Protected in His Arms: Elite Texas SEALs

by Castillo, Holly

  “Try to wipe the blood off. Don’t worry about getting completely clean. Just wipe off most of it. I need to see where you were hit.”

  She didn’t argue, merely nodded in understanding. He didn’t like the pallor of her skin and wanted to see her smile again. She moved the towel across her stomach and came across a spot on her side that bled slightly.

  “You were shot twice?” He struggled to maintain focus on the road.

  “Well, it appears so. But look… It’s barely bleeding at all.” As she swiped the towel over her chest, though, he heard her choke back a cry of pain.

  “Show me, Evie. I need to see.”

  She lowered the towel and he saw the wound on the left side of her chest, continuing to produce blood that ran down her body. He fought back his emotions and the desire to pull off the road and do everything he could to make her comfortable until he could get her to Phantom.

  “What do you see, Santo?” He wondered if Phantom had been reading his mind.

  “The round hit her on the left side of her chest about two, maybe three inches below her collar bone. It’s still bleeding steadily.”

  “Evie, I need you to talk to me. I know you said you don’t feel anything…is that still true? You aren’t in any pain?”

  “No. I am. My chest is burning now. It’s like there’s a fire inside there and I can’t put it out. At the same time, I can’t stop shaking and I’m freezing. So I’m burning up and cold at the same time. What does that mean?”

  “You’re probably in shock, and your body is reacting to the loss of blood. Evie, can you lean forward so Santo can look for an exit wound? We want to make sure the bullet went all the way through.”

  Evie licked her lips, which appeared dry. He grabbed his water bottle from the center console. “Drink some, but not a ton. You may start to feel sick to your stomach if you drink too much. Just breathe deep and listen to everything we tell you. Everything will be fine.”

  She looked at him as she took the bottle. “Anya’s a vet. She can stitch me up and I’ll be fine.” She grimaced as she lifted the bottle to her lips.

  As much as she put on a brave face, he knew her wound hurt like hell. “Phantom has medic training. You’re in good hands all the way around.”

  He could hear the men talking softly between each other over the phone, but couldn’t identify exactly what they were saying. Evie leaned forward, and he frowned deeply. He didn’t see an exit wound. “You can lean back,” he said softly, and she slumped backward in the chair. “Phantom, there isn’t an exit wound.”

  “Do you have your first-aid kit with you?” The tension in Phantom’s voice told Santo he wouldn’t like what needed to be done.

  “Of course.”

  “First things first,” Buzz broke into the conversation. “You need to be sure you are somewhere safe and no one is following you. Because, if he’s going to ask you to do what I think he’s going to ask you to do, you need to pull over.”

  “We’re still too close to Corpus. We need to get farther away from this hurricane before I pull over, or neither one of us is making it back alive.”

  “Evie, press the towel hard against the wound. It’s going to hurt like hell, but you need to slow the bleeding. Can you do that?” Phantom resumed with his calm tone.

  “Yes. You guys fret worse than a bunch of mother hens.” The strength in her voice gave Santo some reassurance, though not much.

  “I’ll touch base when I feel it is safe to pull over.” Santo’s thumb hovered over the button on his steering wheel to disconnect the call.

  “Keep us posted,” Stryker said. “If anything changes, no matter what the circumstances, call us.”

  “Will do.” Santo disconnected the call and noticed the farther they moved away from Corpus, the less rain they battled. He accelerated, determined to get to safety so he could take care of Evie.

  “How long have you been a SEAL?”

  Talking would take her mind off the pain, and he wanted to do anything to make her feel better. “Over ten years. I joined the moment I legally could and a soon as I could I went for the training to become a SEAL. When we moved here from Venezuela, all I could think about was how I could thank America for giving my family hope again. When I was a sophomore in high school, military recruiters visited our school. As soon as I learned about the SEAL program, I knew my future belonged to the military.”

  “Your parents must be proud of you.”

