by Kelly Moore
“Whoa. Don’t rob me of the pleasure of carrying you across the threshold.”
“I love how old-fashioned you are,” she says as I lift her. I walk up the three steps and place her on her feet long enough to punch in a security code, then pick her up again.
“This place has top security. Lawson saw to that.” He wanted her to always feel safe.
I push open the door and flip on a light with my elbow.
“Oh my god.” She slides down my body. “This place is awesome.” She runs around, touching the plush furniture. “Is this really ours?”
“Yes.” I grin, watching her.
She walks over to the fireplace wall. “This is my photography.” She taps the canvas print hanging above the mantel.
“It is. I know it’s one of your favorites.” It’s a picture of a bridge in Astoria. I took her there for a long weekend getaway.
“Thank you for all of this.” She spins around in the room, and I can’t help but smile seeing how beautiful and happy she is at this moment.
“I had your bags brought over this morning. They’re in the bedroom.”
She walks over and wraps her arm around my neck. “I see a bottle of champagne chilling over there.” She tilts her head. “How about a drink first?”
“Are you nervous?” I ask her softly.
“Not at all, but I think you are.” She kisses me sweetly. “Besides, I want you to peel me out of my dress.”
I swallow hard. She’s right. I am nervous. “I’ll fix two drinks.” I move out of her arms and yank off my tux jacket and toss it on the back of the couch.
“Did you decorate this place on your own?” I watch her smooth her hand along the dining room table.
“Lord no. Doctor Ruth helped me.”
“I thought it had a bit of a woman’s touch.”
I hand her a flute of champagne. “I’m sorry,” she says.
My brows draw together. “For what?”
“That Fallon wasn’t here for you today. I know how much she means to you.”
“I felt bad for Rebel. He had to be missing both of them.”
“I think he held up pretty well.”
“He’s gotten good at faking it. He’d never let his emotions ruin our day.” I clink my glass to hers and make a toast. “Here’s to married life.”
We both take sips, then she takes both our glasses and sets them on the table. “Is that the bedroom?” She points.
I nod.
She walks in the direction of the bedroom and then crooks a finger at me to follow her. She opens the door and turns on the light. A stark cherrywood bed sets in the middle of the room. A sheer canopy flows from the top of it.
“Oh, I like this,” she says as she walks over to it. She keeps her back to me. “Would you help me out of this gown?” Her voice is silky as it lures me to her.
I get as close to her as I can and nuzzle her neck. “I love you, Fiona.”
“I love you too. I’ll love you even more when you get me out of this dress.”
I take a step back and slowly unzip her as if she’s a grand prize. My hand shakes a bit and gives me away. When I unzip the last inch, she turns in my arms.
“You have nothing to be nervous about.” Her gaze locks with mine.
I reach up and brush her hair over her shoulder then tilt my head until my lips land on her collarbone. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I confess softly.
“You could never hurt me, Theo.”
She tugs off my tie and unbuttons my shirt. I push her dress off her shoulder, exposing her perfect breasts. “You are so damn beautiful,” I say as I lower my head and suck her nipple into my mouth, rolling my tongue over it, relishing her taste.
“That feels so good,” she purrs.
I release her from my mouth and move to the other side. Fiona grips my hair and pushes her nipple further into my mouth. She grows taut as my warm mouth taunts her.
“Theo,” she whispers.
I stand, and with one hand, she unbuttons my slacks. The other hand runs down my mechanical arm.
“Do you want me to take this off?” I look down at my arm.
“No. I want you to touch me with every part of you.”
I swear on my life I can feel her fingertips touching the metal of my arm. It turns me on, and I pick her up, moving her onto the bed. She shimmies out of her dress as I remove my pants and underwear. It’s the first time we’ve been completely naked in front of each other. Her tongue sweeps out and licks her lips before her teeth bite into her bottom lip.
“I want you so damn badly.”
I can see that as her gaze dips down to my saluting cock. She scoots up the bed and pushes the covers down, inviting me in.
I climb over the top of her, framing my body over hers. “If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, stop me.”
She answers me by pressing her hands on my chest, moving me off her. I lie back, and she straddles me.
“You let me know if I do something that makes you feel uncomfortable,” she mimics my words and moves between my thighs. She draws me into her mouth. It’s nothing but pure, raw pleasure. She hums, and I damn near jump off the bed. She grins and continues her sweet torture.
“You’ve got to stop, or I won’t be able to control myself.” I push her off and hover over her again. “I want to do the same for you.” I kiss my way down her body and settle on the spot between her legs. I lick and suck until her body starts to shiver. I glance up, and tears are leaking from the corners of her eyes. I raise up and move to her face. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She places her hands on either side of my face. “No man has ever given me that. They’ve all taken.”
“Have you ever had an orgasm?”
She shakes her head.
I kiss her lips so she can taste herself. I resume my position and don’t stop until her body screams. The sheets are balled in her fist, and she lets out a moan with my name on it as her body pulsates. Her chest heaves as her orgasm rakes through every part of her body.
