"I have eight human targets and two engine blocks to blow. I'm ready to take out the vehicles, no wait, I've got a guy sneaking up on the cabin." She aimed at the guy's head. He had to go before the vehicles and Trujo. The bastard was getting too close to Tweeter and Lacey's position. "Give me cover fire so they won't realize where the kill shots are coming from."
They'd figure it out eventually, but by then there wouldn't be as many left to shoot at her. She was a sitting duck; the only protection she had was the metal platform and some metal slats. Armor-piercing rounds would pass through the steel in this tower like a hot knife through butter. She could be wounded or worse.
"Covering your ass now." Tweeter's voice came across the headset.
As Lacey and Tweeter lay down cover fire, Keely took her head shot and got the guy making his way to the cabin before he could respond to the other gunfire. She got one other guy who made the mistake of zigging instead of zagging. "Six bad asses and two vehicles to go."
As her two allies continued to spray the area with bullets, Keely concentrated on the lead vehicle in which Trujo sat, protected, or so he thought. When she was satisfied she had a clear head shot, she took it. He fell from her sight. Then she took another guy out as he responded to the shot she'd put into Trujo. The drug lord could be wounded or dead, she couldn't worry about it. In the spirit of keeping all the bad guys on this mountain, she took out both the enemy’s vehicles’ engines. Steam billowed from the radiators. Their Hummer was blocked by the disabled vehicles and would be of no use to anyone trying to escape. "Four bad asses left. Vehicles are toast."
"Keely, stand down. Ren is preparing to buzz the area. Protect yourself, baby sis."
"Got it, big brother. You cover your and Lacey's asses."
Staying low, Keely moved away from the front of the platform and got behind the central iron staircase. Not much more protection, but she wasn't where she'd been and that was the best she could do. She needed to stay available in case the four baddies tried to take down the helicopter. Besides only a couple of stray shots had come to her level, so the people on the ground still didn't realize she was up here.
She lay on the cold metal platform, hugging it, and blended in as best she could. Absently she brushed at something warm and wet dripping down her face. Shit, she'd gotten hit by a stray bullet fragment, probably ricocheted off the tower’s metal frame. Her face was so cold and numb, she hadn't even felt the fragment strike her. She took a careful inventory and also found a hole in the shoulder of her vest. It was also wet and just beginning to sting. Skinned. A further examination told her she was fine everywhere else. She snuck a hand under her body and rubbed her stomach. "It's okay, little one. You're in the safest place out here. And your daddy is on it."
The whup-whup-whup of the rotors and the buzz-saw noise of the jet helo's powerful engine echoed off the metal frame, vibrating it. Man, they'd come in quick; they were lining up for a strafing run. A few shots from the ground in the general direction of the helo were heard. The four bad asses left weren't giving up.
"Tweeter. Make sure Ren knows I'm up here. I'll cover the helicopter the best I can, but the enemy is mostly under cover now."
"Keely! Get the fuck off the platform and back into the cabin." The rescue team had obviously found the right frequency. Man, Ren sounded furious.
"Fine. Don't thank me for taking out four mercs out of eight plus the two vehicles. If I had a chopper, I would've had them all by now."
Someone laughed. She wasn't sure who, but knew it hadn't been Ren. He just snarled in that I-am-king-of-the jungle way. Yep, he was pissed his little woman hadn't stayed home tending the hearth. Tough.
Grumbling about ungrateful alpha-males, she shimmied backwards until her feet met empty space where the ladder met the platform. She felt for and found the first step and then carefully lowered herself onto the metal ladder. She wasn't sure the wooden surround of the stairwell was any safer than the platform, but Ren was mumbling over the headset about "stupid fool women," "tying her ass to their bed so she wouldn't run off and get in trouble," and "coming to get her sweet ass down himself." The last threat scared her the most. She'd better move before he did something dumb and got shot.
"I'm climbing down, so stop your griping and watch your own frick-fracking ass." Ren's answer was just another growl. "Fine, be a smart ass. Whoa."
"Keely! What's wrong?" Ren's voice sounded really loud in her ears and made her head pound.
