The Relentless Hero

by Angel Vane

  “They won’t find us because we’re leaving soon. Going to head toward Wajir to be picked up by Sunny,” Julian said.

  “Eat the bananas,” Mena implored as she rubbed a hand through his hair, then kissed him on the neck. “We both need strength after everything that happened.”

  “Definitely need strength after what you just did to me,” Julian teased. Reaching for her hand, he kissed it softly, then popped a couple of slices of banana in his mouth. “You wore me out. How am I going to have the strength to protect you now?”

  “I don’t want you to ever have to protect me again,” Mena said, looking away from him.

  Julian pulled her close, loving the feel of her arms wrapping around him. “I’ll do what’s necessary, and right now, that means getting you prepped for a long trek to Wajir County. Sunny should be on her way and she’ll call once she’s nearby. Until then, we keep moving toward the airstrip in Wajir.”

  “How nice of Sunny,” Mena said, a hint of concern in her voice. “She must really care about you to risk her life to come and get us,”

  “Hey, it’s not like that at all,” Julian said, trying to reassure her. At least it hadn’t been like that in several years. “She was a special ops pilot in the Navy. She’s actually the person who flew into Central Sulawesi and saved Broman and me after the massacre there. The mission that went to hell because of my mistake.”

  “A mistake that could have been made by anyone in the same circumstances. A mistake your entire SEAL team, including Broman, would have forgiven you for,” Mena reminded him.

  Julian was still getting used to not berating himself for his past. Mena was a big part of him moving on from the self-imposed exile he’d sentenced himself to after everyone in his SEAL team had been murdered with him and Broman as the lone survivors.

  “You can’t help but see the best in me, can you?” Julian smiled at Mena, stroking a finger down her face.

  “Kind of hard not to when you keep saving my life,” Mena said.

  “I’m not doing that for you, I’m doing that for me. Told you I never want to know what it’s like to be without you again,” Julian said, placing a quick peck on her nose. “Come on, you need to get your clothes back on so we can head out. We’ve already been here too long.”

  “Five minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” Mena said, slipping from his embrace and heading back to the bathroom where her clothes were discarded on the floor.

  Julian glanced at his watch.

  Two hours since he’d talked to Hakeem.

  Shouldn’t he have heard back something by now?

  A ringing pierced the air. “Speak of the devil.”

  Julian answered the comms. “Hello.”

  “You need to get the hell out of that house,” Hakeem said, his words rushing out in frantic bursts. “Sunny and ASF are trying to get to you, but they’re about twenty minutes out. Some rebel group is heading your way and almost at the house. Julian, they are heavily armed. Get the hell out now!”

  Julian ended the call, then forced his body to relax as Mena stepped back into the kitchen, fully dressed.

  “Everything okay?” Mena asked, emerging from the bathroom in her dust-covered button-down and dark trousers. Her hair was pulled back into a low ponytail at the back of her head. She looked refreshed and ready for whatever lay ahead.

  Julian nodded. “Time to go.”

  He slung the backpack over one shoulder and picked up the M16 from the kitchen table. Mena followed close behind him as he crossed through the living room and opened the door.

  Stepping outside on the porch, Julian stopped. The air was laced with danger, tense and stagnant. He turned back to look at Mena, motioning for her to remain inside.

  A sharp blow hurled into his back. Julian pitched forward, the ground approaching his face faster than he could brace himself for the fall. The M16 flew from his hand, bouncing forward out of his reach. As his head hit the hard-packed earth, an explosion of pain ricocheted throughout his skull. Julian blinked, trying to focus as darkness shrouded his eyes. With a last glance, he saw Mena, jerking against the men holding her, crying out as she reached for him.

  Then his world went black.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Disoriented, Julian reached for a cup of water from the table next to his hospital bed. The plastic cup was out of reach. Stretching his fingers, he tipped over the water pitcher, sending it careening to the floor.