  Santo gave her a lop-sided grin. “Yeah. Though I don’t tell them how dangerous everything really is. I think they’d have a heart attack if they understood the things I have to do on a lot of missions.”

  He smiled at her. His eyes dropped a little lower and he saw red beginning to stain through the tan towel she had pressed to her chest. He needed to get to a secure location quickly and get Phantom back on the line. He might not make it to the ranch. He may be headed straight for the nearest hospital instead.

  * * *

  Evie leaned forward slightly in the seat, resisting the desire to groan out loud in pain. She pushed the button on the dash to turn her seat warmer on. She couldn’t get rid of the chill that gripped her.

  She leaned back in the seat, angling her head back on the headrest, and watched Santo out of the corner of her eye. “I can’t believe I’m dating a Navy SEAL. Do I get to brag about this to anyone?”

  He chuckled. He hadn’t known how she’d react to the news, but he’d never expected such support and enthusiasm. “Is that what we’re doing now? We’re dating?”

  She scrunched her face at him. “Oh. Or do you prefer to say we’re going steady?”

  His bark of laughter filled the cab of the truck. “So we went from dating to going steady like two high-schoolers?”

  “Mmm. I’ve never gone steady with anyone. Was engaged, but he crushed my heart. You’re the first man I’ve been comfortable with since him. So, what do you say? Wanna go steady?”

  “Whoa! Don’t I get to ask that question?”

  “You’re taking too long. I’m bleeding here and you can’t hurry up.” She smiled wryly at him.

  “I’ll do you one better. Evie Gordon, will you be my girlfriend?”

  Her smile broadened and even touched her eyes briefly. “I’d be honored.” Her smile slowly faded and she looked out the truck window. “You know, there’s something about everything that happened today that has me really confused.”

  “Other than the minimum of three different guys who tried to kill us today? Do tell.”

  “I’m being serious.”

  “So am I.”

  “Two of those men were trying to kill you, and one wanted to kill me. Why?”

  “I’d love to know who paid the asshole at the courthouse to kill Francis and then try to kill you. If I hadn’t shown up… I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “You did, though. That’s all that matters.” She dropped her head and kissed his hand where he helped press the towel against her chest. She tried to draw a deep breath but the tightness in her chest wouldn’t allow it. She tried not to think about it.

  “Why do you think they wanted to kill me and not you?” They turned onto another highway, and she felt some of the tension leave Santo. She knew he’d want to stop soon so he could do whatever Phantom wanted him to do with the first aid kit.

  “In the letter you got from Judge O’Connor, did it say anything to explain why?”

  “She mentioned you and Judge Mitchell were in grave danger. She also mentioned she didn’t know who was pulling the strings.”

  “What if someone wants the information I have and someone else wants to make sure it disappears forever?”

  “So you think the sniper may have been killing his competition because he wants information from you?” Santo pondered what she had said.

  “I don’t know. It’s a possibility based on the way things happened today.” She pressed her head further back into the cushion of the headrest. “I’m just trying to make sense of all of it.
”

  He rubbed her hand gently. “I’ve been so focused on keeping you alive, I always thought you were the target. You still are, just in a different way than I imagined. You think there's more than one group trying to either kill you now, or pull out any info they can from you and then kill you?”

  “Yes. The guy in the courthouse confirmed he’d been hired to kill Judge O’Connor. Whoever this other group is could be pissed they didn’t get to her first to get the information I have.”

  “What information? What is this that you’ve been talking about all day?”

  She gave him a weak smile. “I found a file in Judge Mitchell’s office in a false bottom of a drawer. It has Judge O’Connor’s handwriting on it. It’s in my purse—”

  “Don’t even think about trying to grab it. Let’s focus on getting to the ranch and then we can dig into all of this further. Okay?”

  “Sometimes you can be really bossy. Has anyone ever told you that?”

  He chuckled. “A time or two.”

