by KaLyn Cooper
Table of Contents
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
A Note from the Author
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About the Author
Also by KaLyn Cooper
Black Swan Series
Guardian Elite Series
Cancun Series
Text copyright ©2017 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Stoker Aces Production, LLC. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Special Forces: Operation Alpha remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Stoker Aces Production, LLC, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds
Rescuing Melina
KaLyn Cooper
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note from the Author
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by KaLyn Cooper
Black Swan Series
Guardian Elite Series
Cancun Series
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Susan Stoker for inviting me to write in her Kindle World. I’ve been a fan of her books for the past few years. As always, I couldn’t publish a book without the wonderful editing of Marci Clark and awesome cover by Valerie Tibbs. A special thanks to my lunch bunch, authors Trista Ann Michaels, Rachel Rivers, Kimberly Grace, and Vikki Vaught who doubles as my critique partner. These women drag me from my writing cave and provide much-needed socialization, as well as plot twists.
I dedicate this book to the men and women who work undercover for the U.S. government and yet are seldom featured in the media. Just as those who wear a uniform, these patriots selflessly live a dangerous life. Like our military, they too deserve our thanks.
Dear Readers,
Rescuing Melina is a crossover novella between my Guardian Elite series and Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha. Although every book is a standalone, you may wish to read Uncaged Love where you will first meet Melina and Jacin. You may also wish to read Susan Stoker’s Delta Force Heroes series where Mary and Truck play a small role in several books, as they will here.
Please note that Rescuing Melina is meant for mature audiences as it contains explicit sex, graphic violence, and adult language.
Thank you for reading my books. If you have enjoyed Rescuing Melina, please consider telling others with a review. You may also want to read my other books. You will find a complete list and links available at the end of this book.
Always,
KaLyn
KaLyn Cooper Books by Series
Black Swan Series
Unrelenting Love: Lady Hawk & Alex (Black Swan Book 1)
Uncaged Love: Harper & Rafe (Black Swan Book 2)
Noel’s Puppy Power A Sweet Christmas Novella:
Guardian Elite Series
Smoke and Mirrors (Novella #1 Guardian Elite series Crossover with Paige Tyler’s Dallas Fire and Rescue Kindle World)
Double Jeopardy (Novella #2 Guardian Elite series Crossover with Hildie McQueen’s Indulgences series)
Rescuing Melina (Novella #3 Guardian Elite series Crossover with Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World)
Cancun Series
Christmas in Cancun (Book #1)
Conquered in Cancun (Novella #1.5)
Captivated in Cancun (Book #2)
Claimed by a SEAL (Cancun Crossover Novella #2.5 with Cat Johnson’s Hot SEALs Kindle Worlds)
Crisis in Cancun (Book #3) (coming 2017)
1
“He’s coming around.”
Jacin Torres had known pain, but he’d obviously moved beyond the point where it registered in his brain. He felt nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Am I dead?
His mind was so screwed up. The voice sounded like a woman, yet, there had been two men who had taken turns beating the shit out of him. Men he’d known for more than a year. He’d worked beside them as a lieutenant in Turi Solis’s cartel…until he’d made the biggest mistake of his life.
Jealousy, as much as fear for her life, had driven him to her that night.
His whole body bounced inches into the air before landing hard on the thin mattress.
Pain shot through his back confirming he was still alive.
Had they finally finished the grueling torture session and shot him?
Jacin gasped, but he couldn’t force air into his lungs. He felt like he was back in BUDs, nearly drowning in the pool.
Don’t panic, he instructed himself. You can handle this. You know what to do.
SEAL training had taught him well. He reached to clear the mouthpiece of his scuba gear, but it didn’t feel right. His hand slid over the device as though it were smooth and not attached to a tank. Was he wearing a rebreather?
Everything was so confusing.
And what was that beeping? Were they testing a new warning system?
A black curtain was covering the edges of his brain, forcing him into unconsciousness. He needed oxygen. Now.
He tried desperately to suck in air, and a knife stabbed into his back once again, just above the kidney.
“We’re losing him.”
“Hang in there, Jacin. Don’t you dare leave me now.” The warm hand of his angel slipped into his and squeezed.
Palm-to-palm, heat traveled through his body as the darkness closed on hot memories of the two of them, together, in her bed.
The next time Jacin surfaced, he cracked his eyes so as not to alert his captors he was conscious once again. He immediately slammed them shut. The room was too bright. They must’ve moved him from the cellar where they kept him a prisoner for nearly a week.
Slowly, he tried to fill his lungs to help shake off the drowsiness. No pain this time.
His eyelids felt like they were weighed down. When he tried to rub them, he discovered he was still tied to some immovable object. He yanked as hard as he could to no avail. At least the new bindings didn’t cut into his oversensitive wrists.
