by Dale Mayer
Just as the words escaped her mouth, she heard shooting. She bolted to her feet and saw some kind of confrontation at the far end of the driveway. “What’s going on?”
“The police. They were waiting down below for the kidnapper’s vehicle. They had orders to let them come in but to stop them on their way out.”
She turned to stare at Saul. “Who told them to do that?”
“I did,” Foster said from the sidelines with dignity. He walked up and stood beside Daniel, gave him a once-over medically and then went to Tammy. “Nobody walks into my house with a gun unless I say so.”
“Your house?” Rebel asked.
“Richard is my employer, and this house is my responsibility.” His tone said he was almost insulted.
“I’m sorry,” Rebel said. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”
“I’ve been looking after Richard for a very long time. And that extends to his property.” After a quick exam of Tammy, he said, “She appears to be drugged.”
Rebel stared down at her friend, seeing the chafe marks from being tied up and the dried blood on her fingers along with bruising on her arms and face. She held Tammy’s hand against her chest and whispered, “Tammy, wake up, please. Tammy, wake up.” But there were no conscious signs of life, although her chest rose and fell on a steady basis. “I guess by keeping them drugged they didn’t have to worry about them causing any trouble.”
“Exactly.”
Tammy’s clothes were definitely dirty, torn and bloodstained, but she didn’t appear to have sustained any of the physical violence that Samantha had. And, for that, Rebel was grateful. In the distance she could hear the sound of sirens from emergency vehicles. She waited anxiously for the ambulance to pull up. When it did, two EMTs hopped out; one raced over to the victims while the other one pulled out a gurney.
Saul and Dakota walked to the ambulance, pulled out the second gurney, bringing it over. Carefully Daniel was loaded in the ambulance and then Tammy.
Rebel climbed into the back of the ambulance beside Tammy. She looked at Saul, standing at the doorway. “I don’t have my purse.”
He motioned for her to come back out. “We’ll get you dressed and follow the ambulance to the hospital.”
That’s when she realized she wore her oversized T-shirt, panties and a bathrobe, exposing her bare legs, yet she wasn’t cold. “Oh, dear Lord.” She accepted his help back out of the ambulance and stood in the circle of his arms as the vehicle took off with its precious cargo. She hadn’t realized, while the ambulance had been here, two cop cars had joined the fray. When she saw the first policeman, she cried out, “Did you catch that vehicle and the gunmen?”
He nodded. “Driver and passengers. Three men rounded up and taken into custody. They aren’t very happy.”
Foster stepped up and said, “I have plenty of videotape evidence showing the intruders trespassing on private property, one coming into the main house, threatening my guests with a gun and the vehicle they called to collect him, dropping off the two unconscious hostages who have just been taken away.”
The policeman nodded. “Now that is good news. We would like copies of all those tapes please.”
Foster, wrapped in a housecoat, nodded. “I can do that now.” He turned to one of the policemen. “Come with me.”
The two men walked inside, and Rebel saw that, even in moments of crisis, Foster remained dignified and calm. He’d done better than she had. It was such a relief to know they had Tammy, and the criminals had been caught.
And now that all the excitement was over, she realized she was cold, tired and struggling to stay on her feet. The guys had been right—she had to look after herself to be able to help Tammy. Now that her friend was safe, maybe Rebel could grab a couple hours for herself.
“Saul, can I go back to bed?”
He glanced at her in surprise. “You can sleep?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’m exhausted, like all the adrenaline left my body at once,” she admitted. “I don’t want to be here. I want to be with Tammy. But you’re right. She’s unconscious, and I’m a mess. If I can grab a couple hours, by then the doctors would have checked her over, and maybe I can be with her. I’m not family … so …”
“Go,” Saul, said motioning to the house behind him.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, then motioned to the cops. “You have plenty to deal with here.”
“So do you,” he said quietly. “You have to give a statement to the police as well.”
She winced. “Maybe I should do that first.” But she really wanted to sleep. “I don’t have anything to add to what you guys say.”
Just then one of the cops walked over. He had more than a few questions. Understanding that she should corroborate their statements to make this clean and simple, she answered as fast as she could. When she started to run down, she said, “If you don’t mind, I need to lay down.” She wrapped her arms around her chest. “And I’m beyond chilled.”
The police officer nodded and took down her contact information.
“You might as well talk to Detective Wilson. He’s already got everything. He’s the one I’ve been talking to about Tammy’s disappearance.”
“Well, it’s nice to know you didn’t give up on her.”
She gave him a misty smile. “Tammy’s a good friend of mine. I don’t leave anybody I love behind.”
With a smile at Saul she turned and walked back inside. To say she was chilled was an understatement. She was beyond cold now. She bowed her head against the cool morning air and stepped inside.
Foster was there to greet everyone, pouring coffee. He looked at her sharply. “Do you want coffee first or a hot shower?”
Her teeth started to chatter. “I’d say both,” she whispered, “but I couldn’t drink it—or safely carry it—anyway. I’ll have a hot shower and crawl into bed, if I can.”
