“He is here! Be careful!” Hailey pushed past painfully cracked lips. Jack’s face tightened above her. Lines etched deeper between his brows and beside his mouth as muscles in his neck bunched. Good, he was taking her seriously.
“Who is here, baby?”
“The man, the man from the club,” she whispered desperately. “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. He’s going to kill you!”
“Which man?” Leaning over her, Jack drew even closer. His already scary face was carved with menace.
“The one sitting behind you,” Hailey gasped urgently, clutching his hand as she felt the fog of unconsciousness now threatening her. “Behind you…” But the black won.
Her eyes closed and her little body relaxed in a way Jack knew she was gone again. Looking up at the man leaning against the wall across from him, Jack straightened slowly. The other man glanced away from Jack’s eyes to curse softly under his breath.
“Not one of the ship’s crew then,” Jack growled. “Not one of Yatzic’s goons. Jesus, fuck! Who the hell is after my woman?”
Eyes the same pale blue as his own met Jack’s as Jed “Smoke” Stone replied, “Someone who should have died long ago. Any chance of surveillance in that damn club?”
“Unlikely,” Jack gritted. “You will be telling me where this is coming from on the hop to Florida. In detail. I don’t give a fuck about classified.”
“Yeah, I will,” Smoke agreed.
***
“Jesus, that is fucked,” Jack bit out several hours later, starring at the man who had raised him.
“Cold war. Everyone was fucked,” Smoke agreed.
Hailey was safely sleeping after having woken several times on the trip up to central Florida. Each time she was progressively clearer and had given them a nicely detailed description of her kidnapper. The man had not intended to let her live so had not bothered with concealing his face or tattoos.
The ride from Gitmo to the Marks ranch in central Florida hadn’t actually been long enough for Smoke to tell the whole story. The mission had occurred in 1978 and was still classified. Probably always would be.
Shocked the shit out of Jack to learn his dad was the original Command. Yet it was an indisputable fact since Brad Marks concurred on the Intel. The two Commanders were not strangers. Another thing Jack intended to have a conversation about as soon Hailey was safe.
The large Marks family room held the current Command, his men and what remained of the original group. Smoke Stone’s two best friends, men Jack had called uncles all his life, showed up the morning the plane touched down.
They couldn’t give full disclosure of the mission that was the subject at hand. Its bulletproof classified status was something this group of men understood. The operation had created a madman who was still trying to reengineer its outcome, despite his own death decades ago. The original event occurred shortly before Jack was even born.
“Your girl, she’s good?” Jack pressed. The woman the original Unit had rescued was the reason for a madman’s insane quest for vengeance.
“Yeah,” Smoke confirmed. “Secured her before heading south.”
“Secured?” Jack questioned. “You wanna explain that?”
“No.” Smoke grunted at his son’s disbelieving look. “What I wanna do is find the bastard and gut the son of a bitch.” Unintelligible male noises of agreement sounded around the room.
“Recognition software will take a couple hours grinding through the St. Pete area,” Brad stated. “Get some rest now because I don’t care how many matches it comes up with, we are hunting until it’s done. This old world, multigenerational blood feud shit ends with us.” Brad nodded at Smoke. “Your men up for this?”
Smoke’s eyes narrowed as he smiled. Even at sixty-four it was clear age had yet to tame the warrior. Lean and tall like his son, power rippled in mature muscles that flexed infinitesimally. “This is our mission. Try to keep us off it.”
The two men leaning against the wall behind Smoke nodded. The muscle on their frames might not be whiplash fast anymore, both at the very least in their fifties, but they still maintained what appeared to be negative body fat numbers.
All his life, Jack had called Peter “Blue” Spanos and Ray “Pike” Wilster, Uncle Blue and Uncle Pike. He’d known they were his father’s friends from the service and had even understood the relationship as an adult. Jack regarded them as family because they were. Understanding them as original Command operators made total sense. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get a shitload more information out of those three fuckers when this was over. Jack communicated with a narrow glance. All three men gave him a chin jerk as if he’d said the words out loud.
