Mari took off, sprinting with the blurring speed of an enhanced soldier. Ken keeping pace right behind her. She didn't run straight, but zigzagged, trying to find cover where there was little to find. Gunfire erupted all around them, but they kept running. Ken trusting Jack and the others to keep the enemy pinned.
Jack swore in his head, the curses long and eloquent.
He put the pain out of his mind. Compartmentalizing was a useful tool, and Ken and Jack had learned it early in life. He ran flat-out, the nails in his body not slowing him down. Several shooters including Neil and Logan closing in on either side of them and dropping to one knee-systematically picked off the enemy.
Mari made it to the helicopter and caught Martin's hand, allowing him to jerk her inside. Ken leapt in and caught the rifle thrown at him, picking it out of the air with one hand, swinging it to his shoulder, and dropping to cover his brother as he came out of the foliage. He heard Mari's gasp as she saw the nails in his body, but his concentration was on the enemy and covering Jack's butt.
Jack came out into the open, firing steadily. Ken caught sight of a soldier tracking his twin and he squeezed the trigger. The man went down, and Ken immediately swept the area looking for others. One rose up right in front of Jack, shooting too fast. Ken saw Jack stagger.
Ken tracked two of the enemy sighting on Jack and shot them both.
'Go, go,' Neil ordered, and all of them turned their attention to any ground fire coming their way.
Logan pressed Ken down and sat beside him 'Toss me the med kit.' He pointed behind Mari's head.
She snagged it and threw it to him, her gaze still on the ground, watching. Once the rifle went to her shoulder, and she pulled the trigger.
'We're clear. No birds in the air.'
She noted there was no relaxing. Neil and Martin took up positions to protect the helicopter as Logan began to pull the nails from Ken's back and calves. Most were shallow; there were one or two that looked deeper. Logan ripped Ken's shirt from his body, and she caught all of the men glancing at one another.
Mari dropped down beside Ken and put her hand on the back of his head. She leaned close to him. feeling protective, knowing he wouldn't show it. but he detested the others seeing the scars and the way his back looked like a giant grater had scraped over him. turning the skin haphazardly to cottage cheese. The front of his chest had the same thin pattern of scars as his face and neck. There was no way to block the line of vision all his team members had. She despised the looks on their faces.
His ringers tangled with hers. There was physical pain, but he could easily bear that. It was much, much more difficult to have his friends staring at him-seeing him-seeing the terrible destruction of his body. Mari ached for him, felt tears burning in her eyes and throat for him. He had been a handsome man with an astonishing face and physique, and Ekabela had taken great care to destroy him, inch by inch.
She bent closer, her lips feathering gently over his temple in an effort to distract him.
His fingers tightened around hers and he drew her hand to his mouth.
'What the hell's going on here?' Jack demanded. 'I've been shot. Does anybody give a damn, or do I have to sit here and bleed to death while you all baby my brother?'
Neil and Martin instantly turned their attention to Jack.
'Sorry. It didn't look that bad,' Neil said.
'That bad?' Jack echoed. 'I'm pouring blood.'
Ken choked. When Mari touched his mind, he was laughing. For the first time since she'd met Jack, she actually liked him a little. She respected him as a soldier, was filled with awe and admiration for him as a sniper, but she hadn't liked him very much and wasn't altogether certain she wanted Briony with him.
With one small performance Jack had changed her opinion of him. He wasn't the type of man to call attention to himself or be bothered by a small wound. He had his own scars, evidence of his torture at the hands of the same man who had had Ken for so long. Jack Norton had the reputation of being as tough as nails. She sent him a small smile and helped his game.
'I'll be sure and tell Briony how tough you are.'
'Briony's probably going to hit me with something when she sees me. I promised her I'd be careful.'
'I'll tell her you were showing off.'
'You do that and I'm retaliating. That sister of yours can be mean.'
Ken closed his eyes, fingers tight around Mari's, and allowed himself to drift. He was physically exhausted, three days without sleep and his body on fire from the nails, but he had Marigold and that was all that mattered. He relaxed, listening to his brother banter with her while the helicopter took them far away from Peter Whitney and his insane experiments.
Chapter 19
Ken's home, situated deep in the Montana wilderness and surrounded by national forest on three sides, was the most beautiful thing Mari had ever seen. Ken stood beside her as she stared up in awe at the giant log cabin. To her, the house looked like the epitome of the wonderful homes she'd fantasized about when she'd watched old movies the men had occasionally smuggled in for the women.
'We have twenty-four hundred acres. Mari. so you definitely have freedom.' Ken covered his sudden anxiety with a small smile. 'Unless you think you'd prefer to be a city girl.' He could never live comfortably in the city, but he knew if she wanted that-needed at least to try-he would go with her.
Mari shook her head. 'I wouldn't do well in a city. Too many people, too much traffic and noise. I prefer solitude.'
Ken let out his breath. 'We're completely self-sufficient here. If we ever ran short of funds, we could harvest trees. We actually have a workable gold mine too. although we've never bothered with it. The water supply to the property is gravity-fed, and we use a hydro-electric system that powers batteries.' He wanted her to love the place the way he did, to feel the sense of freedom in the larger-than-life forest surrounding them and the complete self-