by Kaylea Cross
“I see him,” Shane reported. “To the left of your position.”
Ryan eased the barrel of his weapon to the left, consciously slowing his heart rate. Come on, asshole. Move.
A branch swayed in his night vision goggles. He aimed at it and fired.
“You winged him, but he’s not down,” Shane said. “I can’t get a clear shot, but he’s moving deeper into the woods now.”
Not for long.
With Cam backing him up, Ryan raced across the open space and into the trees, just in time to see someone stumbling ahead of them about forty yards in the distance. He and Cam both fired at the same time. The man grunted and toppled over, disappearing from view.
“He’s down and not moving,” Shane confirmed. “You’re clear.”
Ryan lowered his rifle, staying close on Cam’s heels as his teammate ran for the body. Breathing hard, covered in sweat, Ryan followed him to where the man’s corpse was sprawled out on the forest floor. One bullet had gone through the base of his neck, severing his spinal column. The other had hit him in the upper back.
The man was lying on his stomach, eyes open, no movement in his torso. Ryan knelt down, took off his left glove and checked the pulse, just to confirm. “Dead.” He rose to his feet and slipped his right hand into his pocket to give his aching arm a rest.
The pain eased a mere fraction. He rubbed his left hand over his face, suddenly exhausted. God, what a night. Now that this was over, all he wanted to do was get back to Candace and go lie down with her in their room, hold her as close as he could. Unfortunately it would be a while before he could do that.
MacKenzie came up a minute later and looked down at the body. “That’s Coventry.”
Ryan relaxed. So the immediate threat had been neutralized. Together they walked out of the trees to find Jackson and Wade guarding March.
“How’s that patch job holding up, Went?” Cam asked, sticking a penlight in his mouth to have a look.
“Not too well.”
“Nope,” Cam confirmed around the light, and started pulling fresh bandages out of the kit he’d brought with him from the helo.
Ryan hissed in a breath when his buddy peeled the bloody bandage away from the wound to put another QuikClot one over it. His eyes watered at the cruel burn. Dammit, that hurt. “You know what, Sandberg?”
One hand gripping their prisoner’s upper arm, Wade looked over at him.
“I’m never coming to another wedding of yours. Ever. So next time, don’t bother inviting me.”
“Yeah, and not Jackson or me either,” said Cam, pressing hard on the bandage to slow the bleeding. Ryan bit back a curse.
Wade grinned, his teeth flashing white in the pale moonlight. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m only doing this once then, huh?”
Yeah, a damn good thing. Especially since Erin was a total sweetheart.
Declan requested the pilots to move in to extract them and grabbed March by his bound wrists to shove him forward and down the hill. Jackson stepped closer to Ryan, aiming the beam of the flashlight at him.
A flurry of movement to the left caught his attention as Shane and Ruby appeared out of the trees. Shane hustled over to his brother and shoved March to his knees.
“Anyone got their phone handy so they can get this on video?” Declan asked, aiming a flashlight into the prisoner’s face.
“Right here,” Ryan answered, reaching his left hand into one of his vest pockets to fish out his phone. “Smile pretty,” he said to March, then hit record and nodded at Declan to begin.
“Is that him?” Ruby demanded in a pissed-off tone as she made her way up the hill. The years of smoking unfiltered cigarettes didn’t seem to have affected her lung capacity any. She was storming toward them at a pretty impressive clip for someone her age.
“Uh, yes ma’am,” Jackson answered when no one else did.
Ryan looked up from his phone’s screen as Ruby stormed straight for March. The man’s head came up and even from where he stood, Ryan could see the guy’s eyes widen in alarm.
“Whoa,” he said to Cam, who was still poking and prodding at the wound. Suddenly the pain in Ryan’s arm wasn’t so bad anymore. Now he was even more glad he’d brought his phone with him.
Not even bothering to fight the grin spreading across his face, Ryan stood back and kept recording, eagerly waiting for the show to start.
