The Hero She Craves by Anna Hackett

Author:Anna Hackett [Hackett, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The sun was rising, sending a glimmer of pink light along the horizon. Ren could see better now. The island was fully visible, just ahead of them—a white stretch of beach, and dense trees that filled the hillside.

The island of Molokai.

He knew the island had been formed by two shield volcanoes, and was the less touristy of all the Hawaiian islands.

Halle was silent, and when he glanced at her, he saw her face set in hard lines. He knew she was cold and tired, but she hadn’t complained once.

Ren was wired with adrenaline. He wanted Halle out of the water and safe. Whoever attacked the Atalanta would be searching for them. The zodiac had kept up the search for several hours, and they’d had a few close calls.

They weren’t out of the woods—or rather, the water—yet.

“We’re nearly there,” he said.

Halle gave him a weary nod.

As they got closer to land, the waves grew rougher. Ren used all his strength to aim them at the beach, and a second later, they caught a wave and washed into shore. The drone hit the sand.

Halle came up on her knees, then wearily pushed to her feet. “We made it.”

“You did great.”

“All I did was hang on.” She set her shoulders back, determination on her face. “What now?”

So damn brave. He hugged her. “You did good, baby.”

“I didn’t want to slow us down.” She clutched his arms. “I wanted to keep you safe.”

Ren stilled. He’d been a SEAL, then in Ghost Ops. No one worried about him, or about him being safe. It was his job to worry about other people.

But as he stared into her blue eyes, he realized that she did.

“Oh, Ren.” She cupped his cheeks. “Of course I want you safe.” It was like she’d read his mind. “I want to take care of you.”

Emotions tangled in his chest, and he cleared his throat. She might want him safe, but right now, it was his priority to protect her and the fuel cell.

“First thing we need to do is get the fuel cell out of the UUV.”

She released a breath and glanced at the ocean. “They’ll keep looking for us.”

“Yes.”

And he knew they were willing to kill for the fuel cell. He thought of poor Jack and squelched his anger.

I’ll make them pay, buddy.

Halle dropped down beside the drone, and pressed the code into the fuel cell compartment. The door popped open, and she pulled the cell out. She passed it to him.

It was small but heavy.

He carefully put it in his backpack. “We need to hide the drone.”

Together, they dragged the drone up the beach and into the vegetation. He laid some palm fronds over it. It wasn’t ideal, but at a passing glance, it wouldn’t attract any attention.

Using an extra palm frond, he cleaned up the tracks they’d left in the sand.

“What’s the plan now?” she asked, scanning the trees.

“Hike to get help. Alert the authorities.” He unzipped his wetsuit and tugged it down. “We’ll stash these here as well.

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