Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Butterfly (Kindle Worlds Novella) (SEALed Fate Book 1)

by LeTeisha Newton

  Not good. Terrorist cells like this one could lose soldiers and build back up. The leaders made the difference. The Qatar cell of ISIS was highly funded and dangerous. No to mention, Heim wanted the man dead personally.

  “Bring it down, Glitz, we don’t have time to search. We have captives in tow.”

  “Aye, aye. Charges set, we have a minute to reach the beach.”

  “Pushing it, Glitz.”

  “Run faster, twinkle toes.”

  “I like you better when you don’t talk,” Heim returned.

  “Then don’t let me blow shit up anymore.”

  Glitz pulled in line with them and they ran. As they streaked toward the beach, the safe zone from the blast, Bravo and Charlie Team funneled in. Twelve SEALs and eight rescues escaped in the quiet. The CRRCs were set to inflate just as the explosions started.

  “Whoo hoo!” Glitz yelled as he watched his creation. A line of charges set off one after the other. Sweltering air reached them, pelting Heim’s face. He curled around Katya, protecting her from the blast. Orange and yellow flames licked the night sky, fading out the bright stars. Stone crackled and then crashed as the cell’s site crumbled.

  “CRRCs ready to go. Load up,” Wolf called.

  “Katya, we’re heading home,” Heim told her. When she didn’t respond, he looked down at her. Her face was slack, mouth wide open, eyes glazed over.

  “Katya. Katya!”

  “Give her here, Heim, and load up,” Mozart charged. He didn’t give Heim much of a chance before he pulled Katya from his arms. Mozart braced her on the rim of the raft and climbed over her. His scarred cheek was visible in the fire light. Heim was right behind him. He watched as the SEAL commenced CPR.

  “Get us moving, Heim.”

  The CRRCs slid into the water, and then they were on route to the seaplane waiting for them. But Heim didn’t care about any of that. All he could focus on was Katya’s frail frame hanging on the side of the craft. The way her chest caved with each of Mozart’s compressions. The way her lips didn’t move when he breathed for her. He memorized her limp fingers and sightless eyes. He watched the woman of his heart die.

  *****

  Disinfectant was strong in his nostrils. Shoes squeaked on the linoleum floor. Scrub clad bodies wavered and blended against the shiny wax. He hated it here. His knuckles were white from clenching them so hard, and then he couldn’t see that either. Everything went watery and blurred.

  “Heim?”

  He looked up at the soft voice, and the blur dripped from his eyes, splashing against his balled fists under his chin. Caroline. He knew her brunette hair, and easy features. She thought no one noticed her, that she wasn’t beautiful. Heim knew differently. Wolf’s wife wore her heart on her sleeve. She’d do anything for anyone of them. Had risked her life to save them. And had survived. He choked, unable to swallow the pain bubbling up from his gut. It lodged like shrapnel in his chest, cutting through muscle and tissue.

  “Shhh. I know. Walk outside with me?”

  “I can’t leave...her. She’s afraid when she’s alone.”

  “She’s not alone. Her whole family is here with her.” Caroline placed a delicate finger under his chin and moved his head so he looked around.

  Wolf stood off a ways and spoke quietly to a nurse. Snake paced the hall back and forth. Dude, Cookie, Hawk, and Cry Baby sat in uncomfortable hospital chairs. Welsh stood vigil, right next to MCPON Amerson, on protective detail. As they were at a military hospital and the mission was a special operation, no one knew what happened except those on the need to know. The captives had been sent to the Kuwait base for medical care and returned home. Katya made it back to San Diego, but her heart crashed again. It was why they were all here. He didn’t see Glitz, but knew that he was around close. He’d been there moments ago, talking to Mozart, who now stood at Caroline’s back.

  “Head out with her, Heim. I think Glitz needs you, too,” Mozart told him.

  “Okay,” he answered. He let Caroline pull him to his feet and lead him out the side entrance the hospital allowed the SEALs to use. The fresh air tasting of sea salt didn’t sooth him like it normally did. It seemed unfair that he could breathe it, feel it expand in his lungs, and Katya had to have help just to do something that was natural for her. A vent system just to breathe. A figure stepped into the light and Glitz’s face was haggard.

