Her Chosen Protector: Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 3)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “Hold on, Ezio is coming through on the radio.”

  Asher strained to listen, but he couldn’t make out what the man was saying. Finally, the talking stopped.

  “Did you hear that?” Max asked.

  “No.”

  “He’s at the gate to the vault. It’s been destroyed. It’s wedged against the door of the vault.”

  Asher and Eden looked at one another. Asher remembered just how sturdy that steel gate was. “I’m hanging up now, Max. Have Ezio call me.”

  “Yep.”

  It felt like forever before his phone rang. Eden had a calm look on her face, but he knew it was bullshit because her hand on his forearm might possibly leave bruises.

  “Asher,” Ezio said before Asher could say a thing. He sounded out of breath. “How are you doing?”

  “Hanging in there.”

  “Damn glad to hear it. We’re going to get you out of there, don’t you worry.”

  “I wasn’t worried until you told me not to worry,” Asher said sarcastically. “Your bedside manner sucks.”

  Ezio huffed out a laugh. “Cut me some slack, man. I’ve been sweating up a storm trying to crawl through this maze.”

  “Don’t bitch to me, you do this for fun. You’re just getting a chance to do your weekend workout on the job, so be happy.”

  Ezio laughed again. “Right now, I’m going to try to crawl under the gate to see if there is any way I can leverage it up off the door. I’m hoping there’s something underneath the gate that I can shove up under it. If I was a really good boy this year, maybe I can find something to use as a fulcrum.”

  “We can only hope.”

  “Hanging up now.” Asher’s phone went dead. He quickly tried to think of something to take Eden’s mind off of their predicament.

  “What’s your friend Kane doing right now? Can we get him on your phone?”

  “We can try, but I’m betting he and Cullen are securing some transport other than a food truck to get everybody to the plane, or they have eyes on what’s going on with the secret police to keep Max and Leo appraised of the situation.”

  Eden’s expression was fierce. “I need Kane to let Leland know everything he’s found out about Becker. Leland will be able to have everyone coming down on him like a ton of bricks as soon as he hits Puerto Rico.”

  “He has that much power?”

  “Oh yeah, he can get that done. I don’t want Becker disappearing into the wind.”

  “Let’s make this fast.” He got Max back on the phone and explained the situation. It was like Asher thought—Kane was a block away from the bank on a rooftop, keeping watch on the secret police’s operation. Max promised that Kane would call Leland from his current position and fill him in with the details.

  What?

  Asher almost lost his footing as the vault shook.

  “Ouch!” Eden yelled.

  “Eden, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I bumped hard into the table. What was that sound? Why did the vault move? Was it Ezio? Is he okay?”

  “No, it came from the safety deposit wall.”

  Asher called Max.

  “What was that?”

  “What was what?”

  “Something just felt like it hit and shook the vault. Did they hit us with charges?”

  “Hold on, I’m getting a report from Kane.”

  He and Eden looked at one another.

  “It was the earthmover,” Max said. “It slid down into the hole it was creating. According to Kane, one of the secret police was operating it.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding, who manages to do that?” Asher exclaimed. He turned to Eden, “There goes the possibility of creating a ramp for the tank to go down.”

  “Huh?” Max said.

  “Never mind,” Asher said. “Check with Kane, see if they are going forward with the dynamite and pentolite.”

  “Will do. Ezio briefed me on the problem with the door. He and the others will get it figured out, don’t worry.”

  “Don’t tell me not to worry, it makes me worry more.”

  “Fair enough,” Max sighed.

  “Hey, I just thought of something,” Eden interrupted. “We said that the concussion would likely kill us if they did the dynamite thing. What would it do to the safety deposit boxes?”

  “It’ll blow up the ones that are directly near the blast, but the others will be fine,” Asher answered.

  “How big of a hole are we talking?” Eden wanted to know.

  “If they’re smart, no more than two-by-two meters.”

  They both looked over at the huge wall of boxes and realized that would leave hundreds of boxes intact, if not over a thousand. It would be worth it.

