by Shauna Allen
“Bad. He beat her like he meant to kill her, brother. Stabbed her in the back. Left her for dead behind a dumpster.”
“Oh, God.” I dropped my head, overcome as tears blurred my vision. “Fucking Christ.” I didn’t want to ask, but I had to. “The baby?”
“They’re not sure yet, man. I’m so sorry.” I felt Tito’s support even though he didn’t say a word, yet I couldn’t meet his gaze. “Who would’ve done such a . . .?” My head snapped up. “Wait. Does she know who did it?”
“Yeah, man. She told me.”
“Pete.”
“Yes.”
“Mother. Fucker. I’ll kill him.” I would, too. No doubt about it. I would end him as soon as I found him for daring to touch my woman and baby.
His silence was telling.
“Tex?”
“Yeah?”
“Where’s Pete now?”
“Just get home, Kid. Your woman needs you.”
“Tex.”
Sigh. “He’s been arrested, okay? But, I have to tell you something. When I saw her like that . . . it was . . . it’s never okay for a man to hit a woman in my book, much less brutalize one like that. And, hey, I don’t have a military career to throw away, so I paid Petey a little visit for you, and let’s just say his mug shot isn’t so pretty.”
My jaw nearly hit the ground as the implications of what he was saying settled in. “You . . .? Wow. I don’t know what to say here.”
“There’s nothing to say because nothing happened, all right? Just get your ass home. Your woman needs you.”
“Roger that.”
Carissa
I had the vague awareness that I was in the hospital as I slipped in and out of consciousness, but nothing was clear. Nothing seemed to make sense. Every single muscle in my body throbbed and burned like it had been doused in gasoline, lit on fire, doused, then lit again. I was so groggy I could barely peel my eyes open.
A relentless, rhythmic beeping sounded above my head.
The air smelled of disinfectant and flowers.
In the distance, faint voices murmured, but little else was around that I could discern. Certainly nothing to reassure me that I wasn’t horribly alone.
In all my desolation, only three thoughts looped through my fuzzy, pain-addled brain over and over and over like water circling a slow-moving drain.
Where was Cody?
Was our baby alive?
I love you both so much . . .
Cody
Tito cleared it with the commander for me to leave the teams in Mexico and head back to California for a family emergency—though I probably would’ve left anyway.
I caught the first flight home and raced to the hospital, absolutely scared out of my mind. Tex had kept me updated the best he could, but he had limited information since he wasn’t Carissa’s next of kin, so the hospital would only tell him so much and she was apparently still pretty out of it. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, but I’d had plenty of time to imagine the worst and fantasize about all the ways I’d make Pete pay.
I’d also had the entire flight to think about the possibility of losing Carissa and the baby, and it had done nothing but drive me insane. I had also come to a startling conclusion.
I loved her.
I would be crushed if we lost the baby, but a part of me would die if I lost her.
I couldn’t lose her. No. Matter. What.
I’d been an idiot to not realize it before now.
I parked my truck and sprinted up the walkway into the hospital, ignoring the pain in my left arm. Following Tex’s directions, I found my way to the floor Carissa was on.
Tex glanced up from the chair outside her room where he was keeping watch. His eyes were tired, his face unshaven. “Hey,” he said, his voice sleepy. He’d obviously been there with her the entire time.
“Hey.”
His gaze darted to the bandage that was just visible under my shirt sleeve. “You good, man?”
“I’m good. It’s her I’m worried about.”
He nodded his understanding as he stood to stretch. “Like I said, they don’t tell me much, but from what I can tell, she’s hanging in there. She’s a fighter, your girl.”
“Thank you so much, man. For everything.” Heat burned my eyes as I peered through the small window on her door and saw her sleeping form in the bed. She looked so fragile in the dark.
“No need to thank me. It’s what we do.”
“Still.” I blinked hard. “If you hadn’t been there . . .”
He clapped a hand to my shoulder. “But I was, brother.”
I nodded, overcome. “Yeah.”
“I’m gonna head home now that you’re here. Get some sleep.”
“Of course.” He turned to go, and I put my hand on the knob. “Tex?”
He spun back toward me. “Yeah?”
“Thanks isn’t really enough, but I owe you everything, brother. Seriously.” He tried to wave me off, but I wouldn’t have any of it. “I mean it. My entire world is behind this door right here, and you literally saved my life when you saved hers.”
He nodded once as if he understood, gave me a little wave, then pivoted to amble away for home.
I took a breath and pressed open the door, petrified of what I’d find. The room was quiet except for the gentle beeping of a heart monitor and her soft breathing.
I moved closer, reassured by the rise and fall of her chest . . . then I caught sight of the damage. Angry purple bruises and swelling distorted the face I knew and loved. A thick, white bandage was wrapped around her right bicep. I had no way to know the damage that lay beneath the sheets . . . or internally.
My gaze slid down to her belly.
