He closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to concentrate on the fact that she was alive more than the need to torture who’d ever laid his hands on her.
Or the cold hard fact that Aaron was the reason she ended up here in the first place. He needed her to wake up more than anything else so he could tell her he was sorry. He should’ve been there, it was his fault she was kidnapped and nearly sold into slavery.
When he thought about how close he’d come to losing her – Aaron swallowed, he couldn’t think about that. He didn’t really understand his obsession with Celine or why he needed her like he needed air. He didn’t truly know her. They’d only spent a few weeks together. But maybe it was like his grandmother, Noni, had said, she was his soul mate, the one that would change his life.
Before Celine had been kidnapped, he’d been training her along with Ethan and Kate in self-defense. Those last two weeks they spent every day together sparring and fighting and their attraction growing.
He thought he’d have all the time in the world to get to know her better. Even after she’d taken him to his knees with that soul scorching kiss, he’d fought the attraction. Unable to focus on the mission and Celine he’d chosen the mission, ignoring her after Col Grey caught him off post making out. Foolishly thinking he’d have plenty of time to pursue her later.
Only later had never come.
“Hey man, you’ve got her. She’s safe and alive because of you.” Ethan leaned in close from his seat next to them.
Aaron’s throat burned and he squeezed her tighter. “I should’ve never put her in this position in the first place. It’s my fault.”
“Hey man, that’s total bullshit and you know it. I was there too – remember? Neither one of us suspected a man on the inside. No one on the whole team did.”
“Yeah, but I should’ve never had her there in the first place. She was a civilian, she wasn’t trained.” No he’d been thinking with his dick instead of his head. They’d needed a second female to stand in on what should have been a cake babysitting mission.
“You do remember Kate right? My girlfriend? She was trained, crap she could take me down, and they still nearly got her, too.” Ethan’s voice took on a rough edge.
“I can’t stop thinking about what they could’ve done to her. What if we hadn’t found out about the meet? I would’ve never found her.” Aaron rocked forward and closed his eyes.
“You can’t think about it like that, you know that as much as I do. You found her that’s all that matters.”
“I know you’re right, I know I should be thinking that, but I can’t. Not when I know it’s my fault.” And not when he knew he’d hurt her at the wedding when he purposefully ignored her.
Ethan shook his head, his blue gaze unreadable. “You’ve just been handed a second chance. After being in the Teams so long, you know that people don’t get second chances. You better figure it out before she wakes up and if you really did hurt her – you better work your ass off to win her back.”
Every single word Ethan spoke rang true. His whole life he’d had it so easy with girls, he’d been raised with five sisters, and a stern and stubborn grandmother. He knew women and their idiosyncrasies, their quirks, knew how they could be as unbending as iron one second and then soft as a feather the next.
But Celine took all that knowledge and turned it upside down. She made him feel out of sync, off key – and for the first time in his life he honestly didn’t know what he would do.
The helicopter dipped and turned off course and Aaron sat up in alarm. “Where are you going?”
The copilot turned and said, “Been ordered to take you to a different medical facility.”
“Where? You’re heading west – I’m not aware of any major medical facility in this region,” Ethan said.
“I know, me either, but command just redirected us.” The copilot turned back around.
Aaron glanced at his teammate, who silently slid his hand down to the weapon at his waist. They had no choice except to go along for the ride, but they would be prepared. An hour later the helicopter landed outside of a lowlying adobe building on the edge of the mountains. Two nuns led by a priest pushing an empty gurney rushed out.
Ethan disembarked first, stopping the group before they reached the helo as Aaron climbed out with Celine.
“Who are you?” Ethan asked with his rifle gripped in his hands.
The priest, a weathered old man about as thick as a bean pole, handed over a small phone. Ethan took it and put it to his ear, leaving Aaron hovering near the helo, ready to launch inside if needed.