He nodded and watched as she escaped. Upstairs she really wanted to bypass the shower and curl up in bed. For whatever reason she wanted to bawl her eyes out too. Tammy had been found, but Rebel’s relief was lost in waves of emotions—which made absolutely no sense.
She tossed the few clothes she had on to the bathroom floor and stepped under the hot shower water. Instantly a heated cloud filled the room. She was desperate to get warm, but the chill seemed to be inside her. And that just told her how wrong everything was. There was no reason for this now. Tammy was in the hospital—she didn’t appear to be horrifically injured. Although she had been drugged, and that was definitely a concern, Rebel had every hope her friend would recover.
She’d done it. She’d found her friend. She should be laughing, cheering. Not bawling.
But still she didn’t know what her friend had been through over eleven long days. She didn’t know what drug Tammy had been given, in what dosages, for how long; and Rebel would in no way feel reassured until she had a chance to speak with her friend. Saul was right; it would take a while for the hospital staff to assess what those assholes had done to Tammy. And Rebel wasn’t family, so she probably couldn’t stay at her best friend’s bedside.
After standing under the hot water as long as she felt she could, she stepped from the shower, wrapping a towel around her. The outside of her had warmed up, but her insides hadn’t. She exchanged the damp towel for her bathrobe, quickly towel-drying her hair of excess water and tossing the towel to the tile floor, and then made her way to the bed. Still wrapped up in the bathrobe, she tucked under the bedcovers.
Just as she got settled, a knock came at her door.
“Come in.” And damn if her teeth hadn’t started to chatter again.
Saul stuck his head around the door. His gaze zeroed in on her face with concern. “You don’t look so good.” He stepped inside, bringing her a hot cup of coffee.
She shivered. “I had a hot shower. I don’t know why I’m still shivering so much.”
“Shock,” he said. “You’ve been through an unbelievable eleven days. Now th
at we found your friend, your body is in protest.”
She shuddered and huddled deeper into the blankets. He set down the cup of coffee, walked around to the far side of the bed and lay down on top, pulling her against him. He just held her. “Just remember, she’s okay now. We found her, and, thanks to you, she wasn’t allowed to be forgotten.”
“But I was so close to not finding her,” she whispered. “I’ll have nightmares about what …”
“I know how that feels,” he admitted. “But you can only do so much. You have to remember, we found her. As soon as she wakes up from the drugs, and the doctors have a chance to check her over, then you can see her. No point in you sitting in the hospital, suffering physically and emotionally yourself, when you can’t be at her side.”
“I understand that, which is why I’m here in bed. But I can’t seem to get warm.”
He pulled her firmly against him and wrapped himself around her. “Give it a minute. The heat should kick in soon. If you want some coffee, it’ll help warm up the inside pretty fast. Foster put some whiskey in it for you.”
She made a garbled laugh. “I can’t stand whiskey at the best of times.”
“I think it’s for medicinal purposes, not for enjoyment.”
“In that case …”
He helped her sit up slightly and gave her the coffee. It was just about drinking temperature. She took several deep gulps and winced. “It still tastes disgusting.” He replaced the cup on the bedside table, and she curled up in bed once again. He wrapped his arms around her.
If nothing else it did make her feel a hell of a lot better. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”
“According to the paramedics they can’t see any reason for her not to make a full recovery, but we don’t know what kind of drugs were used. And that’ll make all the difference in her recovery time.”
“I’m so scared that, after all she’s been through, she still won’t make it.”
“Remember to have hope. We found her against slim odds just hours ago.”
She nodded. “Just so damn scary.”
“Rest, curl up, stay warm and sleep.”
Slowly the trembling stopped, and she breathed easier. At the same time her thoughts drifted in and out. As he shifted and tried to withdraw, she grabbed his hand and held him close. “Please stay.”
He settled back on the bed beside her and tucked her against his chest. “Sleep. I won’t go anywhere.”
She pulled her head back enough to look into his eyes.
He smiled, dropped a kiss on her nose and said, “I promise.”
And she knew she could trust him. There was just something about these men. They were all good, honorable men. They wouldn’t have left anybody behind. Even now.
She closed her eyes and slept.
*
Saul relaxed and held Rebel close. She was well-named. She was such a mix of feistiness and loyalty, with a bit of nervous kitten thrown in, that he knew he’d need a long time getting to truly understand who she was on the inside. He really wanted that chance.
Shitty timing on his move to Texas. Although he might ask for every job that California offered, he would spend the bulk of every year away from her. And that was no way to build a relationship. It was one of the reasons why he’d stayed away from building permanent attachments when he was in the military. They were damn hard. He never married, never got close to the altar. He watched all his friends’ relationships fall apart throughout the years, his buddies falling to pieces when their marriages broke up and they lost track of their kids or split the beds between them. He vowed to never do that. It wasn’t the way he wanted his life to go.
Then he had left the military and joined Levi’s group. And that showed him a whole different level of stable loving relationships he couldn’t have imagined before. But that didn’t mean he was ready for one. Then again, like in Harrison’s case, love had just hit Harrison upside the head. Had that just happened to Saul?
He gently stroked Rebel’s arm as she slept against his chest. This was not what he’d expected when he’d arrived in California.
