Protecting Caroline (SEAL of Protection Book 1)

by Susan Stoker

  “Cookie and I split up about two hundred feet from the boat. He went after Ice who’d ducked underwater right before that asshole shot at her. I went around to the front of the boat. Just as we planned, while you guys distracted them, I put the explosives on the bow and backed off just as they gunned it to leave. You know the rest.”

  Wolf nodded absently. He knew what the plan was and recognized Dude’s part in the plan went off exactly as planned. Even with his busted up hand and missing fingers, Dude was the best demolition expert he’d ever seen. There wasn’t a bomb around today he couldn’t figure out how to disarm and there wasn’t a type of explosive he couldn’t use to its best advantage. Even with the thoughts running through his mind about how grateful to Dude he was for ending the standoff, he wondered where Cookie and Caroline were. He desperately needed to know she was okay and alive.

  * * *

  As Cookie swam Ice away from the boat she’d been thrown off of, he felt the explosion. It was close, but not too close. They’d made it. He continued swimming underwater to make sure they were safe from any flying debris. After everything she’d been through, Cookie didn’t want them to be hit by anything either above or under the water. He swam a bit further then what he figured was safe just to make sure they were in the clear and cloaked by darkness. He didn’t know exactly what had gone down above their heads…he knew what was supposed to have happened, but he also knew that wasn’t always what did happen.

  After judging they’d gone far enough, Cookie eased them slowly toward the surface. It was pitch dark now. He saw the SEAL boat about five hundred yards off to his left, its lights bobbing up and down in the waves, but didn’t immediately signal. He had to make sure it really was safe and that Ice was all right. He knew Wolf would be pissed at the delay, but he wasn’t going to risk Ice’s life after everything she’d been though.

  He still held her firmly with one arm. She was heavy from the chain around her ankles, but she wasn’t in danger of sinking. Cookie was the best swimmer of all of them. That was part of the reason he was chosen to be in the water in the first place. Wolf had volunteered to go, but they all knew he had to be on the boat. The man on the tape knew who he was and it’d be better if he was there to try to negotiate with him. Cookie knew it killed Wolf to back off and agree. Unspoken was the fact that if Caroline hadn’t survived whatever the terrorists had done to her, Wolf would lose it. It was better to have Cookie in the water, just in case.

  Cookie held Ice’s back to his front with one arm, and tried to ease her hands down from the mask with the other. She was still holding it in place with a death grip.

  Caroline repeated to herself, Don’t let go. Don’t let go. Don’t let go. It was her mantra. She was so tired and hurt so much, but she knew she had to keep holding that mask to her face, otherwise she’d die. Caroline heard something…she tried to concentrate, but she was so tired…finally she realized it was someone talking to her.

  “It’s okay, Ice, you’re okay. You can let go of the mask now, you’re all right. You made it. I’ve got you. We’re not underwater anymore…you’re safe…” Cookie kept talking to her soothingly. He’d keep it up as long as it took for her to come out of her stupor.

  Caroline opened her swollen eyes as far as they’d go. She couldn’t see much, as it was dark, but she could see a light bobbing off in the distance. She could feel herself bobbing up and down in the waves. She tried to relax her arms, but they wouldn’t move. Finally she forced her screaming muscles to let go of the mask. Cookie reached up and removed the mask from her face as soon as she let go, and Caroline took a shallow breath, any more hurt her ribs. She grabbed on to the arm that was across her chest holding her up. She couldn’t see the man behind her, but she knew he was one of the good guys; he was one of Matthew’s teammates.

  “Th-th-thank you,” she got out in a low cracked voice.

  Cookie squeezed her chest gently in response. “You did all the hard work, Ice. I was just there at the end when you needed a little help. How about we get out of here?” he asked softly. He felt her nod and smiled. He activated the signal light and waited.

  * * *

  “Look!” Benny said while pointing off into the distance. They all looked and saw a light bobbing in the water about five hundred yards away.

