The longer the team could go without using their guns, the better off they were.
Leo jerked ever so slightly as he heard the first gunshots being fired from an assault rifle. So much for silence. Leo took out the guy right above the cave. He heard Ezio fire. Leo had his rifle trained on the man who had just woken up, and he killed him. All the while, he heard screams and loud spurts of assault fire over his receiver.
“Fuck!”
“Goddammit!”
It was Cullen and Nic. Had they been shot?
He saw headlights at almost the same instant as his teammates had started cursing. It had probably blinded them in their goggles. An engine roared to life. More rifle fire continued in the cave.
He heard a grunt of pain come over his receiver. It was one of their team, but who?
Leo didn’t have time to give a shit, they had bigger fish to fry as a truck with a canvas covering on the back came barreling out of the cave and headed toward Ezio and Leo’s hiding spots.
“No doctor,” Max said over his mic. “He could be in the truck.”
“Gotcha,” Ezio responded.
“Tires,” Leo told Ezio.
“Agreed.” They didn’t want to take out the driver for fear of an immediate wreck, so they’d go for the tires to begin with.
“Left side,” Ezio said.
“Right side,” Leo responded.
Shooting out all of the tires at once was the best way to ensure the truck didn’t end up on its side or upend itself. Leo spotted a driver and someone in the passenger seat. With the back covered, they had no idea how many were in the back.
As the truck got closer, Leo called out, “Now.”
They took their shots and the tires exploded. The driver kept driving. It was going slow. Perfect time to take out the people in the front seat. Leo took out the driver and Ezio took out the one in the passenger seat. The truck was closest to Leo. He jumped down off his rock, leaving his sniper rifle and pulling his M4 assault rifle off his back. He kept it in front of him as he moved in to see what he was dealing with in the back of the truck.
In the distance, he saw one man running toward him from the cave. “Coming your way,” Nic said.
“On the other side,” Ezio breathed into the mic.
“On the count of three,” Leo said as softly.
They came around the opposite sides and threw back the sides of the canvas tarp. Four men were in the back. Two were obviously unconscious but were held up anyway, as human shields. One had a gun to his head, the other a knife to his throat.
The one who held the knife screamed in Dari, “I’ll kill him.”
He was holding Daisy’s father.
Leo had no doubt in his mind that he was willing to kill his hostage.
“Siraj Haqqani will not be happy if you kill him without his permission,” Leo said calmly in Dari.
The man’s eyes widened. “What do you know of him?”
“I know that he would kill you and your family if you were to take the life of the doctor without his permission.”
“You will kill me anyway, so what’s the point?”
“I promise not to kill you. You and your friend release your hostages, and you will be taken alive.”
Leo saw him considering his words. He whispered to the other man, who shook his head vehemently. But the man with the knife continued to talk. Leo could hear him talking about their families. Finally, the man with the gun let his arm drop. It was enough; Ezio and Leo jumped into the truck and rushed the men.
The Haqqani terrorists dropped their unconscious prisoners and held up their hands. “Max,” Leo called into his mic. “We’ve got the doc and the reporter.”
“We’ve got the place cleared out here,” Kane answered. “I’m calling Wilma to touch down here.”
“Was someone injured?” Ezio asked.
“Yeah,” Raiden answered. “It was Cullen bitching and whining about a flesh wound.”
“I wasn’t complaining about the wound, I was complaining about the way you doctored me up.” Leo could hear the grimace in Cullen’s voice. It was obviously worse than a flesh wound.
Leo would bet his bottom dollar that Raiden had stayed close to Cullen because he’d had one of his feelings. He was weird that way. Kind of like Kane was about his magic with computers.
“Kane, tell Wilma it’s going to be packed, that we have two prisoners we’re bringing aboard,” Ezio said.
“Got it.”
14
It was the ambassador who called her. Funny, Daisy had been expecting to hear from Leo.
“Your father has been rescued, Miss Squires. He’s at the hospital at Bagram Air Base.”
Her level of relief took her by surprise, but she didn’t have time to process it. “I’ll be there as soon as possible,” she said. She started looking around her hotel room for her purse.
“No, he has to be debriefed. You won’t be able to visit him for a couple of days. I just wanted to let you know he’s safe. We’ve already called your brother in the states.”
“What in the hell do you mean I can’t visit him right now, that’s utter bullshit.” Daisy kept the phone to her ear as she grabbed her purse and looked for her shoes. She looked in the hotel mirror and frowned.
She’d have to change; the sweatpants wouldn’t work.
“Miss Squires, I’ll try to expedite the debriefing process so you can see him sooner, but protocol needs to be observed.”
“I understand. Thank you for the call.” She hung up and called Malek.
“Malek?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Daisy winced. She couldn’t break him of that habit.
“Could I get a ride to Bagram? They rescued my father and he’s at the hospital there at the Air Base.”
“I can’t, ma’am, but my nephew can. I can send him to your hotel immediately.”
“That would be great.”
While she was talking to him, she grabbed a skirt and blouse out of the closet.
This will work.
