Holiday Defenders : Mission: Christmas Rescuespecial Ops Christmashomefront Holiday Hero (9781460341254)

by Bailey, Jodie; Sleeman, Susan; Giusti, Debby

  “You survived for a reason. You know that, right?”

  “Only reason I can think of is to go back and make short work of the guys who ripped a daddy from his family.”

  Kelly didn’t look at him, and he felt gratitude he’d never be able to express. He’d left his guys, left a man’s killer behind to come home and enjoy comfort while they slogged through. “There are nights I think I ought to sleep in the backyard to suffer like my guys are suffering.”

  “Not one of them thinks that. I guarantee it. You didn’t shoot yourself in the knee to get out of serving. You’re no coward, Tyler. You’re a soldier. I respect what you’ve been through and what you’ve done to recover. I respect your determination. I respect what you’ve accomplished here as rear detachment commander, working with these families. More than once, I’ve been glad to look up and see you there. It’s...comforting.”

  For the first time Tyler realized her head was on his shoulder. He’d felt it, but the intimacy of it hadn’t struck him. Her shoulder, her bicep leaned into his. Her arm crossed his as her fingers laced with his on his injured knee. There was warmth, comfort, something he couldn’t define swirling deep in his stomach. It was a something he wanted to keep on feeling. So much so that he pulled his fingers from her grasp and shifted to drape his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer.

  Kelly nestled her head into his chest as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

  He swallowed hard. She had to feel his heart pounding and know this embrace was affecting him more than he wanted it to.

  She draped her arm across his stomach and settled in, her head growing heavier. “You may not see a reason for being here, but there is one. I’m sure of it.”

  “I’m going back.” He said it more to remind himself than to inform her.

  “I know.” Her voice was thick, exhaustion taking over.

  Slowly, he lifted his free hand, fingers hovering above her temple. With a light stroke, he eased the hair from her face and let his fingers trail down her cheek as her breathing grew deeper and she fell into the sleep Tyler had been urging her to get all day.

  Yes, he would go back. It was where he belonged.

  But for the first time, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure he wanted to.

  FIVE

  Safe. It was the first thought to drift across Kelly’s mind as she inched into wakefulness. Safe and right. Where she was right now was exactly where she was supposed to be.

  Except it wasn’t.

  Every muscle in Kelly’s body tightened as her mind surfaced from sleep so heavy it was a tangible presence. Or maybe that was Tyler’s arm around her. What had she done? Kelly fought the urge to bury her face in Tyler’s chest. She’d fallen asleep on his shoulder in the middle of their conversation. Dying right now and saving her pursuers the trouble actually felt like a viable option. In all likelihood, he was as mortified as she was, probably thinking she’d thrown herself at him.

  “Tyler?” She whispered the name and prayed one of the soldiers on staff duty wouldn’t pick this moment to poke his head in the door.

  Tyler didn’t move. The rhythm of his breathing said it all. He was as far gone as she’d been a few minutes earlier.

  Allowing herself an exhale of relief, Kelly pulled her arm back from Tyler’s stomach and tried to ease away from him without waking him. Her neck ached from the awkward angle she had lain against his shoulder. She dragged a hand down her cheek, fingering the crease pressed into her skin from a fold in the shoulder of his uniform. Great. She was a marked woman.

  Tyler mumbled something in his sleep and felt for her hand but didn’t wake up. How had she missed how long his lashes were? At some point, he must have run his hand over his head, a habit she’d noticed he had, because the slight curl at the ends was mussed. For a moment, she almost laid her head on his shoulder again, missing that feeling of security, of rightness she’d felt on waking, but that would be the height of stupidity. He wasn’t hers and never would be. The army had him first.

  A scrape in the doorway brought her to her feet as one of the soldiers on staff duty cleared his throat. She heard Tyler stand right behind her.

  How long had Specialist Miller been standing there? Kelly had never wanted to bury herself under the floor before, but now felt like a good time to start. What sort of rumors would this spawn?

  Tyler ran his hand back over his hair. “What do you need, Specialist?”

  The specialist looked unfazed, as if he saw the FRSA asleep on the rear detachment commander’s shoulder every single day. Meanwhile, the heat in Kelly’s face probably made it obvious to everyone that she wasn’t used to the situation at all.

  “Major Rainey.” The specialist stood a little taller, never acknowledging Kelly. “You’re needed at the CQ desk.” He turned and left before receiving a response.

  Kelly tugged at her sweatshirt, refusing to look at Tyler. There was no telling what he thought of her. She turned her watch around on her wrist. Just after five in the morning.

  “I’ll be back.” Tyler was gone before she looked up.

  Dropping back to the cot, Kelly pulled from underneath it the backpack she’d thrown together at her apartment. What she needed was a hot shower to clear away the fog. When Tyler didn’t come back immediately, she slipped into the hallway and headed for the locker room, glancing out the broad wall of windows that opened onto the quad. Her own reflection, wrung out and sleep wrinkled, stared back. She grimaced and kept walking, trying to ignore the fact that Tyler had seen her that way.

