Returning to Eden (Acts of Valor, Book 1): Christian Military Romantic Suspense

by Rebecca Hartt

  Standing at the water’s edge, they both pivoted toward the sound that had come to them over the foaming of the ocean.

  “A car backfiring?” Nina wondered.

  “A gunshot.” Santiago looped the towel over his shoulders and grabbed Nina’s hand. “Come with me,” he said, tugging her behind him in the event of a stray bullet.

  “That’s Eden!” Nina cried, peering past his shoulder.

  A mane of golden hair shone in the gloom, giving Eden away. Her frantic gait jumpstarted Santiago’s adrenaline.

  “Something’s wrong.” He broke into a run with Nina right behind him.

  Within seconds, Eden crashed into them blurting unintelligible words about the visitor’s center and a cop and Miriam and Jonah about to be killed, if he wasn’t already.

  “Stay here. No.” Santiago changed his mind. “Go back to the blanket and stay there until I come get you.”

  Not waiting to see if the women would obey him, Santiago charged into the direction Eden had come from, cursing his lack of shoes—and weapon—as he leaped barefooted onto the rough wooden walkway.

  All at once the silhouette of a man materialized at the other end. A firearm discharged, and the figured ducked, whirled and fired back, all in one graceful and familiar gesture.

  It’s Jaguar, Santiago realized. The person chasing him had just shot at him. Madre de Dios!

  With no weapon of his own with which to return fire, Santiago yelled toward the shooter in the thickening darkness, “Hey, he has backup!”

  A startled silence followed his assertion. Jonah seized his reprieve, sprinting toward Santiago in a full-out retreat while running in zigzags lest he got shot at again. Gaining Santiago’s side, Jaguar grabbed his arm and urged him to flee.

  “Where’s Eden?” Jaguar huffed as they reached the beach.

  Indicating the direction they should take and keeping to the dunes for cover, Santiago hissed his discomfort as sharp blades of grass cut into his soles. He pressed on, ignoring his pain, until they came upon the sheltered bowl of land where both women waited in silence for them.

  “Jonah!” Eden leaped from the blanket and hurled herself into her husband’s arms. “Oh, my God, you’re okay. You’re okay.” She sobbed in her relief. Then she gasped, “Where’s Miriam?”

  Still holding onto his wife, Jaguar shook his head. “She wasn’t there. At least, I didn’t see her.”

  “What’s going on?” Santiago needed an explanation of how his date night had gone from delightful to dangerous in mere minutes.

  “I was targeted,” Jaguar relayed in a gravelly voice. “Some cop in an unmarked car tried running me off the road last week—I thought it was just a fluke. But he’s been following Miriam around and watching the house.”

  Eden added, “His name’s Hammond. He caught Miriam buying cigarettes last week and called my number.”

  “He called me again tonight,” Jonah continued. “Supposedly, she was smoking cigarettes out here this evening. Hammond claims he caught her and he told me to come and pick her up.” He paused and looked at Eden. “I don’t think they meant for Eden to come, though.”

  “Where is Miriam?” Eden repeated with panic in her voice.

  Nina put an arm around her. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “They?” Santiago prompted, trying to follow the story.

  “Hammond wasn’t alone.” Jaguar continued. “The call was a ploy to get me out here. When Eden and I arrived at the visitor’s center, I recognized Hammond as the cop who nearly ran me over, so I went on the offensive. He did his best to kill me, and I can tell you this for sure—he’s more than a cop. He’s had prior training. If I hadn’t realized he had a bad knee, he would have choked me to death. I freed myself by kicking there and managed to shoot him. I think I might have killed him,” he added hoarsely.

  It was suddenly clear why Jaguar sounded so tense.

  “Then who was firing at you just now?” Santiago demanded.

  “Lowery,” Jonah answered.

  Eden stilled and looked at him. “I knew there was someone else! He chased me for a while, but then he let me go.”

  Jaguar nodded. “He was out there the whole time, waiting for a chance to shoot me.”

  Santiago wasn’t yet convinced of Lowery’s involvement. “Why didn’t he fire on you when you first arrived?”

