“I told you I’d kill you, motherfucker!” he yelled.
Warren fought and kicked at Colin, trying to get free, but the chain was too tight around his throat for him to do much.
“See you in hell.”
Colin lurched back, and Warren’s feet came off the floor. With a sickening snap, Warren went limp, and Colin dropped him unceremoniously on the floor. The door slammed open and two loud bangs rang out. I turned to see the man I’d stabbed drop the gun that he’d been pointing in my direction.
With his hands still cuffed and dragging a chain, Colin stalked toward me.
“Clear!” someone yelled from inside the room.
Colin didn’t seem all that worried about the new arrivals, so I remained on the floor, still too dizzy to move, and now with the added ringing in my ears it made standing damn near impossible. He stopped at my side and held his hands out.
“Get these fucking things off me,” Colin growled his orders to one of the men dressed in black.
Black gloved hands worked the lock on Colin’s handcuffs. Once his hands were freed, he knelt next to me and picked me up. Standing didn’t seem to be a problem for him. He lifted me as if he hadn’t received two severe beatings in the last few hours.
He looked down at me, and our eyes locked. “Is it over?”
“Yeah, sunshine, it’s over.”
My body quaked in relief, and I buried my face in his chest and sobbed, too overcome with emotion to say or do anything else. He was alive. We’d both made it.
It was over.
Chapter 16
“Six tangos down,” Brooks said, coming into the room. “How many did you count?”
“Only saw four. Warren and three others,” I returned.
“Warren? Charles-motherfucking-Warren? Piece of shit extraordinaire?” Declan asked.
“One in the same.”
I held a shaking Erin in my arms and watched Declan yank the masks off the men in the room. I didn’t recognize the one Erin had taken down but the other man I knew. We’d worked a CIA contract with him years ago. He’d left the agency and word was he was doing contract and mercenary work. Seems Warren had kept in contact with his old operative. Not good.
“All clear,” Max announced, joining us in the room. “The team is waiting. The helicopter is here.”
“Where the fuck are we?”
“Joshua Tree National Park. About a hundred and sixty miles northeast of San Diego.”
“Erin needs a medic.”
“We’re headed to Twentynine Palms. Z and the rest of the guys are waiting for us there. ETA ten minutes,” Dec informed me.
I didn’t bother sparing Charles Warren’s corpse a second glance. My woman needed medical attention. I’d died a thousand deaths watching Erin stab the dirtbag in the neck. His gun had been pointed directly at her chest; she was mere seconds away from being shot. By some miracle she’d gotten the drop on him, and they’d fallen to the floor. But the sound her head made hitting the concrete made me think she’d cracked her skull open. Thank God, it hadn’t, but there was no question she had a concussion. I wasn’t sure if she was the world’s bravest woman or the stupidest one. She could’ve been killed. For all intents and purposes she should be dead, the asshole had a clear, point-blank shot. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but we’d be having a conversation about her following directions and never putting herself in harm’s way again.
I followed Declan out of the maze of hallways and squinted when the harsh sunlight hit my face.
“Close your eyes, Erin.”
“I think I’m going to throw up.”
“It’s okay.”
“What is?” she mumbled, her face still pressed against my chest.
“To throw up.”
“I’m not going to throw up on you.”
“I’m not setting you down. So if you need to throw up, do it.”
With every step I took, my ribs screamed in protest. Her body jostling against the broken bones. Thad turned to say something and saw me wince. “Want me to take her?”
“No.”
“If you puncture a lung from carrying her—”
“Then the doc can patch me up. She’s not going anywhere.”
“Copy that.”
He jogged ahead of us and climbed into the helicopter. Declan and Max helped hoist me into the cabin. Once we were in, I damn near collapsed in the seat.
Every goddamn bone in my upper body felt like it was either cracked or bruised. Pain radiated everywhere. I tried to cover my grunts with a cough but even that hurt.
“Let me up.”
“No, sunshine.”
“I’m hurting you.”
“No.”
