Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Beauty (Kindle Worlds Novella) (The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros. Book 5) (7 page)

His wife shocked him once again with her quick response. “Yes.”

Andreas laughed heartily. “What is that, darling?”

Catarina’s response was to squirm her bottom into her husband’s growing erection.

Andreas’s voice broke with built up tension. “That, is most definitely something I can take care of. Something I can take care of right away.”

IT WAS NEARLY half past noon by the time Andreas and Cat reached the hotel on Clearwater Beach. It had taken Andreas no time at all to confirm the woman was who she said she was, and her husband as well. Andreas was able to ascertain within an hour that she and her husband had flown to Tampa five days earlier, had booked the hotel and flight two months earlier, and that they were who she claimed them to be. With his own FBI and DMV connections, he was able to see that John Keegan indeed was former FBI, and a former Navy SEAL with a spotless record and that the man in Tampa and the former were one and the same person. Melody was indeed his wife of nearly two years, and they had an adopted daughter who was staying with friends in California. He felt comfortable taking his wife to meet Melody and told her so.

She smiled at him and said the arrangements had been made for 12:30 and he shook his head and picked up the keys to his car and glanced at the clock. Just enough time to get there.

Immediately upon entering the hotel lobby, Andreas recognized the woman with whom they were meeting from his quick investigation and pointed her out to Cat. She nodded when she saw her and they began to cross the large open expanse that made up the luxurious grand entrance of the Clearwater Palisades.

When the blonde woman spotted them, her smile was broad and she began to approach from her direction and met them half way. She recognized both from her search on the Internet. But for Cat it was the first time seeing the buxom blonde with whom she had spoken on the phone only briefly to make these quick arrangements. She was a pretty woman, Catarina thought. Her hair was gold and she had a nice figure. She looked like the girl next door type, although a woman. The John Keegan she remembered from a decade ago was a lucky man. He had been massive, tall and broad, and this woman would complement his strength and coloring very well. His hair had been a dark brown and his eyes warm.

Melody smiled at Andreas and Cat, so grateful that they had agreed to meet with her on such short notice. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I know this has come out of the blue for you and well, I just really appreciate it.” Her words came out in a rush but both Cat and Andreas could tell they were sincere.

Andreas nodded, and allowed his wife to take the lead. “Not at all. I was very curious to meet you and hear more. My wife filled me in as best she could, and for her safety we did check both of you out.”

Melody flicked her long blond mane of hair behind her. She had picked up on the woman’s subtle accent. Definitely European. Tex had mentioned she had spent her childhood in Amsterdam. “Completely understandable. But come on, I’ve reserved a table at the café here and we can talk at the bistro. I’ll fill you in on the rest and what has me worried.” Both Cat and Andreas followed Melody into the bistro where she led them to an area secluded from the rest. “I hope this is okay. I asked for a good seat that would give us some privacy.”

“This is fine,” Andreas put in, appreciating Melody Keegan’s attempt to keep their conversation private. They were a well-recognized couple in the area ever since their near brush with death last year, but most locals respected their privacy.

Once they were seated and their drink orders taken, Cat saw the woman twisting her napkin in her lap nervously. It looked like she didn’t know where to start. She knew this must have been awkward if not difficult for the woman, calling a total stranger out of the blue like this, so Cat put the woman out of her misery. “I know you expressed in your message that your husband felt some guilt about his role in my past, and that this worry was eating at him, but let me assure you right away, Mrs. Keegan, I am very happy. Very happy.”

“Oh, please, call me Melody. Tex, or John, as you knew him, well, his mind will be put at ease to hear that. And I know it is asking a lot, but I’d love if you could tell him yourself. He. . . has been living with this guilt for a long time, and it will do him wonders to know that you are doing well. To hear it from you . . .” she let her words trail off.

“I am happy. I assure you. I admit it wasn’t an easy road, but I did what I knew how to survive. He has no reason to feel guilty for following orders. It’s what we all must do at times. We make choices based on experiences. We follow orders because we are trained to. I’ve never felt any anger towards my rescuers. Neither did any of the others. All we ever were was grateful.”

