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The plan had been to extract and take Ms. Rivers into India so that they could fly home to the States from there. There wasn’t a chance in hell that was going to work considering her condition, not to mention Jase’s. The way Brax figured it, as soon as the two of them could be stabilized, the US Embassy would insist that they be flown out to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.

Getting the hell out of Silchari and heading to Chattogram took a lot more time than they would have liked. There was no way that they could traverse the roads, if they could be called roads, from Silchari to Kaptai Lake at any kind of decent speed, so they didn’t get there until the middle of the night, and the rain sure as hell didn’t help.

It was there that the roads evened out a little. Gideon found them a bridge over the many islands in the Kaptai river, so they finally ended up on the East side of Kaptai Lake and on an interstate.

“Ryker, no speeding. The last thing we need is to be pulled over,” Kostya said over the comm.

“How much longer?” Ryker asked.

“Two hours,” Gideon answered.

“How are our patients?”

Brax didn’t answer, and he noticed Nolan didn’t either.

“I’m speeding,” Ryker said decisively.

Kostya didn’t reply.

Brax looked down at Jenny, who hadn’t roused since the last time he had her talking. At least her nose bleed had stopped. The saline bag was empty. It was time for more water. He cupped her cheek. He’d cleaned her up earlier, and he noticed how soft her skin was despite her ordeal. “Jenny, it’s me, Brax. Can you wake up for me?”

This time, her eyelashes didn’t even flutter.

He hitched her up higher on his knee, then shook her shoulder. “Jenny. I need you to wake up for me. It’s time to drink some water.”

Still nothing.

He knew she was still with him, because of the bouts of coughing she did in her sleep, and because he’d kept his thumb on her pulse almost the entire time they’d been driving.

He moved his knee so that she was cradled in his embrace, and now sitting up.

“Uh-uh. Sleep.” Somehow, he understood her words.

“Nope, no sleep for the wicked,” he teased. “There’s a full day of work ahead for you. First thing on your plate is to drink some water.”

“Don’ wanna.”

He adored that petulant tone.

“Did you notice you didn’t cough?”

“Big deal. Don’t wanna drink water.” Her voice sounded stronger

“No choice, honey.” Brax lifted the water bottle to her lips and dribbled some water against her closed lips. Finally, he gave up.

“Okay, what do you want?”

She opened her eyes and frowned. “Wan peash smoothie.”

“If you drink some water, you’ll get a peach smoothie. Is it a deal?”

“Kay.”

“You’re going to hell,” Ryker whispered from the front.

After ten minutes, he got an entire bottle of water into Jenny and felt like he had just come in first at target practice.

She went limp in his arms. He thought she’d passed out again. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “You with me?”

“Where’s peash smoothie?” she slurred.

“Soon.”

“Now.”

Ryker was right, I’m going to hell.

“I’ll get you a peach smoothie soon, honey. Soon. First, we have to get you well.”

Her eyes opened and this close he could see a little bit of blue mixed with the green. “You rescued me, right?”

“Me and a lot of others. We all rescued you.”

“Thank you. Thank them all.”

“I will. Sleep now.”

Before they even reached the city limits of Chattogram, Gideon started talking.

“Ryker, this is it. Pull off 163 and take a right onto Oxygen Kuwaish Road.”

“How far am I going?”

“In a mile, on your right, is going to be Evercare Hospital. It’ll be a good place to start getting them care and stabilized before we get Jase on a flight to Germany for surgery.”

“What do you mean, Jase?” Brax interrupted. “What about Jenny?”

“Spoke to the Embassy. Since she’s not military, they want her to go straight to America after she’s stabilized. It’s going to be tough going for her, though.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It got out that she’d been kidnapped, and that her company screwed her over. It’s made national news. Everybody and their brother are going to want to interview her.”

Brax swallowed down bile. That was the last thing Jenny needed. “That’s all the more reason to take her to the American military hospital in Germany.”

“Can’t. The embassy is insisting that getting her back to the States and proving that she is well is their number one priority.”

“How’s Jase doing?” Ryker interrupted.

That gave Brax a moment to cool down and take Jenny’s temperature for the umpteenth time. It was one-oh-three point eight.

Dammit.

“I gave him something for the pain,” Nolan answered Ryker. “He’s out. From what I can tell there are no fragments in his leg, and if that’s the case I just want them to put him in a soft cast so they can operate on him in Landstuhl.”

The men on the comm all grunted in agreement.

It was decided that Kostya, Linc, Ryker, Gideon and Mateo would drive over the Indian border to Kolkata, and fly to Germany from there. In the meantime, Nolan would stay with Jase and Brax would stay with Jenny when they checked into the hospital.

Brax continued to hold Jenny in his arms as he watched Jase get immediate attention in the emergency room and rushed back through the double doors.

