Minefield [Black Ops Brotherhood 5] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Black Ops Brotherhood 5

  Minefield

  Dr. Isabel Vasquez joins Doctors Without Borders, insisting on serving in post-Taliban Afghanistan. She hates the pain and devastation caused by her country’s actions in that war-stricken land and openly protests US global militarism. While treating injured and sick Afghanis, she is captured and held prisoner by terrorists.

  Navy SEAL Senior Chief Alex “Doc” Richards must find the war-protesting doctor who witnessed the effects of a deadly pathogen known to be in the hands of the same terrorists. He doesn’t count on finding a tempting dusky beauty. As a powerful attraction grows, Izzy and Alex find themselves working to stop terrorists from turning Afghanistan into a lifeless wasteland. A mysterious Turkish wanderer reveals a secret to Izzy that Alex has hidden since joining the SEALs.

  Can Izzy submit to Alex’s dark desires? When Alex is faced with an impossible choice, can he save the woman he adores from terrorists who have her in their crosshairs?

  Genre: BDSM, Interracial, Romantic Suspense

  Length: 128,324 words

  MINEFIELD

  Black Ops Brotherhood 5

  Bella Juarez

  EROTIC ROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Erotic Romance

  MINEFIELD

  Copyright © 2013 by Bella Juarez

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-398-9

  First E-book Publication: May 2013

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Minefield by Bella Juarez from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Bella Juarez’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Juarez’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  Thank you to all who serve in the US military for leaving family and the safety of your home to keep us all safe.

  Thank you, Diane Baines, for helping me understand how medicine and pathogens work. Thank you to Stormy Pate, Corinne Davies, and Heather Rainier for their assistance and critiques of the story.

  A special thank you to Inner Goddess, whose support of this series has been awesome!

  Thanks to my wonderful family and friends who are always there for me! Love ya!

  Thank you to the awesome editorial staff and cover artists at Siren Publishing for making these stories shine. Charlotte Lewis and Harris Channing, you are truly great at what you do, thank you for making my books stronger.

  MINEFIELD

  Black Ops Brotherhood 5

  BELLA JUAREZ

  Copyright © 2013

  Chapter 1

  Pashtun Nomadic Trade Caravan

  Near Kush, Afghanistan

  68 km from the Pakistani Border

  April 18, 2009/0233 Zulu

  Izzy pulled the burqa around her in an attempt to ward off the hypothermia that threatened to overtake her. The wind picked up and whipped her worn and battered body. This was early April in the mountains, making it close to zero degrees Celsius right now. She was fighting to stay awake and not give in to the sleep she so desperately needed at this point. What she really needed was water. God, what I would give for some water right now. Focus, don’t give in. Because she’d tried to escape once, they wanted to weaken her so she wouldn’t be able to get far.

  The Jamiat-e-Islami raiders who’d taken her knew she would fetch a high price with her unique features. She’d read about these situations but never imagined she would be living one. It was one of the reasons she was here, to help women escape the slavery they were born into. Now she was the victim of these animals. I’m not a victim. I just need the right timing and I can escape.

  Izzy shuddered at the thought of her current situation. It was hard not to give in to despair. They’d taken her passport and her credentials when they raided the clinic. It was difficult to stay optimistic and focus on getting back to Kush. The burqa whipped around her again when the wind shifted. She held it down and pulled it close. She recalled how she reacted when first slipping it on. The burqa was as oppressive and heavy now as it was then. At least it offered some protection from the elements. She caught herself pitching forward. She was falling asleep. Izzy shook her head and straightened herself. She hadn’t slept in almost twenty-four hours.

  Along with the humans they intended to sell, her captors carried raw opium, and weapons. Izzy’s body tensed, her senses suddenly tingling in alarm. Someone’s coming. She looked around, but the damn burqa kept her field of vision limited. Her muscles locked and fear gripped her at the apprehension she sensed. She hadn’t heard anything. She felt something. Growing up on inner-city streets gave her a keen sense of danger and awareness and she’d learned to always listen to her instincts. This is about to get really bad! She almost heard the warning in the wind as her senses shrieked that serious imminent danger was headed her way.

  Get down! Izzy lay down and flattened her body against the ground. She didn’t move when she heard the hurried footsteps and shouts in Pashtun ordering people to drop weapons and get down. She flinched at the sudden burst of machine gunfire. She lay still, wishing she was anywhere but her current location. She tried to calm her racing heart and the uncontrollable shaking that seized her weakened body.

