She gripped his hand where it rested against her tummy and looked up at him. “I like your friends.”
Grace and Beth looked at one another. “We better go get the girls,” Beth said to Grace.
“That would be much appreciated,” Jack said in a soft drawl.
Finn saw Drake turn and zero in on them. “Oh fuck, Drake’s headed this way. Maybe you should go upstairs with Beth and Grace.”
“Don’t be silly.”
Drake came over and pulled Angie out of Finn’s arms, and pulled her into a gentle hug before Finn had a chance to warn him to be careful. “Angela Donatelli, you are a hero, you got this man to pull the stick out of his ass. We, the members of Midnight Delta, will be forever grateful.”
“Don’t be an asshole,” Angie pushed out of Drake’s arms. “Finn is a great guy, and he did not have a stick up his ass. If you are actually a friend of his, you wouldn’t talk shit about him.” She stood toe to toe with the big man, spitting like a kitten against a Rottweiler.
“Hey, I didn’t mean anything bad by it. I’m just saying Finn is doing better since meeting you. You’ve been a good influence on him.”
Angie was slightly mollified by that statement. “Well okay then.” Seeing her in her capris and a short sleeved blue shirt, with her abundant curls, and securely planted in his corner, was making him hot and bothered. Drake looked over the top of Angie’s head and pointedly at his crotch and grinned. Finn flipped him the bird.
“Angie, I want to welcome you to the family.”
“The family?”
“Midnight Delta. We’re a family. You mean a lot to Finn. Wherever this goes, you are always going to special to us, and if you ever need anything, you just call us.”
Angie’s head whipped around to look at Finn. “Is he for real?”
“He’s dead serious.”
“You do this for all your girlfriends?”
“You’re a hell of a lot more than my girlfriend.” She stared at him, her brown eyes searching his. Just as she was about to ask another question the girls came down the stairs.
***
Did Finn really mean what she thought he meant? Her deepest dream had always been for a man like Finn to want her. Somebody strong and loving that she could depend on to return her love and not abandon her. Was it possible Finn Crandall would finally be the person who would love her unconditionally?
“Hello, Mr. Crandall.” She watched as Finn blanched and sweat formed on his brow.
Angie and Finn turned to see the pretty girl who stood next to Grace. She couldn’t be more than eighteen.
Angie saw Finn swallow and his mouth open, but no words came out. Drake spoke, “Hi Penny. You’re looking good.”
“Thank you, Drake.” She gave a broad grin and picked at the pink blouse on top of her jeans. “Grace bought this for me.”
“Hello, Penelope,” Finn finally croaked out. Angie sidled up beside him and wrapped an arm around him. He was soaked with sweat and trembling. This must be the girl from the farmhouse.
Penelope looked sideways at Grace, who nodded at her. She looked at Finn. “I wanted to say thank you.”
“For what? I hurt you,” he said harshly.
She looked at him quizzically. “You didn’t. You saved me.”
Finn’s trembling increased. “I didn’t. I hurt you. I held you down.” Grace gasped. Drake walked around, and stood on the other side of Finn, and put a supportive hand on his shoulder.
“What are you talking about, buddy?”
“When they poured hot sauce down her throat, I held her down,” he said in an anguished voice.
Penelope set her hand on his chest. “No, you saved me. Those men were going to rape me. You stopped them. You saved me, Mr. Crandall. You saved me.”
“No! I hurt you.” Angie watched in horror and relief as tears started to fall down his face.
Penelope was not put off by his display of emotion, she patted his chest. “No, you saved me,” she argued. “You protected me.”
“I held you down.”
“You made sure all of us were safe,” she reassured him. “You did the right things.”
Drake’s arm snaked around Finn’s waist, and they were both supporting Finn.
“I should have stopped them.” Angie ached for him, it was clear this had been killing him.
“You would have blown the mission, Finn,” Drake said.
“No!” He shouted. “I should have figured out a way.”
