by Cat Johnson
If there was a way to make it work, Jon wouldn’t mind exploring it with Ali.
Now it might be too late.
“Fuck. What’s going on?” Zane’s question brought Jon’s attention back to the situation.
A civilian dressed in Muslim garb was being brought through the police lines.
“That’s the guy who works in the twenty-four hour market on the corner,” Rick answered.
“What the fuck are they doing?” Jon frowned as they handed him the megaphone. “Making him the interpreter?”
Chris watched the action. “Someone must have called and told the police the hostage-taker wasn’t speaking English.”
Someone probably being the very command who’d refused to let Jon’s unit—or hell, any unit available from Dam Neck or even Little Creek—step in.
“That’s crazy. He could be saying anything to the gunman, and they won’t know.” Rick’s panic visibly rose. “Hell, he could be an accomplice.”
It was true. Jon knew a few words and phrases but not enough to interpret the fast amplified babble now spewing from the megaphone.
“Shh. Let me listen.” Zane was the most proficient in the language. “They know who you are. Put down your weapons and come out with your hands up.”
“What happened to stalling? Asking for his demands? Calming him down? Trying to convince him to release the hostages?” Tangling his hands in his hair as if he was ready to tear it out, Rick looked ready to crawl out of his skin.
Jon had to fight the urge to rip the megaphone from the hands of the ad hoc interpreter who was fouling everything up.
“We got more worries, boys.” Chris tipped his chin towards the sidewalk. “They’re moving in with an assault team.”
Off to the side of the entrance, out of view of the bank windows, well armed black-clad men were stacking up.
Before Jon could react, the point man blew out the bank’s front glass and the S.W.A.T. team rushed forward. The sound of automatic weapon fire was fast obliterated by a blast that rocked the building.
Debris both large and small reached where they stood all the way across the street.
As police and civilians alike ducked for cover, Rick took off toward the explosion, which meant Jon, Zane and Chris were right behind him.
In the post-blast confusion, it took the guys in charge a few seconds to notice them running in. Then they were on the megaphone calling them back.
“His sister is inside!” Chris shouted over his shoulder as he ran side-by-side with Jon. It felt like it had on so many missions before Chris had retired—them running together, toward the danger rather than away from it.
Zane glanced at the police as he moved toward the other side of the street. “If they fucking shoot at us, I’m gonna be really pissed.”
It would be pretty ironic to survive all they had, only to be gunned down by the good guys in the street of their own town. The dust and smoke from the blast hung in the air and obscured Jon’s vision, but there was no sound of weapon fire.
Jon came to a halt outside the building, wanting to see where the tactical team inside was before adrenaline and jumpy nerves had them shooting at anything or anyone who came upon them—if anyone was still alive and conscious after being so close to that blast.
“Darci!” Rick did not stop like Jon did. He plowed through the smoke and rubble.
“Fuck.” Jon hesitated barely a second before he followed Rick in.
Rick seemed to know where he was going so Jon followed. He heard Zane and Chris shouting for medics. The assault team must be down, but still alive.
“She said they were in the vault.” Rick skidded to a stop and reached for the vault’s massive door mechanism.
Jon internalized the significance of the fact that the vault door was closed and intact. The bomb had obviously blown out in the lobby of the bank, which meant the hostages could be fine, having been shielded from the impact of the blast.
Rick yanked on the handle and the door swung open. In seconds, Darci and Ali spilled out. There were two men inside as well, but Jon couldn’t drag his eyes off Ali. The sheer relief at the sight of her nearly took him off his feet.
“Oh my God.” Rick enveloped Darci in a hug. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Jon took a step forward to where Ali stood, shell-shocked, teary-eyed, and the most wonderful thing he’d ever seen. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head but didn’t speak. She was shaking so badly she was vibrating. He reached out and pulled her against him, wrapping both arms around her and squeezing tight. “Thank God you’re okay.”
“We closed the door.” The simple statement was muffled against his chest, but at least she was talking.
He forced out a laugh. “I saw. Good job.” What he didn’t add was that it might have saved their lives.
Ali glanced up at him. “We heard shots.” She was speaking much more loudly than she should be. Her ears would be ringing for a while as a result of the blast. “Tim closed the door just as we heard the bomb go off.”
Jesus, they’d just gotten it shut in time. Jon pushed that thought out of his mind. What ifs didn’t matter now. She was safe.
“I’m going to have to congratulate Tim. He’s a real hero.”
Thank God for whoever this Tim guy was. Though deep down Jon felt a little jealousy rise up. He hated that a stranger had saved Ali because he wasn’t able to.
No, that was wrong. He was able, but he hadn’t been allowed to. The anger rose again. Jon tamped it down. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. All this dust isn’t good for your lungs.”
He dropped his hold on her but she continued clinging to him with both arms. That was fine with him. Wrapping one arm around her shoulders, he turned them toward the exit and the devastation. He shielded her face with one hand so she wouldn’t see the gruesome damage that blast she’d so narrowly escaped had wrought.
