Code Name: Kayla's Fire (A Warrior's Challenge)

by Natasza Waters

  “I don’t like the looks of this, Captain,” Tinman said. “He’s not going to wait, he’s going to kill her now.”

  “Explain,” he ordered, crouching down.

  “I don’t know. He appears too relaxed.”

  “It’s because he thinks he’s in the clear.”

  Ross lay low, hiding behind a deck locker near the hatch closest to Kayla, if she was in there. “Stand by, Ross.”

  “Roger.”

  “Cobbs, I need Themes looking south.”

  “Roger, Ghost.” A dark shadow in a wetsuit slid onto the dock and merged with the milling recruits.

  Seconds later the group of BUD/S recruits on the dock began shouting as if a fight had broken out, and then an illumination flare shot into the air, followed by two others. Themes whirled around. “Go, Ross.”

  The patrol vessel’s prop churned water as she picked up speed departing. He ran down the dock headed for the rubber boats near the recruits.

  “Mace, Tinman, Mark Five. Keep his eyes on you. He’ll think it’s an exercise.”

  As he vaulted into the rubber boat, the recruits watched with widening eyes. “Is that the SEAL they call the Ghost?” one of them said.

  “Shit, that guy is deadly,” another young man holding flippers in hand, said. “What’s going down?”

  Lieutenant Kemp, one of their training officers, stood front and center of the kid. “That’s Captain Austen, Tolston, you haven’t earned the right to call him Ghost.”

  Mace and Tinman thundered down the dock, and from six feet away, jumped over the edge and landed in the Mark Five.

  He needed low visibility to approach the patrol vessel, and get onboard before Themes knew what was going on.

  With a quarter moon, there wasn’t much light.

  Ross reported in. “Captain?”

  His heart thudded in his throat while he waited to let Mace and Tinman get out ahead of him. “Is she there?”

  “Captain, I’m in. Kayla’s attached to the anchor chain, if it lets go she’ll…”

  “Get the fucking thing off her,” Mace cut in.

  “She’s handcuffed to it.”

  “Mace, fast tac in front of the patrol vessel, keep his eyes on you.”

  The sound of other craft behind him made him sweep around in his seat to see at least ten other craft coming at high speed. “What the hell?”

  Cobbs’ voice came back in his ear. “No SEAL fights alone. We’ll keep his eyes front, Ghost.”

  Thane watched as the boats filled with recruits, Law’s squad, Cobbs, and Kemp shot past him arrowing out and around the patrol vessel, as if using her in an exercise.

  It was working, Themes didn’t know where to look, but he maintained his course out of the bay. While Thane swung wide approaching from port, Tinman and Mace came in at high speed from starboard. Mace jumped, clung to the stern, and heaved himself over the edge in one smooth movement. He’d recovered well from his injuries.

  Not more than a minute later, Kayla called Mace’s name when she saw him.

  “It’s okay, Snow White,” Mace assured her.

  “She’s free,” Ross piped out.

  “Good job,” Mace said, the sound of him moving toward them in the locker clear in Thane’s earpiece.

  “Themes attached something to me. Mace, I think it’s an explosive.”

  His blood chilled. Is that what Themes had in his hand, a remote to set it off?

  “Kayla, it’s gonna be all right. We’re gonna get this off you. Captain, it’s a vest.”

  “No, Mace,” her voice cracked with fear. “Get out.”

  “You know better than that.” Thane heard the sound of Mace giving her what sounded like a big kiss. “You need to keep still for me…Kayla…Kayla. Shit, no, no, no. Kayla!” he said harshly.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Ross said.

  “Report?” He didn’t need to ask. Kayla was falling into an episode. No time left. He steered a course straight for the patrol vessel, Themes concentration centered on the rest of the team as they took turns aiming straight at him and veering at the last second. He hoped like hell someone lured Themes into the notion they were exercising on the radio.

  Almost there, he cut close to the stern and jumped. He hit the deck hard, and rolled behind the life raft.

  “Listen to me,” Mace pleaded. “You thrash around too much. You can’t go there. Kayla.”

  If Kayla started to thrash, she could set off the device. “Knock her out, Mace.”