Chapter Thirteen
The moment she heard the rotors, Candace got up off the chair she’d been sitting on inside the lobby and ran out onto the north lawn. Maya, Dev, and Erin followed, along with the cops and Feds they’d already spoken to.
She held her breath as the outline of the helo came into view. They’d had zero updates since Ryan and the others had left, and she’d spent the past ninety-some-odd minutes worrying that something had gone wrong. They’d gone in there with no backup, and with her grandmother of all people in tow.
She winced as she shifted the sling Erin had made for her out of a bed sheet to minimize the strain on her shoulder blade, eyes glued to the helo. Was everyone okay? Did they get March?
The Blackhawk circled overhead then came in to land on the far side of the lawn. Moments later, shadowy shapes began to climb out of the interior. The first one was escorting another person. Someone wearing a hood.
The Feds near her took off running toward them, and she realized it was Declan MacKenzie with a prisoner. March?
She looked past them to the helo, recognizing her grandma’s petite form as someone led her across the lawn, her short white hair whipping in the rotor wash. The worry eased a little, but not completely as she searched for Ryan.
Two more men hopped out, then her heart did a painful somersault in her chest when Ryan’s tall, familiar form finally jumped out of the helo.
Without waiting, she raced for him. He ran toward her, caught her with his good arm and dragged her close, his hand locked around the back of her head as he pressed her cheek to his chest. “I’m good, baby, I’m okay.”
“You swear?” she asked, squeezing him for all she was worth with her right arm.
“I swear. How are you?” He pulled back to study her, his hand solid around the back of her neck.
“Relieved,” she answered, tipping her face up to kiss him, clutching at the back of his tac vest because she couldn’t make herself let him go yet. “They wouldn’t tell us shit about what was going on. Was that March?”
“Yeah.”
She looked over her shoulder to see the Feds hauling him off to a waiting vehicle, MacKenzie with them. She faced her husband. “Are you still bleeding?”
“Just a little.”
In other words, yes. “I want you to go to the hospital.”
Surprisingly, he didn’t argue. “Yeah, okay. Come on, let’s get you back inside where it’s warm.”
Holding tight to his hand, she walked back with him to the main building and stopped outside in front of the lobby. Her friends were all waiting there, hugging their significant others.
In the light from the lamp post behind them, Candace pulled back to scan Ryan for injuries, but aside from the blood on his right upper arm, he seemed okay. The awful knot in her stomach finally eased. “So it’s over?”
“Our part is,” he answered, bending to kiss her again. “The Feds will take it from here.”
Good. “Did Grandma go with you guys on the ground?”
“Just to the tunnel entrance, but yeah.” His eyes twinkled, his lips curving upward. “The best part of the whole night was when she went after March.”
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
Now he grinned. “She slapped him.”
Hardly able to believe what she’d just heard, Candace released Ryan from the one-armed hug she’d been giving him and gaped up at him in astonishment. In the soft light his eyes twinkled and she couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.
“She slapped him? Like, literally slapped him?” Getting shot freaking hurt, so she was glad to have a dis
traction until Jackson brought the car around to take them to the hospital.
“Damn near smacked his face right off,” he said with pride, the pain and fatigue easing from his features as he grinned. “I got it on video. Gotta delete it once I show it to you though, for legal reasons. Don’t want this being used as evidence.” Looking enormously pleased with himself, he pulled his phone out of his vest pocket, wincing as the motion pulled at his wound.
“Careful, you’re gonna undo all of Cam’s work,” she admonished.
“Yeah, I think I’m done using my right arm for a bit,” he agreed, holding up the phone in his left hand.
“I wanna see,” Maya said, sidling up behind them to put her hands on Candace’s waist.
“Me too.” Dev and Erin came over to peer around either of her shoulders, all of them standing huddled together in the chilly fall night air.