  The question stymied Jaguar but only for a second. He looked at his wife.

  “Because Eden was standing right behind me, and Lowery didn’t want to kill her.”

  Eden touched his arm. “How’d you get away from him just now?”

  “I went out the window at the back of the building.”

  “Did you actually see him?” Eden asked.

  “Yes. He had camo paint on his face, but I’d recognize Lowery anywhere.”

  Santiago ran a hand through his wet hair. “And there’s no one else out here?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  Eden moved back into Jaguar’s arms, seeking comfort and offering reassurance.

  “We have to call the police,” she said. “They can’t all be bad. We have to find Miriam.”

  Santiago studied his lieutenant, standing stiffly in his wife’s embrace, understandably in shock. If the man Jaguar had killed was an actual police officer, Jaguar could kiss his career on the Teams goodbye.

  “Jonah,” Eden pleaded. “We don’t know where Miriam is.”

  He visibly stirred from a trancelike state.

  “Right,” he said and looked over at Santiago, whose heart hurt for him. “I’ll make the call.”

  Less than an hour later, Eden sat in the passenger seat of the Jaguar as Jonah chased an ambulance from the wildlife refuge to Sentara Princess Anne Hospital. She had not stopped shaking since Jonah first attacked Hammond. It was probably a good thing Jonah slipped behind the wheel of their car without asking.

  “Do you think they’ll keep her overnight?” she wondered as they sped down the dark back-roads toward lights shining in the distance.

  The police had found Miriam within minutes of their arrival, lying in the back seat of the undercover cop car, along with an empty canister of some kind of odorless incapacitating agent. What they hadn’t found was an injured police officer or a second shooter, only signs of a violent struggle in the visitors center and lots of tracks in the sand.

  Jonah glanced at the car’s digital clock. “Given the time, they probably should keep her.”

  “She’ll be okay, won’t she?” Uncertainty put a wobble in her voice. Miriam had roused to consciousness when they’d awakened her, but then promptly vomited, making Eden fear about the long-term effects of the gas she’d inhaled.

  Jonah reached for her cold hand, holding onto it.

  “I think she’ll be okay. That gas was probably Agent 15. It was stockpiled in large quantities in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. It isn’t toxic. I’d like to know how Hammond got his hands on it, but I’m sure he didn’t hurt her. It was me he was after.”

  The words reminded Eden of everything that had transpired. The police, who’d been as incredulous as she’d been when they first arrived, had changed their tune the minute Miriam was discovered. They’d gone from wanting to arrest Jonah to proclaiming Hammond, who’d been off-duty that night, had no business drugging a teenager and leaving her in the back of his squad car. He would be in serious trouble when they located him.

  Jonah and Eden were freed to leave with the ambulance, providing they brought Miriam to the police station the next day to answer more questions and give a statement.

  Drawing a deep breath, Eden assured herself the worst was behind them. In their investigation, the police would discover clues backing up Jonah’s story. She herself could not deny what she’d seen with her own two eyes.

  Speaking through a tight throat, she uttered the words weighing heavily on her heart.

  “Jonah, I owe you a huge apology. I thought—”

  “I know what you thought,” he cut in, keeping her
from having to say it.

  Fixing her gaze on the mesmerizing red lights in front of them, she tried to explain herself. “It’s because I read an article at your psychiatrist’s office, and it painted such a grim picture of PTSD—”

  “Honey, you don’t have to explain.” He cut her off again, gently but firmly. “I don’t blame you for not believing me initially. The entire situation is bizarre in the extreme. I’m kind of glad it happened. At least, now you know I’ve been telling you the truth.”

  She shut her eyes and shook her head. “I should have known it all along,” she lamented, looking at him again. “I should have trusted you. God gave me a clear sign to recommit to our marriage, and I didn’t have enough faith in Him. I’m so sorry.”

  He reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers.

  “You trust me now?” he asked.

  “Yes.” While she still couldn’t picture Jimmy Lowery killing his own teammate, it made sense that he’d been the second adversary at the refuge. Eden’s presence had thrown a wrench into his plan to kill Jonah.

