Page 6 of Her Chosen Protector

“Serves you right for taking your belt off early,” Asher said as he carefully bandaged up his friend.

“It does,” Leo agreed. His voice was tight.

Raiden leaned down, holding water and some pills. “Drink all the water with the pills,” he commanded.

“Only the anti-inflammatories,” Leo said.

“You’ll take the ones for pain, too.”

“Don’t need it,” Leo protested.

“You’ll slow us down if you don’t take it,” Asher said. “We’ll watch over you and make sure you don’t trip on your third ball.”

“I don’t—”

Asher pushed his index finger into Leo’s inflamed knee. Leo hissed.

“Jesus, God! Fine. Fine. I’ll take the pills. I’ll take the help.”

“Are we going to have to set up a hospital ward here in the jungle?” Cullen asked as he walked over.

“Not for me,” Asher said wryly.

“Put that compress back on your head,” Raiden ordered. Asher grimaced and did so. He watched as the rest of the team gathered around. Kane sat down on the log next to Leo, giving his knee a

surreptitious glance.

It always amazed Asher how Raiden didn’t roll his eyes at Kane’s tendency to double-check everything. As if he could read his mind, Raiden looked up at Asher and sighed. “He can’t help it, he’s just wired that way. God help A.J. when they have kids, she’s going to have to slap him upside the head a couple of times.”

“Nah, she loves me too much,” Kane said confidently.

Everybody laughed. It felt good.

Too bad it couldn’t last.

C H A P T E R 2

“Things have changed in Caracas, and not for the better,” Kane started the briefing. “The security force that was hired to babysit the coalition failed to get the group to the empty American embassy as planned.”

“Why not? I thought they were just transporting them from the Venezuelan Central Bank?” Ezio frowned. “That was only ten kilometers at most. Who stopped them? Do they know if it was Maduro?”

Somebody has been doing their homework.

Max cleared his throat. Ezio rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, McNamara,” he said to Kane.

“Not my place. If I have any questions after you’re done with the briefing, I’ll ask.”

Somebody also knows when they’re out of line. Asher liked it. This was Ezio’s first mission with Night Storm. He was normally second-in-command on his own team, so he was used to questioning everything. But it was nice he knew when to take a backseat. It was nice to know that there was good sense under those pretty-boy good looks.

Kane began again. “Nobody knows. Not US Intelligence or any of our alliance intelligence agencies. It’s a crapshoot if it’s Venezuelan-backed Special Action Forces or those fuckers out of Columbia that waylaid the group.”

“That security team totally fucked up when they went to the American Embassy a day early to get it ready for the coalition’s arrival,” Kane continued. “Hell, nobody’s occupied the place for a year, and having them trying to get it habitable all of a sudden was a dead giveaway. So that definitely tipped their hand that something was going on.”

“Or there could have been a mole.” Raiden threw down the leaf he’d been twirling between his fingers.

“Supposedly, nobody from the Venezuelan government knew about the coalition.”

“I call bullshit,” Asher said.