SEALs of Honor: Swede

by Mayer, Dale

  He could hear the cries overhead from his team. They were so natural and blended into the chaos so well he doubted anyone else would have understood they were here.

  Still with the pandemonium, both human and horses, it was hard to sort out the people coming and going. He spun around looking for Eva. She’d gone to April’s side. But he couldn’t find April. For that matter he could no longer see Eva. Where had she gone? His gaze was intent as he searched the spot she’d been. The other horses had been let out on the far side to help them calm down. There was nothing like fire to spook animals.

  He crossed to the other side of the barn, noting the dark coolness was inside. There were several stalls and tack rooms here. If Eva wasn’t on the other side then he was going to start a room by room search.

  Isabella rushed past him, fear on her face. Swede reached out and grabbed the older woman’s arm. “Isabella, have you seen April? Eva?”

  She shook her head. “Not April or Eva. Lena is lying in the living room unconscious. I think she met her new lover,” Isabella snapped. “And he brought her home like this.”

  His voice was harsher than he’d hoped for but anxiety for Eva was rising. “Did you see him?”

  Isabella shook her head. “No, he isn’t local. But he is a fighter and takes what he wants. Like they all do,” she said bitterly. And she tore her arm free and ran inside.

  Instinct kicked in.

  Barely holding back his panic, he sent out the call.

  His phone rang immediately. Hawk.

  “I can’t find her,” Swede said, hating himself at that moment. With fear choking his words he explained the little he knew.

  “The men have the place surrounded. She’s there somewhere,” Hawk snapped. “No one has left yet and no one else has arrived.”

  That was good news. “I’ll find her.”

  He hung up the phone and ran through a fast search of the barn, then moved to the second barn. Were all four women unconscious? That would make sense in that they couldn’t scream for help. Eva would be quiet, waiting her time. But the others…the young girl would scream.

  The barn had several small rooms accessible only from the outside. He made it through them and found nothing. Then moved on to the bunk houses. He was in and out of them in seconds and racing to the main house. The women had to be in there. There were no other buildings left.

  He bolted through the kitchen door and into the living room. And came to a hard screeching stop.

  Four men were in the living room, rifles in their hands. Four women lay unconscious on the floor in front of them, lined up in a row. And the young Mexican…? She lay on the couch still out cold.

  Two more men moved into position behind him.

  Swede crossed his arms and studied the men in front. Two were from the rebel camp. Two looked to be drifters, but the looks on their faces as they stared down at the women made his insides cringe.

  A quick glance at Eva landed on the trickle of blood sliding down her cheek.

  Hawk had better get here soon.

  Or there wasn’t going to be enough of the rebels left for him to tear apart.

  Chapter 14

  Damn it. Why her head? She hated head injuries. How the hell had she gotten into this stupid scenario? She wanted to roll over and throw up, but since Swede had arrived, and boy was she glad to see him, she’d been too frozen to move. Now she needed to be ready to move and fast. Only she was afraid that if she lunged upright, her head injury would knock her back down. The rebels talked over her.

  “And the women?”

  “We can’t leave them behind, besides we could use them.”

  Eva’s stomach knotted. So Swede had been right.

  Of course he had been. Being a SEAL and all. They weren’t always right but damn close. She opened her eyes a slit, willing Swede to look down at her. Willing him to see she was alive and ready to follow through on whatever plan he had hatched. Please let him have a plan. Please.

  He stood, his arms crossed across his massive chest and studied the men with an almost sleepy gaze. She wasn’t fooled. He was pissed.

  “What do you want with the women?” he asked in a cold voice.

  “The men are complaining that the nights are too cold and they are alone.” The rebel smiled. “Happy rebels are happy fighters. Happy fighters fight harder. Kill better.”

  “Rebels? Fighters?” Swede shook his head as if not understanding. “You have a group of fighters here? Why? There is no problem here. No uprising. No war? Nothing.”

  “There is war everywhere, and we need our men to be trained. I’m not telling you what or who for. We will take the prisoners to the camp. The commander will decide their fate. They can’t be left behind alive. This is just the start. The men did good tonight. First real training exercise. Maybe the women will be their reward.”

  “I’d hardly call this well done. Amateur night maybe.”

  Eva shuddered at the slightly mocking tone in Swede’s voice. These men had no idea what they were facing. Swede was not going to let her be captured.

  “Too bad your commander isn’t here. Doubt he’d be so happy.”

  “We’re out of time here.” One of the other men snorted as he shifted his feet. “He’ll be happy with us tonight.”

  Eva kept an eye on Swede, waiting for the sign that would tell her to move. He wouldn’t let these assholes take her. And her brother was close by.

  She swallowed hard and tried to see the other women beside her – what condition where they in? Her hand rested on April’s hand. She dug a fingernail in, hoping for a reaction. Nothing.

  Damn that meant the other two were likely in the same condition.

  Sounds of a truck engine in the distance filled her veins with ice. Shit. The rebels had transport coming to carry the women out.

