by Dale Mayer
She blinked at him before understanding, and then she bolted from the bed, grabbed her clothes and screamed, “Joshua. Where’s Joshua?”
Corey was already in Joshua’s room, grabbing the backpack as a second thought. With the boy once again bundled up in bedding, he raced down the stairs with Angela at his heels. He headed to the garage and his big truck. He tucked them both inside. “I have to get Warrick. He’s knocked out in the kitchen.”
Smoke filled the house already and seeped into the garage. The fire had started to eat heavily into the front rooms. He knew it would be touch-and-go. He had to get them out of the garage fast. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
She shook her head, protesting. But he bolted back inside. Warrick appeared to have just started to stack up all of his paperwork. Corey scooped it all into the computer bag, bent down, grabbed Warrick in a fireman’s carry, and brought him and the computer bag to the big truck.
There was no room in the front of the cab. Warrick was too awkward to maneuver. The best place for him was in the truck bed. Angela opened the tailgate for him to lay Warrick down in the back. Snapping the tailgate closed, they hopped into the truck, tossing the computer bag on the seat. Coughing, he turned on the engine and tried to open the garage door.
But the door wouldn’t open.
“What will we do?” Angela screamed.
By now the garage was full of smoke, and he felt the heat of the flames. He shook his head and said, “Hang on.” He put the truck in Reverse, hit the gas hard and blasted through the garage door, heading down the driveway. Pieces of the door floated around, but they were traveling so fast that Warrick would have missed getting hit by any debris. By now the flames had reached the second floor.
“Oh, my God, would you look at that,” she cried.
But he wasn’t too bothered. He was more concerned about something else. The steady ping hitting the side of the truck as he drove. He grabbed her head and pushed her down in the seat. “Stay down. We’re being shot at.”
She gave him a horrified look of disbelief, then covered Joshua with her body, both of them tucked down well below the back of the seat. He kept driving backward down the driveway, blasting through the gate, and around the corner. He couldn’t see where the shots were coming from, but the shooter had to be here somewhere.
He watched a man run, a gun in his hand. Still driving backward, Corey pressed hard on the accelerator and chased after him. In the distance he could hear sirens as the fire engines approached. But he was after the asshole who had hurt Warrick and was hoping to kill all four of them. The big truck continued backward. He couldn’t turn around; there just wasn’t enough room with all the parked vehicles on the street. He needed another driveway to do that, but he wasn’t letting this asshole out of his sight.
Corey saw the man cross the road and get into the passenger side of the same vehicle waiting for him as before, the driver ready with the engine running. Corey hit the gas as hard as he could, plowing into their car, spinning it around, pinning it against another one. Both men were inside. He pushed open the window between the cab and the bed, shut off the engine and crawled through.
As long as the men were pinned inside their car, that was fine. But the minute they got free, he would make sure they could not get away. Sure enough, they shot through their windshield, shattering glass everywhere. He waited in the back of the truck bed beside Warrick as the two men tried to climb out of their pinned-in car.
Warrick chose that moment to sit up and look at Corey, a groggy and pained look on his face. He reached up to touch his head and groaned, “What happened?”
“It’s still happening. These assholes, I presume, were the ones who tried to burn us alive, and, when we got out, they tried to shoot us down.”
Warrick swayed unsteadily. Assessing the situation, he reached for his own weapon, which thankfully was still in its place, and, as soon as the men crawled out of the car, Corey and Warrick both said, “Stop and put your hands up.”
The men were at least smart enough to freeze.
In seconds the street was filled with fire engines, police cars and, thankfully, an ambulance. With Warrick standing guard on the two men, Corey pulled out his phone and called the detective. “You need to get down here. Someone just tried to burn us alive, and then two men, probably the arsonists, were shooting at us as we left the safe house. I have both of them under armed guard. The fire trucks are here, but I have a very interesting set of hostages for you.”
“You know them?”
“I know the driver,” he said. “I know it’s dark out here, but it would be pretty hard to mistake Joshua’s father. The asshole driving this getaway car is Greg, the estranged husband.”
The detective crowed. “Don’t you let that bastard move.”
Corey said, “There’s no way. Just get down here before I’m tempted to put a bullet in these assholes’ heads.”
