rebel-heart by Rakhibul hasan (best contemporary novels txt) 📖

in the moonlight. She sucked in a deep breath. “You trying to kill me?” he whispered in the Southern drawl that sounded far too familiar for her

comfort.

She shook her head, gazing into his dark eyes. He freed one of his arms and reached for the arm she’d hidden behind her back to keep him from seeing what she had. She squirmed in objection, and his body adjusted around hers in response. She’d never been so close to a man. The feeling of his bare body against hers terrified her; he was strong enough to do what Donovan had not!

Unless he’s my Guardian. The idea made her more anxious to get away. “Stop,” he ordered as she squirmed.

He wrenched it away, and she sighed.

“I expected a knife or a gun,” he said, looking at it in disinterest. He tucked the micro under his pillow, returning his intense gaze to her. “Of course, I saw what you tried to do to Donovan. You need to learn to shoot. It’s a good skill to have right about now.”

“What?” she asked, startled by another repeat of the words her Guardian had spoken to her. “What do I do with you?” he mused, ignoring her. “How badly you want that back?”

Her face flamed with heat, and she strained against him.

“Not badly enough,” he surmised. “Go.” He released her, and she sprang up, backing away from him. Her heart pounded, and her body shook. Having never been propositioned before, she didn’t know

whether to be angry or terrified. The chocolates, the familiar insistence that she learn to protect herself, the Southern drawl.

Lana sank onto the couch, not liking the instinct that told her she was right about him. Her Guardian would never proposition her! He had honor and integrity.

And concern for her well-being, like he showed at the Peak when she hadn’t known him from any other army-type. She suddenly felt foolish thinking that Guardian, a man trained to kill, wouldn’t kill in cold blood or wouldn’t succumb to any other vices. She still found it baffling how different he was in person than over the net.

She also felt grateful he was still alive. She’d missed talking to him since he went silent, probably after he was attacked and his neck injured. The timing now made sense. It hadn’t been because he finally got himself killed or because he was through with her. She was embarrassed by her relief that he hadn’t truly left her, only revealed who he was. It wasn’t her fault he stopped talking to her. He was still alive. Her Guardian was the only stability she’d known since the world fell apart. Even Mr. Tim had

abandoned her after years of mentoring her.

She definitely didn’t know what to do about the thrill that went through her at the idea of a night with her Guardian. She’d fantasized about meeting him more than once, even if she knew it was impossible.

And she now knew what price she’d have to pay for her micro. She shuddered, despair creeping through her again. Maybe the man she thought was her Guardian really was dead, replaced by Brady, the man he truly was.

Her gaze went towards the bed, where his deep breathing was steady. Fascination and fear trickled through her. She’d always wanted to meet her Guardian.

Just not like this.

Chapter Seven

BRADY LOOKED UP FROM the radar imaging on the screen before him. Dan entered their command tent and threw down a chunk of blackened metal.

“That’s it,” he said. “That’s all that remains of the command center on the Peak.” “That’s not our work,” Brady said and lifted the metal. “What happened?”

“Bodies and a whole lot of that. We think General Greene and a few others got away. We intercepted some emergency transmissions but couldn’t get everything because of the electromagnetic field.”

“Our prisoners are the only survivors. And I don’t know they knew anything.”

“Something made them leave,” Dan reminded him. “I think Angel will just cry if you ask her anything. Why don’t we bring in Elise?”

Brady didn’t think Dan was far off. The woman in his tent was something else. He still didn’t fathom what had driven her to leave the Peak in the first place when she clearly couldn’t even make it down the side of the mountain on her own.

He touched the micros in his cargo pocket as he rose, recalling his night. He was a saint for letting her out of his bed the night before. The moment their bodies touched, he could think of little else than how long it had been since he had a woman and how much he’d wanted Angel since soon after he’d started talking to her weeks ago. He doubted Tim would appreciate him making moves on her.

“Elise it is,” he said. “If she doesn’t kill us first.”

“You have no idea how hard it was to tie her to that damn tree,” Dan said. They started away from the tent towards the center of their camp.

While Brady knew Lana was too afraid to leave his tent even if it wasn’t guarded, he’d had to order Elise chained to a tree within view of four guards. The special ops specialist was fearless, genetically engineered to kill, and as lethally trained as any of his men. She glared at them both with a cross between disdain and fury. Brady held up the chunk of steel.

“This is all that’s left of the Peak,” he said.

Her eyes went to it, and he saw confusion in their depths. “I didn’t order it destroyed. That leaves your people.”

Her anger turned to thoughtfulness. Dan pulled the tape from her mouth, and the first words out were curses. Then she shook her head.

“No. The Peak is there. If it’s not, you destroyed it,” she insisted.

Dan showed her his viewer with the images he’d taken the day before. She stared at the screen. “Not my kind of op,” Brady said. “No one else escaped. Does anyone know about you?” Understanding crossed her features.

“If you know what happened,” Dan said, “you damn well better tell us.” “Fuck you,” she snapped. “Why would I tell you anything?”

“Because if you don’t, we’ll pop Lana,” Brady said.

