Under Pressure

by Zoë Normandie

  He stormed the room where the hostage was being held, feeling hot liquid flowing down his cheek.

  “Who are you?” the hostage cried out in the dark, hope and fear in his voice.

  Delta leaned in to slice the man’s bonds, heaving him up and assuring him, “I’m here to bring you home.”

  “Jesus.” The hostage literally started crying. “Thank you. How the hell did you get in here?”

  Delta ushered him forward, keeping his eyes on all angles. Now was going to be the hardest part—getting the man out. Thankfully, Delta realized, he was no longer alone.

  Warren’s voice came over the perimeter, on the other side of the metal door on the stone wall. Within seconds, he burst through the door, kicking it down with his remarkable strength. Delta moved to pass the hostage to the chief.

  “Get him out of here,” Delta snapped, and shot at an enemy on the top of the roof who was taking shots at Warren. “We’ll cover you.”

  Warren nodded, hoisting the hostage up and returning him to safety. Warren remained, standing beside Delta and shooting at the remaining enemies.

  “We’re not going to be able to get the fuck out of here!” Warren yelled, obviously realizing how many enemies were crawling onto the roof to shoot at them.

  Warren and Delta were the only two left holding the cover. If they ran, they would be shot in the back immediately. Delta noticed to his right a way to climb to the top of the wall. From that point, he would have half-cover of the stone, and it would be at a good height to return fire on the enemy. He was a crack shot. He could do it.

  “Run… I’ll cover you,” Delta demanded, ordering his best friend.

  “No, I’m not leaving you. You’ll die,” Warren spat out, shooting at the roof—suppression fire.

  “Trust me,” Delta bellowed as he sprayed bullets at the roof. Dying was no longer a concern of his.

  Warren let out a laugh that sounded less than amused, but he seemed to realize Delta’s seriousness. Delta felt the absence of Warren’s body behind him as the SEAL fled the compound, returning to safety. Immediately, Delta let out a spray of suppression fire to allow Warren cover and moved to climb up the stone wall, attracting the attention of the enemies.

  Delta’s sheer strength allowed him to push upward quickly, gaining footing on the top of the wall. He stood fiercely, looking the combatants in the eye across the expanse. Then he did what he was trained to do—what he’d signed up to do.

  With calculated precision, focus and intensity, he shot mercilessly until every last enemy was dead. Breathing heavily, his eyes widening over the dark scene, he finally put his earpiece back in.

  “Brother,” Warren’s concerned voice was growling into Delta’s earpiece. “Brother, you there?”

  “Present and accounted for,” Delta replied, hearing an immediate sigh of relief on the other end. “Enemy neutralized.”

  “Fuck, man—that’s not even human.”

  “I know,” Delta replied, his voice cold and distant.

  “Damn—you’re going to get the Medal of Honor for this, you know?” Warren said finally, a tone of disbelief in his voice. “You just saved an American hostage single-handedly.”

  And that was when Delta’s stomach dropped, and he felt something for the first time that he didn’t want to feel. He didn’t want anyone to know. What I did was impossible.

  Delta’s mind came back to the present and he touched the scar running up the side of his face, thinking about Kendra again and when she’d held her hand there. Every time a thought came up, he stifled it, trying to think about something else, trying to think about why being with her would never work. She wanted things that he could not give her—and he’d finally come to terms with that. He had to end it.

  And now, he had to end it for their kid.

  A part of him had known it all along. He’d been watching her, protecting her, and one day he’d seen her walking with a stroller outside her house. He’d known exactly what it was, but he’d stuffed it so far down into his steel vault that he’d denied it. He’d lied to himself.

  He’d pretended he didn’t know. He’d pretended it wasn’t his.

  Because it made it easier.

  “What the hell was I supposed to do?” Delta rumbled to himself, thinking of Kendra, chucking a wrench backward on the concrete with his final adjustment.

  “I don’t know”—a deep-voiced man stepped into the garage—“but you could have told me what was going on with you.”

  Delta’s eyes snapped up, observing his chief halting on the edge of the concrete, his arms tight across his chest. They stared each other down for a second before Delta rose to his feet and squared himself to Warren.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” Delta spat at the man he’d served too many tours to count with—the man who’d betrayed him.

  “You’ve been hiding.” Warren’s accusation was clear, and he was standing tall behind it. “You’ve been running from the truth.”

  Delta stiffened, ready to fight. “That wasn’t your fucking truth to tell, was it? I told you I was going to tell her—on my terms, in my own way.”

  Warren cocked his head, as if wondering whether Delta was serious. Colleagues, friends—the two of them weren’t afraid to have it out.

  Delta’s expression grew ice cold as his chief stared him down. He said nothing else, his muscles contracting with the urge to punch.

  “You’ve got orders to rotate out at the end of this week, after your ceremony.” Warren pushed the conversation forward. “You are still planning on going, right?”

  “I don’t care,” Delta dismissed, grabbing a rag off his workbench and turning his attention to cleaning up his Harley.

  “Well, she came to the base because she cares, for some fucking reason,” Warren argued, approaching the Harley to get into Delta’s space. “Why didn’t you just fucking tell her?”

