Code Name: Forever & Ever (A Warrior's Challenge series Book 5)

by Natasza Waters

  Epilogue

  Present day.

  Marg tossed and turned in her sleep. Night after night, she reached for Patrick since he’d passed. The sheets were always cold and empty, but her dreams came to her rescue tonight. As her hand slid toward his side of the bed, he was there. His body warm.

  “I love you,” she whispered. Tears welled under her closed lids, refusing to open her eyes or the dream would vanish.

  “Don’t cry, Marg. I’m here.”

  “I miss you so much. Don’t make me wake up.”

  “Open your eyes and see me.”

  “No, you won’t be there.”

  The hand that had caressed her face for twenty-four years, brushed her hair from her forehead. “I’m here, Marg. Tonight, I’m here.”

  Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked into the silver gray gaze of the man she would always love.

  “I’m sorry, Sweetheart. I wanted to grow old with you. Keep all my promises to you.”

  Whether her grief had forged a new height, Patrick lay beside her in his fatigues. “This is a dream.” He swept a tear gently from her cheek and pressed a kiss to her lips. His mouth warm, his scent filled her to overflowing as her heart kindled to life.

  “Stay.”

  Patrick’s gaze swam with empathy. “You know I can’t. Take care of our girls. Be brave.”

  Marg could barely see through her tears. “I feel like each breath without you is my last.” She grasped onto her husband and held him, feeling all of him as if he were truly there.

  “Sweetheart, even if you can’t see me, I’ll be beside you. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you, and every time I came home, I just fell deeper. You are my eternal love, and I’ll be waiting for you. We are forever and ever.”

  Marg blinked the tears from her eyes. His words rang with a familiar toll from somewhere long ago. She didn’t want to waste time trying to remember. “Stay with me, or take me with you.” His full lips pressed a kiss against her forehead, then her nose, and then her lips like he’d always done. “Please, Patrick, please don’t go.” She buried her face against his warm chest.

  “I belong to you Margaret Cobbs and only you.”

  Marg squeezed harder, but realized she was alone with Patrick’s pillow wrapped in her arms. The coolness of the case so different from the warmth of the man who was her soulmate. Opening her eyes, she panned the room. It had felt so real.

  She brought the pillow to her face and although she’d changed the sheets many times since he’d been gone, she smelled him. Pressing her nose into the cloth, she inhaled deeply. The scent of spent aviation fuel and his aftershave assaulted her with a deep yearning. His fatigues smelled like this whenever he came home from a mission.

  Her body heaved with a sob. Forever and ever, Patrick.

  “Mommy?”

  Marg looked up and swept the tears from her eyes. “What is it, little girl?”

  Kelsey ran across the bedroom and scrambled onto the bed. “Mommy, daddy just came to say goodbye.”

  Marg’s pulse stilled, but her heart tumbled with love and loss. “What did he say?”

  Her daughter crawled into her lap. “He kissed me and told me to be a brave girl, and that you needed a hug.” Kelsey stretched her arms around Marg’s neck and fulfilled her daddy’s wish.

  Margaret Cobbs rocked Kelsey in her arms. Could it be real? Had Patrick come to say goodbye? Her brow tightened, as her heart did. If anyone could find a way to touch her from Heaven, it would be her husband.

  “We’ll be brave for daddy,” she murmured, burrowing her face in her daughter’s hair. “We’ll always be brave for daddy.”

  The End

  Code Name: Redemption

  Coming winter of 2016

  Tracking a Monster

  Times Colonist Special Investigative Report

  By Matti Bidault

  On February 14th 2016, a day when rose petals and love should be in the air, the smell of blood and a grizzly ripped body of a local resident was found on the streets of the crown emerald city of Victoria British Columbia. At the time, Suzanne Bertram, a small bookstore owner from the tourist district, found slaughtered in Helmken Alley, was a horrific occurrence. Two weeks later, the city held its breath when it heard Aimee Wallace, a thirty-three year old woman with a master’s degree in Marine Biology working as a professor at UVIC, lay mutilated at the base of the Johnson St Bridge. The words “serial killer” sprang from the mouths of many, while the Victoria City police department investigated the crimes.

  Both women’s throats had been cut and they’d been disemboweled. The residents of this fair city reeled with the possibility that a monster walked the streets of our popular tourist destination loved for its flavors of old England, historical homes and botanical gardens. March 14th came with disastrous headlines. Mona Williams a twenty-four year old model with a degree in media relations lay on the steps of Craigdarroch Castle. Her wounds reflecting the two women murdered before her. There could be no doubt Victoria hid an evil and insane person reminiscent of White Chapel 1899.

  Today is October 15th. Seven women are dead, yet the Ripper has been silent for months. Is he gone? Did he get his fill of torture? Where has he gone? Why the reprieve from the bloody trail he left behind? No evidence to be found. The echo of fear resonates in the lowest tourism figures of this century and the last. Restaurants and the nightlife in a city, once vibrant and exciting, sit empty of an audience. When will the trust return? How long does the Ripper have to be gone until the wounds on this city will heal?

