“Bryant, you got eyes on Samantha yet?” Raleigh asked as he readied himself for the take down.
“Yeah, Chief, I see her, and I see Jahan. He’s sitting watching a TV not far from Sammie on your side of the building, Chief. But I don’t have a shot. Sammie is in front of him. I got no shot, Chief.”
Damn it, Raleigh thought as he approached a window, hoping he could get a clear view of the inside. He peered through and saw her. His heart fell into his toes, and he shook himself straight. He watched for a moment and saw Jahan stand in front of Samantha, shoving the gun to her temple, and in that moment, Jahan struck her again with the butt of his gun, knocking her out. Raleigh started to go but then watched as Jahan grabbed his bag, headed to the car that sat just twenty feet from where Samantha was, and tossed his bag in.
“Guys, we gotta go now. Jahan is attempting to flee. Go. Go now.” Within moments, the men were inside. SWAT had driven their van through the factory doors and into the vehicle that Jahan was attempting to get into. Jahan ran toward Samantha, struggling to manually blow the bomb, but before he could get to her, Raleigh and the men heard Bryant yell. “I got a shot! I got a shot! I am taking it now.” And Jahan was down, blood streaming from his head.
“Got you. You son of a bitch,” was all they heard from Bryant. Raleigh rushed to Samantha and held her head up. He saw she was bleeding from the cuts in her brow and on the side of her head.
“Sammie. Sammie, can you hear me?” Raleigh asked but got nothing. As he waited for Macalister and the bomb suit, he pulled out his Alabama throw and covered her shoulders, careful not to touch the bomb on her chest. “Jax, I need you to call 911. We are gonna need an ambulance for Sammie. She is unresponsive, and she has some pretty bad cuts from the pistol whippings she’s gotten.”
“On it already, Chief,” Jackson replied.
“Thanks, Jax,” Raleigh replied. “Mac, where the fuck are you?”
“Be right there, Chief. Just coming in the door now.”
“Well, hurry. We only have six minutes,” Raleigh shouted.
“I’m here, Chief,” Mac said as Matt approached Raleigh also.
“Good. Let’s get this on me,” Raleigh replied as he stood up and removed his armored Molle vest and his jacket.
“Chief, I got this!” Mac replied.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Raleigh snorted back.
“You didn’t, Chief. I am trained. You aren’t.”
“You can talk me through it,” Raleigh explained.
“No. It will take too long, and the longer we sit here and argue, the more time ticks off that counter. Now help me get this on, Chief, so you can get to safety.”
“I am staying here.”
“Fine but help me get this on.” Matt and Raleigh helped Mac get the bomb suit on, then Matt and the other men got to safety outside of the building. Raleigh held Samantha as Macalister worked one wire at a time. Finally, with nine seconds to go, the counter stopped, Mac removed the vest from Samantha, and called in the SWAT team with the explosives container to remove the bomb from the building. Raleigh picked Samantha up from the chair and laid her down on the concrete floor of the old factory, still trying to get her to wake as the paramedics arrived.
As they began to treat Samantha, wrapping her head then loading her on the gurney for transport to Fayetteville Memorial Hospital, Raleigh never left her side. When they loaded her into the ambulance, the medic attempted to keep him from accompanying her.
“Sir, you can’t ride with her.”
“Like hell I’m not!” he screamed. “It’s either you and me back here or just me ’cause I am fixed to make you a patient.”
During this back and forth, the Chief of Fayetteville Police Department spoke up. “Jason, let him ride along. It’s his soldier he is responsible for.”
“Fine. Come on.”
Raleigh stepped into the ambulance and sat opposite the paramedic and held Samantha’s hand as the medic worked. Mac shut the door, and the driver pulled away.
Chapter 24
The entire trip to the hospital, Raleigh held Samantha’s hand, talking to her with no response. He prayed the entire drive that she would be okay, as the images of her slumped in the chair, bleeding and unconscious, ran over and over in his head like a horror movie. Once the ambulance slowed and stopped, Raleigh knew he could no longer stay by her side while the doctors worked on her.
