Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Hope (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Midnight Delta Book 7)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “Get back in here,” he ordered.

  She ignored him and continued to try to wriggle out towards the toddler. “Hope, come here and I’ll take you to your mommy.”

  She saw a momentary flicker of recognition at the word Mommy. Miranda held out her arms. She was about sixteen feet away from the girl. She’d have to get out of the train and get her. Strong hands tugged at her waist.

  “Get your ass back in here,” Griff growled at her. Miranda kicked backwards. Ouch!

  “Griff, let me go.” Miranda looked over her head, but couldn’t see anything but her hair and the sea grass.

  “Get back inside.”

  Miranda kicked again, this time crying out in pain. God that hurt. She yelled over her shoulder at Griff. “Hope is out here, dammit. Let me go so I can get her!” Griff’s grip didn’t let up. She looked back at Hope and her heart jumped into her throat. The little girl was looking at her fearfully because she had yelled. Then she started to scooch backwards.

  “No, honey, come to me. I want to take you to your mommy.” There it was, a slight shake of her head as she wriggled the slightest bit to move away from Miranda. It put her closer to where the cliff’s edge.

  Miranda felt Griff still trying to pull at her. Dammit, she needed to stop him. The only way she was going to do that was to go inside and confront him. Obviously he wasn’t hearing her. She went limp and let him pull her inside.

  In a second she was face to face with an angry alpha.

  “Miranda! What in the hell were you thinking? Look at you, you’re bleeding like a stuck pig. My God, Honey, you need help.”

  She was ready to go toe-to-toe with him, when she suddenly recognized the bone-deep fear that was underneath his anger.

  “Didn’t you hear me? Hope’s out there.” It took a moment for it to register.

  “The baby?”

  “Yes.” She scanned the area, and saw that Wolf had Caroline’s shirt open, and was binding up her ribcage. She wasn’t conscious. That explained why Griff wasn’t understanding what was going on. “She’s about fifteen or twenty feet away from the window.” Miranda said as she tried to stand straight on one leg and failed. Griff put his arms around her, taking her weight. “Hope’s next to the cliff. I’m trying to get her to crawl over to me.”

  “You’re hurt. You need to sit down, and let me go get her.”

  Miranda bit her lip.

  “What?”

  “I’m not sure she’ll come to you.”

  “Honey, you’ve done good, let me take care of this.” He brushed a kiss against her forehead, and then was out the window in seconds.

  Miranda couldn’t help herself, she had to watch. She crammed her face into the little bit of space available between Griff’s ass and the broken window.

  Miranda watched in horror as the little girl wailed the word “No!” as soon as she saw Griff. Hope scrambled two feet backwards towards the cliff.

  “Honey,” he whispered, a smile in his voice.

  “No!” Hope’s little voice was even more shrill. She put out a hand, a clear sign that she wanted him to stop.

  “Okay, Honey. I’ll go away. Don’t move. Please don’t move.” Miranda banged her head against the window frame as Griff carefully worked his way back into the train.

  When Griff got back inside, he looked at Miranda with a look of frustrated fear. “Miranda, where’s her Mom?”

  “Susan has a broken leg. She can’t help.” Miranda tried to keep the tremor from her voice but failed. Griff gathered her in his arms, and for just a second she let herself be comforted.

  Miranda straightened. “I need to go and get her,” she told him.

  Griff hesitated. She put her hand on his chest. “Please, help me to do this.”

  “I don’t want to,” he said softly.

  “But you will, won’t you?”

  He nodded.

  “Billy!” He yelled. “Bring the leash, and I need something for a bandage. Bring it fast.”

  “Who’s Billy?” Miranda asked.

  “Never mind,” he said as he unbuttoned the cuff of her silk blouse, and then ripped the sleeve, so that he could get at the gash on her upper arm. “Dammit, woman, you sure did a number on yourself.”

  She sucked in a deep breath as he gently touched her wound.

  “Griff? Wolf?” A young man’s voice sounded somewhere nearby. Slowly she saw a gangly blonde teenager come into view.

  “We’re here. What’s the ETA on your brother?” Wolf asked.

