To Honor and To Protect

by Debra Webb

  “I promise,” he whispered.

  They paused long enough for Drew to get Andy situated on his back. “Anything?”

  Addi shook her head. “I heard them at first but not now.”

  “So far they aren’t in front of us,” Drew said, slowing the pace a bit.

  “When the trees break, we should follow the inlet.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Better cover.”

  She would know. He led the way as they alternated running with pauses to listen for any pursuit. Drew checked his watch as the first hour went by.

  He halted their march when he caught the low rumble of an outboard motor on the water nearby. They froze, sinking back into the cover of tree trunks and bushes away from the shore. At his back Andy wriggled away from the tickling fronds of a fern, but the boy didn’t make a sound. Thankfully, he didn’t snap the offending stalks, which would leave a clear mark for those trailing them.

  Addi touched his arm. “Do you—”

  She stopped short when the motor died. Drew strained to hear anything helpful, but a radio crackled and his stomach knotted with dread when he realized they were caught between their pursuers and another team.

  Damn it. Someone on the other side of the swamp must have spotted them. Given a rifle, with or without night-vision goggles, Drew would’ve made a more aggressive choice. Still, he had to do something to buy them a bit more time.

  “Wait here.” He settled Andy next to his mom and handed her his gun. “For backup.” He set the timer on Andy’s watch. “Start moving when that goes off. I’ll catch up.”

  Any protest she might’ve launched died when they heard another radio exchange. This time on the shore. Too close. With a nod for Andy to start his watch, Drew slipped into the darkness and went to reduce the odds against them.

  The moonlight drifted across the water as he crept along the shore. The boat, a dark rubber tactical vessel, floated just out of light. One man searched the shoreline with binoculars, while another remained seated near the motor. A third man kept his assault rifle ready, muttering instructions into his headset periodically.

  Drew found a rock and tossed it out into the water, away from Addi and Andy’s hiding place. The response was controlled, much as it had been when he’d tossed the man down the steps. A well-trained team of at least six.

  Checking back with the team on the boat, he listened for any movement from the team trailing them. He was nearly on one of them before he realized it. Drew recovered from the surprise first, applying a choke hold. When the man slumped unconscious against a cypress tree, Drew relieved him of his weapons and radio. He listened to the comms as he circled wide of the place where Addi and Andy waited.

  They should break any second now; the watch alarm and movement would cause another reaction, giving Drew better targets. It was the hardest thirty seconds of his life, but when they started moving, he used the stolen weapon and picked off the shooter on the boat, causing that team to run for cover. Then, like a snake coiled to strike, he waited for the last two men of the first team to come by.

  When he caught up with Addi and Andy, they were making decent progress toward the inlet. “Just me,” he called out, his voice sounding too loud in the night swamp.

  She stopped and turned toward him, putting Andy behind her and raising the shotgun. “You’re alone?”

  “Yes.”

  Even in the mottled shadows of the dark swamp he could see her shoulders relax. “Good.”

  “It’s a small window,” he added, coming closer. “We have to move quickly. There were two teams and I expect they have reinforcements.”

  * * *

  ADDISON WATCHED AS he settled Andy on his back once more. She wanted to ask what he’d done, but she wouldn’t do it in front of her son. Idolizing Captain America in the comics was one thing, but the finality of life and death in the real world was completely different.

  “Did you get ’em all?” Andy whispered.

  “No,” Drew replied in kind. “Just the ones in my way.”

  “Huh.”

  “Quiet,” she reminded her son. The night was far from over. “We’ll stop soon.” She hoped they made it to a place safe enough to give them time to develop a new plan.

  Drew had offered to take her to safety, to tell her story to Casey, and she’d stubbornly refused. For good reason, she reminded herself as they progressed through the swamp. What she’d discovered about Craig made her skin crawl more than the idea of napping beside an alligator. As a corporate attorney, she had a basic understanding of international business law. As an intelligent person, she knew how to dive beneath headlines to see how world events would affect the interests of her clients.

  “What day is it?” she asked, suddenly unable to remember.

  Drew sidestepped a low-hanging branch, slid in some soft ground and caught his balance before he replied, “After midnight, so officially it’s the eighth.”

  On the tenth, less than forty-eight hours away, if Professor Hastings didn’t hear from her, he would go public with the additional information she’d compiled on Craig. The details included his bank records and his latest trips abroad. Surely someone, maybe the person who’d sent Drew to find her, could use that to see justice done.

  As they followed the inlet deeper into the swamp, the muscles in her legs burned, her tennis shoes were soaked and squishy and the shotgun grew heavy in her arms. She wasn’t ready to stop. Every splash of water, every call of an owl made her press on.

  Another motor sounded, but this one was far distant and pitched differently than the attack boat.

  “Not them,” Drew confirmed, helping her over a fallen log. “Wrong sound.”

  She managed to get in another full breath. “Hiding in here gives us plenty of reaction time to any boats coming this way,” she said, convincing herself.

  “Down this inlet a boat’s more likely to run aground,” he agreed.

