Shielding Aspen

by Susan Stoker

  Within a minute, Grover shouted from the other boat and pointed off to the right. Both boats immediately turned in that direction.

  Trigger winced as they came upon an aluminum boat spinning in circles in a whirlpool. The back end had been blown off the boat, and there was no sign of the motor…or of anyone who might’ve been inside.

  “Shit! Look up,” the Coastie driving Trigger’s boat said in a horrified tone.

  In tandem, Trigger, Lefty, and Oz looked into the trees above their heads. Without the flooding, the tops of the trees would’ve normally stood at least thirty feet above ground, but because of the water level, they were almost right under the lowest leaves.

  And stuck in the tree branches was a leg. There was a boot on the foot, but the rest of the body wasn’t attached to the limb.

  Trigger looked left, then right, and used his chin to point out what he was seeing. “There’s the rest of him.”

  A torso was draped over another thick branch, with an arm on another.

  “That’s Spence,” Oz said quietly.

  Trigger took a second look. “Fuck,” he swore.

  The other boat pulled up alongside, and Lucky said, “Isn’t that Sergeant Spence?”

  “Yeah,” Trigger said solemnly.

  “What happened?” Doc asked.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say he caught a downed line with his motor. Probably spun the boat around and hit another live wire. The sparks probably caught the gas tank on fire and blew,” Lucky suggested.

  Trigger’s stomach rolled. He didn’t like the man, but his death had certainly been gruesome.

  “Hey, look!” Lefty shouted, pointing toward the still-spinning boat. Even though half of it was missing, it hadn’t completely sunk, the swirling of the water keeping it afloat.

  Trigger glanced over—and his adrenaline spiked.

  At the front of the boat, wedged under a seat, was a black bag with a red cross.

  Aspen’s medical bag. He’d recognize it anywhere. She’d told the team once that she’d gone out and bought her own bag because the Army-issued ones were all too big for her frame, and she preferred a more comfortable and reliable bag to hold her supplies.

  And if Aspen had been in the boat, so had Brain.

  But where were they now?

  “Spread out!” Trigger barked, immediately looking around to see if he could spot any sign of his teammate and his woman.

  “That’s Aspen’s bag,” Lucky said unnecessarily.

  “I know. They were in that boat,” Trigger said.

  “If they were in there when the back blew off, they might’ve survived,” Doc added.

  “Maybe,” Trigger said, but another thought came to him. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and asked to speak with the major in charge of organizing the rescue effort from the staging area.

  As the Coastie drove the boat slowly around the area where they’d found Spence’s body, searching for Brain and Aspen, Trigger had a quick conversation with the major. When he put down his radio, his lips pressed together grimly.

  “What?” Oz asked.

  “No one was authorized to come out this far, as we already knew. In fact, it was strictly prohibited.”

  “What were they doing out here then?” Lefty asked.

  “The major also told me he’s got a local on his hands who’s not happy about his boat being stolen. He’d brought it in to assist in the rescues, said he left it to take a piss, and when he came back, it was gone.”

  “You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Oz asked.

  “If you’re thinkin’ Spence decided this was the perfect time and place to deal with his bullshit juvenile anger toward Aspen, and possibly Brain as well, then yeah.”

  “Fuck,” Lefty swore. “So where are they?”

  “Don’t know. But we need to find them. Now,” Trigger said.

  He whistled at the other boat, and when it came close, he explained his suspicions to his teammates.

  “We should report back to base,” the Coastie driving the other boat said.

  “Negative,” Grover growled. “We’ll radio back the coordinates of Spence’s body, but we aren’t leaving until we find our teammate.”

  The driver blinked in surprise but immediately nodded.

  “They could be almost anywhere,” Trigger said. “Lucky, you guys go down the next street over. We’ll head down this one. We stay near each other; don’t go driving off. This isn’t the best part of town to be alone in. Got it?”

  “Got it,” everyone agreed.

