I see the bright lights from the refinery up ahead and I snap the buckles securing me in, as does everyone else. French takes the point as the pilot lowers our altitude even more, kicking the sand up as I lower my night vision.
“Fuck! They’re already hot!” Uclid swears and I see the fire burning at the gate and the gunshots flying through the air. I don’t wait for French to grab the rope and toss it over and I don’t listen when he says to wait. Fuck that. I pull the handkerchief up over my nose and mouth, fling my gun over my shoulder and secure my D-ring to the rope, looping it through to make sure if I should lose my grip that I don’t fall and break my neck.
The rope slips through my gloved hands as I race toward the ground, shielding my eyes against an explosion that makes my ears ring. Unhooking myself and looking up, I see that one of the main towers has exploded and there are two bodies in the sand not far from me. I bring my M4 up and check the perimeter as I make my way to them, seeing that they are still moving before I kneel next to the first.
“I’m Agent Payne, NCIS,” I say, seeing the guy peer up at me with a stunned expression and I recognize some of the features. God, in this dark, he could be Randy. All of the missions that we had been on flash in my mind, Randy’s voice echoing through my head calling for help or saying that it was all clear. Then that fateful day that he died; the heat from the mid-day sun on my back and the explosion that made my head spin, taking him from everyone who loved him. But no, my best friend and my wife’s brother is in a better place, and I look down at this man again; shaking my head free of the memories making my chest tighten. Get my head in the game.
“Jack…Jack Griggs,” he reaches for my hand and I help my wife’s cousin to his feet, handing him his gun as he brushes the sand off. “Fuck, am I glad you’re here!” he yells over the whirring of the chopper blades and the gunshots.
I just nod my head, signal for him to follow and make my way to the second guy. I see the form shifting in the sand and I know it’s Timmons. Grabbing his shoulder, I shake him, “Bobby! Bobby, it’s me, Chief!”
He just shakes his head, no doubt trying to clear the haze his fall and the explosion had caused, and finally looks up at me. I smile when he recognizes me and help him to his feet. I scan him over quickly and see that he’s not hurt and silently thank God. He falls into formation between French and I and we hunker down behind some of their Jeeps. This time I will listen to French and I wait for him to decide the next action while I return some fire, taking out five of the attacking forces with five shots.
The typical snake formation takes us to their sleeping compound and we see the full force of the men invading their refinery. The fence is blown open and our other men, the rest of SEAL Team 10 along with Smith and Carter, are already over there trying to force them back, out into the night so the helicopter gunners can take them out.
“Can ya keep up, Mister Agent?” French jokes as he moves us out again, across the sand as Reno and the others fire along with us, taking as many out as we can. The second we meet up with Carter, Smith, and the other security employees, French signals to the pilot our coordinates and bullets fall like rain on the members of Ansar al-Din that are left.
A gunshot screams by my face and I crouch, hearing French yell out in pain behind me a split second before I fire into the dark; the green figure of a man dropping to the sand only a few hundred yards away. “LT, you okay?” I yell, turning back to him cradling his right leg and swearing up a storm.
“Shit….fucker shot me,” he groans and I can’t help but chuckle.
“Looks all clear,” the pilot radios down and I issue commands for recon, statements and tending to the wounded.
French is still swearing up a storm as Timmons and Reno throw his arms over their shoulders and help get him into one of the compounds. No one fatally hurt, which is always a good thing. Taking count of the Savage Security guys, everyone is here. Mission complete in my mind, so I grab my Sat phone and dial my Director’s line.
“Williams,” he says. All business and ready for bad news.
“Sir, mission complete. No causalities, few injuries-none fatal. All Savage employees accounted for and we’re ready for extraction.” I look back at the room and see French yelling at the Medic trying to help him and I have to contain the small chuckle. Hard headed man, just like the rest of us.
“Good job, Payne. Three more choppers will be there in twenty. Have the Savage guys pack up all of their shit. Give everyone my thanks, especially the SEALs.”
“I will, Sir,” and that’s it. The line goes dead and I tuck the phone back into my vest. Weaving my way through the room I tell all of the Savage guys to go gather their things, they are going home.
