Backlash

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  Light flooded the inside when the door opened. One man stood outside with his hand still on the door handle, and another man pointed his weapon toward them. Seth squeezed the trigger, dropping the man nearest him. A split second later, he heard the other man’s weapon rattle to the ground. He turned in time to see Jay’s target melt into unconsciousness.

  Seth and Jay jumped to the ground and lifted the two men into the back of the truck. Then they climbed back inside and pulled the door closed.

  “The back’s clear,” Seth said quietly into his lip microphone.

  Brent’s command sounded over their headsets, “Go.”

  The truck jerked forward, and less than a minute later, they stopped again.

  This time when they heard Quinn’s voice over their headsets, they could hear a woman’s voice telling him to bring everything inside. Again Seth and Jay pressed themselves against opposite sides of the truck, this time waiting for Quinn to open the door. Without looking at them, Quinn reached in and slid a box of fresh produce to the edge of the truck. He then hefted it up and turned away, leaving the door hanging open.

  Seth waited a few seconds before leaping to the ground. He then turned and signaled for Jay to follow. Together they moved to the door leading to the kitchen. They stepped into a wide, professional-style kitchen. The lingering smell of frying onions and some kind of meat wafted through the air. A stereo was on, salsa music pumping through the overhead speakers. A woman, presumably the one who had spoken to Quinn, was lying on the ground unconscious, along with a man who appeared to be one of the household guards.

  Next to the door leading to the rest of the house, Quinn was waiting for them. He held up four fingers, signaling how many people were in the next room. Aware that each of them could only use eight tranquilizer darts before reloading, Seth used hand signals to indicate that he would take the middle two when the door opened. He then assigned Jay to the person on the left and Quinn to the one on the right.

  Seth’s heart beat a little faster as he considered that Akil Ramir could be one of the residents of the next room. He nodded at Quinn, who pushed open the door. Four shots were fired; four people dropped to the ground. None of them was Ramir.

  The three SEALs spread out, Quinn heading for the arched opening that led farther into the house and the other two moving toward the stairs. Seth led the way upstairs, hoping to find Ramir in his room or his upstairs office. He had only taken two steps when he heard a burst of gunfire from outside.

  His mind took a moment to process the sound, to recognize that the shots had come from Uzis rather than the HK MP5s Brent and Tristan were armed with. Seth hesitated a brief moment. He didn’t want to get caught in the stairwell if people started heading outside armed with real weapons, but he knew from Vanessa that Ramir was probably on the second level.

  He glanced over at Jay and motioned to him to go back down the stairs and take cover. Sure enough, they had barely stepped out of sight when rapid footsteps sounded in the upstairs hallway.

  Brent’s voice came over his headset. “We’ve been spotted. We’ll try to keep their attention.”

  Seth clicked into his microphone to signal that he’d heard Brent as he quickly positioned himself where he couldn’t be seen by the men coming down the stairs. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jay take cover in the opposite direction.

  Footsteps pounded louder as some of Ramir’s men bounded down the stairway. Seth couldn’t tell how many people were headed their way, but he knew there had to be at least three. Pressing himself back against the wall, he could see the front doorway. He waited for two men to pass the wall he was hiding behind before he took aim and tranquilized the next man to pass him.

  The man let out a little squeak of surprise, causing the other two men to turn. Seth fired off two more shots, dropping both of the men before they could aim their weapons in his direction. A fourth man rushed forward, his gun at the ready.

  Seth reached for his pistol knowing the man might get a shot off before a tranquilizer dart would take effect, but he heard the swish of a dart being fired before he could fully react. Then the man’s weapon fell to the ground a split second before he did.

  Abandoning his hiding place, Seth stepped out to see Jay with his tranquilizer gun in hand, two men sprawled at his feet.

  Over their communications headsets, both men could hear Brent and Tristan communicating with one another as they tried to keep the guards near the beach from reaching the main house. Then came Brent’s voice once more, “We’re only going to be able to hold them off for a few more minutes. Hurry up.”