  “They see the train. He said to tell you they’re coordinating with Abe and Mozart.” Miranda watched as the young man in a wetsuit and tennis shoes climbed over two seats and thrust what looked like a rope at Griff.

  “How’s Caroline?” Miranda asked Wolf.

  “She’s in and out of consciousness,” he said in a tight voice.

  “Why is it taking so long for them to get to us?” Miranda asked.

  Wolf and Griff looked at one another, then Griff turned to her and said, “Honey, it’s only been twenty minutes. We’re not near a road, so it’s hard for emergency vehicles to get to us.”

  “And-” Wolf started to say something but then stopped himself.

  “What?” She demanded, but both men stayed silent. “Tell me. I need to know.”

  “There’s smoke coming from the rail car next to this one, and fire coming from the lead engine,” Billy blurted out. “That’s the one they’ll be working on first.”

  “Thank you for telling me, Billy. Okay. Then we have to fend for ourselves. I’m fine with that. I’m used to that. Now help me get to Hope.”

  “Okay, Miranda, here’s how this is going to work,” Griff said, as he took the proffered strips of material from Billy and started to bandage her arm. “I’m going to tie this leash to your uninjured foot. Then you’re going to get Hope and bring her in.”

  He turned her so that her back was to Billy and Wolf. Then he bent down so that their eyes were inches apart. “You are not going to let one damn thing bad happen to you. I want a whole hell of a lot more than just a date. I haven’t chased you for nine weeks just to let you slip away this easily.”

  Miranda barked out a laugh, then clapped her hand over her mouth. She felt like shit that she had actually laughed at a time like this. “This is slipping away easy? You need your sense of reality checked, Mr. Porter.” He bent down and brushed a kiss against her lips. How in the hell could she be laughing and responding to a kiss in the middle of hell?

  “You stay safe. Now let me get this tied on you.” He started to bend down to tie the leash on her ankle when she gripped his wrist.

  “It’s not long enough.”

  “It’s plenty long enough.” He cupped her cheeks and stared deep into her eyes. “Under no circumstances do you take it off, are we clear?”

  “Do you want me to lie to you Griffin?”

  “What?” he demanded.

  “I’m not a liar. I’ll do what’s smart. Put the leash on me. But know this, if push comes to shove and I need to untie that damn thing, I will.”

  She’d never seen black eyes shimmer with such heat. “Fine,” he ground out. “But know this, I’ll come after you.” And somehow, she did know it. Here in the middle of all this uncertainty, Miranda was absolutely positive that Griffin Porter would move Heaven and Earth to reach her if she should need him.

  She got down on her hands and knees, and he tied the nylon around her ankle. As soon as she got clear of the window, she could make out baby Hope. The little girl was even further away from the train.

  “Honey?” she crooned. “Can you come here?” The toddler just looked at her with a lost and frightened stare. Carefully, so as not to scare her, she moved her arms out in the universal gesture of welcome. “Your mommy’s waiting for you. We have milk. Aren’t you thirsty?”

  Finally, she got a small nod. Success!

  “Can you come closer?”

  The little girl moved slightly towards her, but then stopped as sh
e slipped in the sand. Then Hope held out her tiny arms.

  “Well okay then, I’ll come and get you. Don’t move, baby.”

  Miranda used her elbows to propel herself forward. She was feeling claustrophobic with the side of the train just a mere foot above her head. Don’t think about it.

  Sand was getting inside her blouse, and underneath the top of her skirt. Everything about this moment was making her skin crawl.

  “Milk.” Hope said as she continued to hold out her arms, and snap her hands open and shut.

  “Yes, your mommy has milk waiting for you,” Miranda lied easily. She’d promise anything to keep the girl happy.

  “Wan Mama.”

  “Stay right there, and I’ll get you and take you to your Mama.”

  Miranda continued to use her elbows to crawl towards Hope, but then the little girl got anxious and decided to move towards her. She plopped down on her hands and knees and tried to go forwards, but couldn’t gain the necessary traction.

  “Stop, Hope. Wait for me.”

