Rules in Rescue

by Nichole Severn

  “Elliot, no!” Elizabeth Dawson’s warning pierced through the gunfire.

  “I’m hit!” Elliot said.

  Oh, no. One of Anthony’s team had been taken down. The soldier flipped her onto her back, pinning her beneath him. They had to get to Bennett. Without him, Jamie Mascaro’s operation would live. Millions more military weapons would reach the country’s enemies.

  Long fingers wrapped around her throat. She tried prying her guard’s grip loose. But he was too strong. Too heavy. She kicked against him, but he wouldn’t let up. Darkness closed in. Pressure built in her chest—there was no way for her to get the oxygen out. Glennon bucked again.

  Wrenching her off the dock, the soldier slammed her head back against the old wood.

  Her body wouldn’t respond to her brain’s commands. Get up. She had to get up. Stars in the night sky blurred, her attacker’s face losing definition. Ringing filled her ears.

  Low, fast-paced vibrations reverberated along the dock. A gun barrel slid into her vision, aimed between the operative’s eyes. Then he slid into her vision. Her heart stopped. Stopped then started racing. The man staring out through those dark blue eyes was blood and death and war, but in that moment he was everything she needed him to be. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  The operative released her, raising his hands over his head as he stood.

  She swallowed against the bruising tightness in her throat. Rolling onto her side, Glennon clawed out from under her attacker and coughed to restart her lungs. Her vision cleared, her throat raw. She wrapped her hand around the Glock she’d taken from the soldier and disengaged the safety. Hiking the gun over her shoulder, she used Anthony for balance and climbed to her feet.

  “You put your hands on my son,” Anthony said over Elizabeth and Elliot’s gunshots on the other dock.

  The operative’s attention slid to Anthony then back to her. “Better hope your bodyguard is a good shot. One bullet isn’t going to stop me from carrying out my orders, sweetheart.”

  “She’s not your sweetheart.” Anthony fired. Once. Twice. The man assigned to toss her into the lake collapsed. One bullet to the cheek. One to the head. “She’s mine.”

  Exhaustion pulled at her muscles, but it wasn’t over yet. Bennett. They had to get to Bennett. A wave of dizziness messed with her balance and she overcorrected. Strong hands righted her. Glennon adjusted her grip on the gun. Her breath heaved in and out of her lungs. She blinked to clear her head. Movement from across the lake drew her attention to the second dock, where Bennett had gone into the water.

  Elizabeth and Elliot worked together and hauled her unconscious partner from the depths.

  Relief flooded through her. “We’ve got him—”

  A bullet to the shoulder twisted Anthony around, two more sinking home in his thigh and hip as he raised his Beretta. His boot slipped at the edge of the dock and he plunged backward into the lake.

  “No!” The water consumed him, beads spraying across her face. Glennon lunged as rough hands wrenched her backward. She gripped her attacker’s wrist and hiked it around and up, flattening out the last soldier’s arm. One hit with her elbow broke the bone and she used the space between her index finger and thumb to jam his trachea.

  He clamped a hand over his throat and hit the dock hard, his wrist still in her grasp.

  A gunshot from behind spun Glennon around, fists up.

  “You’ve surprised me, Sergeant Chase. But now, it’s just you and me.” Jamie Mascaro’s heels thudded across the dock. Motioning the injured soldier up with her Ruger, the weapons dealer nodded at Glennon’s discarded Glock. He collected it then pushed Glennon forward. One shot. That was all it would take for Jamie Mascaro to get away with kidnapping and murder, to disappear to some non-extradition country while pocketing millions of dollars in profit from the stolen weapons. “You had your suspect. I served my husband up on a silver platter. You arrested Nicholas, but you couldn’t let me have this, could you? Couldn’t let me show that bastard I wasn’t something he owned, that I was strong enough without him.”

  The gun wobbled in Jamie Mascaro’s hand, the lines around the woman’s mouth deeper than Glennon remembered.

