by Reina Torres
Rescuing Hi`ilani (Special Forces: Operaton Alpha)
Delta Force Hawaii
Reina Torres
Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Glossary
About the Author
Books by Reina Torres
More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books
Books by Susan Stoker
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
© 2018 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!
If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.
This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.
I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!
READ ON!
Xoxo
Susan Stoker
About the book
Jackson Guard, aka “Ajax,” gave up the woman he was falling for because it had been drilled into his head that being in the Delta Force was the greatest sacrifice he’d ever make. Meeting with “Ghost” and “Truck” from a Texas based Delta Force unit opened his eyes. These men… their entire unit were all happy, in love, some with kids. It gave him hope that he could have it all too. He just has to plead his case to the woman whose heart he broke.
Hi`ilani Ahfong was ready to give everything up for love and follow Jackson where ever he was stationed around the world, but he didn’t just put the brakes on, he left her on the side of the road wondering where she’d gone wrong. Her manager barely managed to hold onto the ‘I told you so’ she so richly deserved and helped her focus her energy on performing and building her career. Now, she’s back on track.
Everything changes when Hi`ilani walks into the middle of a murder. Fleeing for her life, she runs smack dab into the very man who’d broken her heart. Now the murderers are after her, needing to shut her up, and that’s trouble that can hurt the people she loves. Jackson wants to take care of her and keep her safe while the police track down the men. But she’s put her trust in Jackson before. She’d given him her heart and soul and he’d left her bleeding.
How can he make her believe that this time he’s in for the long haul and not just ‘Rescuing Hi`ilani’?s
Chapter 1
When Jackson Guard reached his Commander’s front door he knocked at the heavy wooden surface with a short, succinct rap of his knuckles. He stepped back and waited for an answer and got it faster than he expected. Peering around the corner, the commander waved him closer. “I’m on the lanai in the back. Come around.”
Picking his way along the flagstone pathway, he smelled the pungent scent of the lau`ae ferns along the way. It was a scent that he’d never experienced before moving to Hawaii, and it had quickly become a scent he’d never forget. It was clean and cool, if cool could have a scent, and it relaxed him in an odd way.
Turning at the corner of the house he caught sight of the broad lanai tucked into the side of the house, the rattan furniture all but empty except for his commander. Two oddly colored dogs ran around the yard playing a game of keep away with a rag-doll toy, barely taking notice of the newcomer in their midst.
“Come and have a seat, Ajax.”
Gesturing to the empty chair beside him, he leaned back and lifted a leg, setting his ankle on his knee.
The commander’s oddly casual appearance put a strange knot in Jackson’s middle. He took the seat beside his superior officer, but he didn’t sink back into the seat, instead perching on the edge of the seat.
Almost as if he’d hit a switch, the two dogs rushed at him, the one on the right dropped the slobbery toy at the tip of his boot. The two dogs as one nodded at the toy and then looked up at him expectantly. When he didn’t move instantly, they did it again.
Commander Chastain chuckled. “They’ve adopted you.”
“You mean they’ve decided to make me their servant?”
The commander nodded. “Basically.”
Leaning forward, Jackson picked up the toy by his fingertips hoping to keep most of the slobber off of him, failing miserably.
He flung it off into the far corner of the yard behind what looked like a tangled hedge of colorful croton plants and the dogs took off like a shot almost taking them both down in a tangle of legs and yips.
“I asked you to come over to ask a favor of you.”
Turning to look at his commander, he nodded, slipping back into the role of subordinate in a heartbeat. “Yes, sir.”
Picking up a glass of iced tea, the commander gestured at the glass beside Jackson on the table. Jackson shook his head.
“No, thank you, sir.”
“With the rest of your unit taking advantage of their leave I have to impose upon you to do something.”
Jackson nodded.
“We have two Delta Force members visiting Hawaii from Texas. I would like for you to meet with them and let them know what might be of interest for them to see and experience while they’re here in the Islands.”
“You want me to play tour guide?”
His commander gave him a measuring look. “I’m not expecting you to take them all over the island wearing an Aloha Shirt and a kukui nut lei.
“Meet with them for a meal, point out the interesting places you and your teammates have visited. It’s just a nice thing to do.” He took another sip of his drink and set down his glass as the dogs chased each other in and out of the bushes. One whistle and the two dogs disentangled themselves and rushed at him like he was holding all the food hostage. Once he’d given each dog a liberal head and belly scratch he looked up at Jackson.