  “Let me get that for you,” Sunny said, rushing to the side of the bed. “I didn’t realize you’d woken up.”

  Julian didn’t respond, trying to swallow past the rough, dryness in his throat. Sunny squatted next to the bed, setting the pitcher upright then swiped at the water spreading across the floor with a small towel. Standing, she shook the container, then poured what was left inside the cup and handed it to him. Julian took a sip of the lukewarm water and gagged, but continued to drink until it was gone.

  “How long was I out this time?” he asked. He’d regained consciousness briefly as the helicopter landed at the airstrip, and he was placed into an ambulance. As the EMTs rushed him to the hospital, he’d shared pertinent details with Sunny about Mena’s second abduction.

  Sunny tilted her head, glancing at her watch. “Almost twenty-four hours.”

  “Are you fucking serious?” Julian barked, leaning forward. A dull ache slammed through his head, making him dizzy, and he eased himself back against the pillows.

  “You suffered a severe concussion, and considering that you had a fractured skull several months ago, the doctors weren’t expecting you to be fully conscious for a while,” Sunny said.

  “Did you find Mena?” Julian asked.

  Sunny shook her head. “Not yet. Glaze and Enzo are back in Wajir County, leading the TIDES search. ASF has two teams in the area as well, searching for Mena.”

  Frowning, Julian read the name of the hospital on the side of the water pitcher.

  “Where the hell am I?” Julian asked, feeling his anger building.

  “I brought you back to Nairobi—“

  “Why did you do that?” Julian demanded. “I need to be close to the search, so I can join the team and help find Mena!”

  “You were in no condition to help anyone, let alone Mena. You need to focus on getting better,” Sunny said.

  “Flying me 500 miles away was fucking overkill. Any clinic in Wajir or Garissa would have been better than this. I’ve had concussions plenty of times before,” Julian said.

  “I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with you!” Sunny screamed at him. “All I knew was it felt like history was fucking repeating itself, and you were unconscious being dragged onto my helo … again. Excuse me if I wanted to take you to the best hospital, just like I did the last damn time.”

  Julian took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re pissed at me, and I’m okay with that. If I had to do it again, I’d do the same damn thing. I think Mena would back me up on that and I know her parents do,” Sunny said, slumping down into the chair in the corner.

  “Her parents?” Julian asked. “How did they find out what happened to Mena?”

  “After the museum explosion, they got concerned that they couldn’t reach her. Seems like they have some elite connections. Wangari said they flew over this morning in a private 747 owned by Aurora Nathaniel.”

  “Who is that?”

  “Only the second richest woman in France and the mother of Leo Bronson, who owns the Palmchat Gazette where Mena’s dad works,” Sunny said.

  “Where are they now?” Julian asked.

  “At Wangari’s family estate. They’ve been fully briefed on the details of what happened. Her mother wanted to come to the hospital to see you, but I told her to wait until we knew more about your condition.”

  “I need to get out of here, Sunny. Dee and Caleb need me to bring their daughter back to them, safe and sound. You’ve got to take me back to Wajir County.”

  “I wil
l, as soon as the doctors release you. Somebody should be here soon to check on you,” Sunny said.

  Julian drummed his fingers against the mattress as impatience threatened to push him over the edge. He was wasting time lying in this bed when Mena was out there.

  “Any idea who ambushed us?”

  “No, but if I had to guess, I’d say al-Harakat. Reggie thinks whoever did it was acting on Tubeec’s request, which is why they didn’t bother killing you,” Sunny said.

  “Why does Tubeec want Mena? What use could she possibly have to him?” Julian asked.

  Sunny shifted in the chair, resting her elbows on the armrests as she stared into the distance. Julian waited, knowing she was going to tell him something he didn’t want to hear. But he needed to hear it. He needed to understand what was going on in Tubeec Hirad’s sick fucking mind.

