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He looked down at Jenny. Her eyes were shut tight. “Jenny, you with me?”

She gave one sharp nod.

“Not good enough. I need to see those pretty green eyes.”

“She has green eyes? Damn, I love a woman with green eyes,” Ryker said from the front seat.

“Cut it out, or I’ll tell Amy you were flirting with another woman,” Brax called back.

Jenny opened one eye and her lip twitched.

She was here with him. He took the thermometer out and slid it across her forehead. One-oh-two point eight. He grinned. Definitely down. It was either the antibiotics working or the cold wipe-downs. He didn’t give a damn what it was, just so long as it was working.

“Ryker, you can stop,” Kostya said over the comm. “We’re onto the last tree. Water’s already dispersing. This is working.”

Brax felt his shoulders relax. “Gideon, what’s the ETA to Chattogram?”

“You mean Chattanooga?” Jase’s voice came over the comm. Brax could barely hear him.

“Nolan, is he delirious?” Brax asked.

“Nah,” Nolan said. “He’s attempting to be funny. As usual, he’s falling flat.”

“Am not,” Jase slurred. “Already flat… Can’t fall.”

Every single man on the team started chuckling with relief. It was clear that all of them had been scared to death about Jase.

Smiling, Brax looked down at Jenny and saw that her nose was bleeding again.

10

The plan had been to extract and take Ms. Rivers into India so that they could fly home to the States from there. There wasn’t a chance in hell that was going to work considering her condition, not to mention Jase’s. The way Brax figured it, as soon as the two of them could be stabilized, the US Embassy would insist that they be flown out to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Getting the hell out of Silchari and heading to Chattogram took a lot more time than they would have liked. There was no way that they could traverse the roads, if they could be called roads, from Silchari to Kaptai Lake at any kind of decent speed, so they didn’t get there until the middle of the night, and the rain sure as hell didn’t help.

It was there that the roads evened out a little. Gideon found them a bridge over the many islands in the Kaptai river, so they finally ended up on the East side of Kaptai Lake and on an interstate.

“Ryker, no speeding. The last thing we need is to be pulled over,” Kostya said over the comm.

“How much longer?” Ryker asked.

“Two hours,” Gideon answered.

“How are our patients?”

Brax didn’t answer, and he noticed Nolan didn’t either.

“I’m speeding,” Ryker said decisively.

Kostya didn’t reply.

Brax looked down at Jenny, who hadn’t roused since the last time he had her talking. At least her nose bleed had stopped. The saline bag was empty. It was time for more water. He cupped her cheek. He’d cleaned her up earlier, and he noticed how soft her skin was despite her ordeal. “Jenny, it’s me, Brax. Can you wake up for me?”

This time, her eyelashes didn’t even flutter.

He hitched her up higher on his knee, then shook her shoulder. “Jenny. I need you to wake up for me. It’s time to drink some water.”

Still nothing.