“You kept us safe. I am alive. I am well. I am happy today, because of you. I thank you, Mr. Crandall.” Finn crumpled. Drake took all of his weight, but Angie was there to comfort him. Penelope seemed to understand, she took a step backward and she and Grace walked away.
“I don’t understand.”
Angie jerked her head to a chair in the corner of the room. Drake helped guide Finn to the chair. Peripherally she saw Jack and his father getting all of the girl’s bags outside to the vehicles. As soon as Finn was settled into the chair, she squatted in front of him, but he clasped her wrist and pulled her into his lap.
He was beginning to get color back into his face.
“You must be doing better if you have the good sense to cuddle with this beauty.”
“Fuck off, Drake, and go help load the car.” Finn sighed.
“You’re not going to freak out or anything, are you?”
Angie glared at the big man. Apparently, he had no sense whatsoever.
“Fuck off, Drake. Any freak-outs will be directed solely at you.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Drake sauntered off.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Finn said as he settled Angie more comfortably in his arms.
“Great, I get to have a panic attack in a parking garage, but you can’t lose it in front of me? In that case, this is never going to work.” Angie didn’t really mean it. She was just trying to make a point.
Finn realized what she was doing because he gave a slight smile. “I can’t believe she has forgiven me,” Finn said in amazement.
“She hasn’t. She said there wasn’t anything to forgive. There’s a difference.” Angie cupped his cheek and delivered the softest kiss she could to his lips. She tasted salt, and her heart ached for him. All the pain he had stored up; all the anger he had been directing at himself was unimaginable.
“There was another girl. Her name was Liliya. I don’t think she was even sixteen. She offered to go down on me if I would just let her go. I felt like a monster,” he told her as his voice shook. She’d never seen his eyes so dark.
“Is she safe now?”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “She’s back home now.”
“You know you did nothing wrong, don’t you?”
“Sometimes my head does, but my heart hasn’t gotten the message.” Angie nodded. It was the same with her cousin Bruno when he’d gotten back from Iraq. And not just with him. It was the same with her. She rationally knew her parents loved her, but her heart still hurt when they didn’t come and see her in a shooting tournament because they were off playing bridge.
“I wish I could wave a magic wand and make you see that all of this isn’t all your fault. I love you, Finn Crandall. You’re the best man I have ever met. Your team loves and respects you because you’re worthy. Even that oaf, Drake, thinks the world of you, you can tell. It’s because you’re a good man, and you’re worthy.” She hesitated.
“Lady, just say it.”
“I think you need some help.”
He sighed. “I think I do too. This all swirls around like a tornado, and I can’t seem to get past it. It hurts so badly. You seem to keep it at bay, but asking you to be my security blanket isn’t fair to you.”
This time, she forced herself up so she was looking directly at him. “I’ll be your security blanket for as long as you need me. You’ve become my blanket too.”
“Oh, Angie.”
“Let’s get a move on. Westward Ho,” Drake called from the doorway.<
br />
“I hate him,” Finn said.
“No you don’t, you love him.”
“Nope, I hove him. It’s a combination of hate and love.”
“I thought I would die when he was swearing at Grace.” Angie giggled.
“Oh, he totally regretted it afterwards, I could tell. But he gets on a roll, and his mouth takes over his brain. He’ll be sending her flowers, mark my words.”
Angie giggled again.
“Seriously, move your asses,” Drake yelled.
***
As soon as they got outside, Lou was waiting for them, his face ashen. He motioned them away from the vehicles and held out his cell phone.
“I hadn’t checked my messages since the explosion. This is all my fault.”
“Pops, what is it?” Angie demanded.
“Listen.” He put his phone on speaker and pressed play.
Give us Dasha, if you don’t, the Preston Ranch is next.
“Jack!” Finn yelled.
Jack came at a run along with his brother and father.
Lou played the message again.
“Over my dead body.” Richard Preston said.