  “And Isabella?” Swede asked. “She’s not here so I presume you only want the strangers.”

  The first man laughed. “No, we’d take all women but Isabella makes deals to save her skin.”

  “But not succeeding I gather,” Swede added in a droll tone, but she wasn’t fooled. He was searching for a way out of this mess. For all of them.

  The two men who had been standing on the side of the room by her head, lifted their guns. “He’s too much trouble. We should get rid of him right now.”

  “No, take him out back to where we’re going to bury him. Look at his size. He’s huge. We’ll never manage to move his dead body.”

  Eva couldn’t breathe. Dear God. How had they come to this? She bunched her muscles, waiting for an opportunity to create a distraction. One that wouldn’t put a bullet in Swede or her.

  Death was a little too permanent for her. She didn’t want to lose Swede.

  He shifted enough to look down at her.

  She pleaded at him to do something.

  And what did he do? He glanced at her and winked.

  *

  Seeing the women lying unconscious burned his ass. They were not objects to be used and discarded. But in many parts of the world, women were just that. He’d seen it time and again. And it pissed him off each and every time.

  To see Eva…like that…hell no. He’d make sure these bastards were dead if he had to choke the very life out of them himself. With pleasure.

  No one was going to get away with abusing his woman.

  If his mind stuttered at the wording, his heart didn’t. When push came to shove and the chips were down, there was no fooling himself. He’d kept an eye on her for years. Waiting for the right time.

  Now was the right time. He’d be damned to hell before he lost out on the one thing he only now realized was what he was waiting for all these years.

  She’d been taboo until Hawk himself had shifted his stance after finding his own perfect partner.

  Now Swede could claim his.

  He just had to get rid of these assholes first.

  With the goal in sight and without warning, he crouched, kicked out a leg, spun and grabbed the tw
o guns held by the two men standing behind him. They went down in a heap, Swede was already on the move. Bullets spat in his direction, one hitting one of the men he’d knocked over. Swede was already behind the wall, their two guns as his trophies. Swede shot the second man who was trying to regain his footing. He started firing as he dashed into the room and took out first the gunman on the left then turned his rifle on the lone man still standing.

  Standing behind but holding his gun on Eva. The only one of the women who appeared awake enough to stand under her own power. Swede took a deep controlling breath, his mind already cataloguing the options.

  “Stop right there or I kill her,” snarled the rebel. “She’s going to get the first bullet.”

  Swede snorted. “I guess you can’t count. Four of your men are already dead or dying.” He waved his second gun at the man flat on the ground, his hands over his head. “And this guy is hoping you will think he’s dead. Nice rebels you’re trying to train here. First class men.”

  The leader glared at the man on the floor. And then did something Swede wasn’t expecting. He shifted to stand a little to the left of Eva and with only changing the angle of the gun barrel, he shot the rebel cowering on the floor.

  Swede swore. That wasn’t good. That meant everyone was expendable.

  Eva would be next.

  He glanced over at her. She was trying to say something to him, but he couldn’t decipher what.

  “So what’s it to be, big man?” The rebel jeered. “Feel like trying your chances against my gun?” He laughed. “You might not go down with one shot, but I can get off a half dozen shots before you reach me and you know you’re not going to survive all of those.”

  Shit. He didn’t trust this guy at all. The minute he put his gun down he was a dead man. He knew it. But his options were limited.

  “Don’t you dare, Swede,” Eva snapped. “Just shoot the bastard.”

  He stared at her. He could. It was an option. But he’d have to shoot through her. Had she considered that? He doubted it.

  Then she nodded. “Just do it.”

  Damn it. Hawk would kill him if he did. Then again, if Eva died…? She shifted her legs, widening her stance as if getting ready to run. She pointed her finger to the right. Was she telling him to shoot on the right or was she going to try to bolt to the right. Where the hell was the rest of the fucking team?

  He didn’t want to do this.

  The gunman smiled. “How about I take out one of the bargaining chips?” In the next split second that he tilted the gun toward the other three unconscious women.

  Eva leaned to the right.

  Swede fired to the left.

  Chapter 15

  Eva felt the tug on her skin. But her ears were still ringing from the earlier gunshot and her gaze, hot on Swede’s regretful face said something bad had happened. And the asshole who was planning on killing April? The gunman groaned, his gun still in his hand but his weight was now leaning on her.

  She pivoted out of the way, and grabbed her side. The gunman fell to his knees. Then all the way to the floor.

  Swede rushed over and kicked the gun away from the gunman before he spun her around so he could see her wound. He lifted her shirt. She slapped at his hands.

  “Leave me alone. I’m fine,” she said. “I’m not hurt.”

  “Ah, you are more than fine, and it’s way too late to leave you alone.”

  “What?” She stared at his face, wondering at the caring look in his eyes. For her? Really? No. No not likely. She shook her head and pressed her shirt down over her side. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. At least your heart does. Your mind hasn’t quite made the jump yet, but that’s okay. It will.”