  “How soon will they get it done?” Eden asked Max.

  “Ms. York—”

  “All things considered, can it with the Ms. York and call me Eden. Will Ezio get the door open before they blow us up?”

  “Absolutely. Kane and Cullen are trained snipers. As soon as they look close to having this put together, they’re going to hit the dynamite before they get down in the hole.”

  Asher grinned. He liked it. Still, he’d like to be out of the vault first, just in case they couldn’t get off the shot.

  “Nic said he’s trying to call you. Need to hang up now.”

  He did, then his phone immediately vibrated. It was Nic. “Yeah?”

  “We have a plan. Raiden and Ezio found a piece of rebar that they plan to use as a lever. Part of the gate twisted, so they can use that as the fulcrum. They really think they have a good shot of getting the gate pushed away for a minute, maybe two. That’s all the time you’ll have to squeeze out when I put in the passcode. We need you ready as soon as the door clicks open.”

  What Nic wasn’t saying was, if they lost the battle holding the gate, he or Eden could be crushed as the door slammed shut.

  “Got it.”

  “I’m keeping the line open, so you know what’s going on.”

  “Good.”

  The kid hadn’t put his phone on speaker, and that must be Raiden’s doing. Apparently, this was not a good situation.

  “Got your shoes?”

  Eden pointed downwards. Ash nodded in approval. “They’ve brought something better for you to dress in as you climb through the mess to get to safety.”

  “You guys really are Boy Scouts,” she teased.

  “I was an Eagle Scout, ma’am.” Nic’s voice was proud.

  “How stable is the building out where you are?” Asher asked, just killing time.

  “Nothing moved while we were spelunking. I might take this up as a hobby. Ezio says he’ll take me caving sometime.”

  “Great, now you’re going to—”

  “They’ve got the gate moved. I’ve put in the code and I’m opening the door.”

  Asher had Eden positioned to go first.

  He could see Nic through the door, straining to keep it open. Shit, it was going to be a tight fit even for Eden.

  She saw it.

  “Asher?” she looked back at him.

  “No time,” he said, as he started pushing her through.

  As he squeezed through a little bit, he could see what Raiden and Ezio were doing. It wasn’t looking good. He shoved her hard into Nic’s arms.

  “Raiden?” he yelled.

  “Gotta hurry, man.”

  “You gotta give me more room.”

  He started through, trusting that his team would make it happen. His head, left shoulder, and left leg were in, but there was no way his chest was going to make it.

  “Three inches, I just need three inches,” Asher called out.

  Asher was sweating bullets. He might trust his team, but what happened if the rebar snapped?

  Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

  He pushed at the door, trying to help. Did it just move?

  “Now!” Raiden cried out.

  The door gave another two inches at most. Eden grabbed his left hand and yanked.
He pushed off on his right leg. His shirt tore.

  “Thorne!” Raiden shouted. “Now!”

  He shoved for all he was worth.

  Asher actually felt the door snip at his boot as it slammed shut, but he made it. He made it.

  Eden still had his hand gripped in both of hers as she was sitting on the rocky floor. Raiden, Nic, and Ezio were holding a snapped piece of rebar.

  Talk about a team effort.

  “You good?” Raiden yelled over at him.

  “Good as gold.”

  Raiden chuckled at his pun. Eden didn’t.

  She grabbed him around the neck and gave a rebel yell.

  All four men laughed, albeit tiredly.

  Eden gratefully pulled on the jeans and the long-sleeved sweatshirt that Nic handed to her. The clothes kind of fit, and that was all that mattered. They had even gotten her a pair of gloves and some Venezuelan version of Skechers that didn’t come close to fitting in any way shape or form, but the thick socks were a Godsend.

  She looked Raiden and Ezio over to see if they were all right. She’d seen her brothers after they tried to do something stupid like prove to each other who could lift a tractor tire, but these two men didn’t even look out of breath.

  “Eden, you’re going to be behind me. I’m going to go slow, but Asher will be behind you so he will tell me if you’re getting tired.”

