Chapter 4
Midas forced himself to walk out of Lexie’s room and down the hall.
The woman had him tied in knots for reasons he couldn’t begin to understand.
She was shy, generous, funny, and so damn trusting it was almost scary.
He had no idea how she wasn’t jaded and disillusioned from working in some of the poorest areas of the world.
It wasn’t until she was talking to the doctor that he fully realized she didn’t really blame her kidnappers for holding her hostage. She honestly believed they were simply desperate men doing desperate things for money.
Midas shook his head in disbelief. Lexie held little or no ill will toward the men who would’ve killed her without a second thought if he and his team, and the Danish special forces soldiers, hadn’t surprised them.
But he couldn’t deny that her…goodness, called to him on a level he hadn’t experienced before.
He knew next to nothing about the woman Lexie had become; hell, he didn’t know much about the teenager she’d been all those years ago.
But that didn’t seem to matter. She intrigued him, and he was feeling extra protective of her.
Midas ran into Slate in the hall on the first floor and got an update on Dagmar. As Lexie’s doctor had said, he wasn’t doing well. He was hanging in there, but seemed to be getting weaker and weaker rather than stronger, now that he was finally getting medical attention.
“We shouldn’t stay here too long,” Midas warned.
“I know. I want to be gone yesterday,” Slate agreed. “And so does Mustang. He’s been talking to the doctors about when we can move him. He needs advanced cardio care, which he won’t get here. So the longer we linger, the more damage could be done to his heart.”
“What’s the holdup then?”
“His brother is working on chartering a jet to fly him straight back to Denmark. But apparently there’s a lot of red tape involved, not to mention the question of whether Dagmar is strong enough to even make the flight.”
“That’s a good thing, though, right?” Midas asked. “The brother obviously has enough money to get Dagmar home sooner rather than later.”
Slate shrugged. “I think so, but so far the doctors haven’t agreed to release him.
And we’ve been asked to help the Jaeger Corps provide security from here to the airport.
It wouldn’t do for him to get kidnapped again right when he’s about to fly out of here.
So until the doctors, Dagmar’s brother, and the Danish government figure out their next steps, we’re in a holding pattern.
And you know how much I love that. How’s Lexie? ”
Midas wasn’t thrilled about waiting around any longer than they had to, but he couldn’t deny he was relieved Lexie was getting some much needed medical attention. “Good. Dehydrated, but overall she was lucky. She’s sleeping upstairs while we’re waiting on our next move.”
“You okay?” Slate asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You just seemed…extraordinarily concerned about Lexie.”
“I know her,” he admitted.
“What?”
“I know her. We went to high school together.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Slate asked, flabbergasted.
“It wouldn’t have changed anything. I mean, I haven’t seen her since graduation. It’s not like we were friends or anything.” Midas did his best to keep his words nonchalant. But he should’ve known his teammate would pick up on his conflicted feelings.
“But there’s something there, isn’t there? It’s why you insisted on being the one to watch over her while we’re here,” Slate pressed.
“I just… She’s gotten under my skin,” Midas finally said. “I don’t know why.”
“I’m probably not the person to be having this conversation with, as the last serious relationship I had was…
oh, that’s right…never. But after watching Mustang and Elodie dance around each other, and how stressed out he was when he didn’t hear from her after we left that cargo ship, all I can say is, make sure you get her contact info. And give her yours.”
“I’m not Mustang,” Midas insisted.
“You aren’t. And Lexie isn’t Elodie. But I know you, Midas. If she’s gotten to you, you’ll need to figure out why. And you can’t do that if you don’t communicate with her.”
“I’m sure it’s just the situation. And the fact that I know her,” Midas argued, not believing his own words.
“And as soon as we land on that Navy ship, we’ll be separated and that will be that.
This isn’t exactly the time or place to try to get to know each other.
A few hours, tops, and she’ll be just another mission. ”
“I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to dismiss her, but no one can force you to get to know her if you’re determined not to. Though, you know as well as I do that things happen for a reason. We’ve been through too much shit and seen too many damn miracles for this to be a coincidence.”
Midas pressed his lips together. Slate was right. They’d even talked about this exact thing, coincidence, more than once. What were the odds he’d be sent in to rescue someone he’d known in his youth? Slim to none.
