by Susan Stoker
“I had it all worked out!” the captain yelled back, gesturing with the gun and seeming increasingly crazed. “I was gonna tell you she thought she saw a kid by himself on the pier. I escorted her down here and someone jumped us. He got off a shot before I could do anything. It was gonna work, damn it! But that stupid bitch decided to be a hero!”
The captain started to turn toward the ocean, but Rocco quickly took a few steps forward and said, “And then what? The bullet inside her would be traced back to you. I thought you were smarter than that, man.”
Rocco knew Ace and Bubba were spreading out to his right, and Rex and the rear admiral were doing the same on his left. They’d formed a line and could jump the captain, just as the man himself had feared. Rocco could also see Wolf, Phantom, Abe, Mozart, Dude, and Benny coming up fast and silent behind Chambers.
It was his job to keep the man’s attention on him, and not on Caite or what was happening behind him.
“I am smarter!” Chamber raged. “I’m a fucking genius! I was the one who figured out there was big money in those stupid artifacts. I’m the one who found Andy Edwards and made him funnel information to me! No one cares about Iraq! They fucking bombed our country! Why should they get to keep all those pieces of hardened dirt? They’ll just end up breaking them or blowing them up. I was saving them!”
“Saving them?” Creasy asked incredulously. “You were selling them to the highest bidder.”
“Right! Who are putting them in museums and treating them with respect, which is more than the fucking Taliban would do!” Chambers screeched. “The navy pays us peanuts! Why should everyone else profit from those fucking tablets and not me? I’ve put in my time for my country, and I’m not gonna get nearly what I deserve when I retire!”
“What makes you better than the Bitoo brothers?” Rocco asked, having no idea who Andy Edwards was, but making a mental note to find out as soon as possible. “What makes you better than the terrorists looting sacred burial sites and museums in Iraq?”
“I am better than them!” Chambers screamed.
“Put the gun down. Now, Chambers!” the rear admiral ordered again. “Seriously, Isaac…as of now, you haven’t hurt anyone. We can work this out.”
Chambers laughed. It was a high-pitched, insane sound, but when he spoke, his words were modulated and clear. “There’s nothing to be worked out. I’m done. If the thugs in the federal prison don’t kill me, my clients will find a way to get to me. All I had to do was make sure she kept her damn mouth shut. I knew if she blabbed, everything was over.”
“It is over,” Creasy told him. “We’re friends, Isaac. Let me help you.”
“You can’t help me,” Chambers said, his tone eerily quiet now. “Tell my wife I’m sorry.”
Even as Wolf and Phantom dove toward the man from behind, the captain raised the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
“No!” The rear admiral leaped toward the man he’d worked with for several years.
Within seconds, the SEALs were doing first aid, but Rocco’s attention wasn’t on the man who had gotten off easy—it was on the ocean. He ran to the place where he’d last seen Caite and squinted, blocking the sun from his eyes with a hand.
But all he could see was water. Miles and miles of water. No Caite.
Caite held her breath and kept her eyes squeezed shut as she threw herself into the ocean. For a second, she panicked when she couldn’t figure out which way was up, but then she let her body go limp, like Rocco had taught her, and felt herself float up to the surface. She immediately turned on her back and tried to calm down.
The waves were trying to push her back toward shore, which was the last place she wanted to go. If she could take herself out of the equation, she had no doubt Rocco and his team could take out Captain Chambers.
Caite kicked her feet and move her hands back and forth, trying to propel herself through the water. Coughing as waves crashed over her head, she kept going as best she could.
When she heard gunshots, she braced herself, waiting for pain to hit her—along with a bullet. But nothing happened.
Picking up her head and trying to look back at shore was a mistake, as she immediately sank under the water. Sputtering and coughing, she forced herself to relax and put her head back, to stare up at the sky as she tried to move through the water.
“When this is over, I’m going to insist on Rocco showing me the right way to swim,” she said out loud. Her words were muffled and sounded weird in her head, but somehow talking to herself made her feel better.
“I’m sure I look like a beached whale, but I don’t care. Thank God, saltwater makes me float, because this is a lot harder than being in the calm cove Rocco took me to.”
She coughed as water went in her mouth once again, and she decided that maybe it was better to concentrate on floating and moving away from the beach rather than talking. Caite felt as if she was undulating weirdly, but a glance downward showed she was indeed moving in the right direction.
Caite finally stopped paddling with her hands and kicking with her feet. She didn’t want to swim her way to Hawaii, she just needed to get far enough away so she was out of the line of fire. She lay still and continued to stare upward. Everything seemed quiet and serene out in the ocean. She wanted to tread water, to see what was happening, but she didn’t know how to do that and not sink.
How long she lay on her back, Caite had no clue, but the second she felt something brush against her, she panicked.
Flailing as if her life depended on it, Caite’s head went under once more and she inhaled a huge swallow of seawater before her head popped back above the waves, an arm tight around her waist.
“Easy, Caite. I’ve got you.”
Surprised at the deep voice right next to her, Caite turned to see Gumby. Still coughing and gagging on the water she’d swallowed, she managed to say, “Fancy meeting you here.”
