She crossed her arms and glared back.
“I’ll take you back to Tiger Town.” He reached for her. “The partnership is over.”
“No!” She jumped back. “You need me to find Han. Come on. Tell me what he did to you.”
“Dammit, woman!” Russell reached for her again. “Why do you need to know?”
She moved out of reach. I need to understand you. She gave him an entreating look. “Please.”
His arm dropped to his side, and he stared at her a few minutes before letting out a resigned groan. “You know what he did. He put me in a vampire coma for thirty-nine years.”
“Why? Why did he leave you like that for so long?”
Russell snorted. “I’ve been wanting to ask him that since the minute I woke up.” A pained look crossed his face. “While I lay there in a cave like a helpless lump of meat, everyone I cared about died. My parents died believing both their sons were dead.”
Jia swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”
With a sigh, Russell turned away from her. “I was on leave in Phuket when I received the news that my brother was missing in action. I made plans to go to Saigon to see what I could find out, but something happened.” He shook his head. “I don’t remember. I just remember waking up in a cave in Thailand.”
“You don’t know how you got there?” Jia asked.
“No. But we know it was Han’s cave. Inside, he’d put hundreds of men into vampire comas and encased them in clay. They were laid out in a huge cavern like a burial ground of terra-cotta warriors. I was the only one who survived. For some reason, Han had separated me from the others. I was in a small cave by myself.”
Jia tilted her head, considering. “He took extra care with you. He must have thought you were special.”
Russell turned back to her with an exasperated look. “If I was so bloody special, why did he leave me for so long? While I was there, my men in Vietnam were drawn into an ambush. Every one of them slaughtered! If I had been with them, I might have—”
“You can’t blame yourself for that,” she interrupted.
“I should have been with them!” he shouted. “And I should have gone home. I was gone so long, my wife—”
Jia gasped. “You’re married?”
“I was. She had me declared dead.” Russell waved a dismissive hand. “She waited seven years before remarrying. I don’t blame her. I checked up on her when I finally made it back to the States. She has children and grandchildren. She’s happy. She’s better off thinking I’m dead.”
Jia winced. “I see.”
“But she had a daughter.” Russell’s eyes glimmered with tears. “Our daughter. I was scheduled to go home to meet her after she was born, but I never made it. She grew up without me and died of breast cancer at the age of forty.” His hands clenched into fists. “I never got to meet her!”
Jia’s chest constricted as she felt his pain, and she pressed a hand to her heart. “Oh, God.”
“Now you know.” He blinked away tears. “I lost my daughter. My parents. My brother. My men. My mortality. Even the fucking ranch is gone. I lost everything, thanks to Han.”
“I’m sorry.” With tears in her eyes, she ran up to Russell and placed her hands on his face. “He didn’t take everything. You still have your honor and courage. You’re still a good man.”
He snorted. “Does a good man kill for revenge?”
“A good man seeks justice.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “A good woman does, too.”
A corner of his mouth curled up, and he cradled her face with his hands. “Jia, what are you doing to me?”
“I’m trying to be a good partner.” She patted his shoulder. “We’d better get back to work.”
He studied her quietly a moment, then kissed her brow. “You’re the best partner a man could hope for.”
As her heart swelled, he teleported her to the next spot.
Two hours later, Russell was finding it increasingly hard to focus on the mission. Each time he took Jia into his arms to teleport, he held her longer than necessary. Whenever she closed her eyes to concentrate on sniffing, he found himself watching her, memorizing every curve and line of her face. If they killed Han tonight, the partnership would be over. Tiger Town would be safe, and she would return home and prepare for her betrothed’s arrival in a week.
Was this his destiny—to always lose anyone he cared about?
Frowning, she opened her eyes and pointed to the west. “There’s something about three miles that way. It smells like burned feathers and death.”
Dead birds? “Didn’t the God Warrior say Darafer killed a bunch of birds to scare Xiao Fang?”
Jia nodded. “We must be close.”
Russell teleported her west until he, too, could smell the stench of death. Using that as a beacon, he zeroed in on a pile of burned bird carcasses. They were stacked waist high.
“Oh, my gosh.” Jia covered her nose and mouth. “There must be over a hundred of them.”
“Can you smell Han?”
She shook her head. “It’s hard to smell anything but death.”
Russell looked around. The land was hillier, but still desolate. Large boulder formations. There was a dirt road leading east with tire tracks on it. Beyond the pile of birds, he spotted something big, covered with a camouflage tarp. He zoomed over and discovered a hidden army truck.
Han’s hideout had to be close by. It was underground, but there had to be an entrance somewhere. He checked underneath the truck. Nothing but dirt.
He glanced back at Jia to make sure she was all right. She was waving at him.
He dashed over, and she pointed at footsteps leading uphill toward a boulder formation. He spotted what looked like a cave.
“Be ready.” He drew his sword. “Stay behind me.”
With a nod, she yanked a knife from her belt.
He approached the cave silently from the side, then paused, his back to the boulder by the entrance. A quick peek told him they’d found the right place. Inside the cave was a small structure made of rusted sheet metal. A camera was positioned over the door.
“We’ll teleport just inside,” Russell whispered. “Then they won’t know we’re coming.”
She bit her lip. “What if Han isn’t there? If he finds out we know about his hideout, he won’t come back.”
“We’ll have to question the soldiers, then I can erase their memories.” He gave her a wry look. “Try not to kill any of them.”
She snorted.
“You could always slap them. You’re good at that.”
Her mouth twitched. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Relieving some of my stress.”
“Let’s go.” He sheathed his sword so he could hold her, then he focused on the metal door.
They materialized just on the other side at the top of a partially enclosed stair landing. He peered around the edge of the wall. Below them was a guardroom. One guard was seated at a desk, his arms folded on top, cushioning his head as he snored away. The other four guards were immersed in a card game, sitting on the floor around a low coffee table.
Russell drew a knife from his coat pocket, then teleported down to the card game. He slammed the knife hilt into one guard’s head, knocking him unconscious, then yanked another guard up, his knife poised at the man’s throat. “Don’t move. Don’t shout,” he warned the guards.
Meanwhile, Jia ran down the stairs and pointed her knife at the remaining guards. The whole act had taken only seconds, and the guard at the desk continued to snore.
The guard with the knife at his throat was breathing heavily, but he remained silent.
One of the other guards raised his hands in surrender. “Are you here for the dragon boy?”
“Xiao Fang is here?” Jia asked. “Where?”
“Three flights down in the dungeon,” the soldier replied. “Han locked the kid up in a cage.”
Russell eyed the soldiers with suspicion. “Why are you being helpful?”
The soldiers exchanged weary looks, then the second one said, “Han slapped the kid around and said he’d starve him for a week. We’d rescue him ourselves if we could.”