  She chewed on her lower lip as their current predicament continued to press on her. “What happens now? I’m a liability to you and everyone at the ranch. If someone wants to kill me or get at me, they seem to have no problem hurting others to get what they want. I can’t put you at risk. I can’t let Anya and Elena become possible victims.”

  “Trust me, being surrounded by seven highly-trained Navy SEALs is the safest place for you, Anya, and Elena. We’ve gone through some challenging missions in the past. We know how to handle the bad guys.”

  She nodded slowly, her head feeling heavy. She struggled to maintain pressure on the towel against her chest. Santo looked over at her again and the smile left his face. “How are you holding up?”

  “I-I’m really tired.”

  “I’m going to take the back roads to the ranch. It will make it less likely for us to be followed. Once we take the exit, I’m going to pull off to the side and I’m going to take a look at your wound.”

  She tried to nod in agreement, but everything seemed to be a monumental task she couldn’t hurdle. “Santo, I just want to sleep. Only for a little while.”

  “No. I need you to stay awake for me. You’ve got to stay awake, Evie.” He took the next exit at a high speed and turned onto one of the county roads that would eventually lead them to the ranch. Only a few miles down the road he pulled the truck to the side and put it in park.

  He hit the button on the steering wheel, and Phantom answered before it made it to the second ring. “Talk to us, buddy. How’s Evie holding up?”

  “I’m fine, Phantom,” Evie answered. “I’m just really tired.”

  “How’s the pain?”

  “I don’t feel anything anymore. I just want to go to sleep, but Santo said I can’t.”

  “He’s right,” Phantom said calmly. “Santo, you got the kit out?”

  Santo settled back in his seat after having dived over to grab the first aid kit from the back. “Yes.” She tried to think about anything else than what Santo could possibly need the first aid kit for.

  “Grab your knife and sterilize it with some alcohol wipes.”

  “Wait—why?” Evie became instantly more alert at his words. “Why does he need his knife?”

  “Since there isn’t an exit wound, he’s going to make a small cut and see if he can spot the bullet. From the way you’ve stayed alert this long and have only had pain in your chest, I strongly suspect it is lodged in one of your ribs. If he can’t see it, he needs to head to the hospital and not to the ranch.”

  Phantom’s explanation did little to calm her nerves. Santo sanitized his knife quickly, and Evie stared at the sharp blade with trepidation. “This is going to hurt, isn’t it?”

  Santo looked up at her, his gaze sympathetic. “Yes. But not much. You aren’t even feeling the pain from the wound any longer. Our bodies work in unexpected ways. Yours is doing everything possible to keep you alive and to deaden your feeling around the injury.”

  She didn’t know if he told her the truth or just what he thought would placate her. Regardless, she chose to latch onto his words with hope and slowly lowered the towel she had been pressing so tightly to her chest. Hope emboldened her when very little blood came from the wound.

  “Brace yourself against the door. Keep the towel close, because there will be a little more bleeding. Not much, I hope. I should be able to see the bullet fairly easily if it hit your rib. This high on your chest there isn’t much muscle and tissue to go through to see.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded, scooting back in the seat until her back pressed against the door. “Just a small cut, Santo. You’ll need to be able to fit your finger in to feel for the bullet.” Phantom’s instructions continued over the speaker in the truck. Santo had neglected to tell her he had to put his finger in the wound. The man’s hands were huge!

  “Look away, Evie. If you watch, you’ll tense up and that will only make things harder.”

  Gritting her teeth, she turned her head. She felt a sting, and then intense pressure. The pain hit hard after he finished the cut and she fought the tears burning her eyes. The pressure began again, and she realized he had started to search for the bullet. She hated it when a tear slid down each cheek.

  “Found it,” Santo said, letting out a relieved sigh. “You’re right, Phantom. It’s lodged in one of her ribs. I can’t pull it out, though.”

