***
Danny had finished his training at USAMPS and had come to her. She had been so happy to see him she nearly cried. When she met him at the airport, he immediately went to his knees before her and kissed her belly. With her small frame, her belly already had a noticeable bump.
Danny whispered to her stomach. It was a conversation between father and child that brought tears to her eyes. When he rose, he looked her in her eyes and kissed her deeply, ignoring the looks of passersby. Between kisses, he said, “My love, how I’ve missed you. I love you so much, Tina.”
“I love you, too, Danny. Forever.”
They went to her condo and made love for hours. They didn’t answer phone calls and ignored Janine when she knocked on the door. Kristina still heard her friend ranting through the door. “Krissy? Danny? Danny, are you in there with her? One of you get up and open the door. You can’t keep him to yourself forever, Kristina. I’ll be back.” They had heard her mumbling down the hallways of her complex, cursing their names. They had spent every moment together, as she showed him around Philly. Every night they made passionate love to one another, making up for lost time.
On the night before he was to return back to base, he sent her to the store for ice. She had thought it was weird, but she went anyway. When she returned, all the lights were out, but a single candle burned.
“You must have a thing for candles,” she had told him laughing.
He smiled slightly, “Well, I knew when you were coming back this time.”
He rose from the chair he was sitting in and walked to her.
“Danny, what’s going on?”
She got her answer when he went down on one knee. “Kristina, I don’t know what I did right in this life to deserve you, but I thank my lucky stars every day that I have you. I love you with my entire being and I would be honored if you would become my wife.”
Kristina wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked down at the man she was madly in love with. “Of course, of course, I’ll marry you.”
He had let out a loud whoop stood and kissed her. Tears fell from her face she was so deliriously happy.
They married the next morning. It was quick ceremony with Janine as the witness. Kristina didn’t care that there wouldn’t be a honeymoon, since she married the love of her life.
***
The door opened to her hospital room and Kristina looked up to see Danny come in. He had been in and out of the room making phone calls and sending pictures to his family who were unable to make the flight out. He was such a proud father, already doting on his little boy.
“How are you doing?” he asked Kristina quietly.
“I’m good, love. Just a little tired,” she said.
He shook his head in understanding. “How’s my little boy?”
“Sleeping. Something I wish I was doing right now.”
Danny reached for his son and cradled him in his arms. “He’s so strong,” he said, rubbing the baby’s head softly.
“Just like his father,” she said.
“When are your parents getting in?”
“Their flight should land in about an hour,” Kristina said.
Kristina spoke to her parents before their flight. They both sounded excited to come. Kristina hadn’t seen them since that long ago afternoon at their house, but she spoke with them almost every day since then. She understood her father on a different level now. She no longer looked down on him because of his faults, but instead, she tried to encourage him.
He was doing a lot better now than he had in years. He still drank, but he only drank beers, giving up hard liquor completely. He talked more and more about her brother. Her mother had even said that they were finally going to counseling to learn how to deal with the loss of their child.
Some days Kristina wished that he was still with them. She thought about how different her life would have been, if he would have never been kidnapped; but, those thoughts never lasted long. She concentrated on making her relationship better with her parents now.
“I think Janine is picking them up from the airport.”
“Try and get some rest before everybody gets here. I’ll look after our son, so you can sleep,” Danny told her.
Kristina closed her eyes and sleep took her almost immediately.
***
Danny was sitting by the bed feeding his son when the door to the room opened once more. Janine popped her head in.
“She’s finally getting some rest, huh?”
“Yeah, she’s been asleep about an hour and a half now.”
Danny lightly shook Kristina awake. “Tina, wake up, honey. Your parents and Janine are here.”
Kristina caught sight of her friend. She was holding another gift bag. “At this rate, he’ll have more clothes than he can wear,” Kristina said, smiling.
“Hey, it’s the godmother’s job to spoil the baby. That’s what I’m doing,” Janine said, placing the bag with the others.
Her mother walked to her and gave her a hug. “How are you holding up? Are you getting any rest? Is he helping you? Are you breastfeeding?” her mom asked her all at once.
Danny handed her the baby. Then, he stepped back so the women could fuss over him. He saw her father and nodded his hello. The women talked excitedly, passing the baby around the small circle. Kristina looked past her mother to where her father stood back against the wall. He hadn’t said much since entering the room. “Dad, would you like to hold your grandson?”
Her father hesitated, not trusting himself to hold the baby. It had been so long since he had held one and his grandson was so tiny.
“Are you sure, Kristina?” he asked her in a gruff voice.
“Yes, Dad. I’m sure. Come and meet your grandson.”
Her father walked slowly to the bed where Kristina held her son. He kissed her on the top of her head before opening his arms to accept the baby. Kristina gently placed her son in her father’s waiting arms.
“Isn’t he beautiful, John?”
