“Not out here,” I grunted as they all exited their vehicles.
“It’s the girl from the bank, isn’t it?” Cash asked once we were inside.
I tossed him a dark look, and he held up his hands in surrender. “Not saying we shouldn’t help her. Just asking.”
Quickly, I explained the events from the robbery. I didn’t go into why I was desperate to help Cora, other than her being an innocent woman who’d been taken hostage. I must not have hidden it all that well, though, because I saw the realization in their eyes.
I pivoted and marched down the hall to my office, assuming they would follow. I didn’t have the level of technical skills with a computer that Deacon did, but I wasn’t a slouch either, so my setup was very sophisticated.
Deacon took a seat and started tapping on the keyboard. Within a few minutes, he found the footage from the bank cameras. Then he asked me about routes, and we speculated, trying a few different sets of street and highway cams before we finally spotted the vans.
While Deacon followed the paths of the vehicles, the rest of us analyzed the bank footage.
“They are a practiced team,” Stirling murmured. “But look at their body language in the beginning, when they’re all together. This one is clearly in charge”—I nodded, recognizing the guy from the vault—“but the other three don’t respect him. And they certainly don’t trust each other.”
“Damn, Huntley,” Cash said when the film showed my two kills. “Nice shots.” They’d been easy for someone with my training, but we could still appreciate the perfect placement of the bullet wounds.
“Why didn’t you go for the guy holding the girl?” Stirling asked, his brow lowered in confusion.
“He didn’t want to chance hitting her, dipshit,” Cash said, rolling his eyes.
“When’s the last time you missed a target?” Stirling’s tone was exasperated.
“Doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “I wasn’t about to take a chance that this would be the one to break my streak.”
“I’ve got something.” We all gathered around Deacon to look at the two screens in front of him. “None of the vans have plates. But it’s impossible for them to all look exactly alike.”
He froze two pictures and pointed at the first van. “This is the one that pulled out of the bank parking lot.” He pointed at a second screen. “Looking at the others in comparison, there are subtle differences. This one’s mirrors are bent at a different angle.” He hit a key, and the screen switched to a view of another van, so it was side by side with our perps. “The back right tire on this one is brand new.”
He was right. Even from a traffic cam, the condition of the wheel was obvious. It was cleaner, especially the tread, but from the small amount in the grooves, it was clear that they had no wear on them.
Deacon found the differences in the other vans, and then we went back to the footage of all of them on the highway. Once we singled out the van holding Cora, we followed the vehicle to a warehouse on the edge of the next town over. The van disappeared through a garage door, and nothing emerged in the time between then and now.
I stood to my full height and glared at the screen for a moment, then snapped, “Let’s roll.”
We made our way to my garage, where I kept my tactical shit. It was all civilian-grade equipment but would do the job. After gearing up, we loaded into my SUV and set a course for the warehouse.
It wasn’t a long drive, but I knew how quickly we arrived could make all the difference. I was usually calm and cool during missions, but this time it involved my girl, and I was jumpy and out of sorts.
What if I didn’t arrive in time? What if he hurt her, or they were gone? I was kicking myself for dragging my feet. For never feeling her body pressed to mine, never tasting her sweet lips. If—when we rescued her, I vowed to stop being such an asshole and man up. I was going to claim my woman.
Stirling had advanced driving training, so I deferred to him when it came to getting behind the wheel. He managed to cut the thirty-minute trip down to fifteen, but still, every minute had chafed.
My phone rang just as Stirling was parking the car down a back road, under a copse of trees to make it less obvious to passersby. I was going to ignore it, but the name on the screen caught my eye. Shadow. Shit.
It was the stupid name I’d given Merrick, my former teammate, after he’d gone dark. A few years back, we’d been betrayed by a member of our team, and it had nearly cost several of us our careers...and lives. Merrick had been the one to go rogue and take the traitor out. Since then, he’d joined a corporation as a wetwork specialist. Wouldn't have been the road I’d chosen, but he was still my friend, and I owed him.