"Um, I'm…” The world began to swirl and fade in-and-out. She stopped and held onto the ladder for dear life. Then she experienced alternating hot and cold flashes and saw white lights flashing across her vision. "Oh, shit."
"Keely! What the fuck is wrong?" She heard panic in his tone, but she couldn't speak to save her life. She choked back bile and attempted to reorient as she held onto the stairs like a tick on a deer. She couldn't move for fear of falling and risking the new life in her womb.
"Sis? Are you sick again?" Tweeter's voice was soft and full of concern.
"Keely? Sick again. What sick? What again?" Ren could be heard telling whoever was flying to get the fucking helo on the ground for cleanup ASAP.
"Ren, I'm fine. Don't take a chance. The mercs have dug in." Nausea swept over her and she coughed and vomited to the side of the ladder. Breathing in shallow, slow breaths, she swallowed the next wave of sickness threatening to overtake her. She couldn't let it take her over, she'd fall off the ladder. She finally managed to speak over the background of Ren's ever-escalating curses. "Come get me, Tweetie. I can't see…uh, not sure…I can hold on much longer…so sick."
"Keely, you hold on. Tweeter, you get your sister down, goddammit." Ren's voice was hoarse and filled with worry.
"I'll get her, boss. Just watch your ass, she'll need you." Thank God for Tweeter's calm and commonsense. "I see your legs, sis, you're about half-way down." That was sill ten feet to fall, though. She could hear her brother's feet on the metal rungs. The vibrations made her sicker. She hugged the ladder as if it were her new best friend.
Tweeter's warmth surrounded her legs, then her body as he shared her ladder rungs. "Shit, sis. You're bleeding."
"Bleeding. Keely! Trey, get those fuckers. I want to be on the ground two minutes ago." Ren was beyond furious as he ordered his brother and the rest of his team to take out the dug-in enemy.
Keely struggled to speak. "It's okay, big guy. Don't…don't do anything to get yourself killed—or arrested." She shuddered through another wave of nausea. "Just got skinned…tired…queasy…that's all." The explanation exhausted her even more, and her vision, what she had left, began to narrow. She couldn't succumb until she calmed Ren down.
"I've got her, Ren. Take your time. She's right, no need to come in all crazy-like." Tweeter placed his hands over hers. "Keely, just let your hands slide down the outside of the railing and let your legs fall free. I'll guide and support you; you won't fall."
"We're on the ground. We have control. Doing cleanup," Ren's voice announced. Double-taps could be heard in the background. "I'm coming in the cabin. Don't shoot me."
Sirens announced the State Police were on their way also. She could relax. Ren was safe. They were safe. And if her aim had been true, Trujo was dead and one thorn in SSI's and her side was gone. His cartel was effectively shut down.
Keely sighed. "Tweetie, I can't hold on any longer."
"Let go then, sis. I've got you. We're almost down."
Tweeter's strong arm encircled her waist and clamped her body to his. The sensation of falling into a dark abyss was her last conscious thought.
Chapter 13
REN sat next to the hospital bed and held Keely's limp hand in his. He massaged her cold fingers while he waited to hear back from the doctor as to her x-rays. He frowned. Something was going on with that. Both Lacey and Tweeter had rushed the doctor and taken him aside. After a whispered conversation among the three, the doctor had shot him a quizzical glance, then nodded
at the other two.
What weren't they telling him? Had Keely been sick while he'd been out chasing Trujo sightings? She had indicated as much over her headset. "Come on, baby," he whispered. "Wake up. I need to see those beautiful green eyes."
Keely didn't move. Just lay there.
God, he was scared. She looked so frail in the bed, so tiny, so mortal. She was as white as the sterile sheets. Even her lips were colorless. Dark circles under her eyes were more evidence that she either hadn't been sleeping well or had some illness that no one was telling him about.
After the nurse had left the room, he'd lifted the sheet to check on the wounds from her previous battles. No sign of infection there and some of the scars were even fading. Her current wound was just a gouge and nowhere near life-threatening—or a cause for her continued unconsciousness.
"This keeping things from me has got to stop." He cursed under his breath at the memories of her telling him she was fine each time he'd called from Florida. "You have to tell me when you're sick, baby. I would've come home. You're way more important than some bad guy." Who she'd taken out with one shot to the forehead.
