A SEAL Always Wins

by Holly Castillo

  He enjoyed a long shower, looking forward to a cold beer and to relaxing after a long day of hard work. He had just entered the kitchen when he heard Buzz’s heavy footsteps enter the room. “For a SEAL, your stealth needs some serious work.” Phantom smirked, turning to face the large man.

  Even though Phantom stood over six feet, Buzz stood a couple of inches taller. With arms as large around as most big men’s thighs, he certainly intimidated most people. “I figure you have enough stealth to make up for me.” Buzz grinned.

  “I think I’ll tell Stryker that’s what we need to work on in our next set of drills.”

  “Great. You’ve given me something to look forward to.” Buzz’s smile slowly faded. “You know the paperwork Haslett sent over to you? We’ve hit pay dirt.”

  Phantom lifted his eyebrows. “You found something?”

  “More than just a little something. I’ll wait for you in the conference room. It’s going to take some explaining to get us all on the same page.”

  “Let me grab Santo and Stryker. They’re going to be the ones running this mission on the ground when and if we go into Mexico.”

  “Oh, I’d bet my left nut you’re headed to Mexico.”

  “I wouldn’t make that kind of bet if I were you.” Phantom grinned. “You never want to bet something that valuable.”

  A few minutes later, Phantom gathered in the conference room with the top two men he wanted with him in this fight—Santo and Stryker. He trusted all the SEALs, but Stryker was his friend and team leader, and Santo had been his closest friend since his first day in BUD/S training. If it hadn’t been for Santo, Phantom didn’t know how he would have made it through Hell Week. Phantom grabbed Derek “Brusco” Delgado and Snap as well, wanting the entire team brought up to speed.

  “What have you found out, Buzz?” Phantom asked as they all sat down.

  “Several of the pages that you received have the same code we discovered while tracking the drug cartel in Mexico. I’ve been digging into the dark web to find the forums these messages could have been posted to, but I haven’t found them yet. The information from these files paints a grim picture, though.”

  “What have you been able to decipher so far?” Santo asked.

  “The discussion gives instructions about moving a large group of victims, women and children. The traffickers operated somewhere near the border, but they moved frequently, making it virtually impossible to pin them down. Two days after they crossed the border, their holding facility was found in Matamoros, Mexico, right across the border from Brownsville, Texas. The victims were hauled in box trailers from there to Austin. The team in Mexico had been hot on their trail, but reached the facility too late.”

  “They weren’t able to track them?” Phantom asked, feeling as if his hands were tied behind his back.

  “They only got so far. Once the traffickers entered the United States, they split up, driving off for Austin in different directions. I have to say, they carefully orchestrated the plan to get these victims delivered.” Buzz sighed.

  “Are you picking up any chatter about a future transaction taking place?” Phantom asked, craving the liquor even more strongly than before.

  “I came across a hit just before I went to find you. It’s minor, but there’s a new discussion posted about gathering women and children to bring into the United States. There’s no disclosure on a location, but I think I’ve finally found the right thread to start watching.”

  “I need to pull Haslett into the loop and find out if he’s heard anything else on his end.” Phantom knew this mission had many innocent lives at stake. The fate of those lives lay in his hands and the success of the mission.

  “You know you can come to me if you need anything,” Stryker said, clapping a hand on Phantom’s back as he stood. “You’re doing a great job running with this already.”

  Phantom nodded and watched the others leave the conference room so he could place the call. With a heavy sigh, he pulled out his cell phone and hit the quick dial for Haslett. He hoped the admiral had been able to gather further intel. They needed to take action, and quickly. The countdown had already started for this newest batch of victims.

  * * *

  “It’s Thursday night, and you know places are bound to be hopping. I need to move. I need to dance. I need to hang with my two best friends!”

  Anya’s call couldn’t have come at a better time. Elena had finished a long day working at the ranch in Corpus, and even though she felt she could fall asleep standing up, she needed to escape the thoughts that continued to whirl through her mind. She needed to take some time for herself, and what better way than a night out with her girlfriends?

  “Have you already talked to Evie?”

  Anya laughed on the other end of the line. “Evie’s idea of a night out is getting takeout for dinner instead of eating a frozen meal. Of course she’s in. Now, I won’t take any excuses from you. I don’t want to hear that you’re too tired, or that you have to get up early in the morning or any of the other thousands of things you’ve said the last five times I’ve asked you for a girls’ night out.”

  “It has not been five times!” Elena sputtered, digging through her closet for something to wear. She gnawed on her lower lip. It had been a long time since they had gone out together.

  “Evie and I are picking you up in less than an hour. You better be ready.”

  “Yes. Fine, yes, I’ll go with you. But I really do have to get up early in the morning, so we can’t stay out too late.”

  “Did you just say yes? I think I’m going to die from shock. Evie’s never going to believe this. All right, I’m going to go now before you start rethinking your decision and change your mind. See you soon. Bye!”

