Hot Zone (Elite Force 2)

Lisabeth looked up quickly at Aiden. Their peace, his acceptance of his role as a father, was still so fresh. Would he use this as an excuse to back out? His eyes were inscrutable behind the glasses as he studied his sister and the baby.

Who knew what he was thinking right now? Who knew what he would do?

Amelia pulled a wobbly smile. “When we were on the run, Joshua liked bananas and he especially enjoyed it when Hugh sang to him.”

Nodding once, Aiden scooped Joshua out of Amelia’s arms so confidently and quickly, the baby blinked in surprise.

Then his bottom lip started trembling and Aiden said quickly, “Would you like a banana? I’m sure there’s got to be a banana around this place somewhere.”

“’Nana? ’Nana, ’nana, ’nana…” Joshua chanted. His lip steadied for a minute, even if his little brow was still creased into deep furrows.

His wide dark eyes went to Amelia, who stood off to the side, her bandaged hand covering her mouth, unshed tears welling.

“Hey,” Aiden continued, “if you want a song, you’ll have to get that from this beautiful lady here, your mom.” He hitched Joshua on his hip like a seasoned parent. “Because I’m pretty much tone-deaf like my sister.” All that time spent with other children—his patients—over the years had obviously taught him more than a few tricks in handling a frightened, wary child.

Amelia smiled, her eyes watering as she turned to Lisabeth. “He’s really good with Joshua, don’t you think?”

Too choked up to speak, Lisabeth nodded tearily.

Aiden kept up a steady stream of conversation with their son, who was so mesmerized he dropped the handcuffs and reached for Aiden’s glasses. Seeing their two heads together, Aiden’s so fair and Joshua’s so dark, touched Lisabeth’s heart.

There was something more here than a doctor comforting a patient. She’d seen that often enough to know this went deeper. The image of them together clicked into place in her mind.

Father and son.

Parent and child.

And in that moment, Lisabeth fell in love with her husband all over again.

Chapter 18

Hugh rode in the passenger seat of the military Humvee, the last in the line of four vehicles that had raided Jocelyn Pearson-Stewart’s property. The caravan churned up a cloud of dust as they made their way back to the military compound near the airfield.

The victory had been swift, but incomplete.

Jocelyn had escaped before they arrived. In fact, the whole compound had been deserted. However they’d managed to apprehend some refugees from the property. They’d hauled in Jocelyn’s “nieces”—Courtney and Erin—although it was clear now that they weren’t actually relatives. The two women and a number of other guards had been driving away in a caravan of vehicles with ten children.

Ten. Not eleven.

He hooked his arm out the open window while the Humvee driver coordinated his route with the truck ahead. Hugh barely registered what they were saying, his thoughts scattered as hell even as he kept his eyes on the dusty city in the distance. Had he miscounted the number of kids? He didn’t think so, but it was possible. His surveillance of the beach cottage had been late at night from a distance. He could have counted one baby twice.

But if he hadn’t?

That meant Jocelyn was out there somewhere with a vulnerable child at a time when lawlessness was rampant. There simply weren’t enough security forces available to search for her. They’d been lucky to shut down the home base of the smuggling operation.

He just hated loose ends. Hated that there was a chance justice might never be served for heaven only knew how many children had been shuttled through her illegal organization.

Now he needed to find Amelia and let her know what happened. And yeah, he needed to see her. To reassure himself that she and Joshua were safely with their family.

It had been scary as hell having her and the kid vulnerable on his watch. Yet it hadn’t flipped him out the way it would have a couple of years ago. He would never be whole, but then again, maybe he wasn’t walking the same tightrope he used to—a razor’s edge between himself and danger.

And he had Amelia to thank for that. She’d reminded him that he mattered and his efforts mattered. Whereas before, he’d been throwing himself into hellish situations as much to tempt fate as to save people. He wouldn’t rest easy until they were on an airplane to the States.

And then?

Would he contact her in the “real” world? Ask her out in a regular kind of way? It wasn’t as if she lived on the other side of the universe. Only a few hours apart.

The ground shook under his feet. Exhaustion or another aftershock? Just the Jeep stuttering along a rippled stretch of land leading to the airstrip. He was supposed to meet McCabe here—which was code for the major figuring out if he could trust Hugh back in the field.