Breathless: A Stalwart Security Series Military Romance: (Follow-up to The Alpha Company Women Series)

by Beth Abbott

  The only thing worse at that moment than the collective gasp of horror that he had actually doubted Hannah’s abilities, was the collective silence that had followed it.

  Ten people in a room shouldn’t be this still, or this silent.

  Hannah leaned forward in her seat, and in his mind, Tuck could almost see the cartoon image of her giving him a verbal tirade in response, and how it would blow his hair back with the force.

  “Tuck, sweetheart, I know it’s been four days. And do you know how I know?” Hannah gave him her sweetest smile. “I know, because for twenty-three hours out of each of those four days, I’ve been sitting at your desk, trawling through CCTV footage, going over partial matches on facial recognition programmes, and liaising with each of the Federal agencies to make sure that the minute Luciana Vega crawls out from whatever hole she’s been hiding in, we spot her and intercept her straight away.”

  “But…” Tuck began, but was immediately silenced, when Hannah held up a single finger to let him know she wasn’t finished talking yet.

  “And while I’ve been doing that job here, Sacha and Abbey have been working similarly long hours, tirelessly trawling through images and intel to see if we can find our targets anywhere on any CCTV footage in the entire country!” Hannah still smiled at him, but Tuck was starting to see the signs of strain and tiredness in her eyes that he’d not noticed before. “Believe me, Tuck, we’re doing everything we can to ensure that our families stay safe, and that we eliminate any threat. But of course, if any of you think you can do any better, be my guest.”

  “Hannah, nobody could have worked harder to track down Lucky Vega or her men than you, Sacha, and Abbey.” Tuck stepped towards the pocket rocket, slipped his arms around her shoulders, and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry if my words suggested I thought otherwise.”

  Tuck kissed the top of Hannah’s head before letting her go.

  “If my frustration came across as criticism, then it was most certainly unintended. I’m just trying to work out how it is that you, of all people, haven’t been able to track Luciana Vega since she arrived in Philly.” Tuck shrugged his shoulders to release some of the tension he was carrying. “It’s almost as though she became invisible the moment she disembarked the plane.”

  “It’s not just her, though.” Hannah pointed out. “She arrived in Philly with at least a dozen people with her, so you’d think we’d be able to trace a multiple room booking made at short notice. The Feds have checked every half decent hotel in the area looking for multiple room bookings made at short notice, but there’s been nothing. Either she’s staying in some two-bit flea infested rathole, or she’s borrowed a Winnebago for a couple of days.”

  “Somehow, Mrs Vega doesn’t strike me as a ‘Recreational Vehicle’ kind of woman.” Danny smirked.

  “The Feds have checked all the RV parks too.” Hannah smiled at Danny. “Nothing.”

  “Ok, so, if we assume that Hannah’s original lead was correct, because, let’s face it, she’s never been wrong yet…” JT noted with a smile. “Then where is Vega likely to have gone?”

  “Perhaps she had a contact in the city already, and they have her in a house somewhere, out of sight.” Marcus suggested. “Have the Feds also checked known associates of Luciana or Hector Vega, or her father maybe?”

  Hannah’s stare was possibly the most intimidating Tuck had ever seen it.

  “Marcus, honey… do you really think that the Feds, and that’s all the agencies, not just the local Feebies, as well as the military intelligence community, because you know I have friends in high places who owe me big favours, plus my little protégées, Sacha and Abbey, and I, are all as dumb as donkeys and wouldn’t have thought of that?” Danny placed a hand on Hannah’s arm, obviously as convinced as Tuck that she was about to launch herself at the next person to make a silly suggestion.

  “I was just…” Marcus voice trailed off as he realised that nothing he said was going to help.

  “If anyone can think of something we haven’t tried, then I’ll be more than happy to give it a go.” Hannah threw up her arms. “In fact, I suggest that you all brainstorm this without me, and write down every idea you come up with on one list. I’ll go for a walk, and when I come back we’ll see if you’ve come up with something we haven’t tried already. How’s that?”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, simply slipped out of Danny’s hold, and walked out of the room, leaving all her friends shocked, and feeling a little guilty.