She was grateful to have her friends around her. While Ryan and the guys had been out hunting the shooters, her girls had done everything humanly possible to take care of her and distract her from the pain and worry. They’d all given statements to the police and FBI agents who had responded to the attack, so at least that part was done.
She slid her right arm around Ryan’s waist and leaned into his solid build. Even though she hated hospitals and wasn’t looking forward to being poked and prodded anymore tonight, at least she’d get a reprieve from this whole situation for a little while, and get some quiet time with him on the way there and back.
The video finally loaded and Ryan angled the phone for them all to see, then hit play. He’d filmed it from a ways back, so it was a little grainy, and the lighting wasn’t great. But it was definitely Eric March who knelt before the MacKenzie brothers with his hands bound behind his back, one eye swollen shut and blood dripping from his nose.
Candace’s lips compressed. Asshole.
“Is that him?” her grandmother’s voice snapped out, somewhere off screen.
Uh oh. She recognized that tone. And it meant trouble for whoever was about to be on the receiving end of her temper. She bit her lip in anticipation, dying to see what happened next, the burning and throbbing beneath her left shoulder blade seeming a little more tolerable now.
“Uh, yes ma’am,” Jackson responded, from somewhere near Ryan.
A second later, Ruby Bradford came into view. Candace put her right hand over her mouth to smother a laugh at the sight of her tiny grandmother, dressed in a ballistic vest and a sweat suit ten sizes too big for her that someone must have loaned her, because earlier she’d been wearing just a silk kimono.
On screen she stalked her way over to March, her expression livid. Candace had been the target of that look a couple times when she was a kid when she’d gotten lippy or stepped too far out of line, and had learned to fear it.
March must have realized he was in deep shit too, because he lifted his head and blinked up at her in astonishment as she stopped and stood glowering down at him, hands fisted at her sides.
“You bastard! Burning my resort and then shooting my granddaughter and her husband? Well, you picked the wrong damn target, you pathetic, sniveling, cowardly son of a traitorous bitch!”
Behind March, both MacKenzie brothers grinned. A split second later her grandma reared one arm back, letting out a mighty grunt as she swung her open palm across March’s left cheek with a resounding crack that snapped his face around.
Candace gasped and March jerked his head back in shock. “What the fuck?”
Even from the distance Ryan had filmed at, Candace could see her grandmother’s eyes bug out at his language. Ruby Bradford swore all the time, but someone using that kind of language in front of her was a definite no-no.
“You watch your filthy mouth, criminal!” She backhanded him across the other cheek, and, apparently incensed now, kept on slapping him. Four, five, six mighty blows while March tried to dodge the strikes, his only defense curling into himself before Shane MacKenzie finally stepped in and grabbed her around the waist from behind, a giant smirk on his face.
Her grandma struggled in his grip, still yelling threats at March, but even as Shane picked her up off the ground to carry her out of range, she twisted and lashed out with a booted foot, catching March in the jaw.
His head snapped back and he shouted in pain before yelling at Declan. “God dammit, get that crazy old lady the fuck away from me!”
Whatever Declan said was drowned out by her grandmother’s shouted threats and Ryan’s rolling laughter. The video ended and Candace looked up at her husband to see a huge grin on his face as he wiped away tears of mirth with the back of his left hand.
“Fucking awesome.” He laughed again and Candace couldn’t help but join in, which was messed up, considering they’d both been shot and were in more pain than either one of them wanted to admit.
“Wow, I’ve never seen her like that. She was seriously pissed off,” Candace murmured, glad for the lightened mood the video had brought. She gasped as an idea occurred to her. “We gotta send that to my dad!”
“Sorry, no can do. That was a one-time viewing opportunity,” he said, and deleted it. “She sprained her wrist on that third slap, but still kept on going. Jackson wrapped it up for her on the flight back. We had to keep her separated from March, just in case, but even with him hooded and bound at the front of the aircraft she kept glaring holes at him all the way back.”
