A Hero In Uniform - The Complete Series

by Savannah DelGardo

  “But if I'd ...”

  “No!” He growled. “It's all on Ronald. Do you hear me? What he did to you … you are not to blame for that!”

  Kelley buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist as she cried. Daniel tightened his hold on her and let her cry, realising that she'd been carrying this emotional burden around with her since her attack.

  He cursed his brother.

  Ronald had really messed her up.

  But Daniel was in her life now, and he wouldn't let anyone or anything harm her or her baby.

  He held her until she had cried everything out of her system, then he carried her back down to his room, where she fell asleep in his arms. And, just before he drifted off himself, Daniel kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I love you.”

  In Cairns, Ronald was a block away from the apartment building where he believed Kelley was still living, and his excitement at seeing her again was growing with every step.

  He knew exactly how he was going to get his revenge on her.

  She was going to pay for what she'd done to him, and before he was finished with her, Kelley was going to be begging for him to kill her.

  And he would do just that. But not before he used her to lure his brother back to port and she watched him kill Daniel right in front of her.

  He grinned; God, he was so evil!

  And he just loved it.

  What Ronald didn't know was that the AFP had a small task force linked to the WPP en-route to Cairns.

  They'd found the agent he'd killed and had connected the dots.

  Agent-in-Charge Michael Blake was leading the team and their first task was to locate Kelley Harmon.

  Daniel Coleman had called to inform them that he was taking her to his family's property in Weipa and, although the AFP had advised against that, he'd done it anyway. And once they got to that property in the far north of Queensland, their next move was to re-located Kelley for the second time so that Ronald couldn't find her.

  Nine

  Michael and his team arrived at the Coleman property thirteen hours after leaving Cairns Airport and forty-six hours after leaving Melbourne.

  Kelley was seated on the front verandah of the house when they pulled up in two black Toyota Kluger 4x4's. She recognised Michael when he got out of the front passenger seat of one the big cars and she stood to greet him.

  “Agent Blake, what are you doing here?”

  Michael eyed her slightly swollen belly and ignored her question, asking one of his own. “Are you pregnant?”

  Kelley rubbed the evidence of what Ronald had done to her and nodded, telling the federal agent, “I am.”

  “How far along are you?”

  “Just over three months.”

  “Who's the father?” Michael almost demanded.

  His anger was understandable; if Kelley had gotten pregnant to the brother of the man they were hunting, that could seriously complicate things.

  But she put his mind at ease when she held his gaze and stated, “Ronald.”

  “Oh. I'm sorry to hear that.”

  “You're not the only one, Agent Blake.”

  She invited them into the house just as Daniel came in from helping his father out in the paddocks. He looked at the man next to Kelley and put two-and-two together.

  “You're the man responsible for relocating Kelley.”

  “Michael Blake, AFP.”

  “Daniel Coleman, RAN.”

  The two men shook hands as they were joined Daniels parents. But Michael ignored them as he looked at the man in front of him and demanded, “Why did you move Miss Harmon from her location in Cairns?”

  “For protection.”

  “On whose authority?”

  “Mine.”

  “You could have seriously jeopardised her safety, Coleman, not to mention this case.”

  Kelley stepped in then and said, “Agent Blake, how about we get to the more pressing issue at hand instead of discussing what Lieutenant Coleman should or shouldn't have done?” She placed her hands on her hips and added, “After all, he is the one who took me away from Ronald before he had a chance to do anything.”

  Michael consented and told them the plan that was being put into effect until they got more Intel on where Ronald was. “Agents will posted around the property, with others located inside the house and others doing patrols between dark spots every thirty minutes. I'll be in here with you all, and a lock-down will begin at 2100 hours and end at 0630 hours.”

  Yvette frowned and asked, “What does that mean?”

  “It means no one can leave or enter the house or the property between nine o'clock at night and six-thirty in the morning.” Daniel explained to his mother.

  Michael came in with more then, saying, “In order for this to work, everyone needs to co-operate.”

  “And what happens if Kelley needs the doctor?” Daniel asked.

  “We'll figure that out when it happens, Coleman.” Michael said.

  Kelley looked at Michael and said, “We'll see how effective your plan works when Ronald decides to drop in for a little murder.”

  Because the question wasn't if Ronald would show up.

  It was a question of when?

  Kelley was going into her second trimester and she was getting angry at the strangest times while experiencing the weirdest cravings that kept her up at all hours of the night.

  Daniel thought she was a trooper for not letting the presence of more then a dozen federal agents get to her.