The doors to the ambulance swung open, and Raleigh quickly jumped out so the doctors and nurses could do their jobs. He watched as the gurney disappeared through the double doors of the emergency room. He walked into the waiting room, head held down as he made his way to a chair nearest the door the doctor would emerge from once he had something to say.
The minutes seemed like hours and the hours like days when finally, after two hours, the doctor emerged from behind the door and asked for “Chief Raleigh Fitzgerald.”
“That’s me. I’m here. Is Samantha all right? Is she going to be okay?”
The doctor paused for a moment. “She’s asking for you, Chief. If you’ll follow me, I will take you to her. She will have to be here a few days, but she is going to be fine. She has a bad concussion and about twenty-three stitches, but she is going to be fine. We just need to watch her the next few days. You can’t stay for long. We will be moving her to a room upstairs, but we will let you know once we get her into a room.”
“Thanks, Doc. I appreciate you taking care of her.”
“She’s just through here, Chief.” The doctor pointed to a curtain at the far end of the emergency room. Raleigh’s heart was in his toes as he got closer to the curtain. He paused for a moment, almost afraid to move the long white curtain. Will she be mad at me for leaving her? That was one of his biggest fears. Grabbing the curtain, he pulled it back, poking his head around it.
“Sammie, what did I tell you about lying around on the job? You are only allowed to do that when I am around and we are both naked.”
Samantha smiled and laughed, then grimaced. “Oh, ouch, don’t make me laugh, babe. My head feels like I got hit by a truck.”
Raleigh came closer and bent down and kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you, Sammie.”
“Fitz, you got nothing to worry about. There is no way you could’ve prevented this even if you had been there. They might’ve killed you.”
“Well, it won’t happen again. I’m gonna keep you in my sights from now on.”
Samantha laughed. “Well, you can try.”
“That’s true, and besides with the amount of pounding that head of yours has gotten over the last six months, I doubt I could convince you to stay outta harm’s way. I swear, woman, you gotta have the hardest head God ever created. I think I know why the bad guys keep hitting ya in the head. It’s ’cause of that mouth of yours. You got the mouth of a drunken sailor, the fighting style of Chuck Norris, and the body of Marilyn Monroe. That mouth of yours always gets you into trouble.”
Samantha smiled then winked. “Well, I guess you will need to find ways of keeping my mouth busy. You got any ideas right now?”
“Oh, I think I can think of a few ideas right now, but till then, I think I’m just gonna kiss you.”
Raleigh leaned in and kissed her, pulling away only for a moment to tell her, “I love you, Samantha O’Hara, and I can’t wait to call you my wife. Now hurry up and get outta this hospital bed so I can make love to you.”
Samantha grinned, and the gleam in her eyes almost spoke to him. “Who’s to say we gotta wait?”
Raleigh couldn’t help himself, and he laughed a hard belly laugh. “Well, I think the other patients might have something to say about that.”
“I’m not asking them. I am asking you.”
“I tell ya what, Sammie, if and only if you get into a private room will I even think about that.”
“Well, ya know, Chief, I will need guards outside my room. You can always tell them not to disturb us.”
Raleigh kissed her
again then as he pulled away. “We will see. Right now, baby, you need to rest. I’m gonna check and see if I can’t arrange a private room. You know, for your protection.”
“Oh, Raleigh, before I forget, Saheed got away!”
“Yeah, how did you know that? You were out cold when we arrived.”
“I overheard Jahan on the phone with Saheed. It sounded like he was catching a plane back to Afghanistan.”
“Well, that would explain why we didn’t see him and found no evidence that he had been there.”
“Oh, he was definitely there.”
“We know. He sent me video. Don’t worry, we will get him. If I have to follow that motherfucker to the ends of the earth, I will find him, and I will kill him, Sammie. I promise you that.”
