by Dale Mayer
“Shit.”
“What was there – a four minute window?”
Mason nodded. “Just about.” He had his phone out and called the others. “Markus. They’re both gone and the Jeep is here.”
“Hello? Anyone home?” A wavering voice from downstairs called, “Hello?”
Mason exchanged a look with Shadow and walked down the stairs. At the bottom was an older man.
“Hi. Can I help you?”
The man looked at him suspiciously. “Maybe we should be asking you that? What’s going on over here? Martha sent me to check on that young girl who lives here. Said she just came back and left, only there’s people here all the time. You got to have special license to run a bed and breakfast you know.”
“Really, well maybe you could describe what you’ve seen. Particularly in the last few minutes.”
“And why would you care?”
Mason didn’t have time for this shit. He gave the man the short version of who he was and why he was there. “We suspect that one of my men and the young woman you mentioned were taken out of here against their will.”
“When was there time?” the man said in a querulous voice. “First she was gone, then she’s home, then she’s gone. And she lets a friend stay here.” He shook his head. “We’re a quiet neighborhood but he’s creepy. Then she rolls in today when the guy is here and now you, but I didn’t see anyone leave.”
“Have you been watching?” Mason snapped sharper than he intended. “All the time.”
The older man looked discomforted. “Martha watches.” He pointed to the house beside Sasha’s. “That’s our place and Martha is handicapped you know. She can’t move much and has such fun watching what goes on in the neighborhood. Not in a mean way of course, but trying to be a good neighbor. But there’s times I’ve got to take her into the doctor, and she frets then. Might miss something important.”
And likely hadn’t been home in the hours the house had been vandalized in the first place. Meaning she was nosey as hell when she was here. But that worked in their favor. Quickly he learned the men looked like brothers, and Martha thought she saw a woman once. From the description she could be Theresa. “But you didn’t see anyone leave.”
“No, Martha and I had our dinner and when we came back there was no change, but a panel van did drive away come to think of it.” He frowned. “I suppose I might have missed them. Then you guys did too because you arrived right after.”
“License plate?”
“No, didn’t see it.”
“Color.”
“White?”
“Make?”
“Nope.”
“What can you tell me about it?” Mason asked, barely keeping his exasperation at bay.
“It had backed into something. Rear right taillight was gone and the bumper and corner crumpled. Already rusted so not recent.” He leaned forward and said in a low tone, “They should have gotten that fixed.”
“Yeah they should have, but they didn’t.” And now he’d get them.
*
Markus waited at the docks for the Coast Guard to return. He’d wanted to be on the boat heading out to the freighter but had missed it. He stomped his feet, still pissed. They could have waited five minutes.
“Markus, get in.”
He spun to look as Evan and Dane pulled up in a powerboat. “About time.”
“You don’t know the half of it. One of our own is missing,” Dane snapped. He pulled the speedboat out of the harbor as soon as Markus jumped in. Evan quickly shared the latest news.
“Cooper is missing? Jesus.” Markus stared at the freighter in the deep water. Was his friend on there?
“I know. A search is on for the van.” Evan motioned to the wharf. “Hawk is handling the surveillance on the dock and Mason is on his way here with Shadow.”
Markus nodded and thought about the tiny doc and what she’d done for so many men.
“I’d change that to two of our own are missing.”
“Agreed,” Evan said. “Let’s get these assholes.”
Chapter 26
Noo. Sasha stared at the tiny room and the bunk overhead. What had happened? And why? As she lay there she could feel movement under her. A ship. She was once again on a bloody ship.
She rolled over and gasped in shock. Cooper lay unconscious beside her, blood oozing from a head wound. Immediately she tried to reach over for him, but her hands were tied in front of her. She glared at the rope only to realize they’d been tied in a hurry with a thick rope that couldn’t be tightened enough to hold her small wrists. Immediately she twisted her wrists free and slid the rope to the floor then scrambled over to Cooper. The bleeding had slowed, and there was no softness to the bone below. Some swelling had set in but it wasn’t much yet.
His pulse was strong. His color good.
She shook him hard. “Cooper, wake up,” she whispered, “We’ve been kidnapped.”
And his eyes popped open.
Talk about instant awareness. She bent over and kissed him. “Love that about you.”
His gaze flashed in her direction then around the room. Instantly assessing. Instantly seeing the details she’d taken several minutes to understand. She appreciated that nimble mind. His awareness of the danger they were in. And while he was doing that, she pulled the knife out from his ankle sheath.
He stared at her in surprise as she cut his bonds but accepted it back when she handed it over to him. She stepped out from the bed and straightened. And gasped in shock.
“Theresa.” She reached up to shake the woman lying on the top bunk. No reaction. “I’ve got a pulse.”
“Good.” Cooper was at the door checking the knob. “Locked.”
“Of course,” she whispered. “Just the three of us, no windows. And the floor is moving. We’re on a ship.”
“A freighter more to the point. And likely we both know which one.”
She nodded. “Why would they snatch us?”