I kiss my way up to her lips.
“That was amazing,” she huffs out, and I chuckle. “Can we do it again?” She raises her head to look at me.
“We have all night, baby.”
Chapter 2
Rebel
I’m not sure whether it’s the pounding in my head or the beating on the door that wakes me up. I haven’t put a bottle to my lips in years, but last night I needed something to dull the ache of missing Fallon. I throw back the covers and pull on a pair of jeans as my stomach rolls, revolting the whiskey.
“Rebel!” Commander Lukas yells and bangs harder.
“I’m coming,” I choke out, my mouth tasting like cotton. I unlock the door, and he storms inside.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” he yells.
I don’t want to tell him because the only way I’d stop calling Fallon’s phone to hear the sound of her voice on her voicemail was to shut the damn thing off. “The battery died.” I close the door. “What’s so damn important at”—I look at the clock—“six in the morning?”
“Air Force One went missing.”
“Shit. When?”
“Around one in the morning.”
I grab my phone from its charger and turn it on. It lights up with message after message. “Where was it headed?”
“It was scheduled to land in Washington for refueling and then overseas, but it never made its destination. We lost communication over Montana.”
“What about a visual?” I’m walking toward my room, throwing on a shirt.
“It disappeared into thin air. The Gunner team needs to be moving. The location it was last seen would’ve been the Rockies of Montana. The CIA is not equipped to manage the terrain or the weather. The SEAL team is the only way to go in and find them.”
I call Honor. “Gather the team in the war room right now. Code Red.”
“What about Theo, sir?”
I hate it, but I’ll need his skills. “I s
aid everyone.” I hang up. “Give me every single shred of information you have,” I say as I lace up my boots.
“The president’s security team consisted of six players. Five men, one woman. The secretary of state, along with four of the president’s advisors were on board with him.”
“The pilots?”
“The same pilots he’s had from the beginning.”
“Any of the security team new?”
“No.”
“I want the background of everyone on board that plane. I want to know every detail, including what they had for breakfast and the last time they took a shit.”
He gets on the phone and goes downstairs. I stop when Theo’s name lights up the phone I’m gripping.
“What’s so important that I have to cancel my honeymoon?” I hear him dressing.
“The POTUS is missing.”
“Shit!”
“I’m sorry, but I need you on this mission.”
“I’ll be there in five.” He hangs up.
The next thirty minutes are organized chaos getting information downloaded, and maps pulled up on the screens in the war room.
“This is by far the most important mission any SEAL team has ever been on. Rescuing our commander in chief from an unknown enemy is hard enough without the elements of the weather and terrain.” Commander Lukas points to an area on the map. “This is where our last communication was with the pilot. As you can see, it’s all mountainous. No safe place to land the plane.”
“Anyone claiming responsibility for this?” Thorn asks.
“Not yet. It could be that the aircraft ran into trouble and went down.”
“I highly doubt that,” I rebut. “That plane is a well-oiled machine.”
Honor hands each team member at the conference table a printout of every person on the plane. “This is up-to-date information,” she says.
“Mad Dog, Tate, you two head out and gather all the weapons and supplies we are going to need to brave the weather and meet us out front in one hour.” They get up and leave.
“The rest of you look over this report for anything out of the ordinary.”
“I’m coming with you,” Lawson says.
“You’re not a SEAL team member.” I’m abrupt.
“I don’t give a flying fuck! This is the president of the United States. I’m an American, and that qualifies me to help.” He crosses his arms over his chest and widens his stance.
“Me too,” Lauryn adds.
“I will not be responsible for civilian lives. This mission will be treacherous,” I bark.
“You’ll need someone to man headquarters at base camp,” Lawson says.
“There’ll be a military team heading it up.” I don’t back down.
“You need us.” Fiona stands.
“Why are any of you in this meeting?” I yell.
“Because like it or not, we’re part of this team, and you need us. Each of us has a skill set that will be useful.” Lawson walks up to me.
“I don’t have time to argue. You’ll stay at camp and not step foot in the mountains. You have forty-eight minutes to be on that plane. Don’t think I won’t leave without any of you on it.” I storm by him, brushing his shoulder with mine.
Lauryn follows me with paper gripped in her hand. “I think I may have found something.”
“You’ll have to talk as we move.”
“One of the pilots had a child that was sick.”
“So.” I walk faster as I tap a message into my phone.
“He died.”
“You need to process faster.” I sling open the door as a military vehicle that will be taking us to the airplane stops out front. Another one arrives behind it. Mad Dog and Tate come out the side door and are hauling bags filled with equipment, placing them in back.
“His insurance denied procedures that could have possibly saved his child.”
I yank open the door. “What does any of this have to do with the president?”
“He placed a personal call to the president’s wife, begging her to help him. She tried to convince her husband to make a phone call. He was in the middle of negotiations and took too long to call. The boy died. It says here that he called the pilot with his deep remorse.”
“And you think the pilot is paying him back for his son’s death.”