  “It’s over, Mascaro. Sergeant Spencer has all the evidence we need to court-martial the soldiers you recruited, and send you to prison for the rest of your life.” The ache in her chest refused to dissipate. It grew stronger every second Anthony stayed beneath the surface. Every second she didn’t know whether he’d survived. “There’ve been too many lives taken already. This doesn’t have to end with more blood.”

  “You took everything from me!” Jamie Mascaro gripped both hands around the Ruger’s grip. “And now you’re going to pay.”

  Water splashed from the surface of the lake and the soldier positioned behind Glennon disappeared.

  A growl ripped from Anthony’s throat, streams of water running down his face. The veins in his arms struggled from beneath his skin as blood dripped to the dock. “Not if I have anything to say about that.”

  “It’s not possible.” Jamie Mascaro backed up a step. Her bottom lip quivered as she aimed the Ruger at the Ranger. “Why won’t you just die?”

  “Anthony!” Glennon shoved him out of the way and lunged. Wrapping her arms around Mascaro, she wrenched the woman to one side, but the edge of the dock was much closer than she’d originally estimated. The world tilted on its axis as they fell into the lake. Water worked into her mouth and nose, freezing her from the inside. Pressure built in her lungs, but she refused to release her grip.

  Jamie Mascaro fought, clawing toward the surface, kicking at her with those ridiculous heels. No. She didn’t get to take Anthony from her. Glennon tightened her hand around a bare ankle. Mascaro kicked at her again. Shadows passed above them, highlighted by the spotlights. Ten seconds. That was all she needed. Jamie Mascaro would pass out and they could end this nightmare. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. Bubbles escaped her nose and mouth.

  A wave of disturbed water rushed against her.

  She was running out of air. Her grip on Mascaro’s ankle began to slip as darkness closed in.

  Chapter Fifteen

  He had her.

  Anthony tightened his hold on the dripping wet woman in his arms. The horrible clawing in his chest had finally subsided. She’d come too close to death. He’d nearly lost her, but he’d be damn certain he never would again.

  Perched at the back of the ambulance, they had a clear view of the scene. He set his chin on the crown of Glennon’s head as the EMT ripped the blood pressure cuff from her arm. Her hair had frozen in long, stringy strands, her skin was paler than normal, the hollowness in her features deeper, but Glennon had never been more beautiful to him than in that moment. She’d survived. “Are you in pain?”

  “Every inch of me aches.” She watched as Jamie Mascaro was led to the back of a police cruiser, a faint smile curling one corner of her mouth. “But I guess that means I’m alive, doesn’t it?”

  He didn’t return her smile. Her partner had been recovered. Mascaro’s operation had been destroyed. Their jobs were done. But every cell in his body raged. “You shouldn’t have risked your life like that.”

  “After everything we’ve been through, I wasn’t about to let that woman put a bullet in you.” Her shoulders rose on a strong inhale, her gaze distant. In an instant she focused on him. “Isn’t that what love is? Wanting to keep the person you love most in this world safe? It’s a choice. And I choose to love you, Ranger. Forever.”

  A growl vibrated up his throat as he stared down at her. “Say that again.”

  “What?” she asked. “That I love you?”

  “Yes.” Heat counteracted the ice working through his veins. “Say it again.”

  Her eyes brightened, as though she knew exactly what kind of power she held over him. “All right, but on one condition.”

&n
bsp; “Anything.” Whatever she wanted, he’d give it to her. Right now. Right then. Forever. “Anything you need or want from me, it’s yours.”

  “It’s time to let it go. That guilt you carry.” The light in her expression dimmed. She framed his face with one hand, her fingers driving through his beard. Glennon scanned his features. “I see it in your eyes every time I’m in danger. I see it in the way you don’t hesitate to pull that trigger. Or in the way you put your life at risk time and again to protect me. You believe you could’ve done more for your team on tour, but I’m here to tell you, you couldn’t have saved them. You did everything you could and I’m proud of you.”