“What do you say, Ajax? Do me a favor?”
Jackson drew in a breath and let it out in one slow motion. “I don’t see how I can refuse, but I’ll do it because they’re our brothers just as much as my own men are. I’m just not the kind of guy who does real well playing tour guide.”
Commande
r Chastain’s smile rode the line between smug and a long-suffering silence. “I’m not asking you to give them a kidney or a lung.”
Jackson gave him a knowing nod. “That would be easier.”
The Commander sat back in his chair and gestured to the corner of the house. “Why don’t you just go before I order the dogs to lick you into submission.”
Jackson stood up and gave his commanding officer a well-practiced salute and left, pulling out his phone when it beeped in his back pocket. By the time he got to the curb he was shaking his head.
The text message was from the Commander with the names of the two Deltas and their room numbers at the Hale Koa hotel.
“Well, this should be fun.”
And surprisingly, it was.
He’d met up with Truck and Ghost in Waikiki at the Hale Koa Hotel’s poolside bar the next morning, for the better part of an hour they chatted about the islands and what the Deltas already had planned, offering up ideas of what else they might want to do or see while they were on island for the next week.
Maybe it was the fact that he lived in Hawaii but there was something about these men that he admired on sight. They were… happy. At ease.
They seemed to just enjoy being in the moment.
Something that Jackson hadn’t managed to do in over a year. Not since he broke up with-
“Hey,” Ghost sat forward on his chair and slid a glance to Truck sitting beside him, “I hope you don’t mind, but we’re expecting to be interrupted in a minute or two.”
“Interrupted?” Instantly alert, Jackson sat up. “I’m here if you need back-up.”
Truck’s smile confused him. “Don’t worry, we can handle these two with our eyes closed.”
Ghost gave his friend a look of concern. “Oh, we can, can we? Did you hit your head on your way down here?”
There was too much playful banter in their words for this to be anything dangerous, but still, it was more than a little confusing for Jackson.
He wouldn’t trade his team for any other in the whole world. They’d been working together for the last year, some of them had met before that, or had missions together in other capacities, but there was a surety of trust that Jackson felt when his team was near.
Before they’d left, there had been a good helping of humor, teasing each other about being lonely. Jackson had laughed it off, but seeing how these two were together, he did have to admit that he did miss his compatriots.
Not that he’d tell them.
He’d never hear the end of it.
No, the last thing he’d ever tell the guys is that he missed them.
Jackson almost shuddered at the thought.
But even as much as he enjoyed working with his men and how close they were, they were all focused on one thing when they were together. The mission.
Even if they didn’t have one they were actively involved in, they were always looking ahead.
There was always some situation on the horizon and they were constantly working to keep themselves ready to go in a heartbeat.
On edge.
Like a racecar at the line, the driver waiting for the lights to change.
Perched on the edge of the cliff, ready to base jump and plummet toward the ground.
But not these men.
There was something different about these two Deltas that went down to the core.
“Hey there!”
Jackson turned and looked at the two women who were approaching the table and watched as they sauntered up in sundresses and shades, their heads uncovered.
The men across from him watched the ladies with interest and sat back in their chairs, smiling.
“We just had the most amazing time at the spa.” The first woman to the table was tall and slender, her hair colored in a gradated rush of color that looked like pink and red flames. If he had to guess, it had been brown at one time, but with the fresh dye job she’d probably applied the color before coming to Hawaii. “I don’t suppose you gentlemen would mind sharing the table with us?”
Jackson looked across at the men but found no sign that either one would refuse.
In fact, he saw more than a few signs that the men would welcome the interruption.
Oh, right.
The other woman, a brunette with color so natural it had to be, or she had an amazing stylist. She leaned into her friend, but her eyes were on the men.
Correction, her eyes were on Ghost.
“If not, we could always go to the pool and see if we could find a couple of the pool boys who might be willing to put sunscreen on our backs for us.”
Ghost didn’t hesitate. One moment he was sitting back in his chair and then next, he had the woman on his lap, wrapped in his arms.
He pressed a kiss to her cheek and then grumbled into her ear. “If you need sunscreen, I’m going to be the one putting it on you.”
The other woman was moving before he noticed that Truck was starting to get out of his chair.