  “They’re around here somewhere,” Trigger mumbled as they began their search pattern.

  “Brain’s a tough son-of-a-bitch,” Lefty agreed.

  “And there’s no way he’d let anything happen to Aspen,” Oz added.

  Trigger didn’t want to think about what Spence might’ve done to his friend and Aspen. All sorts of worst-case scenarios ran through his head, but he refused to give them any more than a passing thought. Brain was counting on his team to keep a level head and find them. And that’s what they were going to do.

  Aspen shivered on the step she was still sitting on. The water had receded enough that she was no longer waist deep in the foul-smelling stuff, but the roads were still flooded, and she and Kane weren’t going anywhere. She’d thought about trying to break a window to get inside the dilapidated house, but wasn’t willing to leave Kane to do so.

  She’d heard an explosion hours earlier, when it was still dark, but no one had come to investigate as far as she could tell. Aspen thought she’d heard noises closer by a few times, but after yelling for help until she was hoarse, no one had appeared.

  Now the sun had risen, giving the area an unearthly feel. Everywhere she looked was water. There were no signs of any people, only a few birds chirping merrily in the trees and the sound of water rushing by in the street.

  Kane hadn’t woken up yet either, which was scaring the shit out of Aspen. He’d stirred a few times but hadn’t said anything. It was obvious he had a head injury, most certainly a concussion, but maybe something worse. Without him being awake to talk to her, she couldn’t be sure.

  She’d fallen asleep with her head on his chest once, but the nightmares had come immediately, waking her up and keeping her from even attempting to get any rest after that.

  She was terrified Kane would die. She’d never forgive herself if that happened, because it was her fault he was lying so still under her. If she hadn’t approached him in the bar, Derek wouldn’t even have known he existed.

  But then again, she wouldn’t have fallen in love either.

  Just when Aspen was coming to terms with the fact that she was going to have to leave Kane and swim somewhere to find help, she thought she heard something.

  Tilting her head to the side, she held her breath and listened…

  A boat motor!

  She’d know that sound anywhere after spending so much time on them the night before.

  She wanted to stand up and scream for help, but she knew they’d never be able to hear her over the motor. She had to pray they’d turn down the street she was on so she could get their attention.

  “Please, please, please,” she whispered. “Kane, help’s coming. Hang on just a little longer,” she told him. She’d been talking to him for the last couple hours, believing that even though he was unconscious, a part of him could still hear her.

  When the motor got louder, Aspen slowly stood. She wobbled a bit and grabbed onto the wrought-iron railing to keep herself from falling face first into the murky water a few steps down.

  She fumbled with the buttons on her BDU top. She had to get it off to use it to flag down the boat. They’d never see her otherwise. Her fingers shook with adrenaline and cold. She’d been submersed in the chilly flood waters for hours.

  She shrugged the camouflage jacket off just as she saw the boat turn down the street.

  Holding onto the railing with one hand, she waved the jacket over her head with the other. “Here!
Over here!” she cried out, her voice sounding weak to her own ears.

  Taking a deep breath, she screamed as loud as she could. “Helllllllp!”

  Miraculously, the boat picked up speed and came hurtling toward them. For just a second, Aspen thought they were going to plow right into the steps, but when it got close, it slowed, sending a wave crashing onto the step she was standing on.

  The sight of Trigger, Lefty, and Oz at the front of the boat made her knees go weak.

  She collapsed back onto the step and reached for Kane. “They found us,” she told him. “Your team found us! Just keep hanging on. We’ll get you some help and you’ll be fine.”

  Then Trigger was there. Crouching next to her on the step. He put his oh-so-warm hand on her cheek and turned her to look at him. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head frantically. “No, but Kane is! Derek said there was a pregnant woman out here who needed help, and we were at the front of the boat looking for any sign of her townhouse when he swung an oar at Kane and knocked him in the head. He fell overboard and was facedown for I don’t know how long. He wasn’t breathing, and I gave him rescue breaths. I managed to get him here, but he hasn’t woken up. I’m so scared something’s seriously wrong, Trigger!” Aspen knew her words were slurred, and she was talking way too fast, but she had to let someone know what happened, especially when Derek was still on the loose.

