Mistletoe Reunion Threat

by Virginia Vaughan

  “How do you do it?” Ashlynn asked him as he poked the fire.

  He glanced up at her. “Do what?”

  “How do you have such faith? I confess I’ve never been much of a religious person, but I envy those that have faith. Everything seems to work out for them.”

  He looked back at the fire. “God never promised we wouldn’t have trouble. He only promised to be with us through it. Even the most faithful have times of trouble.” He was thinking of Marcus, who had been one of the most faithful men of God he’d known. It hadn’t prevented something bad from happening to him.

  Her tone hardened. “Well, He hasn’t ever been here for me.”

  He turned back to look at her and was devastated by the sadness on her face. “He’s always been there, Ashlynn. We don’t always see Him or feel Him, but He’s there.”

  She folded her arms tighter against her chest and seemed to sink farther into the couch. “I wish I could believe that, but it feels like He doesn’t care about me at all. My life has been one terrible thing happening after another. He could have intervened. He could have kept Kathryn Rollins from beating me nearly to death. He could have prevented my mother’s death. He didn’t do any of that and I would be okay with it if He had only intervened when Jacob was taken.” Tears slipped from her eyes. “He’s just a little boy. He doesn’t deserve to be punished for my faults.”

  Garrett moved to sit beside her on the couch. “What are you talking about? What faults?”

  “I don’t know, but it must be something about me or something I’ve done to make God hate me.”

  He was horrified that she could actually believe that, but he could see she did.

  “God does not hate you, Ashlynn.”

  “Then why does He keep punishing me?” she asked, her voice choked with emotion.

  He quickly pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. She didn’t protest, and after a moment she leaned into the crook of his shoulder. He held her while she wept for her son and for all she’d been through.

  When her tears were spent, he watched the fire and listened to the steady sound of her breathing as she slipped into sleep. He wished he could do more, say more, to help ease her pain, but he had no answer to why God hadn’t intervened. Evil existed in this world. Garrett knew that firsthand. He’d witnessed the evil of men during his time with the rangers. God had not intervened to stop the ambush that had taken the lives of his friends. He’d struggled with that, too, and had never come up with an answer.

  But what he did know, what he’d come to count on, was that God had been right there with him during that terrible time and every day since. They surely needed some of that divine intervention right now to find out who was behind the attacks on Ashlynn and where they’d taken Jacob. Once again, his mind drifted to the idea that he was a father and he could imagine a life with Jacob and Ashlynn, as part of a family, but a nagging doubt reminded him that he wasn’t cut out to be a father.

  He tensed when he heard movement outside.

  He slid carefully away from Ashlynn, letting her remain asleep against the arm of the couch as he got up and walked to the back door. He reached for his gun and stepped outside, his ears alert and listening for the rustle. Logic told him it was only a raccoon or a possum, and it probably was, but he needed to be certain.

  He heard movement again from the side of the house and raised his gun. He shone the flashlight into the area and walked in that direction. More rustling sent his senses reeling. Someone was out there in the woods.

  Just then, someone jumped from the shadows and tackled him, forcing Garrett to the ground. The man slammed his fist into Garrett’s face sending blinding pain soaring through him. But his only thought was of Ashlynn asleep inside. He had to get to her.

  He blocked the man’s next punch and shoved him hard away, crawling over and smashing his own fists into the intruder’s face, then grabbing his gun and hitting him again. The man groaned and immediately collapsed. Garrett knew he’d lost consciousness.

  The lack of direct light meant he couldn’t get a good look at the man’s face, but he could see enough to know he didn’t recognize him. He was, however, the right build to be the man who had attacked them at Ashlynn’s house, and the automatic rifle he carried further cemented that reasoning. He pulled out his phone and was about to call Vince for backup when another rustle of movement grabbed his attention.

  The guy on the ground wasn’t alone.

  There was someone else in the woods.

  Garrett grabbed the automatic rifle, hopped up and hurried back into the house. The cabin was compromised and they had to get out now.

  EIGHT

  He pulled Ashlynn awake. “They found us,” he said, and although her eyes were blurry when she first roused, they immediately cleared. She quickly slipped on her shoes.

  Her eyes widened when she saw the rifle he carried. “Where did you get that?”

  “I knocked one of them out, but there’s at least one other person out there. Possibly more.”

  He grabbed her hand to leave just as something crashed through the front window, hit the floor and rolled across the floor. Garrett immediately recognized it as a flash bomb. He’d seen his share of them in combat and had used them often in his search-and-rescue missions.

  “Get down,” he hollered, pulling her behind the couch with him and covering her with his body as the bomb exploded, basking the room in white light and emitting an awful squeal and smoke. The blast sent his senses reeling, as it was meant to do, but he had enough of his wits to pull off his overshirt, rip it in half and hand one piece to Ashlynn. “Cover your mouth and nose.” He pressed the fabric to his face and reached for the rifle. They had to get out of here, and fast, before they both passed out from smoke inhalation or the assailant busted into the house and shot them.