“The others?” Melody was very curious as to what Cat meant by that statement.

“Yes, the others. Your husband rescued over forty of us that evening. There were six people rescued in the Maryland house where I was, and the one your husband helped to liberate, but that investigation released 34 others in Washington, and Virginia. I am still in contact with some of the others. I was there for a long time with them in the safe houses. They became my family.”

Melody heard the European accent even more. Cat’s voice sounded cultured. Melody knew her ancestry was Dutch, though she had lived in many places between her youth and now. “Well, I’m so glad to hear that. Tex, though, he has had you on his mind a lot. He was worried about you most of all because he said your reaction to being rescued wasn’t normal.” She stopped herself when she saw Andreas’s eyebrows shoot up. She corrected herself. “Or rather, like the others.”

Cat’s laugh was high. “Normal. What is normal, my dear? I had been in captivity since I was twelve. The others had not been in so long, or could remember their lives before so much better than I. I just did not know what came next. They knew normal. I did not. Like I said, it was shock. But I’d be happy to explain that to John myself.”

“You would?” Melody had been working up the courage to ask that, but hadn’t figured out a way yet. She was thrilled when Catarina had suggested it herself, although from the looks of it her husband still wasn’t so sure. He looked a tad green around the gills at his wife’s suggestion. Melody forged ahead with her quickly prepared speech before Andreas could convince his wife otherwise. “When he saw you on that balcony, he recognized you right away. It has been weighing on his mind heavily since then. He’s never forgotten you and has always felt guilty about waiting so long to pull you all out of there. This vacation, well, it means a lot to us; you see we have been trying to get pregnant, and his job is so stressful. And for two years we have been trying and so far we haven’t had any luck.” Melody tried to avoid looking at Cat’s swollen stomach, though from the corner of her eye, she saw the woman subconsciously stroke her extended abdomen. She continued when she saw Andreas reach out towards his wife, placing a protective arm around her. “Our doctor suggested that we get away from everything, but with my husband that is so hard to do. His work, the work he does now, he keeps people safe, and he takes that job with him everywhere he goes, 100% of the time. We are supposed to be relaxing, and I’m sorry if this sounds a little selfish, I just want him to be able to put this ghost, this guilt behind him, so that we can get back to focusing on us.” Melody felt her throat constricting thickly with emotion. She was even fighting back tears. She hadn’t realized just how much having Tex’s baby meant to her. But this was what it was really all about. That, and having Tex forgive himself for the wrongs he thought he had committed.

Both Cat and Andreas were looking upon her with sympathy. But before they could speak, Melody had one more thing to say. “And I think it’s because he feels like he let you down all those years ago, that he became a SEAL, became the man whose sole purpose in life is to protect others. Seeing you on that balcony has just . . . torn him up with guilt. But he is a good man who thinks only of others.”

Andreas had a moment of panic. That would be the second time his beautiful wife had been recognized from his balcony that looked out over the bay. The last time had resulted in her getting kidnapped. But that was behind them now. Sal/Spiro/Darryl/The Rosedale Romeo was no longer a threat. He never would be. And as the woman before them poured her heart out to them, he knew his wife wouldn’t refuse her, and he couldn’t refuse his wife.

“Well, I think we can arrange to meet your husband, Melody.” Andreas spoke the words with empathy and passed the woman a napkin. He saw the tears glimmering in her eyes.

“Of course. I’d love to thank him myself. I was in no place to do it then,” Catarina added.

Melody wiped the stray tears away that had managed to escape. She hadn’t meant to get so emotional. It wasn’t like her at all. But Tex meant everything to her. “Oh goodness. Thank you. I apologize for these tears, it’s just the last two days have been difficult. When he saw you, he started digging, and then he found about what happened to you since. And I have not been feeling well myself.” She patted her upset tummy and then shook her head to clear it and gazed at the couple across from her who looked at her with nothing but understanding, so with a stronger voice she continued. “Well, when he found out that your nightmare hadn’t ended, he’s been beating himself up pretty badly over it.”

