What I Fight For: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 1)

by Gemma Hart

  I looked at Emilia. Her eyes were round with fear and her cheeks wet with tears. She knew she had her own death sentence wrapped around her waist. And I wanted to kill Randall for terrifying her like this.

  “But this is all we have,” Tweety said. “This is our only chance. We go out of this hall and that’s it.”

  “Take it?” Tennessee asked after taking in a deep breath.

  Emilia took in a similar deep breath. She seemed to gather herself after locking eyes with me. I could still see her body quivering silently in terror but her face looked calmer.

  “I love you,” she whispered in a nearly inaudible voice.

  But I had heard it. I had seen it.

  “Take it,” I said.

  Bear squeezed the back of my arm in approval. I heard Tennessee take another deep breath.

  Dozer blew out a breath. “We’re here, Cap. One way or another.”

  I knew that. I would always know that.

  Randall quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

  But he had no chance to say anything further. There was a sharp, clear cracking noise as the window to his side was pierced by a single, well-aimed bullet.

  “Ack! Fuck! What the fuck!” Randall cried, immediately pushing Emilia away. He looked down to see a thin line of blood running horizontally down his belly, his shirt ripped open by the bullet.

  Emilia had enough wits to take the push from Randall as momentum and kept running forward till she fell into my arms. Immediately, I pulled her close to me then whirled her around so that my back was to the guards.

  The rest of the men opened quick fire before the untrained guards could even aim.

  I pulled Emilia around the corner and pushed her down against the wall. I felt her trembling in my arms, her body overwhelmed with shock. She held onto me tightly.

  “I love you, I love you,” she whispered repeatedly. Tears fell in a constant stream down her cheeks.

  I pulled away and put a hand gently next to her bruised cheek. She looked up at me, her eyes luminous and wet.

  “I just couldn’t bear dying without telling you that,” she said in a breathless whisper. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” I said. “And I’ll tell you that every day for the next fifty years of our very long lives because this is not where it ends. For either of us.” I found a safe seam and ripped off the vest and tossed it down the hall. I knew Bear would’ve made sure to prevent Randall from hitting the trigger but there was no way I was leaving Emilia in that contraption.

  I kissed her hard and rough. “Now stay here. Stay here for just five minutes!” I added when I saw her about to object. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”

  I kissed her once more before rounding back around the corner.

  I had heard guns firing through my earpiece as I had taken Emilia away. Dozer and the rest outside must’ve found the rest of Randall’s guards and were taking them out.

  But in my little hallway in this abandoned building were my men and Randall pinned to the wall. The two guards were dead on the ground.

  Randall had a hand pressed against his gut as he leaned against the wall, glaring at Bear and the rest who aimed their rifles and guns at him.

  He glared at me as I approached him.

  “Where the fuck did you get a sniper rifle?” he demanded.

  “Probably the same place you got yours,” I said evenly. “Although I probably could’ve gotten a whole crate full of them if I had told the dealer who I was planning to take out with it.”

  Randall’s lips pressed together in a thin white line.

  “You’re much in demand,” I said, now steps away from him.

  “You made a deal with me,” Randall breathed through his nose in anger, nearly spitting. “You made a DEAL!”

  “No!” I shouted, grabbing a fistful of his shirt. “You made a hostage situation. And if you had ever been a real member of Easy Team, you’d know you couldn’t have picked a worse hostage to kidnap. Because that girl is mine and I will pay you back tenfold for every bruise you put on her, you motherfucker!”

  I slammed him against the wall, his head making a wonderful cracking noise as it hit.

  Randall’s eyes rolled back a bit before he regained his senses. He gave me a dazed smile.

  “So be it,” he murmured. “Let’s both go then!”

  “Hawk!” Bear shouted in warning.

  But I had seen it.

  Randall’s right arm had swooped out from behind his back with a huge knife gripped in his hand. He made an arc swing for me but I dodged then grabbed his arm, breaking it neatly at the elbow.