  “Thank God,” Wolf muttered, knowing that Cookie would have found Caroline. He refused to think differently. He turned to make sure Abe had seen Cookie, but Abe was already turning the boat and heading in their direction. Wolf watched as the light got closer and closer. Finally he could see Caroline safe in Cookie’s arms. He thought he’d lost her for good. God. When they didn’t immediately find either her or Cookie, Wolf had begun to think the worst. He should’ve known she was too stubborn to die. Abe pulled the boat up next to them.

  “Careful, Wolf,” Cookie said softly. “She’s hurt pretty badly. She also has that chain around her ankles.”

  Wolf clenched his fists. He wanted to go back and kill the men again. He nodded stiffly signaling he’d heard his buddy’s words.

  Cookie leaned in close to Caroline again.

  “Ice, you have to let go of my arm. Wolf is here…he’ll help you on the boat…okay?”

  Caroline nodded and opened her puffy swollen eyes again but shut them quickly. The light from the boat hurt her eyes. She cautiously uncurled her fingers from around Cookie’s arm and waited.

  She couldn’t help herself. She just waited for someone to haul her butt on the boat. Finally she felt Matthew’s arms go around her waist and felt Cookie let go. She felt really heavy…oh yeah, she still had the weights around her ankles.

  Wolf gingerly took Caroline by the waist and grasped her to him. She was heavy, and he saw it was because of the chain and weight around her ankles. He eased her over the side of the boat and when he saw she’d cleared it, he lay backward on the deck with Caroline on top of him. The water from her clothes quickly soaked him, but he didn’t even notice. Her arms hadn’t reached around him, but stayed clenched together in front of her, against his chest. He could hear her shallow breathing.

  “My God, Caroline,” he whispered to her. “Thank God. Thank God. I’ve got you. You’re safe.” He was babbling and couldn’t stop. All he knew was that his Caroline was in his arms, battered and bruised, but safe.

  Caroline heard Matthew in the recesses of her mind. She somehow found the strength to open her eyes to slits. She couldn’t lift her head from the crease of his neck, but she managed to unfurl one fist and lay it flat on his chest. She could feel his heart beating under her hand, and it calmed her. She was finally safe. “I’m getting you all wet,” she said softly, then promptly passed out.

  Benny and Dude cut the chain off her ankles as they headed back to shore. Wolf didn’t move. He couldn’t. He wrapped his arms around his woman and held on tight. He could see her swollen eyes and saw that blood was still oozing from her head somewhere. She’d been through hell, but she was here, and alive.

  Cookie covered Ice and Wolf with a blanket. Wolf nodded his head in thanks at his teammate. He held Caroline close to his chest and prayed she’d be okay. He counted her breaths, taking solace in the fact that she was actually breathing after everything she’d been through. She felt so fragile in his arms. He was scared to move her. He knew she was hurt. This happened to her because of him. He knew she wouldn’t agree, but he knew the truth. He had some decisions to make.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Caroline groaned. She hurt. She tried to remember what she’d done that had made her so sore. It came back to her in a flash. The cabin, Matthew, the warehouse, the boat…she opened her eyes, or at least tried to. Wow, her face hurt. She reached a hand up to her face and felt how swollen it was. Oh man. Finally she got her eyes open a crack and looked around. A hospital room. She was in the hospital. She hated hospitals. She looked around. It was empty except for her. She tried to push down the disappointment she felt. Matthew had no reason to be there when she woke up, but she’d hoped he would be an
yway. Where was everyone? She wanted out of there…she wanted…hell. She closed her eyes and was asleep again in seconds.

  * * *

  After dropping Caroline off at the Navy hospital, Wolf and his team called their commander. They’d explained all that had happened that night. Tex had analyzed the tapes and enhanced them. Surprisingly, the man in the suit was easy to identify. When Tex had sent the picture to Wolf, he’d recognized the man immediately.

  He was an FBI agent, and they’d actually talked to him in Nebraska after they’d landed the plane. It was no wonder he’d been close enough to be able to come and talk to them. He’d arranged for the plane to crash in the first place. He’d obviously volunteered to come to Nebraska and interview them. Wolf, Abe, and Mozart had felt something was off about the interrogator after they’d been interviewed. Their instincts were dead on.