“Can this wait?” I barked in lieu of a greeting.
“I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say before you go into that warehouse, guns blazing,” he drawled.
What the fuck?
“This is a ‘you help me, I’ll help you’ kind of call.”
“Details,” I demanded impatiently.
“The man you’re hunting, Jack Carlson, he’s one of my targets. I’ve got my hands full with an...unexpected situation.”
I heard a muffled voice in the background, and he covered the receiver to say something to them. But his words still came through. “You’re going to earn yourself another spanking, Audrey. Now, be a good little girl and behave.”
My eyebrows shot up, but I didn’t have time to figure out what kind of shit Merrick had gotten himself into. When he spoke again, it was unmuffled. “I’m going to send you the warehouse blueprints. Take him out for me, and I’ll owe you.”
“No,” I disagreed. “You’ll never owe me, brother.”
Merrick was silent for a moment. “It’ll make us square then.”
“Deal.”
“You’ll have the plans in thirty seconds. Send proof that it’s done for my employer. Just keep everyone out of the fucking picture so no one realizes it wasn’t me who did the job.”
“Done,” I agreed. Even though he was no longer with the Navy, I murmured, “Hooyah,” because it still represented the bond we shared.
He repeated the phrase, then we hung up just as my phone pinged with an incoming secure email.
The boys were all quiet, and Deacon was watching me with one eyebrow raised.
“Merrick needs a favor. He sent the blueprints.”
That was all they needed to hear.
We’d studied the warehouse from aerial views, and after going over the blueprints, we found two entrances other than the garage door. There were some windows as well, but they were high up near the roof, and anyone dumb enough to jump from one of those wouldn’t be running anywhere. We unloaded from the van and armed ourselves to the teeth before stealthily approaching the building.
I pointed two fingers toward the front. Cash and Stirling nodded and went that way while Deacon and I trekked to the back. The door was heavy steel, not something we could bust our way through without the right equipment. A noisy entrance would only alert the robbers anyway.
Deacon rolled his eyes after inspecting the keypad mounted on the wall. In less than thirty seconds, he’d bypassed the alarm and unlocked the door.
I owed some maintenance guy a bottle of fine whiskey because the door slid open soundlessly. We crept in and found ourselves in a large, open space, but the only light was coming from the high windows. It cast shadows everywhere, but the space felt empty.
My stomach flipped at the possibility that Cora might not be here. Deacon distracted me from my thoughts when he began to cross the room. I stayed on his six and protected his back. Once we were on the other side, he released the catch on the other door and opened it to let Cash and Stirling into the building.
Cash’s eyes did a sweep of the place, then he pointed his rifle to the left, and I lifted my chin in acknowledgment. Stirling and Deacon echoed the motion but in two other directions. We split up and silently explored the room. I almost missed it, but when I reached one cor
ner, I spotted a crack in the metal wall and realized it was a shoddy, makeshift door. I leaned in and closed my eyes, listening for any sound. It was so soft, I almost missed it. The shuffling of shoes on the concrete floor. I assumed the person was pacing from the way they faded, then got louder before fading again. I stepped out of the shadow and waved down the boys to hurry over.
With hand signals, I told them to cover me and I was going in. Cash, Stirling, and I trained our guns on the door while Deacon wrapped a hand around the knob and held up three fingers. When he dropped the last one, he yanked open the door, and I rushed inside, followed closely by the others. A man with greasy black hair and a face that had clearly been in one too many fistfights whirled around in shock. Brick house. I trained my eyes on him and didn’t look around, knowing that I needed to keep my focus on this piece of shit before Cora distracted me.
“Drop it,” I demanded, using the barrel of my gun to indicate his weapon. He looked like he might argue at first but seemed to quickly realize he was outmanned and outgunned. His gun fell from his hands and hit the floor with a clang.