  “FUCK!” he cried out as the joint snapped in two.

  Not letting go of him, I picked up the knife. Flipping it in the air, I grabbed it then ran it neatly and slowly down the length of Randall’s torso. Not deep enough to gut him but enough to rip his shirt open and draw plenty of blood.

  “GAHHH!” Randall cried out. “Christ! What the fuck!”

  “That is for the shitstorm you’ve been causing while in Qunar,” I said calmly.

  “You fucking fucker!” Randall cried out, spitting and drooling in pain and anger.

  “And this,” I said as I grabbed his wrist and lifted it high above his head before stabbing it straight through with the knife, embedding his hand and knife into the wall behind him, “is for Emilia.”

  Randall howled in pain, his impaled hand twitching as his nerves were sliced with pain.

  I tapped my earpiece. “How much time after detonation, Dozer?”

  “Two minutes, Hawk.”

  “Detonate,” I said. I pulled out my gun and shot Randall in both knees, ignoring his curses and cries.

  I stared down at him. “Now, here at the end, I will give you the same chance you’ve given all your victims,” I said in a growl. “None.”

  Randall stared at me, his eyes rimmed red and his face a blotched mess as blood poured out of his body. “You…fucker,” he spat in exhaustion. Bleeding takes a lot of a body. “You’ll pay for this.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “Someday. But certainly not today.”

  And with that, I turned around and walked away without giving the enemy of so many of my years a second glance.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Cooper

  I quickly grabbed Emilia’s arm and pulled her up. Wrapping an arm around her, we quickly headed down the hall towards the exit. But before we reached it, a sharp piercing cry echoed down the walls.

  We all stopped, pulled up short by the sound, unsure what it was.

  “There it is again!” Emilia cried out.

  I looked down at her in surprise. “You know what that is?”

  “No, but I’ve heard it before,” she said. “I think it might be another person held hostage here!”

  I looked at Bear.

  “A minute thirty, boss,” he reminded.

  “We have to save them if they are prisoners!” Emilia pleaded. “We can’t leave them!”

  “Take her,” I said, handing Emilia to Bear. “Take her out. I’ll meet you later.”

  “No!” she said, fighting free. She started running down the opposite direction. “I’m coming with you!”

  “Emilia!” I shouted, running after her. We were on a very strict timeline now.

  But Emilia was already around the corner. Once we rounded the corner into the southwestern hall, we heard the cry again. This time it was clearer and louder.

  Emilia started opening doors frantically. Bear ran down the hall and started opening doors from the opposite end.

  I had my hand on a door when Emilia cried out, “Here!”

  I looked and saw her staring into the room in shock. “Here,” she repeated in a whisper.

  We rushed to her and looked inside and saw the sight that had knocked her breathless with shock.

  Inside the room were the three dozen girls from the tent camp. Except now they were pale and sickly with some covered with measles spots. They were lying in the room, too sick to mo
ve or attempt an escape. The room smelled pungently of vomit and shit.

  They had probably been put into this room to be sold before they had all taken ill. But after being taken ill, clearly, no one had seen to give these girls any care since putting them in this room. Randall had probably just locked them up, expecting them to just die. I wanted to run back and slit Randall’s throat.

  But we had no time.

  “Grab as many girls as you can,” I said to the men. “Go!”

  We all gathered the limp girls. Emilia picked one girl up and grunted as she heaved her up into her arms.

  “Sora,” she called out gently. “Sora!” The girl’s head bobbed limply against Emilia’s shoulder.

  “Go!” I told her. She couldn’t carry any more than one girl. “Go!”

  Bear had two on his back and two in his arms. I had two in my arms and was trying to get one more on my back when Dozer burst into the room.

  “What are you still doing here, boss!” he cried. He must’ve re-entered the building to look for us once we hadn’t shown up at the rendezvous point. “We’ve already detonated!”

  “Grab the girls!” I ordered without explaining.

  Dozer looked around and saw what the rest of us were doing. Without further remarks, he quickly picked up the sick girls.