Her father glanced at her mother. With a smile he said, “This is my grandson. He’s a handsome fella. He is not beautiful, woman.” Laughs went around the room.
Everyone watched, as her father spoke softly to his grandson. Kristina’s heart melted, as she looked on. Her father glanced up at her, “What’s his name?”
Kristina looked at her husband who shook his head. They had discussed names and had agreed on one in particular.
“It’s not official, but we were thinking Timothy John.”
She heard her mother gasp and put her hand to lips. Her father looked up quickly and stared at Kristina for a long minute. He went to speak, but tears flowed instead. Bringing her son up to his lips, he placed a single kiss on his forehead. “Timothy John,” he whispered, as he nodded his head once.
He walked back to Kristina and placed her son back in her arms. As he wiped the tears from his eyes, he leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Thank you.”
THE END
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SURVIVOR’S REMORSE
PROLOGUE
Lionel “Leo” Graves crouched in the scrub brush as he absentmindedly brushed a finger along his right eyebrow, wiping away the droplet of sweat before it could roll down into his eye, his shirt already plastered to him like a second skin from his sweat. He had been living in the hot Texas sun for three years, but having grown up in Montana, he didn’t think he would ever adjust to the heat. Unlike that asshole, Tuck, Leo thought as he glanced to the man on his right.
Charles Tucker, his best friend, was crouched in the brush with him with not a drop of sweat visible. Leo was of the opinion that Tuck, an Arizona native, could walk on the surface of the sun without breaking a sweat. He envied Tuck’s cool. Of course, when Tuck is freezing his ass off in fifty degree weather, I’m still walking around in short sleeves. Unfortunately, Vallecito saw a lot more ninety degree days than it did fifty, so…
Leo was pulled back from his private bitch
ing when his earbud squawked. “We got a box van on the way,” Copper’s voice came over the radio. Leo looked around and watched the other six men on his team become deadly serious. They had all heard the same report.
A moment later, a late model Ford box van, driving far too fast down the rough and washboarded dirt road, swung around the corner on the edge of control. The driver must have known he was in bandit country… and he was about to meet the bandits.
A jacked up Chevy pickup lunged across the road, blocking the truck’s path. They had picked this section of road for their ambush because the blind corner hid their presence until the last moment and the deep ditches prevented the truck from driving past their roadblock. As the van shuddered to a stop, another truck surged across the road behind, pinning their quarry in.
Leo and the other six men on foot came out of the brush on each side of the road in a fast-moving combat crouch, their deadly-looking semi-automatic rifles pointed at the driver and passenger. Their truck drivers joined them a moment later.
Tomas “Two-Tone” Marro yanked open the door of the box van and hauled the driver out and shoved him to his knees while Tuck did the same with the passenger on the other side. With two high-powered rifles pointed at the driver’s head, Two-Tone spoke to him in rapid Spanish. Leo let Two-Tone handle it since he couldn’t speak a word of Spanish unless it involved getting drunk or getting laid.
Sure they had the situation under control up front; Leo motioned four of the guys with him to the back of the truck. The men took up station, two to each side of the rollup door with weapons at the ready, as Leo counted down from five on his fingers. When he gripped his hand in a fist, he quickly unlocked the door and threw it up before ducking to avoid a potential hail of bullets.
When no one fired, Leo stood up and looked into the back of the truck. Inside were twenty or more Mexicans crowded at the front of the truck, hunched over the children, all their eyes wide with fear. Leo had to grit his teeth to avoid gagging from the stench of human waste pouring from the truck.
“Fuck…” Leo muttered as his lips curled in disgust. “Somebody get Two-Tone back here.
Leo lowered his weapon so it dangled nonthreateningly from his shoulder. “Tómalo con calma . No vamos a hacerte daño,” he said while making calming motions with his hands. He hoped he got it close enough that they understood they weren’t going to be hurt. Judging by the fact they still cowered at the front of the truck, he assumed he hadn’t.
Two-Tone appeared at the back of the truck. “Fuck… I hate this shit,” he snarled as he took in the situation.
“Yeah. Me too. See if you can get them calmed down. Some of them look like they have been beaten. Find out if any of them are hurt and I’ll get them some water. It must be a hundred and fifty degrees in there,” Leo instructed. He then turned to the other men. “You know what to do.”
One of the men made a motion across his neck, then two gunshots echoed through the surrounding canyons, making the illegals in the truck whimper in fear.
With a grimace and a shake of his head, Leo walked to the Chevy and returned with a dozen cold waters. He and his men would have to go thirsty, but it wasn’t the first time they had given up their water... and it probably wouldn’t be their last.
“They’re a little roughed up and couple of the women were raped, but nobody is seriously injured. Not physically anyway,” Two-Tone reported when Leo returned.
“Tell them this is all the water we have and they will have to share,” Leo said as he handed up the bottles.