That was Grandma. She could hold a grudge like nobody’s business, too. And once someone won her love and loyalty, those emotions were just as fierce as her temper.
Smiling fondly, Candace looked around. “Where is she, anyway?” Last time Candace had seen her grandma, she’d been talking to Declan MacKenzie.
“In the bar. MacKenzie boys are buying her the first of what I’m sure will be several rounds of drinks, and once this story gets out, I doubt she’ll ever have to buy any booze or cigarettes of her own ever again. She’s a fucking legend now.” He shook his head. “I gained a whole new level of respect and fear of her tonight. I’ve never heard language like that come from a woman her age’s mouth before.” Another grin. “It was epic.”
Maya squeezed her right shoulder. “Your grandma really is the shit, Ace,” she said, laughing.
“Yeah. She totally is.” She turned to Ryan. “Can we get going to the hospital now?” She hated hospitals and wasn’t looking forward to what would happen there but she knew her husband, and wouldn’t accept that he was “fine” until a doctor said so.
“Yeah.” He caught her right hand and tugged her close for a hard kiss, a smile pulling at his full lips. “You’re the shit too, by the way,” he murmured, his voice full of admiration.
She gave him a saucy grin just as headlights swung around the end of the circular roundabout in the driveway, signaling Jackson’s arrival. “Thanks. It’s genetic.”
As predicted, the hospital visit was no fun at all. They updated her tetanus shot and gave her antibiotics to take, then re-bandaged Erin’s handiwork and gave her some mild painkillers that she wasn’t too proud to swallow.
X-rays had shown she had no fractures but Ryan had a hairline one in his upper right humerus, and he’d also suffered some minor radial nerve damage. The doctors had no way of predicting whether it was permanent, or to what extent it would affect his ability to perform his job. They’d know more once the swelling went down and he healed up.
“How you holding up, sweetheart?”
She looked up from her seat outside the x-ray room as Ryan walked down the linoleum hallway toward her, his right arm immobilized in a sling. “Okay so far. You?”
He made a face and lowered himself into the chair beside her. “Tonight wasn’t the most fun I ever had.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” she agreed, leaning sideways to rest her head on his uninjured shoulder.
He tucked his heavy arm around her waist, careful not to bump her left side, and kissed the top of her head. They were alone here in the hallway, with only the occasional nurse or tech
walking past. “You really okay?” he murmured.
She wasn’t going to lie. “Tonight definitely stirred up a lot of stuff for me.”
He made a soft sound of reassurance and tightened his hand around her waist. “I’ll bet.”
It had been on her mind all night. “It confirmed my decision to leave the force, that’s for sure.” She was done with guns and violence and anything remotely resembling combat. “And I hated being left behind while you went on the op. I felt helpless, was worried sick about you the whole time you were gone.”
“I was fine,” he murmured against the top of her head. “I had Cam, Jackson, and Wade there to watch my back, along with MacKenzie.”
“I don’t care who you were with, I was still worried. I realized tonight that it’s way easier on me when I don’t know the specifics of what’s going on when you go out on an op.”
She paused for a moment, considering her next words carefully. “The one good thing about tonight’s situation was that it brought certain things about my life into sudden, crystal clarity.” She lifted her head from his shoulder and stared into his eyes. “You’re my number one priority. No question. Sometimes I feel like I come in last in your life, though, and I need to feel like I matter to you more than your job or country does.”
Shock filled his expression. “Sweetheart, of course I love you more than my job or my country. Hell, you’re my motivation when I’m out there on a mission.” He sounded totally bewildered, as though her viewpoint had come out of left field. “When things get tough, I think of you and it makes all the shit that happens bearable.”
That made her smile. “You do?”
“Hell, yes.”
She curled into him more, closed her eyes, and breathed in his comforting scent. “I love you.” She swallowed and dug down for the courage to say her worst fear aloud. “I couldn’t take it if I lost you.”