  “What? No,” he stormed.

  “Mace you can’t talk her out of it. Just get that vest off her.”

  “Leave me, Mace. Both of you leave,” Kayla begged in a weak voice.

  “Snow White, you’ve beaten this before. The Captain’s coming. I need you here with us. He needs you, your—son—needs you.”

  “My,” her voice stuttered weakly. “My son. His name’s Adam,” she sounded like she was drifting.

  Mace kept on. “You promised me I could be his godfather. You’re not going to break that promise, are you?”

  “Huh,” she said with a sweeping exhale. “Yes. Ohhh, God. No.”

  Christ, he was doing it. “Keep talking to her, Mace.”

  While Mace talked to her, he had no doubt Ross was trying to get the device off her. He couldn’t go after Themes until he had. “Come on, Ross,” he growled.

  “Jesus Christ, sir, almost there. Fuck, I need more light, Mace?”

  “Kayla, breathe. Damn, she’s strong. She’s almost breaking my kneecap.”

  “Sorry,” Kayla said weakly. “I’m okay.”

  “That’s my girl. I don’t need an ass kickin’ from Nina.”

  “Are you going to marry her, Mace?”

  “Of course I am. She’s drives me as crazy as you do the Captain.”

  A little chuckle erupted from her, and she let out a deep breath.

  Tense seconds of silence. Too tense. Themes cut the engines. Why? The patrol vessel began to drift on the swell of the other craft circling. Had he figured it out?

  “Got it, stand clear,” Ross said.

  Feet crunched across anchor chain. Thane heard the clank of the forward hatch as Ross scrambled out of it. The vest hit the water with a soft plop. Show time. “Get her out of there, Mace.” Thane crouched, making his way toward the wheelhouse. “Captain Themes.”

  Themes whirled around, and then steadied himself, reaching for the black box, clutching it in his right hand. The remote control had two small buttons and a short antenna attached.

  “Kind of late for a patrol.” He stepped through the hatch and stopped. Themes edged toward the opening beside him.

  “Captain Austen, evening, just finished some maintenance on the old girl. Thought I’d take her for a test run.”

  Thane plastered a placid grin on his face. “Think this old vessel will last another couple of lifetimes the way you take care of her.” He was doing his damnedest not to kill the guy, never mind keeping the emotion off his face. “Hope you don’t mind, but we thought we’d take the opportunity to use you for some training.”

  “That’s what Lieutenant Cobbs advised. Don’t mind at all. Boys need their training. Don’t have any illegals onboard this time,” Themes added with a gruff laugh.

  He turned as if he was going to leave, and then swiveled back. “By the way, did you hear Ms. Banks disappeared? You remember her? She works in Base Command. They think the Shark took her. Everyone’s keeping an eye out. You haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary, have you?”

  “That’s terrible news. The Shark never leaves anyone alive,” Themes said, placing a false look of distress on his features.

  “That’s our concern.”

  Themes was about as cool as a madman could be. No angst. Void of conscience. In his own self-inflated glory, he thought he had them fooled. “She was a nice lady. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for her.”

  Every muscle jerked in his body, wanting to lay Themes flat out. The fucking asshole
didn’t even realize what he’d said, but Kayla was not past tense. “We’d appreciate that.” His heart began to beat hard. “If anything happens to her, I’ll spend the rest of my days trackin’ him down.”

  “Sounds like its more than just business to you,” Themes said, animosity curling in his voice.

  “You could say that, Captain. For her, and for the rest of the women that psychotic fucking piece of shit murdered.” The sine wave of warning in his tone hit a deadly resonance.

  “Easy, Ghost,” Cobbs warned in his ear. Kayla appeared out of the forward hatch, and he did his damnedest not to show his relief.

  “You know the thing about guys like him—they can’t stop, not until they come up against someone like me, someone who won’t stop either.”

  Themes expression became dark, and he sucked on his bottom lip. “They’re usually pretty smart, Captain, smarter than most.”

  He burned a look into Themes. The son of a bitch only had a handful of breaths left. “Yup,” he reached behind his back as if simply stuffing his hand in his back pocket. “But they always make a mistake, Themes. No one is a perfect killing machine, except perhaps for my men.”

