Call Sign: Thunder

by Livia Grant

  Fuck. He never should have trusted that bastard. After all he'd done for the asshole's daughter—and this was how he repaid Zach.

  "How long ago did they leave?" He'd started to move towards the entrance, hoping to catch them before their plane took off.

  She called after him. "They left last night. Not long after you went home."

  He stopped in his tracks, pressure compressing his chest. Anger, regret, and what? Sadness. Until that moment, he hadn't realized how important it was to him to say goodbye to Allie.

  He wasn't foolish enough to think they'd be staying in touch with each other, but he'd been so proud that he'd saved her. Even more, he'd loved how she made him feel important. A protector. Her protector. He'd liked that job, and was sad that it had come to an abrupt end.

  He didn't answer the nurse. There was nothing to say. He stalked out into the morning sunlight, stopping a few feet outside of the building to lean down, hands on his knees, gasping for cleansing breaths in hopes of fighting back the foreign emotions raging through him at finding Allie gone.

  The receptionist followed him outside, making him jump when she held an envelope out to him, sliding it into his line of sight as he glared at the ground. It had 'Captain Garrett' scrawled in close to illegible writing on the front. This letter was not from Allie.

  He managed a soft 'thank you' as he snapped the envelope out of her hand. The receptionist retreated quickly, probably wanting to get as far away from him as she could before he opened her delivery.

  He needed to sit. Zach walked several yards to a small seating area under a gazebo that doubled as a bus stop, plopping down and staring at the envelope for several long minutes, suspecting he wasn't going to like what was inside, and finally ripping it open.

  Captain Garrett,

  I know I am not your favorite person right now. Worse, I'm certain Allison is going to be angry when she wakes up on the plane and realizes I didn't let you two say goodbye.

  For what it's worth, I'm not exactly proud of myself right now either, but I am doing what I feel is right to protect my baby girl.

  Despite my current actions, I will be forever grateful to you for all you have done to help my daughter. Your bravery in the face of the danger you faced in Colombia was remarkable, and I will thank God every day for the rest of my life that he put you where you needed to be to save my little girl. I lost her mother five years ago. Allison is the only family I have left.

  I know my daughter. She understandably has developed strong feelings for you, her hero. She is too young and inexperienced to recognize these feelings for what they are: hero worship that will pass when the rush of danger passes. I wish to save her the heartache of a broken heart when she learns you don't return her fleeting feelings. I also want to remove anything that will remind her of her horrific kidnapping.

  You are a smart man. I'm certain when your anger passes, you will see this is what is best for both of you. You can move on with your life knowing that I will be taking care of Allison.

  With deep gratitude for your service to my family,

  Walter Benson

  Long minutes passed as Zach turned over the contents of the letter in his head. Anger flared that her father had basically done to his daughter what the criminals had done—drugged her to steal her away in the dark of night. Granted, this time she wasn't in danger of being raped or worse, but the end result would still hurt her.

  Allie would have been upset when she awoke. Did she know this hadn't been Zach's plan, or had she accepted her departure quietly, believing her father when he'd surely told her that Zach agreed with the plan?

  For about thirty seconds he contemplated requesting leave so he could go after her, but then reality closed in, reminding him he was being an emotional pussy about the whole situation. He'd done his job and he was proud he'd been able to save her, and that had to be enough.

  As he stood and walked to the jeep, he took comfort in knowing that no matter where they were in the world, even if they never saw each other again for the rest of their lives, he and Allie would be forever connected—linked by the fucked up events of one night in a country far away.

  Time to let life get back to normal.

  Chapter 6

  Four Months Later:

  "All right, I guess that's enough for today. I'll cut you loose, since none of you are paying any attention anyway."

  "But, Captain, our weekend started twenty minutes ago."

  "You're a marine, Johnson. That's a bit more important than getting drunk and laid."