Nolan got the attention of one of the doctors who had assessed Jase and practically dragged him over to where Brax was standing with Jenny. The doctor took one look at Jenny and said, “She’s not a priority.”

“She absolutely is a priority,” Brax growled. “She’s severely dehydrated. She has pneumonia. Her temperature is over one-hundred and four degrees, and she has at least one broken rib.”

The doctor looked around the overflowing emergency room and hesitated. Then he slipped his stethoscope from around his neck and listened to Jenny’s lungs. He listened for maybe fifteen seconds before she started coughing. Deep racking coughs that had her weak arm creeping up her body to clutch at her side where her ribs were hurting.

The doctor looked up at Brax, and that was when Brax noticed he looked like a kid, despite his air of authority. “You’re right. We need to get her seen,” the doctor said. “Bring her back.”

Nolan followed Brax as he pushed through the double doors. Brax knew he needed to explain what needed to be done with Jase. None of the team wanted Jase’s surgery to be done here. He needed to be operated on at the military hospital in Germany. Where were the Embassy guys?

Brax laid Jenny down carefully on one of the beds in the ER, and a different doctor came over to assess her. While he examined her IV, he tried to get Jenny to answer questions, but it was no use, she was too out of it to answer, so Brax did.

The nurse was hooking the tubing to the IV and taking her temperature, blood pressure, pulse and oxygen levels.

“She seems severely malnourished, dehydrated besides having pneumonia. How did she get in this state?”

“Her name is Jenny Rivers. She was kidnapped twenty-eight days ago. I don’t know how much she was fed, but by the looks of her, not much.”

“Kidnapped?” The whites of the doctor’s eyes showed.

“Yes. Some of my friends and I rescued her yesterday. I’m convinced that at least one of her ribs is broken. I don’t know what kind of abuse she has been through.”

The doctor nodded. “We’ll need to get x-rays of her lungs and ribs after we get her fever down.”

“Her nose has been bleeding,” Brax told him.

The doctor pulled a scope off the wall and looked up Jenny’s nose. “There is a great deal of dried mud inside her nose, irritating the vessels. That and dehydration is what causes the bleeding. It’s nothing to worry about. Her fever is what concerns me the most.” He turned to the nurse. “Begin the protocols to reduce her fever and get a culture.”

The nurse nodded.

The doctor turned to Brax. “I’ll need you to wait in the waiting room.”

“That’s not going to happen. Ms. Rivers is an American citizen who was targeted by mercenaries. As soon as she is stable, the American Embassy is going to want to fly her to the States. It is my job to ensure her safety. I need to stay close to her, even while she is being treated in the hospital.”

The doctor gave him a long look. “All right. But don’t get in our way, otherwise I’ll call security.”

Brax held back a grin. Yeah, like security was going to stop him from doing any damn thing he wanted to do.

He stayed in the emergency room bay as he watched them pump her full of fluids. He continued to ask what they were doing. Kostya called at one point.

“Yeah?”

“I got a hold of the Embassy there in Bangladesh. They’re sending a representative tomorrow to talk to Ms. Rivers. They’re going to want to ask her questions.”

“Good luck with that. She’s out of it.”

“Washington has informed the Embassy what our involvement was. They’re not happy, but they know. So, you can give them a rundown.”

“Where are you?”

“We’re almost to Dhaka. We still need to lie low until we get to India. I’m going to call Nolan next and tell him what we have set up to get Jase to Germany.”

“That’s going to happen?”

“Of course it is.” Brax could hear the smile in his leader's voice.

Brax was sitting in Jenny’s private room when the Embassy official came in to interview her. He immediately disliked him. Jenny was still pretty much out of it. She was gaunt, glassy-eyed and clearly in pain despite the pain meds.

“Hello, Ms. Rivers,” the young American said. “I’m Peter Meyer. I work at the American Embassy here in Bangladesh. I am very sorry about the situation you found yourself in.”

Jenny’s eyes opened just enough so that Brax could see a little bit of green.

“Situation?” she whispered.

Brax’s blood was boiling at numb-nuts using that word to diminish Jenny’s kidnapping.

“Yes. We realize the circumstances were difficult for you, and we want to know what happened from your point-of-view so that we can understand who perpetrated this offense and provide the Bangladeshi government with the pertinent facts.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Brax rose from his chair, throwing the book he was reading on the floor. “What are you talking about, her circumstances? She was fucking kidnapped and kept in a shack without a proper roof and a bucket for a toilet for three weeks. Look at her, she was barely fed, and she’s lucky to be alive.”

The little pissant wasn’t cowering which pissed Brax off even more. He looked at Brax like he was a bug that needed to be brushed off.

“Be that as it may, my job is to ensure our relationship with Bangladesh remains as harmonious as possible. Blowing things out of proportion is not going to help.”

“Fuck that! Fuck harmonious! Look at her!”

“You’re one of the military men who retrieved her, is that correct?”

