Guarding Cindy (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

by Paige, Victoria

“Yeah.”

  At his succinct answer, Drake shot him a glance and nodded, familiar with Marcus’s clipped tone whenever he’d diverted all his energy into the hunt of an enemy.

  “I’ll see if I can borrow some satellite time from my buddy at the Feds.”

  “Won’t they interfere?” Marcus asked.

  “Trust me on this man,” Tex said.

  “Do it.”

  Chapter 15

  When she regained consciousness, Cindy was hit with nausea. Her mind was busy processing the fact that she wasn’t in a nightmare. She’d actually been kidnapped. How in the world did friendly Danny Tilley turn into the stranger who pinned her to the floor? But she had to focus, had to maintain her wits about her if she had any prayer of getting out of this situation unscathed. She could tell she was in a van and she could tell they weren’t on the interstate with the way her useless body rocked from one side to the other.

  “We should be there soon,” Danny was speaking to his mother. “Why the hell did you forget to erase your online store? I told you to last night.”

  “I wasn’t feeling well. You’ve been gone for a week.”

  “Told you I was getting our new place ready.”

  There was a long, exhaled sigh. “So who are we going to be this time, Danny boy?”

  “Stop calling me that.”

  “I’ll stop calling you that once you gain control of your shameful urges. Not uproot us every time you let it control you. You’ve been doing so well, sweet boy.”

  “It’s your fault,” Danny snapped.

  “Mine?”

  “You kept pushing Cindy toward me. I was fine being her friend but you just. Wouldn’t. Quit.”

  “She’s your type. I was hoping if you settled with a woman the way a normal man would, you’d be cured once and for all.”

  “I don’t have a disease,” Danny growled. “Her rejection this last time didn’t sit well with me, so I started calling her. One thing led to another and then Harrelson showed up and I snapped.”

  “So he’s your trigger this time?”

  Trigger?

  “Yes.” Danny’s voice was guttural. “None of her fuck buddies ever intimidated me, although Trevor there had me worried for a while. But Harrelson?” He gave a disgruntled sound like a sullen boy. “I see the way Cindy looks at him. I see the way he wouldn’t let anything stand between them. I knew I was outta time and had to act quickly.”

  “Danny—”

  “No way was any wife of mine falling in love with another man. No fucking way.”

  Cindy couldn’t help the whimper that rose up to her throat.

  Danny’s menacing chuckle drifted toward her. “Ah … my bride is awake.”

  Dream on, sicko.

  Cindy ignored her stalker’s delusional declarations. She didn’t know such crazies existed and every exposition out of Danny’s mouth telling her how they were meant to be together was akin to setting loose a box of hairy tarantulas over her body.

  The rocking of the van stopped.

  “Here we are, Scarlett.”

  For a second, Cindy thought Danny had regained control of his mental faculties, but her heart sank when he opened the doors to the van.

  His eyes were just as brightly glazed as they were in the house. She wondered if he was on drugs or one of his mother’s remedies.

  As she was helped out of the vehicle, the cool air pebbled her skin. She’d recognize the mountain range before her anywhere.

  “We’re in Shenandoah Valley.”

  Danny looked at his mother, then back at her. “Yes. Come on.”

  “Why, Danny?”

  He gripped her shoulders and spun her around, forcing her to face the house before them.

  Trees surrounded a charming A-frame two-story house that was built near the edge of the mountain which looked like a steep drop. A wraparound porch gave an unobstructed view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a perfect secluded getaway if circumstances were different.

  “See this,” he snarled. “I did this for you.” He stepped in front of her, eyes blazing with fury. “You don’t get to look at me like I’m crazy.”

  “How do you want me to look at you?”

  It happened fast. A force struck her jaw, swiveling her body so quickly she fell to the ground. Gravel scraped the skin on her palms where she tried to break her fall.

  “See what you made me do!”

  Gripped with fear, she couldn’t look up at Danny. She’d never encountered such manic rage before. She couldn’t look at Angela either.