  It was ten o'clock, just after lock-down of the second night, and they were in his room. Daniel was giving her a shoulder massage while she went over the contents of the bag they'd need to grab when she went into labour in five months.

  “Can you hold this for a second?” Kelley asked, holding up a baby blanket.

  Daniel took it, marvelling at how small it was. It was so soft and it smelt like a baby had already been wrapped in it. “Was this yours?”

  Kelley shook her head and said, “No. It was yours.”

  “Really?” Daniel looked at the blanket again. “This was mine?”

  “Yeah. Your Mum gave it to me.” She stopped what she was doing and looked at him over her shoulder as she asked, “Is that okay?”

  He kissed the tip of her nose and said, “It's fine, babe.”

  Kelley smiled against his mouth when he kissed her on the lips and murmured, “If you keep doing that, I'm never going to get this bag sorted.”

  “That isn't necessarily a bad thing.”

  She swatted at his arm and said, “I'm too large for sex. So, down Lieutenant.”

  Daniel chuckled and went back to massaging her shoulders, the baby blanket thrown over his shoulder. As Kelley continued to pull things out of the bag and put them back in, he asked, “So what is all this stuff for again?”

  “It's a precautionary measure in case the baby decides she wants to make an early appearance.” She told him, tucking a pacifier into a front pocket.

  “Right.”

  Kelley took the blanket back and folded it before placing it into the bag and zipping it shut. As she put the bag on the floor, she said, “Danny, can I ask you to do something for me?”

  “Sure.”

  “Can you be with me when the baby comes?”

  “In the delivery room?”

  “Yeah. Is that weird?”

  “Not at all. And I'd be honoured to be there with you.” Daniel told her. “But what about Arthur?”

  “Dad will understand. After all, he thinks you're the father.”

  “That's because a certain daughter told him I was.”

  “I know what it will do to Dad if her learns I got pregnant to a man who raped me.” Kelley said. “It's better this way.” She turned around to look at him and asked, “Are you okay with playing Dad when Dad is around?”

  “Not at all.”

  In fact, Daniel had found himself fantasising about having a family with Kelley. More then once, he'd imagined w
hat it'd be like if the baby she carried was his.

  As he held her in his arms, he began to think of ways to make that happen.

  Kelley's first born would always belong to his brother, but what was to stop them from having one or two of their own?

  Ten

  Ronald Coleman was pissed.

  He'd arrived at the address his reluctant AFP informant had said was Kelley's new home, only to find the place abandoned.

  The lights were off, so at first, Ronald had just assumed she wasn't home or already in bed. But when he'd slipped in through a back window, he'd found the apartment completely empty.

  Void of any sign of life and there was no proof anyone had even lived here.

  Standing in the bare living room, Ronald swore again and wondered how in the hell he was going to find her now.

  Then something hit him.

  Instead of using Kelley to lure Daniel into a trap, he could use Daniel to lure Kelley back to Cairns.

  A slow grin formed on Ronald’s mouth; he'd get his revenge, and it was going to be better then he'd hoped.

  Further up north, Kelley was watching Daniel as he and his dad worked on a horse they'd recently purchased. The heat of the day had caused both men to remove their shirts, and Kelley couldn't take her eyes off of the man who was slowly stealing her heart.

  Beautiful tanned skin pulled tight over a muscular torso that was void of hair.

  Hard, wash-board abs that were testimony to how many hours he put into staying in shape for the Navy.

  Long, muscular legs that were wrapped in tight Levi jeans that also helped showcase a firm behind.

  She may have been attacked a few months ago, but Kelley could still appreciate a fine male specimen.

  And Daniel fit that bill to a T.

  Yvette joined her then, handing her a glass of iced water as she asked, “How are you feeling, Kel?”

  “Very good.” She replied, rubbing a hand gently over the small swell of her stomach. “She's been a good girl today.”

  An ultrasound had confirmed the sex of the baby and Kelley was really excited, counting down the days until she got to meet her daughter.

  “Have you decided on a name yet?” Yvette asked.

  Kelley nodded, but said, “I want to keep it a secret.”

  “Of course.” Yvette checked her watch and said, “I've got a pot of spaghetti cooking, so I hope you're hungry.”

  “Starving.”

  “Excellent. I'll shout when it's ready.”

  Yvette went back inside as a sudden thought hit Kelley.

  She was now over thirty hours from the Gold Coast and her father. She wanted Arthur Collins present when she went into labour, and she knew her Dad would want that, too. So, she was going to have to convince Agent Michael Blake to either bring Arthur up or take her down. Either way it happened, Arthur Collins would be present for his granddaughters birth.