  How could she possibly know that? Heat climbed up his spine. Anthony dropped his arm from around her, flashes of that battle to survive fresh in his mind. But Glennon fisted her fingers around his soaked Kevlar vest to keep him from retreating. She pulled him close, grounding him, keeping him in the moment.

  “Glennon—”

  “You’re scared to lose anyone else. I’ve understood that more in the last three days than you’ll ever know, but you’re not the man I fell in love with when that guilt turns you into the Grim Reaper. You’re not mine and you can’t be a father with it hanging over your head.” Dropping her hold, Glennon started to back away, and his pulse rocketed into his throat. “You have a new team—” she nodded toward Elliot and Elizabeth stitching up their wounds “—and now you have a family. We need you. Here. Now. Not a ghost of you.”

  Anthony engulfed her hands in his, studying the small freckles across the backs. He’d lived on that guilt, pushed himself harder, survived. Now he was supposed to let it go? How? “Is that why you left? Why you kept my son from me?”

  Remnants of fury coated his words. How could he forgive her for that?

  Running her thumb over the patch on his vest with one hand, she notched his chin higher with the other. “Every time you came home, you were different—lost—and I didn’t understand. I didn’t know what to do or how to help you. And after the last time...I left.

  “I was pregnant and scared. I didn’t know how much of you would come home or if you’d stay after I told you. But I was wrong.” Glennon sniffled, crystalized beads of water sticking to her eyelashes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry we wasted so much time, that I lied to you—”

  Anthony pulled her into him, crushing his mouth down on hers. Because he had to. Because not kissing her had been eating at him since he’d pulled her out of that water. His fingers tangled in the frozen hair at the back of her neck as a groan escaped up his throat. A shiver rocked through her. From the desperation in his hold on her or from the dropping temperatures, he didn’t know. Either way, he’d never let go of her again. And he’d be the man she needed. He’d do whatever it took. If that meant taking himself out of the protection game or going to support meetings, he’d do it. For her. For Hunter. For their family.

  Anthony pulled away first.

  “I want you more than any job, more than the breath in my lungs and more than anything else in this world. I’m here, sweetheart. One hundred percent.” He set his forehead against hers but kept her close, pressed into him. Her rose scent, buried under a layer of lake smells, worked down into his lungs. “You never have to worry about that side of me again. He’s gone. And I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good. Neither am I.” Wrapping long fingers around his wrists, she closed her eyes and huddled deeper into the blanket the EMT had wrapped around her, a puddle pooling at her feet. Excess water from the lake seeped into his own clothing, freezing him to the core, but Anthony wasn’t going anywhere. Not without her. “I need to get out of these clothes.”

  “I can help with that.” He bent his mouth to hers, savoring her for another few short seconds before reality set in. Reports. Following up with Anchorage PD. Filling in the army. Reporting to Sullivan for his next assignment.

  “First, take me to our son,” she said, “then you can take us home.”

  “To the cabin?” Even on the verge of hypothermia, Glennon Chase was determined to put their son first. And he loved her for it.

  He stood, with effort. Threading his fingers through hers, Anthony pulled her to him. Desire raked down his spine at her touch as he fit her against him. Right where she belonged. A quick nod solidified his plans for the future. Her and Hunter. His family. Everything he’d ever wanted. A smile curled his mouth as he planted a quick kiss to her lips. “Absolutely, sweetheart.”

  Red-and-blue lights illuminated the scene. The coroner’s van was parked at the far end of the parking lot. Anchorage PD would want a full report, but that could wait. Glennon was his priority. She was all that mattered.

  Medics wheeled Bennett Spencer past them to a second ambulance. Hypothermia. A bullet in the shoulder, another in the rib cage. He’d live. The bastard was too stubborn to die.

  “Hey, hold up,” Anthony called to the EMTs, motioning to the gurney with his chin. They slowed. An oxygen mask blocked most of Bennett’s face. The guy looked like he’d been to hell and back. Barely conscious, blood staining his shirt, eyes sagging closed. But this couldn’t wait. “Glennon wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. I owe you.”