  Work boots came into her line of vision. “I’m sorry, baby.” His voice sent chills down her spine. Danny crouched before her and his face was etched with regret. He reached for her cheek and she flinched. His eyes hardened, and Cindy knew she had to get over her fears and play his game.

  “I’m sorry too,” she whispered.

  “Are you finally realizing that my boy and you are meant to be together?” Angela asked. “See what I told you, Danny boy. Knocking her around a little bit will do the trick.”

  “Shut up, Mother. Don’t intimidate her.”

  “I’m going to check my garden,” Angela sniffed. “Hope you didn’t forget my requirements.”

  Danny didn’t answer her and, instead, gently helped Cindy to her feet. Once they were upright. He hugged her close. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll try to be better.”

  He pulled away from her and stared into her eyes. This time it was Good Danny’s face, and Good Danny’s eyes, but Bad Danny was lurking behind that. Cindy had to figure out how not to set him off again. Her jaw was throbbing as he’d put a lot of power in that backhand, she was surprised he hadn’t dislocated her jaw.

  “I know you will.”

  He smiled brightly. “Ready to see our new home?”

  Her ears were ringing, and the mountain air was thin and suffocating. Every step toward the house reminded her of the basement her father locked her in.

  A prison.

  Dark and scary because she wasn’t smart enough to get “A’s.”

  Sweat broke over her brows, and her breathing grew erratic.

  She was about to have a panic attack.

  “Scarlett?”

  Sweet Danny.

  Friendly Danny.

  Crazy Danny.

  “I can’t breathe,” she croaked.

  Her neighbor smiled. “It’s gonna be okay. I’ll take care of you.” None of his words gave her comfort, they only deepened her anxiety.

  Her shoes dug into the ground, her body refusing to move, instincts screaming that once she was locked inside, she was never getting out.

  She’d seen Psycho. Danny checked all the boxes of a sociopath. He even checked the mommy-issue box.

  “Cindy?” Danny frowned.

  “I’m not going in there.”

  “Come on, baby.” He flashed his condescending I’m-a-psycho smile again.

  Fight or flight?

  Why not both?

  Tucked to Danny’s side with his torso exposed, Cindy swung her left arm forward and with adrenaline pumping in her veins, she jabbed Danny in the gut with her elbow.

  He grunted and folded over, momentarily letting her go.

  She ran.

  Her legs shot forward and then she was caught around the waist and slammed into a hard chest.

  She opened her mouth but a hand muffled her scream of frustration, desperation.

  Reaching behind her and catching Danny’s face, she raked her nails down his flesh.

  Anger roared in her ear.

  * * *

  “Shit! Tilley’s gone nuts,” Tex spoke through comms.

  Marcus parked the SUV at an access spot to the Shenandoah River. He and Drake geared up and were approaching the property where Danny took Cindy.

  Crackling silence followed in his earpiece.

  “Tex,” Marcus growled. “Talk to me, man.”

  By divine luck, their friend figured out Danny’s next alias by combing through recent real est
ate records in the area. For someone as smart at evading the law as Tilley, he and his mother never veered away from their first names. The property had been purchased eight months before under the name Dan McKenna.

  “She got away. Jesus Christ,” Tex’s voice muttered through Marcus’s earpiece. “Shit.”

  “Dammit, Tex …”

  “Stop walking.”

  Goddammit.

  “Smart girl …” Pause. Crackling. “Shit … heading toward you. Tilley’s hot on her heels. Go now!”

  The icy calm he’d coated around his heart started to crack as he and Drake sprinted in the direction Tex told them. His friend had lost Cindy and Tilley to the cover of trees. They were running blind.

  “How far?”

  “Maybe half a mile. Follow the river, just keep going.”

  Single-minded focus fueled the speed of his run, his legs pumping with the need to get to his woman. He broke through branches and brushes, skipped over uneven terrain. Drake kept pace with him. Marcus wasn’t going to fail her. Cindy was the love of his life and he’d be damned if he lost her to a psycho.

