Securing Caite

by Susan Stoker

  “The instructors started calling him Rocco as a result,” Phantom added. Then in a singsong voice, mimicking the long-ago instructors, he said, “Hey, Rocco, how’s your rock? Go pick up your rock, Rocco. You named that thing yet, Rocco?”

  Everyone laughed, and Caite couldn’t help but join them. “You didn’t learn your lesson and keep your mouth shut after you had to carry it around a few times?”

  “Nope,” Rocco confirmed. “And…I’ve still got that thing too.”

  Light dawned. “The rock in your workout room in your apartment? You had to carry that around? It has to weigh like a hundred pounds!” Caite exclaimed. She’d seen the rock in question and figured it was just a simple decoration or something. A weird one, but who was she to question Rocco’s design preferences.

  He chuckled. “It’s only around forty pounds or so.”

  “I can’t believe you still have it,” Caite said, shaking her head.

  “When he graduated, the instructors gave it to him, saying anyone as stubborn as him deserved it,” Rex informed her.

  “You’re a nut,” Caite told Rocco.

  “I’m your nut,” Rocco corrected her.

  She smiled and gave him a short kiss on the lips, thinking about how much the other women were going to love hearing the story.

  “Head’s up,” Phantom said under his breath, “Captain Chambers and Rear Admiral Creasy on deck.”

  Caite was startled when all six men stood, including Rocco. He put her on her feet, then saluted the two approaching men, as did his teammates.

  She wasn’t sure what to do, so she just stood there quietly. Rocco and his friends hadn’t saluted anyone else since they’d been there. She knew a captain and a rear admiral were above the rank of Commanders North and Hurt, but she wasn’t sure how much above.

  “Sirs,” the six men said practically in unison.

  “At ease,” the black-haired man said after he’d returned the salute.

  The blond man merely nodded at the group in greeting.

  “Are you all enjoying yourselves?” the first man asked.

  “What’s not to enjoy?” Gumby joked. “Sun, surf, and we don’t have to roll around in the sand.”

  “True. Of course, I could always order you to, just for fun,” the officer said.

  Everyone laughed.

  “Sirs, I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend. This is Caite McCallan. Caite, this is Rear Admiral Creasy and Captain Chambers. They’re the men who’re in charge of the SEAL units on base.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Caite said. She shook the rear admiral’s hand, then the captain’s.

  The latter smiled tightly and dropped her hand. “It’s good to meet you,” he said in a low voice. He had dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was quite tan, and he looked mostly at ease in the beach setting. But even with his somewhat relaxed demeanor, Caite thought he seemed tense, and she figured it was because he was of a higher rank than almost everyone around him. Caite also had the thought that she wouldn’t want his job, because it was obviously very stressful, if the lines around his eyes and brow were any indication.

  She kind of zoned out when the men started talking about upcoming training and navy business. She stared at the water, where kids were playing in the surf, and she envied them their carefree attitude about the water. She wished she’d learned how to swim when she was young, like them. If her parents had started her lessons just a bit earlier, maybe she wouldn’t have been so scared.

  “You don’t mind, do you?” Rocco asked, gently nudging her.

  Caite looked at him blankly. She hadn’t heard anything he’d said.

  He gave her a small grin. “Sorry, I tend to forget not everyone is as interested in navy business as we are. The rear admiral needs to talk to us for a second about work. It won’t be for very long, five or ten minutes, tops. The captain said he’d stay here and keep you company while we’re talking shop.”

  Not wanting to be a burden on anyone, she said, “I’ll just go over and hang with Caroline and the others.”

  “Looks like they’re packing up,” Rocco said. “I’ve known the captain a long time, you’ll be safe with him. I promise we won’t be long.” And with that, he didn’t wait for her to agree or disagree. He kissed her on the forehead and squeezed her arm. “I’ll be right back,” he reassured her.

