Surrendered (Heart of a Warrior Series Book 3)

by Lynch, Kariss

  Kaylan nodded. She understood having a tight family unit and the weight of what she’d always known being shattered. She thanked God Nick had grown up with loving parents, but her heart ached a little that he had been lonely since their death.

  She pulled out a file she had prepared with condensed info from what Pap had given Nick. She had removed anything that might trace back to Janus. “Here.” She waited for Natalie to take the file. As she flipped it open, Kaylan saw the photo of herself and Nick that she had paper-clipped to the top. “That’s Nick. Listen.” She sat on the edge of her seat and leaned closer to Natalie, desperate to be heard, to bring home the sister Nick had always wanted. “Don’t take my word for it. My phone number is in there. This is the info Pap gave to Nick that led him to you. I included a couple of photos and a little about Nick. I figure it’s only right that his privacy is a little invaded since yours has been.”

  That drew a small smile. “Thank you.” But the expression on her face told Kaylan that Natalie needed time alone to absorb the shock.

  “Look, I don’t want to overwhelm you with everything all at once. I know how long it took Nick to process all this. So take a look at the file, then call me if you have any questions or want to talk or maybe even want to set something up to meet Nick. No pressure. Like I said, he doesn’t even know.”

  Kaylan stood and Natalie’s gaze darted upward. “Will he be mad that you told me?”

  Kaylan wondered, but it was too late now. “Probably at first. But I wanted to give both of you the choice.”

  Her tortured blue eyes met Kaylan’s. “And what if I decide not to pursue this, that the family I have is all I need?”

  Kaylan’s heart sank a little at her words. “Nick will deal and be fine. But whether bound by choice or bound by blood, family is too precious a gift to ignore forever. I promise you will be better for being in one another’s lives. But it’s up to you.” She squeezed the girl’s shoulder and offered a small smile, sensing it was time to go. “It was nice to meet you, Natalie. I hope we get to talk soon.”

  With a wave and a nod from Natalie, Kaylan walked from the coffee shop, releasing a deep breath as she pulled the door open, causing the brass bell to jingle.

  Chapter Twelve

  Scruff covered Nick’s face, causing it to itch in the heat. Between his uniform, gear, and the helmet that had become a necessity, he felt like he might melt. Pockets. Pockets everywhere on this uniform. He felt hot and bulky.

  What he wouldn’t give for an ice cream cone and a good dip in the ocean. SEALs weren’t meant to be this far from water. At least he wasn’t. But SEALs trained to operate in all environments—sea, air, and land, including desert. This was just his least favorite of the three.

  They’d spent the last few days chasing false leads and acclimating to the environment. Nick hoped today was it—the day they finally connected with their informant.

  Their ground assault convoy followed a well-traveled Marine unit as they led the way into a mystery town. Janus rode in another vehicle, Jake no doubt glued to her side. Nick’s vehicle consisted of a driver and radio guy in the front seat, a gunner, Nick, Micah, Bates, and Colt. The going was slow. More time to be patient, more time to mentally prepare, more time to plan and focus. As a sniper, he knew how to be still under a hide for hours at a time. It was less a physical discipline and more a mental one. As they wound through rocky, desert terrain, Nick prayed they didn’t hit an IED.

  It had taken a couple days away and back in his element to cool Nick’s mind enough to see reality, the reality that he loved Kaylan, that he had been too harsh with his words, and that she had a tough job, too. He owed her more than a few short emails. Despite his bruised ego, he owed her an apology. But the biggest realization was that he was scared he would hurt her in a way she could never recover from. Her fear had shone a light on a vulnerability in him better ignored. His inability to stuff it down ticked him off.

  “Nothing but sand, rock, and guys with funny toboggans for miles,” Micah shouted over the sound of wheels crunching the road beneath them.

  “Get used to it. They’ll probably send us here on deployment early this time next year.”

  “Yippee kay-yay.”

  “How cool would it be if they let us pick where we deployed?” Bates mused.

