Loved.
Now was a fine time to come to the realization that the woman he was lying next to was the love of his life. It explained so much. The joy that filled him every time he clapped eyes on her. The way he cherished her in the bedroom. The knock on his head had opened up his mind in a way it never had been before. He wanted it all with Brielle. He wanted what Italy had with Erin. What Joker had with Suzie. The family they were creating. The happiness and contentment that now filled his teammates but didn’t lessen their deadly edge.
No way was a scummy bastard going to take that away from him and Brielle. He had no idea how she felt, but once they were free he was going to show her just how much he loved her and how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“Do you trust me, Bri?”
“With my life, Tim. I trust you with every fiber of my being.”
Brielle’s honesty and belief in him warmed his soul and ignited his determination to get them out of the situation they were currently in. No way would he abuse the absolute trust she handed to him. “Good. Because I’m going to get us out of here.”
“I know you will,” she said softly the confidence she had in him evident in every word she spoke.
He turned his thoughts in on himself and did a mental inventory. Even though they were restricted he didn’t appear to have any broken bones in his arms or his legs. He couldn’t move his feet, but he was pretty sure his knife was still strapped to his ankle. Whoever had taken them hadn’t thought about doing a body search. If they had, they’d done a piss poor job of it. The only way to find out was to see if Brielle could reach under his jeans, into his boot and extract his knife. Once he had his knife he would be able to free them and give them a fighting chance to get away from the assholes who’d taken them.
“How tight are your bindings?” he asked.
“Pretty tight,” she sighed.
Damn, that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Can you wiggle your fingers? Move your wrists much?”
“A little.”
A little was better than nothing, perhaps the more she moved them the looser they’d become. He could hope.
“Okay here’s what we’re going to do. I don’t think the jerks who took us know I’ve got a knife strapped to my ankle. If you can somehow lift the leg of my jeans and get a grip on the handle, I think between the two of us we can get it out.”
“Anything, I’ll do anything to get it out. Even if I bleed all over the place. I don’t care.”
There was his brave girl, but he hated the thought of Brielle hurting herself. “Excellent.” He kept his voice strong to give her the confidence that they were going to get out of this situation, together.
Brielle waited for Tim to change his positions so that he was lying behind her and she could access his legs. She was hanging onto her sanity by a thread. The blackness of a PTSD lurked around the edges of her mind, but she kept pushing it away. Tim needed her to be strong and for him she would. These men had beaten her down once, they weren’t going to do it again.
“You ready, honey?”
Nerves and fear raged through and she so wasn’t ready, but she wasn’t about let her Navy SEAL know that. “Yep.”
The van turned and then jolted as it went over a bump. The bumps continued which made it difficult to get a good grip on Tim’s leg.
“Looks like we’ve left the main road,” Tim commented as he moved his legs closer to her after another bump had shifted them out of her grasp. “This is going to make the task harder, but I believe you can do it, Bri.”
“Glad you’ve got confidence in me,” she muttered. The only good thing about the jolting around, it had moved Tim’s pant leg a little higher, unless he was doing something to help the material creep up.
Her fingers met flesh, the coarse hairs on his legs tickling her fingers. With little shuffles she felt around until she connected with some hard. She tapped her forefinger against it. “Is this it?”
“Yes.” He grunted to maintain his position when the van veered to the right.
Brielle twisted herself to try and get a better position and a firmer hold on the small part protruding above his sock. “It’s pretty snug.”
“I know.”
Great, now he was down to short replies. She wasn’t one of his team mates. She didn’t have that innate communication with him she was sure he had with his team. Didn’t mean she was planning on giving up. Their freedom rested on her being able to grip the hilt of the knife enough to pull it out.
Brielle blew out a frustrated breath, causing a piece of hair that had fallen across her face to flutter briefly before drifting back down to cover her eye.
“Honey, take your time. If we can’t get it out before we stop, we can try again when they dump us wherever they’re taking us.”
No way was she going to be stuck in some horrid place again, once was enough. Gritting her teeth, she managed to get her thumb and forefinger on either side of the top of the knife. “I’ve got it,” she said.
“Good girl, now keep a good hold, I’m going to slide down and when I do I want you to slide in the opposite direction, hopefully between the two of us moving in different ways we’ll be able to slide it out. Take it slowly.”
Their lives depended on her not losing her grip. “Okay, let’s do this.” Determination fired through her.
After a couple of false starts where despair threatened to drown her, they eventually made progress and after interminable minutes it clattered to the ground between them.
“Well done, honey,” Tim said. She heard the smile and pride in his voice. “Okay I’m going to move to get the knife. We’ll be out of our bindings in a flash.”
Brielle believed every word he said. She willed the van to keep going for a little while longer. The road had smoothed out again, so it made it easier for them to complete their task. “I wonder where they’re taking us? Feels like we’ve been driving for ages.”
Tim grunted, clearly he was concentrating on cutting the ropes. A few seconds later he finally answered. “I don’t know. And it can feel like hours when it’s not really been that long in heightened situations like this.”