  Themes dropped his gaze. A twitch of his lip told Thane he was becoming anxious. His fingers palmed the small box that had absolutely no use any more.

  Thane’s grip tightened around the sig in the back of his pants.

  A small, dangerous smile began to curve Theme’s lips. “Some make mistakes, but at least they’re doing a service to everyone before they’re brought down.”

  “A service?” His hands clenched the grip of the handgun.

  “Yeah, those fucking sluts usually deserve it. Women—they smile at you, beguile a man, use ’em, take everything from them. They’re poison.”

  “Sounds like you’re talking from experience,” he said, watching Themes unravel.

  Themes right hand jumped to his jaw, stroking it. “I am.”

  “I thought you were married?” he said, shifting his weight to the left, Themes evaluating his movement. He knew. Now came the last steps to a final dance.

  “Was, but she left me,” he growled. “For somebody else. She didn’t understand. When I disciplined her it was to help her, not ta—”

  “Discipline, huh?” His eyes shot down to Themes’ hand gripping the remote. Ross dove off the bow of the vessel, but no sound came from the water. If life was an hourglass, the last grains of sand in Themes’ drizzled away.

  “Women, especially the older ones, have to be taught to respect a man, especially ones like Kayla.”

  Time was up. He cleared his mind, chasing all options. “I didn’t have to teach Kayla a thing—she taught me, and you’re a dead man, Themes.”

  At the same time he pulled his weapon, so did Themes, they fired and rolled at the same time. Themes dove out the hatchway.

  Mace backed up, shielding Kayla on the bow. They were going to jump. “Get her out of here Mace.” The sound of a bullet leaving a barrel echoed through the air. Mace’s body jerked and he toppled backwards. Kayla screamed. Themes tackled her like a quarterback, and followed Mace into the inky blackness of the bay with her in his arms.

  He launched himself through the hatchway. Ross had Mace around the chest, and swam hard toward the Mark Five. Another splash drew his attention. Themes had Kayla, but they weren’t alone in the water. The predators had sensed activity. A fin cut across the surface, headed for all of them. Ross was in the Mark Five, and yarding Mace over the side. Mace grabbed his leg, and hollered when Ross slipped him over the edge.

  A rubber boat drifted fifty feet away. Themes was trying to control Kayla. She fought and thrashed against him. “Get to the boat, Kayla.” She was a lousy swimmer, and didn’t make much headway. He dove. With powerful strokes and one pull, he was in the rubber boat, but so was the Shark, and he had Kayla by the throat with one hand, a knife in the other. Kayla gripped his wrist, the handcuffs dangling from her right arm, her hair plastered to her cheeks.

  “Themes, you need help. It’s over, man.” The boat dipped in the trough of the waves, but all of them had seafaring legs, and rode the yaw of the craft. Only the wind spoke. The other boats stood at least a hundred feet off.

  Themes’ eyes were like vacant holes. “She’s my prize. The worst one of them all. She needs my help. You don’t understand what I’m doing for all of us. She needs to be taught….”

  Thane thrust his hand through his wet hair. This guy was fucking lost, and he had control of Kayla. “Is that what you’ve been doing? Purifying women?”

  “They’re my wives.”

  “Kayla is not your wife. She’s mine,” he yelled. He finally let his gaze rest on her. She blinked slowly, and gave him a sweet, sad smile. The slightest shake of her head made him tense. What was she doing? With a sinking heart, he realized she had thought out the moves already in her mind. The tactical analyst saw only one way out. No.

  “Trust me,” she mouthed.

  He lunged to stop her. She took the Shark by surprise, instead of pushing away, she yanked his hand hard, and shoved the knife into her. Her knees buckled, and he vaulted at Themes, taking them both over the side. A sharp pain radiated up his body as Themes got one good jab with the knife. Locking his legs around Themes, he pulled them both under. Themes fought hard to free himself, but he would drown both of them before he would ever let go.

  He yanked the KA-Bar from his belt, and rammed it to the hilt in Themes’ chest. The blade, scored with a fallen SEAL’s name, had one purpose, to end the Shark’s life, and give Kayla and his back.