  “I think that’s called a vacation, brah.” Colt sounded bored. “I must be hallucinating because those rocky hills look like killer waves to me.”

  “You and I both wish.” Nick grinned at his surfing buddy. The child of surfing hippies, Colt had taught Nick a thing or two in their time in Coronado. Nick wanted to take leave and hit a good beach with Colt to ride some of the waves he’d heard so much about, but he wasn’t sure that would fit into the life he planned to make with Kaylan. Still, that kind of settling down didn’t sound so bad.

  They rode in silence for the next hour, stopping only once for a herd of goats and their owners, two teenage boys and a one-eyed man. Nick tried not to see every man as a potential threat. He tried not to imagine those boys growing up to hate America. On his last deployment, he loved playing with the kids and interacting with the teens. The teens were often forgotten in favor of the cute kids, but the teens were the next generation, and they needed to know they were valued. Unfortunately, out here all too frequently someone who looked harmless wouldn’t hesitate to take an American life, especially as they entered a village known to be a meeting place for remnants of the Taliban, so he stayed alert, watching.

  They left the vehicles outside of town and split up to hike in, their footfalls sending up puffs of dust beneath them. Bates stayed near Nick, and Nick found the kid growing on him. Bates seemed eager to prove himself, and he exuded a quiet strength and determination that impressed Nick.

  “So about this girl you left behind,” Bates said as they walked. “She got any hot younger sisters?”

  Nick laughed. “She’s got three big brothers, and one of them is walking right in front of you.”

  Micah coughed in acknowledgment but continued to scan the area around them as they entered the outskirts of the town. Nick switched into sniper mode, becoming the eyes of his team as he scanned rooftops and darkened doorways.

  Janus walked a few paces behind him, Jake towering over her slight frame. Prison had aged her, but despite himself, he glimpsed what she could have been lurking deep beneath years of hard living.

  “How about any cousins?”

  “Shut it, Bates.”

  They came to a halt and scattered, taking up defensive positions as Janus, Jake, and X neared the door of a house on the edge of town. The door opened and a man with shifty eyes, black hair, and a black mustache stuck his head out. With a quick jerk of his hand, he ushered the three into the dark recesses of his hovel. Nick chomped down on his gum, now more gritty than flavorful. The town seemed pretty quiet, but looks could be deceiving.

  Sun bore down on them from the desert sky. Sweat dribbled down the back of Nick’s neck as he kept his eyes glued to the rooftops and the people milling about the streets. After ten minutes, the door opened and Janus, Jake, and X stepped out. Janus nodded at the informant, and Nick heard the low tones of another language drift on the breeze as the man responded.

  “How about friends? Hook your man up.”

  Nick grinned, thinking about sicking Megan on this kid for one date. He would probably never act the same way again after she gave him the what-for.

  A flash on top of a building several houses down caught Nick’s attention.

  “Sniper!” he yelled, but it was too late. The man talking to Janus fell backward, a bullet hole in his head. Nick hit his knee, steadied his breathing, and searched for the concealed man. He was trained. Few desert Bedouins could have made a shot like that. He prayed they had gotten the intel. Another movement and he fired.

  “We’ve got another shooter at five o’clock,” Bulldog spat over the radio, chatter filling Nick’s ear as the team coordinated and communicated in sync with their movement
s. Bates crouched close to a building, filling in command over satellite radio. Nick turned long enough to see Janus and Jake in full retreat to the convoy as X and Colt covered them. If they could get away from the buildings, they would have a clear shot back to the vehicles. The town would rise up and make setting up a quick sniper position difficult for all but the most skilled and determined.

  Gunfire peppered the air as a few untrained townsmen joined the fray, firing at the highly trained SEALs. Nick inwardly cringed as the locals fell one by one. “Second shooter down.” Titus relayed. That meant only one sniper left. “Hawk, you got eyes on the first shooter?”

  “Negative. Still looking.”

  “Hawk, get eyes on that package. Bulldog, close up the back door,” Titus instructed over the radio.