“Wrong time. Wrong place,” he said, staring at her. “Either they kept Theresa there until they could move her to the ship or had moved her and were cleaning up so they left no evidence that they’d been there. Or they forgot something and returned.”
“You mean they were living in my house?” She gasped. “That’s not something I want to imagine.”
“Think about it,” he said, “it’s the address she gave. They probably cut up your bedding to send you running out of the house. It gave them a place to hide out, or to hide Theresa out or both. And no one would know you weren’t there.”
The door burst open.
Several men rushed in with big batons and wailed on her and Cooper. She cried out and tried to fight back, but she was picked up and thrown over a man’s shoulder. They were so strong.
“Cooper,” she cried out, but there was no response as she was turned to get through the narrow door. Cooper was fighting hard and taking a beating.
“No,” she screamed. “Let him be.” And she did the only thing she could do – she sank her teeth into her attacker’s neck. The man roared and threw her to the ground. She was up in a flash, his baton somehow in her hand, and she wielded it with a ferocity she’d never felt before, hitting him and any of the others she could reach.
An anger, once unleashed she couldn’t stop, and she beat the men attacking Cooper until she couldn’t lift her arms anymore.
“Easy. Stop, Sasha. Stop.”
She bent over gasping to find men flat on the floor unconscious and her hands covered in their bloody spray. She struggled for breath.
Cooper’s voice finally penetrated the red haze in her head. “Come on, we have to get out of here now.” Cooper dragged one man lying half in and half out of the room all the way in, then motioned at her to go ahead of him.
“Not without Theresa,” she said fiercely, her mind cataloging the bloody cuts and welts on Cooper’s face and neck. Bruised and bloody, he gave her a fierce grin and nudged her toward the door.
�
�I’m getting her, you get moving.” He reached up and snagged the unconscious Theresa, pulling her over his shoulder. “Go, go.”
“Where?”
“Stairs. We need to find the stairs up.”
She bolted forward.
*
He’d taken worse beatings and kept going. He wasn’t about to stop now. Their lives depended on it. He followed Sasha down the narrow hallway to the closest exit and up the stairs. They met no one on the way up. He hadn’t had a chance to look the four men over but didn’t think any were the ones they suspected of kidnapping Theresa. However, given their recent actions they were all complicit in the crime.
Sasha opened a door. Daylight shone in. “Stop,” he hissed. “They could be out there.”
Too late, she was already racing across the deck toward the ladder. Only men were boarding and flowing across the deck now.
Coast Guard.
Thank God.
“Stop or I’ll shoot,” roared a voice behind him. Cooper didn’t know if the enemy had seen the new arrivals, but he wasn’t going to stop. He raced forward. Shots rang out behind him.
He ducked and bolted behind the lifeboats.
The Coast Guard had scattered but someone returned fire.
Likely, all of them.
He lowered Theresa to the deck and tucked her under the suspended boat. A hawk’s cry soared overhead. Only it originated too close by to be a bird. Cooper gave a fierce grin. That was Mason’s voice. On the other side of the lifeboat.
Cooper’s voice hissed. “Mason?”
“Yeah,” Mason whispered back.
“Sasha and Theresa are with me.”
Gunfire split the air around them. Sasha clutched his arm tight. “What do we do?”
“Stay hidden and wait it out. Mason is here. And if he is,” he whispered peering around, “so are others.”
A gun barrel suddenly pressed against the base of his neck.
The man holding it said, “Get up, slowly.”
Cooper, his gaze locked on Sasha’s terrified face, rose.
“Walk forward. Bitch get up and follow him.”
Forced to leave Theresa behind, Cooper snagged up Sasha’s hand and dragged her close.
“Walk,” he whispered.
She followed. He could feel her tremble. Feel her tiny frame shake as she tried to hold it together. He walked deliberately close to the rails and kept his gaze forward, his mind racing for options. A bird soared overhead. A second hawk cried in the sky.
“Now stop there.”
“Shit.”
He froze and glanced around. Six feet to the railing. A hundred feet to the water. He’d take the chance but with Sasha?
A single shot fired. Sasha’s knees buckled. “My leg,” she cried out.
Decision made.
He caught Sasha up in his arms and in two steps he sprung up and soared over the railing.
Shots spat around him. He felt one tug his shoulder. He cradled Sasha close.
And they fell down.
Sasha whimpered and clung to him. The landing was going to hurt. He wrapped his arms around her tight. Pinning her against her chest.
With his other hand he held her neck and said, “Hold on.”
He took a deep breath and sealed her lips with his own.
And they hit the water…hard.
Chapter 27
Sasha felt the hard force of the water try to separate them as they slammed into it, but Cooper held her against him so tight she never felt any pain. They sank for a long moment then he kicked up hard and they started moving to the surface. His mouth still on hers. Several more hard kicks and they broke the surface. She gasped for air. The shock of what just happened argued with the shock of the cold water.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said crying, blinking to clear her vision. “I’m okay.”
“Just hold tight,” he whispered as he struck out strong. “The Coast Guard boat is close by.”
“Oh thank God.”