“Don’t do that. We’ve got lots to put him away. Now he’s just added twenty more years to his sentence. I’m in the vehicle, driving. I’ll be there in five.”
Hearing a voice behind him, Corey turned his weapon to see Angela poking out through the rear window of the cab. “Can I come out?”
He shook his head. “Better not. Greg and one of his henchmen are in the car. We’re holding guns on them. The detective is on the way.”
She shot him a startled look and shifted to the driver’s side. There she could see the two men in the vehicle.
She pounded the window until Greg looked at her. His face twisted in a snarl. Greg couldn’t see her face, but when her arm shot out the window with a finger in the air, he figured Greg got the message.
He chuckled. And then he laughed. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’s not going anywhere.”
At that moment a gun appeared in Greg’s hand. He pointed it at Angela. She ducked and Warrick fired. Greg shouted, and his gun went flying harmlessly onto the pavement.
“Try that again,” Corey snarled. “The next bullet won’t take out your gun arm.”
But Greg wasn’t listening. He was sobbing in the front of the car.
A cop car arrived, and the detective ran up. “Did you just shoot him?”
Warrick popped his head over the back of the cab. “I did. He was trying to shoot Angela.”
The detective shot Greg a disgusted look. “Wow. You’re just adding up the years, aren’t you?”
But Greg wasn’t listening. He was too busy bawling like a baby.
Angela got in the last word. “I hope you lock him in jail and throw away the key. Assholes like him don’t deserve a nice life.”
The detective chuckled. “You won’t have to worry about him anymore. Take your son and go home.”
She smiled. “Now that’s an idea I can get behind.”
Chapter 16
Although the detective had said they could go home, it wasn’t so fast or so easy. They had to give statements; Warrick had to be checked over, and Corey wouldn’t leave him behind. But Warrick sure as hell refused to stay at the hospital.
When they were finally all standing outside the hospital, a sleeping Joshua in Corey’s arms, Angela said, “Where the hell is home now?”
“That’s a big legal mess you will have to resolve with the lawyers from the divorce settlement.”
“And what about your apartment?” Warrick asked Angela.
“Trashed, remember?” She looked at Corey. “How small is your place?”
Warrick chuckled. “It’s pretty small. But he’ll find room for both of you, for tonight at least.”
They got back into the truck, dropped Warrick off at his place, then Corey drove Angela and Joshua to his apartment. Carefully he moved Joshua from the vehicle once again. Inside, he laid him on the couch in his living room.
Angela looked around the small apartment. “Obviously a single guy lives here.”
“Never any point in getting that house I always wanted as I never had anybody to live in it
with. So an apartment was good enough. And I’m not here all that often to worry about keeping it nice.” He straightened, covering her son with a blanket.
She looked up at Corey and wondered at all the strange steps she’d taken in her life. She could have done so much better than Greg. But she’d been blinded by his attention and his flattery. And the lifestyle. And yet here in front of her stood so much more in the form of honor, respect, courage, determination, bravery … She could go on and on. She whispered, “What about now? Any chance of that changing?”
Startled, he looked at her. “I was just waiting for the right time in your life.” He opened his arms; she stepped into them, and he closed them around her, holding her tight. Above her melting heart, he said, “And this just might be it.”
She squeezed him like she would never let him go. Because she wouldn’t. Not in this lifetime at least.
“Is that okay with you?”
She tilted her head back and said, “Better than okay. It’s perfect.”
Epilogue
Warrick Canton picked up another box of toys, shook his head, looked down at Joshua and said, “This is a lot of toys for one little boy.”
Joshua danced in place and said, “No, it’s not.” He grabbed a small box beside Warrick. “Come on. I’ll show you my new room.”
Warrick chuckled and followed the little boy. In the ensuing weeks, with all the chaos and recovery behind them, Joshua was a whole new child. He no longer went to a private school and didn’t seem to mind. He attended the local public school and was settling in. It would take him a bit, but he was young and resilient and had a lot of good times ahead of him to wipe out the bad memories.
His father was in jail and wouldn’t be out any time soon. The trial was scheduled but wasn’t for another year. In the meantime, Joshua hadn’t asked very much about his father. Apparently he’d been awake when he saw his father try to shoot his mom. That had been too much for him.