  Candy stood up and went to follow Hannah.

  “Candy, no.” Danny stopped her. “Hannah’s just as frustrated as everyone else that she can’t get to the bottom of this. She’s not mad with you guys… she’s mad with herself. I’ll go and speak to her. Why don’t you just do as she suggested, and make that list?”

  Tuck watched Danny head out of the office in search of his wife, while everyone else started staring at their shoes.

  “Ok, rather than sit around feeling bad about what just went down, let’s do exactly what Hannah suggested.” Tuck took the seat at his desk. “Start thinking outside the box, people. Where could Lucky Vega be hiding?”

  “Hannah has already ruled out hotels, motels and RV parks.” JT recapped. “And from her outburst, it’s fair to say that she will have already ruled out known associates. So, where does that leave us?”

  “Apartment rentals?” Sara suggested. “Although normally you wouldn’t be able to get a rental agreed in such a short time-frame.”

  “What about one of the golf or country clubs?” Candy suggested. “They don’t always come up on hotel booking sites, so maybe Hannah’s search hasn’t covered them?”

  “Have we narrowed this down geographically?” Marcus suggested. “I mean, has anyone considered that she’d want to base herself within a reasonable distance from Gregor’s house?”

  “Gregor only lives a few miles from here, and like us, he’s outside the city perimeter.” Tuck pointed out. “There aren’t any hotels or golf clubs or anything similar within a three-mile radius that I can think of.”

  “What about empty properties?” JT suggested. “Is there any way of checking whether any of the properties should be empty, but aren’t?”

  Tuck tried to think quickly.

  “Most of the bigger properties have external security, which if triggered will send a signal to the security company.” He suggested. “Those companies will be aware if the clients are going out of town for an extended period of time, and they may patrol the properties while the owner is away.”

  “Is there any way of tracking down all the security companies around Philly, to see if they’ll provide a list of all the empty properties in the area?” Sara asked.

  “Yeah, because they always give that information out to anyone who asks!” Marcus chuckled.

  “Well, we can get the Feds to ask on our behalf, can’t we?” She turned a very cold shoulder on her husband.

  Tuck wrote down each suggestion as Hannah had instructed.

  “Has anyone done an areal study of Gregor’s property to look for weak spots in his security?” Candy asked. “It might be worth checking with Gregor to see if his team has access to satellite imagery. It might be something we can do while we sit around twiddling our thumbs.”

  “I’m sure they will have already looked at that.” Tuck suggested. “I’ll add it to the list anyway, but I’m fairly certain that Kris and Yuri would have that angle covered, if you’ll excuse the pun.”

  He finished writing, and then looked around the room.

  “Can anybody else think of anything?” He glanced from one friend to another. “Ok, then I’ll pass these to Hannah to see if it helps at all.”

  “If nothing kicks off soon, do you think you can persuade Danny to get her out of here for a few days?” Sara asked. “She works non-stop and worries constantly that she’s missing something. She needs a rest.”

  “If Danny was capable of persuading her to take a break, don’t you think he’d have done s
o already?” JT pointed out. “Nobody cares more for their wife than that guy, and everyone knows it. But even he can’t get her to stand down when situations like this arise. It’s like Hannah takes personal responsibility for the safety of the whole family. Nothing is going to stop that from happening this time, either. Not Danny, and not even CJ. We just have to let this thing run its course, and let Hannah work through it. Danny will be there at the end to catch her when her energy levels hit zero.”

  “Ok, well assuming he’s had a chance to calm her down, I’ll show her our list, short as it is, and see if it sparks off any ideas.” Tuck stood up. “And if you think of anything else… “

  “We’ll tell you and you can pass it to Hannah.” Marcus finished, ruefully.

  “Yeah, something like that.” Tuck smiled before going in search of the exhausted Queen of Badass.

  Chapter 35 – Danny

  If there was one thing his wife was bloody good at, it was hiding when she didn’t want to be found.