  The water churned around them. They had company, outboards, and then shots fired into the water near them. What the fuck were they doing? Themes’ movements slowed, he barely fought as Thane kicked for the surface and air.

  “Get out of the fucking water, Ghost,” Cobbs yelled. He let go of Themes and pushed him away, but he didn’t get far when Themes was yanked down. Gripping the edge of the rubber boat, he pulled himself inside, rolling onto the deck. He swiped the salt water out of his eyes. Cobbs knelt behind Kayla with his arms around her, rocking back and forth.

  “Kayla.” He crawled to her, clutching his side. Something bumped the boat, and they all looked over to see Themes in the shark’s mouth, in a frenzy to eat its prey. Kayla turned away, and gasped, holding her side. He pulled her into his arms while Cobbs started the outboard, and set a course for the docks.

  “We’re going to need an ambulance waiting. Three casualties. ETA five minutes,” Cobbs reported.

  Kayla turned her eyes up to him. “Does it hurt bad, sweetheart?”

  She shook her head. “Had worse,” she said.

  “The baby?”

  Her eyes widened, and a shallow smile spread on her lips. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to our son.”

  He hung on hard, but just holding her wasn’t enough, it never was. “You’re going over my knee when we’re both healed up.”

  “Can’t wait,” she said, and closed her eyes.

  He shook his head, and turned to look at Cobbs, who wore a rare smile on his face. “Mission accomplished, Frog,” he said.

  There weren’t just a few people waiting on the dock, there were a hundred, and they all started to shout, but he didn’t really notice, because the woman he loved more than life itself needed his attention, and he gladly got lost in her kiss.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Kayla sat their plates down on the table, her attention pulled toward the walkway and the mighty Pacific. She breathed calmly, tossing fat, lazy waves onto the shore. The California morning didn’t disappoint, the sun beamed from a perfect blue sky. Every day felt like a new page in a book. Thane had to go into the office early, but he said he would be back for breakfast. Breakfast was on the table, so where was he? Looking both ways from her balcony, she watched as joggers and elderly couples she started to recognize as neighbors passed by.

  “Ms. Banks,” Thane called.

  He stood below her balcony in his full
white dress uniform—a daunting figure as always— gazing up at her. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined a man like him looking into her eyes with as much love as he did.

  “Captain Austen, the world can do without your protection for five minutes, breakfast is ready,” she called down with a playful bite in her tone. “It’s getting cold.”

  People slowed their step, and eyes turned their way.

  “Ms. Banks,” he stood up a little straighter, if that were possible, and said, “A SEAL is a SEAL for life. With honor, with valor, without recognition we strive to keep the United States safe from those that threaten her future. We rescue those who need our help. We’ll give our lives, if necessary,” He paused. “It wasn’t until recently that I realized to love someone is the same.”

  Kayla cleared her throat and glanced nervously at the boardwalk. Moms with baby buggies, people on their way to the ferry landing, clutching cardboard cups in their hands, had all stopped to watch.

  “Ms. Kayla Banks, you’re damn lucky I didn’t die waiting for your sweet maple leaf ass to get to the United States so I could lay my eyes on you, but now that you’re here and I have, there’s no option.” He reached up and removed his hat, tucking it smartly under his arm. “You’re going to surrender, my sweet mermaid, I hope, and marry me.”

  The crowd on the sidewalk erupted, calling out to them and clapping. Out of nowhere, eight men filtered between the bystanders, all dressed to the nines in their uniforms. They took up a position behind him in a semi circle, their feet in a ‘stand easy’ position, their hands clasped behind them.

  “Snow White,” he called. “There’s eight, correction, nine dwarves who want to hear your answer.”

  She clapped her hands over her mouth. Thane must have lost his mind, but there was no way in hell she was going to give him a chance to find it again. “Captain,” she called out loudly, “this is Snow White, over.”

  He shook his head, and one brow rose. “Go ahead, Snow White.”

  “Base Command advises they concur with your assessment, you’re cleared to proceed, Captain. Hoorah!” she sang out, knowing full well it drove him nuts when she said it wrong.