  She nodded. She hated to admit it, but sometimes she pushed too hard and then ended up in a heap. It was good that they would be watching her. On the smart side, she’d been staying hydrated, so that would help.

  “Raiden and Nic, you’re taking the rear. Any questions?”

  Everybody shook their heads.

  “Let’s get moving.”

  Even the first little bit was hairy. They had to climb over the gate, but pieces of rebar were sticking up from underneath, and it was sharp. Ezio was good—he pointed out every single movement he made, where to put her knees and hands when he was crawling, and where to put her feet when she was shimmying through tight spaces.

  “Do you coach caving?” she yelled, her breath labored.

  “Hold up,” Ezio said into his mic.

  “Why are we stopping?”

  “I need some water. So, do you.” He was such a liar. He’d heard her gasping for breath. She shouldn’t have talked.

  As soon as he handed her a canteen and she took a slow sip, she didn’t care how big of a baby she was, she was just grateful. She couldn’t tell where they were exactly, because the documents room had caved onto the basement vault floor, and there were gaps higher up where the marble lobby floor had collapsed.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We got in through the west door on the third floor. We had to climb down the wreckage to get to the basement, but the door itself is now open.”

  “West. Is that the one near the ladies' bathroom?” Eden asked.

  “Yep.”

  She took another sip of water and went to hand the bottle back to Asher, but he held up his canteen. “Nic provided,” he explained.

  She gave hers back to Ezio. “Okay, I think I’m ready.”

  “Okay, because here’s where it gets a bit tricky.”

  “Oh, great,” she mumbled.

  Asher stayed inches behind Eden as Ezio took them up and over some crumbling cement and rebar.

  “I don’t remember this being such a far walk from the vault to the ladies’ room,” Eden quipped.

  Then she slipped back a little bit into Asher. “Or as treacherous.”

  “It’s okay, we’ve got you covered.” He held her for a moment as she took a deep breath. Ezio had stopped and come back a couple of moves so he could show her again how to navigate the path.

  “Thanks, guys, I’ve got it now.”

  “We’re almost there.”

  “Then we just have to get past the secret police, right?”

  “Carnival is still going on, they’ve just steered it around the bank. We’re still going to use it as a cover. Don’t worry, we have a plan.”

  “A plan-plan, or a some-shit-plan?” Eden asked. “Because a some-shit-plan is usually best in these types of circumstances.”

  “Ignore her,” Asher advised Ezio.

  “We need to get going. It’s not too much further. And it’s a plan-plan,” Ezio told Eden.

  “Ow.” She cried out, then tried to cover it with a laugh.

  Asher saw what had happened—her foot had stepped on exposed rebar.

  “Stop!” he roared.

  “It’s nothing,” Eden protested.

  Asher grabbed her ankle so that he could see her foot. Some blood was showing on the outside of her sock. He gently pulled her shoe and sock off and saw where it had sliced a two-inch gash along the inside of her arch. At least it wasn’t on any of her pressure points and it wasn’t a deep cut. He heard shuffling behind him. He didn’t need to turn around to know that Raiden and Nic were changing places.

  “Move,” Raiden said.

  “You’ve got a med kit?” Asher asked, since his teammate wasn’t carrying his backpack.

  “It’s in my utility pouch.” Raiden had already pulled out some antibiotic ointment, bandages, and gauze.

  “Damn, Eden, I thought I might be able to do a little sewing here in the darkness and rubble, but you didn’t cut it deep enough,” Raiden teased.

  “I’ll try harder next time,” she promised.

  As soon as he was done, he scooched back behind Asher and resumed his position at the back of the line.

  Asher stayed as close as a flea on a dog for the next forty-five minutes it took to get them to the door. Of course, there were no whimpers coming from the York camp. Nope, not from my girl.

  Ezio immediately checked that the door could still open when they reached it. It could. All five of them huddled close to freedom, Asher holding most of Eden’s weight, so she didn’t have to put it on her foot.