She startled when lips brushed against hers. “You’re free,” she squeaked when he broke their touch.
“Yep, let’s get you free now.”
Blood rushed to her hands and feet as Tim cut her bindings. Pins and needles followed, and she hated the sensation. She shook her hands in an attempt to lessen the spiky tingles. “Shit, that hurts.”
“Give it a couple of minutes. Once the blood starts flowing the pain will stop.”
She nodded, just making out his form. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could make out his form. “God, I missed you.” Not what she’d planned on saying, but couldn’t deny the truth of the words.
A second later she was wrapped up in his strong arms. She rested her head against his chest, his heart thumped reassuringly beneath her ear. “I missed you too, honey. So much.”
The van came to a halt, breaking up their embrace. Fear engulfed her again and she tensed her muscles to stop them shaking when that was all she wanted to do. “Oh God, what are we going to do?”
The muscles in the man holding her tensed until they were rock hard. Gone was her lover, in his place, was a trained soldier and killer. If she didn’t know how gentle he could be, she would be frightened. “I need you to do everything I say,” he said urgently and quietly.
“I will.” As if she’d do anything different. Why would she want to risk their lives by doing something stupid like running for the door the moment it opened?
“Good. I want you to go to the right back corner of the van. I know it’s going to be impossible but try and make yourself invisible. They won’t be looking at the sides of the van for us, they’ll be looking at the middle where they dumped us.”
“I can do that.”
He kissed her hard before pushing her to the corner he mentioned. “Shut your eyes, babe. It’s g
onna get ugly in here.”
Brielle followed his instructions. She had no doubt it was going to be gruesome and blood was going to be splattered. She only hoped it wasn’t hers and Tim’s.
Chapter Eleven
Tim crouched down, waiting for the door to open. They’d been stopped for a few minutes. The delay was making his skin crawl. He spied Brielle in the place he’d instructed to go. Her back was pressed as far as possible into the side of the van.
The sound of muffled voices reached his ears and he shifted the grip on his knife. He had no idea how many men he’d find on the other side of the door. But he had a plan in place. A plan he hoped would work. It was weird going into an attack without his team backing him up. He only hoped that there wasn’t an army of guys waiting to haul them off somewhere, and one of the fuckers he planned to take out, had a phone.
“Are you ready for your new accommodation?” A voice asked as the door was pulled open. Tim sprang into action, grabbing the guy by the arm and slitting his throat before he could even comprehend what was happening.
Seeing the gun strapped over the guy, Tim grabbed it and yanked the man up in front of him to use as a human shield. He shoved his knife in his waist band. “Stay here,” he yelled at Brielle as he fired out the door when he saw three men running toward him.
Still holding the guy he’d killed against him, and ignoring the blood gushing down over his arm, Tim focused his attention back to the others. Even without taking the proper time to aim, he’d killed one man and wounded another. With the precision of a sniper he felled the injured man. The third man had turned and was running toward the tree line.
Tim shoved the dead guy away and followed the runaway. The kidnapper wasn’t in the same physical condition as he was, and Tim caught up with him quickly. Slinging the rifle over his shoulder, he grabbed his knife and once he had the other guy in a chokehold, Tim held the cold steel against his throat. “Before I slit you like I did your friend, you’re going to talk.”
“I ain’t saying anything to you, you motherfucker.”
Tim dug the point of his knife a little deeper into the soft flesh of his neck. “You’re right, I am a motherfucker and you picked the wrong one to mess with. Now tell me. How many of you are there?”
The guy squirmed in his hold. “There was just us four.”
It was too good to be true that the guy who had kidnapped them would only have four guys on them. “I don’t believe you. Where were you running to?”
His hands clawed at Tim’s arms, and he tightened his grip. His mind on needing to get answers and get back to Brielle. The longer he fucked around with this guy the more vulnerable she was. “I swear, there’s only the four of us. We were told to drive around in circles, then bring you here. Take you to the cabin through the woods. The boss was gonna come after he picked up another parcel.”
Tim hadn’t paid any attention to their surroundings, but he did now. They were in a lightly wooded area. The road the van stood on was smooth. Tim couldn’t see the cabin the guy was talking about, and he couldn’t hear any shouting to suggest more men were headed their way. His gunfire would’ve echoed loudly around the woods alerting anyone close by to their location.
“You got a phone?” Tim asked the man he held.
He nodded. “Back pocket.”
“Good,” Tim reached into the back pocket and pulled out the phone. When it came to life the screen for a passcode popped up. “Passcode.”
For half a heartbeat, it looked like the asshole wasn’t going to pass on the information. Tim pressed his knife a little deeper. “Passcode,” he ground out the word letting the kidnapper know he wasn’t messing around.
“One five three two four.”
Tim used his thumb to enter the digits, happy to see the screen unlock. “Thanks.” Tim replied before slicing the knife across the man’s throat. Releasing his hold, the man fell to the ground.
