Brielle walked up the sidewalk to the house she’d visited three weeks ago. What an amazing and eventful three weeks it had been. A baby had been born, and she and Tim had made love for the first time. After that first time together, Tim had spent almost every night at her place. Not that she minded. At the back of her mind she was aware of the threat still hanging over her head. Dad hadn’t even yelled at her when she told him she was seeing a Navy SEAL and he was practically living with her. In her dad’s mind, she was being guarded by the man who’d saved her the first time, so she couldn’t be anywhere safer. She had found safety in Tim’s strong arms and lying in them every night was no hardship.
Even now her body broke out in goosebumps as she recalled what they spent their time doing. She never wanted it to end. Unfortunately, she couldn’t always get what she wanted and the reality of being in a relationship with someone who protected their country was becoming true right now.
Tim had left on his first mission since they’d gotten together. She’d put on a brave face when she’d kissed him goodbye, but she may have clung to him a little tighter and she thought he’d hung on to her a little longer than he normally did.
Brielle hitched her overnight bag higher on her shoulder and pressed the doorbell. Nerves fluttered to life in her belly as she waited for someone to answer. A second later a smiling Suzie stood, baby Emma propped up against her shoulder. “Hey Brielle, so glad you could make it. Come in.”
Brielle hesitated for a second before taking that first step inside. “Thanks for having me.”
The invitation to come and spend the night at Suzie’s had been a surprise, but one she wasn’t going to knock back. The other woman had been super friendly to her the day she’d met her. Brielle had worked out her life could be split into three parts, before kidnapping, post kidnapping and then post baby Smith being born into the world. Three huge life events that had changed the course she’d been traveling down.
The sound of laughter drifted down the hallway. “You can take this room if you like,” Suzie said as they walked past an open door. “Antonia and Erin are sharing the other room.”
Brielle entered her allotted bedroom. The walls were painted a pale, calming blue. The bedspread on the queen bed was various shades of blue and complimented the paint really well. “This room’s really pretty,” she commented and placed her bag at the foot of the bed.
“Thanks, Ryan finished it painting it last weekend.”
She faced Suzie. “I know you only just moved in, is everything sorted out now or do you still have renovation plans?”
Suzie laughed. “Oh, it’s not me driving all the updates, it’s Ryan. I swear he was the one nesting instead of me. But I can’t complain since he’s done a wonderful job.” She hugged her daughter tighter and the brightness shining around her a moment ago faded a fraction. “We’re going to miss him, aren’t we Emma?”
Tears glistened in Suzie’s eyes and uncertainty filled Brielle. Did she go and hug her, or did she stand back? This was only the second time she’d really spoken to Suzie. The baby chose that moment to let out a sound that could only mean one thing. “Uh oh,” Brielle said with a smile.
Suzie grimaced. “The joys of motherhood. You can find your way to the living room, can’t you? Erin and Antonia are already in there.”
Brielle nodded, and Suzie exited the room. She took a few seconds to get her emotions under control. Seeing a woman as strong as Suzie almost in tears, brought home to her how dangerous their men’s job was. Well she knew first-hand how dangerous it was. The rebels that had taken her hadn’t been pleased with her rescue. Hell, Ryan had gotten shot on that mission. Would her being here bring back bad memories for Suzie?
Pushing thoughts of her kidnapping to the far recesses of her mind, Brielle checked her appearance in the mirror above the dresser and walked out of the room. There was a reason she’d been invited to Suzie’s house for a sleepover, she just wasn’t sure what it was.
Two hours later, Brielle had a nice buzz going on. She and Antonia were the only ones drinking.
Erin pressed her hand against her belly. “I swear this baby is going to come out kicking.”
Antonia snorted. “Well, he is a boy, better get used to him not giving you a moments rest.”
“Oh, Aunty Antonia is going to find out just how active her godson is going to be when she’s asked to every sporting event he’s involved with. Not to mention playing kick with him in the backyard.”