  After several seconds of silence, Sunny said, “Tubeec is driven by inflicting pain on others. He wants the world to suffer the same pain he went through as he watched his wife and twin boys being tortured and killed. He wants you to suffer like he did. Allowing you to watch Mena being taken away from you, knowing you were helpless to stop it … he wants that to haunt you for the rest of your life. Just like he’s haunted.”

  “But why me and Mena? What put us on his radar?” Julian asked.

  “I’m not sure …”

  “Crazy bastard,” Julian muttered under his breath.

  “It’s even worse than that,” Sunny said.

  “How can it be worse than that?” Julian asked.

  “Okeyo and his office lost all the evidence against Rono. The files were destroyed. All copies on all known servers. No trace of them anywhere,” Sunny said.

  “That’s impossible,” Julian said.

  “I know. That’s what makes this whole thing crazy. Some kind of way, Tubeec made it happen. Rono gets what he wanted. No evidence exists anymore that could be used against him and he’s free to run for President without fear of being indicted or convicted for past wrongdoings,” Sunny said.

  “Now I really don’t understand why Tubeec cared that Mena got away. Why try to get her back?”

  “Maybe because she made a fool of him and his elite team of mercenaries. Tubeec can’t allow that to go unpunished, or it will weaken the fear he wields across the continent. He has to make an example out of Mena by …”

  “What?” Julian said, ice-cold settling in his veins.

  “I promise you, we’re doing everything we can to find her … before it’s too late,” Sunny said.

  Jerking the I.V. and wires from his body, Julian threw the hospital covers on the floor and stood up.

  “What are you doing?” Sunny said, rushing toward him.

  Julian stumbled, then regained his bearings as the room stopped spinning. “Where are my clothes? I’m going back to find Mena.”

  “We don’t even know where she is, and you aren’t strong enough yet to be any use to the teams searching for her. Get back in bed,” Sunny implored, grabbing at his arm.

  Julian pushed her away. “I have to find Mena.”

  The door to his hospital room opened. Reggie Kamau stepped inside, his face creased with concern.

  “Actually, you don’t,” Reggie said, walking over to Julian. “My team found Mena. She’s alive … barely.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The sound of the long-hand of the clock ticked loudly.

  Only an hour had passed since Reggie had given him the devastating news about Mena. Wangari was flying to the hospital in Wajir with Mena’s parents in the Irungu family jet. He’d had offers from Reggie and Sunny to take him there, but Julian had refused to go.

  He would join them later. He wasn’t ready to go through the torrent of emotions in front of an audience.

  The woman he loved, left for dead on a dirt road outside of Wajir, brutally violated. The act had weakened Reggie’s resolve that al-Harakat was behind the attack. Rebel groups in the area were more likely the culprit for a kidnapping and violent rape.

  Mena was suffering from internal bleeding and undergoing emergency surgery, which might last several hours. Once they’d assessed the extent of her injuries, more surgeries could be needed.

  It would be several hours before he could see Mena again.

  Touch her.

  Hold her.

  Stumbling out of the hospital against doctor’s orders, Julian had refused Sunny’s offer, and instead he’d had hailed a taxi. At first, he didn’t know where to go. His mind was a jumbled mess, trying to process the information Reggie had shared. He couldn’t think clearly. All he wanted was to be away from Sunny and Reggie, to be away from the truth of what had happened to Mena.

  Sitting in the back of the cab, Julian had barked, “Just drive.”

  The cab driver had obliged, weaving in and out of traffic through the heart of downtown Nairobi until Julian felt a magnetic pull to be in the one place that could help him focus.

  “Westlands, Siren Condominiums,” Julian had said after twenty minutes. The cab had taken him to the home he shared with Mena in record time. Swiping the key card, he walked inside the apartment and almost crumbled to the floor as Mena’s familiar scent of sandalwood and orange hit him like a ton of bricks. Staggering toward the slate-gray couch, he slid down onto the cushions. His eyes drifted to the wall where he’d made love to Mena. Julian reached a hand over and stroked the surface, wishing he could be back in that moment, when Mena was safe and unhurt, before Tubeec Hirad had inflicted this terror upon their lives.