  Matti Bidault stopped typing and sat back in her chair to read her article. Since March, she had kept the women alive in her reports. Their killer had to be found. She pushed her black-rimmed glasses up her nose. Although, she’d come from a long line of police officers, including two of her brothers, she had opted for journalism, but solving a crime ran in her blood. She couldn’t let go of the story because something told her, the nightmare wasn’t over.

  * * * *

  Kayla Austen had her hands mired in ground hamburger and a raw egg when the beep on her computer announced an incoming skype request. “Thane,” she shouted. “Can you get that?”

  “Get what?” He rounded the corner with Sloane in his arms and Adam toddling behind him like a shadow.

  “Someone’s calling on Skype.”

  “Can’t we ignore it?”

  “No, we can’t,” she said, giving him a narrowed eye. “Put Sloane down. How is she ever supposed to learn how to walk when you keep her glued to your hip?”

  Thane chuckled and put his daughter in the playpen. Adam threw his arms into the air wanting his turn in Dad’s arms. Thane didn’t pause, and swept his boy up, making him giggle. “Okay, let’s find out who wants to say hi, eh buddy?”

  Sitting down in front of the desk, he accepted the skype request. “Lapierre, hey, man, how’s it…” Thane stopped speaking which made her turn a look over her shoulder. “Where are you?” Thane finished.

  She quickly grabbed the dishrag, rubbing her hands clean and headed for the desk. “Greg?” She inhaled slowly and gripped Thane’s shoulder. “Why are you wearing overalls with a number on it?”

  Greg lifted his head and stared into the monitor. He blinked his beautiful green eyes and swept a hand through his jet black hair. “Because I’m being held for murder.”

  “What?” She and Thane exploded at the same time.

  “Diana is dead.”

  “What?” They both said again.

  “Listen, we’d broken up a while back. It’s just a matter of the cops going through the process.”

  “What process?” Kayla spouted. “Greg, why would they suspect it’s you?”

  Greg looked over his shoulder and leaned a little closer. “Because she was murdered with my military knife, and because I’m the ex-jilted lover.”

  “Are you jilted?” Thane asked, none too friendly.

  Kayla pinched his shoulder. “You didn’t tell us you broke up.” />
  “She left me actually. Some doctor at the hospital fell in love with her, and swept her off her feet. We’d kind of grown apart anyway.”

  “How are you implicated in this? I mean,” Kayla stuttered. “Start from the beginning, Greg.”

  The noise of other men speaking in the background sounded like a dull drone through their speakers. “I came back from deployment two weeks ago. Diana told me it was over. I accepted it.” Greg shrugged. “What else could I do? She deserves better.”

  “Bullshit,” Kayla growled. “Carry on.”

  Greg gave her a wink, and Thane stirred under her hand. He hadn’t budged when she’d pinched him.

  “Uncle Greg?” Adam squealed and then scrambled onto all fours on the desk and shoved his face into the monitor.

  “Hey, little man,” Greg gave him a handsome grin.

  Kayla pulled her son back, nestled him in her lap and gave him his favorite bear.

  “What happened to Diana?” Thane asked.

  “She’s the ninth victim of a serial killer. I didn’t know about it until the cops dragged me in. I’ve been away for months on deployment. Before I left, they suspected someone was trolling the streets of Victoria, killing women here in Ripper fashion. The irony isn’t missed by anyone. Victoria is a replica of jolly old England. The community is scared shitless. The cops found my knife by Diana’s body. Because of my brother Daniel, because of our past, and my being in the military, they think I’ve gone postal.”

  “So the other murders,” Thane began. “They didn’t occur while you were gone?”

  Greg shook his head. “Last one was seven months ago just a couple days before I left. Cops thought maybe this guy had moved on from Victoria. Any of this sound familiar?”

  Thane scrubbed his face. “Is Daniel still in prison?”

  “Yeah, this one.”

  A mirthless chuckle erupted from Thane. “Oh, shit, that burns, doesn’t it?”

  Greg’s broad shoulders shrugged. “We’ve made our peace. It’s not a problem.” He cleared his throat. “Way it looks now, he’ll be released in two months. I might end up staying a while longer, as in forever. Nine convictions with twenty-five years for each.”

  “How’re they linking you to the other murders?” Kayla asked.

  “Nothing to link. No weapon was found at the other murders, but they say the autopsy shows the same knife did the killing for two of the victims: Diana and a woman found in the corn maze in North Saanich.”

  “You didn’t do it,” Kayla said fiercely.

  “I know that Angelface, but I can’t disprove it until they find something else that leads in another direction.” He paused and shook his head. “Right now, they have nothing else, and I don’t have an alibi for Saturday night.”

