Raising a Cowgirl (8 page)

One by
one,
they all said their goodbyes
, touching
Marie and vow
ing
to find Sammi.
The pressure grew in
M
aster
Chief
'
s
chest until he and David were the only ones left in the room.

“She was like my little sister
,
” Gage whispered
,
leaned over
,
and put his cheek on her
forehead.
Gage could feel her surrounding him, wrapping her arms around him and comforting him.
Then he felt Ted touching her cheek while keeping a hand on his shoulder.

David stood silently
as Gage dealt with his emotions.
Finally,
Gage
stood
,
wiped his
eyes
,
and looked at
David
with determination. “We need to get to the ba
n
k, and
then
find Sammi.”

David nodded and they walked out of the room.

Jolie read in horror at the news on
the front
page of
her laptop, ‘Body Found of a Woman
Beaten
and
Tortured
’ it read.
Marie
, she knew it. Now what the fuck was she going
to
do?
Marie
would
n't
tell her specifics so she had no idea what was actually going on. She said it had
something to do with Ted
and
that was it.

She needed a plan. Sammi woke up and was laying on the floor next to her, fed and
changed
, happily grabbing at the toy that hung above her. The angel had no idea she had
lost both her parents in one short year.

Jolie would not allow her to go into the system. She knew what could happen there,
babies
were
lost.
Not Sammi
, she had promised Marie and she would be damned if she let her down.

She had money saved
. S
he just had to
access
it. Calling her job
,
quitting
,
and disappearing
were
the only option
s
. Unless she called the phone number and trusted the men Marie
had
told
her
she could.

Jolie cried as she rose from the floor and went to gather her purse. She wiped her
eyes and thought she could
grieve
later, when they were safe. Right now, Sammi’s safety was paramount.

She picked up her phone and stared at the number with determination. Marie said she
could trust them, she only hoped her friend was right.

The phone rang and Jolie bit her nail with worry as she listened to the ring. One…Two…Three…
just about ready to hang up and call back later
after she
made arrangement
s
, she startled when a brisk voice
answered
the phone.

“Master Chief,” he growled.

“Uhh
…
Hi
,
”
s
he stuttered and closed her eyes,
dumb
.

“Who is this?”
t
he man demanded.

“Marie gave me your number
,
”
w
as all she said and the man began to bark orders
in
the phone at her.

“Where are you? I need your address. We are on our way
,
”
t
he man said.

“Well, I am not sure about you coming here
,
” Jolie said
hesitantly
.

“Fuck that, we will find you,
”
t
he man glowered in the phone
and
Jolie frowned down at the receiver in her hand.

“Gimme that,”
a
nother
voice said and she heard another man talk to
him
. “You are scaring the shit out of her. Ma’am? Sorry about that. My name is Sheriff
David Conner, I am with Master Chief Gage Loman. The other team members are in the
area as well. Please
,
we only want
to
help.”

“
Where is here?”
s
he asked
suspiciously
. How were they here this fast?

“San Diego, we want to get you and the baby to safety
and
we can
'
t do that unless you tell us where the hell you are
,
” David said patiently.

She bit her nail again and paced
,
thinking.

“Hello?” David said.

“Yes… sorry. My name is Jolie Trime, I was a
friend
of Marie
'
s, and until I am sure
Sammi
is safe, I will be going with
her,
” Jolie said and waited. She could he
a
r the two men whispering and she held her breath, it was a deal breaker
.
When she he
a
r
d
him agree she said
,
“I am at a hotel across from the main gate
,
”
s
he whispered and then held her breath.

“We will be there in fifteen minutes
,
there are t
w
o of us. Be ready to leave ASAP
,
” David instructed and she nodded. His voice made her feel marginally better and
she looked around the room. Jolie had
not
unpacked
much
, hoping that they would have only been here overnight.

“We will be ready
,
”
s
he promised and hung up the phone.

David and Gage had been at the bank, splitting up with the team to get things completed
quickly. Alex, Thane, and Ice, were getting the records they needed. Slone
and
Voodoo were making calls to everyone. And Lobo was arranging shipments.

When the call came
in
,
they grabbed the contents of the box
,
and ran out. David just rifled through the papers and found the will, declaring
Gage the godfather and appointed guardian. They needed to sign paperwork to take
Sammi.

“You know, you could have been
nicer
.” David laughed.

“Yeah, well I
'm
not
really in a nice mood right now
,
” Gage growled.

“Well get in one, you don’t want to scare the woman holding Sammi, we need her to
cooperate
,
” David said.

“Fuck, I don’t need
cooperation
. Once I have Sammi, whatever her name is can go back to her life
,
” Gage said.

“Okay, well that is not what she thinks
,
so let
'
s play nice so the cops aren’t called and we end up very publically at the station
trying to sort this out.” David laughed.

“Fine, I will be nice. But I am not going to like it
,
” Gage said and
stared
out of the side window of the car the Commander arranged for them. The Ensign driving
ignored them.