“I know you will. We will, together.”
Raleigh held Samantha’s hand and kissed it. “I’ll be right back.”
***
Raleigh spoke with the doctor and arranged a private room as well as speaking with hospital security to let them know that there would be armed military police guarding Samantha’s room. When he finished, he took a seat in the waiting room just to clear his head and get things straight. He couldn’t take a chance there was a possibility that Saheed going to Afghanistan was a ruse to divert attention from searching for him and getting him another crack at Samantha.
Something kept creeping into his mind, and he wondered. Was Samantha his target this entire time or was it me? Raleigh and Samantha had both been captives of Saheed. Had one of us seen or heard something that Saheed wanted kept quiet?
If that was the case, he was a little too late for that. Saheed had no idea what Raleigh’s task force had on him or that they had the senator. At least he hoped Saheed didn’t know Chance had taken him and his family away to a safe house. They didn’t know who to trust. The senator had told them not to trust anyone, including those in the highest echelons of government.
Raleigh was pretty sure about that bit of information, and he was also pretty sure that the senator had a lot more information that he wasn’t telling them. He just had to think of a way to get that information without drawing attention. Raleigh needed to make sure that no matter what that everyone got what they had coming to them. And Saheed…well, Saheed was number one on Raleigh’s hit list. If Raleigh had anything to say about it, Saheed and his entire organization would go down in a blaze of gunfire and bombs the likes of which had not been seen since the Battle of Tora Bora, but this time he would get his man a lot quicker than ten years later. Raleigh was determined that Saheed would go down by his hands.
If it came right down to it, if Raleigh had to shoot the president in order to protect the rights of all Americans and to ensure that American democracy lived on, he would. Not knowing who was involved in this huge plot seemed almost too daunting for any one man to take on, but he thanked God every day that He sent such an amazing, smart, talented, and independent woman as He did when He sent Samantha O’Hara into his life. Now he just had to make sure he protected her as well as himself in order to find out who was behind this entire thing. He knew the answer wasn’t gonna come today or tomorrow or come easily.
When Raleigh returned to Samantha’s bedside, the nurses were prepping her to move to a room in the hospital. Raleigh kissed her hand and told her he would see her in a few minutes. He still needed to meet the military police outside to accompany them to her room.
“Will there be guards at Sergeant O’Hara’s room when you arrive?” Raleigh asked the young nurse who was busy securing Samantha to the bed.
“Yes, sir, they will be accompanying us to Sergeant O’Hara’s room and will remain until you arrive with the military police.”
“Good. I will be right up as soon as I can, Sammie. Try and get some sleep and know this—I will be by your side the entire night. I won’t leave this hospital until you do.”
Samantha smiled then grabbed his hand and pulled it to her lips. Kissing his hand, she said, “I know I am in good hands with you. They are a little rough, but mostly I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“All right, Sergeant O’Hara, are you ready to go?” the nurse asked as she started to push the bed forward toward the double doors of the emergency room. Then she caught Raleigh as he started to leave. “Oh, Chief. Before we go, Sergeant O’Hara will be in room twenty-ten, first room off the elevator to your left.”
“Thank you, nurse. I’ll be up in just a bit. Sammie, try not to give this nice nurse a tough time, all right?”
“All right,” she replied. “See ya in a few minutes.”
Raleigh watched as the two nurses pushed Samantha’s bed into the large elevator followed by four hospital security men.
***
Raleigh stood outside of the emergency room doors waiting for the military police to arrive. Trying to keep his mind busy, he grabbed his cell and dialed Chance. Before Chance had left, he and Raleigh had devised a code to communicate just in case someone was listening in on their conversations. The Senator and his family would be called “cargo” and “shipping container” referred to the safe house. Raleigh’s “packages” were Saheed and Jahan and “destroyed” meant they were dead. “Flower” referred to Samantha. It was the only way the two men thought they could keep everyone under wraps and the information they were gaining in their hands and not someone else’s.
