Three Courageous Words. Elle James

people need us. We can’t abandon them.” Angela peeled the gloves from her hands.

      Buck’s jaw tightened. He couldn’t walk away and leave her here, in danger. “You’re not safe.”

      “They’re not safe.” She laid the gloves on the table and captured his gaze in an unflinching one of her own. “I’m not going.”

      Big Jake’s voice came over Buck’s headset. “We’ve got company.”

      “You may not have a choice,” Buck said. “My guys say Koku’s men are coming into camp as we speak.”

      No sooner had he made the announcement than a burst of gunfire could be heard outside, followed by women screaming.

      “If you don’t leave for me—” Buck nodded toward her nurse “—leave for Brenda. We need to get both of you out of here. Now.” He took Angela’s hand and dragged her toward the door.

      More gunfire erupted.

      Angela dug in her heels and pulled her hand free. “You’re a SEAL. You can stop them.”

      “Not if we’re outnumbered. And sometimes that only causes more casualties when so many civilians are involved.”

      “Seriously, guys,” Big Jake said into Buck’s ear. “They’re headed straight for your tent.”

      “My men say Koku’s men are headed directly for this tent. Are you coming with me or staying to argue with a killer?”

      * * *

      ANGELA HAD SPENT so much of her time working with and healing the people in the refugee camp. To leave them would be like abandoning her own children.

      “Dr. Vega.” Brenda touched her arm, her eyes rounded, her hand shaking. “We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”

      Her nurse’s words hit hard. If Brenda was scared, Angela owed it to her to get her out. She turned to Buck. “Take my nurse and get her to safety.”

      He shook his head. “I’m not leaving without you.”

      One of the women Angela had been training to assist with medical treatments ran into the tent. “Dr. Angela! Dr. Angela! The men. They’re coming for you. They’re coming for the doctor.” She took Angela’s arm and hauled her toward the door. “You have to go. You go. Now.”

      Angela’s gaze met Buck’s over the woman’s head. “Okay. We’ll go.”

      Buck touched his headset. “We’re on our way.” He stepped in front of Angela before she could leave the tent. “But not that way.” He pulled his Ka-Bar knife from the sheath on his belt and strode through the tent to the back, where he jabbed the knife into the fabric and slit an opening large enough for a person to get through.

      Then he stepped out and held the fabric wide. “Now you,” he said, waving for Brenda to come next.

      The nurse ducked through and moved out of the way.

      While Buck and Brenda were making their way out of the tent, Angela got busy throwing equipment, supplies and medication into her backpack.

      Buck stuck his head back into the tent. “Angela, we have to go now. They’re almost on us.”

      Angela shot one final glance around the tent she’d called home for the past six months, tossed in a couple bottles of water and dived out of the tent.

      Loud voices could be heard from the men storming through the refugee camp toward the hospital tent.

      Her heart thundering against her ribs, Angela ran.

      Buck grabbed the backpack from her arm and slung it over his shoulder. Then he took her hand and urged her to go faster.

      By the time they reached the deserted shack, Angela could barely breathe. T-Mac and Harm were waiting at the sliding door, where they lifted Brenda off her feet and into the van. They did the same for Angela and then clambered in after them. Buck was last inside, slamming the door as the vehicle took off.

      Angela stared through the back window of the van at the camp she was leaving behind. Smoke rose from the tent they’d just vacated, the fabric succumbing to the flames shooting into the sky.

      Men in black clothing ran toward them, firing their rifles.

      But by then, the van was far enough away, and the bullets fell short.

      “We don’t have much of a lead on them,” Buck said. “Once they get their trucks rolling, they’ll be after us.”

      “Then we need to keep rolling,” Big Jake said. “The faster, the better.”

      Diesel pressed his foot to the accelerator, taking the van as fast as it would go, fully loaded with SEALs and the women.

      “If we’re lucky, the sun will set before they catch up to us,” Big Jake said. “The 160th is on standby for extraction as soon as we give them the coordinates.”

      “In the meantime,” Diesel tossed over his shoulder, “any suggestions on a place around here to hide a van and eight people?”

      Angela thought hard. For the most part, she’d been confined to the hospital tent, working nonstop with masses of people living in the terrible conditions of the refugee camp. But there was one time she and Brenda had been asked to help a village elder in another small town nearby. She glanced out the window. They were headed that direction. “I know of a place.”

      Leaning through the gap between the two front seats, she watched the road ahead, trying to remember where they’d turned to get to the village.

      Brenda squeezed in next to her. “Are you taking them to Abu Hanafi’s village?”

      She nodded. “The turnoff to the village should be coming up soon.”

      “Remember, it was where the abandoned tank tracks were,” Brenda said.

      “Right.” Angela turned to Diesel. “There should be some buildings coming up soon and a field beside the road with what looks like a pile of junk metal. It’s actually the tracks from an army tank.”

      Diesel nodded. “I’ll be on the lookout.”

      Angela glanced back through the van’s rear window, her pulse pounding. As she turned back to the front, her gaze skimmed across Buck. Her heart did a backflip. When she’d first realized who’d plucked her out of the middle of the protest, she’d been too angry to fully appreciate what had happened.

      In this totally different part of the world, why had fate brought Graham back to her? At that very moment?

      He was the same Graham she’d known and loved in medical school, yet different.

      His body was honed, his muscles tight and strong, and his eyes...those gorgeous blue eyes she’d fallen into on their first group project were somehow different. Although still the same blue, they appeared to see more and have more depth than before. The lines around the corners of his eyes added character, and the scar on his chin made her want to reach out and touch it.

      As quickly as the thought sprang into her mind, she pushed it away and returned her attention to the road in front of the van.

      Ahead, on the left, was a field of long grass with a patch of dirt next to the road. Rusted metal lay in a heap in the middle of the dirt.

      “There!” Angela pointed to the dirt road past the tank track. “Turn there.”

      Diesel only slowed enough to negotiate the turn and then sped along the bumpy road, barely more than a rutted track.

      Big Jake’s brow crinkled as he glanced her way. “Are you sure this is the way?”

      “Positive.” She nodded toward a blue tin shack. “I remember that blue building.”

      “And the one with the orange roof,” Brenda added, pointing to the structure.