Her Ranger Rescuers

by M J Adams

  Luke had two large suitcases on his bed, almost all the way packed. When he left today, he was done.

  Isaac envied him with the force of gravity. Then he zipped his bag closed and set it on the floor. He had no idea where he’d be on Sunday, but he had to face the future with what he had.

  Someone knocked on the door, and it could only be Cora. “Come in,” he said, and he watched as she entered. She wore jeans and T-shirt, her hair up in a ponytail, and a terrified look on her face. “Hey,” she said, striding toward him. “Max said something about the Grand Master knowing something?”

  “I don’t know what she knows,” Isaac said stiffly. He hadn’t slept in Cora’s room since his interview, and it was probably good practice for the time being.

  She cradled his face and kissed him, and the sweetness of it made Isaac’s emotion ball up in the back of his throat. He loved this woman, and the thought of never seeing her again had him shaking inside.

  “You’ll be in Richland Center soon,” she said, her eyes only inches from his.

  He didn’t have the heart to tell her. He couldn’t. He believed the Grand Master when she said she’d know.

  She probably knew about this kiss too, and all the others Isaac had stolen with Cora. Maybe that would be all he got. These two weeks of memories with Cora.

  He nodded, and she stepped back. “I’m packed and ready.”

  “Great,” he said. “Then let’s go.”

  Chapter 19

  Cora

  Beneath me, a car moves. The steady vibration keeps me close to the edge of slumber, and I want to shake myself awake. I can’t, so I just listen to the voice beside me.

  “Yes, ma’am. The nine-thirty flight out of San Antonio. I’m sure I can make that.”

  I don’t know who Isaac is talking to. I also don’t know his specific plan to get to Richland Center. Luke has only prepped me on mine. Only he knows all the schedules, all the plans. That way, if something goes sideways, I don’t know anything. He says it will protect me, but all I feel is worry.

  Fear.

  Desperation.

  A few more days, I tell myself. I will stay in Silver Lake until Tuesday morning. Then I’m to rent a car under a false name, using the fake identification documents Luke says will be delivered to my house in Silver Lake on Monday. I’m to drive to Austin and board a plane for Seattle.

  Something bumps, jolting me awake. Isaac swears. The truck swerves. I forget the rest of my escape plan.

  Cora waited in the front seat of the SUV, exactly as Isaac had instructed her. He seemed surlier than usual, but she told herself it was the stress of the situation. He really could change a tire in twenty minutes, and he climbed behind the wheel with dirty hands.

  “All set?” she asked. Normal people got flat tires on freeways. Normal men fixed them while their wives or girlfriends waited in the car. Everything was normal.

  “Yes,” he said, putting the SUV in drive and easing them back onto the road. She’d anticipated their drive to Silver Lake to be full of conversation and laughter. Neither existed, and Isaac kept his fingers tightly gripped on the wheel, almost as if he expected an attack at any moment, from any side.

  Cora’s muscles stayed tense too, and she was utterly exhausted by the time he pulled into the hotel in Amarillo. “Wait here,” he said, getting out of the driver’s seat and heading for the sliding doors that led into the lobby.

  He returned soon enough and carried both of their bags as they went inside. “We have one room,” he said as he swiped the keycard across the reader. The light turned green, and he ushered her inside.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered, spinning back to him.

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “You’re acting like a tyrant,” she said. “I’ve never seen you like this. You’re freaking me out.”

  “This is how relocation is,” he said, pushing past her and putting her suitcase on the far bed and his on the one closer to the door.

  “I don’t believe you,” she said, following him. She touched his shoulder, and he deflated. Finally. “Talk to me, Isaac.”

  He kept his back to her and drew in a deep breath. “I’m just worried about everything.”

  “You’re lying.” Cora wasn’t sure how far to push him, but she knew she didn’t deserve to be lied to. “I’m calling Max.”

  Isaac turned toward her, his big hands covering both of hers. “No, you’re not.” His eyes gleamed with danger in the dim lamplight.

  “Then tell me what is going on,” she demanded. Nothing about this relocation was going according to her imagination. In that moment, Cora realized that her fantasies and dreams weren’t real. They were fantasies. Dreams. Imaginations of a foolish woman who hadn’t been loved properly in years.

  Isaac’s expression stormed, with hail and lightning and wind. All at once, he blew himself out and grabbed onto her. “I’m scared,” he admitted. “I just want everything to go right.”

  “It will,” she promised, not used to this reassurance being her role.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “You have to make it to Richland Center.”

  She pulled back, those three little words echoing in her ears. Luke had said them too, and Isaac’s were just as genuine. “We’re all going to make it to Richland Center,” she promised. A smile teased its way across her mouth. “And I love you, too.”

  He kissed her then, almost an aggressive action that swept the breath right out of her lungs. She’d known Isaac would be the roughest with her, the one who hurried to get her clothes off and then took his time with everything else.

  And that was exactly what he did.

  “Max will be here soon,” Isaac said almost twenty-four hours later. They’d spent the evening and night in the hotel, exploring each other’s bodies as they made love. He’d roused her that morning with his mouth against hers, his need for her as thrilling as his love for her.