  Elena chuckled as she tossed her phone on the bed and began to get ready. A distraction was exactly what the doctor had ordered. She needed to be with her girlfriends to laugh and talk and not remember how mortified she’d been that she had misinterpreted Phantom’s reaction.

  He had kissed her back. He had grabbed ahold of her and made it very obvious to her how his body felt about the idea of sleeping with her. His mind, on the other hand, seemed to be the problem. Why? His beginnings of an excuse that she deserved someone better had been a bunch of bullshit. It had been an easy cop-out, and it ticked her off.

  She didn’t know why it made her so angry. If he wanted to keep things between them strictly professional, fine. She could understand that logic. She just wanted him to come out and say that was the reason he didn’t want to be intimate with her, not give her trite excuses that only made her feel worse about the whole thing.

  Truth be told, she had come on to him. She had initiated the flirting and even the kisses. But he had certainly followed through. Up until the point he had stopped everything.

  Elena chose a silk blouse she hadn’t worn in years and had found hiding in the back of her closet. Showing more cleavage than she normally did, it hugged her curves and defined her narrow waist. She wore a pair of black, starched jeans along with it, and a pair of boots she saved for special events, so they didn’t have a scratch on them. She had never been the type of woman to wear heels to go out and wasn’t about to start.

  Anya and Evie arrived less than an hour later, knocking on her door and chattering loudly. Elena swung the door open and gave her friends a disapproving look. “You know the Bells go to sleep early. Don’t wake them up.” The Bell family lived in the main house, renting out the apartment over their garage to Elena since all their children had moved out.

  “Sorry,” Evie whispered. “I forgot.”

  Evie made Elena think of pixies or fairies every time she saw her. With blond hair and bright-blue eyes, she was petite and had a delicate bone structure. Elena and Anya had met Evie in college and had bonded with her almost instantly, even though Evie was a couple of years younger than they were. With Anya f
ast-tracking through veterinary school, Elena had graduated around the same time Evie had. It had been incredible for them all to end up in the same small town.

  Trying to be as quiet as possible, Elena locked up and they hurried down the stairs from her apartment and into Elena’s truck. “Since I have to be up early tomorrow, I’ll be the designated driver and watch the two of you get drunk.” She grinned as she backed out of the drive.

  “You aren’t the only one with responsibilities, you know.” Evie sighed. Then she winked at them. “But I requested a personal day for tomorrow, so I can have as much fun as I want tonight.”

  The women laughed. “Then let the fun begin!” Anya cheered.

  Hebbronville and the surrounding small towns didn’t have much of a night life, so they headed for Laredo, an hour away. The entire drive, Evie kept them entertained with stories of the latest antics she’d witnessed at the courthouse where she worked as an assistant to the county judge. From bizarre crimes to insane pleas of innocence, the stories kept them laughing nearly the entire way, and Elena could feel the tension in her shoulders easing.

  Since it was a Thursday night, their favorite club wasn’t as crowded as usual, and they found a booth right away. While Elena sipped on a Coke, Evie and Anya chose mixed drinks. Anya sighed with pleasure at the first sip.

  “I’ve been needing this for so long! Being surrounded by men all the time has its perks, but I needed my girls!”

  Evie fixed her blue eyes on Anya in a way they all knew meant inescapable questions were coming. “Since you seem to hardly have any time for us anymore, fill us in on this love of your life. What’s he like? Tall, dark, and handsome?”

  Anya grinned. “Ask Elena. She’s met him.”

  Evie turned her attention to Elena. “Spill. Tell me all. I want to know if he’s suitable enough for our girl here.”

  Elena laughed. “I like him. And, yes, he’s tall, dark, and handsome. In a rugged kind of way. He only has eyes for Anya when she’s in the room.”

  “I know you met him as the veterinarian for his ranch, but how did it lead to love?” Evie sipped on her drink.

  With a whimsical smile, Anya shrugged. “We spent a lot of time together and got to know each other. He is kind and caring, and even though he’s a big man, he’s so gentle.”

  “All of them are big men,” Elena muttered, thinking about Phantom and the way he had held her, the feeling of his muscles bunching under her hands. Damn it! He’s not a part of girls’ night. Forget about him.

  “What do you mean by ‘all of them’? Exactly how many guys are there?”

  “Six,” Elena and Anya said at the same time.

  “No wonder you needed a break.” Evie shook her head. “That much testosterone is bound to be unhealthy to be around.”

  Anya laughed. “I can hook you up with one if you’d like. They’re all really great guys.”

  “I’m sure they are, but you know I don’t do the whole dating thing.” Evie waved her hand dismissively.

  “Just because you had one relationship go sour on you doesn’t mean all guys are bad,” Elena said gently.

  “Tell me—if the man you had been dating since high school left you standing at the altar a month after graduating college, would you be that eager to date again?” Evie raised her eyebrows when they didn’t respond to her. “I didn’t think so.”

  “You know, if I remember correctly, after that happened we all agreed to swear off relationships—including you, Anya,” Elena teased, reminding Anya of the pact they had made.

