by Christi Snow
Sweat dripped down his spine under the heavy body armor while he looked at the house, glowing white against the darkened sky. He was crouched behind a tree with Bart standing next to him. Pen was in there somewhere. He was so close. It was taking every ounce of his self-control to hold his position.
Through his earpiece he heard, “Team One ready?”
“Check.”
“Team Two ready?”
“Check.”
They planned to storm the house as two different teams, one through the front and one through the back of the house. Both teams surrounded the perimeter and were waiting for the signal to go in.
“On my go. In three…two…”
Suddenly six men flew out the front door of the house brandishing automatic weapons. Something had gone wrong and tipped them off. In the middle of them were Penelope and another man he couldn’t identify in the dark. Both had a gun pointed at their heads. The man didn’t appear to be in the best of shape since two men were dragging him along. Penelope appeared pale and tense.
At the same time, Colton heard, “Hold your positions. Hold your positions,” through his earpiece. Every muscle in his body clenched with the need to rush forward, but Bart held him back, whispering in his ear, “Settle, son. Don’t get yourself and your pretty lady killed. We have snipers on them. Let them do their job.”
That’s right… the snipers. He tried to remember how many they had. Two… for six guys. Colton didn’t like the odds of Penelope not getting hurt while the snipers took out six guys. He could see Penelope searching the dark. She knew they were there. He willed her to walk calmly along with the men so she didn’t set them off. They were headed toward a black Suburban about twenty feet out from the house. What they didn’t realize is that there were three men crouched behind that vehicle. From his position, Colton could see them clearly. In about ten feet, the shit was going to hit the fan.
Through his earpiece, he heard the command to the snipers, “Delta 1, Delta 2 take out the shooters. Now.”
He started running as fast as he could when the call went out and gunfire erupted. Fear for Penelope made him push his body to the limit. The air moved as the bullets whizzed by him. He had to get to her to protect her. His movements felt like they were flowing through molasses as he pushed his body to move even faster. Finally, after what felt like hours, he reached her.
He tackled her and held her within the cage of his body, taking the brunt of their fall on his side. He rolled with her, cradling her head with his hands and wrapping his legs around hers, to shield her away from the shooting while protecting her body as much as possible.
Chaos and gunfire exploded everywhere. He could feel the rush of bodies and bullets around him, but his only focus was Penelope. They’d managed to put some space between them and the members of the MM. He could feel Penelope’s tight muscles and frantic heartbeat underneath his hands on her back. He leaned down to talk quietly in her ear, “Sweetheart, we need to get under cover. When I lift you up, I need you to run as fast as possible over to those trees.”
He felt her affirmative nod against his chest. He quickly stood, pulling her up in front of him so he could shield her body as they ran.
Once they reached the tree line, he ducked down tucking her in front of him with his back to the gunfire, so the bulk of his body protected hers from the continued danger. He immediately checked her body for damage. Up close, he could see the dried blood on her shirt and his heart stuttered in panic. “Are you okay? Tell me where you’re hurt.”
“Colt?” She reached up to touch his face, the handcuffs clanking as she moved.
He looked into her beautiful eyes and smiled. He hadn’t known if he’d ever get this opportunity again. Relief flooded his body. “Yeah, it’s me. Now answer me. Are you okay? Did they hurt you? God, did I hurt you with that tackle?” He continued feeling up and down her arms and torso.
She touched his lips with her fingertips to calm him. “Shh, I’m okay.” She gave him a soft smile. “You saved me. That was a pretty impressive tackle back there. Are you okay?”
“As long as you’re not hurt, I’m perfect.”
“Yes, you are and I love you.” She stroked the side of his face and tears fell off her lashes. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before. And then I didn’t stay safe when I promised you I would.”
All that mattered was she was safe and in his arms. Now. That’s all that mattered. He reached down and threaded his fingers through her hair and promptly shut her up by kissing her. “It doesn’t matter. You’re safe now,” he mumbled into her hair. Even after the events of the day, he could still smell the honeysuckle on her. He took a deep breath, taking in her scent and was surprised when he started feeling woozy. That wasn’t right. He shook his head to clear it and the world tilted.
“Colton!” He heard her scream. His final thought was the gunfire had ended so she should be safe now. Then the world went black.
* * *
Relief was replaced by panic as she watched Colton collapse onto the ground. The shooting had stopped, so she started screaming. “Help! Someone please help!” She searched frantically over his body trying to find where he was hurt. It was when she reached up to brush the side of his head that she discovered the blood which seemed to pour out of the side of his head. She started sobbing. “Colton! Colton, can you hear me?”
Suddenly someone was there to help. “Do you know where he’s hurt?”
She looked up to find Scott Martin taking Colton’s pulse. Oh thank God. Scott was a paramedic with the volunteer fire department. He’d be able to help. “His head is bleeding. He was fine, kissing me and then he just collapsed.”
Scott reached around to the side of Colton’s head to find the wound. Someone tried to pull her away, and she brushed away the hands. “No, I’m not leaving him.”