The lines next to his eyes crinkled as he smiled at her. “You okay?”
Caite started to nod when she felt something against her other side. She shrieked and threw her arms around Gumby, sure she was about to be eaten by a shark.
A chuckle to her right made her open her eyes and glare at the second man. Cookie, if she remembered right.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Usually women are glad to see me when I appear next to them in the middle of the ocean.”
“You do this a lot?” Caite asked snarkily.
“More than you’d think,” Cookie responded.
“Are you hurt?” Gumby asked, bringing her attention back to him. “Did you get shot?”
Caite shook her head. “No. I’m okay.” Water got in her mouth as she spoke and she sputtered some more.
“Why don’t you lie back again,” Gumby suggested. “Cookie and I are here, we’ll make sure you get back to shore.”
“Not yet!” Caite cried. “It’s not safe.”
“Rocco and the others have things under control,” Gumby told her. “He said you weren’t a strong swimmer, but I’d say he was wrong. You did just what you should’ve.”
His praise went a long way toward making Caite feel better about her rash decision to dive into the ocean. “They aren’t going to let him get away, are they?” she asked. “He’s the one who’s been trying to kill me.”
“He’s not going to get away,” Cookie said, and Caite glanced at him once more. “Trust us. We’ll get you back to Rocco safe and sound.”
“Lie back and relax,” Gumby urged, peeling her hands from his neck. “That’s it. Good girl.”
Caite forced herself to let go of Gumby but remained stiff until she felt both Cookie’s and Gumby’s hands under her back. They easily helped keep her afloat even while swimming with their free hands. She could tell they were swimming parallel to shore, and not directly toward it, and that was okay with her. She was worried about Rocco, but knew deep down that Captain Chambers was no match for him and his team.
Something occurred to he
r then. “I thought you guys were leaving,” she said as she glanced toward Cookie.
“We were. But Wolf heard Rex whistle and saw him signal that they needed help.”
“Oh.” She really didn’t have much more to say after that. She wanted to know what was happening, where Rocco was, but she also didn’t want to be that person. The needy damsel in distress. She’d gotten herself away from the captain all by herself, thank you very much, she couldn’t fall apart now.
“I guess we’re even now,” she told Gumby as they swam with her through the waves.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“We’re even. I saved you and you saved me.”
He grinned. “I guess that means we have to name our kids after each other then.”
“I’m not naming any of my children Gumby.”
“Decker.”
“What?”
“My name is Decker.”
Caite turned her head slightly so she could see him. “Oh yeah, you told me that back when we met in that elevator in Bahrain.”
“Yup.”
“I like it.”
He grinned again.
“Okay. Done.”
“Hey, what about me?” Cookie teased from her other side. “I saved your life too!”
“Fine, what’s your name? Your real name?” Caite asked.
“Hunter.”
“Good lord,” Caite mused. “Hunter and Decker. I’ll have the most badass little boys around. The little girls at school will throw themselves on the ground in adoration when they walk by.”
Both men laughed at that.
Caite sobered. She took a chance that she was safe and secure with their hands under her, and she reached up and touched both men on the shoulder as they swam. “Thank you.”
As if they could speak telepathically, both Cookie and Gumby stopped swimming to tread water next to her. They helped her move upright, both holding on to an arm so she didn’t sink.
“You don’t have to thank us,” Gumby said, with no trace of the humor that had just been in his voice.
“Yeah, I do,” Caite argued. “When I went into the water, I knew there was a fifty-fifty chance I wasn’t going to make it out. I mean, Rocco helped me learn how to float, but that was in a nice smooth cove with no waves…and no crazy men shooting at me. All I knew was that I couldn’t let him take me out of sight of the party. If he did, I knew he’d kill me. The ocean was my only shot, and I took it.”
“Beautiful and smart,” Cookie mused.
“Caite, listen to me. You might be dating Rocco, but you belong to all of us. Ace, Bubba, Rex, Phantom, me…all of us. Just as the woman I end up with will be, and Ace’s woman, etcetera. If Rocco lost you, we’d all suffer. I may not love you quite like he does, but I sure as hell still love you…if that makes sense.”
Caite could only stare at him in surprise.
“You met my wife today. You saw how close everyone is in our group. Every one of us would do whatever it takes to protect each other’s wives and kids. Me and Fiona might not have children of our own, but you better believe that I’d die for Alabama’s, or Jess’s, or Cheyenne’s. And, Caite…when a SEAL decides a woman is it for him, she’s it. Period. So be sure about Rocco. You can hurt him worse than any bullet ever could.”
Caite swallowed hard. She didn’t want to hurt Rocco, but hearing from his friends how much she meant to him, to all of them, meant more to her than almost anything she’d ever heard in her life.
She opened her mouth to speak—but just then a single shot rang out from the beach.
Moving as one, Cookie and Gumby eased her onto her back and began swimming in earnest away from the area.
Caite wanted to ask what was going on. If Rocco had been shot. If Captain Chambers was still shooting at her…but all she could do was hang on as she moved through the water much faster than she’d ever be able to move on her own.
Closing her eyes, Caite gave her safety over to the two men at her sides. They’d get her to Rocco. She had no doubt.