  He was waiting when she returned, damp hair stringing to her shoulders, a fresh flannel shirt over a tank top keeping her warm in the chilled room.

  “Feel better?” He leaned in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.

  “I feel human now.” She stopped in the hallway, reluctant to squeeze past him. There was no reason for her to feel awkward about merely walking through the door, not after she’d slept on his shoulder, but the thought of touching him made her toes tingle. She cleared her throat. “Any news?”

  Finally, Tyler stepped out of the doorway, swinging his arm to usher her inside. “None you’ll want to hear.”

  Her steps halted half in and half out of the room, no longer caring that she stood only inches from his chest. She swung her gaze up to his, heart double-timing at the tone of his voice. “What’s wrong?”

  “Not counting the package at the Family Resource Center, there were exactly thirty bombs. All but yours were on post. All but yours were decoys.”

  This wasn’t surprising. “What else?”

  Gripping her shoulders, Tyler dropped against the door frame to put them eye to eye. “That was the MPs at the desk. A few minutes ago, a routine patrol found a guy skulking around in the parking lot. He bolted.”

  Suddenly, Kelly couldn’t swallow. She gripped the strap of her backpack tighter.

  “Because of what’s been going on, they swept the area and found another bomb...under my truck.”

  Kelly’s mouth went completely dry. Her backpack hit the floor with a dull thud and her hands crept around his waist, looking for something solid to hold on to, something to stop the world from spinning. She couldn’t even form a prayer. She stood, gripping tight, pressing her forehead into his shoulder. “They came after you.” Her voice muffled against him. For the first time, she realized the danger Tyler was in and how much she’d miss if he was no longer in her life. For six months, she’d sat beside him in chapel, counted on him to back her up when casualties happened in the battalion, laughed at his crazy jokes whenever they shared a volunteer position.... And he’d been the first person she’d called when she was in trouble.

  She couldn’t stop it any more than she could stop breathing. She was in love with Tyler Rainey. And now was the worst time ever to figure it out.

 
It seemed as if time stuck right where it was for the space of a few breaths before he gently eased her from him to look down at her. He tried to look her in the eye, but she evaded his gaze, staring over his shoulder, trying to stop him from reading her expression.

  He didn’t let her evasiveness stop him. “He didn’t come after me.” He exhaled loudly, tipping his chin toward the ceiling. “He came after you. He knew where you were and he knew who brought you. We have to move you somewhere else. Look at me.”

  She couldn’t. Her mind was incoherent, swirling in the confusion of more bombs, more danger, more emotion focused on a man she couldn’t have. Pressing her hands against his chest, she took a step back. “I can’t—”

  A crack echoed in her ears as glass shattered. A scream tore from her throat as the wall between them seemed to explode.

  * * *

  Tyler hooked Kelly around the shoulders and dragged her through the doorway to the floor of the small room, slamming the door behind them as shouts echoed up the hall. He gripped her cheeks between his hands, swiping dust away with his thumb, searching her face as he did. No blood. “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah.” She shook off his touch and pulled away, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. It was the exact opposite of what he wanted her to do. If he could hold her close, maybe he could keep her safe.

  No. He’d failed miserably at that. His guard had been completely down when he’d nearly kissed her, even though he knew better. If she hadn’t broken their moment and backed away when she did... His breathing picked up and he balled his fists, willing away the thought. That right there was the exact reason he needed to focus on being a soldier and nothing else. He couldn’t be two people.

  Scrambling to his feet, he inched the door open and came face-to-face with Specialist Miller.

  Miller’s jaw had squared in that look Tyler had seen hundreds of times before, the game face of a soldier who knew he had a job to do. “Is everyone okay, sir?”

  Tyler stepped through the door and shut it behind him. “We’re fine. What happened?”

  “Sounded like a gunshot. And there’s movement outside.”

  Tyler was running, boots thudding the tile as he called over his shoulder. “Stay with Kelly.” He pushed through the door and didn’t stop until he hit the quad. The cold air slapped him in the face as his breath vaporized in front of him in the pre-dawn darkness. From the other side of the building, voices rose as the MPs investigating the bomb in the parking lot headed toward him.

  He pushed out the sound and focused on what was closest to him, scanning the area in the glow from the streetlights. He checked out the bushes in front of the headquarters building and came back. Something shifted, a dark shadow moving against the snow.

  Common sense said he should wait for the MPs to get here, but he was past common sense. Without worrying about the consequences, he launched himself toward the building as the shadow stood and ran across the open area toward the main road.

  No way would Tyler let this guy go. With his breath harsh in his ears, he pushed harder than he’d ever pushed, knee screaming that this was a bad idea.

  The figure stumbled, giving Tyler a chance to catch up and throw himself forward, dragging them both to the ground with a thud in a tangle of arms and legs. Tyler came out on top, pinning the shooter to the ground, hand at his throat, giving Tyler his first good look at the man who had tried to steal Kelly from him.

