Riser resumed position, his back to Celine, and Aaron slowly lifted her shirt, her bruised and battered breasts a gut wrenching twist of agony to his heart.
Aaron threw his head back and bit his cheek to keep back the scream of fury. He tasted blood.
Riser didn’t turn until Aaron had lowered her shirt once more and replaced her jeans. Three full weeks she'd been held captive. Three weeks she'd been at the mercy of a monster.
He'd seen what men could do to a woman. Leave them broken and bloody and a hollow shell. Goddammit. Nausea crawled up his stomach with razor sharp claws at the thought of seeing Celine's exotic green eyes all empty and scared when she woke...
“Everything okay?” He heard Ethan’s voice from a distance, but couldn’t talk.
Riser seemed to sense it and answered for him. “She’ll be okay for now, but needs medical attention.”
Aaron lifted her back into his arms and lowered his head to her neck, shuddering. He had to lean against the SUV for support.
Mr. J was a dead man walking. Aaron would slit his throat himself.
“We'll handle cleanup. Ethan, go with Aaron. Make sure they get taken care of at the hospital,” Hunter said.
“Roger,” Ethan answered.
“Aaron, stay with her, make sure she makes it back to the States.”
Aaron glanced up to see his team leader’s face full of understanding and sympathy. Here they were, coming down off a deadly firefight in the middle of Afghanistan and all he could think about was the girl in his arms. “I’ll get her to a hospital, make sure she’ll recover, but I’m coming back. That bastard is gonna die.”
“We got it covered. You don’t have to come back here, you should take care of your woman.” Ranger said.
Aaron glanced down at Celine, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest, telling himself she was alive and would be okay. Physically at least.
The man he and TF-S had been hunting for nearly two years. Mr. J was responsible for the death of Shane Carter, Cord's cousin and former TF-S sniper. He'd tried to have TF-S ambushed and murdered, twice. Now this...
Was he willing to give up his chance at revenge for Celine?
The helicopter’s loud roar filled the valley, touching down and throwing up a small sand storm. There was a hospital in Germany, he could drop her there, have her guarded and come back. He might even be able to get back to her side before she woke, if he was lucky.
“If we find Mr. J before you get back, I'll give him a nice hello from you.” Merc, the biggest badass on their team, the guy who never spoke - hell Aaron didn't even know what unit the guy was in before TF-S.
“Thanks, brother.”
“I've got you headed to the nearest SF medical facility. It's just over the border in Uzbekistan. The doctor there has worked with us a few times, I trust him,” Hunter said. “Good luck with your woman.”
“What about Caroline?”
“We’re gonna circle back to the compound. Try to catch them before they have a chance to run. I’ll have the Colonel keep you posted.”
“You keep me posted. I need to know.” Although he had Celine in his arms, he wouldn’t rest easy until both girls were home safe.
“Will do, brother.” Hunter clapped him on the shoulder and walked away to rejoin the rest of the men.
“Thanks.”
Aaron followed behind Ethan, shielding Celine's skin from the sand blast thrown up by the helicopter blades. Ethan pulled the door open, hopped inside and then held out his arms. Aaron reluctantly passed Celine to him, launched up into the interior and settled back into one of the seats. Ethan gave Celine back without a word and slammed the door shut.
As they lifted off and headed northwest, Aaron focused on Celine and the bruise on her cheek. She’d been struck hard. He'd taken punches to the face, knew the feeling of a blunt fist slamming into his, bones and he was a full-grown man. Celine was a foot shorter and at least a hundred pounds lighter.
He closed his eyes and leaned back, trying to concentrate on the fact that she was alive more than the need to torture whoever laid his hands on her.
Or the cold hard fact that he was the reason she ended up here in the first place. He needed her to wake up more than anything else so he could tell her he was sorry. He should've been there, it was his fault she was kidnapped and nearly sold into slavery.
When he thought about how close he'd come to losing her – Aaron swallowed, he couldn't think about that. He didn't really understand his obsession with Celine or why he needed her like he needed air. They'd only spent a few weeks together. But maybe it was like his grandmother, Noni, had said; she was his soulmate, the one that would change his life, and when she came, he would know.
Before Celine had been kidnapped, he’d been training her along with Ethan and Kate in self-defense. Those two weeks, they spent every day together, sparring and fighting and their attraction growing.
He thought he'd have all the time in the world to get to know her better. No, he hadn’t. He’d rejected her. She’d given herself to him and he’d let his past and present scare him away. Unable to focus on the mission and Celine, he'd chosen the mission, ignoring her after Col. Grey caught him off-post. He’d hurt her and turned his back on her and then, he’d lost her.
And until right now, he’d thought he lost her forever.
“Hey man, you've got her. She's safe and alive because of you.” Ethan leaned in close from his seat next to them.
Aaron's throat burned and he squeezed her tighter. “I should've never put her in this position in the first place. It's my fault.”
“Hey man, that's total bullshit and you know it. I was there, too – remember? Neither one of us suspected a man on the inside. No one on the whole team did.”
“Yeah, but I should've never had her there in the first place. She was a civilian, she wasn't trained.” No, he’d been thinking with his dick instead of his head. They'd needed a second female to stand in on what should have been a cake babysitting mission.