  “Don’t worry. We can do that as soon as you get here. At least we know it didn’t hit anything vital. Bandage her up as best you can and get your ass here ASAP. I need to get it out and get her stitched up before she bleeds much more.”

  “Aw, shit!”

  “What’s wrong?” Evie and the entire SEAL team at the ranch asked at the same time.

  “Someone’s headed down the road.”

  “There’s only one reason someone would be headed down that way in a storm like this,” Snap said.

  “No shit, Sherlock,” Santo growled, jumping back into his seat and throwing the truck into gear.

  “For someone from Venezuela, you picked up on our idioms quite well.”

  “Snap!”

  “Get out of there, and get out now,” Buzz said.

  Santo grabbed the towel and pressed it against Evie’s wound, quickly grabbing her hand and placing it over it again. Then he hit the gas and the back tires kicked out mud and gravel as they spun back onto the road.

  Evie blinked rapidly as the land around them whipped by, the rain picking up again and pounding on the roof. Her vision seemed to narrow, fading slightly, then brightening as she tried to turn her head to look at Santo.

  “Evie, buckle-up. This is going to be a crazy ride,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road as he drove at an insane speed through the downpour.

  “Right,” she murmured, fumbling for the seat belt with her free hand. She grimaced at the sight of her blood covering her hands and the fabric of the belt. “I’m sorry I’m getting so much blood in your truck.”

  He glanced over at her. “You have nothing to be sorry for. This gives me a good excuse to get a new truck.” He winked.

  Her vision narrowed again as she struggled to press one end of the buckle into the other. She blinked rapidly, then opened her eyes wide, trying hard to see what she needed to do. She sighed with relief when the buckle clicked into place and she tightened it around her. Her eyelids felt so heavy. Her head felt heavy. Hell, her entire body felt heavy.

  “Santo…” She couldn’t form any more words. He looked over at her and from a distance, she heard him curse. She let her eyes fall shut. Exhaustion tugged at her, and she finally gave in.

  Chapter 23

  “Evie just passed out,” Santo said, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as he stole another look at her pale face.

  “She’ll be okay. I’m surprised she held on for as long as she has,” Phantom reassured him.

  “She’s got a helluva lot of fight in her.” Santo couldn’t be more proud of her. She had kept her wi
ts through everything they had been through and had even found a positive view of him being a SEAL.

  “What about the vehicle following you? Can you give me any details about it so I can try to dig up info?” Buzz asked.

  “It’s a tan F-150 single cab. Looks like there are two guys inside.” He rattled off the license plate number quickly, then gunned his truck faster. “They aren’t willing to go as fast as I am, so I may be able to lose them easier than we thought.”

  “Take whatever evasive moves you need to take, just like Buzz said.” Stryker, as always, had a calm, level head in a potentially dangerous situation. “Take the alternate entrance to the ranch once you finally get here. I don’t want to give them any clue where we are.”

  “Will do. I think we need to take extra precautions regardless. We have no idea what they might know at this point. Buzz, do a full sweep of all our security protocols and surveillance around the ranch. We can’t take any chances.”

  “I’ll run a systems check while I hunt down this license plate. It could lead us to just a stolen vehicle, or it could be a gold mine. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Thanks.” Santo looked in the rearview mirror and saw the truck gradually getting closer. The driver certainly seemed determined to reach them no matter the danger and risk it presented. If he let them get too close, the passenger could try to shoot out his tires, and cause his truck to flip. He had to keep far enough away from them.

  Another county road appeared suddenly to his right, and he slammed on his brakes and took the sharp turn, the rear of the truck spinning out behind him as he floored the gas. The driver behind him scrambled to make the turn as well but ended up with one tire sliding off the road and into the muddy ditch. The distance continued to increase as their tire spun madly, trying to gain purchase.

  Santo grinned. He may be able to head straight to the ranch after all. His eyes darted between the road, his rearview mirror, and Evie’s limp form leaning against the door. Fortunately, the seatbelt held the towel in place over her wound.