His little love was stubborn and independent and thought she was an Amazon and not a fairy sprite. Must be from having all those alpha-males around her when she was growing up.
The door to the room opened. He jerked, reaching for his Glock, only releasing his grip when he saw the doctor come into the room. He grasped Keely's hand once more.
The doctor's face was a mask of calm. Ren snorted. Bet the guy practiced the expression in the mirror. "Mr. Maddox, everything looks fine. No concussion or skull fractures. The bullets in both instances just grazed her. No need for stitches. Your fiancée will be fine, maybe have a headache for a few days." He'd told the hospital he was Keely's intended so he wouldn't have to threaten the staff with his gun to remain with her. Tweeter had backed him up.
"Why did she faint? Why is she so pale? Why in the fuck is she still unconscious?" Ren's voice got louder with each question.
A murmur and low whimper from the bed had him turning away from the doctor and toward Keely. Her face was scrunched up as if she hurt. He raised the hand he held and kissed the back of her fingers. "Sorry, baby." His voice was a low croon. He switched his attention back to the doctor after soothing Keely. "What's wrong with her?"
The doctor smiled. "Nothing really. Just tired from the hormone overload and early morning sickness. Don't imagine the adrenaline overload and getting shot helped much. She'll feel more like herself in a month or so once her hormone levels settle out."
"Hormone levels? Morning sickness?" Ren looked at Keely, his other hand going to cover her flat stomach. "She's pregnant?"
"Yes. Very early along. Less than a month, her brother told me, but the hormone levels are a little higher than average. Nothing to be worried about."
Fuck worried. He was terrified. He was elated. He wanted to shout it from the rooftop. He wanted to pull her into his arms, curl around her body, and shelter her and their unborn child.
God! He was going to be a daddy. His little warrior was going to be a mommy. At the thought of what she'd just survived, he wanted to vomit. Keely could've been shot in some place that needed more than a Band Aid. She could've fallen down the ladder from the fucking platform. Things were going to change. His little warrior was now grounded even if he had to chain her to the fucking bed.
Ren tuned back into the doctor's droning soliloquy. "Her brother told me their mother showed pregnancy symptoms earlier than most other women. So this is all genetic, Mr. Maddox. Really nothing to worry about."
Easy for him to say, he didn't know Keely.
"An ultrasound showed the fetus solidly attached in utero." The doctor coughed. "Although I'd suggest keeping her out of gun battles until after the birth. I was told she got dizzy on a ladder, and a fall could harm the baby."
Now that was more like it. He and the doctor were on the same page here. "No worries, doctor. Keely will follow all the rules until she gives birth. Can you recommend a book so I know what she should and shouldn't be doing?"
The doctor laughed. "Her brother said you'd ask something along those lines. He has the materials the OB/GYN in Couer d'Alene provided Ms. Walsh. I take it she just found out earlier today. We're giving her the vitamins she needs in her IV. Her brother has her prescriptions and some samples for the vitamins the doctor prescribed. She'll do fine, Mr. Maddox. She really is a remarkably healthy young woman. After the morning sickness subsides she'll be back to her normal, energetic healthy self until she gets near the end when her mobility might need to be restricted."
"She'll be more careful period, doctor. I'll see to it personally." Ren gently massaged her abdomen.
"Well, yes, I'm sure you will. She can do the normal things a woman and mother-to-be would do. Don't be surprised if she wants to paint rooms, clean out closets and the like. It's a nesting instinct."
Ren smiled at the image of her fixing up a nursery for the baby. Maybe she'd want to redo the master bedroom to be something other than the sterile monk's cell it was now. "She can do nesting things all she wants." He sobered and glanced at his hand on her seemingly frail body. "Um, what about sex?"
"Sex is fine. You can't hurt her or the baby." The doctor chuckled. "Some of the best sex my wife and I ever had was during each of her three pregnancies. It's the hormones."
Too much information. Ren didn't want to think of the ascetic-to-the-point-of-asexual doctor having wild monkey sex with his wife.
"When can I take her home? We'll be flying her in the helicopter that brought her here."