He swam strong and she kicked every time he did. It hurt but it felt good. She couldn’t believe this had just happened. “What about Theresa?”
“The men will look after her.”
She kissed his cheek, the water splashing up between them. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Really?” He chuckled and snuggled her in his arms. “I threw you off the ship.”
“No, you didn’t. You carried me off. Different story.”
He laughed. “Any way you like to think of it.”
“There is the Coast Guard.”
She twisted and looked. “Good thing. I’m getting cold.”
“Shock,” he said striking out again.
“Yes, doc,” she said.
He grinned. “You are very cheeky considering that you just got shot.”
“Hopefully just a graze,” she whispered. “Besides I had a guardian angel who could fly.” She smiled and wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. “Starting to feel a little woozy.”
“Hold on. Don’t give in just yet.”
*
He reached the boat to find several men reaching down for him. They had Sasha up on the deck and wrapped in blankets before he made it onboard.
Safe finally, he stood and stretched. He accepted a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. There was a commotion above. He turned.
The bullet hit him square in the belly.
He was lifted up off his feet and slammed back down on his back.
Where he stared at the sky.
“Cooper!”
He could hear Sasha cry out. One of the Coast Guard men bent over him.
He could hear voices, could see faces. But there was ice in his veins. His blood pumped out across his abdomen, dripping down his side.
Then pressure. So much damn pressure.
Chapter 28
Several shots slammed into the side of the boat. Everyone scattered.
Sasha ignored them as she worked frantically on Cooper. The blood was welling on his lower abdomen. “Get me a helicopter,” she screamed at the men undercover.
“Ten minutes out.”
She nodded. “Good.”
She worked to stabilize Cooper, but the bleeding was heavy. She used part of her shirt to fold up a wad of dressing, and using his knife, she cut away his shirt and tied the pad around him. The Coast Guard vessel would have a medical kit on board but with the bullets pinning them in place no one was moving. His heartbeat was strong. But his color was poor. His temperature, low.
“Cooper, you stay with me,” she cried.
“Sasha?” he whispered.
“I’m here. Save your strength,” she whispered, leaning over him. “We’ve got a helicopter coming for you.”
“Only if you come with me.”
“I’m fine,” she cried. “It’s you.”
“I’m fine.” But his voice was fading. “I didn’t go through everything I did to lose you now.”
“You haven’t lost me!” She leaned over and placed her lips against his. “Never.”
“Are you sure?”
“Jesus, Cooper. You know I love you.”
“No.” He squeezed her hand. “I didn’t know that. But I’d hoped.”
And he fell silent. His head rolling to the side.
Shit, shit. She lifted the dressing, but the hole was small and nasty. They needed to get that darn bullet out. She was more worried about what damage it might have caused inside. She studied the sky. Where was the damn helicopter? Finally she heard the whup whup as it spun closer, the noise loud in the sudden silence. The gunfire above had stopped. Good. Maybe this was over now.
“It could land up top, couldn’t it?” But then she’d have to move him up the ladder, and she didn’t want to do that if not necessary. Not anymore than was necessary.
The Coast Guard brought a stretcher to her side. It was amazing to see how efficient the professionals worked to transport him. Without ceremony Cooper was transferred to the heli
copter. She watched in amazement as he was whisked away.
“Not to worry.” Mason spoke at her shoulder as he helped her to sit down. “Cooper is strong. He’ll be fine.”
She knew all too well that even the simplest of wounds could be the downfall of the strongest of men.
In Cooper’s case, his injury wasn’t even close to being simple.
*
Cooper opened his eyes to a room that he’d seen too much of already. He was in the hospital. Again.
Shit.
Anger and disbelief overwhelmed him. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want anything to do with being injured.
“How are you feeling?”
He smiled, his gaze following Sasha’s voice. Inside he relaxed. It was her. She lay stretched out on the bed beside him. “You’re supposed to be in the hospital,” he snapped. “You were shot in the leg, weren’t you?”
“Just a graze. Besides I’m in the hospital,” she said with a smirk. “And as I’m in bed I’m resting too.”
“But you’re in my bed.”
She leaned forward, heat in her gaze. “You don’t want me in your bed?”
“Ha, it’s all I can think about,” he said, feeling his insides ease as he realized they were both going to be fine and that she really was there with him.
“Well, you’re not that badly injured,” she whispered, dropping kisses on his temple, her fingers trailing across his chest.
“Really?” he asked in delight.
“Nope. You’ll be down for a few weeks at the most.”
Relief overwhelmed him.
“Then maybe that’s too bad,” he whispered, tumbling her into his arms. “I’d love to spend a few weeks in bed with you.”
“You should be so lucky.”
“Oh I plan to get lucky – often.”
She laughed and kissed him. “Sounds good to me. Maybe I’ll keep you after all.”
“You’ll keep me?” His grin split across his face at her wording. “You know, that’s a great idea.”
“You think so?” She studied him suspiciously. “Why is that?”
“Because I always aspired to be part of The Keepers.” He took a moment to explain how the group of SEALs earned the nickname.