“Yes, sir.” Ethan disconnected the call and gave the phone back to the priest. And then he slung his gun over his shoulder and turned to Aaron. “That was Colonel Grey. The command wants her tended to here, they don’t want anyone to find out we rescued her.”
“You mean that we rescued Celine and not Caroline.”
“Probably. Grey said we can trust them here.”
The priest spoke up, “I know Mack Grey. I’ve stitched him up more than a couple times. I am a doctor and the sisters are trained nurses. I promise we will take very good care of her.”
Could he trust them? This could be another trick, another elaborate scheme set up by Mr. J to kill off the one witness to his kidnapping of Caroline Cotter. But this could also be the only facility that could properly take care of Celine and ensure her health. What if J had drugged her with some type of poison? Or she had a bad side effect – he couldn’t save her life in an army combat helicopter over the Afghanistan desert.
“What wounds did you stitch up on Colonel Grey?”
The priest answered without hesitation, “A through and through bullet in his right shoulder, a small knife wound you’ve probably never seen on his left flank, and then a gash on his left thigh that nearly took his life.”
Aaron took a beat – he actually had seen the wound on his commanders left flank – although he’d wished he hadn’t at the time.
“It will take you half a day to make it to another hospital,” the priest said.
“Fine, but I’m not leaving her side.” Aaron gently placed her on the gurney, stepping only far enough out-of-the-way so for the nuns to strap Celine down.
Both nuns were older, with kind eyes and cautious but efficient movements. The tallest one pushed Celine inside and Aaron stayed close on her heels. They went inside, through an open room with a few old chairs lined up against one wall and straight down a small hall, turning into the second door on the left. Unlike most mission style hospitals, this facility had concrete floors and electricity.
“I need room to move to examine her properly. You may stand over there.” The tall nun gestured to the corner. “I promise you we will take good care of her.”
Something about the woman put him at ease, maybe it was the fact that she seemed completely unafraid, or the thread of determination in her voice reminded him of his own grandmother, but he nodded and stepped back. “I did a quick check in the field,” he cleared his throat and fought to sound neutral, “she may have been violated.”
“Be at ease, soldier. My name is Sister Mary Catherine, this is Sister Mary Elizabeth. I will examine her myself and pray that isn’t the case. But if it is, I will pray for God to help her recover.”
Damn tears stung his eyes and Aaron hastily blinked them back. “Thank you.”
“Did she have any bleeding?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Are you her husband?”
The unexpected question caught him off guard. “No.”
“We must undress her to complete the exam. It won’t take long, and I will be as gentle as possible, I must ask that you step out of the room until we have completed.”
Both nuns stopped their exam and waited. Aaron felt every inch of their gazes. He technically had no legal claim to stay in here and definitely not any religious rights. But he didn’t want to leave her, not even for a minute. “I just got her back.”
“My beliefs do not allow me to un
dress her before a man not her husband.” Mary Catherine gently touched his arm. “Trust me, it will be better for her if we do this part while she is still unconscious.”
The nausea that had been present since he’d first seen her bruises squeezed his stomach.
Mary Catherine went to the door and held it open. “You have my oath that neither myself, nor Sister Mary Elizabeth will do anything to bring her further harm, and my only intention is to help this young woman fully.”
“Celine, her name is Celine,” Aaron said, his voice gruff.
“I will come and find you as soon as we have finished Celine’s examination. You may wait in the hall, or find Father Gerald, and he can direct you to the showers we have in the facility.”
“I’ll wait outside.” Throat tight, Aaron left the room, unable to restrain the feeling of dread when the door clicked shut behind him.
CHAPTER NINE
Have to run. Have to hide. Have to get away. Terror gripped Celine as she ran down the maze of hallways in the beautiful but deadly palace. Taking a left and right. Every time she turned the corner she was faced with the girl in the blue burka. She turned around again, her lungs locked down so tight she couldn’t breathe. Solana appeared again, only this time a face floated in front of the blue mask. Caroline Cotter’s face. Tears ran down Caroline’s cheeks the color of blood, her mouth twisted into wide silent scream.
