Swift Strike (SEAL Team 14 Book 2)

by Mathis, Loren

  In addition to her early morning baking spree, by the time mid-afternoon arrived, Lena had completed a plethora of other tasks. She’d jogged a mile on the beach and, much to her delight, had encountered an influx of long-limbed, peach-colored flamingos and silvery-gray artic terns. She took this arresting inundation of life, on an otherwise desolate beach, as a positive portent for her future. After the exercise, she’d cleaned her house, gone to the local library, and submitted applications for a new job. Now, she was squatting in her backyard garden and planting hyacinth flowers.

  Digging her trowel deep into the soil, she was satisfied to hear the familiar snap of the roots separating from their long-established home in the earthen ground below. Lena placed the carpetweed she’d uprooted in the middle of a grouping of the destructive plant. Grabbing a few bulbs, she patted the plants into the ground. The outside of her house was finally starting to mirror the immaculate upkeep of the inside of her abode.

  Though gardening gave her some comfort, her mind kept drifting away from her task. At the library, she had spent a considerable amount of time researching everything she could about AnSawar. For some reason, it disturbed her that she knew very little about the men who had victimized her for so many weeks.

  Lena was not sure what she had expected to find about the group, but the internet searches she’d done ended with an astonishingly paltry amount of data. So far, Lena had found out that this relatively new group was originally formed in Iran. Also, there were some news reports available about the extremist attacks they’d happily taken the credit for.

  Right before the siege on the WG Oil production facility, the group had attacked a girls’ school in Guriel, Somalia. Five girls were killed in the bombing. AnSawar targeted the school because they felt strongly that “there was no utility in educating girls past the age of twelve because in doing so, society risks the promotion of promiscuity and disobedience,” or so stated the press release the men issued after the attack. It was a cowardly act, of course, but like most religious zealots, AnSawar believed that they were doing “God’s will” no matter the amount of death, destruction, and loss of innocence they left in their wake.

  Lena still worried that AnSawar operatives may not be finished with the survivors of the WG Oil attack. Of course, the FBI continued to assure her that the group’s motive was only about money and that it was a crime of opportunity. Apparently, WG Oil had one of the least secure facilities from a defense standpoint.

  FBI Agent Gerard had continued to assure her that it was highly unlikely that the remaining, unknown members of the splintered group would resurrect itself with the purpose of attacking the WG Oil survivors again. As of now, the FBI’s working assumption was that AnSawar targeted the facility because it was the easiest to attack in the region. This explanation had an attractive logic behind it, but something still didn’t sit right with her.

  Why would the group ask for such a large sum of money? They had to have known that they would have a better chance of obtaining compliance with a lowered ransom demand.

  Deep down, Lena knew that it was in her best interest to quit seeking the elusive answer to why the group had targeted the oil facility where she worked in the first place. But worry about this particular mystery kept niggling at her.

  On a brighter note, she was finally starting to feel like her old self again. Following Jesse’s suggestion, Lena had begun seeing a local psychiatrist. Surprisingly, it was actually beginning to help. She had spent so much of her life bottling up how she felt, pretending that everything was okay, that it was nice to actually have someone to talk to. She was finding that coming to terms with her days in captivity was a gradual, painstaking process.

  She had even spoken with her mother again this morning. Claire had genuinely seemed surprised to hear the happiness in her daughter’s voice. After several minutes of dodging prying questions, Lena hung up the phone, promising to call back soon.

  Lena was not sure why she did not want to explain to her mother why she was so happy. Maybe it was because her relationship with Jesse was so fresh and different that she didn’t want to let the world know about it just yet. It had been a week since she and Jesse had made love, and she missed him terribly.

  Shortly after he had arrived home in Kentucky, he’d contacted her. That had completely floored her. The discussion that they’d had before he left hadn’t exactly been encouraging to say the least. He’d been very transparent about his desire not to become too involved with her. At least not emotionally—he certainly didn’t have any qualms about the physical aspect of their relationship.

  Therefore, when he’d called her out of the blue only a couple of days later she had been speechless. And even though it had been great to hear his voice and see him over the webcam, she knew that she shouldn’t get her hopes up. He hadn’t mentioned anything about dating exclusively. And even if he had, there were plenty of other obstacles in their way besides his commitment phobia.

  For starters, Jesse had a job that had him travelling constantly all over the world. In addition, his job put him in constant risk of death.

  She wasn’t a fool—nothing this incredible lasted forever. Still, she found that she wanted to hold on to the perfectness of being with him for just a little while longer. Things were definitely looking up for her.

  Well, it would be more accurate to say that things were looking up for her on every front except for the relationship with her father. So far Lena had received two emails from him wished her well and hoped for her “speedy recovery.” If she thought that her father would see the error of his ways and dash to his only daughter’s side in her time of need, she was sorely mistaken. She should just start taking Claire’s advice and completely block him out—she was tired of being rejected by him.

  Gripping the watering can, Lena returned her tools back to the tool shed and stepped back into her house. The next thing on her “To Do” list was taking a cold shower and then curling up with a good book for the next few hours.