  Julian turned and punched his fist into the wall. Pain radiated in his knuckles, but it did nothing to stop the anger and sadness warring within him. He punched the wall more, harder, hands flying against the light gray surface. Splotches of red from his bleeding fists staining the surface.

  He’d failed to protect her.

  The pain she’d suffered was his fault.

  He should have left the house in Giriftu immediately after talking to Hakeem. Sticking around to indulge his own pleasures was foolish. He knew better. His own stupid mistakes had led to the ambush.

  Just like in Central Sulawesi.

  When would he learn?

  How many lives had to be destroyed before he got his shit together?

  Panting and sweating, Julian fell backward onto the couch, his hands swollen and bloody. Rage seethed through his body as bloodlust rose within him, fueling a desire for revenge and retribution. Thoughts of hunting down each of the bastards who’d attacked Mena and placing bullets between their eyes consumed him.

  A soft knock rapped against the door in quick succession.

  “Fuck,” Julian shouted at the empty room. The last thing he needed was some nosy neighbor coming to check to see if everything was alright.

  Things weren’t alright.

  They might never be alright again.

  Crossing the space, Julian reached the door opening it wide.

  “Found you,” Sunny said, pushing past him and stepping inside the room.

  Julian squeezed his eyes shut, not in the mood to talk.

  “Get out,” Julian said, as he clutched the edge of the open door.

  Sunny crossed through the foyer into the kitchen, opening the pantry and then the cabinet doors.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’m looking for your stash of vodka. I’m not going to let this turn out like last time,” Sunny said.

  Julian pushed the door closed and leaned against it, sliding down to the floor. Sunny had been an eyewitness to the devastating guilt that had consumed Julian as Broman endured multiple surgeries. He’d swallowed a bottle of pain killers and drowned himself in a case of vodka stashed in the trunk of his sedan while sitting in the hospital parking lot. Julian had been listless when Sunny found him.

  “I would have died that night, if it weren’t for you,” Julian whispered.

  “I was so pissed at you. We were all at the prayer vigil for Broman and your ass was nowhere in sight. I fully planned
to make you pay for missing it until I found you out there, almost dead … I can’t go through that again. I can’t be the one who continues to find you when you are broken.” Sunny grabbed a towel and turned on the faucet.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You know, I didn’t know it was your SEAL team I was flying the helo to rescue. When I saw Emilio pulling Broman’s body inside, my heart stopped. Then I saw your face and it was like you didn’t recognize us at all. Like you were looking through us at something only you could see. Then you passed out.”

  “I thought that was the worse day of my life,” Julian said.

  “Until today? When you found out what happened to Mena.” Sunny sat next to him, took his hands and gently cleaned the blood from his knuckles. “None of this is your fault. You did everything you could to protect Mena.”

  “I made too many mistakes. I took risks I shouldn’t have and she’s paying the price for it,” Julian said.

  “Mena is in this situation because of Tubeec, not you. Don’t beat yourself up over something that he did. He kidnapped Mena, sending us all down this horrible path,” Sunny said.

  “What if she doesn’t make it? What if her last moments on earth were being …” Julian choked on the words, unable to say them out loud.

  “Trust me, she’s going to make it. Anyone who’s loved Julian Montgomery knows how hard it is to walk away from him. She’s going to fight and claw her way back to health to be with you. Mark my words,” Sunny said.

  “I hope you’re right,” Julian said, looking up at Sunny.

  Sunny continued, “Right now, you need to focus on praying for her and loving her and supporting her. She needs to feel that coming from you and her whole family. That’s what’s going to get her through this nightmare.”

  “You’re right. I need to get to Wajir.” Julian wanted Mena to feel his presence and his love and he couldn’t do that from five hundred miles away. He was going to wait outside her operating room and remind her of all the reasons why she needed to get better. The life that they shared and the life they still had ahead of them.