“Where’s your partner?” Cash asked coolly.
“Dead.” His expression remained blank, his eyes devoid of emotion, obviously not regretting his actions for a second.
A small whimper reached my ears, and I whirled toward it to see Cora curled up in a corner, duct tape on her ankles, wrists, and mouth. I took one step toward her, and her eyes flicked over my right shoulder with fear. I flipped around, gun raised, and put two bullets in the brick house.
A hand came down on my shoulder, and I nearly took Stirling’s head off. “Relax, man. We’re going to do a sweep and make sure we’re all clear.” I nodded, knowing it needed to be done but loathing to leave Cora for even one second. I made a move toward the door, but he pulled me to a stop. “Take care of your girl.”
5
Cora
When Jack had shoved me into a corner, I’d started to worry that Huntley wouldn’t get the chance to rescue me. There had been no way for me to catch my fall. Not after he had wrapped so much duct tape around my wrists that you couldn’t see the rope underneath and followed that up with circling it around my ankles and slapping a strip over my mouth. And he hadn’t been careful with how much force he’d used, either—barely sparing me a glance when I cried out. He’d ignored me, pacing back and forth while muttering beneath his breath about how wrong his plan had gone. After warning his now-dead partner about Huntley’s threat earlier, he didn’t seem too worried about me getting hurt, and I figured that didn’t bode well for my safety.
I was starting to doubt that I’d make it out of this warehouse alive when Huntley showed up with a few other guys. And then I was afraid Jack would kill him instead when he’d turned to look at me, but in the end, everything turned out okay. I’d never have to worry about the hulking guy who would’ve been more than happy to kill me because Jack was the one who died instead.
Tears of relief streamed down my cheeks as Huntley prowled toward me. After dropping to his knees, he set his rifle on the floor to his left and carefully removed the duct tape from over my mouth. He was still gently tugging strands of my hair from the adhesive—since Jack had gone overboard and wrapped it all the way around my head—when I gasped, “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”
“Probably about as fucking happy as I am to have found you relatively unharmed.” He freed the rest of my hair from the tape and tilted my head back to press his forehead against mine. “If I’d been even just a few minutes later, that bastard might’ve lost it and—”
I closed the gap between our mouths to stop whatever he’d been about to say. I only meant for it to be a quick brush of our lips, but Huntley took control and deepened the kiss. His tongue demanded entry to tangle with mine, stealing my breath until I forgot where we were. But when I tried to lift my hands to grip his shoulders, I let out a little disgruntled whimper because they were still tied and taped. “Fuck, sorry, gingersnap. You have the unique ability to make me lose my head.”
I was grinning like a loon while he went to work at releasing my ankles and wrists. If anyone had seen me, they probably would’ve wondered if being taken hostage and seeing three men die had made me lose touch with reality, but I couldn't help smiling at the realization of how much of an impact I had on Huntley. When I was finally free from all the tape, I heaved a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
“You don’t have to thank me, gingersnap.” He stood and helped me to my feet since my legs were a bit wobbly. “I’ll always come for you because you’re mine. Nobody will ever take you away from me.”
Although I understood how the robbery could’ve changed his mind about the reasons he’d been trying to stay away from me, I was worried about how quick he’d moved from telling me we couldn’t date to calling me his. “That’s not just the adrenaline talking, right?”
“Not even close.” His lips curved into a rueful grin as he shook his head. “I’ve been in combat situations with bullets flying all around me, and I’ve never once felt the need to claim a woman as my own when it was all over. Only you, Cora. You make me feel things I’ve never experienced before.”
I flashed him a watery grin, overwhelmed in the very best way over how he was finally opening up. “It’s the same for me.”
“I’m sorry it took nearly losing you for me to pull my head out of my ass.” He pulled me against his chest, burying his face into the crook of my shoulder. “I was so fucking worried about what could go wrong when I was deployed and what that would do to you, I didn’t stop to think about the fact that danger can be close to home, too. That it could be me struggling with the idea of something happening to you. When I realized my only regret today was the time we lost because I didn’t make you mine sooner, that put it all into perspective for me.”