  “I’ve neutralized seven so far,” Quinn responded. “The main level is clear, but there’s no sign of Ramir.”

  Seth converged with Jay at the bottom of the stairwell. He then motioned for Jay to follow him up the stairs. Seth did the math, both for the number of occupants that should still be in the house as well as for how many tranquilizer darts they each had left. Jay had the most with three, but Quinn only had one left, assuming he hadn’t missed, and Seth still had two.

  With a total of sixteen people neutralized so far, Seth guessed that upstairs they would find Akil Ramir and his right-hand man, Halim Karel, probably with two guards. Sure enough, when Seth and Jay emerged at the top of the stairs, they could see two guards in the hallway, one outside the door that led to Ramir’s office and the other down the hall outside a room that hadn’t been identified on Vanessa’s drawing of the floor plan.

  Both guards were poised and ready for them. The one closest to Seth got a shot off as Seth squeezed his trigger and missed. He ducked back to take cover in the stairwell as he dropped his weapon and drew his pistol free. This time when he leaned forward to fire, he hit his target.

  Beside him, Jay took aim and tranquilized the other guard. Jay then headed down the hall to clear the rooms on the eastern side of the house. Knowing that his superiors wanted Ramir alive, Seth holstered his handgun and picked up the tranquilizer gun once more. Then he made a beeline for Ramir’s office.

  He could hear Jay behind him open a door and clear a room, but Seth’s focus was on finding Ramir. Convinced that the man was inside, he pushed the door open and immediately shot the dark-haired man inside. After scanning the room to make sure no one else was present, he hurried over to identify the man, only to find that he had never seen him before.

  Frustrated, Seth turned just as a familiar voice spoke in French, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Seth Billaud.”

  Seth dropped the weapon and turned slowly. In the corner of his mind, he wondered how he could have missed seeing someone in the room. Then he saw it, an opening in the wall that had been concealed by a piece of wooden paneling. In front of it was Akil Ramir, holding a pistol.

  “Monsieur.”

  “I wondered if I would see you again.” Ramir’s smile spread slowly. “The Navy SEAL who fooled my own niece.”

  “I don’t think you have all of the facts,” Seth said in French, his voice deceptively calm as he sized up the man before him. He was relatively confident he could strike and likely come out of the scuffle alive, but he couldn’t be sure they both would. Seth knew Ramir had information they needed to ensure both national security as well as the safety of his own squad.

  Ramir’s dark eyes went cold, but his hand remained relaxed on his weapon. “I know that Lina trusted you, and she ended up in prison because of it.”

  Seth’s voice remained steady. “I heard those rumors, as well.”

  “You don’t really expect me to believe that you worked for my brother.”

  “Lina told you so herself,” Seth reminded him. “Don’t tell me you can’t trust your own niece.”

  “And I’m sure you came here for a friendly visit.”

  “I need your help,” Seth improvised. “To get Lina out of prison.”

  Ramir laughed now, a short expulsion of breath. “And the gunfire outside?”

  “I was followed.”

  “And you were photographed
with the injured Navy SEAL.” Ramir’s jaw clenched, and he flexed his hand on the gun.

  “Is that why you sent Imran? Because you were looking for me?”

  “You can imagine how upset Halim was when he found out Lina had been fooled by an American,” Ramir said now. “If nothing else, he’s extremely tenacious. If you hadn’t come here, I imagine he would have stayed in America for years, if needed, in order to find you and exact his revenge.”

  Seth felt a chill run through him. He shifted his weight slightly, half wondering to himself why Ramir didn’t shoot him the moment he saw him. “Halim is jealous. He would tell you anything to get me out of the way.”

  The corner of Ramir’s mouth twitched up. “Jealous he is, but he is also loyal.”

  “Perhaps.” Seth held his hands out and nodded at Ramir’s weapon. “What now? Once again, you have me at a disadvantage.”

