by Elle James
“Please, go, Jenna,” Dustin begged.
She shook her head and quietly handed another child down into the basement, refusing to leave until all the children were saved. If she left one behind, she couldn’t live with herself.
With the roof threatening to fall on top of all of them and too many people to get out before it did, Jenna looked across at Dustin. The man was black with smoke and soot. But he was the most beautiful man inside and out and she loved him with all her heart.
One more child. Two. By then she moved like an automaton, lifting and lowering children until her arms ached. Dustin, by her side, did the same. It was only a matter of time before the fire claimed them. She would die beside the only man she ever loved.
A crash filled the air at the far end near the locked entrance to the sanctuary. The wall caved inward and lights shined through the dense smoke.
Women and children screamed and flocked toward Jenna and Dustin, nearly toppling them into the open trap door.
The lights backed away from the door and smoke poured out of the building, and then the lights raced forward again and another crash shook the walls and floor.
“Someone’s driving a vehicle into the wall.” Dustin waded through the crowd of women and children, ducked low and ran through the sanctuary toward the crash site and was quickly engulfed in the black smoke.
“Dustin!” Jenna cried out.
The sound of sirens pierced the chaos inside the worship hall. Soon men appeared like ghosts in the smoke and hurried toward the remaining victims. They gathered children in their arms and led the women back through the smoke.
Jenna continued to help some down the ladder while others were taken out the front. When she helped the last woman down the ladder, she collapsed, exhausted and too tired to move. With the huge hole in the side of the building, some of the smoke cleared, but the fire licked at the walls and up to the roof. A loud snap above her made her turn in time to see the beam running down the middle of the sanctuary crack. The ceiling buckled, swayed and then came crashing down. Jenna rolled over the open trap door just in time, falling the nine feet to the hard floor below. When she hit, what little light from the fire above was extinguished, and she welcomed oblivion.
DUSTIN HAD JUST pushed the last woman and her small children into the arms of a sheriff’s deputy and turned back to the sanctuary when the roof collapsed, sending a blast of smoke, soot and flames out the sides. He dropped to the ground, covered his head and waited until the smoke and heat dissipated, then he leaped to his feet to survey the disaster, his heartbeat grinding to a stop.
Jenna.
Dear God, Jenna was still in there. He started for the building but Adam and Houston caught him before he ran into the raging fire.
Rain beat down on him washing soot into his eyes. If tears mixed in with the rain, he couldn’t tell, nor did he care. He’d left Jenna inside the building.
He fought against his brothers’ hold on his arms. “Let me go. Jenna’s still in there.”
“If she was still inside the worship hall when it fell, it would do absolutely no good for you to try to get to her from up here.” Adam held on onto his arm, refusing to release him. “Anything beneath that roof would have been crushed.”
“But I left her inside.”
“Maybe she got out through the basement before the roof fell,” Houston offered.
“Dustin, Adam, Houston,” Toby leaped out of a sheriff’s vehicle that had just arrived in front of the destroyed sanctuary. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you guys.” He stared around at the woman and children huddled in clusters, covered in soot and ashes, sobbing. “What happened here? Where’s Jenna?”
Dustin shook free of his brothers’ hold and ran toward the rear of the building to the basement loading dock. The roof remained intact and people ran out of the open overhead door. The men, who’d exited with guns earlier, had returned to help, throwing their weapons on the ground.
Steady rain fell over the people of Sweet Salvation as families searched for their loved ones. A little girl stood, drenched in her dress, wailing, tears mingling with the rain. A woman ran to her, scooped her up in her arms and hugged her tight.
With a flashlight in his hand, Dustin shined it at the people he passed, searching the faces, praying he’d find Jenna among them. He ran from one cluster to another without locating her. He finally reached the loading dock and climbed the stairs, entering through the overhead door. The men he and his brothers had bound with duct tape had been released, presumably by the women they were helping to herd the last of children out of the sanctuary. Still, no Jenna.
“The hallway in the back,” Adam said, entering the basement behind Dustin. Houston was close behind.
Dustin shined his light down the hallway. Nothing moved, but there were several lumps on the floor. His lungs burned and his heart ached as he bent to study the first lump he came to. It turned out to be a child’s blanket and rag doll. Relief was short-lived when his flashlight beam encountered another. A woman’s bag filled with books and diapers lay scattered against the wall. Smoke filtered in from the collapsed roof above as he neared the dark end of the hallway and the final pile of rags on the floor. He dropped to his knees and cried as he felt for a pulse. Several seconds passed before the reassuring thump of blood pushing through her veins nudged his fingertips.
“He found her,” Adam said. “Dustin, do you need help?”
He managed to croak an answer past the lump in his throat. “No.” He scooped her up in his arms and stood. “Get Snow out of the room behind you, Adam.”
Adam and Houston opened the door and dragged Elder Snow to his feet.
Dustin didn’t wait to see that he was okay, he was more concerned about Jenna and why she wasn’t waking up.
He didn’t stop until he carried her out into the rain and several yards away from the burning building. “Jenna, darlin’. Please wake up,” he said, holding her close to his chest.
Adam, Houston and Toby joined him.
