Christmas Tango: A Soldiering On Novella

by Aislinn Kearns

  “So, they really came here to rob everyone tonight?”

  A frown tugged at Jenny’s brow. “Why else? Tim said that his bosses had some awful debts they needed to clear.”

  Surprise shunted through Mandy. Surely no one would be stupid enough to have such a ridiculous plan. Even if the group had collectively agreed to pay one hundred million dollars, there would have been no way for them to transfer it in time. They had no phones or computers, and money—particularly that much money—took days to clear. There had to be more going on.

  “What about his bosses? Who does he work for?”

  “I won’t say. He told me never to tell.”

  Mandy narrowed her eyes. “You don’t owe him your loyalty, Jenny. Not after what he asked you to do.”

  Jenny shook her head. “I love him.”

  “And he left you in a burning building,” Mandy said harshly. “You deserve better than that.”

  Jenny let out a wracking sob, her grip on Mandy’s hand becoming almost painful. “No.” Her head kept shaking back and forth in denial.

  Mandy gentled her voice. “Please, Jenny, who was he working with?”

  “Beaton Security,” she whispered, then broke down in wailing sobs. Mandy waved a paramedic over to deal with Jenny as the shock of what she’d just heard settled over her.

  Beaton Security—Soldiering On’s main rival—was responsible for a hostage situation in downtown Portsboro? What the hell was going on?

  Beaton Security helped people. Protected them. And had a stellar reputation for doing so. What possible reason would they have for putting all those people in danger? She couldn’t fathom it.

  There had to be something deeper going on. Was Jenny mistaken? Or was Beaton Security not just a ruthless corporate entity, but actual criminals?

  Mandy resolved to find out.

  But, for now, she had bigger things to worry about. Duncan was still nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, the efforts of the firefighters were having a positive effect, as the flames had died a little. Some more bodies had been pulled from the building, but none were the big African-American man that she wanted—no, needed—to see.

  Mandy was still pondering the building when a flash to her right darted past her field of vision. Jenny sprinted towards the building, pushing past firemen and police officers too surprised to stop her.

  “Jenny!” Mandy called. But it was too late. Jenny had already disappeared into the building.

  Chapter 12

  Duncan woke coughing, wrapped in darkness.

  He blinked, but there was no light for his eyes to adjust to. Stale air settled in his lungs. As awareness returned, so did the pain in his legs. His hand flew to his stab wound and came away sticky with blood. Unable to see, he had to feel the edges of the pool beneath him to figure out how long he’d been out and how badly he was hurt. Thankfully, the pool was smaller than he’d feared.

  He felt for the staircase, and found it a foot away from him. The ground was still warm, but he could no longer feel the scorching heat of the flames. Had the fire been put out? Or had the falling rubble blocked him from the worst of it?

  Duncan tore off the tattered remains of his undershirt, leaving his chest bare. He took care of his knife wound as best as he could, wrapping the fabric tightly around his thigh.

  He found a bannister to help lever him up, and leaned heavily on it when his legs proved to be unsteady. But it was enough for him to find his way down in the darkness.

  It was slow going, but he dared not rest for fear that he may not rise again. He was tired. So tired. And the pain in both his legs was excruciating. But he had to make it out. His mum would kill him if he died before Christmas, as she’d no doubt already brought a bunch of presents. And he had to find out if Mandy was safe.

  The staircase felt endless, but he knew that he was reaching the end. A green glow appeared at the edges of his vision, getting brighter with each step. It was the light from the exit sign—the door to the outside world. And it was only half a flight of stairs away from him.

  The door burst open, revealing the silhouette of a woman as she sprinted inside. The door clanged shut, once again plunging him into darkness. But this time he had the sound of running feet to keep him company.

  His eyes once again adjusted to the faint light. The woman was almost level with him. He reached out, wrapping an arm around her waist, locking her to him.

  “Let me go!” she yelled, then sniffed violently.

  “It’s not safe up there,” Duncan tried to reason with her.

  “I don’t care. I need to find him.” She struggled against him, trying to free herself from his grasp. But Duncan held on, unable to let her dive headfirst into such lethal danger.