Not giving the asshole a backward glance, he strode back toward the van, ripping his bloody shirt off and attempting to wipe the blood off him. The last thing he wanted to do was greet Brielle covered in blood, but he’d just killed four men, two in gruesome fashion, there was no way he was going to come out clean as a whistle.
Once he got to Brielle, he would then call for help. This wasn’t over, and he needed his team at his back. Together they’d get rid of this motherfucker once and for all.
Brielle strained her ears in an attempt to hear something. Anything to let her know that Tim was okay. After the first volley of gunfire, there’d been only one more shot and then silence.
She’d been too afraid to move, even though her natural flight instinct had kicked in the second Tim had jumped from the van. What kept her rooted to the spot was the fact she had no idea how many men were out there. The driver could still be in the van, waiting for the right moment to grab her and do whatever they wanted to do to her.
Immediately, her breathing increased and panic built inside of her. The anxiety attack she’d kept at bay was beginning to crawl all over her. Having Tim close by had kept her from falling into the dark pit. Now that he wasn’t close, and she had no idea if he was even alive, panic was setting in.
Her knees buckled and she clawed at the side of the van, trying to grab onto something to keep her upright. The next second a hand grabbed her wrist and she screamed. This was it. Her life was about to end and she couldn’t even see Tim one last time. Let him know how much he meant to her.
“Shhh, honey, it’s me, Tim. I’ve got you. You’re safe, Bri. You’re safe.” Strong arms and Tim’s familiar scent closed around her, surrounding her in warmth.
Relief flooded her. Tim was okay and back in the van with her. A sob bubbled out of her and Tim tightened his grip on her. “Oh my God, Tim, I didn’t know if you were okay or not. I couldn’t hear anything.”
“I’m okay, but we have to move. I don’t know if there’s another van on the way here.”
The last thing she wanted to do was leave his warm embrace. She wanted to stay held by him for the rest of her life. All her emotions for Tim slammed into in her that moment. She didn’t know if they’d get out of whatever it was they were in the middle of alive or not. One thing she did know was, she couldn’t go any further without telling him how she felt.
Pulling back, she looked up at the man who owned her heart. Blood splattered his face, and he wasn’t wearing his shirt anymore. He’d never looked so strong or soldier-like as he did in that moment. “I love you, Tim,” she blurted out.
Brielle was risking everything in that second and hoped like hell she hadn’t made a big mistake. She had no idea if Tim reciprocated her feelings or not, but she couldn’t go on without letting him know.
She chewed the inside of her lip waiting for him to say or do something. Had she just made a complete fool of herself? Slowly a smile stretched across his lips. “Hell of a time to tell me you love me, honey.”
Well at least he hadn’t run for the hills. “I know, but I couldn’t go on without letting you know how I feel. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same, I just wanted to tell you that I loved you.”
Brielle had lied just then, saying it didn’t matter if he didn’t love her. If he didn’t she wasn’t sure she’d be able to go on. Tim was her missing half, with him beside her she was whole.
His hands framed her face and he leaned down until their noses were touching. “I love you, too Brielle. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
He kissed her then, and she melted into him. The kiss was brief, and she moaned her disappointment.
“I know,” he soothed. “I want to continue, but we can’t hang around here for too long. We need to find out where we are and if we can expect more visitors or not.”
When she’d watched the occasional action movie, she always thought how stupid the characters on the screen were when they did something so out of character while chaos reigned around them. Her and Tim declaring their love for each other while danger could be lurking in t
he shadows was one of those ridiculous moments. But if they lived through this, she’d never forget it.
“What’s the plan,” she asked, pushing the joy of knowing her Navy SEAL loved her as much as she loved him, to the side. She would revel in the elation when they were free and clear of danger.
“Let’s get away from here and I’ll let you know.” Tim helped her down from the van, keeping her close to his side while he scanned the surrounding area. Looking around herself she spied the bodies of their kidnappers on the ground. It should be confronting, knowing the man beside her had systematically killed them. Instead, she understood it. This was Tim’s job. What he did on a constant basis to keep her and everyone else safe.
Gripping his hand tightly she followed him as he led her around the side of the van, away from the dead bodies. She noticed that he now had one gun slung over his shoulder and another grasped in his hand.
They’d walked a couple hundred feet before Tim abruptly pulled her off the track and behind a large tree. Her eyes had adjusted to darkness and she looked around to see if she could pick out what had caused Tim to pull them off the track.
A flash of light came from beside her and she glanced to the side, seeing a cell phone in Tim’s hand. “Where did you get that?” she whispered.
“From one of the guys. I was going to call Robot, but I decided to text him instead. He’s responded saying that Tex was able to get a handle on our position through the phone’s GPS and they’re on their way.”
Brielle vaguely recalled Tim telling her about the ex-Navy SEAL, Tex, who helped the team when they were on missions. Or when they needed help locating someone. He’d told her that Tex had been the reason he’d been able to help her in the dress shop the day she’d had her bad panic attack. She was glad he was on their side. “So we’ll just be staying here until the team arrives?”
Guarding Brielle (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Guardian SEALs Book 5) Page 11