“The EMTs are going to want to check you out.” He tried to get a look at her pupils to make sure they weren’t dilated, which would indicate a possible concussion, but her head remained pressed against his chest.
“I’m fine.” Again, she nearly shouted the response, proving the vault hadn’t completely protected those inside from all effects of the blast.
“Let them do it anyway. Okay?” He squeezed her shoulder tighter.
“Then you’ll take me home?” Those big, soulful eyes he wouldn’t mind staring into for hours met his. After taking note that her pupils looked normal, Jon began to allow himself to stop worrying about her.
He nodded. “Then I’ll take you home.”
This time he had no intention of leaving.
CHAPTER 14
The cell phone vibrated in Jon’s pants pocket.
He hopped off the sofa where he’d been watching some cartoon on the television with the volume turned all the way down and moved toward the open bedroom door. Ali was still motionless beneath the covers.
Jon pulled the bedroom door closed before hitting the button to answer the call. “Hey, Rick. How’s Darci doing?”
“Eh, she’ll be fine. I personally think she’s kind of excited to have a war story of her own after watching us have all the excitement for all these years.”
Jon laughed. “Could be.”
“Where are you now? Home?” Rick asked.
He’d moved to the kitchen and was currently searching for sustenance. “Nah. I’m at Ali’s place. She’s still sleeping and I didn’t want to leave.”
He didn’t want her waking up in a panic in an empty house. After the living nightmare she’d been through, there was a good chance she’d be haunted by bad dreams or wake up disoriented.
“Yeah, Darci’s wiped too. Christ, Jon. I could have lost her. I still can’t wrap my head around that.”
Neither could Jon, one reason why he’d tucked Ali into bed last night and held her until she’d fallen asleep. Then he’d stayed, watching her sleep for hours before dozing himself. This morning,
as she slept on, he finally let himself leave the room.
Rude though it might be to go through her kitchen to scavenge for food, he hadn’t eaten since before boarding the transport the day before and he was starving. He spotted a box of some kind of cereal he’d never eaten before and reached for it.
Bacon and eggs would have been his preference, but he didn’t want to go overboard while helping himself uninvited. Figuring cold cereal would have to do, he poured a bowl full and splashed in milk from the carton in the fridge.
Jon quietly opened drawers until he found a spoon. He dug in . . . and wrinkled his nose when it tasted like he was chewing on hay. Something that was that bad had to be healthy, so he figured at least he wouldn’t starve until he got something decent to eat.
“You been watching the news?” Rick asked.
“No. I’ve been avoiding it. It’d only piss me off more.”
Rick snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, no kidding. Two of the assault team are in critical condition.
Jon shook his head. “They’re lucky they’re not dead, the way they went in there like that, guns blazing. Christ . . .”
“I know.” Rick’s silence after those two solemnly spoken words told Jon they were both thinking the same—all the survivors were lucky to be alive.
The only casualty had been the hostage-taker, and he’d taken with him the reason why he’d been there.
Jon’s team, well-trained specifically in hostage rescue missions, would have done things so differently. Knowing the hostage-taker was talking to someone on the phone, they could have put men on the roof with listening devices to monitor what was being said. Once they’d been privy to his goals, his plans, and his timeline, they could have decided the next course of action. They might have been able to take him out without the vest exploding. Hell, they might have even been able to take him alive. Gotten that all important information of who was behind this and if there were more events like it planned.
Now, all they had was a dead hostage-taker, a destroyed building, a critically injured S.W.A.T. team, four traumatized civilians, and no answers. Not to mention a juicy story for the media to speculate on and manipulate to their liking.
“God, I’m tired.” Jon let out a sigh.
“So go lie down.”
“No, I don’t mean I need to sleep.” Even though he did. “I mean I’m tired of the bullshit. We should have been sent in there. If not us, then one of the other teams.”
“I know. Preaching to the choir, dude. But there’s nothing any of us can do about it.”
“Isn’t there?” The solution came to Jon like a light being turned on overhead.
“What are you talking about? As long as you’re under their command, you follow their rules.”
“Exactly.” Jon nodded, his pulse racing as an idea formed. “I don’t want to leave while she’s sleeping but after Ali is awake, I want to call a meeting.”
“What kind of meeting?” Rick asked.
“A team meeting.” Jon smiled as he said it, liking this idea more and more.
“Uh, I’m not on the team anymore. Remember?”
Jon shook his head. “For this, that won’t matter. How about we all plan to meet today, noon, at the bar. I’ll contact the rest of the guys.”
“All right. Call me intrigued. I’ll be there.”
“You’d better be there. I’m gonna text the guys, and then go check on Ali. See you later.”
“Later.”
Jon disconnected that call and then wrote a single group text to Brody, Chris, Zane, Thom and Grant.
I need to talk. Can you all meet at the bar at noon?
He hit send and then powered through the remainder of the cereal. While he worked to chew through each fibrous mouthful, the responses came back. He had to hand it to the guys, not one asked why and not one said no.
