SEALs of Honor: Shadow (18 page)

At the entrance to the other room, he could hear an odd sound. His mind raced to catalogue it. And realized it was the sound of someone playing cell phone games. The almost silent sound of the fingers tapping and his soft groans when he missed something and angry breaths as he lost, the muted music as the game played.

Good. Keep the asshole distracted. He slipped around the corner. An old woman huddled on an old dusty couch, her wrists bloodied from the ties on her paper thin skin. She raised her head, her mouth opening to cry out. Shadow placed his finger to his lips. She subsided, shaky but valiant as she glared at the man, dressed in khakis, playing his cell phone.

Shadow raised his rifle.

In a low deadly voice, he said, “Now you have to kidnap old ladies after losing the senator and his family. Is that a demotion?”

At Shadow’s first word, the man froze. By the time he’d stopped talking, Shadow was staring into the glittering eyes of one of the kidnappers he recognized from the senator’s cabin. So one had escaped and come to warn the men waiting here. Interesting.

“You have two choices. You can stand up and be taken as my prisoner back to Washington or you can reach for that weapon at your side.”

The man glared at him. “My death won’t matter. Another will take my place. We took money for a job. It must be done.”

A spidery tingle shot down Shadow’s spine. “Mercenaries. Interesting. We figured you for terrorists.”

He shrugged. “We are. But sourcing money is always an issue. Mercenaries bring in good money.”

It was and there was a never ending source of assholes who wanted shit done. “And the job?”

He laughed. “It was a double whammy. We got paid for two jobs.”

“So tell me…” Shadow said in a conversational voice. “How do two jobs dovetail like that?”

“Some senators needed to make a decision and refused. We were supposed to make an example of Senator Stephenson so the others would cave easier. Beating up that old man felt damn good.” He sniggered. “And the other job wanted the old man and the young woman dead. We know the old man isn’t going to make it. The young woman, well, if you assholes hadn’t rescued her we’d have been in the clear there too.”

“And who wanted her dead.”

The asshole laughed. “I’m not saying anything more.”

Shadow expected as much. “Not a problem. We have a pretty good idea already. It always comes down to money, power or sex.”

The man smiled. “Well, it’s up to you to figure out which one.”

“Not bothered.” Shadow motioned to the man’s gun. “Kick it over here.”

“Nah. You come and get it.”

Shadow smiled. “I don’t think so.” He lifted his rifle butt. “After the men you’ve murdered I’m totally okay with pulling the trigger right here and now.”

The old lady stood up shakily. “He shot my dog,” she said, tears in her eyes. “Both of them.”

“The old girl didn’t make it, but the young one is in the garage and still doing fine.”

He heard the old lady’s gasp of joy. She struggled to walk past him rubbing her sore wrists. “You be careful,” Shadow warned.

“I will,” she whispered. “Just please don’t let him get away.” She shot the stranger a scared look. “He said he’d do me a favor and kill me before he left. That would be an easier death than old age.”

The stranger laughed. “Look at you, old and dried up. That’s no way…” He scooped up his weapon.

And Shadow shot him.

Dead.

C
ooper’s phone went
off. Arianna raced to his side to listen.

“Hey, Shadow. Yes, she’s fine.”

Arianna beamed. Cooper rolled his eyes at her. “No, I’ve been taking good care of her. No, I haven’t had an update from the others. No, we haven’t had anyone else in the store.”

When he hung up the phone, Cooper was grinning. “Shadow has taken out one asshole. Now if only we knew how many we were up against.”

“No,” Mason said in a doorway. “We’ve taken out four now. Is Shadow on his way back?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Mason said. “I just got word the military should be here in an hour to sort this out.”

“Are we needed here after that?”

“Only to hand off the operation to them. If they need anything more one or two men can stay behind.” Mason studied Arianna. “You’re looking better.”

“Feeling it too,” she said with forced cheerfulness. “More than ready to leave.”

He nodded. “Aren’t we all?” And he turned and walked back out.

Cooper raised his brows. “Sounds like this one is almost wrapped up.”

“I hope so. I just want to go home.”

That happened sooner than she expected. With a speed that left her stunned, the military arrived by helicopter. They landed on the edge of town and were followed by a second and third. Soldiers surged through the tiny town, and she could only watch in awe as the military machine took over.

She was quickly helped into one of the helicopters and airborne before she knew it.

Cooper was the only one of the SEALs she saw at the end. She clung to him as they approached the helicopter. “Am I going alone?” she whispered, her eyes darting from one stranger’s face to the other, searching for those she knew.

“Yes. They are taking you to the next hospital. You have to get that leg checked. Should have done that hours ago,” he said in a reassuring voice.

“I know.” She gripped her arms around his neck twice as hard as he loaded her onto the huge black machine. “Doesn’t mean I want to go alone.”

“If we can, we’ll come by. I can’t say if we’re still needed here or if we’ll be sent on our way, but home for us is California.”

“Me too.” She brightened. “Can they fly me there?”

He shook his head. “No, they can’t.”

Her face fell. Another soldier motioned at a seat in the helicopter. She swallowed and slowly released her arms from Cooper’s neck. Just before he walked way, she called out, “Say good-bye to everyone for me.”

He stilled, turned back, and said, “You’ll see us again.”