“But—”
“Erin, right now, no matter how much pain it may cause me, I need you in my arms. I need to feel you breathing. I need you close so I can reassure myself you’re alive. Please, just give me this.”
The pain was nothing compared to the relief I felt.
“Okay.” She burrowed back in and tightened her arms around me.
“You know,” Kyle started. “We had a bet going whether when we got to you it was going to be a rescue mission or a cleanup. Just want it known, I said cleanup. Good to see you, brother.”
“Fuck, you too, man. I thought we’d have a few more hours before you got to us.”
Now that all the guys had taken off their masks, I could see the concern etched in their faces. I hadn’t worked an op with Thad, Max, Kyle, or Brooks, but we’d trained with the Gold Team. They were a good group of guys. It looked like Declan fit right in.
“We were already in San Diego on standby. Something felt off. Greenwold went down too easy,” Declan told me. I was anxious to hear more about what he was talking about but right now with, every part of me hurting, I couldn’t concentrate on his words. I just wanted to hold Erin.
Thank God, she was alive.
Much to my extreme irritation, Erin and I were separated the moment we landed at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. The Marines of the 7th Marine Regiment didn’t fuck around. They’d welcomed us on the rooftop of the Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital with automatic weapons drawn at the ready and escorted us into the building. Declan promised he and his team wouldn’t leave Erin’s side as she was wheeled away from me on a stretcher.
I was hell-bent on walking into the exam room on my own and threatened to shove the wheelchair up the male nurse’s ass if he tried to get me to sit in it one more time. I wasn’t trying to be a tough guy, but it hurt like a motherfucker to sit, not that I’d admit it. I just wanted my ribs wrapped so I could get back to Erin’s side.
“Jesus, man. She’s not going anywhere,” Leo said as we waited for the doctor to come into the room. “Stop pacing.”
My team had all been there, waiting for us to arrive. Zane was pissed, and I was a little worried about what he’d do when I told him who was behind the kidnapping.
“Really? Is that why when Olivia was in the basement of the barn and was being examined after you rescued her you stood watch over her like a caged beast waiting to kill anyone who dared get near her?” I reminded him.
“So, it’s like that, is it?” The asshole chuckled.
“Exactly like that. I just want a fucking ace wrap so I can see for myself she’s all right. Is that too much to fucking ask around this goddamned place?”
Before I’d finished my sentence, the door opened and in walked Tom Anderson with a murderous look on his face.
“Tell me you took care of the bastard that hit my daughter.”
“I did,” I confirmed.
“I want a full AAR in my hands in the next hour.”
“Sorry, sir, but the after-action report is going to have to wait.”
“Come again?”
“The AAR is going to have to wait. All due respect, sir, after the fucking doctor gets me patched up, I’m going to Erin. I couldn’t give two fucks about any reports anyone wants. All every
body needs to know right now is Warren’s dead and my woman is scared out of her mind and needs me. Everything else is bullshit and can wait.”
“Your woman?” he asked.
“Mr. President.” His growl reminded me he hated the formality when we were in private. “Sir. Tom. I know this is a shit time to tell you this, but I’m gonna marry your daughter.”
Not the best way to tell a father you were going to marry his daughter. But I didn’t have the time nor the inclination to fuck around.
“Is that so?” He laughed. “Leo, mind giving us a minute alone?”
With a shake of his head and a smile, he left the room.
“Is that your version of asking for my permission to marry my daughter?”
“No, sir, it’s me telling you I love your daughter and I will do everything in my power to take care of her for the rest of my life. I’m going to make her my wife. Sooner, rather than later.”
The president’s head tipped back, and the room filled with raucous laughter.
“I see. Zane told me things had changed between you and Erin. Not that I was surprised. I saw it back in D.C. the first time you worked her detail. And I knew I was right, when you looked like a man beaten down when she was giving you trouble. No man I’d rather have by her side. If she’ll say yes, you have our blessing.”
I stared at Tom in shock. I hadn’t realized how badly I’d wanted his approval.
“Thank you,” I choked out.
“No. Thank you for keeping her safe.”