  The newest class of pilots to hit Camp Lejeune's flight school gave Zach expectant looks. He caved. "Fine. Get the hell out of here, but we'll start at oh-eight-hundred on Monday morning. Don't be late this time, Johnson."

  "Yes, sir!" Eleven young men in uniform jumped up and dashed for the classroom door, hoping to escape before their flight instructor changed his mind.

  Zach watched them hustle out with a nostalgic grin on his face. It wasn't too long ago that he'd have been heading out with them. Only as he watched the last man exit did he notice his friend Rock at the back of the room, leaning against the back wall, his muscular arms crossed.

  Fucking great. Here comes my next lecture.

  Zach turned his back to his friend, trying to look busy putting away the props he'd used in class that day. He was pleasantly surprised at how much he was enjoying spending time in a classroom instead of in the cockpit.

  "You can't keep hiding from me," David pressed.

  Zach chuckled. "You must think I suck at hide and go seek if you think this is where I'd choose for my hiding place."

  Rock's voice was serious. "Grab your coat. The temp has dropped. You'll need it tonight."

  Zach pressed down his anger. "I have plans."

  "Bullshit. You're gonna stay home and sulk again."

  "Shows how much you know. I wallow. I don't sulk."

  "Call it whatever the fuck you want. You're not doing it tonight. That hot little waitress, Laura, from the diner, and her best friend are meeting us at Charlie's Pub in an hour. It's time you get back on the horse."

  "Nice, Rock. Did you take out an ad looking for someone who will give me a pity fuck?"

  His friend had moved closer, grinning. "Lucky for you, you haven't totally killed your playboy reputation yet. There's a long line ready to start queuing up as soon as you report for active bed duty again."

  "What a relief," Zach countered with sarcasm.

  The two men had been shooting the shit and hadn't noticed the third man who'd slipped into the room.

  "Captain Garrett, I was hoping I could have a word with you."

  He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. He'd replayed their last conversation over in his head so many times, he had it memorized.

  David faced the door and Zach saw anger in his friend's eyes as he threw a death stare at Senator Benson.

  "It's okay, David. I'll catch you next week."

  Rock looked like he wanted to argue but eventually sighed instead. "This isn't okay, you know. You should tell him to fuck off."

  There was no way in hell Zach would do that. Was he pissed? Sure. Did he want to punch the man in the three-piece suit? Absolutely. But the desire to find out any scrap of information on how Allie was doing outweighed everything else.

  David hadn't budged. He waited expectantly, as if his friend would throw a punch, and when that didn't happen, his face fell with defeat. "Get your head out of your ass, Zach. This isn't going to help."

  Zach was pretty sure he was right, but it didn't matter. "Go home, David."

  His friend took the hint, stomping off towards the door, stopping briefly to stare down the unflinching senator just inside the room.

  The men squared off in a stare-down the second they were alone. Zach's mind raced to come up with reasons Allie's dad might have for seeking Zach out four months after he'd whisked his daughter away in the dark of the night without even allowing them to say good-bye. Every reason he conj
ured was worse than the last.

  The senator finally broke the awkward silence with a surprising confession. "I screwed up."

  He should be relieved the asshole was coming clean. Deep anger flared instead. "You think?" Zach shouted, before taking a deep breath to calm his nerves enough to ask the question he was desperate for an answer to. "How is she?"

  Silence. Anguish was visible in the father's eyes. Even from across the room, Zach could see tears glistening. "I'm losing her. I don't know what to do."

  Righteous anger filled Zach. "I think you came to the wrong place to find her. I lost her four months ago when you stole her away without a good-bye."

  "That was a mistake. I see that now."

  Zach stood silent, refusing to let the senator off the hook until an actual tear escaped at the same moment as his unexpected apology. "I'm sorry."

  Instead of making Zach feel vindicated, the senator's uncharacteristic behavior was setting off alarm bells. He had been working hard to push Allison Benson out of his mind. She was part of his past, and Zach was smart enough to know he needed to leave her there. Only it wasn't working. Concern took hold of his emotions.