  That was something he’d discovered very early on in their marriage, and he’d come to learn all the various hidey-holes in their home where Hannah might go and tuck herself away.

  The problem now was that this wasn’t their home, and Danny had no idea where to start looking, or where it would be inappropriate for him to look, so it had taken him a while to search the house from top to bottom, because he was having to stop and knock on doors, making sure he wasn’t invading anyone’s privacy in the process.

  He’d just done a second sweep of the ground floor and was about to go back upstairs for the second time, when he glanced through the glass of the French doors and spotted a splash of colour where all he should have seen was green.

  Danny didn’t bother turning the kitchen light on, he just slipped through the door, and headed across the decking, shivering as the cool evening air hit his skin.

  Hannah was sitting by the edge of the pool with her back to him, looking like she was contemplating jumping in.

  “Honey, if you want an evening swim, Tuck has an indoor pool that is about twenty degrees warmer than this one.” He dropped down to the deck behind her and manoeuvred so that his long legs spread out each side of her, pulling her back into the warmth of his chest.

  Hannah was wearing a pair of cut-off jeans and a short-sleeved pink top, and when he wrapped his arms around her, he felt her tremble as the warmth of his skin penetrated her clothes.

  “I was just thinking how pretty Tuck’s pool would look if you filled it with goldfish.” Hannah let her head drop back onto Danny’s chest. “He could fit hundreds of them in there.”

  “I think he’d probably have to clean out the pool first.” Danny pointed out. “The chemicals in the water would kill them all, and you’d have hundreds of fish floating on the top. It would probably traumatise the kids for life.”

  Hannah turned her head and frowned at him.

  “Since when did you turn into such a sensible killjoy?” She asked, before staring back out at the pool.

  “Honey, I will never be sensible, and we both know it.” He kissed her cheek. “But I do have a fondness for goldfish, ever since we bought Adam those two shit-machines for Christmas.”

  Hannah chuckled even as she pinched him.

  “They are not shit-machines!” She said indignantly. “They’re pretty and cute, and Adam and the girls think they’re wonderful.”

  Danny held her tighter and nuzzled into her neck,

  “They are as cute as hell, I’ll grant you that.” He admitted. “But as the only person who actually cleans out their tank every week, I can say with absolute authority that those two could shit for Britain if there was such a competition. Have you ever watched them for any length of time? There’s never a whole hour goes by when they aren’t trailing something from their back end. It’s gross.”

  “You’re gross.” Hannah complained but it didn’t stop her from turning her body into his and nuzzling into the crook of his shoulder.

  “I’m not gross!” Danny denied. “You’ve never seen me with a trail of shit hanging from my jeans, have you?”

  Hannah raised her head to stare at him, and he took the opportunity to steal a quick kiss. When he raised his head, his wife was smiling up at him.

  “How is it you always know how to make me smile?” She frowned slightly. “Even when you’re talking shit?”

  “It’s a talent.” He smiled back. “I’ve always known exactly how to make you happy. It’s just that since we’ve had the kids, I’ve had to learn to be more inventive, and a little less public about it.”

  Hannah reached up and touched his face, cupping his cheek in her small hand.

  “You do know how to make me happy.” She whispered. “More than anyone ever has, even the kids, and God knows they’ve brought us more joy than I ever knew was possible. You just make everything in my life perfect.”

  Danny stared into Hannah’s face and noticed the tiredness and anxiety etched into the creases on her brow.

  “Sweetheart, when you’re given the greatest gift in the world, and then something threatens to take it away from you, you learn to appreciate it really quickly.” Danny placed his much larger hand over hers. “And of course, when that gift comes with the sweetest ass I’ve ever seen, well a man knows when he’s truly been blessed.”

  “You were blessed with my ass?” Hannah snorted.

  “Well, your ass, and assorted other body parts.” Danny agreed. “But if I’m honest, none of them hold a candle to your smile and your laugh. You slay me when you laugh. I feel like I won the lottery or something, every time I hear it.”