She got dressed in record time, even had time to brush her hair and pee, before the hour-and-a-half trip to Bagram Air Force Base. She went down to the lobby and waited outside in the heat near the valet. They looked at her weirdly.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
“I’m waiting for my ride,” she assured him.
“The hotel offers a driver for our guests.”
Malek’s nephew pulled up at that moment. The valet looked disapprovingly at his car. She didn’t care. When she went to open the door, the valet still opened it for her.
“My uncle said that you are in a hurry. Do we have to worry about people following you?” the young man asked eagerly.
“No, not this time.” At least she hoped not.
“Oh.” He was obviously disappointed. It still didn’t stop him from driving like a bat out of hell when they pulled into the Kabul traffic. Once again Daisy found herself clutching the St. Christopher medal. When they got onto the highway to Bagram, she sighed a breath of relief.
“Is your father well?” the young man asked.
“I know he’s safe,” Daisy answered. “I don’t know how injured he is. That’s why I’m going to the hospital.”
“I shall pray for him.”
“Thank you,” Daisy said sincerely.
It took them an hour and twelve minutes to get to the base, but then it took them twenty minutes to be let through the front gate. She had to invoke the name of Leo Perez. The first thirteen times they said they had never heard of him.
The fourteenth time was the charm.
Malek’s nephew was directed to park outside a rather small building that she assumed was the hospital since someone was wheeling a person out in a wheelchair. She was opening the backseat door when the other backseat door opened and Leo slid in beside her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
Was he seriously going to try and stop her from going into the hospital? Has he met me? “Not you too.”<
br />
“I’m serious, Daisy. He’s alive. But the brass and suits have to talk to him. Then there are people like us who need to find out everything they can about where he’s been so we might be able to help others one day.”
“Why can’t they do that after I spend ten minutes with him?” she asked. “And another thing. Why didn’t you answer one single phone call or text? Why did the guard at the front gate pretend you didn’t exist? What the hell, Leo?” All her feelings of abandonment came roaring up, but not hard enough that she couldn’t push them back down again.
Mostly.
“While I’m in-country, and until the mission is completed, that’s what I needed to do. I’m flying out of here in less than an hour. I swear to you, I’m going to call you as soon as I hit American soil.”
“Oh really, and I’m supposed to believe this why?” Now she was getting pretty fucking angry.
“We promised no lies. Have I lied to you yet?” he asked softly.
“You ignored me. You ghosted me. You left me in the dark. Think about how that made me feel.”
“We were supposed to be wheels-up four hours ago. I was not allowed to tell you that your father had been found or have any contact with you. But all bets are off when I’m home.”
She looked into his warm brown eyes that were willing her to believe. He was, he was willing her to believe him. Daisy hadn’t had much dealing with the military, but maybe this was the way it worked.
He reached for her hand and held it tightly. “Please,” he said.
Her jaw clenched. She didn’t have time to wonder if this was just another empty promise despite Leo’s honesty. She needed to get in to see her father. If she agreed, maybe he’d back off.
Daisy nodded.
“You need to leave,” he said.
“Oh hell no. You have your part to play. I understand that. So, I never saw you. I get that. Maybe I’ll hear from you, maybe I won’t.”
His face became stony. “You will. Take that to the bank.”
“Whatever.” But her heart was bleeding. “But I get it, this talk isn’t taking place right now. So, get the hell out of the car. I’m going to play my part, which is I’m going to storm the hospital and rattle some cages until they have no choice but let this troublesome woman see my dad.”
“Daisy—”
“Leave, Leo.”
He looked over at Malek’s nephew, then grabbed her clenched hand and pulled it open. He brought her palm to his mouth and kissed it. She closed her eyes.
Please, please, please God, let him call me. He sees me.
“Go, Leo.”
He slid out of the car as silently as he had come into it. She blinked back tears. Then she got out on her side, her purse over her arm. Ready for battle.
She hadn’t seen Ethan Squires for five years, and he didn’t look like the man she remembered. He’d aged twenty years, and it wasn’t just the bruises. It was the wrinkles and the gray hair she hadn’t noticed in the video.
“Dad? Can you hear me?”
“We sedated him two hours ago. He was getting pretty agitated.”
“When will he wake up?” Daisy asked the doctor.
“Probably in another three hours.”
“I suppose that’s when the welcome party is due back to question him some more?” she deduced.
“Actually I told them that he would sleep through the night,” the doctor told her with a twinkle in his eye.
What a wonderful man. For the first time since entering the hospital room, Daisy smiled.
“Can I sit with him until he wakes up?”
“When was the last time you’ve eaten? We serve a mean grilled cheese sandwich.”
“Tomato soup?” Daisy asked.
“Of course.”
Daisy sank down in the plastic chair and gave the doctor a wan smile. “Who do I have to kill?”
“I think we can save you from a murder charge. I’ll have it sent over. Your dad’s going to be okay. We’re more worried about Dick Summers.”