  Izz
y hoped this was some turf war and that her fate would remain the same. It would simply be different captors selling her off. She frantically prayed that they wouldn’t indiscriminately kill everyone in the camp. A foot at her midsection lifted her and turned her over. She heard the unmistakable click of a gun, closed her eyes, and said a short prayer. I love you, Pappie. Izzy sensed a strange peace take hold as she accepted her impending death.

  “Hostage!” the man yelled in English. “Are you all right?” the man asked her in Arabic.

  Izzy didn’t answer or move. Because of her physical state, she wasn’t sure if her senses were working correctly. The Coalition Forces never really bothered with this part of Afghanistan because the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were autonomous. Americans? Am I hearing right? Maybe I’m delusional from dehydration and hypothermia.

  “Doc! I need you over here!” the man yelled in English.

  “What’s going on, Shaq?” a deep voice answered from out of the darkness.

  “I don’t know. I know she’s breathing, but I’m not sure what’s going on with her,” the man said, looking her over.

  “Ma’am? Are you all right?” This time the man called Doc asked the question in Pashtun. “I need to touch you to make sure you’re not hurt. Please, I mean no disrespect. I’m a medic and I want to help you.”

  The man tugged at her fabric prison and Izzy shuddered against the chilly predawn day as the burqa was lifted away from her battered body. A cold wind kicked up again and washed over her as he uncovered her face. This was the first time in over twenty-four hours it seemed as if she could finally breathe. When she opened her eyes she saw two men, a black man with a full beard and a white man also with a full beard and longer hair, and both were carrying weapons. The white man was crouched over, looking at her.

  They were dressed in the customary style of the men in these parts, the perahan tunban, long shirts with camouflaged jackets and pants with the customary Keffiyeh scarf wrapped around their necks. Only these men weren’t from here. They were Americans and the worst kind. They were American military Special Forces trained to blend in with the locals.

  Doc was assessing Izzy’s vital signs as she lay still. She knew the drill but noticed a couple of added steps to his routine. Izzy knew these men would not sell her to the highest bidder, but she was in a lot of trouble if they found out who she really was.

  “Shaq, cover me,” Doc said, standing and slinging back his weapon against his shoulder. Doc helped her sit up and wrapped her in the discarded burqa. Izzy overheard Doc tell the other man that from his assessment she was suffering from hypothermia. “We can’t put her in back with the others because she’s in pretty bad shape. I’ll need to carry this one back.”

  Doc knelt again and picked up Izzy effortlessly. Hell no! Izzy suddenly felt a surge of energy run through her as she began to fight. He seemed to take little notice of her struggles. She realized that damn burqa had imprisoned her once more. He had wrapped her arms inside the material. He simply tightened his grip and held her firm because she tried to move her arms but couldn’t budge them. It seemed that Doc had managed to restrain her in a fashion that wouldn’t allow her fight but would allow him to transport her in relative comfort.

  To Izzy, it seemed as if the small party walked forever. She drifted in and out of consciousness and had lost her sense of direction before she realized they had reached their destination. Doc annoyingly kept her wrapped inside the burqa and she hated it. When they finally sat inside a vehicle, he opened his jacket and wrapped her inside. She started to thaw from his welcomed body heat as they rode into the breaking dawn. Let me out of here! She pushed against his chest as she started to struggle once again.

  “Shush, shush…It’s all right. We have a field hospital near Kush. You’ll be safe there,” Doc whispered in her ear, again in Pashtun.

  Izzy stopped and looked at him. The sound of this man’s seductive deep voice reached her and made her go still for a moment. She could listen to this guy talk all day! His voice seemed to reach into her soul and she’d never heard anything like it in her life. It was a sweet call she couldn’t resist, and she couldn’t help but relax. He attempted to soothe her with his light touch running up and down her back. Izzy melted and relaxed into it.

  In the breaking dawn, Izzy looked up into his face and he smiled reassuringly at her. She noticed his eyes were the color of rich sapphires. She relaxed into his body because she instinctively knew he would keep her safe. He was very sure of himself and his surroundings and that self-assurance conveyed a sense of security that eased Izzy’s confusion and panic. How many times had she seen that look on a man and been instantly turned off? She wanted to hate that smug look on his face. But for this man, it was natural and not unattractive. It was reassuring and safe.