  “Xavier,” he said. It wasn’t often that Glitz used any of their real names.

  “Oh?” Oh Byung-Lee had been a SEAL for nearly six years, and an ordnance expert for a decade. As one of the oldest members on the team at thirty-six, they relied on his reliable manner. Now he was shaken, his lips pinched, and brow furrowed. His hands shook as he ran them through his messy shoulder length hair. How the SEAL had received a waiver for his hair, Heim still didn’t know.

  “I timed it right, Heim, I swear. We were clear of the blast radius, even feeling the heat. The impact didn’t go off until we were safely out of zone. I made sure. I told you a minute to get us hustling, but I had the trigger set for ninety seconds. I know my job, Heim. But, I didn’t take into account her state. I should have. We didn’t know how weak she was, what her body could take. I’m sorry. Fuck, I’m so sorry.”

  “Oh, man, what are you talking about?”

  Glitz looked up at him, his features pained. “It’s my fault, Heim. I know impact trauma. Her immune system was weak. Her heart already under duress. I should have taken it into account, I...It’s my fault her heart stopped.”

  “Are you out of your fucking mind, Glitz? We were there. Yeah, it was hot, we know this. And yeah, we felt a bit of the pushback. So what? There isn’t anyway you hurt her.”

  “Heim, listen—”

  “No, you listen. You gave me my exit, and made sure no enemies followed. You timed your blast to give us extra time and you got us out safely. Safely, Glitz. Those bastards hurt her. They pushed her limit, and she was still fucking standing. They didn’t break her, and neither did you. She’s in there, fighting for her life, and we are going to fight with her, do you understand me?”

  Caroline stepped back. “I’ll leave you gentlemen to it.”

  “Thank you, Ice,” Heim told her.

  “Anytime.”

  “Heim,” Glitz started but Heim cut him off.

  “I’m breaking here, Glitz. I slept with a girl one night and she stole my heart. I don’t even know her middle name. I don’t know where she lives or if she even will feel the same. She has to live so I can make her love me. And, because of you, because of every SEAL in that hospital right now, I get that chance. The enemy is who took her in the first place. Not the ones that had to do things to get her out.”

  Glitz swallowed hard. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. “You think anyone is going to love you dirty and rumpled like that? Women dig clean, cut and rugged, not smelly and unkept. Go home and get cleaned up. I won’t leave her side, I promise you.”

  “I—”

  “I swear to you, Heim, no one is going to have your back like I will. No one is going to make sure that woman makes it back into your arms like I will fight to make sure happens. Go home and get cleaned up, so when she opens her eyes you’re ready.”

  “We have her, Heim. And when she gets out, we’ll take her home with you, and make sure she heals,” Cry Baby called from the hospital entrance. Hawk, Snake, and Welsh stood beside him. A little further behind, Heim could see the other SEAL team waiting for his answer as well.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “We’re SEALs, Heim. Thanks aren’t even necessary.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Katya

  A boulder pressed down on her chest. Every raspy breath hurt as she sucked past a massive sock stuffed down her throat. No air. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get enough air to breathe. Did someone stuff a red hot poker down her esophagus? It burned, rubbed raw and tender. Breathe. She needed to breathe.

  “Mnnp.” She tried to talk, but it came ou
t muffled and mixed up.

  “Nurse! She’s waking up. Nurse.”

  Heim. She forced her eyes open to see him. Those stormy eyes. Her warrior that came to save her when she was lost. Only a tiled ceiling was above her. Not his chiseled face. Where was he? Why couldn’t she see him? Her vision blurred as she moved her trembling arms. Her muscles seized and tried to go lax, but she locked her elbows. She wanted Heim. To feel him. See him.

  “Haam.”