  She jumped, belatedly recognizing the sound she’d heard as the soft scrabble and swish of an alligator sliding into the water.

  “Let’s stop here,” Drew said.

  “You should keep going,” Addison said, gasping for air. “Andy’s asleep on your shoulder. Keep heading that direction and you’ll find someone to help you.”

  From one step to the next she’d hit the limit of her endurance, but she would not be the reason either Drew or her son died. Her arms and legs were scraped and scratched and she’d likely itch from a thousand insect bites by morning. All of which were trivial. “I’ve got enough shells to hold them off while you go.”

  “We’ll camp here.”

  “Do we have a tent?” Andy asked, rubbing a fist across his eyes.

  “Shh.” She looked up at Drew, unable to make out his expression in the darkness. “Drew, you can keep going. I’ll hold my own if they find me here. It’s me Craig wants.”

  “I’m sure we’ve lost them,” he replied in a tone that told her the discussion was over. She remembered that same tone when she’d pointed out the multiple pitfalls of a long-distance relationship.

  She pulled together her fragmented attention, another sign of exhaustion. Any argument would more likely reveal their position than change his mind. As much as she wanted to keep going, she didn’t have any energy left. Besides, if the roles were reversed, she wouldn’t leave him behind, either.

  Saving her strength as well as her breath, she conceded, slipping the bag off her shoulder and letting it fall to the ground. The zipper sounded too loud against the backdrop of nature’s night creatures. Biting her lip, she prayed the people after them weren’t as familiar with the sounds of the swampy environment.

  Taking in their position and the potential dangers from nature and man, they chose a place to create a sheltered hideout. Drew talked her through the process of laying out a tarp and settled Andy on it as soon as she was done. The excitement and escape had taken a toll on him and before long, he was curled on his side, sleeping deeply.

  Toget
her she and Drew cast camouflage netting between the trees. The humidity and temperatures had dropped with the night, and a light breeze stirred the air as they settled into their hideout.

  “Get some sleep,” Drew said. “I’ll keep watch.”

  She stretched out next to Andy, the shotgun between her and Drew, but she couldn’t relax.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured at his bulky shadow.

  “What for?”

  She trembled, grateful for the dark. His voice, pitched low so he wouldn’t wake Andy or draw unwanted attention, lent a distracting intimacy to the moment. “Not going to see Casey when you first arrived.”

  He snorted. “How much does Everett know about your life out here?”

  “Nothing.” Just the mention of his name made her tremble. “My past wasn’t something I talked about.” Sharing anything about her humble life up to law school would’ve bored Craig. Sharing anything after she’d met and fallen in love with Drew had been too sacred for anyone but her son and therapist. “Seems I didn’t know him well, either.” She’d realized he had serious connections with too much information access, but she’d never thought he would hire a team to hunt her down. “At worst, I figured I’d be dodging private investigators for a while. Not...” She didn’t want to call them mercenaries or assassins, but that left her searching for the right word. “Not anything like this.”

  “Something brought him close.”

  “It wasn’t me.” The words came out with more heat and accusation than she intended. “I didn’t mean it was you,” she added quickly. “But you’re right. Something led him to look in this direction.”

  “It has to have been someone in town who saw you pass through.”

  Unfortunately, that was a safe bet. “Everyone has a price and Craig certainly has the money to meet it.”

  “What about Nico?”

  Nico wouldn’t have turned on her for any amount of money. “He’s the closest thing I have to family.” She sat up, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her hands around them.

  “We’ll make it, I promise. You should rest.”

  “I can’t,” she admitted. “I’m too wired.” Too afraid one of those men would kill Drew or Andy to get to her. “Thank you for your help.”

  “If you really want to thank me, let me take you to a team who can fully protect you.”

  “How?” She wanted to hear he had the perfect escape plan, even as part of her cringed at the idea of leaving the swamp. Populated areas meant witnesses, security cameras and all the things that made it easier for Craig to track her down.

  “I’m not without abilities,” he muttered.

  “You’ve proven that. Repeatedly,” she said, scooting closer to him. His firm, sculpted shoulder turned to stone when she rested her palm there. “Without you, I’d be at Craig’s mercy right now.”

  “How? What did... Forget it.”

  She sighed, assuming the question he couldn’t quite spit out. “What did I see in him? Right now, I feel like I must’ve been an idiot blinded by the polish and charm.”

  “You fell in love with polish and charm?”

  “Hardly.” She hadn’t fallen in love at all, but how could she explain that without sounding heartless? “I’d known him a long time. Or thought I did,” she amended. “Yes, the sophistication was one layer of the attraction.”

  Drew shifted away from her touch and she let her hand fall. It wasn’t smart to get attached to Drew. She couldn’t afford to entertain the idea of a future when she and her son might be on the run for a long time. Our son, she thought. Regardless of the short acquaintance, it was clear Drew was as invested in Andy as she was. Would he insist on serving as a bodyguard indefinitely?

  Whatever had led Craig here, she knew she had to completely change things up if they were to escape. She had their passports and knew a few places abroad well enough to get started as an expat. The problem was Craig knew those places, too.

