Securing Willow (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Guardian Elite Book 5)

by KaLyn Cooper

  Moving next to Rocco she asked, “I thought Little Joe was coming today.”

  “He was on the list, this time. I sent Bubba to get him,” Rocco explained, “but the little twerp said he had too much work to do. Personally, I’m glad he didn’t come. I’ll deal with him later.”

  In many ways, Willow was happy Joe Allen wasn’t there. She was still upset that he had tried to push her off the platform out at sea. But now, she knew why.

  For the next hour, they toured the abandoned well. Willow was very proud of Ambassador Snyder as he hit each of the talking points they had agreed upon several days ago. President Guerra seemed quite receptive to all the ideas presented by the ambassador and even more excited about working closely with Mr. Dunaway to get the wells operational once again. The meeting was going so well, Willow’s inner self was jumping up and down with glee and sighing with relief.

  Yet, the entire time, she felt as though she were in someone’s crosshairs.

  Of course, she wasn’t. All three security teams had coordinated to assure the safety of three of the most important men in all of Venezuela. They had agreed to the utmost security measures. The meeting location had been top-secret until that morning. There were only a handful of people who knew where they were going and what time they would be there.

  As everyone walked back toward the helicopters, the men began wrapping up their conversations. Willow and Luciano compared notes and agreed to talk the next day.

  She heard movement behind her but couldn’t see around the bodyguards.

  The entourage stopped and the bodyguards pulled their guns to their shoulders and crouched slightly.

  “Well, isn’t this convenient?” The voice of Nicholas Mendoza boomed as though he were giving another one of his speeches. The former president of Venezuela—who had refused to step down when his country elected Juan Guerra—stood less than ten feet away from Willow.

  Through a small crack between Rocco and Remi, she could see the dictator standing between the two helicopters with a gun pointed right at their tight circle.

  “It’s really too bad that the three of you met out here in the middle of nowhere and had a terrible argument that ended with you killing each other.”

  “Nobody has to die here today,” Remi spoke with authority. “I suggest you put down your weapon, Mr. Mendoza.”

  The big man laughed. “And why would I do that? Take a look. You are surrounded. If you take a shot at me, my men will kill everyone here.”

  “You already showed us your hand,” Remi taunted. “You plan to kill us all anyway. If I give the secret order to shoot, I guarantee my men are going to take out half of yours before they even get a shot off. Besides, I’m not going to be the one to shoot you.”

  “And which one of you has balls big enough to shoot me?” Mendoza’s smile was feral.

  “I do.” Willow thought she recognized the voice, but in that moment, couldn’t place it.

  The shot rang out, and all the bodyguards returned fire.

  It was so loud Willow dropped to her knees and covered her ears with her hands. Through the men’s legs she could see Mendoza on the ground holding his knee, blood oozing between his fingers.

  “Kill them. Kill every one of those fuckers,” the former president of Venezuela shouted. Men in Venezuelan Army uniforms lay bleeding on the ground all the way around their tight little circle.

  “Cease fire,” yelled the same man who shot the former president. Again, she thought she recognized the voice, but it was distorted as though coming from the end of the tunnel.

  In the silence, Willow’s ears rang. It sounded like people were talking far away. She thought she heard her name.

  Remi dropped to his knees in front of her. “Willow, sweetheart, are you okay?” He immediately started patting his hands all over her body. “Were you shot?” He cupped her face and studied it before he gently lifted her hands off her ears.

  She heard shouting in the background, but she knew Remi didn’t say anything because his lips weren’t moving.

  “Willow, are…you…okay?” He spoke very carefully, his words succinct.

  She nodded but couldn’t seem to get the words out.

  He grabbed her and pulled her to him, showering her with kisses. “Thank God. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.” He pulled back far enough to kiss her. As he plunged his tongue into her mouth, squeezing her, she breathed for what may have been the first time in several minutes. Her head started to clear, and she realized she was shaking. But the longer Remi held her and kissed her, the more the tremors eased, and she was able to focus on her surroundings.

  She broke the kiss and looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “What happened?”

  He chuckled. “Guardian Elite. That’s what happened.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “You didn’t think I’d take your safety for granted, did you? I love you too much to let anything happen to you.”

  “Remi, is Willow okay?” Now she recognized the voice.

  “Yeah. A little shaken, but she’s strong.” Remi stood and pulled Willow to her feet. “Sweetheart, meet Alex Wolf, in person.”

  “You’re the one with balls big enough to shoot the president.” Willow slapped her hand over her mouth as both Remi and Alex burst out laughing. “Did I really just say that out loud?” Damn, she thought. Obviously when I’m been shot at, I lose my verbal filter.

