by Debra Webb
“Oh, right.”
“It’s the truth!” he shouted.
Franklin startled at Trey’s outburst and she soothed him. “I don’t care whose side you think you’re on now,” she said, keeping her voice even in deference to Franklin’s condition. “I won’t let you use Franklin.”
“Terri, be reasonable.”
She laughed, the sound bitter in her ears. “What has that ever got me with you?” She looked at Franklin. His skin pasty and clammy, she knew she had to do something or he wouldn’t make it. “You want reasonable?”
Her brother nodded.
“You want to do something helpful?”
Another nod.
She pulled on latex gloves and threw the box at him. “Help me save his life.”
Now Trey paled under his tan. “What do you mean?”
“He took a bullet meant for me when your pals killed his son-in-law. You can start by helping me get it out of him.”
“Terri, I can’t.”
“You can.” Her temper snapped. “You will. Put on the gloves. If he dies, they kill me, too.”
She cut him off when he would’ve protested. “Without this man we wouldn’t have made it those first months after Dad and Mom died. If you won’t do it for me, or your self-respect, for God’s sake do it to honor the way you were raised.”
She wouldn’t compound that tragedy by losing Franklin, too.
“You can’t operate here,” Trey protested as he snapped on the latex gloves.
“Then you’ll have a chance to prove your influence when I fail.” She checked the straps securing Franklin to the gurney and refused to let Trey’s doubts creep into her head. Was this ideal? Not even close, but she had to try and get that bullet out and repair the damage it had done.
She set to work, her hands busy with the task in front of her while her heart prayed.
* * *
DAVID, HIS LEG bandaged under his torn pants, fought off the queasiness that went along with his certain concussion as he made his way to the first of two dark SUVs crowding the street corner. There would be time to recover once Terri and Dr. Palmer were safe.
Police had been called in and a search was under way for the ambulance Keller’s team had used as a getaway vehicle. Anxiety turned his palms damp. This strike had been swift and well organized. He keenly felt every second that carried Terri farther from his reach.
The back door opened, and David climbed in to sit beside Director Casey. “Thanks for bringing the cavalry,” he said. “You’re caught up on the mess inside?” He tipped his head back toward the hospital.
“We are,” Casey replied. “I only wish we’d been closer when we learned what was going down.”
“I put a transmitter on her badge,” David said, giving the frequency to his friend Noah Drake, who sat in the front seat with a laptop.
It felt like an eternity before the positive response came back. “Got it.” Another long pause. “Either the badge has been discarded and they’ve tossed her in the harbor, or they’re on a boat. Rate of movement suggests boat.”
Small consolation. David leaned around the seat to study the screen. “I can get them out.” Despite his fuzzy head, he would breach any watercraft to make this rescue. The world needed Dr. Palmer and he needed Terri.
“Is Palmer with her?” Casey asked.
David eyed his boss. “He is.”
Casey’s face was grave. “We have to reach them before it’s too late.”
“If they’re on the water I can get them out. You know I can get them out.”
Noah gave more stats on the transmitter.
“There’s no time to call in other water experts,” David said. He was begging now and didn’t care.
“There’s the Coast Guard,” Casey reminded him.
“Great, they can back me up when they get here. Franklin will need medical attention based on the way Terri was working on him.”
“You’re injured.”
David shrugged off the concern. His injuries didn’t matter. Terri mattered. Dr. Palmer’s work mattered. “Where’s Trey? He left her house shortly after she was called to the hospital.” David wished he’d taken the chance and found a way to tag Trey.
“We don’t know about Trey.”
“Give me the heading,” he said. “If they’re in open water, the Coast Guard can intercept,” he said to Casey. “If not...”
He let it hang out there as he debated the limited options. A boat, dive gear and a weapon. According to the intel, the Keller strike team totaled five, and one of them was in custody already. David considered Trey neutral, especially if Keller had hurt Terri. Which left the odds at one against three. He could manage that.
“I know every inch of this coastline,” David urged. “Let me get after them. I can do this.”
Casey’s nod was barely visible in the shadows. The driver put the SUV in gear and aimed for the City Marina as David barked out the items he needed before anyone could change the director’s mind.
In record time, proving Casey had anticipated yet another contingency, David had a small tactical strike boat ready to launch. Following the transmitter signal, with Noah as backup, he zipped across the dark water of the Charleston harbor.
“Looks like they’re headed for Fort Sumter,” Noah reported while David gently shifted the rudder accordingly. “I’ll call it in.”
David goosed the engine. It galled him that they’d abuse a national monument for their own agenda. Much as he loved the good work of his Coast Guard, he wanted to get there first. He needed to know Terri was safe, not hear it secondhand. As for Trey and the bastards who’d turned him into a criminal, that problem was one he’d happily let the authorities work out.
Keller’s boat was running dark. The engine on the strike boat was designed to run quieter, and David kept the noise under that of the bigger vessel. He hugged the shallow area, angling between the shore and Keller’s boat. If they wanted to get on that island, they’d have to go through him.