Two-Tone translated and the men nodded and smiled in thanks as they took the water.
“We’re loaded and ready to go,” Tuck said as he stepped around the corner of the van.
“Okay. Let Copper know we’re ready to roll. Tell him we have to make a delivery first and we’ll catch up. Two-Tone, Tuck, you’re with me. The rest can head on back.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Leo stopped the van just inside the Mexican border. “Let’s do this,” he muttered to Two-Tone.
Leo and Tuck dragged the bodies out of the back of the Chevy, letting them thud to the ground like so much meat. Two-Tone hustled the people out of the truck and herded them around the truck so they could see the dead men displayed on the ground, a great gaping wound in each man’s head.
“You see that?” Leo snarled, stomping around the scared men, women, and children as Two-Tone translated. “You see what happens when you cross into Lima 6 territory? You die. You will be gunned down without mercy as these men were. But I’m feeling generous today. You were just cargo, locked in the back of the truck like cattle. So I’m going to let you go. But if I ever see you in our territory again, you will end up just like these two men. This is your only warning. Now go.”
When Two-Tone finished speaking and the crowd didn’t move, Leo fired two quick shots into the ground at their feet. That got them moving. As the illegals disappeared into the brush, Leo watched them go, his lips pursed hard together. “This is worse than the drugs,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” Tuck agreed.
“Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here,” Two-Tone said, slapping Leo on the shoulder. “I’ve got better things to do on a Saturday afternoon than stand around and watch the buzzards eat these bastards.”
CHAPTER ONE
Jamie Boyles watched as Leo, Tuck, and Two-Tone joined the rest of the Lima 6 Motorcycle Club members already in her bar. He’s Not Here, a local watering hole started by her grandfather back in the forties, was a favored hangout for Lima 6. Judging by their dour faces, they must have run another intercept this afternoon.
While not a member of the club, Jamie heard things... things that most of the people of Vallecito de Grande, Texas liked to pretend wasn’t happening – like the killing of drug mules and Coyotes running illegals. But as far as she was concerned, Lima 6 was the best thing to have happened to the town in years.
Nestled into the “U” between Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park, less than ten miles from the Mexican border, and with a natural shallow in the Rio Grande River, Vallecito had once been a warzone. With the desolation afforded by the parks and surrounding ranchland, Vallecito had been a natural exchange point for the drug and illegal alien traffic flowing into the United States from Mexico.
Then, ten years ago, Lima 6 had moved in and set up shop. They had made a tacit deal with the town. If the town would give them a home, and not hassle them too much, they would work to push the drug and illegals traffic around the town. Lima 6 had lived up to their end of the bargain, and more. As they added new members, their sphere of influence had spread, and they had taken in the surrounding community, providing protection that the police could not.
Later, a group of ranchers had banded together to provide funding and support for what Lima 6 was doing. It was a working relationship that had lasted for ten years to the benefit of all. Officially the police were getting the credit for keeping the town safe, but everyone knew it was Lima 6 doing the heavy lifting. They had a…freer hand…to deal with the problems, and so long as they kept the violence out of the town, the Vallecito police tended to look the other way.
Jamie smiled as she drew up beers for Leo, Tuck, and Two-Tone. Lima 6 could be a little rowdy sometimes, but they were all good guys. Each member of the club was ex-military and having them in her bar made her feel just a little closer to her brother.
***
Leo sighed as he settled into his chair and stretched out his legs. He’s Not Here, or HNH as the locals called it, was the best place in town for something cold and wet. And the food was pretty good, too, with Jamie serving up the best burgers and fries in town. It also didn’t hurt that she was easy on the eyes…very easy on the eyes. Leo, Tuck, and Two-Tone placed their orders and watched as Bobi, the waitress, flounced to the bar. Bobi wasn’t exactly hard to look at either.
Leo watched as Jamie drew their beer with an expert touch. Rumor was she took over HNH less than a year before he
arrived, but she moved behind the bar with an easy grace and comfort that spoke of years of experience.
She looked up and caught his eyes as the beer poured down the side of the final mug, rewarding him with a smile that made his cock tingle. There was no arguing that Jamie was sexy as hell, with her dark hair pulled up in a ponytail, but there was something much more than just her good looks. She was smart, witty, tough, and he liked talking with her. She stopped the fill just as the beer reach the top of the mug and set in on the tray, her eyes never leaving his. He snickered to himself as he broke eye contact with an admiring shake of his head.
***
Jamie caught him watching her, and she smiled. She liked all the Lima 6 guys, but Leo was her favorite. Clean cut, quiet, and soft spoken, he was always good for a funny turn of phrase or interesting conversation. She held his eyes with her own, showing off a little by stopping the fill of the mug at just the right moment without looking down. Her smile widened as he chuckled at her showmanship and looked away. He looked so much better when he smiled…and she wished he would do it more often.
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