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CHAPTER TWELVE

D oug said a small prayer for the deceased woman’s soul as he covered her head and upper torso with the rescue blanket. He placed a sizable rock on each corner to keep it from blowing away.

His heart ached for Jenn. While the circumstances were vastly different from when she lost her parents, her new friend’s death in such a brutal manner was understandably hard on her.

He could see it in her eyes. As far as he was aware, that was the first time she had ever seen someone she knew die right in front of her, and the fact that they’d seemed close made it worse.

Meanwhile, Doug had served in combat, watching his teammates die in horrific ways that he could never forget.

He’d also killed many people during that time.

Yes, they were the enemy, but someone must have loved them—their parents, siblings, spouses, or children.

Someone mourned their deaths as Doug thanked God he hadn’t been the one to fall in the kill-or-be-killed situations.

Sighing, Doug pushed the thoughts of the dead and the past from his mind.

Over the downed trees and other wreckage, his gaze found Jenn pacing back and forth outside Maria and Diego’s hut.

Her shoulders were slumped as she wiped her eyes and shook her head.

Tension rolled over her—he could tell even from that distance.

Despite her grief and being disheveled and covered in mud, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

The urge to go to her, pull her into his arms, and comfort her was too strong for him to deny.

He climbed back over the trees and strode over to her, getting in her path and forcing her to stop.

Her red, swollen, watery eyes rose to meet his.

The ache in his chest increased, and not where it usually hurt—under the bullet scar.

No, it was his heart squeezing in reaction to seeing her so broken in her sorrow.

She’d been through so much in her young life, more than anyone should in any length of time, and the past few hours heaped more anguish on her.

“C’mere.” Grasping her upper arms, he drew her close and hugged her.

Despite being seven inches shorter than his six-foot-three frame, they fit together like she was made for him.

At first, she was stiff in his arms, tucking her own between them, but then her body melted against his, her face nestled just below his neck.

A deep shuddering breath escaped her, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. Warm puffs of air caressed his skin every time she exhaled, leaving goose bumps in their wake.

They stood there silently for a minute or two, neither saying a word nor doing anything but holding on to the other. Of course, his cock didn’t get the memo that nothing sexual would happen, and he cursed it in his mind and kept a sliver of distance between his pelvis and her abdomen.

Finally, Jenn squeezed him tighter for a moment before pulling away. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“I did too.” The huskiness in his voice caught him off guard, and he cleared his throat. Pivoting away from her, under the guise of scanning their surroundings, he furtively adjusted his semi-hard dick, willing it to behave.

Once he could do so without any discomfort, he crouched down, pulled two reusable water bottles from the knapsack, and held one out to her. “Here. Drink before you get dehydrated.”

She took it and unscrewed the top before guzzling several mouthfuls of water. He had to rip his gaze from her throat. Damn it. Watching her swallow made him hard again, his mind drifting to how that same motion might feel if he were ever lucky enough to have her mouth wrapped around his cock.

This time, when he turned away from her and glanced around, he forced himself to focus on the survivors on that side of the village.

He drank from his bottle, wishing the lukewarm water would slake his desire as much as it quenched his thirst. The bottle was nearly empty when he recapped it.

“Let’s...uh...let’s see who else needs our help. ”

They worked side by side, checking on the people who were already outdoors, triaging and treating their injuries.

Then, they searched each of the remaining buildings for anyone else who needed assistance.

In all, Doug counted twenty-two people—nine children and thirteen adults—not including him and Jenn.

More than half weren’t injured with anything other than some minor scrapes and bruises.

A few had broken bones, and one man suffered a compound fracture of his forearm that would require surgery.

Doug did his best to splint it, keeping it immobile until the military rescue team arrived.

An older woman had symptoms of a heart attack but seemed stable.

Nothing could be done beyond keeping her calm and comfortable in her home, which her family took care of.

Doug passed all the information on to Romeo.

It was nearly dusk when the thump, thump, thump of a helicopter resounded through the air.

Doug grabbed the flares from the emergency kit, lit them, and created a large triangular target in the middle of the dirt road.

Soon, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter hovered above the tree line and slowly lowered a large bundle of supplies, wrapped in rope netting.

Once it hit the ground, Doug hurried over and released the drop line’s hook from the netting, which loosened from around the heap.

The helicopter then flew to the other side of the landslide and dropped more supplies there.

Jenn approached him as he searched the contents of several large crates and duffel bags. “Do you need help?”

“Yeah. Help me sort what they sent while we still have some light.” He used a crowbar he found attached to a duffel bag with a bungee cord to open the crates.

“We’ve got water, what looks like the Colombian version of MREs—ready-to-eat meals—first aid supplies, lanterns, flashlights, batteries, blankets, and more. ”

Diego and another man came over and volunteered to assist. Between the four of them, it didn’t take long to inventory everything and parcel out the supplies to those in need.

While it wasn’t a lot, there was enough to sustain two dozen people for at least two, maybe three days at the most, until the rescue units could safely reach them.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t take that long, though.

After finding a bottle of aspirin among the first aid supplies, he returned to the potential heart attack patient and gave her two pills, hoping they would prevent any clots from forming in her system.

It wasn’t much, but at least she and her family appeared relieved he could do something for her.

As far as he could tell, her pulse and respiration rates were steady and regular.

Maybe it had only been a panic attack—who could blame her after everything that happened? Either way, she was stable.

After the supplies were distributed, Diego pointed to a small cabin that belonged to his brother’s family.

They’d all gone to the chapel earlier, where they were hopefully still safe.

Diego told Jenn and Doug they could spend the night in there.

It was far enough away from the landslide for Doug to accept the offer.

He’d slept in far worse places, but as long as they were protected from the elements, he didn’t care—they didn’t have much of a choice either.

The temperature was dropping, but Doug’s go-bag, with his spare clothes, and Jenn’s sweatshirt were back at the chapel, which did them no good. At least it was still warm enough that neither shivered, but that could change within half an hour.

They carried their supplies to the cabin and placed everything inside, except for two bottles of water, two green plastic bags—the MREs—and a package of unscented wet wipes.

A nearly full moon rising overhead was bright enough that they didn’t need a flashlight, so they decided to sit outside, on a wooden bench under a window, and eat.

The light would only attract mosquitoes and gnats—it was bad enough that the scent of human sweat lured them in.

They used about a dozen wipes each to clean their faces, necks, arms, and hands as thoroughly as possible. He found a can of bug spray in the knapsack earlier, and they put a little on in an attempt to keep the flying nuisances away.

When Jenn opened her meal bag and cautiously peered inside, Doug chuckled for the first time all day. At least as far as he could remember. “Have you ever eaten an MRE?”

“Once,” she replied, pulling out two white packages with labels on them.

One was tamales while the other was arroz atollado , otherwise known as pork risotto.

Doug pulled out the same. Other packages contained food for breakfast and lunch, along with a few additional items. “When I was a freshman in high school. One of my friends dared a bunch of us to try them. We were all military brats, so of course, no one was going to turn down a dare.”

When she didn’t continue, he side-eyed her as he opened his meal. “Well? What happened?”