She sniffed, fought to stop her tears. “I’ve never been so afraid.”
“I was there the whole time. I saw him kill Jidda. I saw him hit you. At that point, I knew we couldn’t wait for the police or the army. We had to move in to stop that son of a bitch from hurting you.”
“When you shouted for me to stay down, I thought I was hearing things, that it was just the bump on my head.”
“I didn’t want you to get caught in the crossfire.”
“I can’t believe it was just you and David. When I saw you, I thought everyone was here—the whole Cobra team.”
He shook his head, frowned. “They’re on another mission, but they gave us some support. Corbray and Tower—Cobra’s two owners—went to the State Department and asked to be assigned to your rescue mission, but State wasn’t interested. They wanted to wait and see how things played out.”
Chills skittered down her spine. “What?The US government wasn’t going to send anyone? They were just going to leave me with those bastards?”
Malik nodded. “They were sure you’d be ransomed back.”
“That wouldn’t have happened. Jidda never mentioned ransom. I would have been their captive for months.” The thought left her feeling sick. “They could have done whatever they wanted to me. Peter talked about selling me. He would have ra—”
“Don’t think about it. That’s not how it turned out.”
“Only because of you—and David, whoever he is.”
“He’s a Cobra asset—and a friend. Elizabeth Shields, one of Cobra’s intel experts, got in touch with him and asked him to hook me up with weapons and ammo. He offered to help if I let him keep that drone.”
Then it hit her. “Cobra is somewhere else, and the US government wasn’t planning a rescue. You came on your own—without authorization?”
“Tower wanted me to wait until the current mission was completed, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t abandon you, Kristi. I turned in my resignation and got on a plane.”
“Oh, Malik.” The extent of what he’d done for her left her stunned, warmth swelling inside her chest. “You quit your job and risked your life forme?”
He ran a thumb over her cheek. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Kristi could see in his eyes that he meant it.
* * *
Malik sawthe gratitude on Kristi’s face, but he couldn’t claim all of the glory. “I couldn’t have done it without David and Cobra. David let me borrow weapons, watched my back. Tower sent me off with the drone. Shields asked the Pentagon to divert a high-altitude military surveillance drone to do a flyover of the forests west of Kinu. I’d sent her photos someone had taken of the bandits’ SUV, and she spotted the vehicle in the drone footage. That’s how we found you.”
“But none of that would have happened if you hadn’t gotten on that plane.”
He supposed that was true. “You deserve some credit, too, you know. You held those bastards off for four days using your brain.”
“It wasn’t enough in the end. I’ve never felt so helpless.”
Malik had never known what it was to be in her shoes. He was stronger and tougher than most men. He had better endurance and advanced military training. He could fight his way out of almost anything. She’d had only her wits and that fucking scalpel to protect herself.
But Malik shouldn’t have dredged all this up for her in the middle of the night. “You should get some sleep.”
She slid a hand up his bare chest, thumbed the hair on his sternum, her touch striking sparks off his skin. “Kiss me, Malik.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to refuse her, to remind her that the doctor had said she needed rest, but then she closed her eyes, offered him her lips.
Ah, hell.
He had never been able to resist her.
He brushed his lips over hers, gratified by her little gasp, the contact electric. He did it again and again, until she whimpered, until his lips tingled. Then he took her mouth with his in a deep, slow kiss.
Geezus.