For a fleeting moment, Jacin wondered if Solis had a new torment in mind for him.
“Jacin? Are you awake?” his angel asked in her sweet, melodic voice.
Thank God she was with him.
No! Solis’s lieutenants would be back soon and find her there. They would torture her, too. They knew she was not who she claimed to be. That’s how they’d discovered he was a spy. He needed to protect her.
“Run.” He tried to scream the word, but his voice came out as a croaked whisper. He swallowed what little moisture he could gather in his mouth. Stronger, he managed to open his eyes a fraction.
Several seconds passed before he could focus on the most beautiful woman in his world. Flowing black hair matched dark eyes that seemed intensified by her light caramel face. She’d come for him, to save him, but she was the one he had to protect.
Gathering every ounce of energy he could muster, he warned, “Get out
of here. Now.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you trying to tell me.” She patted his hand. “I’m going to go get the nurse.”
She was going to get…what? Help? In spite of everything, he chuckled. She would find no help for him in the home of Turi Solis.
She walked away. The natural swing of her hips and movement of her fine ass was the last thing he saw as he went under once again.
At the sound of voices, Jacin’s mind stirred. He was feeling oddly refreshed, as though he’d had a good hard eight hours sleep.
“You’ve already started to bring him out of the coma?” A deep male voice posed the question.
Coma? Had he hit his head? Then Jacin remembered the beatings he’d taken for days. Men he’d once called friends had used his head as a punching bag. He figured he had a concussion, but had they pounded him so badly he’d fallen into a coma? That would explain a lot. Given the antiseptic smell and the incessant beeping and buzzing, Jacin concluded he was in a hospital.
But where? He could only hope it was in the United States and he was finally free of the drug cartels and Columbia. He raked through every memory he could stir trying to remember how he got out of that disgusting basement in hell to here—wherever here was—but he continued to come up blank.
“Yes. We’re going to bring him out of this slowly,” a second male voice announced.
“Is his wife here yet?” the first man asked.
Wife? He didn’t have a wife. Maybe there was someone else in the room and they were working on him.
“No, but she should be shortly.” The baritone voice continued, “Are the interns on their way?”
“They’re waiting for you to give us the go-ahead. By the way, I’ve brought your neurological residents as well,” the second man noted.
“That’s fine. Get them in here. He’s responding well to the medication.”
Jacin seemed to be more and more aware of his surroundings every second. He’d always been hypervigilant; he had to be as a spy undercover in one of the most dangerous cartels in the world.
Louder, and perhaps even jovial, the deep voiced called, “Come on in. All the way around the bed. Keep moving.”
“Dr. Tobias, on behalf of all the new interns, we just want to thank you for allowing us to experience this. It’s a great honor to watch the Chief of Neurology for the entire Army in action.” Kiss ass. There’s one in every crowd.
“It’s my pleasure to be here. Darnall Army Medical Center sees almost as many wounded and sick soldiers evacuated from the wars as we do at Walter Reed. This is only the second time I’ve had the opportunity to work in the new hospital. If everyone is in, let’s get started.” In a professorial tone, he continued, “Mr. Torres came to us ten days ago with a traumatic brain injury and a collapsed lung due to one of his four broken ribs. He had multiple bruises and abrasions, most significantly the ones around his wrists, ankles, and neck. Although I cannot tell you how Mr. Torres got in this condition, as much of it is classified or unknown until he recovers and gives his official statement—which will still, no doubt, be classified above my pay grade—I can tell you he’d been captured and tortured. As future physicians for the U.S. military, unfortunately you may see these conditions again.”
Jacin was probably more thankful for the update than the soon-to-be doctors in the room. Since they were speaking English, he assumed he was somewhere in the good old U.S.A. He wanted to kiss the ground and throw away his passport. There had been too many times he’d almost given up hope of ever returning home.
His doctor continued, “We placed Mr. Torres in a chemically induced coma so his body, and especially the brain, could heal. He had significant brain swelling which we were able to reduce pharmacologically rather than surgically, our preference whenever possible. Mr. Torres’s body has been put under enough stress without the invasion of surgery.”
Mumbles around the room confirmed agreement.
“Well, then, let’s give Mr. Torres a little more neostigmine and see how he does.”
Jacin wasn’t sure how he could be refreshed and still be sleepy. His body seemed to be having that mental debate he often had five minutes before he knew his alarm would go off. Should he give in and allow himself to return to sleep for a few precious minutes, or wake up and face the day which would be five minutes longer than usual. He succumbed to sleep.
“Excuse me.”
At the sound of her voice, he awakened a little more and sighed with relief. She was there.
“I’m sorry, I need to get through.”
Shuffling of feet was the only indication Jacin had of her progress.