  “You’re going to lead the way downstairs. Once I’m sure my guards have taken care of the problem outside, we’ll decide how you will die.” Ramir motioned with the gun for Seth to move through the door.

  Seth stepped forward slowly, his eyes remaining on Ramir’s. He moved through the door, listening for any sign of Jay or Quinn. At first glance the hallway was empty. Then Seth reached the top of the stairs, saw the figure in black, and ducked. The tranquilizer dart shot over his head to plunge into Akil Ramir’s neck. Seth looked down to see Jay standing at the bottom of the stairs, his weapon now lowered to his side.

  Turning back to where Ramir had fallen, Seth grabbed his arm, shifted his body, and then lifted him into a fireman’s hold to carry him down the stairs.

  “Where’s Quinn?”

  “In the truck. He said to tell you we’re out of time.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  Jay turned and headed for the kitchen exit with Seth right behind him. They reached the back of the truck, loaded the now unconscious Akil Ramir inside, and hopped in the back with him as gunfire continued to sound around them.

  Seth slammed the door closed, turned to thank Jay for his help, and felt a little stick puncture his arm.

  22

  Kel read through the report and shook his head, struggling not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. The mission Brent had launched without his knowledge had nearly gone down without a hitch. Sure, they had drawn some enemy fire when three of the SEALs were inside searching for Ramir, but that was an expected possibility in the mission plan.

  They had even succeeded in capturing Akil Ramir alive, a huge feat that had never been attempted before. Jay Wellman had performed as efficiently as the other SEALs in the squad . . . right up until he had accidentally shot Seth with a tranquilizer dart.

  Kel could hardly wait to hear what Seth had to say about the incident and to see if his squad would ever let Jay live his first mission down. With a shake of his head, Kel’s smile faded, and he reminded himself that this wasn’t his squad anymore. At least not for now.

  He flipped to the next page of the report, and his eyes narrowed. Seth’s conversation with Akil Ramir was summarized in front of him, along with the information that Halim Karel was still at large and presumably in the United States. With a new determination, Kel grabbed his keys and his crutches. It was time to get his wife safely into their new house.

  * * *

  “Are you ready for lunch?”

  Marilyn nodded at Heather and closed her front door behind her. “Thanks for driving up here. I know you must have a ton of things to do to get ready for your move.”

  “It’s all done. The movers came yesterday, and we fly out tomorrow.” Heather headed for her car.

  Marilyn followed behind her, wishing for the thousandth time that this wouldn’t be their last afternoon together. Their friendship had given her a lifeline many times over the past five years, especially since Heather shared many of the same struggles. Like herself, Heather was often at home while her husband was deployed. Heather was also childless, a sometimes difficult position to be in, both as a military wife and as a Mormon.

  Marilyn slid into the passenger seat and looked over at her friend. “I am really going to miss you.”

  “I’m going to miss you, too,” Heather responded sympathetically. Then a slow smile spread across her face. “But I have news I just have to tell you about.”

  “What?”

  “We got the call last night.” Heather’s face lit with excitement. “We’re adopting a baby girl.”

  “What?” Marilyn’s eyes widened. “I thought you said the waiting list was too long for infants.”

  “It is.” Heather managed to laugh. “We’ve been waiting for three years, but it looks like the wait is finally paying off. The baby isn’t due for another three months, but the adoption agency said that everything looks good.”

  “I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thanks.” Heather gave Marilyn’s hand a squeeze. “But keep us in your prayers that the birth mother doesn’t change her mind.”

  “I will.”

  Heather shifted in her seat and started the car. “Come on. Let’s go out and celebrate, and you can tell me what else has been going on since I saw you last.”

  “Actually, I have some interesting news of my own.”

  * * *

  “This is all happening so fast.” Marilyn finished making Kel a sandwich and put it on one of the plates she had picked up at Walmart a week earlier. She looked over her shoulder at Kel, who was sitting at the kitchen table. “Are you sure we can afford this? The mortgage is going to be way more than your housing allowance.”

