Heart of a SEAL

by Dixie Lee Brown

  “Is she okay?” Luke held his breath.

  “She’s got a few cuts and bruises. Nothing too serious. Your angel lady turned out to be one hell of a fighter.” MacGyver shook his head. “This riffraff spent most of the day in one of the cabins with their boss. If I was a betting man, I’d say that’s where he took her.”

  “Let’s go.” Luke pushed through the paddock door and his friends fell in behind him.

  It wasn’t hard figuring out which cabin Ahmed had taken over. Every light in the place was on. Almost like he was advertising his presence. Luke sidled up to Coop. “What do you think?”

  Travis and MacGyver joined their impromptu meeting. “Well, he’s not trying to hide. My instincts tell me he’s probably set a few booby traps. Maybe even rigged the place to blow.”

  “Fuck.” Luke received no satisfaction from the fact he’d come to the same conclusion. The image of Sally inside with Ahmed made his blood boil. The idea that their attempt to rescue her might be the catalyst to her death left him numb.

  “Check the doors and windows for wires. We need a way in.” As the others hurried away, Luke stopped Coop. “Once we’re in, check the attic.” That’s where the fire started in Sally’s house, so that might be Ahmed’s go-to spot. Maybe he’ll repeat himself.

  A minute later, Travis returned. “The door and the windows on this side are clear. They open into a separate bedroom and bathroom. Lights are all on. Might be where he’s holding Sally.”

  “Okay, I’m going in. Coop will back me up and look for bombs once we’re inside. You two cover the front and back. If we get in trouble, you’ll probably be able to tell right away. That’s your cue to come in with everything you’ve got.” Not that they had much. Three of them had handguns, and they’d lifted four more plus an AK-47 off the fallen men in the barn. It would have to be enough.

  Luke and Coop approached the side of the house. Carefully, Luke peered through the bedroom window. The doors to the main part of the cabin and the bathroom were closed. Clothing was draped over the quilted comforter. Luke pushed the window open about eighteen inches, then pulled himself up to stick his head inside and double-check for hidden wires. Finding none, he shoved himself through the opening, rolling as he hit the floor. Five seconds later, Coop was beside him and closed the window behind them.

  The next instant, the two heard the bathroom doorknob rattle and barely had time to flatten against the wall. Coop held a knife as they waited. Slowly, the knob turned and the door opened. Luke caught a glimpse of her in the mirror just inside the bathroom. His carefully controlled rage almost got away from him. Sally’s face and arms were bruised, cut and swollen. Clearly, she’d tried to clean some of the blood off, but one whole side of her tank top was stained red, and an angry-looking wound on her arm still bled. He forced his gaze from her image and focused on what he had to do.

  Luke waited until she was halfway through the opening before he slid his arm around her, pressed his hand to her mouth and pulled her back against him. She struggled in his arms with far more strength than he’d expected. “It’s me, sunshine. Don’t be afraid. It’s me and Coop. We’re going to get you out of here.” As soon as he whispered the words next to her ear, she went still.

  He released her, and she whirled, throwing her arms around him. Her head came to rest on his chest as a sob escaped. “Damn it. He was right. Matt said you wouldn’t go. We’re going to have a talk about that later, sailor.” A sob that was half laugh bubbled from her throat.

  Luke tugged her closer and kissed her neck, weak with relief. “We can talk about whatever you want, babe.” He motioned for Coop to slide the window open. “You go first and catch her.”

  Coop nodded, opened the window and let himself down feet first.

  Luke bent to scoop Sally into his arms and hand her out the window to Coop, when the bedroom door burst open. Ahmed filled the opening, an Uzi submachine gun pointed at them.

  “Well, well. If it isn’t Navy SEAL Luke Harding.” Ahmed’s emphasis on SEAL caught Luke’s attention.

  He set Sally on her feet and pushed her behind him. “Ahmed, you lousy maggot. I thought you were dead. I’m disappointed you’re not. This is between you and me. Let’s take it outside.”

  “You and I can settle our differences right here.” Ahmed worked the lever on the top of the Uzi, chambering a round. He pulled the trigger, and a short burst of automatic gunfire strafed the wall beneath the window where Luke had seen Coop last.