Daisy frowned. Where had she heard that name before? Then she realized that was the reporter who had been kidnapped months before. “He was rescued too? That’s wonderful,” she grinned. Then she looked at the doctor. “Wait a minute, are you saying he might not make it?”
“Yes, he’s going to make it. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said what I did. But yes, he should make it. I’m really tired. It’s been a long night.”
“Perhaps you need a grilled cheese before heading to bed,” Daisy suggested.
“Perhaps you’re right,” the doctor agreed. “Anyway, you stay here with your father. He’s going to be fine. He’ll be glad you’re here.”
“I hope so,” Daisy said with a frown.
“I know so.”
Daisy was in the midst of answering her e-mails on her phone when she heard her dad’s breathing change. She looked up and saw him watching her.
“Daisy?”
She got up and stood over his bed.
“Yeah, it’s me, Dad.” She grabbed his hand and he hung on tightly.
“How’d you get here?”
“It’s a long story. How are you feeling?”
“Like someone beat the hell out of me.” His laughter ended in a coughing fit. Daisy raised his bed and grabbed the glass of water by his bed.
“Here, drink slowly.”
He tried to hold the glass in his hands but they were too shaky. She helped him. Four sips later, and he’d stopped coughing.
She saw his eyes well up with tears.
“Dad, it’s going to be all right. You’re safe now.”
His lips tightened, and he nodded.
“Can I get you something? Food maybe? They have a really good grilled cheese and tomato soup.”
“No, just having you here means everything to me.”
His words threatened to open her up so she deflected. “How did this happen? What happened?” she asked.
“Baby, I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay? I have more than enough people asking that. Hell, they want to know my shoe size and I swear to God they’d really like to perform a colonoscopy on me if they could. So no questions about that, okay?”
“Sure, Dad.”
“I like hearing that,” he said softly.
Shit. This emotional shit is a lot to handle.
“Yeah, well…”
“It’s okay, I won’t always expect it. Just hearing it now is enough.”
She nodded.
Damn it, am I tearing up?
“You have some really determined children. They were getting senators involved to pressure the State Department to get you released.”
“But you’re the one over here.” Again he squeezed her hand.
“They just knew I was the ballbuster of the family. They figured if anyone could knock some heads I’d be the one who could do it.”
His lip twitched. “You were like that even at two years old. Your terrible twos were awful. Once you learned the word ‘no’, your mother and I were in hell.”
“Like you were around,” Daisy said. Then she immediately regretted the words.
“Oh, there were a couple of years I was there. You can ask your mother. I knew you would set the world on fire one day, and you have.”
“Look, you don’t have to be handing out the compliments. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
He closed his eyes, then opened them. “Fair enough. Tell me more about Jim, Brian, and Karen.”
“First, are you hungry?”
“I couldn’t keep anything down. I’d just like it if you’d talk.”
Daisy nodded and pulled up the chair.
15
“What crawled up your ass?” Cullen asked. “I’m the one who’s going to have to explain to my wife that I let myself get injured. She’s going to be pissed.”
Leo looked down at the same page he’d been staring at for the last hour, ignoring Cullen. They’d been on the transport plane for five hours, and for thre
e of them, members of the team had tried to engage him in conversation. Everybody but Max. He knew better.
Max had known that Daisy would be pressuring Leo for information about her father, and Leo would have to keep his mouth shut. That meant that he couldn’t have contact with her. It killed him. He knew proper channels were going to inform her that her father was fine, but she wouldn’t be able to see him for a while, which would go over like a lead balloon.
He should have known she’d push like a pit bull. And he’d admired the hell out of her. But he hated the hell out of it when she’d turned that fierce fire on him. He’d wished she’d just believed in him, but he’d known. He’d known why she couldn’t have faith. After so many broken promises in her life, it was going to be up to him to take the time to help her build that trust.
“You haven’t turned a page for at least an hour. Come on, talk to me. I’m a great listener,” Cullen coaxed.
Leo snorted. “You’re a great talker, is what you are.”
“See, same thing. You listen, I talk. What’s the difference? You need a good talking-to.”
“Oh really?” Leo said sarcastically. “Just what sort of advice are you going to give me?”
“Well, it’s easy. You don’t have job worries. You don’t live above your means. Your family couldn’t be any more perfect. So it’s woman troubles. Since you were fine before the mission, then you had to go get info from Ms. Squires—who I Googled, by the way—she’s your problem. How am I doing so far?”
Shit, shit, shit. Why didn’t they hire stupid men to become SEALs?
“You might have hit on something, but maybe I’m just worried about her because they’re not reuniting her with her father right away.”
“Sure…that’s what has your dick in a twist. I believe you.” Cullen clearly didn’t.
Leo looked around the transport plane to see who else was listening in on their conversation. It was really loud in the back of the plane, but then so was Cullen Lyons. He saw Raiden with a half-smile on his face beside Cullen. But, hell, he didn’t mind if Raiden knew his business; he kept his own counsel.
“Yes, it’s Daisy,” he admitted slowly. “And what the hell is up with us meeting women on missions? That’s just plain wrong.”
Her Sensual Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 5) Page 11
