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“You doing okay, sir?”

The ambassador was breathing hard, but he gave Dec a thumb’s up.

“Been doing some running the last couple of years,” he panted. “It’s paying off.”

It didn’t take much to see that the guy’s wife wasn’t doing so well. She was wearing camos, same as Annie, but they only emphasized the woman’s removal from reality. She sat with her hands folded in her lap and a faraway expression on her face.

“You’re doing fine, ma’am,” Dec said gently.

She flinched when he touched her shoulder. Dec drew his hand back and walked over to Maguire.

“Help Spanos with the ambassador’s wife when we move out,” he said softly.

Aidan nodded. “Yeah. I figured on it.”

Dec headed for the princess.

She was sitting on a flat rock, long legs stretched out in front of her. He handed her a water bag.

“Thanks,” she said, and tilted her head back to drink.

Water trickled down her chin, down her throat.

He imagined bending to her, following that drop with his tongue, tasting the coolness of the water, the heat of her skin…

Jesus Christ.

He swung on his heel, strode past everybody to where he’d left his pack and dug through it until he found another water bag.

What he really needed to find was his composure.

A hard-on? Here? Really? With death behind them and a two, three hour scramble up the mountain ahead of them?

Dec took a long drink of water. Then he got his stuff together and rose to his feet.

“Move it out,” he barked.

The line formed up and they started forward again.

* * *

Two hours and twenty minutes later, the land began to level off and the trees began to thin.

Dec called a halt and checked first his GPS and then his map—the old tried-and-true methods could be comforting.

They were three clicks from the extraction point. The sky had lightened to the color of pewter. There was still no sound or sign that they were being followed. All good stuff, although the absence of anybody coming after them made Dec uneasy.

He knew the other guys were uneasy too. It was hard to believe this could continue to go so smoothly.

“How much further?”

Dec swung towards the ambassador. He wasn’t looking so good anymore. His face was bright red and his hands trembled as he unwrapped an energy bar.

His wife looked even worse. Her skin was chalky. She still hadn’t spoken. A thin line of saliva was visible at the corner of her mouth.

“Not far,” Dec said.

The ambassador nodded. “I don’t think my wife can hold out much longer.”