  Sally grasped Luke’s shoulders and pressed closer to his back, her body trembling. He placed his hand on her hip directly behind him to reassure her.

  “That should keep your friends away for a while.” As Ahmed turned back toward Luke, he smiled. Eerie, detached, crazy—the light that shone from the man’s eyes chilled every fiber of Luke’s being. He had to keep Ahmed talking until Coop and the others could regroup. It was Sally’s only chance.

  “You had it in for us the whole time because Ian and I were Americans. Why? It was your choice to turn your back on your country. You let them fill you with hate for your own people.”

  As though he hadn’t heard, Ahmed stared at Luke. “You and your Navy SEALs always thought you were stronger…faster…better than me, didn’t you? Even after I proved your friend Ian was weak, you still didn’t get it.”

  Again, the almost unnoticeable emphasis on the words Navy SEALs interested Luke. “Didn’t get what?”

  “I was like you—proudly American—until…” His words faded, and he glanced around as though he feared someone else might have heard his confession. When his gaze returned to Luke’s, anger burned there again. “The American military—the SEALs you value so highly—discharged me after my brother and I had successfully completed most of our training.”

  The statement jolted Luke to his core. What is he saying? He signed on to be a SEAL?

  Ahmed paced one way and then the other, always keeping the Uzi trained on Luke. “Do you know why? Not because I wasn’t good enough or strong enough. Not because I wasn’t the best sniper—I was. Even better than my own brother. No. They seized upon my only imperfection. Can you guess what it was?”

  “Your humility?” Luke regretted his flip remark as soon as he’d said it, but it was too late.

  Again, Ahmed seemed not to hear. “A fucking broken bone in my wrist when I was a boy. It healed and never bothered me again. But it wasn’t perfect, and that break decreased my range of motion by three fucking percent…which made me not good enough for the almighty SEALs. That I could perform any exercise quicker and better than the rest didn’t matter.”

  “So, you took a medical discharge rather than stay in the regular Navy? Hell, I’d have done the same thing. But that doesn’t explain why you became a terrorist. That’s a pretty big leap.” Luke kept his gaze on the man’s trigger finger. He and Sally would have only milliseconds to react when Ahmed tired of talking.

  “Eight months later, my brother was killed in a training exercise. A Humvee he was driving, with four other trainees onboard, overturned. The others were thrown out, but my brother was trapped behind the steering wheel. The Humvee went over an embankment and burst into flames. If I’d been there, I could have saved him.”

  Luke shook his head, a vague memory of the incident on the news niggling at his brain. “What makes you think you could have done more than the men who were there?”

  “Obviously, they didn’t try hard enough. Every one of you is going to pay for that.” Ahmed’s voice held the rage that clearly seethed beneath the surface, and he tightened his grip on the gun.

  “So, that’s it, huh? That’s why you became a traitor, became a terrorist and killed Ian? To make the SEALs—any SEAL—pay for the accidental death of your brother?” Didn’t sound like the actions of a rational man. It was just a hunch, but he’d bet Ahmed had lost touch with reality when his brother died. Why else would the traitor come tho
usands of miles to hunt Luke down again? That made his first guess right—Ahmed was crazy. And Luke had learned to trust his hunches.

  “You’ve oversimplified it, but yes. And now it’s your turn. Then I’ll take care of your friends outside. I knew Sally would bring you close enough to spring the trap. I had every intention of trading her for you…but now, I can’t bear to part with her either—for totally different reasons, of course. But I’m not a monster. I’ll give you a moment to say good-bye.” Ahmed relaxed his grip on the Uzi and glanced toward the door behind him.

  Yep. Crazy and overconfident. The latter will be his downfall.

  Luke understood all too well that if Ahmed pulled that trigger, there’d be enough lead flying in this room to kill everything in sight. Not acceptable. He leaned toward Sally, who’d turned a ghostly shade of pale since Ahmed walked in. “Out the window, now.”