  In a crazy dash, we rushed out with sick girls piled on top of us.

  “Forty five seconds, Hawk!” I heard Tennessee yelling in my earpiece. “You need to clear the space!”

  We ran, lungs burning, as we carried the girls out of the building and far, far into the darkness, as far away from the building as possible.

  “We’ve cleared it! We’ve cleared it,” I reported seconds before the explosives went off like a series of deafening pops and the building crashed and crumbled into a large, fiery heap.

  And Randall, dead and buried under that mess.

  Good fucking riddance.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Emilia

  “Oh my god! Emilia! Emilia!” Tammy ran towards me, tears streaming down her face. “Oh my god, you’re okay!”

  I stumbled back as the tiny nurse launched herself at me. I hugged her back weakly, my arms quivering from hefting Sora out of the building and up a sizable hill and into the truck.

  Above Tammy’s head I saw Doc Jones and Margie rushing out towards me, their faces white with worry.

  “Oh thank fucking Christ,” Doc Jones mumbled, his face crumbling in relief as he took sight of me.

  “What happened?” Margie cried, pulling me and Tammy into a crushing hug. “Who were those men? Why did they take you?”

  I shook my head, untangling myself from both women. “Not now,” I said. “Not yet.” I pointed behind me to the truck where the rescued girls were piled in. “They’ve all got the measles. Some of them very advanced. We need to…to treat now.”

  My head spun as I spoke. All the energy and strength I felt in pulling those girls out of the building seemed to have drained out of me in one giant flush. I could hardly stand, let alone speak.

  “Rest,” Doc Jones said firmly. “You sit down and we’ll see to the girls.”

  I shook my head. “I’m fine,” I said. “There’s too many for our staff. I…I need to help too.”

  “No, you need to—”

  But whatever Doc Jones was about to say was cut off as I felt my legs swiped out from under me. I looked up and saw Cooper’s face above me, his arms wrapped around me as he lifted me into his arms. He looked down at me with a look of firm determination.

  “Rest,” he said, repeating Doc’s words. “You’re getting rest.”

  “But the girls—”

  “Are going to be in good hands,” he finished for me. “The rest of Easy Team will help the best they can with the med team and the girls will receive the best care possible.”

  “But—”

  “And you would just slow us down,” Doc Jones said, a brow raised sardonically. “Nobody wants a doctor who can barely keep her eyes open or stand properly on her own two feet. Now, go.”

  And without giving me a chance to argue back, Cooper turned around and left the rest of his team to help bring the girls into the medical tent. Without much room to protest and feeling the exhaustion permeating my body, I leaned my head against Cooper’s chest, letting him take me where he would.

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the large central meeting tent. On the floor were some blankets laid out with a pillow or two. The tent was closed and tied shut.

  Cooper slowly lowered himself down, leaning against some stacked boxes as a chair back. He kept me firmly in his arms with seemingly no intentions of letting me go.

  “Why are we in here?” I asked, my head still resting against his chest.

  Cooper sighed as he let his body sink against the floor. “Well,” he said, readjusting his hold on me to a more comfortable position, “one, I need to be close to the sat phone and computer right now. Just in case news travels fast about Randall.”

  I shivered at hearing his name and Cooper’s hold tightened on me, reminding me that I was in the arms of safety now and nothing could harm me.

  “And two,” he said, looking down at me, his eyes roving over my face in a caress, “I want to have you to myself in private. And this is better than the barracks.”

  I smiled faintly. “That’s true.”

  A comfortable silence fell between us as I rested against Cooper, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.

  I placed my hand gently over the beating sound. “You came,” I said softly. “You came for me.”

  Cooper placed his large hand over mine, enveloping my hand with his roughened and callused warmth. “Of course I did,” he said. “Did you ever doubt that?”

  I shook my head. “It’s just…It’s still amazing to know you came for me,” I said.

  He pressed a kiss to my forehead. A finger ran down my swollen cheek. “I’m just sorry I didn’t come sooner,” he said.