  It was clear that Rocco and the others had a great amount of respect for the two officers who’d shown up late to the party. And even though she’d spent years around higher-ranking officers during her time as a Department of Defense contractor, they still intimidated her. She watched Rocco walk a short distance away so they could talk to the rear admiral without being overheard.

  “You’re a hard woman to kill, Ms. McCallan,” Captain Chambers muttered the second the men were out of hearing range.

  Caite looked up at him in confusion. “What?”

  “You heard me,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her upper arm. He jerked her close to his side. “We’re going to take a walk, and you’re going to keep your mouth shut and do as I say,” Chambers said.

  At that, Caite’s eyes whipped toward Rocco before swinging back to the captain. His face was blank—but she could see hate burning in his eyes. How he’d been able to mask it earlier, she had no idea.

  She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp, and immediately felt something hard press into her. She looked down, shocked to see the barrel of a small pistol jammed against her side.

  “If you don’t come with me quietly, right now, I’m going to shoot you, then I’m going to shoot one of these damn brats running around, then I’ll shoot your precious Navy SEAL boyfriend when he comes over to find out what’s going on. Got it?”

  Caite met the captain’s gaze as he gripped her arm with enough pressure to bruise…

  And suddenly, as clear as day, she remembered what one of the Bitoo brothers had said.

  * * *

  “Where are we gonna get a gun?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe Chambers can help.”

  “That asshole’s an American too. He doesn’t care about anything but getting those tablets to his buyer.”

  * * *

  There was no doubt that this was the man the brothers were talking about—the man who wanted her dead.

  Caite glanced again from the cold, lethal look of the man next to her to where Rocco was standing. He was laughing at something someone said and the look of relaxation and happiness on his face was heartbreaking.

  He trusted the captain. He never would’ve left her with him if he hadn’t. Somehow the man had slipped under everyone’s radar.

  “Took you a bit too long to realize who I am,” Chambers said with a weird smirk. “Come on, we’re going. Keep your mouth shut and no one else will get hurt.”

  Caite couldn’t risk the lives of one of the precious children who were simply enjoying a beautiful day on the beach. And she definitely couldn’t risk Rocco’s life.

  She’d have to play this by ear and take her chance for escape when it came. And it would come. They were on a beach full of Navy SEALs. Surely one of them would sense something was wrong and come to her rescue.

  Captain Chambers began to walk her down the beach, away from the picnic and toward a pier sticking out into the water. Caite expected someone to call out and ask where they were going with every step they took. But as they got farther and farther away from the group, and no one said a word, she began to think this man might just get away with killing her after all.

  Chapter Fifteen

  They’d walked about three hundred feet when Caite realized she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. If she let Captain Chambers take her out of sight, or get her into a car, she was as good as dead. The man had been trying to kill her for weeks, and the second he got a chance, when there weren’t dozens of witnesses, he’d do it.

  The beach had narrowed as they’d walked, and they were almost marching in the surf now. To their left was tall gra
ss and weeds and rocks. To their right was the ocean, and in front of them was the pier.

  Captain Chambers hadn’t said anything else as he forced her down the beach and away from assistance. Caite had tried to look back once, but he’d wrenched her arm so hard, tears formed in her eyes.

  He mumbled under his breath about money, smuggling, and how much trouble women were.

  Knowing with each step they took away from Rocco, his team, and everyone else enjoying themselves at the party, she was less and less likely to be rescued, Caite made a decision.

  Hoping the captain wouldn’t immediately shoot her, that he was trying to stay under the radar, she wrenched her arm out of his grasp and threw herself to the side as hard as she could.

  She ended up on her hands and knees in the surf, sputtering as a wave chose that moment to wash ashore.

  Ignoring the fact that her flip-flops had come off and were washing away with the receding tide, and her shorts were now soaked, Caite quickly stood and backed away from the seething man.

  “Come here, Caite,” he ordered, pointing at the sand in front of him.

  She shook her head and took another step back.