“Penny, let Scott work on him and we’ll get someone to take these cuffs off you.” She looked up, confused to find Michael Martin there. He looked at her with kindness. Oh no, he didn’t know about Thomas. She felt her legs weaken. He reached up to steady her. “Come on. You’ll be able to help him more once the cuffs are off and you need to get checked out, too.”
She didn’t want to leave Colton. There was so much blood coming from his head. What if he died? She shook her head. “I’m not leaving him. I don’t care about the handcuffs. I’m not leaving his side.”
Michael chuckled low. “Okay, okay, let me go find Andrew. He should have a key that will work on these.”
“Michael,” she grasped hold of his sleeve urgently and swallowed hard to hold back the emotion, “don’t go into the house. Thomas…” She started crying as Michael looked back at the house. Grief filled his eyes as he looked from the house back to her. She could see the knowledge in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Just don’t go in there.”
He pulled himself up and nodded solemnly. “It’s okay. We’ll get it all sorted. Let me go find Andrew and we’ll get those cuffs taken care of. Stay here and watch over your man.” She continued to clutch at his sleeve and he slowly peeled her fingers. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to go find Andrew.”
As he walked off, Penelope turned back to Colton. Scott obviously heard their exchange because he met her eyes briefly and there were tears in his eyes that had nothing to do with Colton.
Another man joined Scott to help administer medical aid to Colton. Sometime in the last few minutes, the yard had been lit up by spotlights so Penelope could see exactly what they were doing. She could also see how deathly pale Colton appeared. She rushed back over so she was close to him. She was out of their way, but ran her hands up and down his leg so maybe he could feel her presence. They stripped off his shirt. She was surprised to see that he wore body armor underneath it. But it was even more shocking to see the purple bruising underneath that along with a plethora of bleeding scrapes and scratches.
Scott immediately started palpitating his abdomen and shot her a worried look.
“What is it? What’s wrong with him?” She demanded to know.
He looked at the other man and nodded his head with some unspoken communication. The other man ran off and Scott turned to her. “Penny, right now his heartbeat is good, but he took a hard blow to the head. I’m worried about that just because he hasn’t regained consciousness, although I really think it’s just superficial. It’s hard to tell out here. Regardless, he’s lost a lot of blood from the head wound. He also took several hits to his body armor and I think that he may have some internal damage. We need to medevac him to the hospital as soon as possible.”
“Internal damage? Medevac?” She lifted her head to the sky as she now heard a helicopter coming. “I need to stay with him. I have to, Scott.”
He nodded. “I’ll do everything I can to get you on the flight with him. It’s going to be okay, Penny.” He lightly touched the side of her face where the boss hit her earlier in the afternoon. “You probably need to be looked at, too.”
Two men rushed over and placed Colton on a backboard. He was so still and pale. Someone tugged at the cuffs, but she never took her eyes off Colton. As soon as the hands let go of her, she rushed back over to his side, just in time to follow him onto the helicopter.
* * *
Colton cracked his eyes open, trying to figure out what bus hit him last night. Everything hurt, but he was surprised to realize he was in a hospital bed. He didn’t remember coming to the hospital and had no idea what could have happened. The last thing he remembered was…Penelope! He sat up suddenly and gasped at the bolts of pain shooting through his body.
There was a whisper of movement along his right hand and he looked down at it, being careful to move slowly. Draped across his hand were the beautiful blonde locks that he knew and loved so well. Penelope was sound asleep with her head lying along the edge of his bed. He eyed her critically, checking for injuries. Her cheek was bruised and swollen and she had a couple of butterfly stitches above her brow. She had circles of exhaustion under her eyes, but otherwise, she looked to be whole and safe. He closed his eyes in relief.
He opened them again when he heard the whisper of the door opening. A nurse walked in and smiled at him when she saw that he was awake. She moved to the opposite side of his body from Penelope when he lightly whispered “shh,” to her.
The nurse smiled indulgently to Penelope’s sleeping form. “She’s refused to leave your side, but she’s exhausted after her ordeal.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. You’re the one who got hurt. A bullet grazed your head and you lost a lot of blood. You also have several bruised internal organs and a cracked rib. You’re one lucky man to be alive and now that you’re awake, it looks like you’ll probably stay that way.”
He gave her a wry smile. “I certainly plan to.”
Penelope stirred at his side.
“Good morning beautiful.”
She gave him a blinding smile and that look alone told him that everything was going to be just fine.
Chapter 38
It took several days for everything to get sorted. After the raid, there were sixteen MM members in US custody. Three died and two mysteriously disappeared. Ethan was one of those who disappeared.
They were getting information from several of the MM members taken into custody who worked plea deals. Ethan went to work for the Martins three years prior. It was through his connections that Thomas became involved and he quickly rose to a position of power within the organization. From the little he’d told Penelope and through journals they found in his room, they were able to piece together his motivation. He felt like he needed the power and the retribution against his father, whom he blamed for his mother’s death. A death that obviously affected him more as a child than anyone ever realized.