“Good. Four hours we should have some results to start working with. Meet here. Complete list in by the end of the week but I hope we have the fucker before then.” Brad stood as he finished speaking, as did all the men, moving out to find a bed for a few hours.
***
Jack slipped back into the room Hailey was using. Turning to the bed, he found eyes alertly watching. The dark head didn’t lift, likely held there by the slight weight of the sleeping woman’s palm resting atop it. A large dog lay facing the door, body flush against the woman under the covers but in no way resting. Guarding.
Dean’s K-9 partner, Apollo, was a warrior as highly trained as his human. When guarding those he considered in need of protection, the massive German shepherd was a lethal threat who would die before leaving his post.
Apollo remained motionless as Jack stood by the door, holding it open. “Off duty, buddy,” Jack informed the intelligent eyes watching him. The dog didn’t move. Apollo seemed to be weighing Jack’s ability to protect the already wounded human female. The debate wasn’t going Jack’s way.
Jack turned in the door and leaned out into the hall. “Dean,” he snapped quietly. “Convince the dog I can guard her.”
It wasn’t that Jack and Apollo were strangers. Far from it, which was why Jack turned to the human Apollo respected most to assure the dog that the little female was safe.
Dean grinned at Jack then stuck his head in the room. No words were spoken as he looked at Apollo for a moment then nodded. Immediately the large dog carefully slid out from under Hailey’s hand and crawled off the bed.
“Thanks,” Jack said quietly to both Dean and Apollo.
“Later, man,” Dean rumbled. Apollo dropped down on the hall floor with a huff, stretched out and closed his eyes. Both men looked down at the dog then let it go. Guard duty was part of the shepherd’s DNA. Apollo had left the room as requested but obviously thought that was enough of a compromise for the human males.
Closing the door behind him, Jack was faced with another set of eyes watching him. She didn’t move as he approached the bed.
“I need a shower,” Hailey said softly.
Jack stopped beside her. “You know they didn’t…” he started, but she wouldn’t let him finish.
“I know,” Hailey interrupted him. “But I need a shower. Will you help me?”
“Shower coming up. Wait. I’ll be right back.” Jack strode into the attached bathroom. He turned on the taps, checked the temperature, and made sure the spray wasn’t too hard. Back beside the bed, he stripped quickly. Hailey didn’t move.
Naked, Jack carefully pulled off her covers. He had to put a knee on the bed to get the leverage to lift her to a sitting position, taking all of her weight. Still she sucked in a sharp breath and he knew she bit back a gasp of pain.
“Let me do the work, baby,” he begged softly.
There was barely an inch of her body that wasn’t deeply bruised. The only places her skin had been broken were her face and wrists, but the bastard had methodically beat her. The story was written across her flesh, marks clearly telling anyone who knew how to read them that the beating had stopped and started again several times. Hailey hadn’t talked about it yet.
Getting her under the shower spray, Jack ordered her not to move. Going over every inc
h of her with the soft washcloth and liquid soap, he gently cleaned. Her hair was last, shampoo and conditioner. When they were done he looked into her eyes. “Okay, baby?” he asked.
“Again,” she rasped.
He did. When he was done this time, he didn’t ask. Just turned off the water and helped her out. Back in the bedroom he was reaching for the clean nightgown Julie had left them.
“No, your T-shirt, please,” Hailey requested.
Jack dropped the silk and tagged his tee from his pile of clothes. It wasn’t clean but that was not what mattered right now. She needed to be surrounded by him, his scent, his presence, his warmth. Safety. She needed to feel safe and he was fucking thrilled that his tee was something she wanted to get her there. This could have gone a whole ’nother way.
He had deliberately gotten naked before he even touched her covers. She needed to know exposure was not one sided in any way. This was them dealing together, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to fear.