“Why are we leavin’?” Bobby asks when I get back to French, him, and Reno.
“You’ll all be briefed when we’re back on non-hostile ground,” is all I say, keeping it short and sweet for technicalities sake. I can’t tell him because he has to be debriefed first. “Choppers will be here shortly to get us the hell outta here.”
“Oh shit.” He smiles down at French, punching him in the shoulder and causing him to groan from the movement as the Medic tells him to stay still. “Looks like you gotta deal with me all the way back to the US, ol’ man.”
We all laugh as French just smiles up at him. “I’ll be happy to have ya, Brother.” He chuckles, reaching up and taking Bobby’s hand in a firm grip. “Take me home, brothers. Get me out of this hell hole.”
“Sure will, LT. Sure will.” Reno nods.
We’ll all be happy to get out of this. Even more so now that we know our friends, and hell, one of my family members, are safe. Mission well done in my book.
Now to get home and deal with my wife. Who, I might add, is no doubt angry as hell. It’ll probably be a lot worse than being shot at.
CHAPTER FOUR:
Rhea
December 15, 2013
It’s snowing lightly out and my little Charlie and Marisol are playing on the floor, everyone’s chatter around me being drown out by my angry musing. How could Chad just up and leave without anything more than “I’m going on a case”? That’s not like him. He’s left in the middle of the night before, but he’s always woken me up and told me. We’ve been up here for almost a week and even the company of my best girlfriends isn’t really helping me put this out of my mind.
Plus, I can tell there is something bothering Ellie. She’s smiling and laughing, but my cousin can’t hide the hidden pain from me. I see it when her smile fades slowly and her eyes zone out, not really looking at the group or the television. Like right now, she is watching the flakes fall outside the front window as Kendall, Rosa, and Chelsi are laughing away about an obnoxious sex story Kendall is telling.
Rosa’s high pitched giggle snaps Ellie’s face my way and I give her a smile, waving her over to sit next to me on the loveseat. As she plops down, tucking her feet up and next to mine, I throw my arm over her shoulder. “Don’t want to join in on the convo?” I ask her, laughing at the three of my friends as they are all now sharing obnoxious stories; Kendall and Chelsi being red in the face from laughing.
“No, I don’t think so.” She laughs a little as Chelsi squeals at Kendall’s description of an ex-boyfriend’s penis and how it curved. “Don’t really feel up to kiddin’ much today.” She gives me a brighter smile and I pull her to me, hugging her shoulder tight as she sighs.
“I’ll jus’ sit here with my fave cousin and listen to the ridiculous stories,” she says and I nod, watching my son out of the corner of my eye as he plays with his favorite blocks and cars.
“Ridiculous?” Kendall quips, racing her eyebrow at us while her giggles subside. Oh no, I know that look, she’s going to say something she’ll regret later and I need to stop her. The three of them have been drinking mimosas since we woke up and looking into the kitchen, I see five empty bottles sitting on the counter.
“Ken, sit back down,” I tell her as she crawls over to us, an evil grin on he
r lips. I try and shoo her away as she kneels in front of us, but she just slaps my hands away playfully. “Go get another glass to drink and some snacks while you’re at it to soak up the alcohol, you lush.”
“Not until I tell Ellie here what is ridiculous.” She smiles and I cringe inwardly. I go to say something, but her hand presses over my mouth and nose, mumbling my speech. “You wanna know what’s really ridiculous, Ell-ie? That weekend when I fucked Bobby. I didn’t have to fake one orgasm. Not one. That was the first time in, I don’t even remember when, that I didn’t have to act like I was having a good time.”
It’s like slow motion as I look to my cousin, seeing her slack jaw expression. Kendall breaks out in drunken giggles, but damn, do I feel like punching her in the teeth.
~~~~
Ellie
Did she just really fucking say that? Right to my face? And she thinks it’s funny as she rolls to the floor laughing her blonde little head off?
