Surrendered (Heart of a Warrior Series Book 3)

by Lynch, Kariss

  A memory of a stitched piece of fabric in a safety deposit box hidden with a colleague flashed through her mind, challenging her confidence. Well, she almost always got what she wanted.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The thowp, thowp, thowp of the chopper blades sounded in Nick’s ears as he chomped on a piece of gum and double-checked to make sure everything was ready. The sound of a bird beating its way through the night to an unsuspecting location got his adrenaline pumping.

  Next to him, Micah strapped on his helmet and then turned to check Nick’s gear. The rhythm of preparation readied him for when the command was given to repel down ropes and land where the bird hovered over the ground. They dropped outside of hearing range. Nick’s wristwatch glowed twenty-three hundred as he surveyed the area. Quiet. The village would be asleep.

  Mountains rose in the distance, dotted with snow on the highest peaks, but down in the valley, nothing but sand, dust, and desert spiders awaited. And a sleeping band of gathering Taliban wanna-be’s.

  They landed on the ground, silently checking the area. “We’re one click out. Let’s move.” X’s voice over the radio slipped through the chopper blades as they pulled away, probably moving to the rendezvous point. The team moved across the desert, the sandy stone walls of homes beckoning in the distance under a full moon. Nick glanced up at the sky. Not the best night to be out in the open while trying to maintain an element of surprise, but word had come that the meeting was going down now.

  Within twelve minutes, they crouched near the home, prepped to invade. They knew each target’s face and name. Nine in all would gather tonight. Nine men and a handful of women and children in a home surrounded by two others and a shared courtyard in the center. Lives depended on their focus and recognition. The men inside weren’t afraid to die. They weren’t afraid to take innocent lives or the lives of Americans. Nick wasn’t afraid to take their lives either.

  “One’s set,” came X’s voice. “Waiting on two’s.”

  “Two’s, set,” Titus confirmed. Nick prepared to breach. The men would be in one of the main rooms of the compound. Women and children would most likely be sleeping in the rooms. Nick wouldn’t put it past some of the men to use the women and children for protection. While Nick and his team played by a certain moral code, these men didn’t.

  Jay popped smoke into an open window and noise exploded. Colt and Titus burst through the door, Nick and Micah close on their heels as yelling broke out throughout the three homes situated around an open courtyard. Nick hustled through the first open door with Titus and several others behind him. His quick scan of the room confirmed the frightened sleepy faces of two boys, no older than ten.

  Titus spoke to them, motioning to sparse furniture in the corner of the room. Nick recognized the few tribal words. “We won’t hurt you.” They quickly secured the boys.

  Shooting sounded from a distance. They finished clearing their building and rushed in the direction of the sound. Nick stayed alert. The longer this went, the more opportunity someone would have to set up in a room or . . .

  The barrel of a gun flashed from an open window. Nick fired. A dull thud met his ears as he continued to search, his eyes on their six to make sure no one snuck up from behind.

  “Three males down. One on the run,” Micah said over the radio. Four down, five to go. Nick motioned to Titus and circled back to the window where he’d fired. One quick look told him they were looking for four more.

  “One more down.”

  “Got the runner,” Jay filled in.

  Four more.

  Nick, Titus, and two other men swept into the last building. Titus motioned for two of them to search downstairs while he and Nick took the upstairs. Nick led the way, silently slipping up the concrete steps. A bullet smashed into the wall next to his head. A man jerked back out of sight. Nick aimed just as another round whizzed past him, lighting his arm on fire.

  He’d been hit.

  Sucking in a sharp breath, he pounded up the last few steps, Titus firing all the way. As he landed on the last step, he fired at a man trying to slip through an open door. The man jerked and went down. Nick nodded at Titus and the two stepped over him and into the room. His gaze swept into the corners and landed on another man shielding himself behind a woman and child.

  Nick recognized him as the leader of the group. He sneered, his black eyes full of malice. The little boy in front whimpered, trying to hide behind his mother’s skirts. Tears streamed down her face, but it was clear she either couldn’t move or wouldn’t.

  Titus began yelling instructions and warnings. The woman wept as she responded, her body shaking as the man behind her gripped her arm.

  “You got a clear shot, Hawk?”

  Barely. If the boy moved at all, Hawk would hit him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, pain screamed from his arm. He didn’t know if he’d been shot or grazed but he feared the pain might affect his grip. He couldn’t afford to slip or make a mistake.

  Nick kept his voice calm and low. “T-Brown, can you tell the kid to stay still.”

  “If he ducks, can you get him?”

  Over the radio, Nick was vaguely aware of “all clears” sounding from every other area of the compound. Pounding sounded from the staircase and Jay zipped into the room, swearing at the scene. In the dim light filtering into the room, Nick noticed a weapon pointed into the little boy’s side.