  Nick tapped Bates’s shoulder and began to move, his gun poised as he slipped away to get a better view. “Hawk, shooter at two o’clock,” Bates called. Before Nick could turn Bates had fired. Nick spun, trying to find their sniper, when he heard a thud and intake of breath. Bates went down on his knees, a red stain growing under his armpit beneath his armor.

  “Down man. Down man.” Nick ran back to his side and crouched. Shock stole across Bates’s face, but Nick still saw fight in him. “We gotta get out of here. Suck it up and let’s move. Now!”

  Despite the glazed look in his eye, Bates lugged his gun into his left hand and began to fire as Nick ran by his side. Micah and Jay brought up the rear. Bates stumbled. “Keep moving, Bates,” Nick yelled, fighting the urge to help him as he kept his eyes peeled.

  Titus appeared at Bates’s side. “Hawk, take care of that sniper.”

  Without another word, Nick searched for a clean shot. A staircase wound towards the roof on the side of a cracked two-story building. If Nick could get high enough without cresting the roof, he could take a shot and still maintain cover. “Bulldog, cover me.” Micah immediately ran toward the stairs and took up post as Nick climbed. The street had gone quiet, local residents scurrying into homes when the gunfire started.

  Whoever the sniper worked for, he’d accomplished his goal in shooting the informant. But then he’d stuck around to have target practice with Nick’s team. Nick didn’t have much patience for that. He crouched low on the stairs just before reaching the flat roof. He scanned the rooftops, easily locating where the sniper waited in the wide open desert air. The man’s eyes were fixed in the direction Nick’s team had disappeared, his gun still trained at the ready.

  Nick aimed his weapon. The man’s eyes appeared in all their detail in his scope. He forced his mind not to remember the man’s features as he fired. With a small jerk, the man’s head smacked the rooftop. He didn’t move. Nick counted the seconds as he scanned the rooftop with micro movements through his optic, centering on his eliminated threat. After he hit thirty, he inched his way backward down the stairs.

  “He’s down. Contact clear, X.”

  Without a word to Micah, they took off in the direction of the team, praying Bates made it through with only a flesh wound and hoping against hope they captured the necessary intel before the informant’s untimely demise.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Kayles, slow down. I can’t run as fast as you this early in the morning.”

  “Megan, speed up. Just tell your mind to tell your body you can do it. Running is good for you.”

  Megan stopped several feet behind Kaylan, clutching her side. “I may have better luck telepathically communicating to your brain that you are psychotic.”

  Kaylan burst into laughter and paced back to where Megan stood hunched over her knees. “You are a grouch in the morning.”

  “No one in their right mind should be up this early in the morning without a caffeine drip. You are killing me.”

  “I’m making you stronger.” Kaylan slipped an arm around Megan and led her down the beach. “And you can’t complain too much. Look at this view.”

  The sky and sea blurred together on the horizon. Color broke in the dawning Sunday morning and the ocean shimmered like dark glass. Kaylan’s feet met the packed tide-kissed sand where the waves had recently changed the color from gold to brown.

  “Kaylan, it’s the weekend. This is ridiculous.”

  “You’ll thank me later when you have energy to keep you going all day long.” Kaylan began to run, pulling Megan with her. “C’mon. We’ve got one more mile.”

  Megan struggled to keep pace with her. Snatches of muttering and words that sounded close to “crazy, health nut, drill sergeant” floated to Kaylan’s ears before the breeze pulled them out to sea.

  On mornings like this, Kaylan felt closer to Nick. It had been almost a week since he left, a week since their fight. She knew the assignment was likely to be brief. Several wives and girlfriends had heard that they might be back soon. She’d only received short, vague emails from Nick. Nothing that addressed the hurt that had sprung up between them. She was beginning to see that his emotional energy had to be directed to his mission, but she longed for the chance to reconnect with him fully.

  Her only phone call came from Micah saying he loved her and would see her soon. “Give him time, sis. I think he regrets the way he left and the idiot is too prideful to put that aside and call you. We’re working on him. Just hang tight. He’s miserable. And he loves you.”