  Entering her home, the shrill ringing of her telephone greeted her. Locking the sliding glass doors securely behind her, she plopped her gardening gloves down on the countertop, and then bolted to the nearest phone which happened to be in the kitchen.

  “Lena, this is Wren.”

  A smile twitched at the corner of Lena’s lips. Surprisingly, for a woman in her early-thirties, Lena had only a handful of close friends. But she counted Wren Lamarosa as one of those chosen few. The two women had known each other since college, and they were still as thick as thieves. They shared a connection that’d endured past most of the other friendships in Lena’s life.

  “Hey, what’s up?” This wasn’t the first call that Lena had received from Wren since she returned home. Her friend made sure to call her at least once a week to check up on her. She perhaps thought that Lena was on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

  Wren worked as an aerospace engineer for a private manufacturer in Belgium. Besides her coworkers at WG Oil, she had been the only person that Lena could talk to in “gearhead” speak who could actually understand what she was talking about.

  “Just getting in touch with you to see how things are going down there in sunny Africa.”

  “Good. Actually…things are going very well.”

  “Oh yeah? Any particular reason why you’re suddenly all sunshine and rainbows?”

  Lena paused. “Well…”

  “Come on, Lena. I basically tell you everything going on in my life. Not that I have anything that could even remotely be mistaken as exciting happening right now.”

  That much was true. Wren was as loquacious as she was brilliant and her life was an open book. That was one of the things that Lena liked about her.

  “All right. There’s this guy—”

  “What?” Wren’s excitement nearly burst Lena’s eardrum. “A guy? Since when? Wait, do you mean that you and Kevin are back together?” The distaste practically dripped from her friend’s voice. Needless to say, Wren wasn’t
a fan of Lena’s ex-boyfriend.

  “No. Kevin and I are finished for good.”

  “Thank God. That one was a real prick, but of course you know that. Well, who is this mystery guy? And why am I just hearing about him now?”

  “You’re just hearing about him now because I haven’t known him for that long.”

  “Wait, how did you meet him?”

  “He’s one of the men who rescued me—”

  “Whoa, hold on a minute,” Wren exclaimed, cutting Lena off before she could finish her sentence. “You mean one of the hunky Navy SEALs who totally kicked ass and took some names down there in Somalia?”

  Lena grimaced. Her friend certainly had a colorful way with words.

  “Yes, one of those hunky SEALs.”

  “How?”

  “He came to visit me a week ago. Totally unexpected. I nearly slammed the door in his face.”

  “Really?” her friend yelled in excitement.

  “Yeah, it took me by surprise. He wanted to see how I was holding up. It was a very sweet…gesture.”

  “And?” Wren asked. Generally, it was Lena who had to live vicariously through her friend’s encounters with the opposite sex. It was interesting to see that for once, she was the one with the exciting love life.

  “And what?”

  “Did you and he…you know, have sex? I mean, you at least kissed him right? How was he?”

  “Okay, moving right along,” Lena said, she did not want to have this conversation with her friend right now. “How are things at your job? Last time, you were telling me that you’re up for a promotion.”

  “Wait,” Wren ignored her, as tenacious as a bloodhound who’d finally caught a scent. “Are you telling me that the freaking Navy SEAL who saved your life drops on your doorstep, and you didn’t even kiss him?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “So you did kiss him?”

  Good grief. Her friend was completely unstoppable when she wanted a question answered.

  “We kissed, yes.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, just not the whole truth. Regardless, whatever was going on between her and Jesse Denison wasn’t Wren’s business.

  “And?”

  “And, it was nice.” Yeah right. It had been better than nice. Way beyond nice. Their first kiss together had been a complete detonation of the senses—the best kiss that she’d ever had in her entire life.

  “Come on…oh crap, my boss is calling me, Lena. He’s having one of his ‘Napoleon Complex’ moments. I’m going to have to call you back, girl. But this conversation isn’t over. You know I’m going to pry all of the juicy details from you sooner or later.”

  Hanging up, she tried to stop thinking about hunky SEALs, terrorists, and basically everything that’d transpired over the past few weeks. Instead, she refocused on her brother’s visit for tomorrow. Thanks to all of the work she’d put in over the past couple of days, everything was in order for Phillip’s visit. He was bringing his new girlfriend along with him for the trip, and Lena was finally in good enough spirits to be a decent hostess.

  She had just stepped out of her canvas sneakers and was about to undress when she heard the chiming of her front door bell. She wasn’t expecting visitors, so when she got to the door she slowly opened it a quarter of the way.

  “Hi, there, ma’am.”

  A tall, cheerful-looking man outfitted in a brown jumpsuit stood on her front porch. The sunglasses that he wore shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight. He held a clipboard in his right hand, and he’d also positioned a duffle bag beside him at the foot of the door. Looking over his shoulders, Lena found a work van parked in her circle driveway with Salamon Security emblazoned across the side.

  “Yes, can I help you with something?”

  “I have a work order here for one Lena Westlake to fix a broken security gate. Am I at the right address?”

  “Oh right, I did put in a repair request last week. But I didn’t realize that you were coming out here today to fix it.”

