by Jana Leigh
Both of them were from foster families, and had met at a Christmas party for the poor, needy children. Arden laughed, her parents had money, they just couldn’t control her. She thought sourly about her parents. It was easier to just pretend she was an orphan than to think about them.
When she was fourteen, her father had an affair, Arden became very angry and acted out. Nothing major, just drinking, and staying out late. However, the one night when she was out and a guy she didn’t know robbed a liquor store while she was in the car waiting with her friends after they had asked him to buy it for them—was apparently the last straw. They placed her in the system, claiming she had been unruly. Who the fuck even said that word anymore? Arden refused to go back home when she finally realized she was hurting herself because of her father’s mistake.
She had not spoken to her parents in years; they obviously felt their only daughter was a disappointment. She was good with that. The only thing positive they gave her was her grandmother’s inheritance. Last year when she turned twenty-five, they had to turn it over, of course, not without a fight but she had won with the help of her boss. The fifty-five year old lawyer was more of a father to her than her own was. Arden knew if she called him he would help her, but she refused to put him in danger. Especially when she had no clue who or what she was dealing with.
When Dagwood died they notified her, she had been his only next of kin contact. She was put in touch with the family support. The last few weeks they asked them to call and check in regularly. No explanation, nothing, so Arden assumed it had something to do with one of the missions. Dagwood couldn't tell her about them, but she knew they were dangerous.
Last week had been crazy and she had forgotten to call in. Then she received a strange call from someone claiming to be with the family support. However, the phone number had not matched the one they gave her to save in her phone so she could recognize it. The man asked her questions she had already answered and Arden refused to give any information and told the man she would hang up and call back.
When she did, she found out it wasn’t the family support that called her. Looking back, she should have realized something hinky was going on. But it wasn’t until the following day when she answered the door to some very big and scary men that she knew something was up. She slammed the door in their faces and yelled she was calling the police. Of course, she didn’t, she threw clothes and stuff into a bag and got the fuck out of there.
Now here she was stuck in the bayou, camping in her Hummer, and considering trying to find a gun for protection, something had to give. Arden searched more for the number she knew she put in a safe place, she just didn’t remember where that was.
“Ah…ha,” she crowed to herself. It was in the back part of her wallet…nice. Now she needed to drive somewhere and call incase her phone was being traced. She was going to need a disposable soon. She couldn’t take the chance, but every time she went to stop, Arden found something suspicious and didn’t go into the store. At least she had packed her Power Bars, dried fruit, crackers and cheese, and a case of water. That was all she had for the last week, and they were getting low.
Taking a deep breath, she put her Hummer into gear and drove. Arden needed help and calling a SEAL would be the smart thing to do. This had nothing to do with being able to take care of herself, at five foot eight, she wasn’t a shirking violet. Her smooth black hair and green eyes were her best features, and although her frame was a bit lusher than the skinny models she saw all the time, Arden was in great shape. She ran three miles every morning, since she had gotten used to Dagwood draggin' her ass out of bed for the first few days when he was getting ready to go to Basic Training.
“Ma, you have to stay in the car,” Mason grumbled. A man on a mission with his mom, it was sad. In addition, the guys would never let it go. It would be, ‘ask your mom…’ the assholes were relentless. Even now, LC was trying to hide his smile as they stood next to the truck in front of Arden’s apartment building.
“Young man, I can protect myself, you know that. Remember who taught you to shoot,” Tulu Patrick said.
“Dude, come on.” LC laughed and pulled on his friends arm, at least he understood there was no fighting Tulu.
“She stays in the car,” Voodoo argued.
“I will not stay in the car! If something goes wonky, I have my squirrel gun. I can shoot a can at more than two hundred yards,” Tulu argued and pulled out the long gun and gripped it in her hands.
“Fuck, ma, you are gonna get arrested for carrying that in the city!” Voodoo yelled and grabbed the gun and put it back in the back of the truck in the cargo box and locked it.
“Hey!” his mother argued.
“If you want to come, you do it my way,” Mason growled. “You will be between LC and me at all times, no talking to people or waiting outside to look at things, you are with us, all the time.”
“Fine, Mr. Bossy Pants,” his mother said and slid out of the car and then adjusted something he didn’t want to know about, before smiling up at LC who was now not even trying to hide his laughter and said, “Lead on, Commander.”
Mason growled one more time and then slammed the car door and nodded to LC to proceed. This was why he hated involving civilians, too much a pain in the ass.
The three of them walked across the street and up to the second floor where they knew Arden’s apartment was. As they approached the door, Tulu paused and looked back at her son. “Something isn't right.”
Voodoo nodded, he knew better than to blow off one of his mother’s feelings. He saw the crack in the door first and cursed loudly, someone tried to break the door down, or Arden had a wicked temper he didn't know about and did this herself. For some reason, Voodoo didn’t think it was going to be the simple answer. If it was Arden, they could have put her in therapy and been on their way, now it seemed they were going to be involved in a mess. It really wasn't surprising after all.
