Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Hope (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Midnight Delta Book 7)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  He so wanted to go to the other side near the cliff to check to see if he could spy Miranda, but he was concerned that even his weight could shift the precarious position of the train.

  “Griff!” He turned and saw Lieutenant Mason Gault on the ground below him. His second-in-command, Drake Avery, another Navy SEAL, was standing beside him. “We’re coming up.”

  “Don’t come up quite yet. I have a problem. I’m coming down.”

  Griff ran to the end of the car and found the handholds necessary to climb down. On his way down, he met three men who were working to uncouple the downed car from the dining car. They didn’t look up from their task. Mason and Drake met him when he reached the ground.

  “What’s the problem?” Mason asked.

  “Miranda fell down the cliff on the other side of the train,” he said, pointing between the two cars. Mason and Drake didn’t bother asking who Miranda was, they just immediately went into mission mode.

  “I’ve got supplies in my truck,” Drake said as he took off at a dead run.

  “The Humvees are equipped with cable, they’re planning on securing the train so it doesn’t slip anymore than it has. That should keep her safe,” Mason said.

  Griff looked over and saw emergency crews and Marines hooking up the cable to the bottom of the downed train car. He also saw men up on the top of the car working to open the door of the car so that people could be evacuated. Griff thought he recognized the man using the torch.

  “How many people are on that car? How’s Billy?” Mason asked.

  “Billy’s a big help,” Griff answered. “He’s got a great head on his shoulders. As for how many people are on the car, I don’t know. From what I remember, I would say about thirty on the top floor, at least four dead. I have no idea how many are on the first floor.”

  Drake came up carrying a duffel bag, and a skein of rope hanging from his right shoulder. “An EMT is getting in touch with one of the choppers,” Drake reported. “When we find your woman, they’ll send down a basket. Where are we going?”

  Griff led them past the back of the rail car. “Billy and his friends climbed up the cliff at one point, but they shouldn’t have. It was too fucking dangerous,” Griff said, pointing around the side of the train.

  “They’re teenagers,” was Drake’s succinct response.

  The sun was behind them as they looked out into the water. Griff’s every instinct was screaming at him to run to the side of the cliff, but he knew that it was foolish. They needed to go slow, and make sure that the ground beneath them was firm. The weight of the rail car had destabilized the cliff.

  “Where did she go over?”

  “Near the middle of the car. You can see part of where there is a landslide,” he said, pointing to where there was a significant drop off.

  “Got it,” Mason said.

  Drake was already unwrapping the rope. “We can tie it off on the train.”

  “It’s too unstable,” Griff protested.

  “Nope, the Marines have enough cables on it now. This fucker isn’t going anyplace,” Drake grinned. “Now they just have to get the wounded off this damn thing.”

  “Are the doors open yet?”

  “Nope.” Drake said as he finished tying off the rope.

  “I’m going first,” Mason said. “I know this beach. I’ve surfed here.” Drake and Griff nodded as Mason rappelled over the side of the cliff.

  * * *

  He could hear Hope crying in the distance.

  He could hear Billy talking nonsense to her.

  He could hear Susan singing, ‘The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round,’ to Jeremy.

  What he couldn’t fucking hear, was Caroline taking an easy breath. No, each time she breathed in, it was a fucking struggle.

  He tilted her up, trying to help her find a more comfortable position. Trying to do any goddamn thing that would make it better.

  The phone rang, and Abe answered it. Wolf watched his face. He nodded. “I’ll be right there.”

  He bent down and put his face right next to Caroline’s. “You hang in there, Ice. I’ll be right back with the guys, and we’ll get you out of here.”

  Abe clapped Wolf’s shoulder, then climbed over the fallen seat next to him.

  Wolf winced as the train moved. He tried to keep Caroline still, but she moaned in pain despite his best efforts. He hated this. Why couldn’t he have been the one who had been injured? He looked at the luminous dial of his watch. It had been thirty-six minutes since the crash. That could be the difference between life and death if she had internal bleeding. They had to get her to the trauma center at Palomar.