  He didn’t wait to see if she followed his instruction. Clawing for traction, he burst into a full run. Getting to Ahmed before he fired was the only thing that would save them.

  A malicious grin broke over Ahmed’s face as he braced his feet and tracked Luke’s progress with the barrel of the gun. Behind the madman, a shadow caught Luke’s eye. A man with a rifle stood in the doorway.

  Luke leaped sideways out of the way, rolling as he landed, and slid up against the wall, praying Sally had done what he said. A high-caliber rifle shot echoed in the room. Ahmed jerked as though a puppeteer controlled his movements. A burst of submachine gunfire riddled the ceiling with bullet holes. Ahmed couldn’t hold on to the weapon any longer. He dropped it and crumpled to the floor, blood pooling under him from the rifle fire that entered his back and blew out through his chest. Ahmed was still breathing, gasping for air.

  A glance toward the window told Luke what he desperately needed to know—Sally was out of harm’s way.

  Three more shadows materialized, flanking Daniel, weapons in hand. Daniel stepped all the way into the room and strode toward Ahmed until he looked in to his face. “My brother was a good man. The best. You and your scum killed him. Now, you die.” He placed the barrel of the rifle against Ahmed’s forehead and pulled the trigger.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Sally jolted awake, the sound of gunfire ringing in her ears. Immediately, she leaned into the warm caress of the man curled around her on the bed. It’d been ten days since terrorists tried to kill them on American soil. She was the one having nightmares now, but Luke was always there to assure her it was only a dream. The doctor had said, along with her many cuts and scrapes, she had a mild case of PTSD, and he predicted it would fade as her memory of the incident did. The kicker was, Luke had been sleeping like a baby. She’d take that trade any day.

  Luke stirred behind her, his arm over her torso drawing her closer. “You okay, babe?”

  “I am now,” she whispered.

  The sun would be rising soon. They couldn’t lie around in bed today.

  “Luke?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why did Emmett Purnell fly me to the hospital in his helicopter?” She rolled back against him and looked at his sleepy face.

  She’d apparently blocked out parts of her ordeal, but every now and then she’d remember something she’d forgotten, and she simply had to know how it fit in with the whole. Luke had been so patient, answering her questions, allaying her fears. What would she have ever done without him?

  “What do you remember?” He almost always started with that.

  “I remember the sound of the helicopter as he landed in the meadow and the wind he created. Then I woke up just before the orderlies rolled me away at the hospital in Sandpoint. Emmett was there, staring at me. I think he smiled…and it was kind of creepy.” Sally laughed.

  Luke dropped a kiss on her lips. “When he cornered you in Sandpoint and we learned he’d been mugged by Clive Brennan, the last thing he told me was to call if I needed help. I’m sure he meant help beating the shit out of your old man, but he came when I called him anyway. All that was left to do was get you to a hospital. He was glad to help.”

  She faced away from him again. “Thanks, Luke.”

  “For what?” He ran his tongue around the edge of her ear, and she shivered. His arousal pressed against her bare bottom.

  Sally shimmied around within his arms until she faced him. She raised her lips to his and reveled in the hunger obvious in his kiss. With a slow hand, she stroked the length of him, offering her throat for the attentions of his searing lips. He groaned and rolled her onto her back.

  “Hey, sunshine, are you using me for sex?” His teasing smile made her heart do a backflip.

  She shrugged and batted her eyelashes. “What if I am?”

  Luke laughed low in his throat. “I have absolutely no problem with that.”

  A knock sounded on the bedroom door. Luke and Sally barely had time to scoot to their own sides of the bed before Jen burst into the room. “Aren’t you guys up yet? The others are starting to arrive. We’re going to be the last ones.”

  Sally bit her lip and tamped down her amusement at her exasperated daughter standing at the foot of the bed, hands on her hips.

  Luke cleared his throat, but she could still hear the laughter in his voice. “Your mom and I will throw on some clothes. It will only take five minutes. Okay? Tell you what. Why don’t you start down there and we’ll catch up?”

  “That’s a great idea, Jen. Don’t forget your jacket. It’s still chilly this morning. And take a bottle of water.” Sally sat up and held out her arms. “Come here and give me a hug first.” If nothing else, she’d learned not to take her loved ones for granted.

