Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14)

by Mathis, Loren

  Will stood there looking down at her dumbly, attempting to process this information. A momentary lapse in judgment? She was actually saying that their relationship was over before it even began. No, worse than that, she was saying that had she not been overcome with sexual desire what had happened between them in Germany never would have occurred. For her, it had been a mistake or a bad dream.

  “Wait, are you seeing somebody, or something?”

  “Goodbye, Will,” Olivia said, ignoring his question. She turned again moving toward her apartment building.

  “Damnit Liv, wait a minute! Olivia!” Will stood there watching Olivia’s retreating back, but she didn’t respond to him. His behavior had pushed her to the edge. And just like that. Game over.

  Will finally understood the age-old adage of missing something that you never had. Except he’d had Olivia—at least a little taste of her. Even if he couldn’t admit it to himself fully now, he had the creeping feeling that he would always want her. Always want more than just a little taste of her.

  But really, what could he do at this point? Run after her like some lovesick schoolboy? Pound on her door? Get down on his hands and knees and beg and plead with her until she finally relented and went out on a single date with him?

  Hell no. He had way too much pride for that.

  So instead, he clenched and unclenched his fists, watching in disbelief as she walked away from him. This time, she hadn’t even bothered to flip him off.

  ****

  It was another sunny, beautiful afternoon. Victoria had decided to fly back to California to visit Joshua in San Diego and to celebrate her front-page news story that would be hitting the presses within the next couple of days. Victoria was on cloud nine. For the first time in a long time, both her career and her love life were on the right track.

  Currently, she was sitting outside of Joshua’s favorite burger joint. The restaurant had speakers that emanated loud music on the outside and inside. She was waiting for him to meet her after he finished his workout at the gym.

  Detective Devin Sage had assured her that he was now taking her “hunch” seriously. The Dallas PD was revamping their investigation into Antonio Ortiz’s murder. The police department was now looking into whether his death was in any way related to Richard Henning’s death. Despite the encouraging signs, Devin had warned her that they still had a long way to go in proving that any of Richard Henning’s business partners at the Henning Cooper Company had anything to do with the two murders.

  “Hey there, ‘Ms. Front Page’.”

  Victoria glanced up from her iPad to see Joshua looking down at her. She was still waiting on the FBI to return her laptop. Joshua had showered at the gym, and was now dressed in a T-shirt and shorts.

  “Hey there,” Victoria said reaching her arms up to pull his head down into a quick kiss.

  “Did you send in your stories yet?”

  “Yeah. Right before I left your apartment. Edward called me back right away. He was impressed. Even though the Dallas Police Department has not yet pressed charges against Walt Mickelson and Walker Cooper on murder charges, I think the indictments from the grand jury regarding the federal drug investigation will be coming down pretty soon.”

  “That’s awesome, Vicki. I’m proud of you. And I’m glad as hell that you’re done with investigating this story. You never know how dangerous and unhinged men like Walker Cooper can be.”

  A shiver ran down Victoria’s spine. If these men had murdered a seventeen-year-old boy in cold blood—whose only fault was getting in over his head—she had no doubt that if they were aware of how far along she had gotten in her investigation, she too would have been on their hit list.

  “Let’s go inside,” she said, getting up from the table and taking his hand. For the rest of the evening, she didn’t want to think about any of the cases that she was working on. She wanted to focus on getting to know Joshua again.

  They had made it to the front entryway, when a loud pinging noise sounded in her ears. It took her a second for her to realize what it was. Joshua knew what it was immediately though.

  “Shit! Get down!” he yelled, pushing her down roughly to the concrete patio. She heard the staccato sound of Josh returning fire as he covered her with his strong body. Someone was shooting at them.

  Victoria could hear the screams of people from inside of the restaurant and the sounds of the glass windows in the front of the building breaking. The breaking glass was what the pinging sound had been.