The bastard had drugged her in her car. She’d woken collared and chained to the floor of a shipping container. So far, the little she had told them and the evidence in the container said she had been naked most of that time. It would scar her. The fact that the rape kit came back negative was a fucking blessing but not a free pass from pain. Not even close.
When she was in bed again and as comfortable as she could get, Jack stretched out and gathered her gently into his arms. It was a lose hold but he damn well wasn’t going to let the bastard come between them. How she’d handle touch emotionally later was a question. Staring at the ceiling, he indulged in the pointless thought that he would have given a limb to ensure she never had to fight this battle, the one back to normal.
Five years he’d guarded her. Calling it waiting for her to grow up was polite and partly true, but deep down he knew it was something else. Pristine beauty, that was what she had been. Not ignorant, but so damn innocent. The instinctive protector in his soul had been calmed by that beauty. Making sure the putrid underworld never touched her, never marked her in any way, that was his job.
Fail.
Jesus, she didn’t even know it was his fault yet.
Jack shut his eyes. Failing her like he had, he fucking shouldn’t be allowed near her. He knew it, but still, he’d fight to the death if anyone tried to take her away from him. Selfish bastard that he was, as long as she let him, they were battling her way back to normal together.
“What happens now?” Hailey asked into the silence.
Jack’s eyes snapped open and his head turned on the pillow to look at her. She was staring up at the ceiling.
“You gave us a great description, baby. Brad has input the markers in a program that scans DMV records, several other government agencies and then moves on to less official visual records,” Jack summarized. “We investigate the matches until we find this guy. Then we neutralize the threat.”
Hailey regarded the ceiling in silence for a while. “That sounds like it will take a long time.”
“No,” Jack growled. He couldn’t keep the aggression out of his voice. “There are eleven highly trained, deeply motivated operators focused on this guy. Our reach goes deep into the lowest places scum can hide. What you need to believe is, this is over for you. I promise you, Hailey, he’s gone in every way as far as you’re concerned.”
“You’ll tell me when it’s done? Really done?” Her voice was soft, a vapor in the nearly dark room, but her eyes didn’t blink as she stared at the ceiling.
“Yeah,” Jack agreed.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Thanks,” Hailey murmured.
“Anything,” Jack rumbled. “Baby, you need to get that. Anything you need, you get. Do you understand?”
Slowly Hailey’s head turned on the pillow. She regarded him solemnly. Looking into those beautiful eyes and seeing nothing but pain pierced his soul. Steeling his guts to take it like a man, he deserved every bit of her pain, he waited for her to say what she needed to say.
“Why,” she asked.
Jack didn’t understand. He had been all ready to explain how he’d never fail her again. Begging her forgiveness was a given, but in the end, he sincerely hoped she’d see that she could trust him to protect her. Her question jolted him. “Why what?”
“What did I do? Why did this happen?”
Jack carefully rolled to face her, adjusting up on an elbow. His hand fisted on the sheet beside her shoulder. “What you did was be the most beautiful woman in the world,” he whispered. “That’s all you did, baby. This isn’t your fault. It’s mine.”
“Explain it to me,” she pressed.
Jack rolled slowly to his back, careful not to jar the bed as he moved. “Yeah, you deserve that,” he agreed. “It’s a long story. One I didn’t even know until this happened.” And then he told her. Told her everything he knew starting from 1978 to an hour ago.
“Oh my God. How tragic,” Hailey breathed, her head turned on the pillow, big eyes filled with tears.
“Baby, do you need something for pain?” Jack asked as he studied her eyes. It had taken a few minutes to tell the long story. He should have checked her pain level before starting.
“No.” She blinked and carefully turned her head back to stare at the ceiling. “It’s the separated lovers’ story that moved me.”
Jack rolled to his side to get up on an elbow again so he could see her face. “What love story? I just told you how my dad failed to let me know there was a threat to anyone who meant anything to me. Something he should have done a damn long time ago.”