  His words didn’t bring Kaylan much comfort. Nick could call but chose not to. It hurt. She was miserable, too, but on mornings like this, she imagined him now running slightly ahead as she followed in his steady footsteps, his breath even as he cut a path for them down the beach. She knew the strength in his shoulders and the extra energy he mustered when they reached their last half mile. He added a burst of speed and finished with everything he had. He pushed her and she followed him into the finish line every time, using his strength to bolster her own.

  Only this morning, she heard Megan’s unsteady breaths and shaky footsteps as she followed in Kaylan’s wake, straining to keep up. Kaylan slowed down a little. “Almost there, Meg.”

  They finished at the pier where Kaylan had been lured into a kidnapping only months before. A chill raced down her spine as she remembered the sweet smell of a drug and then nothing before waking up in a boat shed. She and Megan had barely escaped with their lives, but Nick and the team had come for her. He always came for her.

  “You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” Megan rubbed a spot on her head, probably remembering where she’d been hit.

  “It’s hard not to when I see this pier.”

  Megan shuddered. “Scariest moment of my life, but we made it.”

  “Do you still have nightmares?”

  “Sometimes.” Megan shrugged. “But they aren’t coming as much now.”

  “That’s great. What helped?”

  Megan turned bright red and looked out to sea. “You and all that Jesus talk. I read a chapter in Psalms every night before I go to bed. It’s hard to go to bed scared or with negative thoughts after reading that stuff. Not to mention it’s got a nice ring to it.”

  “My roommate, the closet poet.” Kaylan laughed and wrapped her arm around Megan’s shoulders. “Watch out, Meg. You may end up becoming a Jesus-lover after all.”

  “It might not be the worst thing ever.”

  “Glad you think so.”

  As they began walking back to the car, a high-pitched yelp filtered through the breeze.

  Kaylan stopped. “Did you hear that?”

  Megan paused as the sound echoed again. Kaylan physically ached at the pain she heard slicing through the air. She turned, searching the beach for the source of the sound.

  “Kayles, it sounds like an animal or something.” She tugged on Kaylan’s arm. “Let’s just go.”

  “It sounds hurt. We need to find it.”

  “Kaylan . . .” A sharp bark followed by yelping sent Kaylan running under the pier, Megan scrambling to follow in her wake.

  Sand kicked up behind her, stinging her bare calves. Her muscles ached with e
xertion from her run and now a sprint down the beach. As they neared one of the pier beams, Kaylan spotted a shaggy dog sprawled in the sand. His white and black fur hung in matted knots. He lay on his side in the sand, struggling to get on his feet. Every time he succeeded, a yelp cut through the air and he crumpled back to the sand to begin the fight once more.

  “Kaylan, stop, you don’t know where he’s been or if he’s friendly.”

  But Kaylan couldn’t help herself. She approached him slowly. “Hey fella, it’s okay. Let me help you.” His tail flopped in response to her voice, sending sand grains airborne. His skinny belly rose and fell in sync with his frenzied panting. As Kaylan knelt next to him, she held out her hand to let him sniff.

  “Look, he’s hurt.” She pointed at his back left paw. “It’s still bleeding. I wonder if he stepped on a broken seashell or piece of glass or something.” She looked around the area in search of the object in question.

  “Kaylan, just leave him. Someone else will help. Maybe his family will find him.”

  “Who will help him if we don’t, Meg? He looks like a stray. He doesn’t have a collar, and he’s hurt.”

  “Kaylan, don’t you even . . .”

  “We’re taking him home.”

  “. . . say that,” Megan finished and groaned.

  “Hey, boy, can I pet you?” Kaylan stretched out her hand to his head. When he didn’t react, she slipped her hand behind his ear and scratched. She received a slobbery kiss in response.

  “You’ve been slimed.”

  Kaylan chuckled and wiped her hand on her shorts. “I’ve been approved.”

  “How do you know it’s a boy?” Megan questioned as she kept her distance.

  Kaylan circled behind him and wedged her arms beneath his belly. He whined and struggled. She whispered, trying to soothe him as she lifted him.