“What can it hurt to get her email?” Slate asked. “I don’t know if she has a phone, but if she does, exchange numbers as well.”
“She works for an international aid organization,” Midas protested.
“It’s bad enough that my job takes me all over the world, but it’s not like I can move to Africa to be with her if we click,” he argued, doing his best to talk himself out of getting in any deeper with the intriguing woman upstairs.
“Excuses,” Slate said unsympathetically. “If she’s the one for you, she’s the one for you. You’ll figure out a way to make it work.”
“Fuck, you’re annoying,” Midas told his friend. “I can’t wait until you meet someone and come up with all sorts of reasons why you can’t be with her.”
“That’s highly unlikely. I’m a grump who sees the worst in humanity. And unlike you, I’m cool with keeping things casual with a woman I’m seeing. I’m not looking for some deep connection and wanting to immediately move a chick in with me and get married.”
“You meet the right woman, you might change your mind,” Midas said.
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Slate told him.
“Hey guys,” Jag said as he walked toward them. “I’ve been trying to get you on our radios for a few minutes.”
“Dammit! These things are a piece of shit,” Slate said, shaking his head and tapping the receiver in his ear. “I knew we should’ve brought the longer-range radios.”
“Too late now,” Jag said.
“What’s up?” Midas asked.
“Looks like we’ve got about an hour before we’ll be heading out,” Jag said. “Dagmar’s physician finally gave the green light to move him.”
“We going to the ship?” Midas asked. “Or the airstrip?”
“The airstrip,” Jag said. “Magnus Brander finally got his way, and he’s paying a shitload of money to get his brother out of here. The helo will pick us up there and take us to the ship, then we’ll head home shortly thereafter. How’s Lexie?”
“She’s good. Sleeping upstairs in an examination room. I’ll wake her up in about forty-five minutes and we’ll meet you guys down here so we can head out. Any issues from the locals?”
“Not so far,” Jag said. “Pid and Aleck are keeping their eye on the neighborhood. I think we got Dagmar and Lexie inside before most people realized we were here.”
“I’m assuming not all the kidnappers were at camp,” Slate added. “We had intel that there were around eighteen people coming and going from the desert. We only took out about a dozen. We need to keep our wits about us until we go wheels up.”
Midas and Jag both nodded.
“Yeah, that’s why Aleck and Pid are keeping watch,” Jag said.
Feeling uneasy about Lexie being left on her own, Midas said, “I’m headed back upstairs. Let me know if the timetable gets moved. The sooner we’re out of here, the better I’ll feel.”
“Same,” Slate said.
Midas didn’t even tease his friend about his legendary impatience. Right about now, he was one hundred percent in tune with Slate. He gave his friends a chin lift and headed for the stairs.
He slipped into Lexie’s room, nodded at the nurse as she left, and was relieved to see Lexie right where he’d left her.
She’d turned onto her side and the arm with the IV was hanging over the edge of the table.
Her hair was mostly dry now, and even more out of control than it had been when he’d first seen her in the desert.
Midas smiled. He had no idea why he found her hair so fascinating. Maybe because it was wild and crazy, and she was anything but. It was an odd dichotomy.
He pulled a chair closer to the bed, putting himself between Lexie and the door, and stared at the woman on the table as she slept.
What was it about her that drew him so unexpectedly? It made no sense. He didn’t even really know her. But what he’d learned since seeing her lying on a thin pallet in the desert was enough for him to want to know more.
He gave some thought to how they might continue to get reacquainted, but everything his mind came up with seemed flimsy.
He had no idea what she was planning to do once they got to the US Navy ship.
He assumed she’d fly back to the States until Food For All assigned her another post. Midas didn’t know nearly enough about the organization to guess how many locations they might have around the world.
Would Lexie head back to Africa? South America?
The Caribbean? There were so many people who needed assistance, she could literally be sent anywhere.
And he’d be in Hawaii, where he was stationed. Paradise. Of course, there were people who were in need there too, but he didn’t imagine Hawaii was on Food For All’s short list for sending people to help.
Sighing, Midas shook his head. He couldn’t think of how in the world he and Lexie would ever be able to have a real relationship…not that he had any idea she’d even be interested.
Although…he’d seen the way she’d studied him earlier.
He couldn’t believe he’d been about to kiss her. Talk about inappropriate.