“David?”
He heard the warning in Noah’s voice. “I want to handle this on open water. What does infrared show?”
“One in the stern near the engine, two amidships and three in the aft cabin.”
“Got it.” That would be Terri, Trey and Franklin in the cabin, and that was all that mattered. The rest was just minor detail work.
“Coast Guard is five minutes away,” Noah added.
“Then I’ll be quick.” He positioned the strike boat just off the cruiser’s port bow, running practically within arm’s reach. A sharp crew on the bigger boat would have heard them and they’d be taking fire. David accepted the luck that gave him the small advantage here. This team had done enough damage at the hospital. He slid between the boats, and the shock of the cold water closing over him cleared his head. The resulting sense of calm honed his determination. His leg ached less as he bobbed for a few seconds before catching the cruiser’s bumper.
He thought of the infrared signals and the transmitters as he hauled his body up to the low deck of the stern.
The man standing guard was gazing toward the approaching island. David knocked him out with a blow to the back of his head and noiselessly lowered him to the deck.
Taking the man’s gun, David ignored his twinging leg as he examined the surroundings for his next target. Keller was at the wheel with another man at his side.
They were closing in on the Fort Sumter dock. Although he didn’t know what Keller had planned, he wouldn’t risk letting him off this boat.
Weighing his options and the backup en route, David leaned over and fired several rounds into the outboard motors. Once the cabin cruiser’s engines died, the strike boat’s engine sounded like a deafening roar out here.
As the boat drifted, Keller grabbed his gun and squeezed off random bursts over the side in the direction of the strike boat. Noah fired a warning volley and demanded Joe’s surrender.
Knowing Noah could handle himself, David used the dist
raction to head to the cabin. He had to get to Terri before Keller could use her or Franklin as bargaining chips. A beam of light swept across the cruiser’s deck, and a voice on loudspeaker, demanding cooperation, filled the darkness.
The Coast Guard had arrived.
David hurried forward to take care of the guard covering Terri and Dr. Palmer. But the door opened and he faced Trey. David didn’t want to hurt him, but he wouldn’t allow the brother to keep hurting Terri, either.
“Whose side are you on?”
“Terri’s,” Trey answered immediately, holding up his hands. “We heard shots and the engines die and I want to help.”
“Get up on deck,” David ordered. “Cooperate with the authorities.”
Trey bobbed his head and squeezed past David to the deck. David didn’t move until he was sure Trey was behaving. Then he entered the cabin.
Terri stood over Franklin, her face flushed and her scrubs smeared with his blood. “David! Thank God, you’re alive.”
Her smile was the most beautiful sight in the world. “You, too,” he said as relief overcame him. “How’s your patient?”
“Stable at last. He needs a surgeon.”
“We can manage that.” He wanted to hold her, to confess every emotion pounding through him. “You’re not hurt?”
She shook her head. “I thought you...were dead.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
He limped closer, unable to stand even the smallest distance any longer. He was at a loss for words. All he could do was hold her and savor the touch as she wrapped her arms around him.
The boarding party filled the cabin like a rush of the tide and then disappeared with equal efficiency as they transferred Franklin to the helicopter standing by to take him to MUSC.
Chapter Fifteen
Saturday, December 14, 6:10 a.m.
The sun was a glowing hint on the horizon when David finally had a chance to draw Terri away from the chaos. They’d returned Keller’s boat to the marina and relinquished control of the vessel to the Coast Guard. At that point they had been tugged in opposite directions for questioning and treatment.
“Come sit with me?” he asked, taking her hand and leading her to a quiet bench close to the water. “You’re a hero, sweetheart. Saving Dr. Palmer was crucial to the ongoing efforts against terrorism. Whatever Trey did will get sorted out. I hear he’s in a cooperative mood.”
“It’s about time. He used my access card to hurt people.”
The pain in her voice tore at him. David had to make her understand that as bad as things looked right now it would get better. He wanted this to mark a new beginning. For her and her brother—and for the two of them.
That meant coming clean about his role in all of this and coping with her decisions about him personally.
He pushed a hand through his hair. “Your brother wasn’t exactly wrong about me,” David said. He could see by the way her face fell that he was already screwing this up. “I’m not a spy,” he added quickly, “but I was sent here as an operative for a specific purpose.”
* * *
TERRI GAZED OUT over the horizon. They had to have this conversation, and sooner was better than later. “So I was...” She swallowed, waved a finger between them. “This, um, you and me. It was some kind of assignment?”
She thought of her brother and realized the enormous consequences of his mistakes were going to spill over onto her, too, in more ways than one. This kind of security breach could end her career as a nurse. The security team in charge of Franklin’s research had been right about the risk she’d posed. She had been too blinded by love for Trey to see it.
“No,” David replied emphatically. He gave her shoulders a squeeze, then brought her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I was assigned to Charleston for a reason. My role to provide intel and perspective and to be on hand in the case of a terrorist attack hasn’t changed.”