“What the hell?” I whisper, looking to Rhea who has a shocked look that I bet matches mine. Chelsi and Rosa are quiet and when I look to them, they both act as if they are deep in conversation with each other. I feel like I’m about to explode; the anger and hurt raging within me at the thoughts of Bobby and Kendall being together. I knew it happened, but please, right now was not the time to bring it up. All of the shit from the last year comes rolling back and I have to fight the tears from my eyes as I stand quickly.
“Oh, come on, Ell,” Kendall says, trying to grab at my hand, but I yank it from her reach and step over her, heading for the stairs and the safety of my room upstairs. “I was jus’ kidding!” she yells and I whirl back around from halfway up. The tears have started to flow and I don’t hide the hurt from my voice.
“I don’t give a fuck if you were jus’ kiddin’, Kendall,” I practically hiss, swiping at the tears as Rhea gets to the bottom of the stairs, looking at me with that same sad expression I’ve seen for the last five months. “I don’t fuckin’ care,” I mumble and jog the rest of the way up the stairs, slamming the door to my room and leaning back against it.
I haven’t stopped worrying about Bobby since reading those papers Rosa took from Reno’s desk and I let it all out, burying my face in my knees as I hug them tight. I want him here, where I can call him and see him whenever I want, but I know the sobbing, sniveling person I am right now would be no good for him. I need this cry, though, so I don’t hold anything in. I don’t care if they hear me and I wipe my face across my sleeve, picking myself up off the floor only to throw myself down on the bed; pulling the pillow to me.
I know I shouldn’t be so sensitive; hell, Bobby had to find out about the little threesome I had with Brad and Garth from that bastard Jake. Why should I get so upset when Kendall mentions their little tryst? Right now, I think it’s just the way she said it, with that smug little drunk smirk on her face.
I wipe the pillow across my eyes, pulling the quilt up around me as a light knock fills the silence tainted by my sobs. “Hey girl?” Chelsi’s voice is a whisper and I turn over, sniffling, and wave for her to go away. “Nope. You’re not shooing me away that easy.”
I watch her come around the end of the bed and kick off her slippers, pulling up the corner of the quilt and crawling underneath, facing me as I’m still curled around the pillow. I really don’t want anyone near me, but I’m too sore from my heavy crying to try and move away. She gives me a little smile and throws her arm over me, rubbing my back and my shoulder lightly.
I’d give anything to just see Bobby’s face right now, to know that he is okay. I wouldn’t even have to talk to him, but just to know, to have some proof so that I can stop wondering. I sigh heavily and sink my face into the feathers and Chelsi pulls me close, hugging me tight.
“It’ll be okay, girl,” she whispers and I can’t help the snort of laughter that flows out in disbelief. “He’ll come back and the two of you will sit down and talk. No interruptions. You’ll figure this shit out and then, well….then you can really start to heal.”
I look up at her, seeing the truth in the light green eyes as she gives me another smile. “Don’t think I don’t know how ya feel. I’ve lost love in my lifetime, too, but mine can’t ever come back. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and prayers said for you and Bobby. And if it isn’t meant to be, well, I know you’ll find someone else.”
I think about that for a while, just lying there in the cozy little bed with her as the shadows shift into the late afternoon on the walls. She’s right, just like Rhea, but the hurt in my heart doesn’t lift any. Rolling on my back with a more than necessary dramatic sigh, I look over to her and ask, “What about you?”
She giggles and smiles wide. “Oh, girl, I haven’t found a guy man enough to handle this.” She does a dramatic sweep down her body, giving me a sassy look, and it makes me laugh; the sound mixing with the last couple of sniffles I have left in me. Forcing myself out of bed with her help, Chelsi pulls me down the stairs and the laughter of the two babies fills the living room, making the hurt that I’ve come under a little easier to bear.
Kendall is sitting there on the couch with her feet tucked up under her. As I hit the hardwood, she turns to say something, but I throw my hand up and try not to give her a death stare. “Not right now, Ken,” I tell her, shaking my head as I walk past. “It’ll only end in me punching you in the mouth.” And I would, but later, after I’ve let it settle I’ll be able to talk to her. I know she didn’t mean it like it came out, but still, why bring it up at all?