Chapter Sixteen
Rocco stared in frustration and fear out at the waves. All he saw were whitecaps. Just as he began to strip off his shirt in preparation for heading out to search for Caite himself, he heard Ace say, “Two o’clock!”
Turning to his right, Rocco saw three figures emerging from the surf.
Taking off at a run, Rocco ignored the shouts from the local police who had just shown up on scene. Knowing his team would have his back, not to mention the word of a rear admiral, Rocco didn’t take his eyes off of Cookie, Caite, and Gumby as they struggled to stay on their feet in the strong surf.
Wading into the water to meet them, the second he could, Rocco grabbed Caite and lifted her into his arms. Feeling Cookie and Gumby steadying him on either side, Rocco buried his nose in Caite’s hair and held on as tightly as possible.
Neither said a word, simply held on as he walked them to the beach. Once there, Rocco didn’t want to let go. Sinking to his knees, he couldn’t get any words out. He was overwhelmed with gratitude that she was alive and well in his arms.
A thought struck him then, and he pulled back. “Were you hit, ma petite fée?”
Caite immediately shook her head.
“Thank God,” Rocco groaned, then let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Are you okay? We heard a shot,” she said, putting a hand on the side of his face.
“I’m fine. We’re all okay.”
“Then who was shot?”
Rocco exchanged a look with Gumby, then turned back to Caite. “Chambers.”
Her eyes got wide. “Did you shoot him? Are you going to be arrested?”
Rocco shook his head. “No, ma petite fée. He shot himself. None of us were armed.”
Instead of being shocked at hearing about Chambers, she fixated on the other thing he said. “You weren’t armed? How were you going to take him down then? He had a gun! He could’ve shot you! He said he was going to kill you or one of the kids if I yelled out.”
“I’m a SEAL. We’re all SEALs,” Rocco said matter-of-factly. “We don’t need weapons because we are weapons, Caite.”
She rolled her eyes, and Rocco was just extremely relieved she wasn’t hysterical. “Save me from macho navy heroes.”
“She swallowed a lot of water,” Gumby said from above them. “She’s probably gonna be dehydrated.”
“I’m fine,” Caite mumbled as she buried her face back into the side of Rocco’s neck.
“Help me up?” Rocco asked his friends, and easily stood with a little boost from each of them when they grabbed his arms.
Then, holding Caite as if she were made of glass, even though he knew from experience she had a core of steel, Rocco carried her down the beach toward where they’d left their chairs. He knew they’d have to talk to the cops, and they wouldn’t be leaving for a while, but he needed to make sure Caite was good. She came before everyone and everything else. Always.
Caite was a little surprised that Rocco refused to leave her side. She figured he’d have to talk to the navy bigwigs who had descended on the little beach like a plague of locusts. Not only them, but the navy investigators, and the local cops and detectives who had shown up as well. Within thirty minutes, there were more law enforcement personnel on the beach than there had been people enjoying the navy party.
Caroline and the rest of the women had given their statements to the police as to what they’d seen from their vantage point, and had been shooed off by their husbands. The other guests had been questioned and politely asked to leave as well.
Caite was the only woman left on the beach, other than the female officers and detectives. She shivered, both because she was chilled and in reaction to what she’d gone through. Now that she’d had time to really think about it, she realized how lucky she’d been.
“You’re okay, ma petite fée,” Rocco said softly. They’d both been interviewed several times by both NCIS and the local police. Rear Ad
miral Creasy had been a godsend, as he’d taken charge of the scene and just about everyone seemed to defer to him.
“Hang on just a few more minutes and we’ll be out of here,” Rocco told her.
She nodded.
“Caite?”
“Yeah?” she said, looking up at him.
“What you did was incredibly stupid, you know that, right?” Rocco asked.
She immediately felt her hackles rise. She’d done the only thing she could do at the time. Unlike Rocco and the rest of his buddies, she wasn’t a walking, talking weapon.
She’d recently watched a clip on the internet of a Navy SEAL guy demonstrating what you should do in a knife fight. The camera panned away from the buff, hot SEAL to a fake attacker with a knife, and when it panned back to the SEAL, the only thing left to see was the back of the man as he ran as fast as he could away from the fight.
That had stuck with her. She couldn’t have fought the captain. He was bigger than her, meaner, and a lot more desperate.
Rocco’s words hurt, and she tried to pull away from him, no matter that she was still cold. But he wouldn’t let go.
Caite opened her mouth to defend herself, but he spoke before she could.
“It was also the bravest thing I’ve ever seen in my life…and I’ve seen some incredibly brave shit. I’m so proud of you, ma petite fée. You did the one thing that would make sure this ended the way it did, without you or any of the good guys being hurt. You took yourself out of the equation.”
The tears that had hovered at the surface of her eyes spilled over. “Did he say why?” she asked between hiccuped breaths.
“Nothing that made sense,” Rocco said. “I’m sure NCIS will find out a lot more once they delve into his financial situation. He babbled about money and retirement, and some guy named Andy Edwards, but the bottom line is, I don’t give one little shit. He dishonored the navy and the SEALs. Not only that, but he tried to kill you. Several times. I hope he rots in hell.”