  Chambers stalked toward her, stopping when the water lapped at his feet. “I’m warning you,” he said, lifting his arm to point the pistol at her.

  Caite took another step backward, and she stumbled as a wave hit the backs of her calves.

  Someone shouted something down the beach, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off of the man in front of her. His face had contorted with rage, and he was glaring at her as if the force of his stare alone could force her to bend to his will. She vaguely wondered how many people said no to this man.

  “I wanted to do this quiet and painless,” he told her. “But you’re making that impossible. If you don’t come back here in ten seconds, I’m going to shoot you right here and now. And I have more connections than you can even imagine. I’ll make sure your boyfriend dies a horrible death. He should’ve died in Bahrain, but you saved him. Do you want to be the cause of his death now?”

  Caite shook her head, refusing to give in to his crazy. There hadn’t been any other shouts off to their left, but the hair on her arms was standing straight up. Knowing there was only one way to end this standoff, Caite took another step backward. Then another. And another.

  The water was up to her thighs now, and every time a wave crashed, she stumbled forward before catching herself and forcing her feet to keep going.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Get back here!” Chambers shouted desperately. He took a few steps toward her in the surf.

  “Stop right there, Chambers!” a voice rang out from Caite’s left.

  The second the captain turned to see who had spoken, Caite took the opportunity to do something completely crazy, but hopefully it would take her out of the equation altogether.

  She turned and threw herself headfirst into the ocean.

  Rocco had no idea what made him turn his head and look down the beach, but what he saw made him blink in surprise.

  Captain Chambers and Caite were walking almost arm in arm away from the party.

  Interrupting the rear admiral mid-sentence, he asked, “Where are they going?”

  In tandem, the six other men turned to see what he was talking about.

  “Maybe the captain wanted to show her something down by the pier?” Creasy mused absentmindedly.

  Rocco’s brow furrowed. Something about the way they were walking seemed…off. He was trying to make sense of it when Caite suddenly fell to her hands and knees in the surf.

  “What the hell?” he muttered, and took a step away—then he saw Captain Chambers raise his arm.

  “Holy fuck,” Gumby swore, grabbing Rocco by the arm before he could take off sprinting down the beach.

  “Let go of me!” Rocco growled, fighting against his friend’s hold.

  “If you go running toward them, he’ll shoot her for sure!” Ace hissed, joining Gumby in trying to hold Rocco back.

  “We need to circle around. Surround him so he can’t get away,” Phantom said.

  Rex turned toward where some of the others were packing up and whistled once, long and low.

  Immediately, Wolf’s head came up—and his entire demeanor changed when he saw Rex’s hand signals. Dropping their beach gear and pointing their women and children toward the parking area, the six retired SEALs made their way as fast as they could toward the group.

  “I’ll take Wolf and his team behind the dune and cut him off on the other side,” Phantom said before running to meet the other men.

  Rocco knew with Phantom in charge, the other team would successfully be able to sneak up behind the captain, but that wasn’t his concern at the moment. He watched for a heartbeat as Caite continued to back toward the ocean as she and Chambers had words, then he called out after Phantom, “She can’t swim!”

  He saw his teammate signal in acknowledgment before intercepting Wolf and leading him and the other former SEALs at a fast clip toward the parking lot, so they could get past the captain without him knowing they were there. One man from Wolf’s group, Cookie, remained behind and rushed up to where Rocco and the others were standing.

  Rocco nodded at the man and turned his attention back to Caite. She stumbled and almost fell when a wave crashed against her legs—and Rocco felt paralyzed for the first time in his life.

  He was faced with the worst-case scenario—and he couldn’t do a damn thing. Couldn’t make a decision about how to save Caite.

  “If he thinks he’s cornered, it’ll pressure him into shooting,” Gumby said quietly. “For whatever reason, he hasn’t done it yet. We need to take this slow and easy.”