“Real grown up
,
” David drawled.

“Shit, I am so far out of control right now
,
I don’t know which way is up
,
” Gage admitted. “The only thing I do know is that I have no clue who this woman
is. She was not in Marie’s
life
before, so she
doesn’t
know any of us. She should have called right away when Marie asked for help. Maybe
we
could have talked her out of
meeting with those animals.
"
Shit,
his anger was being directed anywhere he could in order to remain in control.

“
Whatever
,
ou
r objective is to get Sammi and get her home
,
” Gage said.

“Agreed
,
” David said. “But we
can’t
ignore the fact that Jolie Trime could be in danger herself since she is taking care
of Sammi. She may know something that will help us. We are going to have to take
her with us. At least for a few days
,
” David reasoned.

Gage swore under his breath and then nodded reluctantly. “Make the call.
We don’t have time to waste, we
go,
and the others follow. Four tickets out
here,
ASAP.
”

“Got it
,
” David said and picked up the phone and began to make
arrangements
with the others, he explained the situation and everyone agreed they need
ed
to get Sammi
to
safe
ty
, now.

They pulled up
to
the front of the
hotel
and told the Ensign to wait. Gage looked around, seeing if he
could
spot anyone or anything to indicate they were walking into a trap, or
worse
, who
ever the fuck killed Marie had already found Sammi.

David did the same, making a point of walking slowly to the
front
of the hotel.
His phone received an incoming text.
David held up the phone to Gage and nodded. The plane they needed to be on left in
an hour. They needed to move.

With
deliberation,
Gage walked into the lobby and pointed to the house phone. Briskly he called the
room number where Jolie Trime was staying and waited.
The lobby was empty but for the front
desk
clerk who was doing busy work. David asked for the house phone and he was directed
to the other side with a smile.

“Hello?”
t
he woman answered
and
sounded frightened. Something in his gut tightened as he thought of her being afraid
and leaving her behind.
No, they were not leaving her.

“Lobby, f
l
ight leaves in an hour
,
” Gage said quietly.

“On my way
.
Elevator one
,
”
s
he replied and he heard Sammi make a noise and he grimaced.

David and Gage stalked to the elevators and waited, sweeping the lobby with their
eyes and narrowing a little when they saw four men enter and walk to the front desk.
Gage nodded in the
men’s
direction and David walked slowly to the si
de of the desk, he picked up a brochure and turned so his back
w
as to the men, but he could
still
hear.

“Hi, my wife checked in here two days ago.
She said to get a key at the front desk when we arrived
,
”
t
he man said smoothly with some sort of accent that David could
not
place.

“Of course, her name?”
t
he desk clerk said.

“Jolie
…
Jolie Trime.” The man smiled.

The clerk nodded
and
frowned at the screen. “I am sorry, she has no husband listed.”

“No
worries
just let me call her and she can tell you
,
”
t
he man said smoothly and picked up his phone.

David walked away and whispered to Gage as he
passed,
“Jolie.”

“Fuck,” Gage swore and looked around the
lobby
. They were alone, no weapons, no back up, and
nowhere
to go but out the
front
door past the front desk.

“Darling,”
t
he man crooned loudly into his phone and said
,
“You forgot to tell the front desk about my arrival. Can you speak to him?” He
nodded
and smiled before handing the phone to the desk clerk.

At the same
time,
the elevator dinged
,
Gage and David
eyes
snapped
to the door. A tall brunette, gorgeously lithe and innocently looking exited the
elevator, with Sammi in her arms
—
not talking on a phone.

Gage had a moment before the men would notice her and the baby. “Honey, over here!”
he yelled and pointed
ly
looked Jolie in the eye, she looked startled and frowned.
Shit, she had no idea.

Ga
ge pulled David slightly and both of them walked to where she was standing with a
baby bag, a purse, and a gym bag. Before she could even protest
,
Gage swept her into his arms removing Sammi and handing her to David who quickly
too
k
her and walked to the front and out the door before the other men could react.

Gage lowered his mo
u
th to the surprised lips and kissed her quickly before she said something. He felt
the snap of electricity when their lips met and
jerked. Leaning
back,
he looked at the gorgeous green eyes, and full lips of the woman who only stood a
few inches shorter than
he did
. She looked confused
and
stunned
,
his eyes narrowed before whispering
quietly
,
“Front desk, four men, walk with me quickly.”

Jolie nodded and put her head down and followed, looking out of the side of her eye
to see who had been looking for her. None of them looked familiar. Gage pulled her
behind him and just as they reached the door
,
the front desk clerk said loudly.

“Hey, that is Ms. Trime
. W
ho is this on the phone?”
h
e said confused
,
and Jolie gasped and lifted her head when the men
turned
quickly to follow the finger that was pointing in her direction.

“Get them
!
”
o
ne of the men yelled and Gage ran.

Jolie scrambled
behind
him as she heard
what
sound
ed like
a
bunch of
firecracker
s
going off,
until
she felt something hit her arm.