“I’m not going to Texoma,” Jack said.
“Of course,” Finn agreed.
“David, fire up the helicopter. Beth and your mother are out of here now. No packing purses only. They’re going to the condo in Dallas.” Richard said.
David ran to the house.
“Dad, what about you? You’re going to leave too, aren’t you?” Jack asked.
“Not a chance in hell. Were you planning to?”
“No, Mom and Beth can go with David, I was hoping you would too,” Jack said. His father just looked at him. “Fine, Jack relented. We’ll both stay here, there’s not a fucking chance in hell they’re going to blow up this ranch.”
“That’s my boy.” The men smiled at one another, in perfect accord.
Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Drake pocketing his phone.
“Who did you call?”
“Mason.”
“What for?”
“If Jack isn’t going with us to Texoma, I want another person on our six.” Finn nodded in agreement.
He turned to Angie and Lou. “Okay, let’s get going.”
Chapter Thirteen
“What the fuck kind of place is this? It looks like some kind of compound. Does he have a bunch of sister wives?”
“Goddammit Drake, do you ever not say the first thing that pops into your head?” Finn asked as he hit his head on the steering wheel.
“What’s a sister wife?” Penelope asked from the backseat.
“Why don’t you answer that question, Drake.”
“Never mind, I was talking out my ass, Penny.”
Finn made it through the fence topped with barbed wire.
“Shit, is that a guard tower?” Drake asked.
“Looks like.” Finn peered at the people in the backseat. He caught Angie’s eye. She raised an eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders. As they made it up the drive, they saw smaller cabins and then a huge log cabin that looked like something out of Architectural Digest.
“Damn, just how much money does this dude have?” Drake asked no one in particular.
A big man with auburn hair came out onto the front steps and watched them come up the driveway. He did not look very welcoming. Since Finn was driving the lead Hummer, he decided to get out first and talk to Campbell.
“Hello, thanks for agreeing to let us stay at your place.”
“It sounds like we might eventually have a war on our hands.” Hard amber eyes assessed Finn.
“I think it’s possible.”
“I look forward to it. How many noncombatants do we have?”
“Four, but we have two marines from the Vietnam era, they are strong in spirit, I’m not sure how strong in body they will be.”
“How many men?”
“We have two SEALs right now. My woman is trained, she’ll be an asset. My lieutenant will be here shortly.”
“Good. Let’s get the innocents into the main house ASAP, then we can have a briefing. Anyone who has been a marine will always be a marine.” Finn nodded, he liked the man.
Finn and Laird jogged down the stairs and helped unload the vehicles. They made quick work of getting the girls into their rooms upstairs.
“Penelope, can you and the girls start dinner,” Angie asked.
“Yes.”
“Let me show you where everything is,” Laird said as he started towards the kitchen. Penelope put her hand on his arm.
“If it is a kitchen, we can manage,” she assured him.
He assessed her, then nodded. “Just give me a shout if you need anything.” He pointed to a room. “We’ll be in my office.” He motioned for the others to follow him. Finn put his hand on the small of Angie’s back and guided her toward the office.
“Mason is going to be here in twenty minutes,” Drake said, looking at his watch. “Campbell, are you one of those survivalists?”
“I bought this place from one of those survivalists. It suits my needs. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” There was a high pitched beep that sounded.
“I guess your man has arrived sooner than you thought.” Laird went behind his desk to a computer and tapped in a code. A huge monitor appeared on the wall. They could clearly see a car with Mason in the driver’s seat. “I can activate the gate from the computer, the panel at the door, or from my watch. I’ll get you all the codes.” He clicked in a code and the gates opened.
“I’ll go meet Mason and bring him in,” Finn said.
“Did they have like sister wives and shit?” Drake asked as he left the room. He opened the door as Mason was getting ready to knock. God, it was good to see his boss. Mason looked tired and grim.