  “Yes, ma’am. We had a cancellation today and were able to squeeze you in earlier than we’d scheduled. Someone from administration was supposed to contact you to confirm though. Should I come back when it’s more convenient for you?”

  “No, no. It’s fine.” Lena waited for the man to amble back toward the security gate. Instead, he stood there looking at her. “Is there a problem?”

  “I need to come in to check the computer system associated with the gate, ma’am.” He gave her a warm smile, and she relaxed a little. Sheesh, get a hold of yourself, girl.

  “Oh, right. I’m sorry, please, come in.” Opening the door all the way, she stepped to the side so he could enter.

  “You have a big home,” he said. “I was surprised to see such a large property so far away from the rest of the town.”

  “Thank you. I like the solitude here by the water.”

  “Ah yes, I imagine that there is a certain amount of tranquility when your nearest neighbors are the ocean and the bay.”

  “What exactly do you have to check in here?” she asked, carefully making sure she kept her voice even and a calm smile in place.

  “Just the digital interface for the system to make sure that there has not been some sort of electrical interference that is causing the gate to malfunction. That type of problem has been known to happen in this particular gate model, but luckily there’s an easy fix for it.”

  Sheesh. She really needed to get a grip. Her nerves were all over the place just because of an unexpected visit by a repair man. She was being silly. The guy probably thought that she was a little touched in the head.

  Mentally chastising herself, she showed the man the small room in the back corner of the house where the security system’s computer mainframe was set up.

  “I should be able to have your gate up and working in no time.”

  “Great. Just let me know if you need anything, I’ll be in the next room,” she said, walking away.

  “There is just one more thing, ma’am.”

  “Yes,” Lena said, turning around. The man had closed the gap she’d placed between them and was now only standing a few inches away from her. She took a step away from him. His hand gripped something that looked like an electric shaver. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “You were a very hard woman to find, Ms. Westlake,” he said, the corners of his lips turning up into a cruel snarl. “Very hard. We were beginning to think that you’d left the continent. And that would have been a shame indeed. You and I still have some unfinished business to attend to.”

  Gone was the friendly, carefree smile from just a few minutes before. His transformation from normal guy to monster was completed when he drew a handgun from behind the waistband of his jeans.

  But it wasn’t until he took off his sunglasses that she knew exactly whom she was dealing with. This man had hazel eyes.

  Hazel eyes. Hazel Eyes.

  She hadn’t recognized him earlier because he’d shaved off his beard and hidden his distinctive facial features under dark shades and a baseball cap. It was the same light-eyed man who’d terrorized her those weeks before. God help her.

  Lena ran. Fully expecting to feel the painful punch of bullets through her back, she lurched forward in terror. If she could just make it to the doorway she stood a chance. She still had her car keys in the pocket of her jeans. The police station was only a twenty-five minute drive away. If she could just get to the car, she would be safe, she could make it.

  Scrambling ahead, Lena raced through the house, clumsily crashing into furniture and bumping into walls. Her heart was thumping almost out of her chest, but she was nearly to the front door. She could make it. She had to make it.

  Lena summoned every ounce of strength and speed that she possessed as she ran for her life. She could hear his heavy breathing and muttered curses behind her. He wasn’t too far away. Chairs splintered and glass shattered all around her as he barreled through the house after her.

 
God, why was he here? Why was he after her again? What did he want from her?

  Her hand circled around the knob, freedom nearly in her grasp. But just as she yanked the door partway open, she felt his punishing hands clutching at her neck. Bruising her. Choking her. He was trying to cut off her airway. She had not been quick enough to escape and now he’d caught her.

  She didn’t want to die. With that raw realization, she transformed into a madwoman. Kicking, screaming, and biting, she tried her damnedest to fight him off. Refusing to go down without a fight, she kicked out at his groin as hard as she could. A hard kick to the balls would fell even the most physically imposing of men.

  She missed her mark with her first kick, connecting with his shin instead. Next, she attempted to blind him. Clawing at his face, she went straight for his eyes. She was rewarded with the appearance of an uneven scratch on the side of his cheek.

  Bam!

  He slammed her up against the door so hard that her brain sloshed painfully against her skull. His fist slammed into the side of her head. Lifting her clean up off the ground, he jammed his arm against her throat. His face contorted in anger, his stormy gray eyes narrowed to the tiniest of slits.

  Black spots formed in front of Lena’s eyes. A warm, wet trickle flowed down her lips and she realized that her nose was bleeding, possibly broken.

  “Move again, and I will break your fucking neck. I promise you that,” he growled, his face only an inch away from hers. She did not have a choice in the matter. The tight choke hold he had on her was causing Lena to lose sensation in her legs and arms.

  The viciousness of the violence that had just been used against her shocked her to her core. In that moment, it dawned on her that her struggle was hopeless. And she knew that this man was intent on doing even more damage to her. She had failed to escape and now this maniac was going to kill her…or worse.

  Sensing her defeat, Hazel Eyes smiled at her. “Good night, Lena,” he whispered against her ear. Blackness enveloped her after the first volts of the stun gun penetrated her chest.