The woman with fire-like hair pushed her hand on his shoulder and he sat back dutifully as she rounded the chairs and flopped down onto his lap.
Jackson had no doubt that if Truck hadn’t wanted to sit, he could have shrugged off the woman’s touch.
And when he saw how she tried to wrap her hands around his wrists and lift them up, Truck eagerly helping her with the task, ended up with his arms around the woman, his head turning to press a kiss to her neck.
Ghost spoke, turning his attention back. “This is the interruption we were telling you about.” He rushed on when the woman in his lap opened her mouth, obviously ready to take him to task for his comment. “Calm down, sweetheart. It was a joke.” Shaking his head with a good-natured smile on his lips, Ghost explained further. “Jackson, these two amazing women are our wives. Rayne is my wife, finally,” he winced when Rayne pushed an elbow back into his middle, “and the woman who conquered Truck, that’s Mary. Don’t get them mad, ever. They know how to take men like us apart.”
Mary and Rayne nodded, but it was Mary that spoke. “And feed them to the sharks. So don’t get any ideas, gentlemen.”
Listening to the banter between the couples, how they interacted with each other, Jackson knew he was in over his head.
Wives.
Holy sh-
“You okay, Jackson?”
It took him a minute to remember the name of Truck’s wife. “I’m fine, Mary, thanks. It’s just a bit of a shock.”
“Shock?” She gave him a shrewd once over. “Why?”
Before he could answer, Truck reached over and took Mary’s hand, lifting it up to his lips for a kiss. A quick look over at Ghost and Rayne and Jackson saw a flash of intimate laughter between the two.
“You look like you’ve been hit by a two-by-four, Ajax.”
He turned and met Truck’s eyes and saw the humor in his expression. The other Delta Force member wasn’t making fun of him, or maybe he was, but it was all in good fun. There was no malice in the gesture. They were compatriots and they were brothers even though they hadn’t met before that day.
“Not so much a two-by-four,” Mary gave him a sly look, “I think we’ve messed with his head on the inside.”
Rayne wasn’t going to be left out. “If you’re worried about PDA, we’ll try to keep it to a minimum.”
Mary shook her head. “Sorry, I’m in paradise with my man… PDA is going to happen.”
Truck touched a quick kiss to the top of his wife’s head. “You know it.”
Jackson held up his hands in surrender. “I have nothing against your PDA. It’s just that we’ve always been told that Delta Force is a lonely road. Commander Chastain has been adamant in his rationale. So, seeing the four of you, obviously happy-”
“Ridiculously happy,” Rayne interjected before Ghost brushed a kiss along her cheek.
Mary stepped in next, leaning forward to talk. “So everyone in your unit is single?”
Jackson nodded.
“No one has a girlfriend?”
It didn’t take more than a moment for him to squirm under her close scrutiny. “No.”
Rayne met Mary’s eyes for a second. If he hadn’t been looking at Mary, he would have missed the gesture. As a pair, the women turned to look at him.
“Why not?”
Ghost sat up, wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist, and leaned into her side. “Are you actually interrogating him?”
Mary jumped to her friend’s defense. “Absolutely.” She leaned further forward on the table and Jackson saw Truck reach down and grab a hold of the back of her pants. Jackson wasn’t sure if he was securing his wife from slipping off the edge of her seat or climbing over the table to shake him, but either way, he found himself smiling ear to ear.
“There’s no use for an interrogation, it’s just the way we do things. The Commander says no relationships and we follow his order.”
“Order?” Now Rayne sounded incensed. She looked at her husband with a narrowed glare. “Can they do that?”
Ghost lifted his hand and brushed some stray hairs back behind her ear. “It’s a fine line,” he agreed, “but back when we met, I think all of us felt the same way. Our responsibilities and duties made it difficult to think of bringing a relationship into the equation.”
“Equation?” Rayne gave him a little smirk. “Applying math and science to love? That’s either going to get you smacked or…”
Jackson turned away when Ghost pulled his wife in for a kiss. One look at Truck and Mary told him this wasn’t an unusual occurrence for their friends.
But that also left Truck to pick up the string of their conversation. “And some of us tried to fight it, but over time every single guy in our unit realized they didn’t stand a chance trying to ignore the simple fact that we’d all found the woman that was ‘the’ woman. After that, it was all we could do to beg, plead, and grovel hoping that they’d take pity on us.”