  A sudden midday shower hit just as Yvette called everyone into lunch, which meant Daniel and his dad might get a few hours of leisure until it let up. Kelley appeared as they all sat down around the table, and Daniel drank her in like a man dying of dehydration.

  She was starting to show more, her small belly revealed beneath a white peasant-style top that she wore over a denim skirt, and Daniel thought she couldn't look more beautiful then she did now, with that healthy, pregnant glow on her beautiful face.

  “Hey. Having fun?” She asked as she sat next to him at the table.

  “Sure. It's always nice to be present when a new horse gets broken in.”

  They all dug into the simple spaghetti with mince that Yvette had cooked and Daniel noticed Kelley was eating more then she normally did. He liked being part of her progression as she went through the different stages of pregnancy as her due date got closer.

  “Those Feds sure are quiet.” Yvette commented as one passed by the window on his half-hourly round.

  “That's their training.” Kelley stated.

  “What? To freak people out by walking like a Ninja?”

  “Yeah. And if that doesn't work, they resort to their tactile training and use violence.”

  She said it with no emotion in her voice, and everyone at the table grew silent, making the house quiet enough to hear a kookaburra laughing in a tree a good five-hundred meters away. Yvette and Hank didn't know what to say, but Daniel noticed Kelley was doing that fast-talking chatter-box thing she did when she was hiding something.

  “Kel? What's wrong?”

  She looked at him, and he noticed a trace of fear in her eyes. “Nothing.”

  He wasn't buying it.

  Excusing them, he grabbed her hand and led her down the hall to his bedroom. After locking them in and placing himself in front of the door, he looked at Kelley and said, “Tell me.”

  Kelley sat down on his bed, a conflicted look on her face that had him wondering what was wrong.

  “He did what?!”

  Kelley cringed as Daniels enraged shout bounced off the walls.

  She'd known telling him about the call she'd gotten from her old landlord through a secured line on Agent Blake's satellite phone would be a mistake and make him angry, but the Lieutenant had managed to get it out of her.

  “You're telling me that, not only did Ronald manage to discover where you lived, but that he broke in also?”

  She nodded.

  “Shit!” Daniel ran a hand through his hair and began pacing the length of floor at the foot of his bed. “Obviously, the police are no good at stopping a convicted criminal. And, given that there's an obvious leak within the WPP, there's only one solution to this problem.”

  Kelley didn't know what he was up to, but she didn't have anything to worry about because she knew Daniel would keep her and her baby safe.

  Eleven

  Kelley slept peacefully in the passenger seat of his GT as they continued south to Cairns.

  Daniel hadn't wanted to do this, but he hadn't seen any other way to protect her.

  The AFP clearly weren't doing a good enough job at locating Ronald, and he wasn't going to stand by and let the that bastard kill her.

  And his plan was simple; they were going to make it look like Kelley had moved back into her old apartment, then wait for Ronald to make his move. And when he made his move, Daniel would be waiting to arrest him, or kill him.

  He looked over at Kelley as they passed under a streetlight, the yellow glow passing over her slumbering form and shedding light on her baby bump. Unable to resist, Daniel reached over and placed his hand on the small mound, smiling when Kelley mumbled something in her sleep and rested her hand on top of his.

  In that moment, he realised he was, without a doubt, in love with Kelley Harmon.

  She was a strong woman.

  A fighter.

  The kind of woman that a Navy man like himself needed as a wife.

  Her daughter could become his, and he could provide for them both.

  But how would Kelley react to the suggestion?

  They'd slept together once and shared half-a-dozen kisses in the two short months they'd been in Weipa.

  Would that be enough to convince Kelley that he loved her?

  They arrived in Cairns early Wednesday morning and Daniel put his thoughts to bed as he pulled into the parking lot of Kelley's old apartment building. After a quick explanation to the landlord who lived on-site, he took her to the bedroom and placed her in the bed, grateful to Steven and Ric for getting all of Kelley's furniture out of storage. He left her to sleep and went back out to the GT to get their bags, all the while praying that his plan worked and that nothing happened to Kelley or her baby.

  So, she was back.

  Kelley woke early and found herself in her old bed, in her old room in her old apartment. Rolling over, she got out of bed and used the bathroom before heading to the kitchen, noticing on the way that all her furniture was back where it had been before Daniel had taken her north.

  She found Daniel in the kitchen, sitting on one of
her bar-stools at the breakfast bar, an assortment of weapons laid out before him.