He heard a soft tap on the door. The knob turned, and Dakota poked his head around the corner. “There you are.”
“She couldn’t sleep.”
Dakota nodded. “We’re having a meeting in the kitchen. I’ll tell the guys you’ll be down in a bit.”
Saul nodded. “Give me a couple minutes to make sure she’s under. She needs sleep first and foremost.”
Dakota nodded and slowly withdrew.
Saul lay there, knowing he was enjoying stolen moments. He didn’t know if there’d be a next time to lie here and just hold her close. She was very special. At the same time, he had a responsibility to the men downstairs. They had an awful mess to clean up. They had come to find Daniel, had done so. For all Saul knew, he would get pulled away and sent back to Texas. And this moment would be over. Maybe never to happen again. He winced at that thought.
She murmured against his neck. “Saul?”
He gently reached out and brushed her cheek. “Yes, it’s me.”
A gentle sigh whispered from her lips, and she sank back down into sleep. He waited a few moments to see how deeply she slept, and then he shifted ever-so-slightly as if to roll away from her. She murmured a protest but rolled over to the other side and curled up in a ball.
Hating to do it, but knowing it was the right thing to do, he slipped off the bed. With one last glance at her, he slowly withdrew from the room and closed the door lightly behind him. He made his way to the kitchen.
The guys all hung around the table. He walked over to the coffee pot, poured himself a cup and joined them.
“How is she?” Foster asked. “She came in just trembling.”
Saul nodded. “She’s pretty shaken up. She’s asleep finally. I think the shock is evidence of what she’s been through in the last eleven days. The reality just hit her.”
“And yet we found Tammy,” Dakota said.
“And she’s wracked with the what ifs right now.”
Understanding crossed everyone’s face. They all knew what that meant.
Every one of them had been in cases where it had been damn close, where they had been so afraid that, if they hadn’t done just one little thing, there would’ve been a different outcome—a much worse one. By the same token, they’d all been in circumstances where they couldn’t do the one little thing that could save somebody. And they’d all lost somebody. The what ifs were the stuff of nightmares.
“When she wakes up, I presume she’ll go to the hospital?” Merk asked. “We have an update. Daniel and Tammy are still under observation. Both had been heavily sedated—not sure what drugs were used yet. We do know they aren’t sporting broken bones, and neither have been beaten like Samantha was.”
“Different kidnappers presumably,” Saul said. He took a sip of coffee and sat down. A night without sleep wasn’t unheard of for any of them. But he was feeling it himself. Nothing he’d like better than to go upstairs and lie down for a few hours.
With a look at his watch, he realized it was only four o’clock in the morning, and nothing could be done for a while. They made a quick list of what they’d have to do, and then they split up for two hours.
Saul walked upstairs to his bedroom, stripped down to his boxers and lay down on his bed. Two hours sleep wasn’t much, but he knew from past experience it was often all he’d get.
As he lay there with his eyes closed, he heard a whimper. He realized it was Rebel, once again suffering in her dreams. He got up, walked out to the hall and stepped into her room. She was curled up in a tight ball in the bed, the tears pouring down her cheeks. He slipped under the covers, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. She relaxed and fell into a deep sleep. He smiled. Now he could sleep too.
He drifted in and out, waking every once in a while as she surfaced, stroking her arm or back or her cheek, calming her down again until she slept.
He woke
in the morning light to see her sitting up in bed, staring down at him. He smiled. “How do you feel?”
“Considering we slept together, I feel fine.”
That startled a laugh out of him. “Weren’t you expecting to feel fine if we slept together?”
She smirked. “I expected to feel great, in that case.”
“Well, the only excuse I can give you is I’ve been here less than two hours.” He glanced at his watch and groaned. “We’re supposed to be meeting in the kitchen at seven for breakfast, and then we start the day, and it’ll be a full one.”
She nodded. “Are you leaving now that you’ve found Daniel?”
“Quite possibly today or tonight, yes. We’re meeting a few men in the morning then flying out.”
She winced. “That’s too bad.” She studied him for a long moment. “I’d like to spend more time with you.”
“Ditto.”
“So how long do we have?” she asked with a wicked grin.
Saul stared at her in surprise. “For what?”
She stroked the side of his face. “Don’t be dense.” And she tugged him toward her. “You’ve given me several kisses,” she whispered. “But you did not kiss me properly yet.” And she pulled him the rest of the way down, planting a searing, passionate, wet kiss on him, sending his blood pressure soaring.
He hadn’t expected this, but, with his training, he was prepared for anything. He slipped his hands underneath her body, up to her long hair. His fingers slid against her scalp, tugging her head back as he shifted on top of her—placing his instant erection right where he wanted it to be.
She chuckled. “Glad to see you’re up for the job.”
He grinned. “Absolutely.” And he kissed her with hot, passionate, needy kisses that neither could deny. There was no prelude to this. There was no foreplay. This was an instant need. This was heat striking through their systems, lightning passing through, burning through their insides as lips and hands demanded more.
She lifted her hips against him and whispered, “Now.”
He pulled back, gasping for air. “Not yet.”
She leaned forward and nipped him on the shoulder. “Yes.”