  Bennett blinked slowly at him, every breath a rasp. “Is...th-that appreciation I...h-hear?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself.” Glancing down at Glennon, he tightened his hold on the only woman who’d been able to break him. If it hadn’t been for Bennett, he wouldn’t be standing there. And Glennon... He’d have lost her all over again. He’d have lost everything. “I know a good JAG Corp prosecutor. Call the office and ask for Jane Reise. Tell her I sent you. Then, when you’re clear of all the charges the army will level against you, come work for us. Blackhawk Security could use an operative like you.”

  Laugh lines deepened around Bennett’s eyes. “Tall, dark...and hand...some?”

  A laugh burst from between Glennon’s pale lips.

  “I take it back. You’re obviously delusional from loss of blood.” Squeezing her into his side, Anthony nodded at the EMTs on either side of the gurney. “Get him out of here before I change my mind.”

  The gurney bounced over uneven ground before the EMTs loaded Bennett into the back of the ambulance.

  Steering Glennon toward his waiting SUV, Anthony studied the scene one last time. The investigation was over. Jamie Mascaro would serve the rest of her life behind bars in a women’s correctional facility, within a stone’s throw of the husband she’d betrayed. Glennon could put in for discharge and they could finally start their lives together. But not until—

  “Mommy!” Hunter’s excited voice carried over the noise of one ambulance siren and the ongoing conversations between officers. The four-year-old rushed across the gravel, leaving Vincent in the slush. Three seconds. That was all it took him to reach his mother.

  Dropping to her knees, Glennon wrapped him in an all-consuming hug, planting her face into the space between his neck and shoulder. Her fingers moved along his back and dug into his shoulders. Nothing in the world would be able to part them, and Anthony would kill anyone who tried. “I missed you. Are you okay?”

  Hunter nodded as the Blackhawk Security’s forensics expert trod across the scene. The crooked smile Anthony couldn’t get out of his mind flashed wide. “Vincent showed me how to dial 9-1-1!”

  “Yeah, you were supposed to leave that part out.” A big smile, surrounded by a full beard, creased the laugh lines around Vincent Kalani’s brown eyes, and something significant shifted. The ex-cop never smiled. He was too serious. Too hell-bent on revenge. In the year or so Anthony had known the forensics expert, he’d never seen those pearly whites. Seemed Hunter had that effect on a lot of people.

  “How very thoughtful.” Glennon lightened her hold on her son long enough to throw an amused glance in Anthony’s direction, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Laugh all you want, Ranger. You’re going to be the one t
o wake up when Anchorage PD shows up at our door at three in the morning.”

  His laugh died as he narrowed his gaze on Vincent. “You’re a dead man.”

  Something—no, someone—tugged on the bottom of his T-shirt. Hunter stared up at him, green eyes bright. He pulled Anthony to his knees and reached into his jacket pocket. Cupping his hand alongside his mouth, he looked over his shoulder toward his mother. The boy kept his voice low, but not low enough that Glennon couldn’t hear. “Can we give Mommy her present now?”

  With a single nod and a faint salute, Vincent backed toward his waiting SUV.

  “Sure, buddy.” Anthony held out his hand, careful to hide the gift from prying eyes. “Do you want to help?”

  An enthusiastic nod curled Hunter’s mouth into a smile. Anthony moved his son into position beside him. “Okay. Come here.”

  “When did you guys have time to get me a present?” Standing, Glennon cut her gaze to Hunter, a smile overwhelming the paleness in her features. Confusion deepened the three distinct lines between her eyebrows.

  “Down on one knee, buddy.” Curling one arm around their son, Anthony mimicked Hunter’s position, groaning through the new stitches in his thigh, then raised his focus to Glennon. Every muscle in his body caught fire at the sight of her. This was it. Now or never. He lowered his mouth to his son’s ear. “Here we go. Say, ‘Sergeant Glennon Chase.’”

  “Sergeant Glennon Chase.” Hunter’s small voice grew louder with each word.