He thought back on the last few months, first Sable and then Jolie, both came to the ranch and both fell in love with his friends. It was getting to be a pattern and Voodoo had no desire to join their ranks. He didn't need a woman. He was too fucking messed up right now anyway.
Although his mother seemed to think it would be a good idea, he was certain it was a bad one. He also had no intentions to play cupid for his friends. They needed to pick their own chicks. It was just damn embarrassing.
Voodoo turned to his friend and mother, motioned with his hand they should stay on this side, and he would get to the other. They needed to make sure the woman wasn’t in the apartment hurt or wounded. Barreling in on a strange situation could be stupid as well. His training wouldn’t allow it to happen.
Slowly he looked around to see what the apartment buildings layout was. If they had to get out quick, the way they came in was not going to work. Finally feeling confident he had a plan, Voodoo nodded slowly to LC, they were going to have to go in now to make sure the woman was not home.
Voodoo held up his hand and began the countdown for LC. Five…Four…Three…Two…One…
Chapter Two
“West,” the brisk but deep and sexy voice said into the receiver. Shit, she was reacting to another human's voice, the only answer for the shivers that ran up her spine. See what happens when someone is deprived of social interaction for long periods, they go mental she laughed to herself.
“Uh…hello? This is Arden Plane, my brother was on Team TEN, and I need help,” she whispered hoping he would understand what she was saying and not hang up on her. If he thought she was nuts, maybe she should go to the nearest mental ward and check in.
“Hang on, miss, let me get a pen and paper so I can get this down. Sorry, I'm on leave, but the Commander briefed us all a few days ago,” West replied and she waited and looked around.
She heard rustling. He was in bed, shit. Don’t think about it—don’t think about it or she would need a cold shower if she did. Her imagination was running in overdrive. Maybe because she had
been without a boyfriend for months, maybe because she felt lost and alone, or maybe because she liked the way his voice soothed her and made her feel like everything was going to be fine.
His sexy voice came back over the phone and she felt like she was seriously going crazy, a stranger's voice was driving her mad. Hell, he could have one eye and a parrot on his shoulder and she would still think his voice was something wet dreams were made of. Damn, think! You have a situation.
“Okay, sorry, now what was your name?” the man asked softly.
She took a deep breath and spoke clearer this time, knowing she was going to have to give information to someone who would listen was really the motivator. Arden silently threw up a prayer of thanks. Maybe finally something was going to go better in her life.
“Arden Plane,” she said firmly.
She heard a chuckle and blushed. He obviously thought she was a bit of a loon, one minute whispering the next practically yelling in his ear.
“Who is your brother?” West asked.
“John “Dagwood” Marse,” she said with a slight tremble in her voice, she cleared her throat and then said stronger, “He was part of Team TEN and was killed on a mission last year.”
She heard him mutter in her ear, not exactly sure what he said, she asked, “Sorry, was I supposed to answer that, 'cause I didn’t hear it.”
“No, sorry, I just knew Dag, and I'm sorry. I didn’t know he had a sister. My name is West Trete, uh “North” is my call sign, use either,” the man said softly and she felt the tears gathering, every time she thought of John, it was always the same reaction. The tough, hard exterior had been firmly in place, she refused to mourn her brother, which is not what he would have wanted. He always said, if something happened to him, he wanted a huge subway sandwich loaded to the gills, and a bunch of beer for his wake. No one was allowed to go to the funeral, he handled it privately, even she had no idea where he was buried. It was the way he was, and she respected his wishes, until a few months ago, she found that she couldn’t move on until she saw where he was laid to rest. She needed to feel the connection one last time between her and her brother. Until then, she had no closure, which was why she called the family support number to begin with.
Of course, they had called a few times before, checking on her, seeing if she was dealing, then a month ago she was sent a message to check into the family support, and all hell had broken loose. She kinda figured at this point, she had been stupid to call before she had a chance to think through it. Probably because the real family support was trying to help her find John’s grave. But so far, they had hit a brick wall, and she had hoped the message was an indication of a light at the end of the tunnel. She had been so wrong.
“Well, we were it, brother and sister,” she sniffled. “Listen, I am in a real mess here,” she started, “I need help. Since I called into the family support, there have been goons everywhere until I had to go into hiding.” She could almost feel the wheels turning in his head but he shot out a question, before she had a chance to think.
“Where are you?”
Arden paused she had to trust someone. “In my Hummer, in the bayou, hiding.” She laughed.
“WHAT?!” he yelled into the phone and she pulled it back and looked at the offending thing with a frown.
“Really? Like I don’t have too much to worry about, now I could possibly be deaf thank you very much,” Arden said snarkily.
“Sorry, I'm just worried. If they found you and you weren't there, then they are still looking, a Hummer has a beacon on it,” he said slowly.
“I am not sure what you mean,” she said.