“You live in an apartment, you don’t have a yard.” Antonia poked out her tongue at her friend, as if to say so there.
“Yet. Carlos was telling me that there’s a house for sale on Robot’s street. I’ve got an appointment to look at it the day after tomorrow, and you’re coming with me.”
Brielle may have a nice little buzz going on, but at the mention of Robot’s name the animation had left Antonia’s face. Curiosity had her itching to ask Antonia what the story was between the her and Robot, but she bit her tongue. She was a visitor here, she had no right to question Antonia’s relationship with Tim’s team lead.
Suzie entered the room after putting Emma to bed. She paused and looked between them all. “What did I miss?” she asked as she wandered over to a lounge chair.
“Nothing.” Antonia answered quickly. “I’m, uh…I’ll be back.”
Everyone watched her scurry out of the room. The sound of a door closing broke the little spell surrounding them.
Brielle blew out a breath. “I know I’m only new here, and basically an outsider, but that was intense. She froze at the single mention of his name.”
“Ahh,” said Suzie, nodding if she understood. “Were you teasing her again about Robot, Erin?”
Erin held up her hands in mock surrender. “All I said was that there was a house for sale on Robot’s street, and that I was going to look at it in a couple of days.”
“Don’t forget you said Antonia was going with you,” piped up Brielle.
“Erin, teasing her constantly isn’t going to make her spill her guts to you,” admonished Suzie.
“I know. I just wish she’d tell me what’s going on. I’m her best friend. We’ve always shared everything.” The pain that her best friend was holding something back from her was evident in Erin’s face and tone.
“When the time is right, she’ll tell you,” Suzie said.
Erin sighed and shifted in the chair. “I suppose you’re right.”
Watching the way Erin moved, Brielle recalled Suzie making that same motion when she’d been in labor. Erin wasn’t about to have her baby, was she? “You’re not in labor are you, Erin?” she blurted out, unable to keep her thought to herself.
“No,” Erin laughed. “I’ve still got about six weeks to go. I’m just uncomfortable, no pains.”
Brielle reached for her glass of wine, only to find it was empty. She grabbed the bottle from the table and sloshed some more in. She needed some alcoholic fortification if she was going to be around pregnant women all the time. “Good to know.”
Suzie laughed. “The look on your face is priceless, Brielle.”
Brielle shrugged, smiled and took another sip of wine. She had no doubt she’d cope if Erin went into labor, but she didn’t want to test that theory.
She sighed as she thought about trying to sleep tonight without Tim by her side. This would be the first time since the day of the fateful party where she met everyone, that she and Tim would be sleeping apart. It was crazy how quickly she’d gotten used to having him snuggle up behind her—his arms holding her and soothing her when she had the odd nightmare, making love to her until she couldn’t say her own name.
“I don’t think I’m going to sleep well tonight,” she murmured.
The other two women in the room quietly agreed with her. She hoped wherever Tim was, he and the team were safe.
Tim followed silently behind Red as they circled the primitive camp. There was no sign of trouble, but they couldn’t be too careful. They’d been sent b
ack to India and the place where they’d rescued Brielle. They’d received intel that the leader, The Knight, was on the move and he planned to destroy Brielle’s father’s diamond mine. Regardless that the mine provided employment for the locals and Denis Wilson was giving back to the community by helping the villagers close to the mine have clean water by digging wells, and supplying the small school with the means necessary to help the younger generation get an education, The Knight was hell bent on destroying Brielle’s father.
It hadn’t been said, but the threat to Brielle had increased too. Tim hated being away from her, but he had received confirmation from Tex that he would be keeping an eye on all the women back home. Italy’s mind was on the job, but there had been occasions when Tim had seen his teammate with a worried look on his face. He’d bet his next pay check it wasn’t really about the mission but more about Erin being home pregnant with their child.
“The camp appears empty. I don’t like this.” Robot’s quiet voice sounded over the comms.