“No!” Celine ran only to slam into a solid chest. Mr. Mankel blocked her, only he wasn’t speaking. He just stood there smiling down at her, frozen like the statues lining the hall. And then Celine’s captor appeared. Suddenly, she was on the floor. He ripped her clothes from her, pawing at her naked body and she couldn’t lift her arms to fight him, invisible restraints held her down.
“No!”
Celine woke from the terrifying nightmare to a dark room, her body shaking and drenched in a cold sweat. She attempted to lift her arms only to have them held in place by soft, yet firm shackles around her wrists. She tried to get her breathing under control, but the air ratcheted in and out of her lungs like a huge piston. Cool sheets covered her naked body and she felt a hard mattress beneath her back.
Where was she? Her mind whirled in a frantic tumble searching for her last memory, but all she could come up with was a blurry name – Dmitri.
They’d sold her – Celine bolted upright and was yanked right back down by a wave of dizziness and her restraints. She bucked and kicked, twisting with panic as she tried to fight free. She felt a sharp pain on the inside of her elbow, and then something warm running down her side and arm.
A loud beep sounded behind her and she realized with growing terror she’d been hooked up to some kind of alarm. So Dmitri knew she was awake? Was he coming for her now? Her chest pulled and burned with terror. Have to escape.
The door swung open and light filtered into the room. Celine looked up and saw the outline of a burka. She screamed.
XXX
“You’re flying out tomorrow if Celine is stabilized by then. Got the helicopter ride to Uzbekistan, and then a hop to Germany where I’ll have a private jet waiting to fly you both back to D.C. Right now, this is a classified mission. No one can know we’ve got her.”
Aaron dropped his head into his hand as he listened to his commander. Grey had just called to catch him up on the details. “What about the Russian? Did he survive the fight?”
“No, looks like he caught more than one bullet. But we had enough to ID him. Sven Panchenko, works for a wealthy Russian aristocrat named Dmitri Stanislov. Sven is his buyer. Seems like Dmitri goes through slaves often. If Celine had ended up with him, well, I’m glad she didn’t.”
Aaron concentrated on not crushing the phone. “Too bad we can’t pay him a little visit.”
“Sent his information to my contacts in the human trafficking task force, and I pressed upon them how important it is to national security that Dmitri be silenced.”
“What about Mr. J? And Caroline?”
Grey sighed long and hard through the phone. Aaron leaned back in the small cot they’d given him one room down from Celine.
He’d waited over thirty minutes in that hallway waiting on the nun’s report. Sister Mary Catherine had emerged from the room, the deep groves in her face drooping with weariness, Aaron had braced himself for the worst. When she’d reported that she’d found no recent evidence of rape, Aaron had nearly passed out from relief.
But recent didn’t mean never, and they would have to wait for Celine to wake before they knew the true extent of her experience in captivity.
“He was gone wasn’t he?”
“You’ve got to give it to that sneaky bastard. He’s out run death more times than a black cat with nine lives. The compound we raided had been deserted, except for a small staff of servants who’d been hired by a go between. No record of Mr. J ever being there. As of right now we’ve got nothing to go on, but I’ll keep you updated as I get new Intel. How is Celine? Wake up yet?”
“Nope, not yet, but she’s stable. The Father thinks she’ll be fine with some rest.” He’d taken a quick shower after the news and checked to see that she still slept before finding his own cot.
“If you want, I can have someone meet you at the next hop and take her back to the states. I can get you back to the Team straight from there.”
An opportunity for revenge against J - he could kill the bastard himself. But he’d have to abandon Celine. Again. “I don’t know yet. I need to wait until she wakes up, see if she’s stable.”
“Roger. Give her my regards and contact me as soon as you decide.”