  It seemed like she was on the ground for forever. Her face pressed down against the ground facing the restaurant. Dirt and cold concrete gripping her left cheek. The heaviness of Joshua’s body pressed down on her—covering her, protecting her.

  Then suddenly, it was over. The sounds that were making her heart pound and blood race had stopped, only to be replaced by an uneasy silence. Joshua slowly lifted himself off of her.

  “Vicki are you okay?” he asked, pulling her up to her feet. She was confused and dazed. She had scraped her knees when Joshua pushed her to the ground to shield her from the flying bullets and glass. She looked out into the street and saw the body of a man sprawled out on the pavement.

  He had to have been the man who was trying to shoot them. And Victoria was sure that he was trying to shoot them specifically because she and Joshua had been the only people on the patio at the time.

  “Vicki, look at me. Are you okay?”

  Still stunned, she looked up at Joshua who was leaning over her, holding his right hand to his left shoulder. A hand that was covered in blood.

  “Oh my God! You’ve been shot.” Victoria surged up to her feet as she put her hands out to touch him, to try to look at his injury. Blood was seeping from the wound at a much quicker rate than she would have liked. Actually, she would have preferred no blood to be coming out.

  “It’s just a flesh wound babe, I’m okay. Which is more than I can say for that motherfucker over there.”

  “We’ve got to get you to a hospital,” she said. By that time, patrons had come outside and were gathered around them. One of the waiters had grabbed three large linen napkins and had given them to Victoria to press against Joshua’s wound to stop some of the blood flow. Some of the other people who had been in the restaurant and surrounding business were now milling around, surrounding the nonmoving man on the street.

  “Who would want to shoot us?” she said, ambulance sirens sounding in the distance.

  “I have a pretty good idea,” he muttered. Before he could clarify, the paramedics who had arrived on the scene were fussing around him, preparing him for transport to the hospital. Joshua tried to refuse transport to the emergency room, but relented when Victoria pressed him to go. He had always had a difficult time saying no to her. She climbed into the back of the ambulance with Joshua, her hands clinging to his, refusing to let go.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “

  Victoria. Oh my God, how is Joshua?” Emmani asked in a breathless rush as soon as Victoria opened the front door to Joshua’s house. Emmani’s brown eyes were wide with worry. When she heard that Joshua had been injured in a shooting, she’d caught the earliest plane from Austin. Emmani had made it to California in record time, but Joshua had been released from the hospital by the time that her plane had even lifted off from Texas.

  “He’s doing okay, Emmani,” Victoria said, taking Emmani’s overnight bag and setting it on the floor inside the foyer. “He was shot high on his left arm. They performed X-Rays earlier to make sure that there were no bullet fragments that broke off deeper into his shoulder. Luckily, it was just a flesh wound.”

  “So he shouldn’t have any permanent damage?”

  “No. The doctors said that he’ll barely even have a scar. They did give him quite a bit of morphine for the pain at the hospital while they were stitching him up though. He’s taking a rest right now, but should be up soon.”

  “Oh thank God,” Emmani said, closing her eyes in relief. “Who wo
uld do something like this? He’s supposed to be safe when he is at home.”

  “It’s my fault,” Victoria said softly, trying unsuccessfully to hold back tears.

  “What do you mean?” Emmani asked, a puzzled look on her face.

  “It was this murder investigation that I was working on. A big news story involving a shipping company in Texas. Apparently, someone from the shipping company got wind of my investigation and found out how much I have been able to piece together. They sent someone to kill me. Joshua saved my life.”

  “How do you know that this person was hired by this shipping company?”

  “His phone. The shooter had his phone on him and the last number that he called was Walker Cooper—one of the main suspects in former Congressman Richard Henning’s killing. Too much of a coincidence.”

  “It’s not your fault, Victoria. You couldn’t have imagined that something like this would happen,” Emmani said, wrapping Victoria up in a hug. She then navigated Victoria over to the living room sofa. She grabbed a few tissues that were sitting in a decorative box on a side table and placed them in Victoria’s hands.