“Hasn’t it?” All the flashing lights made her feel as if she’d walked into a grotesque mockery of holiday displays. It looked as though his assignment was over to her.
“No. Terri, look at me.” He tipped up her chin.
Twenty-four hours ago, the move would’ve made her smile as she eagerly anticipated the glorious sensation of his mouth on hers. Now she stared into those gray depths, simply amazed he was alive. She’d cling to that, be grateful he’d survived even though their time as friends and lovers was over.
“My assignment hasn’t changed.”
She felt the tears welling. If that was true, then there was no hope for them. After this debacle she’d never pass another security interview. A blast of fury shot through her veins. It wasn’t fair that Trey’s misplaced loyalty could ruin everything for her. The anger faded almost as quickly as it had arrived. Life wasn’t fair and happy endings were for fairy tales. She would manage. That was what she did. She’d start over from scratch somewhere far away.
“Are you listening?”
She nodded.
“You are not.” He pressed his mouth to hers and she was no match for the tenderness. He leaned back and brushed the tear off her cheek. “They’re leaving me posted here.”
“Good. You like Charleston.” She’d watched him fall in love with the area, knew being close to his family was important to him.
Family. Merely thinking the word had a new wave of tears threatening to further humiliate her. Director Casey had told her that Trey and Franklin would be in isolation and protective custody while the authorities tracked down the men Joe Keller reported to for this attack. No one seemed to know how long that would take. He’d offered her a protective detail, but she’d passed.
She had to leave. There wouldn’t be a place for her here anymore. Not a place that didn’t remind her of loss and pain.
She leaned back, away from David’s warm, soothing touch. As much as she wanted to burrow into the comfort he offered, a clean break was better than drawing this out. “Thank you,” she said, pausing to catch her breath. “For saving Franklin and me. And Trey.”
“Terri—”
“I get it.” She wished she could muster a smile. “Really. I’ll find something else, somewhere else to be.” Too bad she didn’t have any idea where to start.
“Terri.” He gave her shoulders a gentle shake. “I like Charleston, but I love you.”
“Pardon?” He couldn’t have said what she thought she’d heard.
“Do I have your attention now?”
Her head felt loose on her neck as she nodded this time. “I need to sit down.”
“You are sitting down.” David chuckled as he patted her leg and she trembled. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
Words were impossible. Even the ones she wanted to say. Breathing was enough of a challenge. “It’s... I...”
“It wasn’t that serious for you? If we’re not on the same page, that’s okay.”
She thought they might be closer than she’d dared to hope. “Won’t keeping me around be problematic for you?”
“I told you this won’t blow back on you.”
“Because of your connections?”
“Because you’re a hero.”
That word again. It felt too big and described him far better. She shook her head. “That’s not me. I’d be dead by now if you hadn’t found us.”
“Let’s forget the circumstances for a minute,” he said. “Fact is, we’re good together, however we met. We’re an excellent team. I want you in my life. For the rest of my life.”
The words were so sweet, delivered in the Southern accent that had her believing dreams could come true. Even the one where they lived happily ever after.
“You make an excellent shark steak.”
He leaned back and gave her a quizzical look.
“I can’t remember if I told you that before my brother’s call interrupted us.”
“The way I remember it, we were working on dessert when he called.”
“No.” The friendly banter eased the tension. “I
was working my way up to telling you I was in love with you. It’s been really hard to hold it back.”
“You don’t ever need to hold anything back with me.”
“I feel the same way,” she said, leaning close for a sweet kiss.
“I don’t want to give up what we’ve started, but I don’t want to hurt your career or cover or whatever,” she murmured, her gaze fixed on the harbor.
“You can’t.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “My cover only gets stronger with you in it.”
“How is that possible?”
He smiled. “We’re the great love story at the hospital. The rumors are something about me, the HR desk jockey, being propelled by love to jump into the fray and chase down the kidnappers with the help of my old Coast Guard pals. The truth can be surprisingly effective.”
She wanted to laugh but couldn’t quite manage it. “You don’t find that a little like a romance novel?”
“I don’t care. Nothing else matters. I meant what I said about wanting you for the rest of my days.” He eased back from her. “Unless, of course, you aren’t interested in something long-term.”
She scooted closer, more than interested in something long-term with him. If only it didn’t feel rather impossible. “I made mistakes—”
“You were innocent, Terri,” he insisted. “Trust me, the people who know the facts will make sure the blame lands on the right people.”
“My brother being one of them.”
“His decisions are his own, Terri.”
“I know.” Sadness and betrayal were a strange mix inside her. People had died because of Trey’s bad choices. As much as she wanted to be there for him, to support him while he dealt with the emotional and legal consequences, she couldn’t put her life on hold any longer.
“As are yours.”
“I know,” she repeated.
She thought of Matt and his unflagging determination to avenge and honor his wife. Their time together had been short, but the love had been true. She thought of her parents, of how they’d been together, full of life and love through good times and bad. They’d made decisions that empowered their children, and their devotion to each other had been something she’d longed to bring into her life. She’d just been waiting for the right man.