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

by Janie Crouch

  “That’s understandable. I’ve had to do that with Zac, too. Even now, with everything behind me, it can creep up on me unawares.”

  It was good to hear Annie say that. Marilyn was glad she wasn’t the only one who experienced that. “Noah has been amazing. Patient. Understanding.”

  “He loves you, Marilyn.”

  “I know.” She shrugged. “Look at me, all angsty about what the future holds. Forgetting to focus on the most important thing…that I get a future. And that it’s nothing but bright.”

  But God, how she wanted Noah in that future with her.

  “You need to talk to him. Explain what you’re feeling. Like you said, he respects you.”

  “I know. I will.” Just…she wanted him to want to marry her. Not do it because she mentioned it.

  Maybe there was a little part of her that still wanted romance.

  She was glad when Annie changed the subject about how she and Zac had struggled to decide on a wedding cake flavor and had almost eloped because of it.

  They got up and walked along the rocks. Annie got a little excited when they saw a large cave-like formation. They had to wait until the water went out far enough for a few seconds and dash between waves to get into the cave without getting soaked, but once they did, it was definitely worth it.

  “Oh my gosh.” Marilyn looked around the rock walls surrounding them on three sides. There was no roof formation, so they could look straight up into the sky. Another wave nipped at their heels, so they rushed in farther. “My kids would love to see this.”

  “Zac has been teaching me some rock-climbing basics. He says he finally found an outdoor activity I have some skill at.” Annie rolled her eyes. “Since he’s good at all of it, I basically told him that he can come work in my E.R. for a day and we’ll see how good he is at that.”

  “Noah has taken us camping and rafting a few times, but more to make sure the kids weren’t traumatized by last summer. We haven’t gotten around to any rock-climbing yet.” Marilyn might have to pass on that, although Sam would probably be up for it. And whatever he did, Eva would follow.

  They both screeched and jumped closer to the rocks as another wave crashed.

  “We’ve got to get out of here before the tide comes in the rest of the way and we have to swim to get out.” Annie pulled out her phone and tossed to Marilyn. “Here, let me climb up a couple of feet and you take a picture of me. That way I can rub it in Zac’s face that I went rock-climbing without him.”

  Marilyn wagged her eyebrows. “Sure you don’t want to do a naked pose? That would make quite the wedding present.”

  “I’m tempted. I’ll save that idea for a first anniversary present.”

  It happened like something out of a movie scene. A horror movie.

  Annie was moving slowly, safely, not even going that high on the rocks when a series of waves came crashing into their little cave. Marilyn jumped to get out of the way of the water and Annie spun to see what was going on.

  A rock she stepped on slid, causing others to slide back toward the wall of the cave, away from the water. Annie let out a scream as she fell backward.

  “Annie!” Marilyn lept through the waves still crashing in, reaching for her friend who was now dangling on the rocks at a horribly unnatural, back-bending angle.

  No. Please God, no. Not Annie…not the day before her wedding.

  “I’m okay.”

  Marilyn reached her friend just as she said the words, and they hardly penetrated her frantic mind. Annie was upside down, her long brown braid reaching the water. “Annie!”

  “Marilyn, I’m okay. My foot is stuck. Can you help hoist me up so I can get it out?”

  Annie really wasn’t hurt. Marilyn’s heart stopped clamoring in her chest. “Thank God. I thought…”

  “Yeah, scared the hell out of me, too. Help me up.”

  Marilyn reached a hand under Annie’s neck and helped her sit upright. The way the rocks had collapsed, there was nothing for her to hold on to except her own trapped leg. The other one was outside the pile of rocks but still couldn’t provide Annie much leverage. Marilyn supported her by pushing under her back.

  Annie reached up and pulled at her leg. “Shit.”

  That wasn’t good. Marilyn couldn’t remember ever hearing Annie curse before.

  “What?”

  “It’s wedged in there too tight. I can’t see it, but I definitely can’t pull my foot out as is.” She tried to get her other leg around to help provide support but couldn’t manage the angle.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Yes, but the rock is actually serving as an excellent brace right now, so it will probably swell once it’s out, but the pain is manageable.”

  Annie was well into doctor mode. That meant her foot was probably hurting more than she let on.

  “Can I let you hang for a second and I’ll try to get your foot out?”

  Annie nodded. Marilyn helped lower her back down, then carefully scurried up the rocks so she could see the damage.

  It wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. The large rocks weren’t crushing Annie’s ankle, they’d just shifted and wedged, trapping her foot in a pocket. It could’ve easily been much worse.

  It only took Marilyn a few seconds of pushing at the rocks to figure out she wouldn’t be able to budge them. Someone was going to have to bring in some equipment to get Annie out.

  “Girl, you are good and stuck in those boulders.” She looked at her phone and Annie’s. “And we have no phone signal.”

  Annie let out a sigh. “I think we’ve got a bigger problem. The tide.”

  Marilyn couldn’t help her gasp as she turned and saw how much the water had risen inside the cave in just the couple of minutes she’d been trying to move the rocks. The water was coming in fast, and the cave was trapping water at an unusually quick rate—much faster than a normal tide. She looked around at the cave walls and could clearly see where the water normally rose to.

  Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.

  “Can you help me get upright for a few minutes again?” Annie asked. “Blood rushing to my head is pretty uncomfortable.”

  “Yeah, sure.” Marilyn scurried down, having to stand in ankle-deep water to help hold Annie up.

  It didn’t take long to realize that Annie couldn’t hold herself up for long at this awkward angle, and if Marilyn ran to get help, the water was going to be past Annie’s head much sooner than she could get back.

  Marilyn fought to think past the panic. Maybe she could swim out, get some sort of branch and try to jimmy it—

  “Hey, are you guys alright?”

  Marilyn and Annie both spun at the sound of a voice at the mouth of the cave. It was the snorkeler they saw earlier.

  “Lexi?” Annie said. Marilyn had no idea who that was. She didn’t remember meeting anybody named Lexi since they’d arrived at the island.

  “What happened?” Lexi swam over to them.

  “My foot is jammed and the tide is coming in.”

  They were out of time. Marilyn turned to Lexi. “The rock trapping her leg is too big for us to move. Can you get back to your raft and go get help?” She prayed Lexi’s little raft had a motor. That would save valuable time.

  Lexi’s eyes grew wide as she realized the severity of the situation.

  “Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And here.” She handed Marilyn a mini scuba tank that had been attached to her waist. “This will buy you ten, maybe fifteen minutes.”

  The water had already risen. “We’re going to need every one of them. Hurry. This isn’t good.”

  “I can hear you two, you know,” Annie said.

  Lexi took off, swimming hard against the waves back out of the cave. Marilyn didn’t know the woman, but prayed she’d have the speed they’d need to get Annie out of this alive.

  Marilyn scooped Annie back up into her arms again so she wasn’t hanging upside down. The cold water was already causing her feet to sting, but she ignored it.

  She smiled
at her friend. “Hey, remember that time you thought it was a good idea to get married on a tropical island?”

  29

  They talked about everything. Anything to keep their minds off the rising water.

  Marilyn told Annie how she’d been processing her rape at Jared’s friends’ hands, and Annie told her about the cruelty that had almost kept her and Zac apart years ago.

  They talked about their futures and what they hoped for and places they wanted to travel.

  But most of all, they never gave up hope that their men were coming. If Lexi could possibly get to them in time, Zac and Noah would not let them down.

  When Marilyn’s arms became too tired to hold Annie up, she put her back under Annie’s back and held her up that way. She’d long since lost feeling in her legs as the cold water rose, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t leaving Annie alone.

  “Wh-what wedding cake flavor did you decide o-on?” The water was up to their chests now.

  There was no response from Annie.

  “Annie, stay with me. Come on, now.”

  They were both covered in cold water. It would only be a few more minutes before they were completely submerged. Marilyn was warmer because she was able to move around, but Annie didn’t have that option.

  “Wh-what?”

  “Wedding cake flavor.” Marilyn stretched her arm as it cramped painfully. “What did y-you decide on? Fair warning, if you say vanilla, I’m sw-swimming out. You’re on y-your own.”

  There was no response from Annie for a long time. Marilyn thought she’d passed out or had fallen asleep.

  “C-coffee and cognac,” Annie finally said.

  “Th-that is the most delicious thing I’ve ever heard. We’re going to drink a gallon of hot coffee when they get us out of here.”

  “You need to go, Marilyn,” Annie’s voice was barely more than a whisper. They could both feel the water lapping at their faces.

  “I’m not leaving you. N-not until the very last breath.” She wouldn’t die here, she had two children to think of. But she’d be damned if she left Annie here alone one second earlier than she had to. “You’d do the same f-for me, Annie. You know you would. You s-saved my life back in that hospital. I-if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here to enjoy this n-nice wade in the ocean.”

  Annie didn’t respond.

  “Annie? Wake up, Annie!”

  Nothing. Marilyn reached up to check for a pulse and thought she felt one. But her fingers were so numb, she couldn’t be sure.

  Please, Noah. I need you.

  If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have the strength to be doing this right now, mentally or physically. They hadn’t stopped their sparring or training just because Jared was dead. It had kept her in shape.

  All the sex had, too. Massive amounts of hot sex had kept her in shape. And evidently, every mind-blowing orgasm had been for a greater purpose.

  She laughed and it gurgled in the water.

  Oh God, this was it, the water was going to rise past their heads. She needed to hold the emergency scuba tank mask over Annie’s face. She wouldn’t be able to do it herself if she was unconscious.

  And when she let go to save herself, Annie would drown. She couldn’t think about that. She kicked in the water to push herself up, struggling to hold Annie’s torso and the mask against her face. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for—

  “Marilyn!”

  Noah.

  He was at the top of the cave. He’d come for her. She’d known he would.

  Other men were yelling, too. Zac was yelling for Annie, but she was already under water.

  Marilyn was going under, too. It was too deep, she couldn’t keep her head above the water line any more if she wanted to stay where she could reach Annie. She could hear more vague shouting, but in order to keep the mask against Annie’s face, she had to let herself go under. She used one hand to hold the mask to Annie and stuck her other arm straight up out of the water so they would know where to find them.