Tim didn’t like it either. Nothing good came from a location being this quiet. No sooner had he finished the thought, a round of gunfire peppered the trees above him. Immediately he and Red hit the ground.
“Two shooters, ten o’clock. I have a clear view,” Italy barked out. “T-Rex and Red, watch yourselves.”
Great, the last thing he wanted was his ass in the firing line, at least his teammate had eyes on the fuckers. Another spray of bullets sounded, and sheared leaves fell down on them. He and Red rolled and returned fire in the direction Italy mentioned, hoping their teammate still had a good view.
Silence descended around them and all Tim heard was his blood swooshing in his ears.
“Threat neutralized,” reported Robot.
Of course, that didn’t mean they were out of the woods yet. “Anyone have eyes on any other threat?” Tim asked.
A round of negatives came from his teammates. “Stay down for another five while I make another sweep,” instructed Robot.
For the first time on one of his missions, Tim wondered what the hell he was doing. He quickly disregarded the thought. He knew his involvement with Brielle had him having this type of thought. Being a SEAL was his life; he couldn’t give it up. But he would have to rethink how he handled himself on missions. He’d seen the way both Italy and Joker appeared to take extra precautions when they were patrolling. He also knew that he and the rest of the team were extra vigilant to ensure everyone returned home safely. It wasn’t like they hadn’t done it before, now they did triple checks before moving on.
“All clear. Meet at the far left corner of the camp to regroup and discuss what we’re going to do next.” Robot’s edict was clear and with a look at Red, Tim stood from his crouched position. Both he and Red scanned the trees around them as they made their way to the meet up location.
Two hours later, Tim and his team marched into the clearing which was the designated pick up area. A helicopter was about ten minutes out. It would pick them up and ferry them back to base. From there they were headed back home. All of them frustrated, hot and hungry.
“Nothing about this seems right,” Cowboy muttered.
Joker dropped his pack and nodded. “Right, it was like they’d been expecting us and had cleared out.”
“What about the shooters?” asked Tim.
“A diversion to keep us off The Knight’s scent,” commented Italy.
“We’ll debrief when we get back to our base, stateside,” said Robot. “But I agree something about this seemed off.”
Dread pooled in the bottom of Tim’s stomach. If they weren’t able to locate the leader, it meant that not only was the diamond mine at risk, but so was Brielle. The sooner he got back to her the better. He couldn’t stomach the thought of anything happening to her without him there.
The distant sound of the chopper squashed any more of his thoughts. He couldn’t afford to lose his focus now. He would sort out his reaction to Brielle being in danger later, when he was safe at home.
Forty-eight hours later, Tim let himself into Brielle’s apartment. Bad weather had delayed their departure from India. But he was home now.
“Brielle, I’m home.” He called out. He would’ve liked to have snuck in and surprised her, but he didn’t want to freak her out. She still had intermittent nightmares and she’d had a minor panic attack a couple of days before he’d left.
Italy had spoken to Erin the second they touched down. She’d assured Italy that everyone was fine. Until Tim clapped eyes on Brielle, he wouldn’t relax.
He dumped his pack by the door and headed toward their bedroom. Funny how he thought of Brielle’s place as more of a home than his own place. It wasn’t hard, everything about Brielle’s apartment screamed home. Whereas his place screamed bachelor soldier.
“Brielle? Where are you?” he called out again. Worry gnawed at him when Brielle still failed to answer him.
He walked into the bedroom and stopped dead at the sight in front of him and wished he had his team at his back. His heart rate kicked up and he fought the urge to charge further into the room.
Brielle sat in the armchair in the corner of the room a gun to her head, tears tracking down her cheek. He clenched his fist when he spied the beginning of a bruise above her eye.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Exeter, we’ve been waiting for you to join us. I do hope you enjoyed your trip away.”
Before he had a chance to take in the whole situation, cold metal pressed into the back of his neck. The cocking of the gun loud in the room.
Fuck.