“She did that all on her own. No offense, but your daughter cannot follow directions. She didn’t stay hidden like we both asked. Instead, she risked her life and ran like a wild animal at a man with a gun pointed at her and incapacitated him faster than I’ve seen trained men do.”
“Sounds about right.”
“I love her,” I blurted out unnecessarily.
“Nothing more a father can ask for.”
The door opened and in walked a young doctor who looked fresh out of the academy. He took one look at the President of the United States and started stumbling over his words, like a star-struck groupie.
Christ Almighty, can’t a man get timely medical attention in this place?
Chapter 17
“What did the doctor say?” Colin asked from beside my hospital bed.
It had almost been an hour since I’d seen him, and, from his still wet hair and new clothes, I’d say he’d had a shower. Now that all the blood had been washed away, it was easy to see the green and purple marks on his face.
“I have a concussion.”
I was hoping he wouldn’t press and ask the severity but Colin being Colin wanted all the facts.
“How bad?”
“A bad one. Tell me about your ribs.”
“They’re broken.” He didn’t elaborate further; instead, he wanted to know more about me. “How bad, Erin? Did they do a CT scan? An MRI?”
“Yes, I had a CT scan. I need to stay here overnight. I’ll have an MRI in the morning.”
“Where’s the doctor? I want to talk to him.”
“Colin, wait.” I stopped him before he could go for the door. “I’m fine.”
“The goose egg on your forehead, the cut over your eye, and the concussion say otherwise.”
“And . . . how are you?”
“I’m fine.” He waved away my concern.
“Right. So the broken ribs and black eyes you have make you fine. But a bump on my head makes me not?”
“It’s not a bump, Erin. I heard your head bounce off the floor. Heard it. You were so dazed you couldn’t move. Baby, that’s not a bump, that’s a fucking brain injury. And let’s not forget everything that happened before that.”
“Believe me, Colin, I can’t forget—any of it. Not the house exploding, the gunfire, men jumping out of helicopters, watching you get shot, then beat to a bloody pulp. I remember it all. Crystal clear.”
I hadn’t meant to snap at him, but I wasn’t stupid. The last thing I wanted to do was die here in the hospital of a TBI after all we’d survived.
“Erin—” His tone softened, and he cupped my cheek with his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want to talk about my head right now. I just need you.”
The scrape of the chair on the linoleum floor made me wince and as much as I’d hoped Colin missed it, he hadn’t. He picked it up and carried it the rest of the way to the side of my bed. With his lips pinched together in a hard line, he sat but didn’t mention it.
“I’m not going anywhere.” His hands were warm when he picked up mine and inspected the bandage. “What happened here?”
“I guess the piece of plastic cut my palm when I used it to . . . you know.” He brought my gauze-covered hand to his mouth and gently kissed it. “I didn’t need stiches. A band-aid probably would’ve sufficed.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Kinda. I mean, I don’t, but I do. Shit, I don’t know what I’m saying. I think I just want to get it over with. Does that make sense?”
“It does. We can talk about anything you want. For however long you want to.”
I sat, trying to gather my thoughts. But the longer I remained quiet, the harder it was to get the words out. I wanted to spew everything out at once and never have to think about it again. It felt like I had a demon in my belly, and the longer it sat in there, the more venom seeped into my soul. I needed to exorcise it but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know if talking about it would make it better or worse.
Colin didn’t seem to be as tongue-tied. “I was so fucking terrified when the first explosion went off. All I could think about was we were out there all alone with no backup. If something happened to me, you’d be on your own.” His gaze zeroed in on mine. “That by itself gutted me. But knowing how scared you’d be if you were taken was worse. When I was hit, and darkness was pulling me under, all I could think about was how I’d failed the one person I wanted more than anything to protect.”
“You didn’t fail me. You jumped on top of me and covered my body with yours. You were willing to die for me. And I thought you were . . . I thought you were dead.” I almost choked on my words. When his body had gone limp, I thought for sure he was gone. I laid there under his heavy weight and wished I could follow. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life knowing Colin had died because of me. “Then I woke up in that room and you were chained up. I thought they’d hung you.”