  No use. Her mouth wouldn’t work. Her skin pulled tight between her fingers as she reached for him, stretched and burned, but she didn’t care. Terror danced in chills up her spine. Alone. She didn’t want to be alone. Not ever again. Flashes of splattered blood filled her head, sweat, urine, and rotten breath filled the air. She blinked as fast as she could, but as the coolness of her tears sizzled against her heated skin, all that she could see were shadows. They coalesced and parted, flickered in the light before fading into a blob. None of them were Heim.

  Soft fingers pinned her head, pressing her into a...bed? She couldn’t be sure. The inside of her arms felt bruised. Something was sticking into her skin. A needle? What were those bastards doing? Had seeing Heim been nothing but a dream? Those soft fingers gripped her chin harder before another hand shifted the sock in her throat. No! They are trying to kill me. Heim!

  “Hold her still.”

  Hell no. Every muscle clenched as she bucked against her captor. She refused to be easy prey. Not when she’d gotten out. Not when Heim had come for her.

  “Argh!”

  “You’re scaring her.” Heim. She knew his voice. He was there. She whipped her head his direction. As her arms swung toward him, she hit a warm body.

  “Dammit, then get over here. We have to get the tube out or she’ll choke.”

  Stormy blue. The sea churning. The wildness of lust filled nights, and ruthless love. Heim’s eyes told everything. Dark circles rimmed his gaze. He looked haggard and exhausted. But she had never seen a more beautiful sight than his eyes.

  “Haam,” she whispered. Everything relaxed at once. Her body, mind...her very soul. She sank into the cushion under her battered limbs and kept her gaze locked to his. Even as the sock was pulled from her throat. Even as she wanted to scream from the pain and fight to get away. He was here. His fingers caressed her scalp, parted her hair and soothed her. His lips grazed her forehead before he looked at her once more.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he promised.

  “Pro-promise?” Her thready voice croaked through the room, but he heard her, he understood. She wrapped her fingers around his thick wrists. Anchored herself in his safety. And then he said the words that gave her heart the compass by which to find its way out of the darkness.

  “I blew up your tower, Princess. Your home is now with me.”

  *****

  “Sweetheart?”

  She sucked in a breath as sleep broke away and vanished. “Daddy?”

  “I’m here, love.”

  “Heim?”

  “Here, too.”

  She looked over and saw him sitting next to the door. When she looked back, her father sat on the edge of her bed. The familiar lines in his face were deeper today, covered in shadows. His mouth was in a firm line and pinched as he gripped her hand in his.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you weren’t happy to see dear old Dad,” he told her. A soft, sad smile curled his lips.

  “I…” She didn’t know what to say. She loved her father more than anything in the world, but the man sitting by the door warmed her. Across the room she could feel his heat reaching for her. It pulled her to him, connected them in ways she didn’t think possible.

  Her father shook his head, his smile deepening. “I never wanted you to know that bond, the one between life and death. Between those that survive it together. I understand why you cling to your young man. He,” her father began as he looked over at Heim. “He did what he promised and brought you home. Decked a senior officer who wouldn’t give clearance without more intel. You did good, Kit-Kat. You chose well.”

  “Thank you, Daddy.”

  “You let her go again, Heim, and I’ll leave you where no one will find you, you get me?”

  “Hooyah.”

  Her dad’s gaze came back to her face. “They’ll want to ask you questions and brief you. We’ve kept it out of the media, of course, but you’ll have to understand what can be talked about and what can’t. No one wants you to be okay right now. We know, more than most, that’s impossible. So take your time, heal. When you’re ready, we’ll deal with it.”

  The door creaked open and she swallowed past a dry throat. Her eyes darted around, looking for somewhere to hide, to get away, before a beautiful man with a scarred up cheek poked his head in the opening.

  “Mozart?” Heim asked.

  “Yeah, Heim?”

  “Call ahead. Doors aren’t good with her right now, okay?”

  “Shi—excuse me, sir. I’m sorry. I’ll make sure the others know. They wanted to make sure she’s doing okay.”

  How had he known she was afraid of the door opening? He hadn’t even looked at her or moved when the knock came.

  “Mozart was the medic that kept you with me until we got you to a doctor,” Heim said.