“Dammit, Finn, I was hoping to see you under better circumstances.”
“So was I.”
Mason gave a half smile. “You’re looking better than when I last saw you, though. We’ve missed you.” Mason put both hands on Finn’s shoulders and looked into his eyes. “I’ve missed you. Are you doing okay?”
“It gets better every day, but no, I’m not there yet.”
“Better is good. Better is damn good.” The tension around Mason’s eyes eased. “What kind of place did Declan manage to find for us? And where is everybody?”
“The girls are making dinner. Angie and the men are in Laird’s office. Before we go in there, I wanted to let you know I have an idea I want to run by the team. It might seem out there.” He hated that he was even the slightest bit hesitant.
“If you have an idea, then I sure as fuck want to hear it,” Mason said decisively.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Finn pushed the office door open, and Laird turned from the screen where he was pointing out the layout of the compound.
“Mason Gault. I’ve heard about you. It’s a pleasure.”
“Laird Campbell. The same.” Mason moved forward and shook Laird’s hand. “You worked with our Captain Hale on a mission. He mentioned you a couple of times in passing.”
“Telling tales out of school, huh? Well, he sang your team’s praises. When Declan called, I was happy to help out.”
Mason frowned. “Yeah, well I’m not too happy with Declan at the moment.”
“It ebbs and flows with him. We’re just going over the footprint of the compound. Declan said he will have the general’s private number tonight.”
“What are you talking about?” Mason asked.
“That’s part of the plan I was talking about,” Finn said.
Everybody turned to look at him. “The general has been finding us, but it’s time for us to set up the trap.”
“You’re thinking here. This place would be a good spot,” Laird said thoughtfully.
“How would you get him to come to this place, just say, ‘hey, here we are’?” Drake asked sarcastically.
“Shut it down, Avery,” Mason clipped out. “
Continue,” he said to Finn.
“I’m not quite sure. We get them to figure out our location. Either through the back and forth communication when we call the general, or when they demand to see Dasha. Which you know they will.”
“Shit, that could work,” Drake said excitedly.
“We need to call Clint. He needs to figure out how to do this, so it doesn’t look like we’re leaving breadcrumbs. It needs to look like we were trying to hide our location,” Mason said thoughtfully.
Finn liked this more and more. Angie stepped over to him and squeezed his hand. He returned the squeeze and caught Mason’s glance. Nothing ever escaped Mason’s notice.
***
Declan’s call came two hours after a subdued dinner. Between Lou’s sorrow over losing his ranch and Dasha’s torment about her baby, even Drake couldn’t raise the energy.
Laird motioned for the team to meet him in his office while the girls cleaned up. “Hey everyone, I have Clint on the line. We’ve been discussing how we can dink with the general’s phone, e-mail, or Skype.” Declan’s distinctive voice came through the phone.
“Do you have the phone number we need?” Mason asked.
“Yes. I gave Vlad’s number to Clint. He should be able to call it and at least track it to the nearest cell phone tower unless he has it encrypted, which is very well possible.”
“Thank you, McAllister,” Mason said.
“You’re welcome. I’m going to have my phone on me for the next two days, I’ll answer if any of you call.”
“I appreciate it,” Mason responded.
“He hung up,” Clint said.
“Hey Clint, it’s Finn. I want to run an idea by you. Is there any way we can arrange it so these bastards can track us here?”
“You want them to come to you? You want to bait a trap, is that it?” Clint asked.
“Do you have a plan for the girls?” Mason asked.
“There’s a safe room. Hell, it’s not a room, it takes up half of the basement,” Drake explained.
“Are we good now?” Clint asked over the phone.
“Yep,” Finn answered. “And yes, in answer to your question. We want to bait a trap. How do we do it?”
“We can’t do it by the phone call. We would have to do it via the internet. Do you think you could get him to do some kind of Skype call or e-mail with you?”
Her Fierce SEAL: Midnight Delta Book 6 Page 17