  Cullen had been talking to their group on and off for the last forty-five minutes, promising them that he had a plan-plan to get them safely to the Azua hacienda.

  “If it includes a food truck or a parade float, I’m not interested,” Asher gritted out.

  Cullen laughed. “I think you’ll like this. It’s got style.”

  Even though Asher had his radio on speaker for Eden’s sake, he knew she couldn’t hear it in the confines of their ‘cave’.

  “I don’t care if it’s a party limousine, how in the hell are we going to get past all the secret police?”

  “Kane has a plan-plan,” Cullen chuckled.

  “Lyons, quit being coy and fill us in,” Asher damn near shouted.

  “I would if I could. But first, everything has to happen the way we need it to. So, just sit your happy asses down for five minutes, and let’s just see if everything works out the way we think it will.”

  “Well, tell me this—do you have a back-up plan?” Asher asked sweetly.

  “It involves a food truck.”

  Asher stopped asking questions.

  Chapter 16

  “I’m not going to drive up until the explosion. I don’t want anyone looking your way. Ezio, you know that the only reason they’ve stayed away from this entrance is because part of the wall fell on that truck, so everybody thought this entire wall was compromised.”

  “Only because it is,” Ezio ground out.

  “Don’t be a whiner,” Cullen chided.

  “Anyway, I’ll tell you the second I’m driving up. We have to wait until Kane and Max do their diversion.”

  “What’s that?”

  “They still haven’t gotten to the point where they can deploy the dynamite and pentolite. So Max is on recon to find out where they’ve stored the explosives. If he can set charges without getting himself killed, great. If not, then they’ll arrange for a grenade launch.”

  “Got it.”

  “Be ready.”

  “The story of our lives,” Eden muttered.

  Asher looked down at the wom
an at his side and pulled her in even closer. They needed to take this fast, but easy. Ezio caught his eye and sidled over to Eden’s other side. She gave a put-upon sigh when he eased an arm around the other side of her waist.

  “I hate being an invalid.”

  “Suck it up, Woman. We’ve all been there,” Ezio admonished.

  “Can you hear me?” Max whispered through their receivers. Ash turned his up so Eden could hear.

  “Yep,” Asher answered.

  “Got the explosives targeted. Kane’s going to Cullen. I’m taking the shot. I’ll do a countdown after Kane gets to Cullen.”

  “How are you getting back to the hacienda, Boss?” Cullen asked.

  “I’ll figure out something. If I’m late, you men get the coalition members to the plane. Do you understand?”

  “But—” Eden interrupted.

  “Not now,” Asher shushed her. “Trust Max.”

  They all heard the roar of an explosion through their receivers. “Bullseye,” Max’s voice was filled with satisfaction.

  “I’m almost to Cullen, he’s at the doorway,” Kane said.

  “Come out,” Cullen yelled. “I’m in the ambulance.”

  The back doors of the ambulance were being flung open as they came out the door and ducked under a portion of cement wall. Eden stumbled but Ezio and Asher kept her upright.

  “We’ve got company,” Kane yelled as he knelt down alone on the right side of the vehicle. He aimed his MK 46 and started shooting at the oncoming men. Cullen was inside the ambulance and he pulled Eden in as Ezio and Asher threw her at him.

  Ezio turned to get into the firefight with about eight to ten fighters headed at them, but Raiden and Nic were already in it, their rifles making mincemeat of the secret police.

  The shooting was dying down. “Up!” Ezio yelled to Asher. Before he could comply, he saw Kane take a hit. Must have been a sniper, he thought as he ducked under the door to help Kane.

  “I’m fine,” Kane said as he pushed up from the ground. His shoulder said otherwise.

  Asher pulled Kane back under the door. Nic and Raiden were in the ambulance with Eden and Cullen. Ezio helped push Kane up into the back. Asher and Ezio got into the vehicle and rushed to shut the doors.

  That’s when Asher felt the bullet hit him. He flew backwards into the ambulance.