“Who are you?” Tim asked, though he had a fair idea who the man in the expensive looking suit was. He was the man his team had been chasing in India—The Knight.
“You don’t get to ask questions. This is not your show.” The suited man nodded and a second later a sharp blow landed on the back of his head. As the blackness closed around him he heard Brielle’s cry.
They were well and truly fucked now.
Chapter Ten
A dull ache at the base of his skull was the first thing to register in Tim’s consciousness, followed by the realization that his hands and legs were bound together. A gentle rocking suggested he was in a car or on a boat. Either way he was fucked and he was without his team.
“Tim, please wake up.”
He knew that voice. Visions of what happened slammed into his brain. Him walking into Brielle’s apartment and finding her sitting in a chair, a gun to her head. Then a gun resting against his neck.
Pushing through the pain and blackness he slowly lifted his eyelids. Everything took it’s time to come into focus, but when it did, he saw Brielle looking down at him. A nasty bruise coloring her cheek. A bruise that hadn’t been there when he walked in her bedroom. The mark above her eye was darker now than it had been when he first spied it.
“Bri, honey, are you okay?”
Tears flooded her eyes. He ached to reach out and comfort her so the tears didn’t fall. “I’m okay. How are you? You’ve been out for so long I was frightened you would never wake up.” Her last words finished on a sob.
Moving like a worm he maneuvered himself until he was close enough to her so that he could lay his head on her legs. “I’m so sorry, honey. I will work out a way to get us out of here.”
“It’s not your fault, it’s mine. If you’d never got involved with me, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”
He opened his mouth to object but closed it. They could play the blame game all they wanted, at the end of the day neither of them was at fault. Who was at fault was the man who’d captured them.
Fuck, he wished he had a way to contact his team. No one would know there was any problem until he didn’t show up to PT in a couple of days. The idea of having a couple of days off after their mission had been fantastic when the team was first told about it. Now not so much.
If only the pounding in his head would settle down, then he could think clearly.
“Did you hear anything while I wa
s out? Did they talk among themselves? It looks like we’re in some sort of a van, how long have we been traveling?”
Tim knew he shouldn’t fire all those questions at her, but he needed to know so he could try and come up with a way they could escape.
“They’re talking in a language I don’t understand. But I know they’re the same guys that took me. They dumped me at that camp you rescued me from. The guy in the suit is a business associate of my father’s from India, Aarav Sodhi, although he lives in New York mostly now. I think he wants to take over the mine and sees taking me as a way to get my father to sell it to him. Dad will do anything to keep me safe, but I won’t let him bow down to threats. And in answer to your other question, I think we’ve been traveling for about an hour.”
Tim digested everything Brielle told him. What the hell? Her father’s business associate was the terrorist known as The Knight?
How was that possible? How come no one made the connection that Aarav Sodhi was The Knight? The same way the real identity of some terrorists are never uncovered until they’re actually captured. There’s a reason they’re elusive, they’re very clever and use other people to be their face. Plenty of men were brainwashed to the bidding of evil terrorists, even pretending to be them and risk ending up dead.
Now he understood why Brielle was taken. She was a huge bargaining chip.
He wanted nothing more than to hold her tight. The fact she’d found the strength not to slip into a PTSD attack only intensified his feelings for her. He heard a strength in her voice he’d never heard before. Even her conviction in standing up against threats impressed the hell out of him. He knew he would do anything to keep Brielle safe and her father would do the same, regardless of what it did to his business.
It bugged the hell out of him that the man they’d been chasing in India had been in the States the whole time.
Tim twisted his arms and legs, the ropes wrapped around them were not budging. Now he needed to call on all his SEAL training. He’d been in some pretty bad situations before, but he’d always had his team at his back. Not this time though. If they were going to get out, it was up to him and no way would he let Brielle down. He would get her out and keep her safe. No one hurt the woman he loved.
Guarding Brielle (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Guardian SEALs Book 5) Page 10