  She must have been one of the hostages, and no doubt her boyfriend or something had been trapped in there with her and hadn’t made it out. If that was the case, the chances were high that he was no longer alive.

  “It’s too dangerous. Let the firemen do their job. I’m sure they’ll find him.”

  Her knees sagged, and keening sobs escaped her. Duncan’s muscles strained to hold her upright.

  “I can’t leave him,” she whispered.

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to endanger yourself for him,” Duncan soothed, as he slowly began herding her down the steps. She didn’t appear to notice.

  “I let him down. And now he might be dead. It’s all my fault.” And with that she collapsed, overcome with tears.

  Duncan hesitated. Did he wait her out, or just get them both to safety?

  The sound of shifting rubble and then the unmistakeable woosh of fire igniting sounded above them, making the decision for him. He swung the crying woman up into his arms and stumbled down the remaining steps.

  The fire licked at his heels. He reached the door and hauled it open, staggering out into the fresh night air. He made sure that they were a safe distance away before he paused, sucking in a deep breath.

  “If I hadn’t missed those people on the guest list, none of this would have happened,” the woman murmured to herself.

  Duncan froze and glanced down at the woman. She was the mole?

  The woman was staring back up at him. “And if you hadn’t come along,” she hissed. “The plan would have worked and he’d still be safe.” There was a seething hatred in her voice that clanged a distant warning bell in his mind.

  Paramedics appeared, taking the woman from him and leading them both over to the waiting ambulances.

  Duncan resisted, trying to find Mandy among the crowd. Surely she’d made it out? But they managed to coax him onto a gurney, even as his eyes scanned the faces of every person he could see.

  And there she was, radiant against the backdrop of grime and misery from the fire. Her hair had fallen loose, her face was stained with ash, her dress torn. But her smile when she saw him was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  She raced over to him. When she reached his bedside she hesitated for a brief moment before throwing her arms around him.

  “Thank goodness you’re safe,” she whispered into his ear.

  Duncan settled a hand on her waist. “Same to you.”

  One of the paramedics cleared his throat. “Ma’am, you’re going to have to let go. He needs to get to a hospital.”

  Mandy reluctantly pulled back. Their eyes caught on a brief moment, and shared memories of the kiss passed between them.

  Then she broke eye contact to glance up at the man hovering beside them. “Can I go with him?” she asked.

  “What’s your relationship to him?”

  Mandy smiled. “He’s my partner.”

  Epilogue

  A few days later it was Christmas Eve, and Mandy found some time away from the office to visit Duncan in the hospital. She’d seen him once since he got there—since the night she’d ridden with him in the ambulance as he began to slip out of consciousness, causing her heart to flutter and crack.

  He was on the mend, but unhappy about how slow
his body was being about it. No surprises there.

  Mandy stuck her head around the doorway to his room just in time to see him throw a newspaper across the room and watch it flutter to the ground. Tattered Christmas decorations hung haphazardly around the wall, looking more sad than festive.

  “You’re almost as bad as Blake, you know. Just can’t sit still.”

  His head spun around, eyes locking on her. Her heart skipped a beat. She stepped into the room, feeling suddenly shy. They hadn’t talked about the kiss. Mandy had spent the last few days alternatively trying to forget it had ever happened and explain it away as one-off incident brought on by the heat of the moment.

  But now, with the heated look in his eyes, Mandy wasn’t sure what to think.

  “You came,” he muttered gruffly, but the slight smile at the corner of his mouth gave him away. He was pleased to see her.

  She smiled in return and stepped further into the room. “It’s been so busy at work without you. I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone come visit.”

  He nodded, cleared his throat, and then tilted his head towards the chair over by the window. “Would you like to sit?”

  The uncharacteristic awkwardness threw her, but Mandy nodded and dragged the chair over to his bedside.

  “Tell me about it,” Duncan suggested. “Work, I mean.”

  “Well, we’ve been getting a lot of calls from the other hostages. And some people we’ve never met.”

  “Oh? And what do they want?”