  The little girl got a stubborn look on her face, and grabbed a section of sea grass, and tried to use it to pull herself forward. She yanked the grass out of the ground and it splattered sand and dirt up into her face.

  Hope reared backwards, fell on her bottom and started to cry.

  “It’s okay, honey, I’ll be right there.”

  Hope continued crying, smearing sand into her eyes, which just made her more miserable and intensified her sobs.

  “It’s okay baby, I’m almost there. It’s going to be all right. I’ll take you to your mom and Jeremy, and we’ll get you some milk.” Miranda was almost there, when she jerked to a stop because of the band around her leg. She turned to look behind her. She saw Griff holding the leash. Hope looked up at the same instant.

  “No!” she screeched.

  “Griff, get back in the train, you’re scaring the baby.”

  Miranda watched as Hope rolled on her side, trying to get away from her and Griff.

  Enough of this shit.

  She reached behind her and lost precious seconds tugging and unknotting the fucking nylon. When she turned, Hope was a foot away from the cliff’s edge. Miranda lunged.

  “Gotchya!”

  “No! No! No!”

  “I hate the terrible twos.” Miranda laughed and cried at the same time as she held the warm little body close to her.

  “Dammit, Miranda, get your ass back here.”

  “No!” Hope howled the word again.

  “You’re going to have to learn a new word,” Miranda told the child as she turned back towards the window. She spat out some sand that had gotten into her mouth, and Hope continued to struggle and say ‘No’.

  With her arms full of wiggling child, and with her feet encased in nylons, and her leg throbbing like a son-of-a-bitch, she was having a hell of a time gaining purchase in the sand to get back towards the train. “Griff.” She called out just as the rail car groaned again.

  Miranda watched in fascination as the steel above her head lowered inch by inch, like she was in the middle of some James Bond movie. She covered Hope’s head, and pressed them both as close to the ground as possible.

  “Griff! Can you come and grab Hope?” she begged. God love the man, he was already beside her, taking the baby out of her arms. Thank God, now she could crawl, if she wasn’t crushed. She watched as he got Hope to safety, and she pushed out with her feet, pushing at the crumbling sand and dirt at the cliff’s edge. She felt it start to give beneath her knees.

  Oh God, she was going to go over the side of the cliff, she thought, as she made a grab for some sea grass.

  * * *

  Holding onto Hope, Griff saw Miranda’s desperate attempt to stop her fall. Her pale hand clutching pale green stalks of grass was the last thing he saw before she toppled over the side of the cliff.

  He knew it was at least a hundred foot drop, but it was graded, so it was possible she’d landed on some resting spot before hitting the beach below. He had to get to her.

  “Billy, take Hope.” He tried to thrust the baby at the young man, but now the toddler was hanging onto him for dear life.

  “No!” Hope shouted as he pried her off to give her to Billy to hold.

  The train was making a deafening sound as it tipped. Griff had to force himself not to yell ‘No’ right along with Hope. He looked down at the window at his feet. The space that had been between the window frame and the sand was now miniscule. There was no way he could possibly squeeze out.

  “Billy, I need you to find this girl’s mom. She should be that way.” Griff pointed the opposite way from where Billy had come.

  “Okay,” Billy said taking the screaming baby. “Here’s my phone. Mason wanted to talk to you,” he told Griff above the child’s shouts. He started to rock her and stroke her back. “Mason’s going to call when he and Drake get onto the top of the rail car.”

  Griff looked at Billy in confusion. “How are they going to know which one we’re in?” Griff asked.

  “I told my buddy Jaden to stay up top and direct traffic.” The rocking seemed to help, Hope wasn’t crying as loudly. The kid was amazing. “What’s the mom’s name?”

  “Susan,” Wolf and Griff answered simultaneously.

  “Got it.”

  “Hold on, Billy. Take my cell phone.” Griff handed him his. “You can use it for light, and to call if you need us.”

  “Thanks.” The young man juggled the toddler and grabbed the phone like a pro. “You ready for an adventure?” he smiled down at the child. She hiccupped and looked up at him in fascination. The young man started to carefully pick his way towards the back.

  “What happened?” Wolf asked after Billy left.