“Dr. Tobias, I apologize, I was on a conference call with Washington.”
Jacin silently chuckled. Knowing Melina, she could have been talking to the director of the CIA as easily as she could have been speaking with one of her agents still on the ground in Colombia or her brother stationed somewhere in Texas. She lied so easily and convincingly.
Not for the first time, he wondered if her words spoken softly in bed were also lies. When they were together, completely alone and sure no one was watching, his words had come from the heart.
“Just in time, Mrs. Torres,” Dr. Tobias greeted. “In the next few minutes, you are going to play an important role for us.” He raised his voice and spoke to everyone in the room—well, everyone except Jacin. “During your careers as military physicians, you’re probably going to have to bring a soldier awake. I can tell you from experience the procedure is often dangerous, especially with a TBI. Unconscious, the brain does not calculate passing time so when awakened, the soldier may believe he is still in the situation which put him in hospital. It is not unusual for them to come awake fighting. Let me assure you, we have trained these men and women well. They can kill using only their hands and before their brains have time to realize their current situation, you could already be dead.”
Jacin felt his hand lift and the restraint around his wrist tighten. His muscles contracted in a twitch at the brief pain. A memory of rough nylon rope attached to chains affixed to a block wall jolted to the front of his mind. A mental photograph of his personal torture chamber came into clear view. Why couldn’t it have been a picture of Melina laying naked on the pastel yellow sheets in her bedroom, her nearly black hair fanned out on the pillow next to his?
As though struck by a Mack truck, Jacin realized Dr. Tobias had called Melina, Mrs. Torres.
Another lie.
But perhaps for good reason. If he’d been brought into the hospital unconscious, he’d probably spent time in the intensive care unit. Perhaps he was still there. Jacin had been in and around hospitals enough to know that only family was allowed to visit someone in the ICU. He remembered pacing the waiting room, barred by wide double doors and stern-faced nurses, when a SEAL teammate had taken three bullets. Only their commanding officer had been allowed in to see their friend—limited to ten minutes every two hours—until his family arrived from Oklahoma. Jacin warmed at the thought she’d wanted to be close to him, come see him even though he was unable to communicate with her.
“What do I need to do, Doctor?” Melina’s voice was sultry and musical.
Jacin was sure that was by design. Their CIA training included classes in seduction. That’s how they’d met. He was her final exam. Voice modulation, tone, and even pacing of words could be used to ignite a fire or douse struggling embers.
“Hold his hand, and most importantly, reassure him he is home and safe now.” Dr. Tobias’ suggestions sounded just fine to Jacin.
This time, Jacin felt the drugs enter his body through the IV and race throughout his system with every heartbeat. He didn’t know what they’d given him, or even care, as it brought him more and more aware. He dragged in air and caught the delicate scent of gardenias and spice that was Melina. No other woman in the world smelled quite like her.
“That’s it, Jacin. Come back to me.” She squeezed his hand and a different kind of warmth chased the med
icine through his body then shot to his soul. She wanted him in her life.
“We’re in the United States.” She didn’t bother to hide the tinge of excitement, or maybe he just knew her that well. “You’re in a hospital on Fort Hood Army Base.” Okay, they were in Texas. He wondered if it was the same base where her brother was stationed.
“Keep talking to him,” Dr. Tobias suggested. “He’s coming around nicely. Mr. Torres, can you squeeze your wife’s hand?”
Well, no. I don’t have a wife.
“Jacin, please, squeeze my hand.” She’d asked sweetly, so with herculean effort he did as she requested.
“He did it. I felt his hand move.” Melina sounded more excited than he thought she should.
“Excellent. Let’s bring him up some more.” The doctor moved beside him. Little by little Jacin became more and more awake and responded to his orders. “Mr. Torres, your eyes are still slightly swollen, but I need you to open them on your own power. Can you do that for me?”
He peeked them open the tiniest bit and slammed them shut. Damn, it was bright.
“Close those drapes and someone catch the lights. It’s been days, perhaps weeks, since he’s opened his eyes.” Dr. Tobias patted Jacin’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I should have been more considerate.”
Jacin dragged in a deep breath and tried to reassure everyone in the room. “It’s okay.” His throat was so dry the words rasped out. “Water…please.”
“Certainly.” The doctor had an underlying eagerness as he continued, “Quickly, get the man some water and a cup of ice slivers.”
A flurry of motion filled the room.
In a quiet voice Melina reassured him, “I’m right here, Jacin.” When she wrapped her fingers tightly around his, he clutched hers in return.
The hum of the motor preceded the movement of his bed as it lifted his back up. He heard water pouring over ice.
“Now, Mr. Torres, if you’ll open your eyes, you can have this water. But I need you to open those eyes, both of them.”