“Yes. I’m one of the members of the SEAL team that went in and rescued her, that’s correct.”

This guy needs a personality adjustment and I’m just the man to give it to him.

“You’re really not needed at this point. It was my understanding that you and your team were departing to India and then flying home. You should have done the same.”

“And leave her to a vulture like you? I don’t think so. Here’s how it’s going to go. Any questions you have, you ask me.”

“Brax.” Jenny’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Just rest, Jenny. Leave this to me.”

“Brax,” Jenny said in a hoarse voice.

Brax turned to Jenny and gave her a tight smile. “Jenny, I promise. I’ve got this.” Then he turned back to the Embassy creep. “Now listen to me?—”

“Brax,” Jenny’s voice was sharp, then she began to cough.

“Now look what you’ve done,” Brax said as he moved to Jenny. As he lifted a cup with a straw in it to her mouth, she attempted to shove it away, but she was still too weak.

When she finally stopped coughing, she glared up at Brax. “I can speak for myself.”

He winced at the grating sound of her voice.

“I’m helping.”

She looked up at him. Her eyes were clearer than he’d ever seen them. “No, you’re making this take longer.”

“I don’t want you upset,” he finally whispered.

Then she smiled at him and his heart melted. “Thank you, Brax. Thank you for taking care of me, but I can handle this part.” She reached out her hand for the cup of water and he held it to her lips. She grasped his wrist with her free hand and took a long sip. When she was done, it seemed like she caressed his skin as he took the cup away.

God, I need to get a grip.

“What was your name again?” Jenny asked the embassy guy.

“Peter Meyer. I work in the Embassy’s Regional Security Office. I need to find out everything that went on when you disappeared.”

Jenny shifted, and Brax saw she was trying to sit up.

“Let me help you.”

He’d noted that the bed didn’t have an automatic lift, so he helped her up and fluffed the pillows behind her so that she could be more comfortable in a seated position.

“What do you need to know about my ‘situation’?”

Meyer winced. “You need to understand. Now that you have been found safe, it is our hope not to escalate this incident here in Bangladesh. We realize that it has already generated a lot of interest in the US.”

Jenny leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”

“The political situation in Bangladesh is already complex enough without the US getting thrown into the mix. But if you were targeted by either of the two main political parties, the Awami League or the BNP, then I need to know.”

“I think, to begin with, they were trying to make me think that they were members of Awami, but they weren’t. By the end of the first day, I knew they were just kidnappers out for a buck.”

“How can you be so sure?” Meyer asked.

“I’ve lived in Bangladesh for two years. My job is public affairs for New Era Cyber Tech in Dhaka and that means I’ve had to talk to…” She took a deep breath and motioned for Brax to give her more water. When she was done drinking, she continued. “In my job, I’ve had to talk to many people in public arenas, including politicians, academics, bureaucrats, CEOs and decision makers here in Bangladesh. I’ve run across members of the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party. But they were completely unlike the people who kidnapped me. Those people were filth.”

Brax watched as Meyer cringed.

“But I want to know what you meant about this being of public interest in the United States?”

Meyer looked over at Brax and Brax shrugged. This was all Meyer’s problem; he was the one who brought it up.

“Two of your colleagues who worked with you here in Dhaka brought it to the press that you had been kidnapped, after they determined that New Era Cyber Tech was not paying the ransom. It’s made quite a stir in the media.”

Jenny turned to look at Brax, and he nodded. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the pillows. Then she looked back at Brax. “What does that mean for me?”

“I’m thinking a big payout from your company, so you don’t sue their ass off.”

She gave him a weak grin.

“Brax, I can’t handle reporters when I get home.”

After hearing her sound so strong, he hated hearing her sound defeated.

Brax had wheedled Jenny’s biography from Gideon, and learned that she was from Wyoming and both of her parents were dead. Her social media accounts were practically non-existent.

“We can arrange for you to stay in a hotel for a couple of weeks,” Meyer said.

She squinted at the security officer. “Why would you do that?”

“It’s in everybody’s best interest for this story to die down,” he answered.

Brax liked how she looked over at him for guidance. “You used to live in Chesapeake, Virginia, before you took this job, right?” Brax asked.

She nodded. “I put everything into a storage unit. Part of my company package is that they would give me a lump sum bonus for a down payment on a house when I finished this assignment since I was giving up my home. Or I could just pocket the money.”

“Grab a hotel in Chesapeake, since you know the area. My team and I are in Virginia Beach, so we can help if things get out of hand.”

“I don’t think that’s protocol,” Meyer interrupted.

“Thought you wanted to keep things on the downlow.” Brax raised his eyebrow at Meyer.

“Well, yes,” the man sputtered.

“Can you think of many other people better able to keep things under wraps than a team of Navy SEALs?”

Peter Meyer sighed.

Jenny gave him a grateful smile.