“Roger.” Aaron hung up the phone. The concrete wall digging into his back wasn’t exactly comfortable, but at least he had a cot and at least he was close to Celine. That’s all he needed. Ethan had bunked in another room and Aaron could hear him snoring all the way down the hall.
Aaron tried to relax enough to get some shut-eye. They’d all gone nearly two days now with no sleep. But unlike Aaron, Ethan knew his woman was safe at home.
Not hooked up to beeping monitors and an I.V….
Celine’s scream ripped down the hallway. Aaron bolted from the bed, yanked his gun from beneath his pillow and ran to her.
Not again. Not again. Not again.
CHAPTER TEN
The room filled with florescent light and Celine slammed her eyes shut against the almost painful brightness. Fear gripped her in a tight fist and she twisted on the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest into a small ball.
Open your eyes. Where was she?
“Celine, sweetheart, look at me.” A rough voice penetrated the fog around her brain and Celine peeked into the concerned brown eyes of Aaron Speirs.
No, how could he be here? She must be having another dream. “Not real.”
Aaron barked orders over his shoulder. “Give me something to stop the bleeding, dammit.” Then he turned back to her, still the same soft expression on his features. “I am real. You were unconscious. My team and I rescued you. You’re safe.”
The cold had her on the inside, leaving her shaking. A bone deep kind of cold like she would never be warm again. It was too much to take in. “The girl in the blue burka. She was just here.”
Another voice, this one different, yet distinctly female filled the room, “I think she was having a nightmare when I came to check on her.”
Celine looked past Aaron’s shoulder. A nun in a black robe, her face uncovered and filled with sympathy, handed him a small white towel.
“Celine, this is Sister Mary Catherine, she’s been tending to your injuries.” As if scared he might break her, Aaron gently touched her right arm.
Celine jerked at the contact and he yanked his hand back, a flash of pain flickered across his gaze. “You ripped out your IV. I need to stop the bleeding.” He nodded toward her arm and Celine glanced down to see blood covering the bed and her body. And that she was naked from the waist up. She swallowed and stared up at Aaron as tears filled her eyes.
His gaze held hers as he gently answered her silent plea and raised the sheet.
“I’m – I’m sorry.”
“Hush, you don’t have anything to be sorry for. You woke in a strange place, scared and alone. I’m sorry I wasn’t in here,” he said.
He was looking at her with such understanding her chest squeezed and another wave of tears welled. Celine bit her lip, afraid to talk and not sure what she would say anyway.
“Honey, I’m going to take off these restraints. We were trying to make sure you didn’t wake up and accidently fall from the bed until the drugs wore off.” He offered her a small smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes at all.
“Okay,” she said.
His movements hesitant, Aaron pulled the Velcro bands from her wrists, his fingers brushed her skin for a whisper of a second and then he eased back. Celine felt the loss of that contact immediately.
Sister Mary Catherine came around to the other side of the bed and placed the stack of gauze near her hip. “I’m going to put pressure on the wound and then wrap it and get you cleaned up. Okay?”
The Sister waited for Celine’s nod of approval before tending to her arm. Her wrinkled hands moved with efficiency. The nun discarded the dirty gauze and then opened a small cabinet right behind her and pulled out a gown. All the while Aaron hovered protectively on her left, not getting too close or too far away. His presence helped take the edge off her frayed nerves and she silently prayed he would stay.
“Mr. Speirs, would you mind stepping from the room while I help her change?” Sister Mary Catherine said.
“Of course,” Aaron nodded and stepped toward the door.
Celine went cold. “No!”
He froze, his hand on the handle.
“I want him to stay.” Her panic didn’t start to ease until he was back at her side, holding the demons at bay.
Sister Mary Catherine clucked her tongue and said, “My dear, I can change you, it will only be a few minutes.”
“Please, don’t make him leave.” She felt like her mind was in a fog, unable to grasp anything that was real and only able to latch onto one truth – Aaron Speirs made her feel safe.
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