  It had to be enough.

  She kept the oxygen pressed over Annie’s nose and mouth and held her breath.

  Noah would not let her drown. He hadn’t let her drown emotionally when she was going under, and he wouldn’t let her drown physically. She trusted that fact with every fiber of her being. She would keep Annie alive and he would get her out.

  She was down to her last seconds of air when bright beams of light shined into the water and someone’s arms reached around her to take the mask and keep it pressed against Annie’s face. Another set of arms wrapped around her and propelled her to the surface and life-giving air.

  Noah. She didn’t even have to look to know it was him.

  Four or five guys—former Special Forces training evident—were rappelling down from the cave opening to help rescue Annie.

  Everything was fuzzy for Marilyn against Noah’s chest as he climbed her out of the water and on to higher rocks. It wasn’t long before the men had freed Annie’s leg and pulled her from the water, too. A few seconds later, emergency blankets were thrown down from above and Noah wrapped her securely in one. Everything was going to be okay.

  Zac had Annie in his arms in a similar blanket. She was conscious and even smiling.

  “Coffee and cognac,” Marilyn said to her. “Can’t wait.”

  Noah looked back and forth between the two of them. “Should I even ask what that means?”

  “You’ll see tomorrow at the wedding.”

  The team above lowered rope knotted in a way that provided her a place to sit. Noah got on the rope next to her.

  “Will they be able to pull us both up?”

  He nodded. “There’s a tow crank on the vehicles.”

  He held her in place as he signaled, and they slowly began to rise.

  “I knew you would come for me,” she said.

  His arm tightened around her waist. “I will always come for you.”

  They got to the top and he jumped off and reached out to help her get off the rope.

  She smiled at him. “Don’t you drop me because I want us to get married.” Saying it was much easier after the near-death experience.

  She wasn’t expecting the utter silence that fell all around them.

  “Oh shit, should I start recording now, Storm?”

  “No!” Noah glared at someone behind her. “This isn’t it, dumbass!” His eyes flew back to hers. “And don’t you dare say you want to marry me, gorgeous. It will break Eva’s heart.”

  Eva didn’t want her to marry Noah? Had Noah talked to the kids about this? “I don’t understand…”

  “You’ve had quite the morning. Why don’t we talk about this later?”

  She let him ease her into a resort SUV that had the heater blasting. Before she could ask more questions, a resort doctor was there, checking her temperature, poking her extremities to make sure none of them…had fallen off or whatever. He assured her that both she and Annie—while very lucky—would both be fine. Annie’s leg was just sprained. Cold water and a rock splint had actually been the best thing to keep the swelling under control.

  Another resort employee thrust a thermos cup full of hot chocolate into her hands. That felt nice. Warmed the inside of her body as the heater and blanket warmed the outside.

  Except for her uncomfortable wet clothes, and the need to take a three-hour nap, she really didn’t feel too bad at all.

  Which meant she couldn’t get Noah’s words out of her mind. That Eva would be upset if they got engaged.

  How did he know that?

  The car door opened again, and she expected Noah, but it was Zac. His handsome face was tense, almost gaunt. She immediately feared the worse.

  “Is Annie okay?”

  “She’s fine. Happy that her ankle injury won’t mean delaying the wedding.”

  He moved into the vehicle and cupped her face with both hands. Slowly, he leaned his forehead against hers. “Everything I have is yours, Marilyn Ellis. I will forever be in yo
ur debt for what you did today.”

  Before she could even argue otherwise, point out that Annie had saved her long before she saved Annie, he was gone.

  Noah got into the vehicle a few seconds later and immediately scooped her into his lap. His friend Trigger—she remembered him from last year when he helped with the New Journeys move—and Noah’s cousin Gavin got in the front seats to drive them back to the hotel.

  Noah was kissing all over her face and hair. “When that woman came running up—”

  “Lexi.” Gavin provided the name for him.

  “When Lexi came up yelling about you two being trapped in a cave with the water rising, I nearly lost my damn mind. You were supposed to be getting a massage! I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to let you out of my sight again.”

  The drive back to the resort was much shorter than their hike had been. Gavin and Trigger added their thankfulness that she and Annie were alright and that they’d all gotten there in time—basically stealing the resort SUVs to make it.

  “Where were you guys?” she asked from her cuddled position against Noah’s chest. “We thought you were on the other side of the island playing paintball or something.”

  That unnatural silence again. Gavin looked at Noah over his shoulder, and even Trigger glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

  She pulled away from his chest. “What is going on?”

  Nobody answered.

  “Really?” She poked Noah in the shoulder. “You’re going to just sit here all...crickets?”

  Trigger snickered from the front seat.

  Noah glared at the back of his friend’s head. “We can talk about it later. You’ve had a crazy morning.”

  They pulled up to the resort and Marilyn jerked herself away from him. “I don’t want to talk about it later. What is going on? Why do you think my kids don’t want us to get married?”

  Noah was taken aback. “I don’t think the kids don’t want us to get married. Why would you say that?”

  “Because you said so earlier when I said I wanted us to get married. Oh God, it’s you who doesn’t want to get married, isn’t it?”