  A scream ripped through the air and his heart slammed into his rib cage.

  “No! Stop it! I’m not—”

  Her cry was cut short. The thought that Danny hurt her turned his simmering fury completely feral. When he came upon a man straddling his woman, striking her repeatedly, wildly, Marcus lost it.

  Blinded with an anger that threatened to consume him, he dove right into Tilley, knocking him off Cindy. The younger man tried to throw him, but experience won out, not to mention the sheer thirst to pound him into the ground. “Commander!” Drake’s voice came to him through the haze in his head.

  Hands clamped his shoulders and he roughly shook them off, but he got up and stepped away. All clarity coming into sharpness as he realized Cindy didn’t need to see the killer he once was and still could be.

  Because for Cindy Lake, Marcus would kill.

  He eyed her now, standing off to the side, an arm crossing her torso, hand holding her other arm. Cindy’s beautiful face was misshapen as it started to swell.

  The bastard hurt her.

  Fuck.

  “Marcus,” she choked, stumbling forward.

  “Sugar,” he whispered as he caught her in his arms. He wanted to crush her tight, but he was afraid to hurt her, not knowing the extent of her injuries. Still, the tightness in his chest wouldn’t ease, and his SEAL instincts were on high alert.

  Drake had a gun trained on Tilley who was groaning on the ground.

  His mother.

  Where was his mother?

  “Nooooo!” A keening wail echoed in the forest followed by the sound of footsteps hustling, the rustling of leaves and brushes getting closer.

  Drake already raised his gun in the direction of the cry. Angela broke through the trees, her limp costing her, her face grimacing in pain as she dragged her feet on the uneven ground.

  Gripped in her hands was a sawed-off shotgun.

  “Mother, don’t!”

  “Drop it,” Drake barked.

  Marcus had already shoved Cindy behind him, reaching into his side holster and sighting his pistol.

  Angela raised her weapon.

  Gunshots exploded.

  Chapter 16

  Twelve hours after being kidnapped by a psychotic mother-and-son-team, Cindy was back in Virginia Beach at Izabel’s house. With everyone wired from that day’s ordeal and then turning into a hungry pack of wolves, she decided to cook. It was almost midnight, but she didn’t let it stop her. She refused to cower in the dark and hoped that this familiar activity would get rid of the ice that had taken residence in her veins.

  Chopping onions with a dull knife was the bane of her existence. Cindy made a mental note to bring her knife sharpener the next time she visited Izabel. She added the chopped vegetables to the dark caramel roux, bubbling on the stovetop. The gumbo mixture hissed and sizzled and the resulting aroma swirled up to her nose. She inhaled it deeply, willing the comfort of toasted butter to wield its magic and warm her chilled blood.

  It failed.

  It failed to wipe out the moment when utter terror seized her body, the moment when Angela raised the shotgun and fired.

  The moment when Cindy saw her neighbor jerk backward and fall. When Danny howled in fury and charged Drake who had fired the killing shot that snuffed out the life of his mother.

  Cindy blinked, backed away from the stove, and turned to the cutting board, grabbing a shallot to make guacamole. She had people to feed. No one was ordering pizza.

  She began to chop. Willed the staccato rhythm of the steel blade hitting a wooden board to soothe her like it always did, but her emotions remained dull, much like the knife she was wielding. It slipped and nearly cut her finger. With a frustrated growl she dropped it and spun around, her hand catching the olive oil bottle sitting on the countertop and sending it crashing to the floor.

  Around her, the hum of conversation and activity ceased.

  She stared at the mess of oil and shards of glass and, finally, a feeling of something sharp twisted in her chest. Heat burned behind her eyes.

  She blinked.

  Footsteps approached and stopped.

  “I got this,” Marcus spoke to someone behind her. She was attuned to his movements. Hands gripped her shoulders firmly, his body settling warmly behind her back, and without another word, he turned her around and rested her head on his chest, his fingers clasping her scalp securely.

  She sagged into him and allowed herself to breathe him in, her emotions fluttering at the edges.