  “Take a deep breath, Aspen,” Trigger ordered.

  She did.

  “Another.”

  After the second, she felt a bit better.

  “Are you hurt?” Trigger asked again.

  “No. Cold, tired, and scared to death, but not hurt. The second I realized what Derek had done, I bailed out of the boat. I wanted to get to Kane, but I also didn’t want Derek to get his hands on me. He’s gonna make up a story to spin this,” she warned Trigger. “But I’m not lying! He ambushed Kane.”

  “I believe you, but Derek’s—”

  Aspen interrupted him as she thought of something else. “And Kane knew something was up,” she continued, her voice filled with anguish. “He was hesitant to get in the boat with him, but I didn’t give him a choice—”

  “Derek’s dead,” Trigger said bluntly. Then he gently moved her out of the way as Lefty and Oz stepped out of the boat and came toward them. They lifted Kane as if he weighed no more than a child, carrying him to the boat.

  Aspen watched worriedly…until Trigger’s words sank in. “What? How?”

  “I’m not exactly sure, but it looks like he ran over a live wire. It got tangled in the boat and it blew.”

  “Are you sure he’s dead?” Aspen asked.

  “I’m sure. His torso was dangling over one tree branch, his arm over another, and his leg was hanging from a third. He’s dead, sweetheart.”

  Aspen wanted to feel bad. At one time, she’d actually liked Derek. But after what he’d said to her the other day, and especially after what he’d done a few hours ago…she couldn’t feel anything but relief that they didn’t have to worry about him retaliating against them ever again.

  She nodded at Trigger and tried to step into the water to get to the boat, but once again, her body betrayed her. She staggered and would’ve gone down if Trigger hadn’t picked her up. One arm went behind her back and the other under her knees.

  “I’ve got you,” he said as he carried her to the boat. Lefty and Oz reached for her and easily got her settled in the bottom of the inflatable boat next to Kane. She put her hand on his chest, where it had been most of the last few hours, and closed her eyes in relief when she felt his heart beating. She leaned over him, listening as Lefty talked to the rest of the team via walkie-talkie. Telling them they’d found Kane and her, and requesting they meet up at the next street over.

  “We’re safe,” she told Kane. “Trigger found us. You can wake up now.”

  But he didn’t.

  Someone draped an emergency warming blanket across her shoulders, and another over Kane, but she didn’t move her hand, keeping her eyes on his face. She prayed for a flicker of his eyelids or any movement of his lips to indicate that he’d heard her, but he stayed still and silent in the bottom of the boat.

  “We need an ambulance to meet us at the boat launch,” Trigger told someone over the radio. “We’ve got a man down.”

  Closing her eyes, Aspen rested her head on Kane’s chest once more and let herself relax for the first time in hours. The men surrounding her might not be her team, but they were her friends. They’d take care of Kane. They’d make sure he didn’t die.

  Aspen didn’t know what she’d do if he didn’t make it.

  He had to be all right. He just had to.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Aspen sat in Kane’s hospital room and stared blankly ahead of her. When they’d gotten back to the boat launch at the staging area, an ambulance had been waiting. She’d refused to leave Kane’s side, and reluctantly, the paramedics had let her accompany them.

  Trigger and the rest of the team had somehow beat them to the hospital and were waiting for her when Kane had been wheeled away. She’d tried to follow, but Grover and Oz held her back.

  When she began to fight them, Lefty had stepped in, telling her to calm down.

  “He’s in good hands, Aspen. You have to let him go.”

  She’d shaken her head, frantic. “No. I can’t!”

  “It’s time to take care of yourself,” Lefty said sternly.

  “I’m fine,” she’d insisted.

