Storm (Special Forces: Operation Alpha): A Linear Tactical Series Novel

by Janie Crouch

  She couldn’t get to her kids.

  He turned in time to see Tanner and the kids get pulled into the river’s other fork and out of their sight.

  God damn it.

  Marilyn pushed on the raft again. “Noah, we have to get to them! Help me!”

  “No.” All three women stared at him as he shook his head. “We can’t get to them that way. There’s no way we can paddle upstream like that. It would take us hours, if we even made it at all.”

  Barb and Francis jumped out onto the shore, huddling together. Marilyn kept pushing on the boat.

  Noah stepped over to her and gently grabbed her shoulders to stop her efforts. “Sweetheart, I promise, if it could be done, I would do it. I swear to you. We have to help them another way.”

  She stopped and looked up at him, her big hazel eyes drowning in terror. “Noah, they—”

  He kept his hands on her shoulders, bending his knees so he was right at her height. “They all had life jackets on. The water on that side of the fork isn’t as rapid. I know my brother. Tanner will get them to land.”

  Or die trying.

  Please God, don’t let that be the case. Not the kids, and not his brother or his fiancée a few days before their wedding.

  Marilyn wasn’t at all appeased. “The kids aren’t good swimmers. The water is so cold. What if… Oh God. What if…”

  Her breathing was so rapid that he knew she wasn’t far from a breakdown. He needed to get her focused.

  “Hey.” He pulled her against his chest for a quick, rough hug, kissing her forehead, then pushed her back so they were eye to eye again. “Listen to me. We’re not going to assume the worst. Until we know otherwise, we work on the assumption that the kids and Bree and Tanner are okay.” He gave her a gentle shake, causing her breath to catch. Good. “We focus on the problem, gorgeous. Falling apart helps nobody. I need you to keep it together.”

  She swallowed and nodded. “You’re right. I-I’m sorry. How can we get to them? How can we help them?”

  He kissed her forehead again. “That’s my girl. We need to pull the raft the rest of the way on land.”

  “It’s not the fastest way to get to them?”

  “No, there’s a pretty rocky ravine a few miles down. The rapids would make it impossible to stop.”

  Marilyn’s face lost the rest of its color. “Are they in that?”

  “No. They won’t be in that.”

  Or if they were, it would be bodies, not conscious people.

  Francis and Barb came over and the four of them pulled the raft the rest of the way out. He scrubbed a hand down his face at the contents of their raft. Most of the food and supplies had gone with Tanner since he had the much lighter load of people.

  The emergency radio had gone with him too, and was now probably on the bottom of the river. But the truth was, even if someone could call for a chopper now, it wouldn’t get here in time to help if it was the worst-case scenario.

  If Tanner hadn’t gotten Bree and the kids out of the water, a chopper wouldn’t be performing a search and rescue, it would be performing a body recovery search.

  Now Noah was the one who had to stay focused on the positive.

  He and the women began taking out what few supplies they had in their raft.

  “What’s the best way to get to them if it’s not the raft?” Marilyn asked. “They might need help. Somebody could’ve gotten hurt getting out of the water.”

  She wasn’t going to like his answer.

  “The fastest way to get to them will be for me to run ahead. There’s a bridge a few miles down, I can get to it much faster by myself. Once I cross, I’ll work my way back up.”

  Mutiny was etched all over Marilyn’s face at the thought of being left behind. She wanted to get to her kids.

  “I ran cross country in high school.”

  He met her gaze straight on. He wouldn’t take this choice from her, but she needed to know the facts. “We’ll lose at least a couple of hours, maybe more, if you come with me. You’re getting stronger every day, gorgeous, and I’m glad you have experience running, but I know these woods, and the Army taught me how to push for speed in situations similar to this. Let me get to them as fast as I can. You can follow up behind me.”

  Her hands clenched into fists. “Damn shit fuck.”

  He smiled at her. “Spoken like a mom who doesn’t have much practice cursing.” He reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll get to them. Get them any help they need. Time may be of the essence.”

  Her teeth were still gritted together. “Okay. We’ll be coming up behind you.”

  They packed him a small backpack with the few medical supplies they found and some meal bars. There wasn’t much else that would help. Noah explained the path—basically they’d be paralleling the river and the bridge they would come to—then with a short, hard kiss on her lips, he took off.

  He pushed himself hard, almost a little reckless. He’d told Marilyn not to assume the worst, and he didn’t want her to, but he also knew the situation was grim. The water where they’d gone in wasn’t the roughest, but Sam and especially little Eva were so small…

  He banished the thoughts from his head and pushed himself harder. Even at this speed it would still take him hours to get to them, but every minute counted, and he wasn’t going to let physical discomfort stop him from getting to those kids.

  He had no idea what the hell had happened to that raft. It definitely wasn’t normal. Those rafts were designed to withstand class-V rapids, running into rocks, branches, all sorts of objects. It was especially pressurized where you could hardly stab it with a knife to puncture it.

  There was nothing in the water where Tanner’s raft had been that should’ve caused that sort of cataclysmic damage.

  But why it had happened didn’t change the situation. He prayed with every step that they’d made it to shore safely.