“Hate to tell you, darlin', but most people don’t drive Hummers in the bayou,” he drawled and she felt her face heat up in embarrassment. Of course, they didn’t, in fact, the only vehicles she had seen in the last few days were beat up trucks.
“Well they haven’t found me, I move every day, now what are we going to do about it?” she asked in frustration.
“Listen, tell me where you are I will come to you,” he reasoned and she shook her head like he could see her.
“Fine,” she said and began to tell him exactly where to find her. After promising to be there in an hour, Arden hung up the phone and pulled her laptop across the seats. She needed to check in and her phone was a hotspot so the computer worked. Powering up everything, she waited not realizing that her location was being tracked through the IP address she was sending out.
West was driving as fast as he could without killing himself. After speaking to the Commander who at first thought he was responding to the recall they sent out five hours ago, he was stumped.
He initially called the call center at the base, then was sent immediately to the Commander when he explained the situation.
“North?” his commander said and West laughed, that was his call sign, his buddies thought it was funny calling him ‘North’, but when he found out they were referring to his sense of direction, which was spot on every time, he stopped arguing.
“Sir,” West said and grabbed his car keys, they were going to have to talk while he drove. He wasn't wasting one more second of time while Arden waited for him.
“Listen we have a situation here. We recalled everyone on leave for a reason…our SEALs are in danger. All of them, retired and current. Something fucking weird is going on and we need all hands on deck to get it sorted out,” the Commander said.
“Yeah, I know the situation, our comm guy already called to warn me. I will do what I can to help but, sir, we have an issue right here. A woman named Arden Plane contacted me. She said she was Dag’s sister and someone is following her,” West said and explained further.
His commander was silent until he was about to tell him where he was meeting her and then he interrupted. “Wait, don’t tell me. I don’t need to know where she is as long as she is safe. I will amend your orders for now. North, you are officially assigned to protect this woman. Call back when she is secure and let me see what the guys from TEN want to do. This is their problem as well.”
West nodded, he knew about the whole situation, whoever the assholes were that were trying to kill them, they had a huge surprise on their hands if they couldn’t already figure it out. It was a suicide mission for whoever came after a SEAL. West and his team would do whatever it took to help, once a SEAL always a SEAL.
He hung up the phone and then thought as he drove, he needed back up. They could run for a while but in the long term, they needed somewhere to go. If the Commander didn’t have a plan, he would have to take it into his own hands. The places he could think of weren’t places he would take a woman.
West pushed down the pedal on the gas and sped up. He needed to get to her and it didn’t have anything to do with his orders. When he talked to her on the phone, West felt a weird pull to her. Even if he hadn't been assigned, he would have found a way to help her.
Chapter Three
Arden closed the lid on her laptop, she hated she couldn’t let her boss know what was going on, but she refused to bring him into this mess. No, she needed to trust in West Trete, and the rest of them. If she could find a phone number she would call. Maybe he would know how to get in touch with the guys from Dag’s team. She had a feeling this was something she was going to have to tell them.
Arden turned, hopefully she had time to clean up and make herself presentable. It was sad and scary what she looked like in the review mirror. Hell, even the freakin' dog at the station took one sniff of her and backed away.
She crawled into the back seat, her windows were all tinted so no wandering person could just see in, and the SUV was big enough she shouldn’t have to worry about someone looking in unless it was the Swamp Creature. She laughed to herself, of course, she would think of the only movie Dagwood and her loved to watch on Friday nights when the weather sucked.
Her bag held everything she needed to clean up. Arden pulled out the last set of clean clothes, and underwear she had packed, the wet wipes, and h
er extra strength deodorant. Damn, she swore as she undressed and began to wash herself off, she was going to have a nice long bath with no interruptions when she finally got to a hotel. Then smelling her clothes, she added a new wardrobe, a spa day and a fucking shopping spree at Victoria's Secrets to her list. These assholes didn’t know who they were dealing with right now. If she were to be face-to-face with the bastards, she would kick them in the nuts, and give them something to cry about.
She kicked open the side door when she was done and used her water to brush her teeth. Good lord she felt like shit. Probably from sleeping in a Hummer for six nights and seven days. Well it was over, she refused to even think about having to do this one more night.
The sound of an engine turned her gaze to the entrance to the road she had parked on. Hopefully it was West. Arden waited and then the SUV with black tinted windows pulled to a stop about a hundred yards away from the front of her vehicle. Maybe he was trying to make sure she was comfortable enough for him to approach but this didn’t feel right.
Arden eased back into her Hummer and then locked all the doors and slowly crawled back over to the driver seat, thank goodness her car was as big as it was. The SUV was lower and she shimmied so whoever it was wouldn’t know she was moving to the driver seat. Once there she paused, what the hell was she doing? Arden knew she was feeling paranoid.
Peeking over the dash she saw there was still no movement in the front of the SUV, after squinting her eyes she realized she didn’t even see the driver that she had seen moments ago when he pulled up. Where the fuck was he? She cussed to herself in her head.