“How’s Jenna?” Toby asked.
“I don’t know. She hasn’t woken up.”
“Her forehead’s bleeding.” Houston pointed to her temple.
Her wound had torn open and blood oozed out, mixed with rain, and made a dark trail down the side of her face.
“Toby!” Two women ran up to the younger man. “Have you seen Jenna?” the younger one asked then spied Dustin. “Oh dear Lord.” She clapped a hand to her mouth and tears streamed down her face. “Is she…?”
Dustin shook his head. “She’s alive, but we need to get her to a hospital.”
The woman in his arms stirred, and her eyes blinked open. “No hospital,” she said, her voice rasping.
“Jenna?” Dustin nearly laughed with relief.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. “Thank God you got out alive.”
“Me?” He kissed her. “You were the one I was worried about. When the roof caved in, I lost ten years off my life.”
“I saw it coming and rolled into the trap door.” She gently touched her temple where the wound was open and bleeding, and winced. “But I’m okay.” She smiled at him. Her white teeth shone in her grimy face.
Dustin couldn’t remember a time when she was more beautiful than at that moment. He kissed her again. “You’re going to a hospital. You were unconscious. You could have a concussion.”
“I have a headache and my lungs burn, but I’ll live and it’s raining. God, it feels good. And I’m in the arms of the only man I’ve ever loved. What more could I ask for?”
“I plan on you being in my arms a whole lot more. So don’t argue with me when I tell you that you’re going to see a doctor.” He strode toward the blinking lights of an ambulance.
It appeared as though all of the county emergency services and half of the Waco fire department had arrived at the Sweet Salvation compound, along with every sheriff’s deputy and a contingent of ATF personnel.
Dustin wa
sn’t stopping to answer questions, nor was he waiting in line to have Jenna seen by the medical staff on site. He barged through the gaggle of women and children. “My fiancé needs assistance now.”
An EMT appeared beside him and pointed to the ambulance. “Let’s get her out of the rain and check her out.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Put me down. I’ll show you.”
“Ma’am, smoke inhalation is nothing to play around with.” The EMT shined a light in her eyes. “Neither is concussion. Please, let us take care of you.”
The emergency medical technicians pulled the gurney out of the back of the ambulance. Dustin laid Jenna on the mattress and stepped back allowing the medical personnel access to check her over.
They attached an oxygen mask to her face, checked her vitals and loaded her into the ambulance.
“I’m going with her.”
“Sir, it would be better if you followed behind.”
Jenna pulled the mask off her face. “He’s coming with me, or I’m going with him.”
“Okay, okay.” The technician grinned. “The woman has a mind of her own, doesn’t she?”
Dustin laughed and climbed in beside the technician. “You have no idea.”
The back door closed and the ambulance pulled away from the remains of the Sweet Salvation sanctuary.
Dustin held Jenna’s hand while the EMT established an IV. “Before another disaster happens and another minute goes by, I want you to know…” He took a breath and squeezed her hand. “I love you Jenna Turner. More now than ever. I lead an insane and dangerous life, although sometimes I think you live one even more dangerous than mine. The point is, I can’t always be there for you, but when I am, I’ll love you enough to make up for all the time I’m away. Would you consider marrying me and coming to live with me in Virginia? I promise to love you until the day I die, like I’ve loved you from the first time I kissed you in the sixth grade.”
Tears pooled in Jenna’s eyes, and she pulled the mask off her face. “Dustin Ford, I thought you’d never come to your senses and return to me. I never stopped loving you for a minute.”
He frowned. “Then why did you break our engagement?”
“I knew you wouldn’t pursue your dream of being a Navy SEAL if you married me. You dreamed of joining the Navy since you were a little kid. I didn’t want to be the one thing standing in the way of your dream.” The tears slid down her cheeks. “And you did it. I was so proud. But then you didn’t come back for me.”
“I thought you hated me.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, soot and all. “You broke my heart into a million pieces when you told me to go away. I couldn’t see you again without wanting to reach out and hold you in my arms.”
She smiled through her tears. “I’d have been there in a heartbeat.”
“Call me a coward, but I couldn’t take the rejection again, if you didn’t love me as much as I loved you.” He brushed the hair back from her forehead. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here with you and you love me.” Dustin shook his head.
“Believe it, buster.”
“So, what’s it to be?” He held her hand, his gaze connecting with hers. “Will you marry me?”
“Always planned on it. I still have the ring you gave me.” She pulled the necklace out of the collar of her dress, and the simple diamond ring dangled from it. “I never gave up hope we’d be together one day.”
He dropped to the floor of the ambulance and gathered her in his arms. “I love you, Jenna, and I never want to be without you again.” As Dustin lowered his mouth to hers, the vehicle slowed to a stop.
The EMT cleared his throat, reminding them that they had an audience. “We’re at the hospital. This reunion is very touching, but we need to get you inside and get back to the compound for the next patient.”
“Of course.” Jenna raised a finger. “But just one more minute. I want that kiss.”
She wrapped her arms around Dustin’s neck and sealed the deal with a kiss he wouldn’t soon forget. Not that he’d ever forgotten this incredibly brave, crazy, beautiful woman. Now she would be his forever.