  Jen climbed onto the bed and fell into her mother’s arms. Sally squeezed her tightly and brushed her lips across her rosy cheek. Jen would never find out how close they’d come to never hugging again. As always, the melancholy thought brought with it the threat of tears.

  Luke always seemed to know when she was about to lose it. “Hey, Jen, what did we decide about the bedroom door?” He captured the girl’s attention, and she slid off Sally’s lap to sit cross-legged in the center of the bed.

  “I knocked.” Jen defended herself with a shrug and a flip of her arms in the air.

  “I know, and that’s good, but you also need to wait for an invitation before you open the door.” Luke was always so good with her. No wonder Jen loved him unconditionally.

  She dropped her hands on her knees. “Why?”

  Sally snorted a laugh, but Luke wasn’t intimidated. “Well, because I might be dressing. Believe me, you do not want to see this naked.” One of his fingers pointed back at himself.

  Jen and Luke busted out laughing. How did he always do that—get what he wanted from her by being totally honest and end up closer to her for the effort? After a minute, Jen slipped her skinny arms around Luke’s neck and gave him a loud peck on the cheek. Luke caught her around the waist and whispered something in her ear. Instantly, she giggled and rolled off the bed.

  “Okay, I’m going. Hurry!” Both doors slammed seconds apart in the wake of Jen’s excitement, and then silence settled over the cabin once again.

  Luke rolled toward her until he was half on top of her. “Now, where were we?”

  Sally laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’d love to stay right here with you…but you’re in charge of this cabin-raising. You probably should put in an appearance.”

  Luke groaned, dropping his forehead to hers. “Okay, but whose stupid idea was this anyway?”

  Before long they were out the door, walking hand in hand up the path toward the concrete pad where Daniel’s cabin had been. Overnight, a tent city had sprung up in the meadow among the tall grass and wildflowers. People were milling about, greeting newcomers who came in a steady stream of cars down the dirt road. Sally’s excitement sizzled just beneath the surface.

  “It was though
tful of you to organize this cabin-raising for Daniel and Ellen.” Sally was busting-at-the-seams proud of him. He’d worked his butt off the past several days, getting commitments from everyone he could think of to show up and work for as long as it took to replace Daniel’s cabin. Between ordering materials, drawing plans and raising money to cover what Daniel’s insurance wouldn’t, he’d still taken the time to make certain she was comfortable and cared for while she healed. Thoughtful wasn’t nearly a good-enough word to describe him.

  “I have my moments.” Luke smiled and squeezed her hand. “Don’t forget about the dance tonight. I promised to take you dancing.”

  She glanced toward the crowd ahead and smiled. “I’m looking forward to our first real date—the first of many, I hope.”

  He brought her hand up and kissed her fingers. A mischievous grin appeared for a heartbeat before he looked away. When he met her gaze again, the same worried creases that had lined his face for days were firmly in place. “You know I’m here for you, sunshine, but let’s try not to overdo it today. Okay?”

  Sally refused to let her disappointment show. How many openings like that had she given him over the past week? He had yet to mention their future or his marriage proposal, changing the subject, as he’d done now, obviously uncomfortable with where the conversation was going. What was a girl to think?

  Luke cared about her—desired her. There was no doubt about that. But it seemed everything had changed since he’d believed he’d lost her. It was as though he pulled back from her to keep from being hurt again. No one else was likely to notice the difference…but she noticed. Paranoid much?

  On the other hand, who hadn’t changed? There’d been a carefully orchestrated and carried out attack by a brutal terrorist group in a sparsely populated area of Idaho. The terrorists hadn’t been content torturing and killing on the other side of the world. One man had conceived a plan to follow Luke from the pit of hell and finish what he’d started simply because he’d survived. The attack was nothing on the scale of 9-11, of course, but it served to remind many there was an enemy and he could strike anywhere. Whether a flesh-and-blood witness to the horror or seen through the eyes of news reporters, everyone’s world had tilted a degree or two. Why would Luke be any different?