“Did they hurt you while I was passed out?”
“No. I tried to fight, but one of them injected me with something and it was lights out. I’m not sure how I got the cut on my forehead, but I don’t think they hit me.”
“I’m so fucking sorry, Erin.” My chest tightened at the rawness in his voice.
“How did they find us?”
“I haven’t talked to my team yet. I waited for fucking ever for the doctor to come in. After the fresh out of med school kid looked me over, I took a shower and waited for the nurse to wrap my ribs and came straight here. Everything else can wait, you couldn’t.”
“Thank you. I saw my dad.”
“I did, too. How was he when he saw you?”
I’d been doing so well not crying but remembering the look on my dad’s face I lost it.
“He looked horrible. I’ve never seen him so angry and sad and horrified in my life. It hurt to see him stare at me with such anguish. He barely spoke.”
“You know he’s not mad at you, right?”
“He looked disappointed.”
“He is. In himself. In me. In the men who thought he could trust. He’s fucking angry at the world. At the men who dared to touch you. At every single person who was behind you being hurt. But the one person he is not mad at or disappointed in is you.”
“But—”
“No buts. He’s a man whose daughter was taken, threatened, and hurt. Someone will pay for what they’ve done. And they shouldn’t be afraid of Zane
or me even. When your father finds the men responsible, hellfire will rain down on them like this world has never seen.”
“I thought they were dead, the men who took us. That Warren guy—”
“Hey. You’re safe.” Colin stood and sat on the bed next to me, forcing me to move over. He gathered both of my shaking hands in his and held on tightly.
“But if there are more—”
“Erin. I promise you, you’re safe.”
I didn’t believe him. Not when this wasn’t over. I’d thought it was, but it wasn’t. And, suddenly, I was more frightened than I’d been when I was locked in the room with a bloody Colin.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Tex is calling in. We need you,” Zane said from the doorway.
“Then you can come in here,” Colin answered.
“It’s not secure.”
“Then you don’t need me. I’m not leaving Erin. And before you ask, yes, it’s like that. And, no, nothing will make me leave this room. My woman is scared out of her head and there’s not a goddamn person that is going to drag me out of here.”
“Christ. Can’t any of you keep your—”
“Careful, Z.”
“I was going to say, emotions in check.” Zane cracked a smile, showing off his dimples, and I knew he was lying. He would have said something crass if Colin hadn’t stopped him. “And here I thought Jaxon and Leo were crazy. But you? You had to go and fall for the untouchable. Please tell me you’ve spoken to her father. The last thing I need is to lose one of my best operatives.”
“I did. I have his blessing.”
“Well, fuck me running.”
“What? You talked to my dad about what?”
I was getting whiplash trying to follow Zane and Colin’s conversation.
“I did.”
“You told him? About us?”
“If by us you mean I told him I was going to marry you, then, yes, I spoke to him about us.”
“Marry me?” I nearly inhaled all the oxygen in the room and didn’t exhale until I started getting dizzy.
“Can you give us a minute?” he asked Zane. When the door shut behind him, Colin turned back to me and took my unbandaged left hand in his and toyed with my bare ring finger. “Yes, sunshine, marry you. This is not how I’d envisioned this going, but I can’t wait. One day soon, when I can get down on my knee without feeling like a rib is going to puncture a lung, I’ll do this again. I want you to be my wife. I want you by my side. I need you by my side. When I thought I was going to die, you were the last thought I had. The only regret I had before my eyes closed was that I’d never gotten to tell you how much I loved you. How I wanted more time, more days, more minutes, hell, even more seconds with you. You made me believe in love, the kind that burrows deep and courses through your veins. The kind that never ends. I’m not the easiest man to get along with, but, sunshine, I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy for the rest of your life. I’ll support you every way I can. I’ll cheer you on. I’ll pick you up. I’ll celebrate and mourn with you. Anything you want. All I need is you.”
Rescuing Erin (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Red Team Book 5) Page 12