  “Where were you?” she asked.

  “Downtown. That’s the problem. Diana was found in Market Square around three in morning. I was at the Irish Times pub, putting a few back which is close enough. The cops haven’t found anyone to say they saw me there until after two when I left.”

  “Have they asked all the women who were there?” Thane cleared his throat. “What? Women notice Greg, and they wouldn’t stop looking until he leaves.”

  Thane stirred in his seat, then said, “What about receipts. You paid your bar tab?”

  “With cash, and I didn’t take the receipt.”

  “There has to be something,” Kayla said feeling her innards going very cold. “A parking voucher.”

  “I walked.”

  “God, Greg.”

  Thane gripped her wrist. “Kayla,” he commanded, his tone tight. “Calm down.”

  “I’m stuck in here until they find someone who comes forward. Otherwise, all they’ve got is my weapon and Diana in the morgue, along with eight other women.”

  “Greg, it’s going to be fine,” she said.

  Inhaling a deep breath, he shook his head. “I doubt that.”

  “It is, because Thane’s coming.”

  Thane’s head whipped around. “I am?”

  “He is?” Greg echoed.

  “Yes, you are. You’re going to Victoria to help sort out this mess.”

  Thane’s eyes narrowed. “How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

  “The cops will be looking for a scapegoat. Greg can’t spend another seven months in prison waiting for this psycho to lose his shit and kill another woman. You have to prove he didn’t do this now.”

  “Listen, I have to go. I just thought I’d let you know what’s happening. Admiral, I don’t expect your help.”

  Thane didn’t respond. Silent for a change.

  “Greg, we’ll get you out of there. I know you’re innocent. Call again as soon as you can, okay.”

  “Love you, Kayla.”

  “Love you too, bye.”

  Thane exhaled a deep breath and sat back in his chair. When she put Adam down, he ran to his little sister, Sloane, and started babbling happily to her.

  Kayla kneeled on the floor, turned Thane’s chair and gazed up at him. “Please.”

  About the Author

  I grew up on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia with the Pacific Ocean on my western doorstep and thousands of acres of forest on the other. After finishing school, my life took a drastic twist, and a lifelong working relationship with the marine industry began.

  After a twenty-year hiatus from my creative writing, the stories swirling in my mind began to swim hard to surface, and I threw them a life ring. I juggle my creativity during my days off, and then get back down to business serving in the Coast Guard. My life is a mix of creativity vs. black and white procedures. With a lifetime of working in the marine community, there’s plenty of stories to tell. It’s a different world, different language, unsung heroes and heroines aplenty, heated moments, and blissful silence when all is well. Reading and writing is the way I turn down the loud hum that my work causes, and after thirty years of humming, it’s time to vent.

  http://nataszawaters.com/

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natasza-Waters/311286078885026

  Other books by Nat

  Code Name: Ghost – 2014 winner of Best Romantic Suspense

  Code Name: Kayla’s Fire

  Code Name: Nina’s Choice

  Code Name: Luminous – 2015 winner of Best Romantic Suspense

  Code Name: Forever & Ever

  Coming soon

  Code Name: Redemption

  Code Name: War of Stones

  Too Grand For Words

  His Perfect Imperfection – 2016 winner of Best Contemporary Romance

  Committed to Chase

  Twila’s Tempest

  Message from Natasza

  Thank you for spending time with Alpha Squad. If you’ve been following along with the series you probably realize that each story focuses on subject matter specific to the life of a warrior and those who love them.

  Code Name: Ghost and Kayla’s Fire were about PTSD and the challenges our warriors face to live half their lives in conflict and half at home. Code Name: Nina’s Choice highlighted the struggle involved with a serious injury during combat and separation from family. Code Name: Luminous touched on two very delicate subjects: faith and loss. Code Name: Forever & Ever focuses on our inner demons. If we let them rule us instead of challenge us, we will never rise above them. It highlights the road blocks in our lives, the ones that make us choose a particular path using our intelligence, our hearts and our instincts.

  Standby for Code Name: Redemption. Navy SEALs belong to America, but the Joint Task Force belongs to Canada, and Greg LaPierre, the man who loved and protected Kayla for most of her life, will finally have his happily-ever-after. He just has to find a way to get out of prison and prove he’s not a cold blooded killer. But he won’t be alone, because Kayla believes he’s innocent, and knows the only man who can prove it is her husband, Admiral Thane Austen.

  Thank you for your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. Join me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com
/pages/Natasza-Waters/311286078885026 Visit my blog http://nataszawaters.com/ or drop me a line at Nataszawaters@gmail.com.

  Please continue to help Paws and Stripes. A nonprofit organization providing service dogs for wounded military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. http://www.pawsandstripes.org/ and Operation Gratitude who annually sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to veterans, first responders, wounded warriors and their care givers. http://www.operationgratitude.com/

  88’s

  Natasza