  Delta refused to reply, grumbling cutting profanities under his breath.

  “She cares so fucking much. She’d do anything for you. That much is clear. But you’re such a goddamn asshole that all you do is push her away.”

  “I was trying to protect her,” Delta roared back, snapping fiercely at his friend. The thought of his son rang through his mind.

  I had to protect them both.

  From me.

  “The way I saw her leave yesterday, it doesn’t look like she gets that,” Warren challenged, hitting on what Delta knew to be true.

  “You know what? Stay the fuck out of my affairs.” Delta spun.

  Like brothers, they fought when they needed to—and Delta had no qualms with fighting him now. Eye to eye, Delta and his chief exhaled the need for violence.

  “You’ve got this weird thing going on, man,” Warren scoffed. “You don’t have to be so fucking alone. We can help you, buddy. She can help you.”

  “No, she can’t—unless she’s trying to get herself killed.”

  Delta snarled and threw his rag to the side, back at his workbench. He hated it—but the choice had already been made for him.

  “You’re not as bad as you think you are.” Warren held strong.

  Delta let out a vicious laugh.

  “I’ve changed. See it?”—he dropped onto his bike, gripping the steel—“I can’t be with her, let alone my goddamn son.”

  “Your…son?”

  Delta stopped, reaching for the ignition, turning on the roaring engine. “Forget it. She’s better off without me. They are both better off without me. There’s only one place I belong now.”

  “All I hear is you saying that you are better off without them,” Warren countered.

  Delta spat out, “So what if I am? All I’ve ever done is use her.”

  “No.”

  Delta turned, his face dead serious, “I did. I used her. And I fucking knew what I was doing the entire time.”

  Warren’s mouth opened, but then he tightened his lips, silence growing between them. He stepped back, staring down the SEAL under his command.
There was a code, and Delta was breaking it.

  He couldn’t pretend anymore. He was a monster, and there was no changing it. He couldn’t control it. It controlled him. And that meant he was only good for one damn thing. He was nothing more than a product…a weapon.

  And he would never have her again, even though the memory of her caused places in his body to ache.

  Delta shook his head, trying to forget, revving the engine.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” Warren challenged.

  “The base,” Delta retorted, like the cold-hearted asset he was. “I’m deploying in a few days. Did you forget?”

  Peeling off, Delta settled into that comfortable numbness he enjoyed. Ripping down the coastal highway, ocean wind against his skin, he was reminded of another time. Something reminded him of her—and something forced him to realize that it was no longer just his cock that ached, but his heart.

  And that was exactly why he had to get back to being a SEAL—and being in control of something.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Her hair catching an evening breeze off the nearby Pacific Ocean, Kendra rocked Leo’s stroller back and forth while sitting on the park bench near her house. It was a cool day—by Malibu standards. She had her son all wrapped up in a cozy micro-fleece as he comfortably napped in his cocoon, perhaps more out of a need to bubble-wrap him than anything.

  It was truly a beautiful sunset, another gem to be enjoyed in the oceanside community. Southern California never ceased to disappoint. The only thing was that Kendra didn’t feel alive enough to enjoy it, or anything. A lump had grown in her throat, rooting there and unrelenting.

  Singing a gentle song, which was carried through the breeze, she gazed upon her baby boy. He was everything to her. The only bitterness she tasted when she looked at him was that he was never going to know his father. He was never going to have a father. Obviously, at this point, she couldn’t allow it. The things she’d learned about Delta, the things he’d never told her… She didn’t really know which was the worst part anymore. All she knew was that he was a goddamn monster, confirmed.

  It wasn’t fair to Leo—and it wasn’t fair to her. She found it unbelievable that she would be in that situation, and it was the worst feeling for Kendra. She’d mixed her genetics with his, creating the most beautiful human she’d ever seen. But whatever subconscious fantasies she’d once held about the three of them being a family… Well, they had all turned out to be unbearable. She was never going to see him again.

  What was done was done—and nothing was ever going to change. Tears rushed to her eyes just admitting that to herself, admitting that it was all over. Accepting that had become much harder than she’d ever thought. That missing ring on her finger had once seemed so damn important, but now she realized that was the least of her concerns. The health of her son had become the most important thing in her mind in light of recent developments.

  As she rocked Leo back and forth in his stroller, soothing him during his sleep, she sensed a shadow growing in her mind. Things weren’t right. Things weren’t going to be okay. She was at the foot of a very ominous mountain. That shadow, it seemed, popped out of her mind and into the park, nearing her right side.

  When she glanced over her shoulder, every muscle in her body froze. A familiar lithe brunette strode toward her across the long green grass of the well-manicured park. It was the same woman who had been in the bar with Delta. Kendra jumped up immediately, ready to bolt, when the woman raised her hands in a gesture of peace. Stopping a safe distance from her, the brunette offered her a conciliatory smile, a little more wild than civil.

  “Kendra—right? I just want to talk to you. I’m not here to cause trouble.”

  “Right.” Kendra hesitated. She positioned herself in front of the stroller, protecting Leo.

  “I’m Sky.”