Her head whipped around to him. Brady crossed his arms. The moment dragged on. “Let’s go get her, Dan,” he ordered and turned away. He counted to five before she broke. “Greenie knew we left,” Elise said.

Dan shot him a look of amusement before they both turned.

“Lana said she needed help getting to the Peace Command Center in Colorado, that Greenie was going to kill her once she found out what she’d done,” Elise continued.

“What she do?”

“I don’t know. She’s my friend. She doesn’t have to say much more than she needed my help,” she said, glaring at them. “Where is she?”

“She’s safe for now.” “I want to see her.” “Maybe,” he replied. “No. Now.”

Brady bristled and strode to her, stopping when he was close enough for their bodies to touch in an unmistakable attempt at intimidation. Elise was much larger than most women, but she was still smaller than him.

“Look around you,” he ordered in a low voice. She stared at him.

“Look.”

Elise did so grudgingly, taking in the PMF insurgents crowded around.

“These men hate you and everything you stand for. You’re not in your world anymore. You better learn fast if you want to survive my world, challenging me isn’t the way to go,” he warned. “It’s not just your life you need to worry about. You got it?”

Her jaw clenched, then she yielded with a sigh. “Please let me see her,” she said, looking up at him. “If I free you …”

“I won’t try anything. I swear it.”

He stepped away. Dan touched his thumb to the thumb pads, and her chains fell away. She stretched with a grimace. She cursed, her mutter fading away as she tested her body.

Brady rested one hand on his laser gun until he was sure she wouldn’t try anything. She straightened finally with an angry look at Dan, who smiled in response. Brady wondered what the good-natured man had said to piss her off so much.

Dan led them to Brady’s tent and pushed the tent flap open. “Elise!”

He didn’t think he’d heard such a happy tone in his life. Lana sprang up from her corner of the couch and flung her arms around Elise.

“Lana, stop it,” Elise groaned, pushing her away. “I hurt everywhere.”

Lana’s face glowed. She pulled Elise to the couch. Elise dropped onto it with another groan. Brady watched them, sensing the depth of their friendship despite Elise’s discomfort. He folded his arms and approached. Lana was braver this day. She studied him with more interest than fear, even if she did push herself into the corner again. Elise glared at him.

“We wanted to talk to you about the Peak,” Dan started, pulling a chair near them.

He showed Lana the same scene he’d shown Elise. Brady watched her face pale. She looked up at him, and he answered the unasked question.

“No, we didn’t.”

“Allegedly,” Elise added under her breath. Lana clenched her hands.

“They want to know if anyone knew we left. Greenie did, right?” Elise asked. “Yeah. Greenie,” Lana said.

“Anyone else?” he asked, sitting close to Lana.

“I didn’t tell anyone. Greenie would’ve figured it out. I don’t know who he told,” she answered. She was twisting the edge of her shirt as she spoke. He watched her face, sensing she was hiding a great deal.

“How would he figure it out?” Dan asked.

“I locked out all the terminals, the emergency operations networks for the eastern part of the country, and re-routed the communications systems to my micro.”

“That’s pretty insane!” Dan said with a startled laugh.

“You knew this would happen,” Brady said, pointing to the picture on Dan’s viewer. She didn’t look at him or the picture.

“Did you know?” Elise asked, surprised.

Lana clenched her hands but didn’t answer. Brady glanced at Dan, his face echoing his own puzzlement.

“Jesus,” Elise breathed. “And you didn’t warn anyone? You let everyone die?”

“No, Elise,” Lana said in a hushed voice. “I didn’t know exactly … I didn’t know when or what or …” She stopped, knuckles white as she gripped the edge of her T-shirt.

“What did you know?” Elise demanded, grabbing her with a shake. Lana shook her head. Elise released her, sitting back in shock.

“What was it you had to take to the Peace Command Center?” Elise asked in a hushed voice. “Elise, please don’t!”

“What was worth the lives of the thousand people at the Peak, Lana? Tell me there was something!” Brady sat back, as surprised as the others. Lana shook her head again. He burned to know the answers

to Elise’s questions, not even able to fathom what the answer could be. Lana was a gentle soul; the secret must have been great if she left behind that many people to die!

Her actions suddenly struck him in a different light. She hadn’t been foolish; she’d been desperate. Whatever she found at the Peak had driven her into a forest full of insurgents despite her injury and her lack of familiarity with the forest or the world outside hers. If she left behind a thousand lives, she’d been running for something greater.

“Out,” he ordered.

Dan rose at the command and gripped Elise’s arm. The woman was too stunned to resist. Brady leaned back, gazing at Lana. If she’d protected her secret from a thousand people, she wasn’t about to reveal it to him. He rubbed the back of his neck. Whatever wiped out the Peak could wipe him out as well.

“Do you have any reason to believe someone is tracking you?” he asked. “I left my ID at the Peak and disabled my government implant.”

“What about your micro?” “It’s untraceable. I checked.”

“What about any of the other shit with you?”

She shook her head. He rose, angry and unconvinced she wouldn’t