  Hannah slid her arms up around his neck and buried her face, planting her lips on his throat.

  She held on tight for the longest time, and he could feel the tension in her body gradually ebb away as she sank into him.

  “You’re the most perfect man on earth, y’know?” She mumbled into his shirt collar. “Perfectly gorgeous, and all mine.”

  Danny smiled over the top of her head.

  “Hannah, I promised you ten years ago that you’d never have to share all this hotness with anyone else.” He tried to keep his voice serious, but it was a struggle. “I’ve kept that promise, y’know. I’m still all yours.”

  Hannah leaned her head back and smiled up at him.

  “Damn straight you’re all mine.” She chuckled. “I told you if you ever left me for another woman, I reserved the right to keep the bits of you I liked best, pickled in a jar on my bedside table.”

  Danny winced.

  “Honey, that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m still here, I want that noted for the record.” He protested. “I’m here because I married the smartest, hottest, most beautiful, sassy, badass momma on the planet. And even when we’re both old and grey, she’s still gonna be keeping me panting after her.”

  Hannah’s smile was dazzling.

  “I love you Danny Simons.” She whispered.

  “I love you too, baby.” He dropped another kiss on her lips before pulling back deliberately. “But right now, I need you to tell me what’s going on in that genius head of yours. Something is worrying the crap out of you and you’ve gone all silent on me. I need you to talk to me, sugar. That’s our thing… we talk.”

  Hannah bit her lip as she looked down.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, Danny. Something’s obviously about to kick off, but I can’t find any trace of what it might be, or when it’s gonna happen.” Hannah glanced up. “I’m letting people down by not getting on top of this. Even Tuck is doubting whether I’m still up to the job.”

  “Tuck is doing no such thing.” The voice came from over Danny’s shoulder, and startled them both.

  “I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to make you jump, and I wasn’t eavesdropping, honestly.” Tuck held his hands up by way of apology. “I just wanted to let Hannah know that we’ve been having a think about what she said, and we’ve come up with a few things. You’ve probably already covere
d them, but here they are.”

  Tuck handed Hannah the list and Danny watched her tilt it towards the light from the kitchen, so she could read through it.

  “I have already covered most of this, but I hadn’t thought of a way of checking out the private properties in the area without going door-to-door.” Hannah scratched her head. “That might be worth looking into.”

  “Well, that’s positive then.” Danny smiled. “Something else to keep you awake at night.”

  Tuck frowned at Danny’s words.

  “Hannah, Danny’s got a point. You can’t keep going without sleep, y’know. You’ll wear yourself into the ground.”

  Hannah glanced up at Tuck.

  “Once this is all over, I’ll have all the time I need to sleep.” She insisted. “But if I don’t figure this out soon, who knows what could happen? Lucky Vega could attack in some way I hadn’t thought of, and the people we care about could get hurt.”

  “Hannah, the responsibility doesn’t sit with you.” Danny insisted. “We’re all in this together, every single one of us. You take on the lion’s share of the work because you’re the most capable and qualified, but that doesn’t mean you take the fall if anything goes wrong.”

  “Danny’s absolutely right.” Tuck nodded. “If anyone is going to take the blame for us being involved in this, it’s me. I took the job because of Alex’s involvement and dragged the Alpha-Stalwart family into this whole mess.”

  “Technically, if anyone is to blame for the Stalwart side being involved, it must be me.” Candy’s voice came from the kitchen door, as she stepped onto the decking. “After all, I gave birth to Alex, and it was his Marine team who got in a mess down in Colombia and needed rescuing.”

  “Well, if we’re going to start the ‘blame game’…” JT stepped out behind Candy. “Then I can take the blame for the whole of the Alpha team still being together after more than fifteen years, as if I hadn’t suggested starting our company, the guys would all have gone their separate ways. Oh, and I take the blame for us being connected to Stalwart too, because if I hadn’t saved Tuck’s ass twenty years ago in Iraq, he wouldn’t be here to tell the tale now.”