  He’d been gentle and loving, nothing like Rich’s demands in the middle of the night. Cora had slept most of the way from Amarillo to Silver Lake, but Isaac hadn’t had that luxury. And as soon as Max arrived, she’d be moving into her new house.

  She supposed it was a nice house, which sat down a quaint street with homes on either side. Hers was fifth on the right, and she and Isaac had already taken the grand tour.

  White siding. Two thousand square feet. Three bedrooms. Two bathrooms. A decent amount of storage, and a car port for the vehicle she didn’t have. Little details like that would’ve freaked her out before. But she knew how to rent a car now, and she knew how to order grocery delivery with her phone.

  She didn’t want Max or Isaac to leave her, and her worry combined with her fear, pressing up and against the back of her tongue.

  “There he is,” Isaac said, getting out of the SUV a moment later. She got out too, and she lugged in a few boxes while Max and Isaac took in the heavier items. She wanted to know where they’d gotten all this furniture. What would happen to it once she fled the house. Who paid for everything.

  She asked nothing.

  A neighbor stopped by, and she rehearsed the story she’d been given to them. Just moved here from Corpus Christi. Yeah, it’s a nice area. I’m opening a bakery soon.

  All smiles and welcomes, and then the woman left. Cora actually felt bad for her. She’d always wanted a friend in her neighborhood, someone to notice she’d lost twenty pounds and that her hair was falling out.

  All too soon, she was moved in, and she faced Max and Isaac. Her Ranger rescuers. How could she say good-bye to them?

  Max took her into his arms and said, “Be strong, Cora. Remember, you’re happy to be here.”

  “I’m happy to be here,” she repeated. And she was. It was a million times better than where she’d come from. She didn’t even feel like the same person, and that was a very, very good thing.

  Max leaned down and kissed her. “I’ll be close by. And I’ll see you in Richland Center within the week.” He smiled at her, kisse
d her again, and stepped out of the way so she could say good-bye to Isaac.

  She grabbed onto him, knowing he hadn’t told her everything. Max probably knew it too.

  “Love you,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ll see you soon.” He stepped back without kissing her, but she grabbed onto his collar and pulled him close. Their eyes met, and she saw that storm there.

  She kissed him, hoping he’d know how much she cared about him.

  Then they both lifted their hands in a final wave, and they walked out of the house.

  Cora was alone again.

  She didn’t leave the house that night. Or Sunday. When someone knocked on her front door, she didn’t answer it. She only had to survive on her own for a couple of days, and as the sun set on Sunday, she was down to thirty-six hours before she could move on with her life.

  She slept behind closed and locked doors, never truly falling all the way asleep. She didn’t dare. She felt eyes on the house, somehow seeing through wood and sheetrock to find her within.

  It certainly wasn’t cold in central Texas, but she carried a chill with her as she moved around the house.

  The doorbell rang and someone pounded on the door four times, all within a second. She gasped and stumbled away from the door, her back pressed into the kitchen counter when she heard, “FedEx.”

  Her brain took a moment to think, what with the adrenaline pounding through her. “My documents,” she said, and she hurried toward the door. She wasn’t sure if she’d need to sign for them or not.

  She unchained and unlocked the door to find the slim package had been left on her welcome mat. No signature required. The FedEx driver was already heading back to his truck. Cora glanced left and right, but she didn’t see anyone lurking around suspiciously.

  Stooping, she grabbed the package and ducked back inside, the weight of someone watching heavy on her face.

  Max had said he would be close, so maybe that was who she could feel. She glanced outside again as the door closed, and saw a man walking across her front lawn.

  A scream gathered in the back of her throat. Rich.

  Her fingers shook as she twisted the lock and put the chain in place.

  “Cora,” Rich said through the wood, banging on the door with his fist in the next moment. “Open this door right now.”

  Cora couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. She backed away from the door, the package clutched in her hand. She looked at the white envelope with the blue and orange letters. This was her ticket out of here. Her new identity. A passport to her new life.

  She glared at the door as Rich continued to beat on it and yell. She wasn’t going to let him take anything from her again.

  Spinning, she ran into the bedroom and threw everything in her bag that she’d taken out. She shouldered her purse, tucked the FedEx envelope inside it, and left out the back door. At the edge of her backyard, the woods began.

  “Cora!” Rich yelled from the front of the house.

  She ran.

  Chapter 20

  Luke

  Luke said good-bye to Isaac, Cora, and Max and went back to his room, where he’d lived for just over three years. He gazed around, a sense of sadness overcoming him. They’d done good things in this room.

  Meetings around his desk. Laughter as Max beat Isaac at chess over and over again. Pacing as they talked through a problem.

  “It’s over,” he said to the room, to himself. Both Max and Isaac would be coming back here after Cora’s relocation. They’d finish packing then, go through their final interviews, and head to Wisconsin.

  Everything was set.

  Luke didn’t have any other responsibilities, and he was already packed and ready to go. Had he known how long it would take to go from being employed by Parkwood to getting through the gate and becoming a normal citizen again, he might not have done it.