  The flash bomb had come through the front window, which wasn’t good. The car was parked out front and they needed to get to it if they hoped to escape. They would be sitting ducks if they tried to make it out on foot.

  He slid the keys into her hand. “I’m going to cover you. I need you to get to the car and start it.”

  She nodded and started to move toward the door, doing her best to stay low. He followed her, and once they reached it, he dropped the mask and threw open the door.

  “Run!” he shouted at her, firing indiscriminately into the woods as Ashlynn ran for the car. He followed her, keeping a steady stream of gunfire going. She started the car and he slid into the passenger seat.

  “Go!” he said, once he was inside.

  The moment they pulled away, the gunfire started again, coming from the trees to the north. Garrett leaned out the window and shot back, but bullets hit the car and Ashlynn screamed as one shattered the back window. But she didn’t let up on the accelerator.

  Good girl, he thought. He emptied what remained of the rifle’s ammunition into the woods then tossed it and reached for his pistol.

  Garrett looked back and saw a man emerge from the brush. He lifted his gun and fired several shots, one of which obviously hit a tire because Garrett heard a loud pop. Ashlynn screamed as the car spun out of control and slid off the road into a ditch.

  Garrett took only a moment to recover from the adrenaline pumping through him before kicking open his door and climbing out. He reached inside, hurrying Ashlynn along before the shooter came after them.

  “We have to take cover,” he said pulling her into the woods, glad she didn’t bother pointing out to him that he’d told her they would never make it out alive on foot. The woods were their only choice for safety now.

  He glanced back at the cabin. He couldn’t see the man anymore, but he would be following them soon. Garrett wanted nothing more than to wait for him, confront him and demand to know why he was targeting Ashlynn and where Jacob was being kept, but r
ight now he had to keep her alive. That had to be his priority. What he wouldn’t give for some ranger backup now. He stopped only long enough to slip out his phone and dial Josh’s number.

  “The cabin was compromised,” he said when Josh answered, and his friend responded without hesitation.

  “I’m on my way to get you. There’s a dirt road about a mile north of the cabin. Stay on that road as long as you can. I’ll find you.”

  Garrett clicked off and slipped the phone into his pocket. Now they only had to stay alive until Josh could get to them.

  They ran for what seemed like an hour before they stumbled upon the road Josh mentioned. Garrett was convinced they’d given their attacker the slip. The darkness had been on their side and for that he was thankful.

  He heard a car approach and pushed Ashlynn off the road, down behind a clump of bushes. He clutched his gun, ready to use it if needed. He tensed, his whole body on alert at the thought of going into a firefight with only the half-full clip of his pistol. But he wouldn’t let them take her. He would do whatever he had to do to protect her.

  God, please help me keep her safe.

  The vehicle that approached slowed as it neared them. He saw a rapid flash of the headlights in a steady beat and breathed a sigh of relief. That had been their code in the rangers, so he knew it was Josh behind the wheel. He stepped out and flagged down the vehicle. It pulled up beside them and Garrett hurried Ashlynn into the back while he slid into the front seat.

  “You made it,” Garrett said, so glad to see his friend.

  “Are you both okay?”

  He nodded then looked at Ashlynn.

  “I’m not hurt,” she said, but he noticed her body was rigid and tired after another close call.

  Garrett turned back to Josh. “How did they find us? I can’t figure that out. I’ve disabled the tracking on the car and our cell phones. Only a few people knew where we were.” A terrible thought stung him. “There’s only one answer. Someone close to us is either passing information to the shooter...or he is the shooter.”

  Ashlynn glanced at him and saw where his line of thinking was headed. “Vince.”

  He nodded. “Vince.”

  “You don’t really believe Vince is crooked, do you? I’ve known him for years.”

  “Did you tell anyone where we were?”

  She shook her head. “No, I didn’t tell anyone.”

  “So only Vince knew. That kind of narrows down the pool of suspects, doesn’t it?”

  She shook her head. “I find it difficult to believe that Vince is in on a plot to murder me and take my son.”

  “It doesn’t necessarily have to be him,” Josh said. “He has officers under him that might have access to that information.”

  Garrett sighed. “Look, I haven’t known Vince for that long, but we have to face the facts. Someone is tracking us and we can’t trust anyone, not even the police. We’ll stay in contact with them for any new leads on Jacob’s whereabouts. We’ll gather their information, but from this point forward everyone is suspect. We trust no one.”

  He locked eyes on her to drive home his point. “We’re on our own.”

  * * *

  Josh pulled into his garage and pushed the button to close the door.

  “I should have brought you here in the first place,” he said. “I just thought the cabin would be safe.”

  “I thought so, too,” Garrett said. “It should have been.”

  Josh led them inside. “Ashlynn, you can take the guest bedroom upstairs. Garrett, you can bunk down here on the couch.”

  Ashlynn went upstairs but her mind wouldn’t stop running. Garrett suspected someone close to them was behind the attacks on her and she was beginning to believe him. But now she was on edge. She didn’t know who to trust. The only person she was certain she could rely upon was Garrett, which was a strange and new sensation.