  "Is she back in school yet?" He tried to remind himself of how young Allie was.

  "She says she's never going back."

  "It's only been a few months. She needs time."

  It looked like her father was having trouble finding his words. "She's getting worse. She won't talk to me. She sits silent in our therapy sessions. I still don't even know… she won't talk about the rape."

  Zach didn't know how to tell the senator she'd suffered through worse than rape. He suspected the elder was fishing for information. "What makes you think she'll listen to me?" It hurt him to admit it, but Allie had made it clear she wasn't interested in Zach's help, either. "I sent her several emails. She ignored most of them, and finally told me to get lost. She said hearing from me brought back bad memories."

  For the first time since he'd arrived, the senator walked into the room, stopping only a few feet away. Worry lines and dark circles around his eyes were signs of the father's distress. He reluctantly reached into the inside pocket of his suit coat, coming out with several papers folded neatly. The fingers that reached out to hand them over shook with emotion.

  Zach grabbed the papers, unfolding them and glancing down long enough to realize they contained a print out of the emails Zach had sent. Private, heartfelt emails that were meant for no one but Allison. He kept his eyes down, unhappy her father knew what he'd written in a moment of weakness of worry over Allison.

  "She didn't see them." The senator's words were a bare whisper of a confession.

  Zach's heart stopped. Surely he'd heard wrong. "Excuse me?" He glared.

  "I monitored all of her social media accounts and emails carefully. I was concerned for her safety with the cartel out for revenge for their pending prosecution."

  Blood was rushing through Zach's ears as he pushed down his anger. "But she answered me."

  Their eyes were locked. "I answered you."

  Zach rushed him, grabbing the senator by the front of his dress shirt as he shook him. "You bastard. Who do you think you are?"

  "You don't understand. I already lost her mother. I can't lose Allison too."

  The father's anguish was enough to douse some of Zachary's rage. "What makes you think she'll listen to me anyway?"

  For the briefest second, Zach saw fear in the elder's eyes, but he quickly masked it. Moments later, the senator reached into his other inside pocket to pull out a much thicker pile of papers, secured together with a rubber band. He threw them down on the desk beside them. The meticulous handwriting on the envelopes was artistic. Zach hated the effect seeing the name Allison Benson in the upper left return address slot had on his heart rate, but recognizing they were all addressed to Captain Zachary Garrett turned him cold with rage.

  She'd been writing him, and… He picked the top one up, ripping it open with shaking hands. It was dated three days after he'd rescued her. She'd written pages and pages. He could see sections that were smeared, probably from her tears.

  Awareness dawned. She had to think Zach had ignored over a dozen heart-felt letters.

  He didn't stop to contemplate his actions. His fist connected with the senator's jaw of its own accord, throwing the older man backwards, stumbling as he struggled to remain on his feet.

  Fuck. Get control of yourself, Garrett, or you're gonna end up in the brig.

  Mr. Benson bent over to put his hands on his knees, gasping for air as he recovered from the right hook to the jaw. He spoke with regret. "I deserved that."

  "You deserve worse," Zach spat.

  Benson spoke to his shoes, still bent over, recovering. "For what it's worth, Allie has been punishing me with her depression. I thought it was a simple hero worship thing that she'd forget as soon as she got home, but she's getting worse. At first, she was quiet and reserved, refusing to talk to anyone about what happened. Now, she's so angry. She is hurting herself. I've had to lock up all of the alcohol in the house because she'll drink herself into a stupor. I had to take away her computer access because she was ordering cigarettes, alcohol, and even… sex toys… online to have them delivered to the house. I invited a few of her friends over for a weekend, hoping they would help things get back to normal, but she only got worse, realizing she couldn't go back to being the carefree college student she'd been before the… kidnapping." He paused, as if the explanation of how messed up his daughter was taxing him. He finally stood, looking Zach in the eye to finish. "I had hired bodyguards to protect her when we left the house, but now they watch her 24/7 to protect her from her own destructive behavior."