“Will I?” she said in a forlorn voice. “It doesn’t feel like it.”

“I promise.”

And he was engulfed in chaos as men ordered him back. The helicopter started up. One soldier hopped up beside her. Seconds later, she was airborne.

It looked like a bad movie as she was slowly lifted above the scene. She watched as the men scurried through every house and a stretcher was brought out for the storekeeper. Too quickly she was too high up to see anything or anyone clearly. She leaned her head back and tried to ignore the man beside her. It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t the man she wanted beside her. Then, no one was. Was it really over? How could she have connected with Shadow only to lose him at this stage?

“Miss, are you okay?”

She rolled her head to the side, seeing the worry on the soldier’s face and tried to smile, realizing that once again a waterfall of tears rolled down her cheeks.

“I’m okay,” she managed. “It was a very tough weekend, that’s all.”

“It’s over. You’re safe now.”

And that was partly why she was crying. Stupid really. Still, she was going to miss those men. All of them. They’d worked their way into her heart in such a way she knew she’d never be able to forget. How could such a crazy weekend happen in the first place and then there was the way it all ended. At that, she started to really cry. The release of stress, the constant danger, the fear, and panic – it had happened in a short time frame. Like a small bomb going off inside, the tears and heartache burst free. The soldier let her cry. She appreciated that. The release was good but made her feel crappy at the same time. How did that work?

They weren’t in the air for long before they descended.

The soldier noticed her interest. “We’ll be at the hospital in just a few minutes.”

She nodded, not caring which hospital. It wasn’t the one at home and that’s where she wanted to be. But she didn’t have time to look at much as soon houses appeared below then a large roof with a landing spot came next. The helicopter lowered gently and landed easily on the spot.

Several people rushed toward her.

She was unloaded onto a stretcher and whisked to a door. Before she was pushed inside, she watched the helicopter rise up and disappear into the clouds above. With it went her dreams of seeing Shadow and his team again. She stared at the long white corridors as she was taken into an elevator and rolled down to the ER. There she was moved into a small curtained off room. She hated everything about it. Not logical, considering they were helping her.

Shadow was already gone, her world lost and empty.

Then the curtain was ripped back. The medical team poured over her as she was partially stripped, her leg poked and prodded, then cleaned. She lay there, vulnerable, as they did what they had to do. Already tired and worn out, she barely reacted.

A doctor leaned over her. “Miss Stephenson, how are you feeling?”

She raised dull eyes to him. “I’m fine. How is my leg?”

He glanced down at it. “It’s going to be fine.”

“Oh good.” She knew it would be. After all, the guys had looked after it. They’d done their best and in this case their best was pretty fine. “Can I go home now?”

“We’ll need to keep you for a day or two. Then there’s a lot of paperwork to take care of. So should be sometime in the next couple of days.”

Paperwork? Who cared about that right now? Without Shadow her world looked so dark and she knew her golden dream attitude wasn’t going to pull her out of this one.

But her irrepressible positive thinking latched onto Cooper’s promise that they’d see her again. And would try to come by the hospital if they could. Only…what if she was shipped out first? Then what? Then it didn’t matter what he said, he’d have done his best and this time it would be that the wheels of bureaucracy had moved too fast. She brightened even more. That never happened. Paperwork…took forever. Right. She’d still be here when the SEALs got free of that town. She had to be…

The doctor stepped back slightly. “Now, there is someone I’d like you to speak with. You’ve been through a traumatic ordeal. And as you’re going to be with us for the next couple of days, I think it would be helpful if you talked to one of our trauma counselors.”

She was ready to agree to anything if it meant she could stay until the guys arrived but at his word,
counselor
, she froze.

“Is that like a shrink?” she asked cautiously, her gaze locked on his face. “Surely I don’t need that?”

“Don’t look at it that way. Dr. Mendelson is very good at her job, and in this case, her job would be to help you get over the horrific experience you’ve just been through.” He straightened and walked to the doorway. “Now that we have that sorted, I’ll let her know you’re here.”

And he was gone.

She stared suspiciously at the doorway, afraid the shrink would be popping through any second. She really didn’t want to talk with her, but was it worth fighting over?

She was still mulling it over when an orderly came and raised the bars on her bed. In alarm, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Not to worry, your room is ready. I’m taking you down.” He unclicked the brakes on the wheels and pulled the bed back out slightly. Then unhooked her IV bag to lay it on her bed. “Now we can get you settled in for a pleasant visit. You’re only with us for a few days I understand.”

He was really nice. Still, part of her was suspicious, was everyone like that here? And then the orderly nudged the curtain accidentally. “Oops, sorry about that. Here I was trying to be so careful.”

“It’s fine,” she said, chuckling inside.

“Well, I’m still sorry. We don’t want you to have a bad impression of us.”

She counted three more apologies on the way to her room. One when they passed another orderly pushing a different patient in a bed, again as they turned the corner into her room and she moved her hand away even though there was lots of room and then because he couldn’t set the bed up any closer to the window. She gave a happy sigh. He was a sweetheart. She was quickly falling in love with the country and the people.

After she was set up in her new bed, a move he made painless, and her IV once again hanging, her medication administered and a wonderful warm blanket wrapped around her, she lay in a haze of wellbeing.

Truly, she was safe now.

And she closed her eyes.

*