  “He’s going to kill her,” Rocco said, even as his feet started moving, following his teammates toward the woman he loved more than life itself. Caite looked scared out of her mind, but she wasn’t freaking out, which was good. He was more proud of her than he’d ever been.

  “He would’ve already done it if that was his intention,” the rear admiral said.

  Rocco wasn’t surprised the man was joining them. He had been a SEAL once upon a time himself, and he had to be pissed that the man they’d just been discussing, the man they’d all been looking for this past week, was someone within his own unit.

  “He probably thought if he could get her away from the party, he could kill her and no one would know.”

  Rocco growled once again, the sound vibrating in his chest as he thought of Chambers shooting his woman. He didn’t like Creasy’s assumption, but knew he was right.

  Keeping his eyes on both Chambers and Caite, Rocco walked silently next to his brothers-in-arms. As suddenly as his inability to think had left him, it returned as he watched Caite inching her way backward. He knew exactly what she was planning. And he hated it, wanted to yell at her to stay still, to trust him to take care of Chambers before he could shoot her, but he was still too far away.

  “Gumby and Cookie, I need you on Caite. She’s not a strong swimmer. At all.”

  “On it,” Gumby said, veering right, toward the ocean.

  Cookie took the time to put his hand on Rocco’s shoulder. “We’ve got her,” he said. “I give you my word as a SEAL, she’ll be safe with us.”

  Nodding, Rocco watched as Cookie tore off his shirt and followed Gumby into the waves.

  The five remaining men continued stalking Chambers, staying behind him and out of his line of vision. They were closing in on him, and quietly talking strategy on how to take him down without letting the man kill Caite or himself, when Caite took a few more steps backward. The water was almost up to her hips now, and she stumbled forward as the waves hit her.

  As if just now realizing how far out she was, Chambers yelled something the men couldn’t hear and began to walk toward Caite.

  “Stop right there, Chambers!” Rear Admiral Creasy yelled.

  The captain turned to look at the approaching men, fury clear on his face.

  Rocco s
aw Caite turn and throw herself headfirst into the ocean.

  He wanted to go after her, knew she’d be terrified, but he had to trust in his teammates. They’d keep her safe until he could deal with the threat against her.

  Chambers cried out in rage, then turned and squeezed the trigger on the pistol, shooting blindly into the waves where Caite had disappeared.

  “You want to shoot someone, shoot me!” Rocco yelled, desperate to get the man to stop.

  Abruptly, Chambers turned and aimed the pistol at Rocco. “This is all your fault!” he yelled. “If you’d just died in that fucking cellar, this wouldn’t be happening to me!”

  Rocco put his hands in the air and stopped about twenty feet from the obviously deranged man. “This can still be fixed, Captain. Just put the gun down and we’ll talk.”

  Chambers laughed manically. “Right. This can’t be fixed! My life is fucked and we both know it!”

  “I’m ordering you to put the weapon down,” the rear admiral said.

  “Fuck you!” Chambers shouted. “Fuck all of you! You think I don’t know the only thing keeping you from bum rushing me is this gun? The second I put it down, all you fucking SEALs will do your thing and I’ll never see the light of day again!”

  The man was wrong. The gun wasn’t the thing holding any of the men back—it was the fact that they could see Caite. She was still too close to shore, easily in range of the bullets. No SEAL was scared of being shot. Yeah, it hurt like hell, but it would be nothing if it meant taking Chambers down.

  Anger simmered inside Rocco. This man had tried to have Caite killed. Not once. Not twice. But three times.

  Rocco didn’t care about the fact that he’d almost died as a direct result of this man’s actions. That was a fact of life in his profession. But the idea that he’d targeted an innocent was unacceptable.

  He needed to stall Chambers, give Caite time to get farther away, and give Cookie and Gumby time to get to her.

  “What did you think would happen here, Chambers?” he called out. “You’d take Caite away and we wouldn’t realize it was you? I left her with you, man. Who else was I going to suspect?”