  The eyes that looked back at him were as blue as his own and filled with terror. He couldn’t have been more than a college kid. For a second, Tyler’s grip slackened, then he tightened up, driving the kid’s chin up and the back of his head into the ground. “What were you thinking?”

  Boots thudded behind him as several MPs raced up. Tyler had no time for them. He needed answers. He pushed harder as the kid’s eyes widened. “Why did you try to kill Kelly Walters?”

  A hand on his shoulder shook him out of his rage. “Ty. Back off.” Shorter knelt beside him. “We can take it from here.”

  Tyler pulled in a deep breath, then eased up to his feet with Shorty’s help, reluctant to let the shooter go but knowing his anger would only get him into trouble if he didn’t obey. The minute he put his full weight on his knee, it gave under him. Pain blurred the scene. Only Shorty’s hand under his arm kept him from thudding to the ground. He eased down and fought the urge to curl into the fetal position. No. Not this. Not now.

  Shorter took a knee beside him. “Talk to me, Rainey. Did he—”

  Words had to fight their way past nausea. “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not.” Shorter stood and waved another man over as two MPs hauled away their suspected shooter. “Get the medics over here. They need to get Major Rainey to the hospital.”

  Tyler shoved him to the side. “I said I’m fine.” He had one purpose at the moment, to get back to Kelly and make certain that she was really okay. With every ounce of his strength, he pushed himself up and stood, testing his knee. It hurt from his hip to his toes, but he’d walk on it if it were the last thing he ever did. Nobody was carrying him out of here on a stretcher when Kelly needed him.

  “If you aggravate the damage to your knee, it might not be fixable. You’re risking your entire career.”

  There wasn’t time to answer. An MP jogged up, calling Shorter’s name. “You have to see this. They found the other guy.”

  * * *

  The room seemed to shrink the longer she paced it. It felt like hours since Tyler had bolted from the room, leaving her with Specialist Miller, who’d stationed himself right outside her door. Every time she tried to peek, he urged her back inside, and she’d long ago given up dialing Tyler’s cell phone.

  She counted her steps across the room again. And again. It might not actually be shrinking, but it was hard to convince her mind of that.

  Dropping to the cot, she pressed her fingers against her eyelids. Lord, keep him safe. And let this be over soon. I can’t take any more. She’d run out of the denial that had been fueling her since the first gunshot cracked. Someone was trying to kill her, and all because her father was a leader of men.

  Voices in the hall pulled her to her feet, and the door jerked open. Tyler stood there, eyes locked on her like she were the only thing in the world. She took a step toward him and stopped. No matter what that look said, she wasn’t the only thing in his world. The army would always come first. She kept the space measured between them. “What happened?”

  “It’s over.”

  It took a second for the words to register, and when they did, her shoulders sagged with relief. “Really?”

  He nodded, still looking grim. “They have the guy who shot at you in custody. When they patted him down, he was armed. Small caliber handgun, probably the same one he used on you. They found a rifle in the bushes by HQ building. But they caught him, and he’s talking. They picked up his partner waiting around the corner in the same car from before. They confessed to being the only two involved.” He sniffed bitterly. “A couple of college kids. They were trying to impress a terror cell, get their names recognized. They hatched the whole thing as a way to make a name for themselves, and now that they realize the stakes, they’re scared to death. If they keep running their mouths, they might lead us to something bigger than the two of them.”

  Somehow, the idea that she could walk out of here and back into her normal life seemed surreal. “If it’s over, then what’s the matter?”

  The space between them vanished in two strides, and he towered over her before she could back away. He gripped her chin between his index finger and thumb, forcing her to look at him. “If...” His jaw tightened as he glanced to the right then met her gaze again, a whole other look there.

  It wasn’t entirely new. She’d caught a glimpse of it last night, when he knelt beside her on the ground ou
tside the Family Resource Center. Only now it was more intense, focused, a blue laser aimed straight at the core of who she was, to a part of her no one had ever seen before.

  His thumb trailed her lower lip, eyes following the motion. “If things had gone any differently—” his voice dropped lower “—I’d have lost you for sure.”

  She wanted to say he ought to be more worried about the fact that there had been a bomb under his truck and he could have lost his own life, but the words died under the gentle motion of his thumb, back and forth. Her lips parted, but no words came.

  Tyler must have sensed it as an invitation, because his chin dipped, his thumb dropped away, and his lips brushed hers, lighter than she’d expected, as if he wanted her to agree, to take the next step.

  She let go, sinking against him and deepening the kiss. It was everything, heart and soul, poured into the space between them. For the briefest moment, she lost herself in a world that was just Tyler, all she needed. All she wanted. Tyler, who’d been the only one by her side in recent memory.

  Tyler. Who would leave her for the battlefield as sure as he was standing here kissing her now.

  With a whimper Kelly didn’t want to acknowledge, she backed away and broke the connection.

  He dropped his arms immediately, questioning expression saying so much more than words as confusion cooled whatever else had blazed in his eyes.

  Kelly stiffened her muscles against the pain she was about to inflict. “Did Shorter say when I could go home?”

  “Kelly, I—”