  “Get her into the helicopter. I’m sure she’ll be more comfortable there,” Alex ordered.

  Remi immediately picked her up and took her to the Zon Petrol helicopter. He shoved her face into his chest when they walked past former president Mendoza, who was still yelling orders as though he were in charge. Newly elected President Guerra and Ambassador Snyder stood beside the bleeding man.

  “Just stay here and try to relax. I still have a lot of things yet to do but I’ll get back here just as soon as I can.” Remi gave her a quick kiss before exiting the helicopter.

  She leaned her head against the window and watched her boss and the duly elected president of Venezuela deal with Mr. Mendoza. Through the open door, she could hear everything.

  “I’ve been ordered by the president of the United States of America to give you a choice.” Ambassador Snyder was portraying the ultimate diplomat and Willow couldn’t be prouder. “You can die here, in the jungle, in an attempt to murder the duly elected president of Venezuela and the United States ambassador, or you can do what dictators have done for years and take exile in some other country. The Russians aren’t interested in giving you sanctuary, by the way. A few African nations have offered to take you, as long as you bring all the money you stole from the Venezuelan people over the last four years. The problem is, the United States is helping President Guerra track down all that money so he can use it to rebuild this country. So, Mr. Mendoza, what’s it going to be? I’ll bet exile sounds pretty good right now.”

  Mendoza slid his blood-covered hand from his bleeding knee to his ankle and pulled out a gun. “I’m not dying here, you are. Who wants to be first?”

  Before Willow could blink, a man with short, slightly graying hair attacked Mendoza from behind. The man tried to knock the gun from his hand by pounding his wrist into the ground, but Mendoza outweighed him by at least seventy-five pounds. For someone who was shot, the former president certainly fought hard. They rolled several times. Willow lost track of the gun before she heard a shot go off.

  The man dressed in camouflage rolled to the side and jumped to his feet with the gun in his hand pointed at Mendoza’s head. He glared at the lifeless body.

  Willow smiled in recognition. Dex Carson had just saved the lives of President Guerra and Ambassador Snyder.

  Several people, including Remi and Alex, came running.

  “Dex, are you bleeding?” Alex asked.

  “No. Not my blood,” he managed to say as he steadied his breathing. “That sonofabitch is huge, and stronger than he looks.” He
glanced over at Alex. “We might need to find some bigger sparring partners. This guy almost had me more than once.”

  “So noted.” Alex reached down to check for pulses on Mr. Mendoza.

  Willow wanted to be sure that Dex didn’t get in trouble, so she crawled out of the helicopter. “I saw the whole thing. Dex saved the lives of President Guerra and Ambassador Snyder. He killed Mendoza in self-defense.”

  Remi put his arm around her and guided her back to the helicopter. “Thank you for defending Dex. I’m sorry that you had to see that. You okay?”

  Willow buried her face in Remi’s chest. He was always asking her if she was okay and protecting her. Their last conversation about him protecting her leaped to the forefront of her mind. He’d said he couldn’t take her safety for granted because he loved her. She lifted her head and looked at him. “Did you say that you loved me?”

  His smile was so big it took up most his face. “It kinda slipped out. In the middle of the battlefield surrounded by dead bodies was not exactly where I wanted to say it for the first time, but we’ll have a hell of a story to tell our kids.”

  Willow’s jaw dropped.

  “Did I just fuck up?” His face fell. “Have I been reading everything between us wrong? Is it too soon to tell you that I love you? Because it’s okay if you don’t love me. Maybe you can grow to love me.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “If you don’t feel the sa—”

  She kissed him. It was long and slow. She tried to pack all her feelings into that one single kiss. She’d needed to put Remi out of his misery, but he kept talking, burying himself deeper and deeper.

  Willow broke the kiss but stayed only a fraction of an inch from his lips. “Remi, I love you.”

  He crashed his mouth on hers. She had no idea how long they sat in the back row of the helicopter and kissed, but it wasn’t long enough. For Willow, a lifetime wouldn’t be long enough.

  Epilogue

  Three days later, Willow lay curled against Remi on his couch in D.C. watching the nightly news. Footage of the packed funeral of former Venezuela President Nicholas Mendoza filled the large screen. The talking heads spoke of the fatal heart attack he had suffered while President Juan Guerra and U.S. Ambassador Mark Snyder showed the former president one of the first oil wells that would be brought online.

  Remi chuckled. “Yeah. Fatal heart attack. His heart did stop pumping when Dex put a bullet through it. So much for true and accurate reporting.”

