Chapter 6
Link watched Ansley sleep. Maybe he shouldn't have invited her to the beach condo, but spending time with her was refreshing. He'd never felt this way on a mission. It was a little worrisome, but they weren't in danger, not the imminent kind, but still, he needed to keep his head on straight.
If he hadn’t lost coms, he would have been in contact with his team. He trusted them to finish the mission and get to safety before they came looking for him.
If more than forty-eight hours passed, he would find his way to a safe place and contact operational support by whatever means he could find. They would survive, he would make sure of it. For now, he needed to rest.
Ansley mumbled something in her sleep, but it didn't sound English.
Interesting, she spoke other languages. Link closed his eyes, clearing his mind so he could get some sleep.
If he heard a noise in the tunnel, he would wake.
His training had taught him how to regulate how deep he allowed his sleep to get.
When he finally opened his eyes, Ansley was still sleeping. He guessed he'd gotten about three hours of sleep based on how he felt.
They needed to move soon. First, he needed to eat something. The orange sounded good. He had it half peeled when Ansley woke.
The confused look on her face was cute and made him warm. Both of her arms shot up, and then she winced.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, I bet that hurts.”
She grunted and rolled her shoulders. “How are you?”
“A little stiff. I’m good. You should eat.”
“Need to pee.”
He lifted his chin. “I can keep watch in the hall.”
He stood and helped her up. Her gaze met his, and she didn’t look away.
“This sucks, having to piss in the hall like this.”
“It does, but it’s temporary.”
He checked out the path down one of the side halls and then stepped back so she would have some privacy.
“It’s all yours.”
Ansley rolled her eyes as she limped past Link. This was embarrassing, but she’d done this many times before on missions. Her embarrassment was amplified because she was doing this in front of Link.
How had she gotten herself in this situation? Being attracted to a guy on a mission was deadly. But she wasn’t supposed to be on a mission with Link. This was one of those weird anomalies where she ended up with someone she never would have met otherwise, and the man was very sexy.
After she finished and stood, she leaned against the wall as she pulled up her pants. The pain in her leg wasn’t getting better. It was actually much worse.
“Hey, you okay down there?”
“Yeah.” She glanced down and stepped around the mess on the floor, wishing she didn’t have to deal with the reality of her body in front of Link.
It was weird how women were expected to be nearly perfect to be considered desirable.
Women were humans and their bodies had human bodily functions.
She’d been shocked by how many young male recruits in boot camp had no idea women farted or threw up.
She guessed they’d never been close enough to a woman to understand that women’s bodies were like men’s bodies in many ways.
But taking a piss in front of Link had her cheeks heating.
She should push thoughts of Link being interested in her out of her mind.
There was no way someone like Link wanted a relationship with her.
She wasn’t model cute, or even close to what most men thought was sexy.
Though fit, being a Marine didn’t lend to being desirable in a way most men thought was desirable.
Ansley pushed all thoughts of a relationship and dating from her mind and shuffled back into the hall where Link stood watch. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about relationships.
“We should probably move on.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that. We should move on. I want to check and see if things have calmed down up there.”
“After we eat?” Ansley asked as her stomach rumbled.
Link nodded. “Yeah. After we eat.”
They headed back into the small room where they’d slept and chowed down on the fresh food he’d picked up. The fruit was good, but the dates and nuts gave them some needed calories. She felt more alert than she had before.
“Good meal,” Ansley said after finishing an orange.
“It is. Want more?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”
“Okay, let’s head out.”
Ansley was having a hard time climbing the stairs. The pain in her leg kept her slow and made lifting her leg difficult. The last few days when she’d been held hostage, she hadn’t been moving much. Now that she was moving, the pain was creeping up and taking over.
She wanted to ask Link if he saw infection lines moving from the injury site.
It would be a bad sign if the infection was moving up her leg.
He’d given her one dose of antibiotics which should help her fight off an infection.
At least she thought it would help her fight the infection, unless it was really bad.
She could only imagine what kind of bacteria had entered the wound when they’d been held captive.
She saw the door above and knew they were close. Hopefully, they’d be able to head out and find Link’s friends.
Link paused at the top of the stairs, drawing in a deep breath. “You ready?”
“Yeah. I’m ready as I’ll ever be.”
“I’m going to open the door slowly and check if anyone is in that room.”
“Sounds good.”
Link pulled open the door very slowly, hoping no one was on the other side. He paused before looking out the small sliver between the door and the wall into the well-lit room. It took a moment for his vision to adjust. He pushed the door open a little wider.
“It’s empty.”
“Good. Let’s see how the world above is doing now.”
Link chuckled, liking Ansley's spirit. They moved out slowly, listening for any indication that there were other people nearby.
“Seems very empty,” Ansley said.
Link moved closer to the window that only had a sheer sheet covering it. He could see outside, but the sheer was hiding a few things, so he moved it aside, looking out into the harsh sunlight. They’d been down there longer than he’d thought.
“It looks like morning. No explosions, no more gunfire. We should be able to get out.”
“Maybe we can find your friends.”
He nodded. “We’re going to have to find a wrap for your head.”
He glanced around, seeing a few chairs and a microwave. Someone lived here.
"We should find some clothes here somewhere. Maybe we can change so we don't stand out so much."
Ansley turned and took a step. He watched as her leg gave out and she dropped to the floor, her arms barely catching herself. In the bright light, he could see that her face was pale, and her skin looked clammy. Something was really wrong with her. She needed medical attention now.