“Possibly. Needing to blame someone is human nature.”
“Then why not blame the insurance company?”
“Because he had no connection with them. He’s been flying the president for years.”
“It’s the only thing we have to go on for now. I’ll have the CIA do some more digging.”
It’s the dead of winter, and every mountain range is covered in snow. A military base camp is up and ready to go by the time we arrive. Camouflaged men and women cover every inch of the camp. A makeshift war room is set up in the middle with all the latest equipment. Each member of our team is handed a small radio device to place in their ear so we can communicate with one another.
Once I’ve met with the CIA to garner more intel, I radio my team. “Thorn, Mad Dog, Theo, Tate, Remington, Williams, and Lawson, we leave in twenty minutes.” I decided to let Lawson go on the mission. His warrior skills will be needed. We’ll be eight men strong to bring the president and his people back alive.
“Honor, you’re tasked to the radio and GPS tracking. Fiona, you do whatever Honor asks. Your technical skills to details will come in handy. Doctor Ruth, you support the family members of the missing.”
As I’m gearing up with a heavy winter coat and stashing weapons, Commander Lukas comes into my tent.
“This is no longer just a rescue mission.”
“Did someone claim responsibility?”
“The pilot hired an anti-government organization to take down the POTUS. We received word that they are holding him and his team members in a compound in the mountains. The organization he hired are angry ex-military men with a stockpile of weapons. The Gunner’s mission is to take them out and bring back the president.” His face is covered in gloom.
“There will be casualties.”
“I can only send backup so far up the mountain. These men aren’t trained for this, and they will only slow your men down. We have a military chopper on its way, but the cloud cover will hinder their sight. I’ll get them as close to ground zero as I can.” He hands me a map. “This looks like the safest spot to land. Since we don’t have an exact location on the compound, I don’t know how far of a trek it will be to get them out.”
I shove the map into my pack. “I understand, sir.”
Weighted down with gear and my bag, I march out of the tent and head to one of the jeeps that will be driving us as far as they can, and toss my bag inside. Lawson, Theo, and Thorn do the same and get inside. The others climb in the trailing vehicle.
“Thank you for letting me come along, Captain Rebel.” Lawson never calls me that.
I glare at him in the rearview mirror but don’t respond. The big tires on the jeep don’t stop it from bouncing hard over the rough terrain.
“I have a hot spot on my radar,” Thorn states. “Over that ridge to the east.” He leans into the front seat and points.
The driver turns in the direction, and as we clear the peak, in one of the valleys of the mountain is Air Force One. A wing is broken off, and in the snow you can see charred areas where it was on fire.
“Damn,” Theo says. “Who knows if any of them survived the crash much less the weather conditions.”
I get on the radio and update Commander Lukas. The driver reroutes us down to the plane.
“Be ready,” I order as I get out of the jeep with my weapon steady. White puffs of air circle my breath as I slowly move toward Air Force One. My boots crunch through the knee-deep, thick snow, leaving a path for the team to follow. I motion for them to spread out. Lawson stays close by.
Each member surrounds the plane, and I quietly inch inside, halting Lawson from entering. Windows are broken, a
nd items are toppled over. Blood smears against the cold wall of the plane. Two bodies lie on the floor. I squat down to feel for the pulse of a female. I remove her badge and step over her to a man lying in a pool of his own blood. No need to feel for a pulse. His eyes are fixated, looking up. I take his badge and stuff both of them in my pocket.
I search the plane and then the cockpit. A pilot lies dead against the instruments with a single shot to the temple. Once I’ve searched every inch, I make my way back outside.
“Did you find anyone?” Lawson whispers.
I talk on my radio. “Two dead inside. Both from the president’s security team. That means ten people still alive, including the president. Get back in the jeeps.”
We all climb in, and the driver doesn’t stop again until he can’t go any further. The mountain in front of us is a steep, snow-filled climb. We all pile out, gathering our gear and putting on our snowshoes.
“Do we have any idea what direction we’re headed?” Lawson asks as he pulls on his backpack.
Thorn holds his tracking system in the air. “If we climb straight up this mountain, I’ll be able to see if the heat seeker picks up anything.”
Lawson tilts his head upward. “Up that mountain that’s covered in freezing fog?”
“You’re welcome to ride back to base.” I walk past him, proceeding up the steep edge.
He yanks on his gloves and covers the lower part of his face. “I’m good.”
“Theo, you take point,” I order.
He runs past me with all his gear and starts his climb, reminiscent of our time in Afghanistan, minus the snow.
I watch him toss his walking sticks to the ground and start pulling out climbing gear. He quickly disappears into the fog, and we follow in his tracks.
It’s so damn cold I can feel little beads of ice forming in my short beard, but my body is creating heat from the climb. It’s a slow process, and I’ve completely lost sight of Theo. “Where are you, Drake?”
“I’ve made it to the top, and I’m sure they headed in this direction,” I hear him say in my ear.
A pit forms in my stomach. “What makes you so sure?” My voice cracks.