  Marcus was her salve.

  She didn’t know how long they stood there saying nothing. Whispers went on around them but she didn’t care.

  He pressed a kiss against her temple and she pulled away slightly to stare up at him.

  “I’m sorry for shutting you out.” Shutting everyone out actually.

  The corners of his mouth lifted. “You’ve been through a lot, babe. It’s your way of processing what happened.” He glanced at the stove. “And it looks like we’re getting gumbo out of it.”

  “I can clean up here.” Mrs. Jung came up beside them. They were all staying at the Maddox house tonight. “I can also watch the gumbo. Why don’t you rest?”

  “Yes, Cin,” Izabel piped in behind the Korean woman. “Close your eyes for a few minutes. We can take care of this. Drake’s got Ana Lisa.”

  “Same room?” Cindy smiled at her friend.

  Izabel grinned. “You know you have your name on it.”

  Marcus’s hand traveled to the small of her back and was about to guide her out of the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

  “More cops?” Marcus asked Drake.

  His friend frowned. “They said they’ll be back tomorrow for more statements. Not tonight.”

  The VBPD had temporary jurisdiction, but if Danny and his mother were proven to be the serial killers from Plano, Texas, the Feds would most likely take the lead.

  Drake looked up from his phone. “Ah … Cin, I think they’re for you.”

  Izabel looked at the outdoor camera app on her husband’s phone. “Wow, they were quick.”

  “Who—” Cindy peered at the phone. “Momma. Dad?”

  Cindy thought she was dreaming when her parents showed up on Izzy’s doorstep. She was even more confused when her dad hugged her as if she were a long-lost favorite daughter. She looked helplessly at Marcus who looked on with concern and then at Izzy who couldn’t hide the guilt on her face. Her friend knew she didn’t get along with her parents, but Cindy never told her the root cause.

  Her father pulled back and she was struck by the emotion on his face.

  “I thought I was going to be too late,” her father whispered.

  “I’m all right,” she replied, glancing at her mother. “You guys got in fast.”

  “Your dad had a friend with a private plane,” her mom said. Her dad stepped aside to let Momma squeeze her.


  Both of them were asking her about her abduction while alternately touching and hugging her while Cindy was still reeling from their unexpected presence. She went from dulled feelings to a confusing amalgam of emotions, the first one that surfaced was resentment.

  Really, Dad? It had to take me being kidnapped for you to treat me like your daughter?

  Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she bunched her fists at her sides to keep from yelling at her parents.

  “You might want to talk to them in private.” Marcus squeezed her shoulders.

  Her father narrowed her eyes at Marcus. “And who are you to my daughter?”

  “Oh, don’t act like the concerned puritanical father now,” Cindy snapped. “Marcus has been my rock through this whole ordeal which is more than I can say about you.”

  “Ladybug,” her dad whispered, face flushing.

  Cindy must have visibly flinched when he uttered that childhood endearment which she hadn’t heard since she was ten. Her dad looked more contrite than she’d ever seen him, but with their broken bond, it was hard to muster any sympathy.

  “Izzy.” She turned to her friend. “Is there a place my parents and I could catch up?”

  * * *

  Awkward was an understatement, Marcus thought as he stood by and watched Philip and Lucille Lake express their concern for their daughter’s welfare. He refused to step outside and leave the woman he loved with the people who destroyed her ability to trust and commit.

  His eyes were riveted on the blonde beauty who’d effortlessly stolen his heart, his mind in a state of wonder on how fast he was determined to make her his. If there was anything he regretted, it was not getting help for his guilt sooner, but if what he and Cindy were sharing now was any indication, there was a time and place for everything.

  “You didn’t need to fly over,” Cindy said. “As you can see”—she glanced at Marcus—“I’m well taken cared for.”

  “Don’t you need to go see a doctor?” her mother demanded.

  Cindy rolled her eyes. “An EMT checked me out on the scene and they took some blood work at the ER to check for lingering toxins. I’m fine. I’m sorry you wasted a trip.”