  “Thank you,” she answered. Her gaze swept over his face once more. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re a SEAL, Princess. We don’t leave our own behind. Heim, I’ll tell them she’s awake, but they’ll have to call you to come in.”

  “Roger.”

  The door closed as she furrowed her brow. “A SEAL?”

  Her father chuckled. “You earned your place, Kit-Kat. Most men wouldn’t stand up the way you did. I heard about you protecting the other captives. We saw you fight. The way you wouldn’t give in. I could never be more proud of you.”

  Heim stood in slow, measured movements. From her vantage point, his large frame seemed like a mountain, immovable and solid. Rugged and insurmountable. Before she realized what she was doing, she reached for him. She needed his strength and to assure herself that he was there. Their fingers intertwined, his warm palm pressed against cool one.

  “You had honor and loyalty. In the face of your fear you chose to be brave. Katya Amerson, you’ve earned your Budweiser pin, and your name. To us, you will forever be a SEAL, Princess.”

  Heim held up a SEAL’s trident before he placed it in her other palm. Her father closed his hands around her fist. “To me, you will be the reason I pledge to my country, every day, to honor and defend. Because, within its boundaries, you are living. It won’t always be easy. I’m gone a lot, and my job isn’t safe. More often than not I won’t be able to tell you where I’m going, or why. But I promise you that I will do everything I can to come home to you.”

  “I’m was so scared, Heim. They took my peace from me. You saved me from them. Pulled me from the fire. I wouldn’t turn my back on you, ever.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Three weeks later

  Heim

  Katya’s scream took Heim from sleep to awake and armed in less than a second. It took only a few more seconds to clear out of his bedroom. His bare feet were silent against the smooth hardwood floors that covered his townhouse. In the darkness he kept his head on a swivel, peering into corners and around corners before he saw Katya standing at the bottom of the stairs. She shook, her knuckles white from gripping the stair railing. A light flashed on and Heim could hear clothing ruffle and guns cock.

  “If you shoot me in my own house, Snake, I’m going to come back and haunt you while you’re on the shitter, I swear,” Heim called out.

  “That’s taking scaring the shit out of someone way too literal, my man,” Snake returned.

  Katya turned and faced him, her features wide and slack. The white parlor of her features propelled him the rest of the way down the stairs to her. As soon as he reached the landing nearest her she fell into his arms.

  “What is going on?” she q
uestioned

  “They usually are gone by now,” Heim grumbled as he checked the time. “Oh seven hundred hours and you were still asleep?”

  Snake shrugged. “I blame Glitz.”

  Glitz frowned. “What the hell did I do?”

  “You were born,” Snake returned.

  “Damn, Snake, that’s cold-blooded.” Welsh laughed as he tucked his gun back into his thigh holster.

  “He’s still mad that I blew up his collection of Goddess CDs on accident,” Glitz said.

  “You know not to touch anything that’s created by that woman, Glitz. And how the hell did you blow up a CD collection accidentally?” Hawk asked.

  “They may, or may not, have been in his trunk when I used his truck for a demo expo. He’d got bedliner to handle a freaking atom bomb,” Glitz explained.

  “And you still haven't purchased my music yet,” Snake said.

  “You had first printing deluxe editions! How the hell am I supposed to find those?”

  “That part isn’t my issue, shit for brains. Just get my things back.”

  “Princess, help him out,” Cry Baby said. “Snake gets down right ornery about Goddess, but it doesn’t mean he can’t play nice.”

  “Goddess? The singer? I don’t...Why are you all here?” she asked.

  The guys shifted, but Hawk stepped forward. “Because you needed it.”

  “What?”

  “Heim told us about your fear at night. You won’t leave the bedroom once he turns the lights off downstairs. Since you’ve been released from the hospital we watch over the house at night.”

  “The five of you stretch out of the couches and floor, just to watch over me?”

  “So you don’t have anything to fear. Nothing is going to come through that door. But if it did, we’d remove it from existence long before you ever knew it was here,” Snake said.

  Katya watched the men for a moment before she stepped forward. “How long do you intend to do this?”