  He’d been gone from Marilyn for almost forty-five minutes when a flare caught his attention from Tanner’s side of the river. Noah stopped, waiting, hoping…

  A second flare.

  Noah laughed out loud, lowering his hands to his knees so he could catch his breath.

  They were okay. Two flares meant they were alive and didn’t need assistance. No injuries. It had been their family’s long-standing code.

  They were okay.

  Relief flooded Noah and he had to reach up and rub his heart. Like he’d told Marilyn, he’d been hoping for the best, but…

  They were okay. Those kids, who were coming to mean so much to him, were safe. Tanner and Bree were still going to make it to their wedding.

  Noah turned back the way he’d come. The best use of his time and energy now would be getting back to Marilyn and explaining the situation. Tomorrow Tanner would work their way to the suspension bridge, the first place Noah and Marilyn would be able to cross. It was the obvious rendezvous spot.

  He began running back toward Marilyn, not quite as fast as he’d been going when trying to get to Tanner, but still pushing hard. He wanted to let the mother hen know her chickies were safe.

  Marilyn stopped and stared at the two flares that lit up the sky one after the other.

  “That had to come from them, right?” Barb asked. “It’s definitely on the other side of the river.”

  “Yes,” Marilyn whispered, trying not to let panic swallow her whole, a constant battle since she’d seen her children hurled into the cold river. “I don’t know what it means.”

  Two flares…like, twice the emergency, everybody hurry up and get to us?

  Francis reached over and squeezed Marilyn’s hand. “It at least means someone is alive.”

  Marilyn pressed her lips together and nodded. She didn’t know either of the women well. They had joined New Journeys in the last few weeks, arriving together, having talked each other into leaving their abusive situations together. She’d been encouraged to see the bond between them. Generally speaking, the more support a woman had, the more l
ikely she would not return to the abuse she’d fled in the first place. These two were close friends and keeping each other on track.

  “Yeah, that’s true.” Someone was alive. But were two flares a call for help?

  She should’ve gone with Noah. No, that would’ve helped her, but wouldn’t have helped the kids. He would get to them faster.

  She had to assume good things, like he told her. Flares meant life.

  Please God, all their lives.

  She walked faster.

  The last thing she expected as they rounded a boulder by the river was to find Noah barreling back toward them.

  She ran to meet him. “What?”

  “Two flares mean they’re safe.” His breath sawed in and out of his chest, and she almost couldn’t understand his words.

  But she could definitely understand the huge smile on his face.

  “Safe?”

  He nodded. “Two flares… Sign… Safe.” He slipped his backpack off and sat down on a rock, still breathing heavily. Marilyn handed him a canteen so he could drink water.

  They were safe. Eva and Sam were safe.

  “You’re sure?”

  Nodding, he reached out and grabbed her hand. “One flare is to let someone know where you are. Two is a signal there are no injuries or life-threatening problems.”

  She squeezed his hand, finally able to truly breathe for the first time since she’d watched them fall. Francis and Barb murmured prayers of thanks.

  Noah took another gulp of water, slumping against the rock. Not only had he sprinted to try to get to her children and help them, he’d then run back to her because he’d known how worried she was.

  This time she leaned down and kissed his forehead, like he’d done to her so many times, not caring at all that it was sweaty. “Thank you.”

  He caught her hand and brought her fingers to his lips. “They’re safe.” She realized how much that meant to him, too.

  Noah rested for a few more minutes before they began walking again. They wouldn’t be able to meet up until tomorrow but knew they could make some headway today. As the sun got low in the sky, Noah had them stop.

  “Can’t we keep going? We can get another hour in.”

  “No, it doesn’t make sense to risk a sprained ankle as it gets dark. Let’s make camp here and get an early start in the morning.”

  He was right, but Marilyn didn’t like it. Her mother’s heart just wanted to get to her kids. But she nodded.

  Noah built a fire and they set up the one two-man tent that had been with them in their raft, along with three sleeping bags. Barb and Francis didn’t argue when Noah and Marilyn told them to take the tent. This camping trip had already been much more excitement than they’d been expecting. They all ate a meal bar, then the other women told them goodnight.

  Noah handed Marilyn the sleeping bag.

  “Do you want to share or take turns or something? I don’t want you to get cold.” Even in May, the weather in Colorado could be cold at night.

  “I’ll sleep near you, but you keep the bag. My size and muscle mass definitely give me the advantage when it comes to colder temperatures. With the fire and my jacket, I’ll be fine.”

  They laid out next to each other, watching the fire crackle in the darkness.

  “What do you think the kids are doing right now?” She couldn’t stand the thought of them cold and scared.

  “Honestly, probably the same thing we are. Tanner would’ve built them a fire to get them warm. Between the hike today and their river swim, they’re probably pretty worn out. I’d be surprised if they’re not already asleep so they can make an early start to meet us tomorrow.”

  “Do you really think that’s true?”

  He reached an arm around her and pulled her, sleeping bag and all, against his chest. “Yes. I’m never going to lie to you, gorgeous. I respect you too much for that.”