  I shook my head, burying my face against his chest. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’m just glad to be here. Now. Safe.”

  His arms tightened about me, pressing me closer to him, his lips against my forehead. “You’re definitely safe,” he said fiercely into my hair.

  I nodded.

  “Now get some sleep,” he said. “You need it.”

  I nodded again and stopped fighting the heaviness in my body. And instead, I sank against Cooper’s indomitable strength and let go of everything, safe in the knowledge that in Cooper’s arms, nothing could touch me.

  ***

  With a sudden, tearing gasp, I woke up.

  I felt pain, fear, hope, anger. I dreamt dark things.

  And then I woke up.

  I blinked, staring about wildly. Tent. Base camp. Safe.

  I was safe. I nearly shook with relief.

  A long arm crossed my body, comforting me. I looked down. I was on the ground of the meeting tent, blankets thrown across me. And Cooper laid next to me, his arm across me.

  “Are you awake?” he murmured, his eyes still closed.

  I slowly lowered myself back down, the blankets underneath me making a comfortable bed.

  Cooper opened his eyes sleepily, sweeping a hand gently across my face, brushing away my hair.

  “Bad dream?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “I’m safe now,” I said with a faint smile.

  He smiled back at me, his hand against my cheek. “Very,” he said firmly.

  We laid together like that, staring at each other in silence. I ran a finger down his chin, the coarse stubble hair scraping against my finger.

  “When do you finish this mission?” I asked.

  We never broke our gaze. “In about six weeks.”

  “I think we leave in three,” I said.

  I saw a quick look of regret and resignation pass across his face before he smiled again at me. “Happy to be going back?”

  I nodded. “Kind of. I did miss home,” I said. I wa
ited a beat before asking, “And when you finish the mission, how long before you call me?”

  He stared at me, his hand still touching my face. I saw him studying me carefully. I’m sure he thought that after what had happened with Randall, I would be too scared to continue anything that we had. I’m sure he thought that coming face to face with the harsh possibilities of his world would’ve left me screaming for the hills.

  But it hadn’t.

  Oh, I had been terrified. Being kidnapped and then potentially murdered in the most horrific of ways would terrify most anyone. But it had also shown me something.

  The world needed men like Cooper Hawking.

  There were always going to be captive villagers, trafficked girls, or kidnapped hostages. There were always going to be arms dealers, drug cartels, and child slavers.

  Because there would always be men like Randall.

  Men like Graham Randall were a dime a dozen. Sitting in that dark room, my hands tied, my face beaten, I realized that. The false security of power, the lure of money, the enticement of cruelty—these were all seductions that weaker men fell to all the time.

  And because there were so many of them, men like Cooper were needed.

  Men like Cooper were rare. Men who fought darkness with darkness to preserve the light. Men who were willing to carry the burden of pain and hardship so that others wouldn’t have to.

  Men who would run into an exploding building to rescue sick children.

  The world needed men like Cooper.

  I was scared of the world he traveled in but I was even more scared of my world without him.

  And I could see him slowly starting to understand that.

  A warmth glimmered in his eyes. “I’ll call you the minute I land,” he said.

  “Promise?”

  “Promise,” he said, a smile slowly growing.

  I ran a thumb across his lips. “Also, one more promise,” I said.

  A dark brow rose in curiosity. “And what’s that?”

  “Promise me,” I took in a breath. “Promise me that when we are back home and you get called up on another mission, you’ll tell me.”

  He pressed his lips together. “Emilia, I can’t always tell you where I’m going—”

  “No,” I interrupted. “Not where you’re going. Just that you’re going. Just tell me that you’re going on a mission and not some fun trip to Mexico with friends. It’s just that…” I bit my lip, trying to find the right words “…I just don’t want to be out with friends, drinking and laughing, carefree and unknowing, while you’re out somewhere like here, in potential danger. I just don’t want to feel foolish and silly later when you come back.”