Catarina reached across the table to grasp the other woman’s hand. “Oh, but darling, none of that is his fault. That man, Spiro, he was sick, a sick boy, a victim himself. Like us. He became the monster he was because of circumstances beyond his control. He should have sought help, but he did not know how. John must not blame himself for that. He saved me, and my friends. We have all gone on to have meaningful and productive lives, and his work with the FBI saved countless others from becoming victims and being victimized. He should be proud of his work.” Cat squeezed the woman’s hand gently and after a moment she felt her return the pressure.

Andreas once more relaxed. What an amazing woman his wife was. She had never seen herself as the victim. And the fact that just eight months earlier, Spiro had nearly taken her life, and she had risen above it, and beyond it, well, it was a testament to how amazing she truly was. Thank God the man was dead though. It was the only way he could sleep at night now. “Yes, he should be proud. And like my wife said, we’d be happy to meet him and I’d like to thank him personally. Not only did he save my Cat, but by saving her, he saved me, too. She means the world to me. Her and our child. They brought me back from the brink. So in a way, I owe him, too.”

Melody became practically overcome with emotion once more. She swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. “Well, I’m glad I got to meet you. Both of you. You do look happy. And you’ve got a wonderful baby on the way.”

Cat nodded. “Seven and a half months now.” Andreas’ hand covered his wife’s now. Together their hands lay over her round belly. The woman glowed. Melody could not wait to become pregnant. She wanted nothing more than to give Tex his own child. Her hand strayed to her own waistline. Not flat, never flat enough, and prayed that she, too, would feel it expand with child.

Cat could see the mood had shifted, and so swiftly changed the subject. She didn’t want the woman to be sad, and she was curious about John. When she had known him, he’d been young, brash, full of life. He must be near forty, and he must have seen so much. She knew he had served two tours in Iraq from Andreas’ research and Melody had confirmed that, and so he must have seen much. Her work with the wounded veterans was something she was proud to do. She had been working with them for quite some time, even before meeting Andreas; she had always felt grateful to this country that had helped her. And that had been because of John, the FBI, the CIA, and the SWAT team that had recused her. So she had wanted to give back in some way. “How is John, Melody? I mean I’ve always wondered what became of him afterwards. He was so nice to all of us. A real American gentleman. While we were detained, he was so patient and kind to all of us when he was assigned to the safe house detail during the trial. I remember him being so patient while he helped us with preparing for the questions that would be asked by the grand jury. He was a good man. But yet, he was always so reserved too.”

Melody understood that. Her John kept his feelings inside. You needed to pry them out of him. He never wanted to be seen as a burden, and he never asked for help. She, too, had been like that. It was what initially attracted her to him. She explained. “Well, that is true. He has always been reserved and self-deprecating for as long as I’ve known him. I always thought it had more to do with him losing his leg in Iraq.” She saw Cat’s eyebrows raise. This must not have come up in their own background checking. But she continued. “He lost his leg in his second tour,” she explained. “But it could have been part of his character from earlier. He was part of the investigative team that took down the operators of the Maryland and Virginia locations. And he felt immense guilt that they couldn’t swoop in and rescue you sooner. They had known about those facilities for quite some time,” she admitted. “So him being reserved around you then may have been because of that.” Melody watched Cat’s reaction to that information carefully to see if the woman expressed surprise or anger. But the woman’s face remained a beautiful mask. So she went on. She didn’t want to keep anything from this woman who had been through so much already. “The CIA had become involved, and they wanted the organizers, the European and middle Easterners who did the kidnappings and sold the girls originally. Tex told me he hated having to sit on that information while you girls were still being victimized, but the government wanted to take them all down.”

Cat had figured that out on her own during the course of the trial while they waited in the safe house. “I remember that. I heard some of the men talking. That makes sense. But still no reason for him to feel guilty. What he did saved us and many others from ever having to go through what we did.”