His heartfelt confession erased my doubts over the speed of his change of heart. “I had similar thoughts when I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it out of this warehouse alive.”
“Fuck,” he groaned as he held me tighter.
“Ahem.” Huntley moved so quickly that I was completely blocked from sight, and he had his rifle back in his hands before my brain registered that the police had arrived. It took hours—and a trip to the station in the back of five squad cars since they wanted to keep all of us separated—to answer all of their questions about the robbery, my time as a hostage, Jack killing his partner, and Jack’s death. They were ready to let me go much sooner than Huntley, but I refused to leave without him. Not when I was the reason he was being interrogated in the first place. If the cops had decided to arrest him, I wanted to be there. Luckily, it hadn’t come down to that because the prosecutor agreed with the detectives about it being a clear-cut case of self-defense since my statement made it obvious that Jack was getting ready to attack.
When we walked out of the police station, Huntley’s SUV was parked at the front curb. The guys who’d come with him to rescue me were leaning against the side of the vehicle, and a big black pickup truck idled behind them with a man I didn’t recognize at the wheel. Huntley lifted his chin in greeting toward him before leading me toward the group by his SUV. He shook each guy’s hand before tucking me against his side. “Things went FUBAR before there was a chance for introductions. Cora, these are a few of my buddies, Cash, Stirling, and Deacon.”
“Nice to meet you all.” I flashed the men a watery smile before pressing my hand over my heart. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me tonight.”
Stirling winked at me, and a growl rumbled up Huntley’s chest as his friend said, “No thanks needed.”
Cash’s lips curved at the edges as he crossed his arms over his chest, but Deacon flat out grinned. “Trust me, getting to see how territorial Huntley is with you is more than sufficient payment.”
Huntley shouldered his way past his friends, tugging me along with him. “And on that note, we’re outta here.”
It was obvious fro
m their laughter that the guys weren’t offended by our exit, so I waited until we pulled away to say anything. “You didn’t have to rush your friends off like that. They risked their lives for me, too.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know them later.” He reached over to squeeze my thigh. “Right now, I need to have you all to myself.”
I laced my fingers through his and leaned back in my seat. “As long as our alone time includes a shower and some food, that sounds great to me.”
“You’ve got a deal,” he quickly agreed.
Less than ten minutes later, Huntley pulled the SUV into the garage of a small house in a community about a mile from the base. He didn’t waste any time in getting us inside and leading me through his bedroom to the bathroom. “I’ll cook while you shower.”
Before my brain had a chance to catch up with my mouth, I asked, “Don’t you want to take one with me?”
“More than I can say.” His hands fisted so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “But I’m trying to do the right thing here, gingersnap. You went through something scary as fuck today, and I don’t want to take advantage of the adrenaline high you’re experiencing right now. You need food, and I’m going to head into the kitchen because I don’t trust myself to stay in here with you for even another minute.”
“I need you more than a meal.”
My soft confession snapped Huntley’s control. He closed the distance between us, cupping my cheeks with his hands as he lowered his head to capture my lips. His hard-on pressed against my belly while he devoured my mouth, our tongues tangling as I clutched his shoulders for balance. When he started to pull back, I wasn’t ready for the kiss to end and whimpered in protest. “Don’t worry, gingersnap. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna put an end to this now. You want me? You’ve fucking got me.”
A thrill of triumph raced up my spine as he turned on the shower and began to help me out of my dirty clothes. When only my bra and panties were left, he quickly stripped down to his boxer briefs. Then he checked the temperature of the water before flicking open my bra clasp and tugging the straps down my arms. His eyes were full of heat as he palmed my breasts and brushed his lips over the hard peaks. “You’re so fucking gorgeous.”
Rescued by the SEAL Page 3