  “To hire us. They’re saying that we did a marvellous job getting everyone out alive.” Mandy didn’t mention that she was sure one of the main reasons they called was the iconic photograph that had been snapped by a journalist and appeared in the paper the next day. Duncan, shirtless and streaked with dirt, glistening with sweat, cradling a woman that he’d just rescued in his arms, with a backdrop of a burning building. Mandy had contacted the journalist directly for a copy of the photograph, but she didn’t know whether she wanted to keep it for herself or gift it to Duncan.

  “So, your plan worked,” he mused. “I’m impressed.”

  She laughed. “Not exactly in the way I intended, but I suppose it did.”

  “How did they know who we are?”

  Mandy grinned. “I may have mentioned it once or twice to the other hostages. And I made sure all the journalists on the scene knew who we were.”

  Duncan rolled his eyes. “You never miss a beat, do you?” For once, it wasn’t the snarky comment to dig at her for being business-minded. There was admiration there, too.

  She shook her head. “I try not to.”

  He paused for a minute, assessing her face. “So what’s wrong?” he asked softly.

  A lump lodged itself in Mandy’s throat. He knew her too well.

  “I’m worried about Beaton Security.”

  A frown tugged at his brow. “Why? They haven’t made a move in a while.”

  Mandy cleared her throat. “Actually, Jenny told me that Tim—Mr. Falcon—worked for them. And I suspect they were the ones that were behind the entire thing. The silent partners. I just can’t work out their motives.”

  “Huh. There is something deeper at play here. Something we don’t understand.”

  “Should we go to the police?” she asked. “I mentioned what Jenny said when they reinterviewed me, but I don’t think they believed me.”

  Duncan pondered this. “I think we should tell Destiny, but keep it on the down-low. It’s obvious that Beaton have more power than we imagined, and we don’t know how far that extends.”

  ‘We’. Mandy liked the sound of that.

  “They haven’t found Frankie, yet, either. The fifth bad guy. He managed to get away.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Duncan growled, trying to sit up.

  Mandy placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. “I think any move we make—against Beaton or Frankie—can wait until you’re out of the hospital. The doctor says you’ll be home for Christmas tomorrow. As long as you stay under bed rest.”

  Duncan settled back with a grin. “I heard. My mum will be pleased. Christmas is one of her favourite times of year.”

  “That sounds lovely.” Mandy tried to repress her wistful smile. She and her father still weren’t talking after his rudeness when Mandy had quit her job and opened Soldiering On with Duncan. Mandy had decided that she wasn’t going to see him or her brother for Christmas that year, since the two of them would be spending it together. Even Sierra was busy, between Blake and her own family. More than likely Mandy would end up having a pity party for one in her apartment.

  “I don’t suppose you’ll be spending Christmas with your old man this year?” he asked, deceptively casual.

  Mandy shook her head. “Christmas is fraught enough without that.”

  He hesitated. “How would you feel about joining my mother and me? It’ll be a small affair, but at least you won’t be alone.”

  “Your mother wouldn’t mind?”

  Duncan shook his head as a grin split his face. “She’d love to have an extra guest. She misses the big family Christmas in Scotland.”

  Mandy considered the offer, thinking of the strange dynamic they’d developed. He still sometimes acted like he hated her, but he’d kissed her, and she had no idea why.

  But before she could list all the things that could possibly go wrong in that scenario, some other words slipped out.

  “I’d love to spend Christmas with you.”

  The End

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  For more adventures of the Soldiering On crew, click below:

  Soldiering On Series

  Soldiering On (Soldiering On #0.5) – See where it all began

  Station Alpha (Soldiering On #1) – Paul and Christine’s story

  Guarding Sierra (Soldiering On #2) – Blake and Sierra’s story

  And Coming Soon – Zack’s story

  Author Bio

  Aislinn is a life-long reader and writer. English was always her favourite subject, and she went to University to focus on that passion. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and History, which she loved, and then went on to do a Masters in an unrelated field. She now largely pretends that last degree never happened.

  She is the author of the ‘Soldiering On’ books, a Romantic Suspense series. She enjoys reading, writing, travelling, watching action movies (particularly if they have a romance!) and fantasising about her future cottage in a forest. Now that she’s published, her next life dream is to own a dog.

  Visit her at https://aislinnkearns.com/