  “Yeah. Well, it certainly feels like my fault. To have someone … someone that I love very much to be attacked because of a story that I’m writing …” she said, her words trailing off before she was able to continue. “If that bullet had hit him a few inches to the right, it could have been a very different outcome.”

  “But it didn’t. That’s what you have to focus on. Moving forward. And just for the record, I’m glad that you two are back together again. He loves you a lot, you know. Even if it took him a painfully long time to realize it.”

  “Are you two conspiring against me?”

  Both of the women glanced up to see Joshua standing in the doorway. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and a large square-shaped gauze was covering his wound. Emmani leapt up as soon as she saw him, and ran to give her brother a hug.

  “Hey, sis. You didn’t have to fly all the way out here to check on me. It’s barely even a scratch.”

  “Yeah well, I had to see for myself. I swear, trouble manages to follow you around Big Bro.” They stood there like that for a few minutes. Sister and brother. Making small talk and trying to forget that Joshua could very well have been killed today. After a while, Emmani put up her hand to excuse herself to take a call outside on her cell phone.

  Joshua walked over to the couch and sat down beside Victoria. He reached out his right hand to squeeze Victoria’s knee. “How are you holding up, Vicki?”

  She cocked her head to look at him curiously. “How are you holding up, you were the one who was shot.” She leaned into him, kissing him on the cheek. She placed her hand on his chest, reassuring herself that he was still there with her, that his heart was still beating.

  “I’m just sorry that you had to see that. That you were in danger.” His eyes darkened with anger. Victoria glanced down and saw that he had clenched his fists. He looked away for a second, as if to get a hold on his emotions before turning back to her.

  “The Dallas Police Department said that they have enough evidence against both Walt Mickelson and Walker Cooper to indict them on the murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges. Turns out that Walker Cooper got wind of the fact that Richard Henning was trying to cut a deal with the Feds behind his back in regards to the drug investigation, and decided to have him killed. No one left to point the finger at him.”

  “Really, now? Well, you know what they say: ‘No honor among thieves.’ At least it’s over now.” They just sat there like that for several seconds, holding on to each other.

  “There’s something else that I wanted to talk to you about. Earlier, before the craziness happened.”

  “What was that?”

  “Two days ago, I received a cable news correspondent job offer.”

  “Really, wow. That’s … wow, really great. That’s something that you’ve always wanted,” he said, staring into her eyes. She saw genuine happiness for her achievement reflected back.

  “Yeah. It is. The problem is … well the problem is that the anchor position is in New York City.”

  “Oh.” Yeah oh.

  The silence in the space between them was so encompassing that the tick tick tocking of the kitchen wall clock seemed like it had made a home inside her head.

  “Well, you know. That’s uh, really great,” Joshua said, breaking the silence. Then clearing his throat he continued, “That’s a huge opportunity Vicki. I mean working for a cable news network? That’s always been your dream career. If you pass on the opportunity, you may not get it again and that is a lot to give up. I don’t want to stand in your way.”

  “Yeah, I know. You’re right it is. But you’re an awful lot to give up too, Joshua.” Her words were slightly above a whisper. There were so many things that she wanted to say to him. But she wasn’t quite sure how.

  “It doesn’t mean that we have to break up. A lot of people do long distance relationships, you know.”

  “Yeah, that’s true. But how many of them actually work out in the long run?” He didn’t say anything, just entwined her hand into his, stroking her skin with his thumb.

  “I’m away a lot too for my work, so I understand. I don’t want you to give up your dream career for me.”

  “As much as I have always wanted to have the flashy cable news job, I’ve realized that now I want something more.”

  “What do you want?”

  “You.” That one word was probably the hardest thing that she had ever had to say. She had completely exposed herself to Joshua with that one syllable. He could easily reject her. Say that what they had was good, but he didn’t really want anything more from her. Instead, he kissed her, wrapping his arms tightly around her. Then he said the one word that proved to her that he was always the man that she knew him to be.

  “Stay.”