"I signed an order that she could be discharged once she wakes up."
Ren petted her belly once more then stood and walked toward the doctor. He held out his hand. "Thank you for everything. I'll go out with you. I need to talk to her brother about a few things."
The doctor shook the proffered hand. "I think you'll find him and the other people who came with you in the cafeteria."
Ren followed the doctor out and then walked the short distance to the regional hospital's small cafeteria. Tweeter anchored a table along with Lacey, Quinn—who'd refused to stay at home while his wife was in danger—Trey, Vanko and Price. They'd left Scotty in charge of Sanctuary until they got back. Although the crusty old cook wanted to come and rescue the little princess, someone had to stay behind and keep an eye on the new recruits and the security of the base.
"She's pregnant." Ren looked around the table. Gasps and smiles all around. Not a single frown. Keely fit at Sanctuary. She fit him. He smiled. "Does anyone know how fast can we get married in Idaho?"
"You're not mad that Lacey and I knew before you did?" Tweeter asked.
"No. Did she know she was pregnant before she asked you to take her to see a doctor?" Ren was curious, not that it made a hill of beans difference. She was pregnant and she was his.
"No," Tweeter shook his head, "she needed to get a new prescription for birth control pills—and she needed a doctor in general since she planned to stay in Idaho."
Ren was relieved to hear she hadn't kept her pregnancy from him during all those phone calls. He was also relieved to hear she'd planned on staying with him before she found out.
Tweeter continued, "Lacey suggested the doctor she uses in Couer d'Alene so we called ahead and got an appointment and a room."
"She also needed clothes, Ren," Lacey said. "She didn't have the right kind of clothing for a winter in Idaho."
"She had no clothing," Tweeter said. "The rat bastards back in Boston shredded all of her stuff. She was wearing borrowed sweats from Scotty and the few clothes she and Mom bought in Boise on our way here from South America."
"It's okay, guys," Ren said. "I see the need to go to Couer d'Alene. I'm not blaming anyone for anything." Every eye at the table was on him. Shock was the mood. "Hey, I'm not an ogre."
His brother snorted. "Uh-huh, try Attila the Hun. I heard you tell Keely to sta
y put until we got back."
"I meant not to follow us to Florida." He was pissed when the others nodded their agreement with Trey's statement. "Of course, now that she's pregnant, she'll need to stay closer to home unless I'm with her to protect her. No more fighting for Keely."
"Oh, geez-fucking-Louise," muttered Tweeter. "That won't wash, Ren. You want to live in peace, you'd better let Keely make those decisions. Give her some credit for being smart enough to know what will and won't hurt her or the baby."
Ren skewered each person with a narrow-eyed glance. "She is not fighting anymore. Period. No guns. No knives. No hand-to-hand. Nothing. She can nest, as the doctor calls it, but that is the limit of her physical activity. I'm asking all of you to help me ride herd on her."
Lacey laughed and grabbed Quinn's hand. His third-in-command smiled and shook his head.
"What?" Ren couldn't help scowling. Quinn and his wife were laughing at him.
"Ren, women aren't helpless or weak when they're pregnant, especially women as strong and healthy as Keely." Lacey sent a teasing glance to her husband. "Ask Quinn. He tried the do-nothing approach when I was pregnant both times and failed…"
"Both times." Quinn chuckled and kissed Lacey on the mouth. "Yeah, take the advice of an old married man and father of two." He raised his wife's hand to his mouth for a gentle knuckle-nibble. "This woman even chopped wood. Rode horses. Did bench aerobics, yoga and weight-lifting. All of that plus rearranging the damn house four times."
The older man shook his head, his lips twisted into a wry grin. "Hell, the day she gave birth to our first, she was in labor for eight hours before she told me. She fucking played tennis—and won—then calmly came home and took a shower, during which her water broke. She got dressed, came out and got me up from a nap, and then announced we were having the baby. I went ballistic—she fucking ended up driving us both to the hospital."
"Keely will do what I tell her." Ren's heart was in his throat, where it had been since the doctor told him he was going to be a father. "She's tiny—and needs to be more careful."
Eye of the Storm Page 20