My hand trembled as I reached out and gently laid my palm over her stomach. I couldn’t tell a difference. Was my daughter still alive in there?
I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her womb.
“Cody?” a soft voice croaked.
I snapped my head up. “Carissa?”
“You’re here,” she whispered.
“Of course, I’m here, baby.” I wanted to touch her, hold her, kiss her . . . anything, but I was scared to hurt her. I told her so and a faint smile ghosted across her lips as tears began to leak from the corners of her swollen eyes. “Don’t cry.” I bent and kissed a tear away. “Please don’t cry, baby.”
This only made more tears fall, which I caught with kisses and my fingertips.
“Baby,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”
She shook her head as if to deny my words.
“No.” I kissed her denial away. “I am. I should’ve been there. He should’ve never been allowed to touch a hair on your head.”
“You can’t . . .”
I leaned back. “Can’t what?”
“Always be here.”
I was torn. She was right. I had a job to do, but the need to protect her and our family was instinctual. I used my thumb to dash a few more tears. “I don’t know about that.”
She stared at me with those hauntingly dark eyes, so full of trust and need that I couldn’t hold back one second longer.
“I love you.”
Her brows curled in confusion as if she couldn’t have heard me right.
“I’m sorry I was such an idiot in the beginning,” I continued. “And I just want you to know that no matter whatever happens, I want us to be together. Because I love you. I’m in love with you.” I grinned at her look of shock. “God, Carissa, I’m so fucking in love with you it’s stupid.”
“What about the baby?” she blurted.
I swallowed. “I was afraid to ask. Is she . . . are you . . .?”
Her hand fluttered to her belly. “Nobody’s been in to talk to me yet.”
“Oh.” My heart sank. “Well . . .”
“So?”
“So, what?”
She studied me a long, heartbreaking moment, her tears starting fresh. “I guess I just assumed if we lost her
that we’d be done.”
“Haven’t you heard a word I just said?” I wiped the new teardrops. “I love you, Carissa. You. Yes, I love our little girl, and it will absolutely devastate me if we lose her, but that will not change how I feel about you. Not a bit. I’m in this for the long haul with you. Forever, baby, if you’ll have me.”
“Forever?”
“That’s as far as I’m willing to go.” I bit back a smile.
She sucked in a teary breath, blinking rapidly. “Wow.”
“I do have one question though.”
“What?”
“Any chance you have forever in you, too?”
She laughed then grimaced. “Ow.” She took a moment to settle back into her pillow then took my hand. “I’ve got more than forever in me, Cody. I love you so much it’s more than stupid.”
I grinned. “What’s more than stupid?”
“I don’t—” Her eyes flew to mine in shock.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She took our interlaced fingers and pressed my palm to her stomach. “Feel.”
I waited, feeling nothing.
Then . . . there it was. The tiniest movement beneath my hand. A nudge to our joined fingertips.
Our eyes met, and we shared a smile as our daughter joined in the moment, letting us know she was, in fact, alive and thriving and hopefully feeling our love.
And in that one second, my world suddenly made perfect sense.
Epilogue
Tito
Two weeks later . . .
The commander yanked me off live-fire maneuvers with the guys. We walked and talked in the sunshine, the sound of gunfire behind us.
“Sir?”
“We have a problem, Johnson.”
“What’s that, sir?”
The commander had never been one to pull any punches or feed me a line off bullshit, and he apparently wasn’t about to start today. “We’re getting word from the CIA about chatter of another embassy bombing.”
“Shadeek?”
“They think so, or it might be another player on the scene. Mikhail Kovach from Serbia.”
“We going in?” My mind was already playing through different op scenarios with two different players.
“No. Not until we know what we’re dealing with.”
“All due respect, sir, but isn’t that what we do? Recon?”
He lasered me with a glare.
“Sorry, sir. What do you need from us?”
“I need you to mine your available assets.”
“Sir?”
“Your hacker. El Lobo Blanco. Find out what she knows about Shadeek and any chatter about imminent threats as well as anything else she knows that’s of value to us.”
I thought about the petite, fragile, traumatized slip of a girl that we rescued from Marco Esteban two weeks ago. When she was put into the comms van with me, she did nothing but huddle under a blanket and cry, unable to form a coherent sentence, much less tell us a damn thing. She looked like she was headed for a mental breakdown. How was she supposed to give us any intel, much less hack into Shadeek’s network for current information?
“Sir, I don’t think—”
He snapped around. “I didn’t ask you to think. I asked you to do. There are lives on the line, Johnson, so I’d advise you to get to it.” He stomped off and slid into his government-issued sedan.
I shook my head. Whatever.
I jogged over when the firing died down and gave the guys a heads up, then headed back to HQ to change into my civies before hustling over to the small apartment on base that the government had put Brianne Kennard up in for her own safety. I knew from Lucky that she’d gotten medical and psychological clearance, but I didn’t buy it. I also wasn’t sure how much I trusted her. Yes, she’d been a hostage of the cartel and they’d forced her to do their dirty work, but she’d still lived with the enemy. So, until she proved otherwise, she was still suspect.