  She huddled against him, trying to fan as much of the sleeping bag over him as possible. She fell asleep knowing he wouldn’t let anything hurt her in the darkness.

  17

  Noah promised himself that the next time Marilyn spent the night in his arms they would wake up tired for a much different reason than this one.

  She hadn’t slept much, and he didn’t blame her. She needed to see for herself that the kids were unharmed. Being as close as they were all night, he’d been aware each time she’d woken from her light sleep—the moment of tension as she realized where she was and what was going on. He’d tried to soothe her as much as possible, but there was only so much he could do.

  As the sun came up, he slipped away from her to search the nearby area to supplement the very limited food supply they had left. He found some curly dock and a few small wild strawberries. The edible leaves and fruit would help, but they weren’t much.

  Definitely wouldn’t be like yesterday’s breakfast, with coffee the way he liked it, thanks to Marilyn.

  They didn’t talk much back at camp as they ate the measly breakfast and packed up their gear to get going.

  “Bad news for us is good news for the kids and Bree and Tanner,” he said as they got started not long after the sun was up.

  “How so?” Marilyn asked.

  “They’ll head for the suspension bridge, knowing that’s where we’ll come to meet them. It’s a much shorter and more direct route for them than it is for us.”

  “I’d rather us have to walk the miles than them.” She scratched the side of her neck, a sign he knew meant she was nervous.

  Barb and Francis both murmured their agreement about taking on the miles. They’d been troupers, too.

  “Let’s get going. I’ll be surprised if they’re not waiting for us.”

  That thought brightened her whole face.

  They moved much more slowly than Noah’s breakneck pace yesterday, but still faster than any of the women—especially Francis and Barb, who were older and heavier—were used to. Noah tried to balance out the needs of everyone—getting Marilyn to her kids as quickly as possible but recognizing that they could only push so hard.

  The slower pace also gave him time to think more about what had happened with the raft. How it should never have collapsed like that. The more he thought about it, the more he didn’t think this was an accident or malfunction at all.

  Jared.

  But how…?

  He stopped in his tracks.

  “What’s wrong?” Marilyn immediately asked.

  They’d only been going an hour. He wished he’d thought of this back at the camp, but they weren’t far enough that he couldn’t circle back then catch up with the women before they made it to the bridge.

  “I need to go back to the raft.”

  “Did we forget something?” Francis asked.

  “No.” Shit. He didn’t want to start worrying anybody if there was nothing to his theory. “There’s a…piece of the raft I need for when we get to Tanner and the kids.”

  Barb and Francis accepted this at face value while Marilyn was much more skeptical. It was all over her face.

  He reached over and squeezed her arm. “It might be nothing, but it might help us know what happened. You keep making progress. I’ll loop and be back before you make it to the bridge.”

  She pursed her lips. He wanted to kiss them back into being soft and open. “You’ll tell me what’s going on when you get back? Even if it’s just a theory?”

  “Yes. I just don’t want to lose time.”

  She grabbed his hand and squeezed his fingers. “Go. We’ll see you when you catch up.”

  He nodded, then took off in the opposite direction, tightening his backpack so it didn’t bounce as he ran. This might all be a waste of time and energy, but he had to know.

  He kept a steady pace in the miles back to where they’d banked the raft, not pushing full out like yesterday, but enough to have him breathing hard and thankful that he’d kept himself in good cardio shape since getting out of the Army.

  When he reached the raft,
he found a large branch so he could wedge it under and lift the front. It only took him a couple of minutes to find what he’d been afraid he was going to find—a box attached to the bottom front of the raft.

  He wedged himself under the craft to get a better look. He couldn’t see it in detail but could see enough to know what it was.

  A tiny explosive device on a timer. It didn’t seem to have enough gusto to hurt or kill anyone, just enough to puncture the raft.

  Someone—one guess who—had been trying to manipulate the crafts, probably so both ended up on that other fork. But the tiny explosive device on Noah’s raft had somehow malfunctioned.

  Herding the rafts to the other side of the river had been done for a reason. Because that’s where Ellis wanted them.

  Tanner wouldn’t know this. He would assume there’d been some FUBAR malfunction with the raft. He wouldn’t expect anyone was hunting them.

  Noah turned and ran as fast as he could the way he had come.

  They were nearly to the bridge when Noah caught up with them. Marilyn knew right away that something was wrong by how fast he was running.

  “What?” She rushed toward him as soon as he came into view. “Is everything okay?”

  “I think there’s trouble. It looks like the rafts were tampered with. That’s why Tanner’s collapsed.” He encouraged them all to keep moving forward. He wasn’t running now, but the walking pace he was setting was pretty damn fast.

  “Jared?” She couldn’t keep the catch out of her throat. Jared was the only one Noah could think of who would tamper with the rafts.

  “Or someone working in his proxy. Probably trying to get to you.”

  She shook her head. “You think they sabotaged the wrong raft? We didn’t even know who was going in which one until just a few minutes before we got in them.”

  Noah reached back and grabbed her hand but continued walking at a rate that almost had her jogging next to him. “I think they planned to knock out both rafts to herd us to the other side of the river. But something happened and ours malfunctioned, so we’re over here.”