  “She managed to shove Hope at me,” Griff swallowed, replaying the moment in his mind. “Then the ground gave out right from under her and she went over the side of the cliff.”

  “There’s lots of landing spots before the beach,” Wolf consoled him, as he cradled his wife in his arms. Griff wanted that. He wanted Miranda in his arms.

  “I’m going out to get her. I’ll tell the men where you are.”

  “They know.”

  Griff frowned in confusion.

  “I have a tracker on me. They’ll find me, don’t worry. Go get your woman.” With that, Wolf put his head down next to Caroline’s and whispered something in her ear. Griff sent up a silent prayer for both women.

  * * *

  Wolf’s phone rang. It was his teammate, Dude.

  “Talk to me,” Wolf commanded.

  “Mozart and Abe are coming aboard your rail car. They should be at your position in under two minutes. EMT’s and first responders are having a hell of a time getting to your spot because their vehicles aren’t equipped for the terrain, but they’re rallying. They now have Humvees coming in from Camp Pendleton. They’re getting there, Wolf.”

  “We’ve got to get Caroline out of here, and I can’t risk pulling her out of the hole in the roof. She has broken ribs, and it might puncture her lung.” There was a pause as Dude considered the information.

  “I’ve got the full kit in my truck, it’s got explosives and the exothermic cutting torch. I can open up the doorways, and we get her out that way.”

  “This rail car is too unsteady for the explosives, we’ve got to use the torch. Fuck, Dude, I was hoping you could just pry the goddamn doors open. I know there are escape hatches on the windows, but I need to get her out through the door.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, you just take care of Ice.”

  The phone went dead, and before he had a chance to blink, it rang again. A small sense of relief trickled through him when he saw it was Tex.

  “Wolf, here’s the situation,” Tex began. “Our brothers at Pendleton have been supplying vehicles that can get to the train over the inhospitable terrain. All of the firefighters and EMT’s are getting to you in the next ten minutes. Two choppers are ready to take the wounded to the trau
ma center at Palomar as soon as they are vacated from the train.”

  Caroline arched in his arms. He dropped the phone, trying to get her to hold still.

  “Ice, don’t move.”

  “Hurts.”

  “I know,” he said, his heart breaking. She never complained. Never. It told him just how excruciating her injuries had to be. “Baby, you can’t move. You might puncture a lung. Your ribs are broken. Do you understand me?”

  “Wolf?” She tried to roll towards him.

  “Please stay still. I’ve got you, Ice.”

  “The baby. Did you get Hope?”

  “She’s safe.”

  “S’good,” she murmured, then closed her eyes again. Wolf realized that she’d been holding her abdomen when she said that it hurt. He lifted up her blouse and took note of the bruising that encompassed her entire left side. Originally he had thought it was mainly around her ribs, but he saw how it extended down to her kidneys. Fuck!

  He spotted his dropped phone and picked it up. “Tex?”

  “I’m here, buddy.”

  “Ice has got to get to Palomar. She’s in and out of consciousness. There’s severe bruising around her kidney, and she’s in pain. Her ribs are broken, and if we jostle her, she might puncture a lung.” It was the first time in his life that he gave a report where his voice wasn’t steady.

  “Abe’s on the train right now. He’s making his way to you. Dude’s working with Mozart to figure out a way to open up the entry doors on the lower floor of the car. We’re all going to help you get Caroline on that chopper.”

  A boot landed near Caroline’s legs. He looked up and saw Abe’s calm face. “I’ve got to go, Tex.”

  “I’ll call you when the door is open,” Tex said before he hung up.

  Abe had a bag with a red cross on it.

  “Let’s see what we can do for her before Mozart and Dude get this tin can open, shall we?” Abe asked as he opened the bag.

  Chapter Five

  For some reason, Griff had thought it would be better once he got outside of the rail car. Instead, it was another kind of hell. The lead car was the power car. It was on fire. The next one that was closest to him, was another business rail car, and it had smoke coming out of it. He looked around at the landscape surrounding them and realized there wasn’t a chance in fucking hell that firetrucks could reach them. No wonder there were military Humvees driving up, along with various civilian trucks surrounding the place.