“You do remember Kate, right? She was trained, crap she could take me down, and they still nearly got her, too.” Ethan's voice took on a rough edge.
“I can't stop thinking about what they could've done to her. What if we hadn’t found out about the meet? I would've never found her.” Aaron rocked forward and closed his eyes.
“You can't think about it like that, you know that as much as I do. You found her and that's all that matters.”
“I know you're right. I know I should be thinking that, but I can't. Not when I know it's my fault.” He thought he’d done the right thing by leaving her, but he’d driven her right into the kidnapper’s hands.
Ethan shook his head, his blue gaze unreadable. “You’ve just been handed a second chance. After being in the Teams so long, you know that people don't get second chances. You better figure it out before she wakes up and if you really did hurt her – you better work your ass off to win her back.”
Every single word Ethan spoke rang true. Aaron’s whole life, he’d had it easy with women. He knew women and their idiosyncrasies, their quirks; knew how they could be as unbending as iron one second and then soft as a feather the next.
But Celine took all that knowledge and turned it upside down. She made him feel out of sync, off key – and for the first time in his life he honestly didn't know what he would do.
Ethan said, “Damn,” Ethan scraped a hand down his face. “How are we going to find Caroline now? We got lucky with Celine. Damned lucky.”
Aaron pulled his mind from his regret and focused on the facts they had at hand. “Celine was being transported to a sex trafficker. They either needed to get rid of her or needed cash. My guess is – they never intended to kidnap her in the first place.”
And if Aaron hadn’t been a total chicken shit, he’d have faced up to his feelings for her and held her tighter instead of shoving her away.
“So, Kate and Celine weren’t supposed to be on that plane.”
“
Or alive. It’s a miracle either of them survived,” Aaron said.
Ethan caressed his rifle, yelling to be heard over the roar of the helicopter. “And if we don’t find Caroline, the senator may yank our whole team off the mission.”
Robbing them of their chance at revenge for everything Mr. J had done.
The helicopter dipped and turned off-course and Aaron sat up in alarm. “Where are you going?”
The copilot turned and said, “Been ordered to take you to a different medical facility.”
“Where? You're heading west – I'm not aware of any major medical facility in this region,” Ethan said.
“I know, me either, but command just redirected us.” The copilot turned back around.
Aaron glanced at his teammate, who silently slid his hand down to the weapon at his waist. They had no choice except to go along for the ride, but they would be prepared. This time, he wouldn’t let Celine out of his sight for a second and he didn’t care who the hell had a problem with that.
An hour later, the helicopter landed outside of a low-lying adobe building on the edge of the mountains. Two nuns led by a priest pushing an empty gurney rushed out.
Ethan disembarked first, stopping the group before they reached the helo as Aaron climbed out with Celine limp in his arms.
“Who are you?” Ethan asked with his rifle gripped in his hands.
The priest, a weathered old man about as thick as a bean pole, handed over a sat phone. Ethan took it and put it to his ear, leaving Aaron hovering near the helo, ready to back his friend up or launch inside depending on how this went down.
“Yes, sir.” Ethan disconnected the call and gave the phone back to the priest. And then he slung his gun over his shoulder and turned to Aaron. “That was Colonel Grey. The command wants her tended to here; they don't want anyone to find out we rescued her.”
“You mean that we rescued Celine and not Caroline.”
“Probably. Grey said we can trust these people.”
The priest spoke up, “I know Mack Grey. I've stitched him up more than a couple times. I am a doctor and the sisters are trained nurses. I promise we will take very good care of her.”
Could he trust them? This could be another trick, another elaborate scheme set up by Mr. J to kill off a witness to his kidnapping of Caroline Cotter. But this could also be the only facility that could properly take care of Celine and ensure her health. What if Mr. J had drugged her with some type of poison? Or she had internal injuries? He couldn't save her life in an army combat helicopter over the Afghanistan desert.
“What wounds did you stitch up on Colonel Grey?”
The priest answered without hesitation, “A through and through bullet in his right shoulder, a small knife wound you've probably never seen on his left flank, and a gash on his left thigh that nearly took his life.”
Aaron took a beat – he had seen the wound on his commander’s left flank – although he'd wished he hadn't at the time.
“It will take you half a day to make it to another hospital,” the priest said.
“Fine, but I'm not leaving her side.” Aaron gently placed her on the gurney, stepping only far enough out of the way for the nuns to strap Celine down.
Both nuns were older, with kind eyes and cautious but efficient movements. The tallest one stepped close to Aaron and laid a hand on his arm. “I’m Sister Mary Catherine. Be at ease, soldier. We’ve got her.”
“I’m not leaving her.”
“I’m not asking you to.” She gestured for him to follow her.
Aaron stayed close on her heels. They entered the building through an open room with a few old chairs lined up against one wall and continued straight down a short hall, turning into the second door on the left. Unlike most mission style hospitals, this facility had concrete floors and electricity.
“I need room to move to examine her properly. You may stand over there.” The sister gestured to the corner.
