THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

I thought about trying to get him out of there, but they riddled the Comanche in a matter of seconds.”
    Eli cleared his throat and blinked, but his voice when he spoke was perfectly controlled. “You did the right thing, Del. Even if Bartlett wasn’t killed outright, the both of you would have been cut to ribbons if you’d tried to get him out. And by grabbing up the pilot, you drew their fire. Not to mention that we bagged ourselves a pilot.”
    Delano knew he could not have done anything differently, but Eli’s approval helped. He touched his ribcage surreptitiously. Yep, cracked ribs. “Thanks. Except we needed to bag two pilots to turn the tables. Janecek is going to be pissed as hell.”
    As soon as the words were out, he wished he could call them back. Mrs. Michaels and her daughter were still at the mercy of Janecek. Ainsley didn’t need any reminders how angry their captor was going to be.
    Except when he looked around, he realized she was no longer within earshot. She’d stepped clear when the men moved in to transfer the patient to Eli’s bedroom, he remembered, but he hadn’t seen her since. Where had she gone? His pulse jerked. Not the roof! Surely not the roof.
    He whipped his head around, searching for her.
    Oh, thank God! She sat at the dining room table, in front of the cursed speakerphone. A phone that was destined to ring any moment now.
    His heart contracted at the picture she made. Now that the pilot’s medical emergency had passed, she held herself stiffly on the chair, her face tight, limbs trembling with tension held in check.
    “Excuse me,” he murmured to Eli, then went to stand behind Ainsley. If she felt his hovering presence, she gave no indication. Rather, her focus was fixed intently on the phone as though she could make it ring with the sheer force of her will.
    Oh, Ainsley. He wanted to place his hands on her shoulders, to pull her head back against the warmth of his chest. He wanted his touch to infuse her with courage and strength, and he wanted to draw the same from her to boost his own beleaguered faith that they were going to come out of this all right. But he dared not touch her. She looked as though she might shatter into a thousand pieces at the first contact.
    He seated himself beside her and sent her a calming, centering vibe. She glanced up at him, but her face disclosed no evidence that she’d caught his thoughts. Lord, he was losing his powers, piece by piece, inch by inch. Any more of this and their blood-bond might—
    Heart pounding, he casually pushed his sleeve back to examine the mark on the inside of his elbow. His stomach dropped. The triangle of dots was still there, but just barely, a faint trace of what it used to be.
    Before he could reflect on that, the phone rang.
    Ainsley’s gaze sprang up to meet his, naked fear visible in those violet depths. He squeezed her hand, then pushed the button to answer the phone. “Bowen.”
    Eli slid into a seat across the table.
    “I’m very disappointed in you, Delano.”
    Janecek’s words were delivered calmly enough, but Delano heard the volcanic rage beneath the surface. He could also hear sobbing in the background. Acid erupted in his stomach, a veritable volcano of hot pain, and he grimaced.
    “You used to have more respect for human life,” Janecek said.
    “I assure you, my respect for human life is as strong as ever.” He tensed his abdominals against the next wave of pain. “If that were not so, we wouldn’t be here in this position, would we, Radak?”
    Janecek snorted. “I’ve got a dead sniper out here who might argue about that. The way I see it, if you gave a flying fuck about his life, you wouldn’t have planted him in the middle of this. Did you seriously think I’d overlook him? Christ, he couldn’t have announced his presence any louder, the way he was salivating as he waited for our chopper door to swing open.”
    “So naturally you had to kill him.”
    “Like he wasn’t planning to kill us!”
    Delano rubbed his forehead, which had begun to pound. “For your information, he was after your co-pilot, not you. And he would not have shot to kill. I reserve that for unrepentant predators. Your man just happened to be in the employ of an unrepentant predator.”
    “Is that what you’ve done with my pilot? Disabled him?”
    “Indeed we have. Quite effectively.”
    Ainsley surged to her feet. “Shut up! Both of you!” Hands propped on the table on either side of the