“This is Chance Maxwell.”
“Hey man, it’s Chief. You get the cargo stashed away?”
“Yeah. I got the five packages, and they are safe in the storage container.”
“Roger! Just FYI, the two packages I had to take care of, one is on its way to Pashtu country and the other was destroyed. Let me know if you need anything. Otherwise I will see you when I see you. We will work on the rest of the packages when I get back.”
“Sounds good, Chief. Take care of that flower.”
“I will buddy and thanks again. I’ll see ya soon.”
Raleigh hung up the phone just as the MPs arrived to set up outside Samantha’s hospital room. Matt had made sure that the guards at the door were well known to him, and most importantly, Matt trusted them. So, if Matt trusted the six men, so did Raleigh. He did recognize a couple of the men from the jail as well as one that had always been on duty at the gate. As the six approached, the senior-ranking member rendered a salute and a greeting.
“Good evening, Chief. Major Chambers sent us here and told us to meet with you. He said you would tell us what our mission is.”
“Yep! Follow me and we will discuss this inside. We will go to the waiting room and go over the plan.”
He explained to the men what he could of the situation—they needed to watch out for anyone suspicious, and no one was allowed into Sergeant O’Hara’s room except those approved by Raleigh himself. He was not going to leave her side until she left the hospital. If it was a doctor, nurse, a soldier, or police officer, they were to knock on the door and Raleigh would approve or disapprove. If Raleigh left the room for any reason, no one was allowed in unless it was a medical emergency.
“Do you understand, guys? No one unless cleared by me.”
“Roger that, Chief.”
“All right, I will show you to Sergeant O’Hara’s room. It will be twelve-hour shifts, so three of you can leave after I show you where to report, but be back at six a.m. tomorrow morning. Roger?”
“Roger, Chief!”
Chapter 25
Once Raleigh got the men set up, he slowly opened the door to Samantha’s room and quietly sat down in the chair next to her bed. She was asleep, which for Raleigh was a blessing. He hated to see her battered and bruised, but she was alive and safe with him now. Leaning back into the reclining chair, he tried to stay as quiet as he could; he didn’t want to wake her, but the recliner had other ideas, and Samantha’s eyes opened.
“If you’re trying to be quiet, you failed epically.” She smiled with a half laugh.
“Yeah, looks that way. I’m sorry, Sammie. Go back to sleep. I
will be here when you wake up.”
Samantha smiled then curled her finger giving him the “come here” motion. “Yeah, know what? This bed is awful comfortable and plenty of room for the two of us. Why don’t you take off those boots and curl in next to me? I wanna feel you and know you are here.”
“Are you sure, darlin’? I don’t wanna hurt you.”
“You won’t. I promise. Come on. Please.”
“Fine. But if you aren’t comfortable, then kick my big ass out.”
“Deal. Now get those clothes off so I can feel all of you.”
“Sammie. That’s not the deal. As much as I would love to make love to you right now, you have twenty-three stitches in your head, and I would be afraid of really hurting you.”
“Well, last I looked, my vagina was south of my head,” Samantha said, laughing as Raleigh sat in the recliner, removing only his boots.
“Let’s do this. Let’s sleep tonight and see how you are feeling in the morning,” he said as he crawled in next to her. “Now close your eyes or I will have the nurse come in and give you something to make you sleep.”
Samantha pouted and moved over so Raleigh could snuggle next to her. Samantha leaned her head into his neck as they both drifted off to sleep.
***
Raleigh stirred as the sun peeked through the window of the hospital room. He gently crawled from the bed and into the recliner next to the bed. His entire body ached from sleeping in the position he had, but it made Samantha as well as himself feel better to be next to each other. Walking to the door, he peered around the edge and asked one of the guards to get the attention of one of the nurses. He needed coffee, and he needed it soon. It only took a few minutes for a knock on the door, and Raleigh quietly cracked it open to see Samantha’s nurse.
A Warranted Box Set Page 38