Something about the woman put him at ease, maybe it was the fact that she seemed completely unafraid, or that the thread of determination in her voice reminded him of his own grandmother, but he nodded and stepped back. “I did a quick check in the field,” he cleared his throat and fought to sound neutral, “she may have been violated. By a man.”
“I will examine her myself and pray that isn’t the case. But if it is, I will pray for God to help her recover.”
Damn tears stung his eyes and Aaron hastily blinked them back. “Thank you.”
“Did she have any bleeding?”
“No, ma'am.”
“Are you her husband?”
The unexpected question caught him off guard. “No.”
“We must undress her to complete the exam. It won’t take long, and I will be as gentle as possible. I must ask that you step out of the room until we have completed.”
Both nuns stopped their exam and waited. Aaron felt every inch of their gazes. He technically had no legal claim to stay in there and definitely no religious rights. But he didn't want to leave her, even for a minute. “I just got her back.”
“My beliefs do not allow me to undress her before a man not her husband.” Mary Catherine gently touched his arm. “Trust me, it will be better for her if we do this part while she is still unconscious.”
The nausea that had been present since he’d first seen her bruises squeezed his stomach.
Mary Catherine went to the door and held it open. “You have my oath that neither myself nor Sister Mary Elizabeth will do anything to bring her further harm, and my only intention is to help this young woman fully heal.”
“Celine. Her name is Celine,” Aaron said, his voice gruff.
“I will come and find you as soon as we have finished Celine's examination. You may wait in the hall, or find Father Gerald, and he can direct you to the showers we have in the facility.”
Aaron did a quick, mental sweep of the room. There wasn’t any window large enough for them to get her out of if this was a set up and he wasn’t going more than one foot out that door.
“I'll wait outside. You’ve got ten minutes.” Throat tight, Aaron left the room, unable to restrain the feeling of dread when the door clicked shut behind him.
Chapter 10
Aaron stared at his watch, leaning against the wall just outside her room as he listened for any hint of trouble. Five minutes in and all he’d gotten was a cold sweat and silence.
How could he ever hope for her forgiveness if she’d been violated?
The thought of what she could have went through made him want to puke. What would he do? Would she even look at him? How could he expect her to?
He scrubbed a hand over his face and dropped his chin to his chest in silent defeat. He couldn’t expect anything out of her. All he could do was prey she’d survive this ordeal and go on to have a normal, happy life…with him.
But how could she? He’d held her petite body in his arms and knew she was fragile. Experienced operatives sometimes didn’t come out of ordeals like this intact, and he expected her to.
God, he’d been a fool. A blind, idiotic fool terrified of his past.
“Sir?”
Aaron straightened from the wall, his spine stiff. Sister Mary Catherine stepped from the room and tucked her hands beneath her gown, her weathered face a mask that for the life of him he couldn’t read. She waited for the other Sister to leave in silence.
Aaron waited until she was out of earshot before turning to Mary Catherine. “Was she?” He managed to croak out, his chest so tight it might crush his lungs.
Her expression didn’t shift at all. “No, it doesn’t appear there is any recent evidence of internal trauma.”
He collapsed, barely managing to hold back a rush of tears. “Thank God.”
“Recent doesn’t mean never. If she’s been held for a long time, we won’t know for sure until she regains consciousness.” The sister shifted closer to him and once more place a wrinkled hand on him. “She’s going to be out for a little while l
onger, I think. If you want a shower, please, feel free to use anything we have. I will personally stay with her.”
Aaron shook his head. “No. I’m not leaving her.”
He’d never leave her again. Not until she made him.
His phone chirped at his belt, signaling a call from command. Aaron glanced at it then at Celine’s door.
“She’s resting. Take your call and then go in, but be quiet. Don’t wake her until she’s ready.” Sister Mary Catherine gave him a reassuring squeeze and then left, giving him the privacy to take his call.
Aaron answered the phone. “Speirs.”
“Speirs, this is command. Report.” Col. Grey’s calm voice filled the phone.
“She’s been examined and is stable for now. She hasn’t woken yet.”
“When will she be ready for transport?”
“I don’t know yet. They just examined her for…life threatening injuries. I don’t think I’ll know for sure until she wakes.” Please let her be okay. Knees shaking at the thought, Aaron glanced at Celine’s door and then strode down the hallway, pacing in an attempt to get blood circulating back to his legs.
“You’re flying out tomorrow if Celine is stabilized by then. Got the helicopter ride to Uzbekistan, and then a hop to Germany where I'll have a private jet waiting to fly you both back to D.C. Right now, this is a classified mission. No one can know we've got her.”
Aaron kept walking, keeping Celine’s door within eyesight. “What about the Russian? Did he survive the fight?”
“No, looks like he caught more than one bullet. But we had enough to ID him. Sven Panchenko, works for a wealthy Russian aristocrat named Dmitri Stanislov. Sven is his buyer. Seems like Dmitri goes through slaves often. If Celine had ended up with him, well… Let’s just say, I'm glad she didn't.”
Aaron concentrated on not crushing the phone. “Too bad we can't pay him a little visit.”
“Sent his information to my contacts in the human trafficking task force, and I pressed upon them how important it is to national security that Dmitri be silenced.”
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