  Distrusting, her blood pumping, Kendra gazed left and right—but she stayed put, taking a deep breath, seeing how well populated the park was. If at any point the woman made a move, Kendra wasn’t alone.

  “How can I help you?” Kendra asked, watching suspiciously.

  “Look… I’ve been working on something with Delta, and he keeps telling me not to call the cops. He’s got trust issues. But you’re a cop, right?”

  “I am.”

  “I need you,” Sky explained, taking a piece of paper out of her pocket and placing it on the edge of the park bench.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s an address,” Sky told her. “Meet me there tonight.”

  “I don’t understand,” Kendra replied, confused. “Why me?”

  “He said not to call the cops,” Sky replied, a promising look in her eyes. “But he didn’t say not to call his girlfriend.”

  Kendra gave the woman a look, in no uncertain terms, that screamed ‘don’t be ridiculous’. ‘Girlfriend’ couldn’t be further from the truth. Seeming to get the message, Sky gulped, shifting uneasily in the park grass.

  “He trusts you.”

  “So why would I go behind his back?” Kendra bit her lip, knowing she had already done just that.

  “I’m trying to help him.” Sky’s voice rose, ire flashing in her eyes. “You know sometimes he can’t help himself.”

  Kendra took a step back, pushing the stroller with her. Sky raised her hands again.

  “Look, just meet me there.” Sky stepped back, watching Kendra’s reaction carefully. “You’ll get answers. Answers you need to know.”

  Her focus drifted back to the stroller where Leo slept. Kendra leaned in, blocking her gaze, protectively covering the stroller.

  “Why should I believe you?” Kendra twisted, looking over the park for the nearest person she could call to for help.

  “Because they can fix him. They have the data you need.”

  Kendra snapped her gaze back, widening her eyes at Sky. “No—”

  “Yes,” Sky pushed. “A way to make him normal again. You’ll find it there.”

  Kendra opened her mouth to refuse but was distracted by a fussing Leo. When she looked up, the woman was walking away again through the busy park. Kendra watched her leave, conflicted. She reached into her stroller, picking up Leo, cradling him with love. She gently kissed his face—his soft, squishy baby cheeks.

  As soon as the woman left the area, Kendra reached over and picked up the paper on the bench. Stuffing it into her pocket, she marched her stroller in the opposite direction, toward her house. As she went whipping by sauntering evening ramblers, an eagerness and urgency rose in her. She had an address. Potential next steps. Stifling flashing red warnings, she grew more determined and more inside her own head.

  Tenacious as she could be, it was an opportunity she couldn’t shelve. She didn’t know if she should do it, but she couldn’t deny the pull she felt. Would she forever regret not going? What if it could help her son?

  What if it could fix Delta?

  When she returned to her home and explained her cocked-up plan to Sienna, it was not well received. Their disconnect grew as they stood face-to-face in the hallway of Kendra’s bungalow.

  “This is not your responsibility. Why do you think you should be doing this—let alone doing this by yourself?” Sienna was livid, her tenor rising to levels Kendra never heard.

  Kendra held her ground, digging her heels in.

  “I owe this to Leo. I have to find out.”

  “You owe it to Leo to stay safe. This isn’t safe. If it’s so important, why don’t we ask someone to help you?” Sienna stood up to Kendra, straightening her spine.

  That only made Kendra more entrenched, as she fought back through a tight jaw.

  “I have to do this.”

  “You think you have to do everything, but you don’t,” Sienna continued. “You can be so stubborn, Kendra. And one day, it’s going to be a very big problem for you.”

  The warning was clear—but Kendra snubbed it.

  Shaking her head, she countered, “This is the only way I see.” />
  “That’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? You only see your way,” Sienna cried out, turning to walk away. Over her shoulder, she snapped back, “Just call Delta. He should get that information. Not you.”

  “I can’t call him,” Kendra grumbled behind her.

  Sienna stopped dead in her tracks, her groan echoing through the hall. “I understand your lack of faith in this man, but he’s the fucking Navy SEAL, not you.”

  Kendra opened her mouth but closed it quickly. What was she supposed to say to that? As Sienna marched down the rest of the hall, leaving Kendra in her wake, she found herself gazing at the front door, torn between the fantasy she’d always have and the reality she didn’t want. The sun finally dipping beneath the horizon drowned her in shadows, lonelier than ever.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “You have arrived at your destination,” the app announced, “Twenty-five Willow Avenue.”

  At the address given to her by Sky, Kendra braked her car in front of a non-descript five-story red brick building on the edge of the city. Here I am, she thought as she parked and looked for signage advertising what the building housed. She saw nothing. And no one.

  Where the fuck is this chick?

  The sunset dragged low on the horizon, and it was the last vestige of warmth Kendra felt. Leaving Leo once again, a coldness had overtaken her chest, complementing the frosty little lump wedged in her throat. She felt like she’d left a piece of herself behind, and along with it a piece of her sanity.

  Let’s just get this over with.

  As she turned her car off, her neck and jaw tensed. Something sinful rushed over her—immediate guilt. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself to just get the information Sky was dangling then get home.