She tore another strip off her burqa and dabbed at the blood on his lip, wishing she had clean hot water or ice packs or another morphine autoinjector.
“Hey.” He reached up with his right hand, brushed a tear off her cheek. “You’re going to get through this. Cobra will come—tonight, tomorrow.”
“They took my phone, Derek. How will Javier be able to find us now?”
“Theywillfind us. If Qassim kills me—”
“Don’t say that!” Something inside her snapped, all the tension and terror coming together in a rush. “I couldn’t take it if anything happened to you. Don’t you understand? I love you, Derek. I can’t do this without you.”
Whathad she just said?
Except that it was true.
She loved him.
Well, damn.
He looked up at her, a startled expression on his bruised face. “Jenna, I—”
“You stupid whore!” Perooz stood in the doorway, rifle slung over his shoulder. “Father, come! The woman has untied him!”
“Easy, Jenna,” Derek whispered, grasping the sharpened stake.
But Qassim was right behind his son. “Remove her. Kill him.”
Adrenaline turned Jenna’s blood to ice, but she stood. “If you want to kill him, you have to kill me first.”
Perooz stormed over, grabbed Jenna by her arm, threw her aside—then stared down in shock at the stake that protruded from his abdomen.
Qassim let out a cry, raised his weapon, aimed it at Derek.
“No!” Jenna crawled toward Derek to cover his body with hers.
Something bounced across the dirt floor.
A grenade.
19
Derek saw the stun grenade and rolled Jenna beneath him, shielding her from hot shrapnel with his body. “Close your eyes! Cover your ears!”
BANG!
A loud blast. A flash of blinding light.
Jenna screamed.
Qassim screamed, too.
The heavy tread of military boots.
Derek opened his eyes to find Qassim staggering blindly, hands over his face, as a half-dozen Cobra operatives poured through the door. They threw Qassim to the ground, ignoring his shouts and curses as they handcuffed him.
“Nice of you guys to show up.” Derek looked into Jenna’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I will be now.” She tried to smile, but he could see she was badly shaken. “I thought it was a real grenade. I thought…”
Corbray knelt beside them. “Dawg, you look like hell.”