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“You got to get her temperature down. Take off her clothes and wipe her down with cold water. Even if she wakes up and tells you to stop, keep doing it. That should help.”

Now for the question he didn’t want to ask. “How’s Jase?”

“I’ve already given him blood. Linc’s his blood type, and you know Gideon’s O negative.”

Brax nodded to himself. “Is that helping?”

“He’s stabilizing.”

“Did it hit his bone?”

“Yeah,” Nolan answered.

That was it. Just the one-word answer.

“Brax, right now I’m focusing on keeping him in good enough shape for surgery. Yeah?”

“Gotcha.”

Brax understood what Nolan was saying. This was no time worrying about Jase’s future, they needed to take one bite of the elephant at a time. Anyway, he had Jenny to worry about. He still had her held close under his poncho with him, trying to share his body heat so that she wouldn’t be shivering as much. The idea of forcing cold water on her was anathema, but it had to be done.

He carefully moved her, so that she was laying down on the tarp, then grabbed two of the empty water bottles and sheared off the tops with his knife. He opened the tailgate of the SUV and saw her violently shiver. He filled up the two water bottles with rain, then closed the door. They really didn’t need the vehicle filled with water.

He looked at Jenny dispassionately and took off her boots first. It was a challenge that finally required him to just cut through her mud-caked shoelaces. As he peeled off her socks, he could see how swollen her feet were. It didn’t look like infection had set in, which was a good thing. Then he took off her cargo pants. They easily slipped off since they were so large on her. He would bet anything she’d lost weight since being captured. He left her panties on. Then he pulled off her sweat-soaked shirt.

He poured some of the water directly onto her sternum, and she cried out. He forced himself to ignore her, as he used the soft shirt to stroke the cold water all along her torso, her breasts, up and down her arms, along her sides, around her neck, then across her brow.

Jenny’s teeth were chattering and at one point, she attempted to grab his hand.

“Stop,” she slurred the word.

“I can’t. We need to get your fever down.”

“C-c-cold.”

“I know you are, Jenny. But this will help you get better. Trust me.”

He poured water along her concave belly, then smoothed it down her hips above her panties, then down her thighs, along her knees and calves, then back up again. She struggled against him. She whimpered, and he had to steel himself against her obvious distress.

For long minutes he continued, then he pulled her back up into his arms, as if he were holding a baby over his shoulder and began smoothing the cold water over her back.

“Please, stop,” she whispered into his ear. “Please.”

Had he ever had a harder mission?

Finally, he laid her back down on top of the cold tarp and got the forehead thermometer. One-hundred-and-two point six. Her fever had reduced by a point, but now silent tears slipped down each side of her face, down to her temples and mixing in with her mud-caked hair.

Jenny looked nothing like the woman he had seen in the picture. Nothing. Until those first few minutes when she had opened her eyes and shown her fighting spirit. What had they done to her? How had they hurt her? The fact that she had shown that fighting spirit instead of the hollow-eyed, empty look of women they had rescued in the past gave him hope she hadn’t been violated.

“Is there any rope or chains in the SUVs?” Kostya asked over the comm. “Two of these trees are still connected to the trunks and roots. We need more power.”

Brax covered Jenny with his poncho, then moved her so that she was pushed up against the two front seats and prayed that there was some concealed storage. When he spotted it, his heart sank. Looking at the lid, he figured it could house a couple of grenades and maybe, just maybe, a sniper rifle. Sure as hell not an automatic rifle. They were shit out of luck. He opened it up anyway, and his eyes bugged out of his head.

“Kostya, the God of War is on our side today. I’m counting three, no make that four, tow straps in here. Depending on the size of the trees, the Land Cruiser should have enough torque to move them. If not, we can attach them to the van.”

Before he was done talking, Kostya was lifting up the tailgate. He actually saw a grin on his lieutenant’s face.

“You done good,” he said as he grabbed the first strap and connected it to the hook on the tow hitch and started running with the others toward the trees. Ryker ran up to the tailgate. He stopped for a moment.