  They had no idea what his real motives were behind his double-cross, but at this point it didn’t really matter. The only thing that mattered to Wolf was that they’d rescued Caroline. It was up to the rest of the Feds to see how deep his betrayal went. For the country’s sake, Wolf hoped he was working alone. God only knew their job was hard enough without having to constantly battle domestic terrorists as well as foreign ones.

  Wolf was thankful they’d kept what had really happened close to their chests. The only person they’d told all the details about the flight and Caroline’s role in it had been their own SEAL commander. They’d have to report all that had happened in Virginia, and the repercussions would be long lasting most likely, both for the FBI and the SEAL team, but Wolf couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Not as long as Caroline was safe.

  * * *

  Wolf tried to ignore his teammates. They weren’t happy with him. Not happy was an understatement, they were pissed. They’d argued most of the night and he still wasn’t swayed. He was no good for Caroline. Look what had happened to her after she met him. Nothing but bad things. She’d almost died in a plane hijacking, her apartment had been broken into, she was put in the witness protection program, she’d been kidnapped, beaten up, shot at, and then almost drowned. It wasn’t safe for any SEAL to be in a relationship. Why couldn’t his team members see that?

  They’d wanted to wait for Ice to wake up when they’d brought her into the hospital. Cookie, Benny, and Dude needed to meet her while she was conscious, not half conscious on the bottom of a boat. Cookie more than the others. Caroline seemed to affect everyone the same way. She impressed the hell out of Cookie, and that was a hard thing to do. He told them all how she’d panicked, but recognized their signal to her right away. How she relaxed and let Cookie swim them to safety, and even how she’d thanked him while floating in the middle of the damn ocean.

  They were pissed Wolf was seemingly giving up on her. They couldn’t understand how Wolf could just leave Ice to recuperate alone in the hospital after all of his angst about rescuing her. They knew he loved her, but for some reason he was being stubborn now that she was safe.

  Wolf could only think about all that Caroline had been through. She had two broken ribs and too many cuts, bruises, and scrapes to count. Her wrists were heavily bandaged and she’d received eight stiches in a cut on her head. She was dehydrated and weak from not eating or drinking anything. She’d taken a hell of a beating and still had her wits about her. When she was delirious in the boat and on the way to the hospital she kept repeating, “I didn’t talk, I swear I didn’t tell him anything,” over and over. Wolf had been able to reassure her, but as soon as he let go of her and placed her on the gurney in the hospital, she started saying it again. It literally broke his heart to leave her there, but he knew it was the right thing to do, no matter what his team said.

  * * *

  Cookie, Benny, and Dude tiptoed into the hospital room, as much as three grown men could tiptoe. They went over to the woman lying in the hospital bed by the window. She was sleeping. She looked horrible. Her face was covered in bruises, her arms weren’t much better. They couldn’t see the rest of her, but they knew she had a couple of broken ribs and was most likely covered in bruises everywhere else as well.

  The three men had wanted to stay with her when she was brought in, but Wolf refused to let them. They’d come today without him knowing. They had to meet her in person. They’d heard so much about her from Mozart and Abe, and even watching Wolf with her on the boat.

  Women weren’t something they’d ever given much thought to in the past. They loved women, loved sleeping with women, but had never thought much about them beyond that. They wondered why this woman was so special, what was it about her that made their teammates do things they never would’ve done before meeting her? Cookie and Benny sat on one side of her and Dude sat on the other.

  Caroline stirred, restless. What had woken her up? She opened her eyes and kept herself from shrieking, barely. There were three men sitting around her bed. Big men. Were they there to harm her? Had Wolf captured all the terrorists? She tried to think…did she have any weapons? Just before she went into a full blown panic one of the men held out his hand to her.

  “Nice to meet you Ice, I’m Dude.”

  Caroline looked at the man and his outstretched hand. Dude. One of Matthew’s men? She reached out and grasped his hand in hers cautiously and shook his hand. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Nice to meet you, I’m Caroline.” Her voice came out scratchy and low.

