Rebel Heart

"Post a guard."

"Brade."

He looked up at Dan's curious tone.

"You intend to keep her, don't you?"

"You remember the girl who got us access to the hospital?"

"That's Angel?" Dan asked, suddenly interested.

"Yep."

"Wow-bet you never saw this coming. She's not what I expected at all. I know you said she was smart, but … little?"

"You can't tell that by someone's voice." Brady snorted and picked up her micro. It didn't activate at his touch, and he suspected it was locked to everyone but her. He tucked it and the vault into his cargo pocket.

"She might be useful," he said. "She knows where every emerops point is on the East Coast."

"Just when I start to think you've gone soft …" Dan said and shook his head. "You're smarter than I give you credit for."

"Gee, thanks," Brady said dryly. "When's the next mission to the Peak?"

"Leaves in an hour."

He looked one last time at the woman in his bed and left the tent. If he didn't think he'd scarred her for life, he'd look forward to wooing her to his bed for a different reason. With her sexy little body, full lips, and huge brown eyes … In a different world, maybe. He wasn't sure what it was about this woman that made him think thoughts he normally didn't in the middle of a warzone. Brady posted two of his most trusted soldiers as guards and geared up for the mission to the Peak.

Lana awoke in the large tent, wrist aching and her face hurting where she'd been struck. She recalled her night with a jolt and sat, expecting men to leap from the shadows to rape her.

She was alone. She looked at her wrist. It had been bandaged again. While the covers smelled like Brady, he was nowhere around. She crept from the bed and looked around. Clothing sat on the nightstand near the bed. She was hungry, tired, and dirty. Memories of almost being raped, of Brady killing someone in front of her … Her chest seized, and she dropped to her knees. She still felt that man's rough hands on her body and the sense of helplessness. Brady had killed him for it. She wanted to think he'd done it to help her, but what kind of a monster could execute another in cold blood?

With a deep breath, she forced herself up. She took a shower, as hot as it would go, and stayed until the hot water ran out. It soothed her head and the aches of her body. Her black uniform was clean and waiting for her. She pulled it on quickly, and studied the marks on her face. One cheekbone was yellow, her lower lip swollen.