  Wolf heard his teammates as they cleared the path of the downed seats and debris. Mozart, Dude and Abe reassured people that they would be back for them as soon as they got the most critically injured people off the train. He looked up and saw that Mozart and Abe were holding a spinal board instead of a stretcher. It made sense. They needed to keep Ice as immobilized as possible as they took her off the rail car.

  Abe had given her something for the pain before he had left. He hadn’t wanted to give her too much, because her breathing was labored.

  They set the board down beside Caroline. The four of them all picked her up carefully, so that every part of her body was supported, and placed her on the board. Quickly, Abe and Wolf strapped her in.

  “Matthew?” Caroline whispered.

  “I’m here, baby.” Wolf placed a tender kiss on her forehead, then picked up the board near her head, while Abe grabbed the other end. Mozart and Dude led the way towards the fucked-up staircase. It no longer looked like the stairs he and Caroline had used to get on the train, but because the train was on its side, it looked like a sideways ladder. Mozart went first, then Dude, carefully sliding the board along the stairs so that the men soon had her safely off the train.

  Wolf jumped off behind them. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing when he got off. It was mayhem. He had to jump over cables that were attached to the Humvees that the Marines were using to secure the train from tumbling down the side of the cliff. Then, to the right, he saw men and women using fire extinguishers to put out a fire on the power car. He looked around at the terrain and realized there was no way a fire truck could have made it to the site.

  Wolf followed Mozart and Dude, who seemed to have a destination in mind for Caroline. That was when he saw a helicopter rescue basket hanging in mid-air. He double-timed it behind his teammates to where EMT’s were huddled around a young boy on a stretcher. They looked up when they saw the spinal board with Caroline on it.

  “She’ll be the last passenger on this chopper,” the woman said.

  “What’s the ETA to Palomar?” Abe asked.

  “Ten minutes, once we get them aboard. The hospital is prepped for incoming.”

  Wolf went around the side of the board and took ahold of Caroline’s hand and bent his head next to hers. “We’re almost there. You just hold on. You’ve got this.” He stayed like that, continuing to shield her from the wind of the helicopter, waiting for her turn to go aboard. “I love you,” he said.

  * * *

  Griff wanted to let go of the rope. For God’s sake, the surfers hadn’t used a rope to climb up. But then again, they hadn’t had such an important mission. He followed Mason over the side of the cliff, and immediately looked at the beach below. He sighed in relief when he didn’t see any sign of Miranda near the waves.

  Mason was already picking his way over to the left, where he had told him that Miranda had fallen. There was enough of a slope that there could be plenty of places that she could have grabbed hold of rock or grass. Drake came over the cliff last. They each took a twenty-foot side of the cliff, wanting to make sure that they didn’t miss anything. They went slowly, scanning every nook and cranny.

  They had gone thirty feet when Mason called out. “I see her!”

  “Where?” Griff demanded.

  “Directly beneath Drake. She’s landed against a rock.
She’s hidden by the seagrass, but you can see a bit of pink.”

  Now that Mason pointed her out, he could see a nylon-clad leg. Drake had his phone out. He must be calling one of the EMTs.

  “The chopper will be here within ten minutes with a rescue basket. Let’s get your lady ready for transport,” he said, as he put his phone back in his cargo pants.

  God love Drake Avery. The man just took it at face value that Miranda was alive. They made their way down to her, careful not to knock any debris loose that might land on her. Mason reached her first, but Griff was there within seconds.

  “She’s alive,” Mason grinned at him, his fingers on the pulse at her neck.

  “Miranda. Can you hear me?” Griff called to her.

  He ran his hands gently over her body for signs of injury. How could her pearls be resting perfectly around her neck? It seemed wrong.

  Her wrist was obviously broken, and there was blood at the back of her head. Carefully, Griff guided his fingers around her head, probing softly, until he got to the back of her skull. He almost cried in relief when he felt the back of her skull and found that it wasn’t crushed, there just seemed to be a cut and swelling. Thank you God!