  Unable to hold the senator's stare, Zach reached to pull out a stray letter from the middle of the pack. It was dated two months ago. A quick scan of the contents showed Allison talking about being under house arrest, her dad not letting her leave for fear she'd be kidnapped again. The letter read like a diary entry, with Allison pouring out her heart with her fears, and begging Zach to find her.

  "You bastard. I want to knock you out cold for doing this to her."

  "If you can help me bring my daughter back from the hell she's living in right now, I'll let you do your worst."

  A muted cell phone's ringing broke the awkward silence between the alpha men. Mr. Benson pulled the smartphone from his pocket and answered with a hurried, "Benson."

  Zach couldn't make out the words, but heard the caller shouting.

  "Where?" The senator listened, closing his eyes as if in pain. "Don't approach her. Just watch from afar. I'll be there in an hour. Whatever you do, don't let her leave with anyone. Got it?" He ended the call and took a shaky breath.

  The men stood their ground, sizing each other up until the senator broke the silence.

  "Allie slipped out of the house and took a cab to Georgetown. Her bodyguards tracked her down to a bar off campus. She's already on her second drink." Sadness clouded the elder's eyes. "One of us needs to go get her and take her back to my house. I'd like it to be you. You'll have a better chance at getting her to go with you without a fight."

  Anger raged through Zach. Fury that Allison's father had made things worse in his attempts to protect his daughter. Anger at himself for not trying harder to get in touch with her. She'd needed him and he hadn't been there for her. He even had a fair amount of ire for Allison herself, for not taking care of herself. Didn't she know she was special?

  Zach paced the classroom, mulling over his options as he tried to rein in his anger. As his angst slipped away, it was replaced with worry.

  He stopped directly in front of her father, toe to toe with the bastard. Every second that passed solidified Zach's resolve. There was no way he could turn his back on Allie tonight any more than he could have that summer night back in Colombia. She was calling out to him for help. Through her father. Through her letters.

  And he would help, or at least try. But he'd be damned if he was going to
play Mr. Benson's game.

  "I'll go and pick her up." Zach felt the rushed breath of relief from the man standing so close to him. He must have doubted Zach would help.

  He may end up wishing I'd turned him down.

  "But we do this my way. When I get there, your hired goons get lost, and Allie leaves with me. I'll take her to an undisclosed neutral location—" The senator tried to interrupt him, but Zach held up his hand like a stop sign to shut him up as he continued, "where she'll feel safe. I'll do my best to talk to her—to get through to her."

  "But—"

  "No buts. You've had four months and she's only getting worse. You want my help, then this is how it's going to go."

  Her father's fear was palpable. "Please… she's been hurt so much already. She's so vulnerable. Promise me—"

  Zach's anger flared. "I rushed into an armed compound to rescue Allie before I even knew her name, so don't lecture me about not hurting her now. And after all you've done to mess with her in the name of love, you have some nerve lecturing me."

  "You're right. I'm sorry. I just…" He looked like he wanted to say more, but thought better of it. "We need to hurry. I flew down on a charter. We need to get in the air back to Washington ASAP."

  Zach grabbed his duffel with his workout clothes from behind the desk. "We need to stop at my apartment first. I need to pack a few things. I don't know how long I'll be gone."

  "Hey!" Allison raised her hand, trying to get the attention of the bartender who seemed to be ignoring her. Her glass was empty again and she needed it refilled—and fast. It was only a matter of time before her bodyguards would find her. They always did. It was getting harder to get out of the house undetected.

  Truthfully, she hated leaving the house—hell, she hated leaving her bed. The only urge stronger than the desire to sleep was the urge to drown her memories, fears and rage in alcohol-induced stupors.

  The bearded bartender must have seen her flagging him down after all because he deposited a tall double on her cocktail napkin, taking the empty glass away without saying a word. That suited her fine. She hadn't come to socialize.