The End
Other Titles by Elle James
Billionaire Online Dating Series
The Billionaire Husband Test (#1)
The Billionaire Cinderella Test (#2)
Take No Prisoners Series
SEAL’s Honor (#1)
SEAL’s Desire (#2)
SEAL’s Embrace (#3)
SEAL’s Obsession (#4)
SEAL’s Proposal (#5)
SEAL’s Seduction (#6)
SEAL’s Defiance (#7) coming soon
Lords of the Underworld
Witch’s Initiation (#1)
Witch’s Seduction (#2)
The Witch’s Desire (#3)
Possessing the Witch (#4)
Demon Series
Hot Demon Nights (#1)
Demon’s Embrace (#2)
Tempting the Demon (#3)
Covert Cowboys Inc Series
Triggered (#1)
Taking Aim (#2)
Bodyguard Under Fire (#3)
Cowboy Resurrected (#4)
Navy SEAL Justice (#5)
Navy SEAL Newlywed (#6)
High Country Hideout (#7)
Clandestine Christmas (#8)
Thunder Horse Series
Hostage to Thunder Horse (#1)
Thunder Horse Heritage (#2)
Thunder Horse Redemption (#3)
Christmas at Thunder Horse Ranch (#4)
Devil’s Shroud or Deadly Series
Deadly Reckoning (#1)
Deadly Engagement (#2)
Deadly Liaisons (#3)
Deadly Allure (#4)
Protecting the Colton Bride
Heir to Murder
Secret Service Rescue
Tarzan & Janine
Haunted
Wild at Heart
Engaged with the Boss
Cowboy Brigade
Time Raiders: The Whisper
Bundle of Trouble
Killer Body
Operation XOXO
An Unexpected Clue
Baby Bling
Nick of Time
Under Suspicion, With Child
Texas-Sized Secrets
Alaskan Fantasy
Blown Away
Cowboy Sanctuary
Lakota Baby
Dakota Meltdown
Beneath the Texas Moon
SEAL’s Honor
Take No Prisoners Book #1
by Elle James
Chapter One
‡
REED TUCKER, TUCK to his buddies, tugged at the tie on his U.S. Navy service dress blue uniform, and his gut knotted as he entered the rehabilitation center of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
He’d never run from anything, not a machine gun pinning his unit to a position, a fight where he was outnumbered, or an argument he truly believed in. But the sights, smells, and sounds inside the walls of the rehabilitation center made him want to get the hell out of the facility faster than a cat with its tail on fire.
But he couldn’t leave. Not yet. This was graduation day for Reaper, aka Cory Nipton, his best friend and former teammate on SEAL Team 10. Reaper was being released from the rehabilitation center after enduring something even tougher than BUD/s training, the twenty-four week Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training designed to weed out the true SEALs from the wannabes.
But Reaper’s release from rehab wasn’t the only event that brought Tuck there that day. He was going to a wedding. His heart twisted, his palms grew clammy, and he clutched the ring box in his left hand as regret warred with guilt, creating a vile taste in his mouth.
Reaper was marrying Delaney, the only woman Tuck had ever trusted with his heart. The only woman who’d forced him to get over his past and dare to dream of a future. She was the woman he could see himself spending the rest of his life with. And today she was promising to love, honor, a
nd cherish his best friend—a better man than Tuck by far. A hero who’d lost his right arm because Tuck hadn’t given him sufficient cover. Cory deserved all the happiness he could get after being medically discharged out of the only family he’d ever known. The Navy SEALs.
His hand on the door to the room where the wedding was to take place, Tuck squared his shoulders and stepped into his future.
*
Two months earlier
TUCK GLANCED TO his left and right. The members of Strike Force Dragon sat or stood, tense, holding onto whatever they could as the MH-60M Black Hawk dipped into the valley between two hilltops, less than a click away from the dark, quiet village. The only thing different about this mission was that, since the one before, he’d slept with the Pilot in Command of the helicopter.
Most men knew her as Razor, the call sign they used for the only female pilot flying infiltration and extraction missions for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), Army Captain Delaney O’Connell.
Through his NVGs he picked up the bright green signature of a lookout on top of one of the buildings.
Within seconds, shots were fired at them, tracer rounds flaring in the dark. The helicopter remained just out of range of the man’s rifle shots, but it wouldn’t be long before a Taliban machine gunner with long-range capability was alerted with the potential of lobbing rocket-propelled grenades their way.
Wasting no time, the helicopter sank to a level just above the drop zone (DZ). While it hovered the men fast-roped down.
As soon as his boots hit the ground, Tuck brought up his M4A1 in the ready position and ran toward the sniper on the rooftop, zigzagging to avoid being locked in the enemy crosshairs.
Reaper, Big Bird, Gator, Fish, and Dustman spread out to the sides and followed.
When they were in range, Reaper took a knee and employed his uncanny ability as a sharpshooter to knock off the sentry on the rooftop.
The team continued forward into the walled town, going from building to building, until they reached the one they were after. In the center of the compound, high walls surrounded one particular brick and mud structure.