These men always had his back. He hoped they’d agree to continue to do so after he told them his idea.
Finally finished with the torturous breakfast, he rinsed the bowl and spoon he’d used and stuck them in the dishwasher. Satisfied he’d left the kitchen as clean as he found it, he crept back to Ali’s bedroom door and pushed it open just a crack.
“I’m awake.”
Jon opened the door wider and took a step into the room. “I’m sorry I woke you.”
He’d left the bathroom light on as a nightlight in case she woke up disoriented during the night, so he saw her now as she sat up. “No, it’s fine. I’d rather be awake. I’ve been drifting in and out in that state where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s a dream. I kept thinking I was still there . . .”
That she’d had to go through that tore him up inside. He moved to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. “Is there someone you need to call to tell you’re all right? Family?”
Ali shook her head. “My parents are in Florida so I doubt they saw it on the news. I’ll call them in a little while. I’m not sure I’m up to it right now.
“Okay. You hungry?”
She shrugged. “Maybe after I wake up a little more I will be. I wouldn’t mind some hot tea though.”
Ali flipped the covers back, as Jon stopped her with a hand on her arm. “No, stay. I can manage to make you a cup of tea.”
She shook her head. “I wanna get up.”
“Okay.” He rose from the bed. She swung her feet over the edge of the mattress and stood gingerly, took one step across the floor and stopped. Jon moved to stand next to her, ready to support her if she fell. “Are you dizzy?”
“No. Just stiff from sitting on the hard floor for all those hours, and then from being in bed for so long.” She glanced at the morning light filtering through the closed window blinds and then at him. “You stayed all night?”
“Yup.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to.”
She laughed. “Okay.”
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“There was a night I wished you’d stay and you didn’t. And then last night, while I’m out like a light, you stay?” Ali shook her head. “I just find that funny.”
“Ali, if you hadn’t been nearly blown up, there’s nothing that would have kept me off you last night. I’m sorry if that’s crude or inappropriate, but it’s true.”
She had no idea how true his words were. Not only because it had been a long time since Jon had slaked that particular hunger, but mainly because he’d almost lost her yesterday. That near miss had awakened a feral urge inside him to claim her, make her his. Lying above her, plunging inside her, feeling her writhe beneath him would have been a far better way for him to satisfy the need to possess and protect, than watching her sleep and making her tea.
She pursed her lips but didn’t speak. Instead she led the way to the kitchen and Jon followed. He let her fill the teakettle herself, even though every instinct in him wanted to make her sit down so he could do it for her.
“You know all those reasons you listed in July that made it stupid for us to be anything but a one night fling?” She eyed him where he sat at the small table, watching her move around the kitchen.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“Those reasons are all still valid. You still get called away all the time, sometimes for months at a time. You still need your head one hundred percent on your job and not clouded by a relationship. Nothing’s changed.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Jon wobbled his head.
He wasn’t trying to be coy, but he had a lot to think about, and his crazy seed of an idea needed the buy-in of a lot of other men before it could become a reality.
She set the kettle on the burner and turned to face him. “Jon, I could have died yesterday. My ears are ringing. I feel like I could sleep another twelve hours and it still not be enough to make my limbs stop feeling like they’re made of lead. You’re going to have to spell things out for me here because I’m in no shape to guess what you mean.”
He stood and moved around the table to pin
her between his body and the counter. “I know you could have died and I’m sorry that’s what it took for me to realize I want you as a part of my life. And no, nothing’s changed yet, except for me and how I feel. I want to try to make this thing between us work, and when I set my mind to something, I usually don’t rest until I make it happen.”
A small smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. “All right.”
“All right what?”
She rested her hands on his chest, before moving them around to his back. “We’ll give this a try. Whatever it is.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “We’re gonna start with us going on a real date as soon as you’re up to it.”
She raised her gaze to meet his. “I’d rather have it start with a kiss right now.”
“I can do that.” He covered her mouth with his, sinking in to the first of hopefully many kisses in their future together. He didn’t let it go on for nearly as long as he wanted it to, in deference to the trauma Ali had been through.
When he pulled away, she raised a brow. “You know, I wouldn’t mind more than a kiss.”
He let out a laugh. “Believe me, neither would I. But not right now. Drink your tea. Get some food in your stomach. Then, maybe, we’ll talk.”
A frown creased her brow. “Talk?”
He had to smile at her persistence. “We’ll talk about possibly doing more than kissing. Deal?”
“All right. Deal.”
“I have a meeting with the guys at noon. It shouldn’t take too long, but after that, I’ll be back here . . . if that’s okay with you.”
A small smiled bowed her lips as she dropped a teabag into a mug. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
“Good. Um, you might want to rest up while I’m gone, because if you’re still feeling up to more than talking when I get back, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. I was away for a long time, so it could get a little intense.”
“Promises, promises.” She smirked.
“Mm, hm. It is a promise.” He moved in closer, pinning her against the counter. “And I always keep my word.”