They’d explained quietly what had happened, that his father had done something very bad and was in jail. Joshua hadn’t said very much, just nodded. Once he realized he would be staying with his mom, he was fine.
When he realized Corey was moving into the new home with them, Joshua got really excited. And he’d seen plenty of Corey and Warrick. Even Mason had stopped by. Joshua seemed pretty excited by all the men. It was a good life for Joshua. He would grow up with real men as role models around him—not assholes who used others for their own gain. And he smiled all the time. The same off center smile like his mother.
Warrick was happy for Corey, yet Warrick enjoyed being single right now. But it didn’t make up for the three years he had been in a relationship with Sandra where he’d thought he had had the real thing. He should have realized the breakup was imminent, but he’d been blind, not really aware of what was going on in her world. He didn’t want to make that mistake again. But he hadn’t found anybody else who he liked half as much.
Joshua led Warrick into the bedroom where Corey was setting up his captain’s bed. Corey took one look at the boxes and said, “Whoa, tiger. I don’t think all that stuff’ll fit in here.”
But Joshua just giggled and stacked the boxes off to the side. “We’ll unpack later. I’ll show you all my stuff then.” And he raced back out again.
Corey looked up at Warrick and smiled. “Thanks for helping us today.”
“A bunch of other guys just arrived too.”
Corey nodded. “That’s great. The more hands we have to help, the more gets moved in and the faster this will go.”
“Are you happy, dude?”
Corey looked up, his face beaming. “I’m so happy. Stupid with it,” he admitted. “I hadn’t really expected this.”
“Sometimes you need to let go of your expectations and see what comes your way instead. Instead of trying to control everything in your life.”
Corey nodded. “How are you doing?”
“Outside of the concussion leaving with me an odd headache …” He grinned. “I’m fine.”
“Time for you to find another woman,” Corey said in a joking tone.
“No rush. I’m happy to watch you guys play house for a while.”
“Here, give me a hand with this will you?” Corey asked.
The two flipped the bed onto its four legs and finished off the last of the installation. They added the mattress and the drawers. And then stepped back. “He should like that.”
Warrick slapped Corey on the shoulder. “That kid is in heaven.”
“Yeah, I’m just a little nervous.”
“Don’t be. Just be you. It’s going to be great.” Warrick smiled at his friend in sincerity. “Don’t forget his dad was an ass. It can’t be too hard to beat that.”
“Thanks,” Corey said, laughing.
The two went back downstairs. And, sure enough, the house was full of men moving furniture and boxes. In the center of it all was Angela. Her face was flushed with excitement.
She caught sight of Corey and raced toward him, flinging her arms around hm. “Your friends arrived.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, hopefully so did the groceries.”
Just then Ryder stepped in and held up a box. “I brought the steaks, potatoes and salads. Devlin’s here with the grill. I think Mason is bringing a second one.”
Warrick leaned against the doorjamb and watched as the chaos around him continued. This was what Corey had always hoped for. And Warrick was so damn glad that Corey would finally get his chance at a home and a family and happiness. Warrick had watched his friend go through one lighthearted romance after another, never settling down. But, man, when Corey found the right person, he’d settled in a big way.
Ryder walked over, looked at Warrick and asked, “You okay?”
Warrick nodded. “I just think all the good women in the world are taken.”
Ryder stared at him for a long moment. “I thought that way once too.”
Warrick gave him a lopsided grin. “And yet look at you now,” he teased.
Ryder nodded. “When it’s time, when it’s right, it’ll happen. Until then, just enjoy life.”
Warrick shifted from the doorjamb and thought that was a hell of a decent piece of advice. He could just enjoy life for a while. And, if he was lucky, somebody would cross his path and put a smile on his face to match the one on Corey’s. And Warrick couldn’t wait.
This concludes Book 16 of SEALs of Honor: Corey.
Read about Warrick: SEALs of Honor, Book 17
SEALs of Honor: Warrick (Book #17)
Warrick is the next book in the USA Today bestselling SEALs of Honor: Series!
Book 17 is available now!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Corey: SEALs of Honor, Book 16! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
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Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books ava
ilable on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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COREY: SEALS OF HONOR, BOOK 16
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing
Copyright © 2018
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773360-68-3
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