  He gave a nod to Mason, who grinned in understanding.

  Did he see an eyelash flicker?

  “Miranda. Oh, baby, you were supposed to take better care of yourself.” His voice broke. “Honey, I’m here for you. Now, I did my part, you do your part and stay with me, okay? You promised.” He brushed a kiss against her cheek. “You promised, Miranda.”

  Griff heard the whomp whomp of the helicopter. Drake was kneeling and waving, Griff saw someone stick their hand out and wave back. Soon a rescue stretcher was being lowered. Mason and he steadied it.

  He wanted to be the one who placed Miranda in the basket, but ultimately Mason helped him. They ever so gently placed Miranda into the pallet and strapped her in. Griff tugged on the rope and gave the team in the helicopter a thumbs-up, and they started to raise her up.

  He scrambled up the cliff, determined to be at the hospital as soon as humanly possible.

  Chapter Six

  “Matthew?”

  Her lips had barely moved, but he saw them.

  “I’m here.” He lunged up from his seated position beside the hospital bed. He held her small hand in both of his.

  He’d been willing her to open her eyes for six hours. Ever since the doctors had confirmed that she was going to be fine. Wolf had known that her being in and out of consciousness on the train was a good sign, but he had needed the doctors’ confirmation.

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re in a hospital, not far from San Diego.”

  “What happened?”

  The doctors had said she might be disoriented when she woke up, that it was a side effect of the concussion.

  “What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “We were at the Bed and Breakfast,” she whispered huskily, then coughed.

  “Do you want a sip of water?” He poured a glass and had a straw to her lips before she started to nod. He saw her wince.

  “Baby, don’t move your head. You have a concussion and cracked ribs. Your kidney is bruised too. You’re pretty banged up.” He watched as she considered his words.

  “No surgery?”

  “Nope.”

  She smiled and took a sip of water. He loved her analytical mind. Then he saw the wheels turn even more. “The train. There was a wreck.”

  He set down the water on the table beside the hospital bed. “That’s right.” Wolf brushed back the hair from her forehead and placed a kiss on her temple.

  She jerked, and tried to get up, but he was ready for it, and gently held her down. “The baby. Hope.” She gasped. Wolf didn’t know if it was from pain or worry.

  “She’s fine. They got Hope, Jeremy and Susan off the train. Susan was the only one who was injured. She has a broken leg. You did real good, telling us where Hope was.”

  “Can I see them?”

  “Ice, they’ve already left the hospital, Susan’s mother already picked her up.”

  “Where’s her husband?”

  “He died last year in a motorcycle accident.” Wolf watched helplessly as tears formed in his wife’s beautiful eyes. “Baby, the important thing is that they’re safe, and you and Miranda saved Hope.”

  “Miranda! I remember her. She was helping me. She was the one who ended up getting Hope, didn’t she? There was a man named Griff?” Wolf nodded.

  “What?” Caroline wanted to know.

  That was the problem when you had a soulmate, you could read each other’s minds. “It’s Miranda. She was injured saving Hope. She needed surgery.” Caroline reached out for his hand. He grabbed it in both of his.

  “Tell me.”

  “There was swelling on her brain, and they had to operate.”

  “I don’t understand. She was fine.” Caroline was getting agitated again.

  “Ice, I need you to stay still, you’re going to end up injuring your ribs.”

  “To hell with my ribs!” She struggled to sit up.

  He put his arm under her shoulders, and pressed the button to lift the bed.

  “Wolf, tell me what happened.”

  “Lie back.” He gave her a look that told her he meant business. She settled back against the bed.

  “Now tell me.” God, she was stubborn. He’d love her three days after he was dead, and it still wouldn’t be long enough. He bent down and kissed her.

  “Please, Matthew, I have to know.”

