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They hadn’t heard gunfire in a very long time. Still, Dec wanted to put as much distance as possible between them and whoever it was who’d attacked them back at the rendezvous point.

Who had turned into the million-dollar question.

Was it the men who’d kidnapped her? That made sense, but the terrorists led by Altair Amjad were just as likely suspects. And what about the king she’d been on her way to marry, or her own uncle, the man she said had held her prisoner and sold her to the king?

And, really, now that he thought about it, what did it matter?

There were people who wanted to capture Annie and kill him, and no way was he going to let either thing happen. And, yeah, he was back to thinking of her as Annie. It didn’t take a genius to know that she’d left her other identity in that clearing where the Black Hawk had landed and then lifted off without them on board.

Jesus, what a mess.

They were on unknown terrain with who knew how many enemies on their asses. And, man, he didn’t want to think about what had to be happening back at Camp Condor. By now, Black would know what had gone down. He’d be running in circles trying to figure out why the fuck Dec had taken off with the woman he’d been charged with rescuing instead of getting her safely on that helicopter.

It was entirely possible that he’d go home to a court-martial. Assuming he managed to get home and right about now, the odds on that weren’t looking so great.

The horse slowed its pace.

Dec let it.

Another hour passed. The horse stumbled, then recovered its footing, but Dec knew it couldn’t go much further.

He drew back on the reins.

He felt Annie sit up straight behi

nd him. Crazy, but even with everything around them going to shit, he hated losing the feel of her breasts and belly warm against his back.

“Are we stopping?”

He nodded. “We need to give this guy a break.”

Annie swung her leg over the horse’s rump and jumped lightly to the ground. Dec did the same, then patted the animal’s glossy flank as it blew out a long breath.

“I know just how you feel, pal. It’s been a rough day.”

Annie peered through the trees. “How much further to the top?”

“Good question.” Dec dumped his pack and his rifle against a tree, dug his binoculars out, hung them around his neck, reached for a low branch and climbed until he had a clear view of what lay ahead.

At first, all he saw was more forest. Then he began to see a change. The land flattened into what appeared to be a sea of grass and beyond it…

More mountain.

No road. No houses. Nothing—until a slow scan with the binoculars showed him a craggy outcropping of rock and what looked like a pond.

Excellent. A rock wall at their backs would offer some protection from the cold and from predators, including the human kind, and they’d have water to refill their bags. Aside from finding a village, it was more than he’d hoped for.

“Did you see anything?” Annie asked when he reached the ground.

“Our camp for the night.”

He took water and energy bars from his pack. He had a couple of MREs but he figured on saving them for supper.

They each had some water and he gave the horse another drink. Then they unwrapped the bars and bit into them.

“Mmm,” Annie said.

Dec laughed. “I’ve heard people say lots of things about energy bars, but ‘mmm’ isn’t one of them.”