  “I was planning on using some of my parents’ life insurance money for a big down payment,” he said matter-of-factly. When she continued to stare at him, he added, “It will be fine.”

  “I just can’t believe you want to move in tomorrow. I mean, you just got out of the hospital two days ago.”

  “There’s no reason to stay here, especially since we can occupy the new house,” Kel told her.

  Marilyn managed to smile at him as she set his plate in front of him. She turned back to fix herself some lunch, wondering how she had gotten caught in this whirlwind of change. As soon as they had decided they wanted to buy the house, Kel had immediately sat down with the real estate agent to write the contract. When she returned home from lunch with Heather, Kel announced that he wanted to move the next day.

  She joined him at the table, finally thinking to ask, “Are we going to be able to get movers by tomorrow?”

  “No.” Kel shook his head. “But all of our stuff is going to have to go straight to a storage unit anyway.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If we have movers bring our stuff from our old house to the new one, we’ll be announcing where we live,” Kel explained.

  Her mouth dropped open. “I can’t have my old furniture?”

  “Marilyn, it’s just stuff,” Kel said gently.

  “Stuff that we’ve been accumulating for years. Stuff that has a lot of sentimental value,” Marilyn argued. “You’re seriously planning to have movers come pack up our entire house and then expect me to pretend that none of that stuff exists anymore?”

  Kel stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah.” He reached for her hand, sympathy in his eyes. “We have to.”

  “But . . . but what about the quilt my grandmother gave me? And the keepsakes you kept that belonged to your parents and your sister?”

  Kel tensed briefly, but his voice remained calm. “We aren’t getting rid of any of those things. They’re just going to be in storage.”

  “For how long? Weeks? Months? Years?”

  “I’m sorry, but it will probably be months or years,” Kel said with a touch of regret. “We basically have to start from scratch.”

  Marilyn remained silent as she tried to dismiss the emotional ties to her things for now and focus on the practical. Finally she asked, “Do you have any idea how much money it will take to buy all new furniture?”

  Kel shrugge
d. “A lot.” He took a deep breath and then let out a sigh. “I told you I had money stashed away for a rainy day. That day has come.”

  Bewildered, Marilyn asked, “Exactly how much money do you have saved?”

  “I still have almost all of the life insurance money from when my folks died and a lot of the inheritance Dad left me,” Kel told her. “I haven’t looked lately, but it’s probably still over half a million.”

  Her eyes widened. Her jaw dropped. “You have more than five hundred thousand dollars in the bank?” She swallowed hard. “And you never mentioned it?”

  Kel let out a sigh. “I don’t know why this is such a huge shock to you. You know that I’ve been renting out Dad’s old house, and I told you that they had life insurance when they died.”

  “Kel, I just assumed you had a few thousand dollars stashed. Not half a million.”

  “Does it matter how much we have in the bank?” Kel asked now. “It’s not like either of us is the type that wants to just go out and spend money.”

  “I’m sorry.” She pressed her fingers against her temples as though fighting against the beginnings of a headache. “I don’t know whether I should feel like I just won the lottery or if I should be furious at you for not telling me about this before.”

  “Marilyn, I wasn’t trying to keep a secret from you. You never asked how much I had in my savings account, just like I don’t ask you how much is in yours.”

  “Kel, I’m your wife. I’m not some roommate you have to worry about keeping out of your things.” Marilyn’s voice rose slightly.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I just never thought about it before.”

  “Like you never thought about who Amy’s father was or that your missions might affect me someday.” Marilyn blinked hard against tears that threatened. She started to push away from the table, but Kel reached for her hand.

  “Marilyn, please don’t be upset.” Kel’s voice was soft, persuasive. “I’m sorry I never thought to tell you about the money, or Amy’s dad, or even more about my job. Some things I tried to keep from you because I didn’t want them to affect you. The money was just something that I’ve had for so long, I don’t really think about it. Kind of like how I assume that everyone knows who Amy’s dad is.”