  “It was Miranda who figured out that you were outside the window because of Hope. Of course, you were trying to save a baby,” he caressed her cheek with the back of his knuckles. “Anyway, after we got you back inside, she went out after her. That goddamn train wasn’t stable, neither was the cliff. She managed to get Hope to Griff, but the cliff collapsed under her, and she went over the side.”

  She swallowed. “Okay, tell me the worst.”

  That was his Ice, just the facts. “There wasn’t any damage to brain tissue. They just needed to drain the excess blood and repair a couple of blood vessels. According to Griff, this was the best-case scenario. Now it’s a matter of wait and see.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Her brain is swollen from the trauma. It’s going to be a few days before she wakes up.”

  “Okay. Who’s here for her?” Wolf smiled, and kissed her hand.

  “Griff is.”

  “What about her family.”

  “According to Griff, she’s alone.”

  “Well, she isn’t anymore.” He hadn’t expected anything else.

  “I love you, Caroline.”

  * * *

  Griff couldn’t believe how much worse Miranda looked after surgery. Her face was swollen, and her eyes looked like she had been in a bar fight. But seeing her breathing made it all better.

  He stroked her lower-left arm, since her hand had a clip to monitor her pulse and then there were so many IV’s and wires.

  “Griff, you heard what the doctors said, she’s not going to wake up for a couple of days. Why don’t you go home and get some rest.”

  Griff looked up into the eyes of the kind nurse. She had been on duty since Miranda had been brought into the ICU room. Her name was Shelly, and Griff knew that she had four children and fifteen grandchildren.

  “I just can’t stand the idea of her waking up without a friendly face around.”

  “Are you saying my face isn’t friendly?” Shelly asked, her hands on her hips. Griff smiled for the first time since the doctor said that Miranda was going to live.

  “You’re beautiful, Shel,” he said, then his eyes darted back to Miranda. He couldn’t help but look at her after almost losing her. “Can she hear me?”

  “Ah, Honey. I believe she can.”

  Griffin stood up from his chair and bent over the bed. He brushed a kiss against her swollen cheek and whispered in her ear. “You’re the most beaut
iful woman I’ve ever met, Miranda Slade. I can’t wait to see your green eyes again.”

  He sat back down again, and rested his forehead against her arm.

  “Griff, you really need to get out of here and get some rest,” Shelly said.

  She came over to him, and tugged at his hand. “Come on, get out of this chair. I didn’t want to have to say this, but Honey, you’re smelling kind of ripe. Do you really want your girl’s first impression to be of you stinking up the place?” Griff laughed. He actually laughed!

  “You’re good for me,” he told the woman, as he got up out of the chair.

  “Darn right I am. Just ask any one of my four boys. I’m always right. Now I’m here for a twelve-hour shift, so I’ll be here another three hours. So you go get cleaned up and get yourself something to eat.”

  “That sounds like a good plan, Griff,” a deep voice said. He spun towards the door and saw his former teammate, Jack Preston, and his fiancée, Beth Hildalgo, standing beside him.

  Griff swallowed twice, then he got up and thrust out his hand. Jack pulled him in for a hug. “How’d you know to be here?” Griff asked Jack.

  “There can only be two visitors at one time in ICU,” Shelly said.

  “Griff and I are just leaving,” Jack said. He pulled Griff out into the hall with Beth.

  “Mason told you, didn’t he?” Griff said, answering his own question.

  “Yeah, he told us that your woman had just had surgery. We all wanted to be here. We’re going to come in shifts.”

  “But nobody knows Miranda,” Griff protested.

  Beth stepped up and put her hand on Griff’s arm. “We know you,” she said softly. “I’m going to stay with her while Jack drives you to your place. We knew you needed a ride.” Griff shook his head. He had his keys in his hands, but hadn’t even considered the fact that his truck was at the train station in San Diego, not here at the hospital. God, he was out of it.

  “It’s okay,” Jack put his hand on his shoulder. “We’ve got you covered. You shouldn’t be driving anyway.” He plucked the keys out of Griff’s hands. Jack turned to Beth, and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. “Will you be okay?”