  “You aren’t. You’re soaked to the bone. You’re shaking like a leaf, and I’m guessing weak as hell. You know as well as I do that Brain would be pissed if we didn’t take care of you. At least let one of the nurses take your vitals. Check you over. As soon as they know something about Brain, they’ll tell us.”

  His words somehow penetrated the fog of panic that had taken over. Aspen grabbed his wrists and stared into his eyes. “Is he going to be all right?”

  “Yes.”

  There was no hesitation in Lefty’s answer.

  “Brain’s got a hard head. And he’s stubborn. And he knows he’s got you waiting for him. He’ll be fine.”

  Taking a deep breath, Aspen had finally agreed to let someone check her out. She’d been led to a room and given a pair of scrubs to change into. She didn’t have any underwear, but that didn’t matter. The scrubs were warm, and it felt heavenly not to have something wet against her skin. She’d lain down on the bed in the room, and Grover had come in to keep her company while she’d waited for the nurse.

  She must’ve fallen asleep, because when she woke up, it was Lucky sitting in the room with her. He’d immediately called for the nurse, refused to tell Aspen how much time had passed, and stepped out while the nurse did her thing.

  After she was deemed to be suffering from exhaustion and exposure, and nothing more serious, Trigger had shown up and taken her to sit in Kane’s room, where she was now.

  The doctors weren’t sure what the extent of the damage to his head was, as Kane hadn’t woken up yet. But they’d done an X-ray of his lungs and they were clear. He had the beginnings of an infection, probably from whatever had been in the water that got into his bloodstream from the cut on his head, and a dozen stitches to close the gash where Derek had hit him, but otherwise his vitals looked good.

  Even with the nap she’d gotten, Aspen was exhausted. She felt like she was a hundred and four years old. She knew she should eat, but nothing appealed.

  “The authorities went back out and recovered Spence’s body,” Trigger told her.

  Aspen merely nodded.

  “It’ll be up to you to tell your major and the other authorities what happened.”

  “Oh, I’m going to,” she said with determination. “It’s one thing for Derek to treat me like shit because I’m a woman; it’s another thing altogether to attempt to murder someone. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure I get justice for Kane.”

  “He’s gonna be all right,” T
rigger told her.

  “I hope so…”

  “He is,” Trigger insisted. “He’s got a damn hard head and we’ve been through situations worse than this.”

  Aspen nodded. “I just… He’s so still. I hate that. The Kane I know is always moving. Sometimes it’s subtle, but even when we’re just sitting on the couch, his fingers are stroking the back of my hand or his foot is tapping the floor. I hate seeing him like this.”

  “I know. I never really took notice of it before, but you’re right. Have faith in the doctors…and Brain himself. And—it has to be said—you’re pretty damn amazing. We all thought so after seeing you in action in combat, but seeing how fiercely you protected Brain…well…thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for that,” Aspen told him. “He means everything to me.” Then she sighed and stared off into space and muttered, “I swear to God, all this better not be for nothing.”

  “What do you mean?” Trigger asked. “All what?”

  “All the hell I’ve been through to help pave the way for women in combat medics,” she said tiredly. “I worked my ass off to be the best medic I could be, Trigger, and what did I get in return? Hatred because of my gender. Harassment. I had to prove myself over and over, and even after I’d been in the job for years, I still got passed over for men who had way less experience than me. Someday, I hope women can do whatever job they want for our country and be respected for it.”

  “I hope so too,” Trigger said. “And for what it’s worth…you impressed the hell out of a lot of people today. Even though they didn’t know what happened out there, they know you put your own life at risk to save Brain. They knew he wasn’t breathing, and that you gave him rescue breaths until he was again. They know you dragged him through the floodwaters to a relatively safe place, and that you never left his side. I have no doubt that one day, women will stand shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts on the battlefield and no one will even think twice about it.”

  “I hope so,” she whispered. “I’m tired, Trigger. So fucking tired of it all.”