  “What is Jimmy so afraid of?” Eden asked. “What was in the notebook, Jonah? You can tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

  He glanced over at her, then back at the road. “It explains how Lowery’s been leaking top-secret intel, possibly to members of The Entity. I must have called him on it over a year ago, right before the op to Carenero.”

  “How’s he leaking it?” she pressed.

  “He was blind-copying recipients who shouldn’t have been receiving any emails at all, deceased SEALs.”

  “But dead men can’t read emails,” she pointed out.

  “Exactly. I’m guessing the accounts were reactivated, and someone else was reading them. I’m sure he’s wised up and changed his MO.”

  “Even so,” she replied, “NCIS will want to look into that.”

  “I’m not so sure.” Jonah turned on his blinker and followed the ambulance turning at the intersection. “Someone wants Elwood’s investigation scrapped, to the point of killing the investigator.”

  Eden had never met Elwood. Instead, she envisioned the old man Jonah had thought was following them from her parents’ house. Given everything Jonah had been through, he could just as easily have been a hit man.

  “Do you still think it was Jimmy Lowery who killed Agent Elwood?”

  Jonah didn’t immediately answer. “I don’t know. I think this is bigger than Lowery. Someone at the top ordered Elwood’s office cleaned out and his hard drive wiped. Lowery doesn’t have that kind of authority.

  A chill raked Eden’s spine. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

  “Things are getting intense,” Jonah reflected. “Lowery has tried to kill me three times now.”

  “You never told me about the cop car trying to run you over. Why not?”

  Jonah sent her a wry look. “That’s obvious, isn’t it? You didn’t believe me when I told you Lowery fired on me after I left the gym. Besides, with everyone concluding that I had PTSD, I figured it might have been a hallucination. What kind of cop mows people down in broad daylight, anyway?”

  Eden’s outrage grew. “The same kind who lures teens into the back of his car and gasses them. I can’t believe he told Miriam I’d been in a car accident.”

  Jonah adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and said nothing.

  Eden studied his taut profile. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you about Jimmy shooting at you the other day.” Love for Jonah and admiration for his bravery overwhelmed her suddenly, causing her eyes to fill with tears.

  “Don’t cry, beautiful.” Lifting her hand to his mouth, he kissed her knuckles, then concentrated on following the ambulance into the entrance to the hospital. “I’m a big cat, remember? I’ve got at least five lives left.”

  Realizing he was still a marked man, Eden swept a fearful look around the parking lot. “Lowery won’t follow you here,” she said, more to herself than to Jonah.

  “We’ll be safe,” he agreed.

  As the ambulance veered toward the sliding glass doors, Jonah zipped into the nearest empty parking spot.

  “Jonah.” Eden halted him as he went to take off his seatbelt. He glanced at Miriam’s ambulance before giving her his full attention.

  “I’ve been wanting to tell you this since we were at my parents’ house.” Even though her timing wasn’t great, she had to say it now, lest—God forbid—she didn’t get another chance.

  “I love you,” she stated, carrying his hand to her fast-beating heart and holding it there. Her voice thickened with emotion. “I love you for your patience with me and for your kindness to Miriam. You’re an incredible man, and I want to stay with you forever. Please don’t let anything happen to change that.”

  A moist sheen slipped over Jonah’s eyes, reflecting the lights from the hospital.

  “I love you, too, Eden. Nothing in the world has the power to change that.”

  Leaning toward her, he planted a brief, fervent kiss on her lips even as he reached past her to unlatch her door and push it open, urging haste. They both ran toward the entrance, reaching the hospital as Miriam was being wheeled through the sliding doors.

  “Mom!” she called, lighting up to see her. “Dad!”

  Eden gave a sob of relief to see her daughter sitting up, looking far less disoriented than she had at the refuge. This night, she realized, could have ended so much worse. God was obviously watching over them. She prayed He would continue His vigilance.

  Some faceless evil seemed hell-bent on keeping Jonah quiet.

  Chapter 19

  A strange beeping noise roused Miriam from a light slumber. Slitting her eyes, she remembered where she was and the bizarre circumstances that had brought her there—though, in all honesty, she recalled very little beyond the sensation of going lightheaded in the back of Officer Hammond’s unmarked car.