I loped up to her door and knocked, feeling foolish.
She probably wouldn’t even remember me, much less be in any state to help or . . .
The door swung open and that thought was quickly snatched from my brain.
“DeAndre.” A bright, sunny smile framed the biggest, bluest eyes I’d ever seen.
“I . . . You know my name,” I said stupidly.
Her smile fell just a tad. “Yes. You told me that night. I don’t think you wanted to, but you did to calm me down. You also told me about your mom’s red beans and rice, and a few other things I think, but I can’t really remember.”
“I did?”
“You did.” She stepped back. “Would you like to come inside?”
“Sure.” I stepped in and was immediately assaulted by the scent of oranges and honeysuckle. “Thanks.”
She closed the door. “So, what brings you by?”
I took her in. “You look amazing.”
Surprise colored her features, but it was true. Her platinum blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, her skin was healthy and glowing, she’d put on some weight, she seemed . . . normal. “Uh . . . thanks?”
“I mean, last time I saw you, it was a little bit rough,” I covered quickly, unable to help noticing that weight had added some undeniable curves.
“Yes. It was. But I’m so grateful you and your team saved me. I’ve been telling everyone that I’m happy to help however I can if you ever need anything. I feel so useless just taking up space here, going to doctors and therapy, not working. I’ll have to get back to my life eventually.”
“Well, funny you should mention that.” I tucked my hands into my front pockets as we eyed each other. “That’s why I’m here.”
“It is?”
“Yes. There’s chatter of another embassy bombing, and we could use your help.”
“You need me, I’m in.” No questions asked. Just like that. Was she too good to be true or just a woman of her word?
“Great.”
She smiled. I didn’t. If I wasn’t mistaken, a definite something still arced between us, but I most definitely ignored it. No time for any of that business. Not now and not with her.
A note from the author
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed Kid and Carissa’s story as well as all of the other books so far in this series. The teams have taken down Marco Esteban and Brianne is finally safe and working with them rather than against them.
Or is she?
The saga is nearly over, but before it can come to its explosive conclusion, the teams will need to circle back to where it all started and take down the elusive Shadeek before any more innocent lives are lost.
Catch Tito and Brianne’s story next in Redeeming Brianne!
Other Books by Shauna Allen
You can find links to all of my books at my website here: http://www.shaunaallen.com/
Special Forces: Operation Alpha World
Awakening Aubrey
Defending Danielle
Rescuing Rebekah
Saving Scarlett
Saving Grace
The Family Creed Series
The Executioner (Featuring Asher Creed!)
The Rainmaker
The Gunman
The Prodigal
The Silencer
The Dove
Jack ‘Em Up Series
Burnout (Blake & Delilah: The Beginning)
Crank (Blake & Delilah)
Torque (Jesse & Rachel)
Hitched (A Jack ‘Em Up Wedding novella – Jesse & Rachel)
Throttle (Trace & Tori)
Rev (Micah & Jewel)
Inked Series
Jed
Noble
Charlie
Tristan
Standalones
Elvis is a Keeper
Circle of Redemption
Books written as SC Montgomery
Crossing the Line Series
Lines in the Sand
Two Blue Lines
Blurred Lines
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Shauna Allen Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1jawXro
Shauna Allen website: www.shaunaallen.com
SC Montgomery website: www.scmontgomery.com
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Special Forces: Operation Alpha World
Denise Agnew: Dangerous to Hold
Shauna Allen: Awakening Aubrey
Shauna Allen: Defending Danielle
Shauna Allen: Rescuing Rebekah
Shauna Allen: Saving Scarlett
Shauna Allen: Saving Grace
Brynne Asher: Blackburn
Jennifer Becker: Hiding Catherine
Julia Bright: Saving Lorelei
Julia Bright: Rescuing Amy
Victoria Bright: Surviving Savage
Victoria Bright: Going Ghost
Victoria Bright: Jostling Joker
Cara Carnes: Protecting Mari
Kendra Mei Chailyn: Beast
Kendra Mei Chailyn: Barbie
Kendra Mei Chailyn : Pitbull
Melissa Kay Clarke: Rescuing Annabeth
Melissa Kay Clarke: Safeguarding Miley
Samantha A. Cole: Handling Haven
Samantha A. Cole: Cheating the Devil
Sue Coletta: Hacked
Melissa Combs: Gallant
KaLyn Cooper: Rescuing Melina
Liz Crowe: Marking Mariah
Jordan Dane: Redemption for Avery
Jordan Dane: Fiona’s Salvation
Riley Edwards: Protecting Olivia
Riley Edwards: Redeeming Violet
Riley Edwards, Recovering Ivy