  “Are you going to let that go? I’m in love. Y’all should be happy for me!”

  Elena reached across the table and grabbed her friend’s hand. “I am. I really am. But you can’t blame me for wanting to give you a hard time any chance I get.”

  Evie reached over and grabbed both of their hands. “From here on, let that pact be null and void. We deserve to find happiness someday. Anya, I’m glad that day has come for you.”

  “Thanks.” Anya smiled brightly, then turned her attention on Elena. “What about you? Any of the guys at the ranch catch your fancy now that you’ve met them all?”

  Elena swallowed hard and shook her head. “No. They’re all great guys, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t think any of them are meant for me.”

  Anya shrugged. “You never know. Just give it time.” At that moment, “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” began to play over the speakers, and Anya’s eyes lit up. “All right, girls, let’s dance!”

  Elena didn’t get home until nearly two in the morning. Fortunately, Anya barely drank and was able to drive herself home after they dropped Evie off at her apartment in town, saving Elena the extra drive. She groaned when her alarm went off a handful of hours later. She made herself a thermos of coffee and got ready to head out to the Bent Horseshoe.

  Her emotions fluctuated between firm determination to forget what had happened between her and Phantom and nervous anticipation about how he would act around her. She stared in the mirror as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail. “You’ve got this,” she said to her image, giving herself a pep talk. “You’re a professional. Now act like one.”

  For the first hour out at the ranch, Phantom was nowhere to be seen. Could he be deliberately avoiding her? It wouldn’t surprise her. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed, though. She wanted him to start showing the horses. She knew it would not only be good for his business, but hers as well.

  After mucking out all the stalls and giving each horse a quick brush, she pulled out one of her favorites and began to saddle him. She concentrated on her work, trying her best to block out all thoughts of Phantom. She couldn’t help it, though, as her eyes kept wandering over to the stall where she had experienced the most passionate kiss of her life.

  “Good morning.”

  His voice startled her and she jumped, which spooked the horse. The gelding danced sideways, pulling on the lead line that held it tied to the side of the stall, and slammed into Elena, knocking her backward. She frantically tried to maintain her balance, but the world tilted and she landed hard on her back, the air knocked from her lungs. Still fighting the line that tethered it, the gelding moved in her direction, and she realized she was about to get stomped on.

  Strong arms that she remembered all too well wrapped around her and yanked her away from the horse. She struggled to draw air into her lungs, furious with herself for letting just his voice affect her so strongly. Slowly, she regained her breath and realized she was in his lap and he was rubbing her back soothingly.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He looked contrite.

  “No, no,” she said, shaking her head. She pushed herself up and away from him. “I’ve just had more coffee than usual this morning, and it’s made me jumpy. It’s not your fault.” She shoved herself to her feet and walked to the gelding—who had begun to calm some—and patted him on the shoulder, murmuring gently to him.

  Phantom stood as well and raked a hand through his hair as he watched her. She flashed him a smile. “Seriously, it wasn’t your fault. Besides, your timing is perfect.”

  “Really? Why is that?”

  “Because today we start your training to show the horses. This gelding would be the perfect one for you to show.”

  Phantom gazed at the horse skeptically. “You were being serious about the idea of training me how to show?”

  “The sooner we get started, the sooner you’ll be able to enter competitions. I think you’re going to really enjoy it.” She turned back to the horse, unable to make eye contact with Phantom. She hoped she had the strength to get through the rest of the day. How was she supposed to train him when just looking at him reminded her how incredible their kiss had been?

  Chapter 9

  “The way you sit on the horse gives it cues on how to move. I’ve spent a lot of time with these horses, training
them to respond the right way.”

  “It sounds similar to racing. We’d lean forward over the horse’s neck to cue it to go faster and lean one way or another to guide it through turns or to pass another racehorse.”

  “That’s exactly right. It can be even more precise with show horses. Just the lightest, smallest shift of your weight can cue your horse to pick up a jog or a lope, come to a stop, and even back up, without you using your legs or even the reins. I try to use the reins as little as possible. They should only come into play if your horse isn’t responding to the cues your body is giving it.” Kinda like the way I misread the cues your body was giving me Wednesday.

  Elena forced her mind on the task at hand. She had spent extra time at the ranch in Corpus to keep her mind occupied instead of dwelling on their kiss and the way he had pushed her away. The owner of the ranch had been thrilled that Elena had spent extra time with her horses, as long as it didn’t cost her extra.

  “Is this going to cost me extra?”

  “It might. Are you a difficult student?”

  “I’m always difficult.”

  “Perhaps we can work out some kind of arrangement.”

  Focus! Focus! Focus! It’s over. It’s done. You’re a grown-ass woman. Move on already!

  Phantom stood near his horse, holding the reins loosely in his hands as he listened. He had gone back to giving her the expressionless face—no more smiles, no sparkle of warmth.

  She had to remind herself that this was a good thing, this was what she really wanted. He was her client, and things needed to stay professional between them. But there was tension now, and she hated knowing it was all her fault.