Hailey’s eyes met his and she tried to smile. “I know that’s how you see it, but didn’t you say he had no idea the guy would come after you? It’s not like he was going to tell you classified mission stories at bedtime.”
Jack gently traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “Still, the threat to the woman he rescued is ongoing and he knew it. That type of blood feud is unstable at its core.”
Hailey nodded but continued gently, “I have no idea where your mother fits into this story since you were born after the original mission, but I see a man who rescued a princess, from a tower no less, and has been protecting her for decades. No one is paying him to do it, right? He is single and has remained so his whole life. He protects her from a threat that is so intense it reaches from the grave to threaten her. Its Shakespearian it’s so tragic.”
Jack scowled, and though his gaze was focused on her, Hailey could see him working through memories. “My mother wanted a steady government income with benefits. A baby got her that but raising one didn’t fit into her lifestyle,” he explained calmly and almost disinterestedly.
This was personal information Hailey hadn’t heard before. Probably if she had asked about him sometime in the last five years Julie might have told her his history, but she’d been way too shy to do anything that revealing.
“So your mom isn’t part of your life?” Hailey prompted.
“No. I know who she is, but she’s not my mom,” Jack conceded.
“Do you think your father loved her?”
Jack frowned again. “Doubtful. Can’t say he likes her.”
“And when he told you about this other woman, did he sound…disinterested?” Hailey asked softly.
“Shit,” Jack mused under his breath.
Hailey watched his face as Jack mulled over his father’s possible love life. Moments later those clear blue eyes focused on her again. “Not the point, baby,” he said decisively. “That some insane vendetta leaked into your world is what I have a problem with.” His face softened and his tone dropped. “How are you doing in here?” His finger traced her hairline above her eye.
“I like not thinking about it,” Hailey confessed honestly.
“Yeah, I bet you do,” he agreed. His head dropped as he pressed a barely there kiss to her shoulder. “We gotta talk about it, when you’re ready. Keeping it locked in gives it power. You know that, right?”
; Hailey heaved a sigh. “What do you want to know?”
“Baby, not now if you’re tired,” Jack tried to sooth her.
“I’ve been asleep for a long time, haven’t I?” Hailey questioned.
“Most of a day since we got you. Not that long, considering the drugs in your system and the pain meds you’re on now.”
“Well, I’m not chipper, but I’m not going to get any sleep for a bit. So tell me things, like who was the other girl and is she okay? We weren’t allowed to talk.”
“She is with her family,” Jack assured Hailey. “We can’t find a connection so it’s a mystery why she was there. One theory is she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a victim of opportunity.” What Jack didn’t explain was in the scenario the kidnapper set up he needed another girl to stretch out the event so the crew didn’t use Hailey to death too quickly.
Hailey shuddered in a barely there movement she couldn’t control. “It’s all so sick.” She breathed. “Yet even when he was beating me it felt like he was just going through the motions. Removed somehow.”
That was the first time Jack had heard her say anything that wasn’t just the facts or descriptions. He hated to push, but if she was willing to talk about it, they needed any scrap of information on the fucker they could get.
“How do you mean, removed?” Jack asked gently.
“He didn’t talk. He didn’t scowl. He didn’t frown. He didn’t smile. He just did what he was going to do and then waited for the person to regain consciousness to do it some more. No words, ever. No expression,” she explained. “No matter how much someone begged, or what they promised, he didn’t respond. The only time he interacted with us, besides beating us, was when he told us we were not permitted to talk to each other. He said he would cut off a finger each time he found us doing that. We believed him. We didn’t talk.”
“Baby,” Jack got out as softly as he could manage. He had to control the rage, give her support, acceptance and not let one flicker of anger show.
Hailey didn’t look at him. “I begged,” she whispered.
Perfectly Exposed (Command Unit Book 1) Page 7