  He held her firm as they jostled down the bumpy trails back to…Kush, did he say? Izzy noticed his body was hard and unyielding when she tried to push against him. She felt the bulletproof vest he’d opened bounce against her shoulder. Something about this man was out of place because the way he held her and tried to comfort her spoke volumes about him. He was a natural caretaker. He had compassion. What’s he doing here? Carrying a gun? Izzy remembered what he really was and stiffened. He was a medic or something like that for the other animals she despised. She didn’t have the strength to fight anymore but tried anyway.

  “No…” Izzy hoarsely whispered as she struggled. Her throat was so dry, she could barely speak.

  Izzy saw a hand come around and give something to Doc. He frowned as he took the object from the mysterious hand. She couldn’t see what he was looking at because she was facing the wrong way. She watched the range of emotions run over his strong features, confusion, understanding, and finally anger when he looked at her again.

  “You’re an American?” Doc asked Izzy in English.

  Izzy weakly stared him and couldn’t answer. His tone hurt her and his body stiffened in anger. Why does it hurt so bad? She half expected him to toss her out onto the bumpy road. Izzy tried to speak. She wanted to answer and tell him to shove his attitude up his ass, but she couldn’t control her body. She glanced at the perplexed and angry look in the bluest eyes she’d ever seen as she passed out.

  * * * *

  What the fuck is she doing here? When she fainted, Alex looked at the passport again and the rest of the papers Lieutenant-JG Shaq Harman handed him. Shaq was speaking into his ear from the back.

  “She’s the one Kashi was worried about. You know, one of the women who got snatched during that raid two days ago from that hospital in his village,” Shaq said.

  “Dr. Isabel Vasquez? I thought Dixie ordered all American civilians home a month ago. What the hell is she still doing here?” Alex asked over his shoulder.

  “You found her, you get to keep her. Spoils of war, baby!” Shaq said, slapping Alex on the back.

  “Bullshit! You found her!”

  “What the hell am I supposed to do with her?”

  “Why the hell didn’t you just shoot her and save us the trouble?” Alex snapped.

  “This is the one we went to rescue not shoot.”

  They drove along the narrow roads to Camp Echo as Senior Chief Alex “Doc” Richards pondered what hell they’d do with their new charge. The first thing, he decided, was arrange to get her self-righteous ass back to the States or at the very least France where her organization was located. These Doctors Without Borders could be a real pain, especially when asked to evacuate an area. Alex fumed as he looked down at the woman in his arms and shook his head in disgust. This is turning into a real cluster fuck!

  The team arrived at Camp Echo and started to unload all their confiscated plunder. The drugs and weapons would be cataloged and destroyed. The hostages, who’d been taken from the nearby village a couple of days ago, would be returned. The SEAL team who’d conducted the raid had also managed to capture a few of the men involved. They would be handed over and interrogated. Kashi had mentioned they spok
e Persian. So far, Dr. Vasquez seemed to be the only one of the hostages in bad condition.

  Alex had Dr. Vasquez taken to the field hospital that was set up within the small base of operations for SEAL Team 13. He immediately began her on a therapy of IV fluids and ordered lab work. He looked her over again and found no serious injuries. As he started to turn away, he noticed something on her face. He gently turned her head. Initially he’d thought it was a shadow, but looking closer he saw it was a bruise. He examined her a little closer and found a few more bruises on her arms. Alex knew by the location of the bruises on her that she’d been trying to defend herself. Fucking bastards beat her. It suddenly occurred to him that they might have raped her.

  Alex left her in the charge of one of the other Navy corpsmen. He stormed out of the hospital and went looking for the men that had been captured. Fucking bastards! His anger increased with every step he took. Dr. Vasquez had been taken against her will and this was no damn game. She’d probably tried to fight and protect herself. That’s why they assaulted her. As Alex walked, he convinced himself that the possibility she’d been raped was probably correct. That’s why she is in such serious condition. Fuckers probably took turns with her. Arriving at the holding area, he ran into Kashi, Lieutenant Gamez, and Shaq. Kashi was the resident MI-6 agent who was their eyes and ears in Kush.

  “Where the fuck are they?” Alex snarled.

  “Who are you looking for, Doc?” Lieutenant Dan Gamez asked, concerned.