  “What I need is a new identity. Know anyone who can create false IDs?”

  “Of course.” His tone was gruff. “But Everett won’t let you anywhere near an international airport long enough to use them.”

  She knew he was right, though she wondered if it would make a difference if she and Andy were traveling as a family of three. With Drew. Craig wouldn’t be looking for that. The thought brought with it a flood of sweet images. Things she’d dreamed of and forgotten through her pregnancy and during the day-to-day details of raising a child alone.

  Warming to the idea, she did the math. The money she’d tucked away would see three of them through for a few months. That would be long enough to develop a better plan if Craig continued to evade the authorities. She was about to suggest the family escape when his voice rumbled through the night.

  “You won’t have to run forever, Addi,” Drew said, iron underscoring his words. “It won’t come to that. I won’t let it.”

  Another delicious tremor shivered through her. This man had a power over her that she’d never be able to overcome. Her desire was her problem and while her heart and body told her to never let him go, she couldn’t know what he wanted or needed. Other than Andy. Whatever she and Drew would be to each other in the future, she would have to consider the father-son bond and relationship, as well.

  “I’m too edgy,” she said suddenly. “Why don’t you rest and I’ll keep watch?”

  “Why don’t you watch the water and I’ll watch the trees?”

  It felt like a manageable truce as they rested back-to-back. He was so solid, so confident, she felt a flutter of hope that he could get them out of this. He might call himself broken, but he sure didn’t sound, feel or behave that way to her.

  “Have I said thank you?” She couldn’t recall precisely, but she didn’t want him thinking she took any of his help for granted.

  “Yes.”

  The swamp, unable to be truly silent, murmured around them for long minutes.

  “Have I?”

  She felt his words where their backs touched as much as she heard them. “Have you what?”

  He reached back and, finding her hand, gave her a warm squeeze. “Said thank you?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Her mouth dry, she could barely articulate a response. “For what?”

  “For our son. He’s—” Drew coughed “—he’s amazing.”

  “He wants to be Captain America,” she said, feeling her lips curve into a smile.

  “There are easier careers than being a soldier.”

  “Life tosses crap at everyone, Drew.”

  “I know.”

  At her back she felt his shoulders rise and fall. He knew all the pitfalls and heartbreaks she’d faced before they’d met and fallen in love. The reverse was also true. She knew how his inherent need to serve and his sense of duty and honor had led to his army career. Those very qualities had drawn her to him like moth to flame and kept her heart tied up even when she hadn’t realized it.

  If Craig had his way, Addison might not have another chance to share Andy’s early life with Drew. And if she ever convinced him to take Andy to safety, he needed to know so he could better connect with their son. Not that she had any doubts about his ability on that score, just so she’d feel no regret if the worst happened. She trembled at the thought.

  “Are you cold?”

  “No.” How could she be with him at her back? “It’s summer.”

  “Come here.” He shifted around, moving almost silently, until his back rested against a tree. Holding her hand, he pulled her next to him.

  “What about keeping watch?”

  “You can still see the water, right?”

  “Right.” She felt the grin spread across her face. So little had changed about him.

  “I’m so sorry I missed our wedding.”

  His statement hit her like a sucker punch. It was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

  “Me, too.” Last night, when she’d told him she knew the stages of grief, she hadn’t
been exaggerating. Like him, she’d gone through each stage multiple times. The first time it was a mild thing, irritation mostly that the army had called her groom away. But when Drew’s dad appeared at her door, holding out those dog tags... It clawed at her still, that dreadful feeling of being scraped raw.

  Then denial, clinging to the strange mythical “sense” women often claimed that warned them of some terrible fate befalling a spouse or child. “Talk about denial,” she said. “I extended the reservation at the hotel for a week, sure that you’d be right back.”

  He lifted her hands to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “I was sure of that, too.”

  “I believe you.” She could almost hear the mortar crumbling as the wall she’d built up around her heart weakened more under his gentle assault. “I finally went back to the apartment and wandered through the local job offers.”

  “Anything exciting?”

  “For the two of us starting out, sure.”

  “But?”

  “When your dad came to the door and gave me the news...” Her voice trailed off as tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away, determined to hold up her side of the watch-keeping. “I had to get away from the things we’d planned.”

  “Of course you did.”

  His easy acceptance and understanding made her feel guilty all over again. “I moved to San Francisco during the second trimester.”

  “What were you thinking? You’re a Southern girl.”

  She heard the humor in his voice and she chuckled. “I was thinking about schools, hospitals and providing for our son.”

  “You did good, baby.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulled her in closer still.

  She laid her hand on his thigh, slipping so easily into their old, tender habits. “Being pregnant got me through those early days.” And her first round of real grief. Or was that the second? Both? Either way, while he’d been fighting to stay alive, she’d had something to live for. Their baby had become the sole purpose of taking the next breath, the next step forward while she waited for the pain of losing him to fade. Still, she’d gone through those stupid five phases again, twisted up with the typical hormonal and emotional turmoil after Andy’s birth.