  She shook her head, feeling the room start to spin. She wondered at the injury. Had he really shot her to get at the gunman? Surely not. But anything was better than watching her friends or him get killed in front of her.

  “I’m not feeling too good,” she muttered.

  “Reaction,” he said cheerfully. “Good thing you’re not hurt.”

  “I’m not?” She searched his face in surprise. “I thought you shot me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I only grazed you. Don’t you have any faith in my abilities? I’m a better shot than that.”

  Relieved she smiled. “Then I won’t look at it. It’s only going to hurt more if I do.”

  He laughed. “Come on. Let’s find a bandage to clean it up.”

  She shook her head, not wanting him to touch it. It was going to hurt like crazy if he did.

  “Hell no. We have to help these people. And there are six dead men here, remember?”

  “I can hardly forget,” he said. “But I only killed five.”

  “And that makes a difference? So what…you only clean up half the mess.”

  “Not worried about the mess at all. But I do want to know where the rest of the people are. Especially Isabella.”

  “I’ll stay here, you go look.”

  He raised an eyebrow and shot her a look saying that wasn’t happening.

  She groaned. “We can’t leave the women, and we can’t be separated so that means we both have to stay here and who knows what the hell is going on out there?”

  “Except the women are unconscious and no one is going to be dragging them anywhere right now.”

  “You don’t know that. We heard a vehicle in the distance, remember.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’m not asking you to leave them but to come with me to make sure the others are safe.”

  She stood undecided until April moaned.

  Eva dashed to her friend’s side. “Easy, April. You were unconscious, so wake up slowly.”

  Her friend’s gaze focused on Eva’s. “What happened?”

  Not wanting to alarm her more than necessary, Eva said, “It looks like Isabella’s place was attacked by a rebel group.”

  “Oh my God. Is she okay?”

  Eva watched as shocked awareness slammed into April’s foggy gaze. She lifted a hand toward Eva.

  “We don’t know,” Eva said holding her hand. “We haven’t found her yet.”

  April struggled into a sitting position. “Go. I’ll be fine.” She looked around the room, her gaze landing on the two women at her side. “Oh my God. Them too.”

  “Yeah, that’s why we’re a little worried about the others,” Eva admitted.

  “Go.” April waved them off as she crawled over to Mary, her hand immediately checking for a pulse.

  Swede tugged Eva back. “April, stay here with the women, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  Dazed April looked around, saw the men collapsed where they’d dropped. “Yes. You need to make sure this is over. Oh, I can’t believe this is happening.”

  When Eva stood uncertainly looking at her friend’s face, trying to make sure it was safe to leave her, April pointed to the door. “Go. Always have to make sure it’s safe for the rescuers before the victims can be taken care of.”

  And on that truth, Eva turned and headed for the front door, calling back, “Okay, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  “Just make sure you catch the assholes. Or kill them. I sure don’t want to see any alive.”

  Swede tugged Eva down the hallway toward the back room. “There’s nothing visible out there but if there are men watching and waiting they will be looking for you there.”

  “Did they hurt my brother?” she asked in a tight voice.

  “I doubt it,” he said calmly. “There were shots fired outside but I’d bet on my team any day.”

  “If they did…” she threatened, ignoring Swede’s grin.

  “He and the others can take care of themselves,” he said. “We’re SEALs, remember?”

  “Yeah and those were real bullets, remember?” she snapped. “Even SEALs can be shot and killed.”

  “So true,” he muttered in a low voice as they approached the kitchen. He leaned his head against the do
or and listened. She waited.

  She was so damn grateful she wasn’t alone. She’d already have been carted off to the camp these men were using. How horrible her life would be then – especially if no one reported them missing. People at home would eventually – maybe. Hawk would come running to find her, and God help the men he found her with.

  She’d had a close call, and it was only now settling in. She’d taken life for granted. Her safety here as a given. She’d come to help but hadn’t thought of all the contingencies.

  She snorted under her breath. How could she? No one would think anything like this would happen – could happen. And yet look at where she was now. Besides, she had been warned and scoffed at the warning. Shitty things happened to good people all the time, even at home. Look at what her best friend Mia had endured before Hawk rescued her. She’d almost died several times.

  So maybe this was Eva’s turn. How horrible to think everyone was going to go through something similar in life. How could these people do this? Treat women like that. Treat anyone like that. As a casualty of a training exercise.

  Her stomach started to revolt.

  She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Her arm was grabbed and given a handshake. “None of that. We need to hold it together.”

  With a hard swallow, she nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not, but you will get through this.”

  Bolstered, she straightened and motioned to the kitchen. “Well?”

  He nodded and pushed the door open. She waited a long second for his okay then walked in behind him. The large room was empty.

  She walked about the gleaming kitchen counters to the back door and stopped.

  The bile slid up her throat.

  “Oh no,” she cried out in a soft pained voice. The cook, who’d worked hard to prepare the food she’d eaten since she’d arrived was pinned to the wall, one of his own chef knives through his throat. Swede tugged her past the dead man, his body hiding the horrific sight.