she caught onto how he was feeling—how, he’d never know.

“Cullen. This isn’t your fault. However, this works out, you’ve been our hero.”