  She waited, and finally felt it. His second and fourth fingers pressed harder than the rest of his hand against hers. She smiled. “Faulkner, right?” Caroline asked the big man.

  He nodded and smiled, but said, “Dude.”

  “I’m Benny,” another one of the men said to her softly. Caroline turned toward him to shake his hand and received the same signal from him. They were Matthew’s teammates. Thank God. She didn’t think she had it in her at the moment to escape another damn terrorist.

  “Benny...” she thought for a moment then tentatively said, “Kason?”

  Benny brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it gently. “That’s me.”

  Caroline turned to the third man as Kason let go of her hand. “And you have to be Hunter,” She said shakily, feeling emotionally raw at meeting the man who’d literally held her life in his arms.

  He nodded and instead of holding out his hand to her he stood up and leaned over. He gathered her carefully into his arms and into a tight comforting hug. It felt right to Caroline. It still hurt a little bit, but she ignored the pain and concentrated on showing her appreciation to the big SEAL holding her.

  “Thank you, Hunter,” she said earnestly in his ear. “Thank you.” She didn’t have to say anything else. She felt Hunter nod and then carefully, he laid her back down on the bed.

  Caroline looked at the three men sitting around her.

  “It’s so good to finally meet you guys. Are you all okay? I’m not sure what happened out there. I know Hunter saved me when I was under the water, but I only have flashes here and there of what went on after that. What happened to the fancy-man?”

  Dude knew who she was talking about and could hear the fear in her voice. “It’s over, Ice. You don’t have to worry about him ever again. He was the man behind everything. He was a disgruntled FBI agent. It looks like he was working on his own and didn’t have an entire network or anything. He can’t send anyone else after you. You’re safe.” Dude wasn’t one hundred percent certain that was true, but there was no way in hell he’d say anything to worry Ice in any way. She’d been through enough.

  Caroline let out a breath of relief. “Thank God. But are you guys okay? Everyone else is all right?”

  Benny nodded. “We’re all fine Ice. It’s you we’re concerned about.”

  Caroline tried not to cry. It was nice to be worried about, but if she was honest with herself, these weren’t the men she really wanted to see. She wanted to see Matthew, to make sure he was okay…hell, to just be with him. But he hadn’t been by at all. She hadn’t seen him since th
e boat, and she hardly remembered much of that. It was obvious he’d decided she wasn’t worth it. It hurt. She’d thought he really liked her. He was damn good at acting that was for sure.

  “How’s Sam?” Caroline asked quickly, trying to hide her pain that Matthew didn’t want to see her.

  “He’s good.” Cookie told her. “Bitching to get out of the hospital and back to work. He’ll be coming back to San Diego with us in the next few days.” He didn’t mention the scarring on Mozart’s face and how bad it was. Cookie knew Caroline probably felt bad enough as it was.

  Caroline’s heart sunk after hearing Hunter’s words. So they were leaving. Soon. In the next few days. She knew they would be, but she’d hoped to see Matthew, or at least talk to him before they left. She tried to pull herself together.

  “I’m sure he is,” she said with a forced laugh. “Tell him I said hello?”

  “Of course, Ice. He’d be here if he could.” Benny told her.

  “I know. I’m just glad he’s okay.”

  There was a moment of silence in the room. Caroline didn’t want to ask where Matthew was, or why he hadn’t come to see her. But she so wanted to know. As if he could read her mind Cookie told her gently, “He doesn’t know we’re here.”

  Caroline nodded, even though it felt like her heart was being ripped out. Matthew didn’t want to see her and didn’t want his friends seeing her. That hurt more than she’d ever admit to anyone.

  Benny continued, trying to make her feel better, “We wanted to meet you…really meet you. It’s weird not knowing one of our own teammates.” He smiled at her.

  Caroline tried to smile back, but figured she’d failed miserably when Kason didn’t smile back at her. “Thanks guys, but you know I’m not a part of the team. I just got in the way of your team.”