  Questions sluiced through Miriam, bringing her wider awake. Lifting her head off the pillow, she could tell it was nearly dawn by the light framing the drawn curtains of her hospital room. The light revealed two lumpy forms sleeping on the cushioned bench in front of the window.

  A smile tugged at her lips as she recognized her mom and dad, sharing the visitor’s lounge, cuddling in their sleep. Lying front to back on a padded bench barely big enough for one person, they seemed to be sleeping soundly.

  Adjusting the pillow under her head, Miriam watched them sleep as the room slowly brightened. She tried to make sense of what had happened the night before.

  She remembered Hammond putting her in the car, but little beyond that. When the police woke her up hours later, they’d found an aerosol canister under her feet, suggesting Hammond had released some kind of gas that made her pass out. A blood test at the hospital had confirmed she’d been exposed to an incapacitating agent with an unpronounceable name. Jonah had called it Agent 15.

  Her mother had explained how Officer Hammond had lured Jonah out to Back Bay Wildlife Refuge by telling him he’d caught Miriam smoking cigarettes out there. Through snippets of conversation between Jonah and the police, Miriam had come to a thrilling but also chilling conclusion: Jonah wasn’t paranoid.

  Hammond had attacked her father, who’d shot and maybe killed him. Another man, a teammate named Lowery, had also shot at him. Yet, miraculously, Jonah had escaped death once again. And, even more miraculously, he and her mother seemed to be reunited. At least, they didn’t look to her as if they planned to separate, not snuggled together on the bench like that.

  With a sigh of contentment, Miriam let her head drop to the pillow and closed her eyes. All her life she had felt God considered her a mistake, the same way her grandparents did. Consequently, God didn’t look out for her the way he did for other people. But that wasn’t the case, was it? It was true what Pastor Tom said at church: God did answer prayers, even Miriam’s.

  With a tear of contentment sliding toward her temple, Miriam fell back asleep.

  The sudden buzzing
of a cell phone brought Jonah’s head up. Memories of the night before flooded him with a deluge of terror, relief, and hope. Eden slept in his embrace, her sweet curves eliciting a night of sensual dreams.

  “That’s my phone,” he murmured, dropping an apologetic kiss on her cheek as she stirred. He vaulted over her to retrieve his phone from the charger. “It’s Master Chief,” he whispered as he glanced at Miriam, whose eyes fluttered open.

  “Yes, sir,” he answered, throwing in the respectful title, not because it was protocol, but because the man deserved his veneration. He had been the very soul of reasonableness when the police had answered their summons the night before.

  “Good morning.”

  Rivera’s cheerful tone helped to allay some of Jonah’s fears. Today he, Eden, and Miriam would report to the police station to give their stories. Surely, the police would conclude Jonah hadn’t been at all in the wrong, and they would focus their investigation on Hammond and Lowery.

  “What’s up?” Jonah braced himself.

  “I wanted to tell you I dropped your stuff off at your house because I think you should return to your family.”

  Jonah hesitated. It was obvious Lowery wasn’t above using his family to get to him. Living with Eden and Miriam again could put them in serious danger.

  Rivera continued. “Saul, Theo, Lucas, and Bambino have volunteered to do security detail. You’ll run into a pair of them when you go home this morning.”

  Gratitude swelled Jonah’s heart. “That’s awesome.” He turned his gaze to Eden, who had sat up to listen to his exchange. The thought of living with her, holding her in his arms whenever he wanted, filled him with deep contentment. He couldn’t wait for Miriam to get released so they could all go home.

  “Also, I’m going to the CO’s house after church to bring him up to speed on what’s happening,” Master Chief added. “I’m going to show him a copy of LeMere’s entries.”

  Anticipation gave way to a peculiar mix of hope and dread.

  “I guess there’s no way around it,” Jonah replied. “Hopefully, he’ll agree LeMere’s journal implicates Lowery.” If only it didn’t appear that NCIS, or someone with authority over them, wanted the investigation of the leak to go away.