  She still had a difficult time believing Vince was behind the attacks on her, but Garrett was right. They had to be careful. However, she realized there was another person besides Vince who had known they were at the cabin.

  She got up and quietly opened the bedroom door and peeked out. The house was dark and quiet, and she was glad. She needed to speak with Garrett without Josh around. She padded downstairs and found him stretched out on the couch. He wasn’t asleep and jumped up when he saw her. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked, his face taking on a worried expression. “Is everything okay?”

  She sat beside him on the couch, uncertain how to voice her suspicion. “I know you said we couldn’t trust anyone. What about Josh? Is it possible—?”

  “Don’t even go there,” he said, stopping her before she finished her question. “I trust him. In fact, there’s no one I trust more than Josh and the rangers. He’s on our side.”

  “I can appreciate you have a connection with him, but that doesn’t mean—”

  “Ash, I trust Josh. Period. You have no idea what we’ve been through together. He would never betray me.”

  “I’m sure you believe that, but it’s just that this is Jacob we’re talking about. This is our son, Garrett. We have to think about his safety. How can we truly trust anyone?”

  “If I can’t trust the rangers, then who can I trust? I can’t continue to live my life on the defensive, constantly wondering who is on my side and who is going to let me down. That’s an exhausting way to exist.”

  She clenched her jaw, taking his comment as a direct hit at her. “Sometimes it’s a necessity, especially when everyone around you continually lets you down.”

  He nodded then stood. “Okay, I deserved that.”

  “No, I’m not only talking about you, Garrett. Stephen, too. My foster mother. My friends. I couldn’t even trust my own father to be there for me. Why does everyone I know let me down? Am I that terrible a person?”

  He pulled her into his arms as her chin quivered. “No, baby. You’re not a terrible person. You’re an incredibly amazing, determined, powerful woman.”

  “Then why does everyone leave me?” Even she could hear the pitiful desperation in her voice but she couldn’t stop it. It was a question she’d pondered for years. What was so bad about her that no one wanted her?

  He must have seen her desperation because he grabbed her arms, sending a spark of electricity between them. “It’s not because of you, Ashlynn. I didn’t leave because of you. It was me. I was afraid of letting you down. I knew I could never live up to the memories of the men who died the night our team was ambushed.”

  She was surprised by the intensity of the pain she saw on his face when he spoke about the ambush. She’d held back pressing him about the events of that night mostly because she hadn’t wanted him to use it as an excuse for his actions. But now...well, she wanted to know.

  “What happened on that mountain?” she asked him, her voice soft and encouraging. “And why did it have to take you away from me?”

  He gulped and pulled back from her. She saw the flash of horror and pain that spread across his face and knew he was reluctant to relive that night. She wondered again if maybe she shouldn’t press him, but pushed that concern away. She’d loved him so much. She deserved to know what terrible thing had taken him from her.

  His folded his arms across his chest. His stance was stiff and his jaw set. She saw how painful it was for him to relive that night and felt guilty for even asking. She had no right to demand this of him. She jumped up and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his shoulder. She could feel him shaking and knew at that moment that she wouldn’t press him for details. “Never mind. You don’t have to tell me.”

  He blew out a deep, fortifying breath. “It’s time you know the truth and I suppose it’s time I talked about it. I’ve never spoken to anyone about what happened, not even to Josh or the oth
er rangers. There was never any reason. They were there. They knew what occurred.”

  He stepped away from her, unable or unwilling to look at her as he told the story. She didn’t press that. Instead, she gave him the space he needed. She sat on the couch, holding her breath in anticipation of what he was about to share and lifting a silent prayer for his pain. It seemed so great.

  “I was the first one in,” he said, his voice cracking. He stopped to clear his throat and started again. “I was on point. My friend Marcus was following behind me and the rest of the squad was scattered out, taking different positions. Our target was a high-profile Taliban leader who’d been hiding out in the mountains and we’d finally gotten some good intel on his whereabouts. Command brought in some Delta operators along with some SEALs to lead the mission. Our part was to go in with them. They would go after the target while we cleared the compound.

  “I saw Levi approach a tent. Three women emerged, all strapped with explosives. I screamed for him to watch out, but they went off right before my eyes. Levi went flying.”

  He shook his head in amazement. “I still don’t know how he ever survived that explosion. Then shots rang out. They seemed to come from everywhere. Marcus was standing beside me and the next thing I knew he just convulsed and hit the ground. Blood was everywhere. I leaned down to help him and then it was all over me, too. I knew I had to get him out of there but everyone was shooting and shouting and screaming.”

  His voice cracked again, but he continued. “Smoke was thick as the night and the air stank of gunpowder and fuel. I grabbed Marcus and tried to drag him toward a building, trying to find some pocket of peace so I could check his wounds, but the shots just kept coming. The whole time Marcus was begging me to take care of his family.”

  She gasped at the horror of what he’d been through. But he wasn’t done.

  “I knew I had to get him back to where he could get some medical help. And I just panicked. I picked up my weapon and started shooting. When my gun was empty, I picked up his.” He leaned his head into his hands. “I killed a lot of people that night, all in the name of war.”