The MM used the Martin ranch as a regular dispersal point for both their drug and human trafficking. With so much land on the ranch and Ethan and Thomas working on the inside, it was easy for the organization to remain undetected while using the land. Thomas had the added advantage that he could closely watch Andrew’s movements with the Texas Rangers and could warn the MM when things were getting dicey. Over the few years he’d been involved, Thomas managed to immerse himself into several fingers of the Mexican organization.
He’d succeeded in one aspect of his plan. Michael Martin was devastated. He’d appeared to have aged twenty years in just a few days.
It was through the ranch and Penelope’s connection to it that the bookstore came onto the MM’s radar. They were using the ARC’s and Hannah’s blog posts to transmit delivery times, dates and locations throughout the US. Through the archives of the blog, they were able to determine the organization had used the bookstore to disperse information for over a year and a half. Originally they’d worked by simply posting encoded messages on the blog, but then the scheme became more complex and the ARC’s came into play.
The weapons smuggling and theft ring was a new venture within this branch of the organization. Abilene Authors were clueless as to how they’d played into it all or that they were even doing anything wrong, which in all actuality they weren’t. They were as much a pawn as anyone else. It was their benefactor, Dev Masters, who was the connection. He was active duty in the Air Force from Dyess Air Force Base and had access to the Top Secret files about the weapons shipments. He encoded that information into the details of the books that he then directed the Abilene Authors to write.
When Penelope took The Gift of Serendipity home with her, it disrupted everything in the chain. That particular ARC detailed the drops coming up for the next six months for the entire West side of the United States. The Department of Homeland Security was still working to decode it all, but the book was already responsible for several huge busts in the Western US of MM cells.
Damon recovered fully from his captivity and his partnership with the Texas Tech Archaeology department was finally settled. The MM became interested in him and his dig while they were following Penelope. They saw his dig as another opportunity to help their drug flow into the US.
Colton’s recovery was slower than he’d hoped, especially since Penelope kept her distance from him the entire time. She kept deflecting his advances, saying he needed more recovery time before he “taxed his poor, battered body.” Two weeks of forced celibacy while sleeping with her and he was ready to show her how fully recovered he truly was.
Everything was on track with Mad Rob and just today, Colton had received word that they’d been awarded the Homeland Security contract. He’d called Penelope to let her know and told her to put on a party outfit because they were going out to celebrate.
He hoped to someday convince her to marry him, but he wasn’t willing to risk their relationship by pushing it before she was ready. For now, he simply counted his lucky stars they both were alive and happy together. He parked his motorcycle in the parking garage and felt the zip of anticipation of a night out with Penelope. He needed to convince her tonight that he was fully recovered from his injuries.
As he entered the loft, he was surprised to find it dark, although some melodic jazz was playing lightly through the sound system. He could have sworn Penelope agreed to meet him here.
“Penelope!” he called, but there wasn’t an answer. He started down the hall to the bedrooms, but his footsteps faltered when he noticed the fall of rose petals leading down the hall to his bedroom. A surge of arousal pounded through his body. Maybe he wouldn’t have to work as hard to convince her as he thought.
When he reached the doorway of his bedroom, his breath caught and every drop of blood surged toward the length of his already engorged cock. Penelope knelt at the end of his bed in a position of submission. Her bra and thong were flame red scraps of barely there lace and her mile-long legs were finished off by incredibly sexy red heels.
But what took his breath away were her bindings. She had on a red leather collar with a metal ring on the front of it. A chain led down from the ring and attached to the cuffs c
onnecting her wrists. There were several other chains draped around her shoulders as she was well and truly bound.
There was also a sign attached to the top of the chain. He walked forward until he could lift the note to read it. She kept her eyes lowered while he read the note.
My love,
I am yours. My heart is bound to you, now and forever. I love you and want to stay yours for the rest of my life. Please say you’ll marry me. Please.
Your humble servant,
Penelope
Shock and love reverberated through his system and he sank to his knees in front of her. He reached forward and lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. Her eyes were shimmering with love and tears.
“Are you sure this is what you want? Marriage?”
“I do. I love you, Colton. I’ve been an idiot. I had no idea what real love involved before I met you. Now I know. I know that with you, I wouldn’t lose myself, but without you, I definitely would. You’re the other half of my heart and I need you in my life. Every day from now on. You complete me. Please say yes.”
“Not yet.” He saw the flash of pain in her eyes before she lowered them back to the floor. He lifted her chin once again. “Where are the keys to this?” He waved his hand down her delectable body.
Her voice caught as she said, “On the nightstand.”
He nodded and went to retrieve it. While he was there, he grabbed the small piece of jewelry which had been hidden in the back corner and slid it into his pocket. He unlocked her bindings and removed the collar and cuffs, then drew her up so that she was standing before him. She was so incredibly beautiful looking even with the tears teasing along the corners of her eyes. He kissed her lightly and then had to draw back before he got lost in her barely clothed temptation of a body.