“Where are Rhea and Rosa?” Chelsi asks as the two of us look around the empty cabin. Charlie and Marisol are playing happily in their little pen next to the couch and I reach in and pick the little guy up, not hiding the smile that bursts out when he squeals happily.
“They each got a phone call and went outside,” Kendall answers, and I turn back toward her to see her nodding toward the door with her eyebrow raised. “They’ve been out there for forty-five minutes.”
Oh man, I think, moving to see them both standing out by the vehicles, their cells to their ears and the steam rising up around their faces as they talk. There is only one call they would take outside and it would be from their husbands. Sure enough, as I stand there straining to hear my cousin I see her shake her head and put her hand on her hip. Yup, she’s pissed and there is only one person she gets that way with; her husband.
“Ma-ma,” Charile gurgles against his fist that he has shoved in his mouth. I kiss his little forehead, bouncing him lightly. His chubby little hand smacks on the glass, leaving a drool smudge and I smile as Rhea looks our way. “Ma-ma!” he squeals louder and she waves to us, causing him to giggle. Rhea motions to me that the person I assume is Chad that she’s talking to is blabbering on as she flaps her fingers near her ear, and I can’t help but laugh a little at her.
I need to be a little more like her. I need to see the silver lining in things and take the bad with a grain of salt. As Rhea turns back around, I realize I better get dinner ready. Slipping Charlie back into the play pen, I step into the kitchen to see that Rosa is now right outside this window. She is talking wildly and waving her hands in the air, the exoticness of her Spanish making Chelsi and I laugh a little as we clean the counters.
“Can’t wait to hear what they’re talkin’ about,” she says, elbowing me with a smile.
“Me either,” I laugh at her, taking plates from the cabinet, “me either.” But really, what I’m thinking, is maybe, just maybe they will learn something about Bobby along with yelling at their husbands.
~~~
Rhea
“You could’ve at least woken me up when you left, Chad,” I say for what seems like the hundredth time since answering his call. He huffs on the other end, stammering over his reply.
“I know, Baby, but I couldn’t. I was instructed to tell you nothin’ and that’s the way it had to be,” he says, and I know that if he was standing in front of me he’d be scratching his hand through his beard and back through
his hair that he now keeps short. That’s what he does when he’s cornered by my attitude.
“Yeah, well, don’t think you’re gettin’ off this easy. I’m mad, Chad.” He grumbles a reply and I hear the distinctive whir of helicopter blades in the distance on his end. He must be at a base somewhere. “When are you comin’ home?”
“I’ll be home by your birthday, Baby, promise. We still have to go over paperwork and interrogate and take statements. You know…all the boring stuff.” He laughs and I can’t help but join in, his deep, hearty one seemingly wrapping around my heart like it always does. I lean against his truck and take a deep breath of the cool, mountain air. It is good to hear his voice, finally, but hearing the tap on the window and turning to see Ellie holding Charlie, I know I can’t ask him outright. He’d know that we went snooping.
“I’ve got to go, Baby, but do me a favor?” Hell, I’d do anything for this man, but my anger at him leaving stops me from saying it, so I just mumble an agreement. “Tell Ellie that Bobby is okay. I can’t tell you how I know, but just tell her not to worry and that he’ll be home with me.” My heart lifts at his words, knowing that they stopped the Savage Security assholes from hurting our friend. “Oh, and Jack, too.” A laugh comes from his end in the background and I hear a ‘You better not forget about me, fucker’ yelled at Chad. I’m shocked, and I know Ellie will be more than overjoyed especially since Kendall’s little display earlier.
“Can you do that, Baby? For me?” Ugh, that tone he uses. He’d be giving me those blue puppy dog eyes if he were here and I know I’d give in and sink into his lap, falling victim to his addictive kisses.
“Yes, I’ll do that,” I whisper, kicking my boot around in the newly fallen snow. I can’t stay mad at him forever, but hell, when he gets home he’ll get it.
Take Me Home: Book 4 The Wakefield Romance Series Page 7