  Hours later, he’d finally be cleared. A cab had been called to get him to the airport. His badge had been turned in, and he’d stood in the chapel one final time, looking through that stained glass window and thanking the Lord for this place that had literally saved him.

  His exit paperwork listed him as settling in Aberdeen. He had a prepaid credit card with enough money to buy an airplane ticket to get there, as well as pay for a hotel and food for three days. In that time, he was expected to get his own affairs in order regarding housing and to deal with his finances.

  Parkwood provided everything to live, including a handsome salary, so money wasn’t a problem for Luke. At the airport, he scrolled through the housing options in Aberdeen, lamenting the loss of the screaming fast Internet at the Academy.

  No, he wasn’t really going to live there. But he had to leave certain crumbs behind in case the Grand Master—or anyone else—was watching. So he’d go to Aberdeen. He’d stay in a hotel for three nights. And then he’d shred that prepaid card and anything else he’d taken from the Academy, rent a car with cash, and drive to Wisconsin.

  He was set to arrive first, a full four days before anyone else. Cora should be there by Friday, and he got up to go mail her new identification documents. The airport FedEx services were great, and they assured him the envelope containing everything she needed to exist under a new name would arrive at her house in Silver Lake on Monday.

  Luke hated trusting the system, but he had no other way of getting her the documents. As he turned to go back to his gate, he caught sight of a familiar face.

  Jeremiah Lyons.

  The Academy had sent someone to follow him. Watch him.

  Dread filled his stomach, but he pretended not to see Miah blend seamlessly into the crowded airport as he stepped back into the stream of people too.

  Fine, he told himself. He could pay for a month of rent too. Get Miah off his back. The Lyons brothers were excellent protectors, and Max used them almost exclusively on his extractions. Luke and his team had often gone with Miah on their team’s extractions too.

  It felt strange to have a man Luke would call a friend on his tail. His heart pumped a little harder as he thought about what to do. Maybe he should try to lose Miah here. He sat back down at his gate, sure the man would notice him trying to exchange a ticket, and Luke didn’t want to stay in Denver any longer than he had to.

  “We’re completely full on our service to Fayetteville today,” a woman said over the PA system. “Overhead space will be very limited. If you’d like to gate-check your bags, we have orange tags here at the desk. We need to see the following passengers.”

  His name was listed, and he got up to go check whatever they wanted at the desk in front of his gate. “I just need to see your ticket, sir,” the woman there said, but Luke had a new idea.

  Thinking fast, Luke pulled it out and said, “Can I exchange it for a later flight?”

  “You want to move to a later flight?”

  Luke leaned closer, hoping he could infuse friendliness and urgency into his words so he didn’t scare this woman. “There’s someone following me.” He pulled out his military ID. “I need to be on a different flight, but it needs to look like I’m still on this one.”

  She looked at his ID, at her desk-mate, and back to him. “Let me see what else we have going into Fayetteville.”

  “And I need to be able to still get on this flight,” he said. “And then get off. You can give my ticket to someone on standby.”

  “I don’t know how you’d do that, sir,” she said.

  “I need priority boarding,” he said. “And I’ll go down the jetway and right out the doors where they’re taking down the gate-checked luggage.” Luke had flown enough to know the plane wasn’t the only place a person could go once they moved onto the jetway. “You can have someone meet me there, and bring me right back inside here. No trouble.”

  He refused to let himself look around to see if Miah was watching this exchange. He was. Luke suddenly felt like he needed to go to the restroom and make sure he wasn’t bugged. This whole conversation could be for nothing if Miah could hear it.
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br />   Her fingers tapped against her keyboard, and she said, “Our next flight to Fayetteville isn’t until eight-thirty this evening.”

  “That’s fine.”

  More tapping, and she picked up the phone. When her eyes met his, she definitely looked scared. Luke gave her his best smile, and she visibly relaxed. She spoke to someone on the other end of the line, handed his new ticket back to him, and said, “I’ll let you know.”

  “Thank you.” He took his things and went back to the same seat. Ten minutes later, he towed his bag into the bathroom and went into a stall, locking the door behind him. He searched through everything he had, ran his fingers along every hem. He didn’t find anything, and relief sank into his muscles.

  Forty minutes later, priority boarding began. No one had said anything to him again, so he got up and got in line. The same woman who’d helped him exchange the ticket took his documents and pretended to scan them. “Welcome,” she said, and Luke moved past her.

  Once through the doorway and onto the jetway, he sped his steps and pulled a hat out of his backpack and put it on, covering his short, military cut.

  A man waited at the door at the corner in the jetway, where sure enough, several orange-tagged bags did too. “This way, sir,” he said, and Luke ducked in front of him and through the tiny door that led down an even tinier set of metal steps.

  Taking care not to fall to his death, Luke moved as fast as he dared, the officer right behind him. The heat coming off all that concrete nearly knocked Luke back, as did the foul smell of jet fuel and overheated engines.

  The man kept one hand on Luke’s back like he might bolt at any moment and took him under the jetway and back toward the building.

  “I need to stay out of sight until that flight leaves,” he said, wondering if Miah would really get on it or if he’d realize Luke wasn’t on the flight and get off again.