  “That’s certainly not the wellsite, either,” Willow pointed out. “At least this state funeral should reunify Venezuela. The old faction has seen respect from the new president, and with all the food and clothing the United States is delivering daily, hopefully President Guerra can maintain the public confidence until the oil wells are pumping once again.”

  “The State Department has certainly kept the whole mess with former ambassador Vance quiet. I keep expecting news to be filled with his treason.” Remi got up from the couch. “I’m going to grab another beer. Want me to bring back the wine?”

  “Sure.” She took the last sip in the glass, rolling the wonderful wine over her tongue, enjoying its sweet flavor. This was her favorite time of day when it was just her and Remi. “The South American analyst, who is part of my debrief, told me that the president has suggested to former ambassador Vance that if he retires quietly, they will allow him to collect his retirement pay and will not pursue charges of treason.”

  Remi poured wine in her glass and she sipped before she continued. “The analyst also said the same offer was made to Joseph Allen except they tacked on murder charges to his threat. She suggested that I get a restraining order against both men and everybody else involved. In truth, since Mendoza is dead, so are the contracts. The money they stole has been retrieved from the Caribbean banks and given to NGOs with the stipulation that it go directly to assisting Venezuela.”

  He chuckled. “I’m taking this class on government spending. What they’re doing makes sense. If they tried to put that money back into government coffers, it’s immediately reportable. You can bet some congressman or senator would jump right on that and open Pandora’s box.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you, my inquisitors said they should be finished with my debrief by Thursday. Want to see if we can catch a weekend deal on flights to Buffalo? I’m really looking forward to meeting your parents. Your mom is so sweet. I love video chatting with them, but I’m sure it would pick your mother’s spirits up if you walked in the door.”

  Remi leaned over and gave her a kiss. “I love you. What would really pick up my mother’s spirits is if you walked into their house wearing this.” He slid to the floor in front of her and held out a small black box. “Willow Cardenas, will you marry me?”

  “Yes, of course I’ll marry you. I love you, Remington Steel, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  Remi took the beautiful solitaire diamond out of the box and slid it on her ring finger. Willow had never seen anything so beautiful in her life.

  She threw her arms around her fiancé and hugged him. “Thank you, Remi.”

  He chuckled. “Is this where I ask you if you’re okay?”

  “I’m better than okay. I’m better than great. I’m better than wonderful.” She kissed him and tried to pack all the joy she was feeling into that one kiss. “Remington Steel loves me.”

  “And he’s going to love you forever.”

  The End

  Want to read Dex’s story? SEAL in a Storm is the next book in the Guardian Elite series.

  http://www.kalyncooper.com/seal-in-a-storm.html

  If you’ve enjoyed Securing Willow, please tell others what you liked about this book by leaving a review on your retailer’s site.

  Consider reading other books by KaLyn Cooper:

  Letter to Readers

  Thank you so much for purchasing Securing Willow!

  I am thrilled to, once again, write a book in Susan Stoker’s world. In Securing Willow, the former SpecOps men from my Guardian Elite series work beside the active duty SEALs from her SEALs of Protection: Legacy series.

  My stories are often inspired by current headlines. As I wrote this book, Venezuela was in turmoil. President Maduro refused to acknowledge that his country had voted President Guaido into office. Part of the world, including the United States, recognized the newly elected leader, while other countries, like Russia, continued to support President Maduro. With the country on the verge of civil war, hyperinflation, an exodus in the millions, no jobs available because the government owned oil wells were broken, Venezuela was the perfect setting for a romantic suspense.

  If you’ve read any of my other books, you know I do a great deal of research. I pride myself in accuracy of the facts. Securing Willow is no different. I now know more about oil drilling, on land and in the ocean, than I ever thought necessary. Although the desperate situation in Venezuela is very real, please keep in mind, this is a work of fiction. I make most of this shit up!

  I hope you enjoy reading Securing Willow, the fifth book in the Guardian Elite series, a spinoff of the Black Swan series.

  Every book I write is a standalone, but for deeper understanding of the characters you might consider reading the following:

  About the Author

  Author Bio KaLyn Cooper is a USA Today Bestselling author whose romances blend fact and fiction with blazing heat and heart-pounding suspense. Life as a military wife has shown KaLyn the world, and thirty years in PR taught her that fact can be stranger than fiction. She leaves it up to the reader to separate truth from imagination. She, her husband, and Little Bear (Alaskan Malamute) live in Tennessee on a micro-plantation filled with gardens, cattle, and quail. When she's not writing, she's at the shooting range or on the river.

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  More by Author KaLyn Cooper

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