  Rage swept through him and Nick channeled every bit of it to his trigger finger to respond when he commanded. “Jay, you got a better angle?” Nick murmured. Titus spoke and the man began to yell. As the conversation escalated, Jay circled, trying to get a better shot. The man’s fear got the best of him and he unfolded slightly from his crouched position. It was the opening Nick had been waiting for. Nick fired, hitting the man’s toes, causing him to jerk. With a scream, the man popped tall and Nick fired again. The scream silenced to a gurgle and thud.

  Titus rushed forward, catching the sobbing woman as she collapsed. He murmured instructions to her as he ushered her from the room with one arm, his other still holding his weapon at the ready. Jay hustled forward and checked the two men now laid out on the floor. “All clear, X.”

  Nick approached the little boy who stood looking at the fallen man, his eyes wide. He couldn’t have been more than four. Nick crouched down and spoke the words Titus had taught him.

  “It’s all right. You’re safe.”

  The boy’s bottom lip began to quiver. Nick’s heart crumbled. With a leap, the little boy fell into Nick’s arms, wrapping scrawny limbs around Nick’s neck. Jay nodded as Nick picked the boy up and followed Jay from the room.

  Night cloaked the compound, and the sound of women crying bounced off the walls. Nick and Jay reached the open courtyard where the SEALs had gathered with the women and children and a man on his knees, his hands behind his head, heavily guarded by Micah and Colt.

  A woman rushed forward. Her scarf slipped from her head and rich black hair tumbled loose. Sleep still clung to her eyes, but Nick saw fear edged with relief as she yanked the little boy from Nick’s grip.

  Nick tried to soothe her fears. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few pieces of candy, offering them to the little boy as his mother nodded and scampered away.

  “Let’s move out,” X said as the team began to slip from the compound, one detainee with them, as well as paperwork, electronics, maps, and other bits gathered from their sweep. Jake would pump the detainee for information and either try to flip him as an informant or lock him up where he couldn’t do any more damage. The op had been a success.

  They rendezvoused with the chopper and loaded their human cargo. As they sped off into the night, Nick looked in the direction of the compound one more time, his arm now stinging in earnest. He prayed the little boy would forget, but more than that, he prayed that little boy would never wind up on a list of men wanted for planning acts of terror on innocents.

  “Hawk, let me take a look at that,” Kite said as he maneu
vered his way next to Nick. Blood coated a rip in the fabric on Nick’s left arm. He fought back a wince as Kite moved the cloth out of the way.

  “He zinged you. That’s a pretty jagged gash. You may need stitches and some aspirin. Maybe a tetanus shot.” He grimaced. “But no worse for the wear. One more battle scar to lie about to the kiddos someday.”

  Nick nodded, but the pain in his arm faded in comparison to the pain in the little boy’s eyes and the desperation for safe arms to hold him, even if that meant a stranger.

  “Kaylan’s going to kill you, Hawk.”

  “No way. Your sister is going to be thankful we are both back in one piece.” He nodded to his arm. “Just slightly scratched up.” With the end of the op, it would be time to head home.

  As they approached the lights of base, dread filled his stomach, overshadowing the night’s victory. Would all of them be going home intact?

  The birds touched down and SEALs unloaded. Nick’s bed and a shower called his name. But the appearance of a doctor arriving to talk to X stopped him cold.

  One by one, the team halted, watching the conversation. After what felt like hours, X hung his head and squeezed the doctor’s arm. X turned and looked at the men gathered. Nick searched his face, praying he wouldn’t find the answer he knew was coming.

  With a shake of his head, X sighed. “Bates will get a hero’s welcome home.”

  The picture of the young, shaved-head, eager SEAL flashed in front of Nick’s eyes. The warrior who had braved hell week twice because he wanted to be a SEAL was gone. The kid with determined hazel eyes. Gone.

  Nick squeezed his eyes shut to drown out the image of blood coating Bates’s chest. All he wanted to do was sleep and forget the little boy used as a human shield and the heart of a SEAL who left this world too soon.

  Chapter Twenty

  The creak of swings provided a familiar sound for Kaylan’s frayed nerves. At the park, the innocence and joy of childhood collided with carefree moments spent with Nick. Megan dove into a book, Kaylan into her memories. She just wanted an escape. No, she just wanted Nick. But You’re here, Lord. You heard every word. You knew before they were said. And you love Nick more than I do. Keep him safe. Help me trust You with him.

  Every time she missed Nick and committed her relationship to the Lord another piece of armor fell from her heart. But now more than ever, she needed to talk to him, know he was okay. Even now, he could be headed into a snake pit, the kind you didn’t walk away from unscathed. And she couldn’t do a thing. It would almost be better if she didn’t know when he would be in danger, although Nick seemed to attract it. For that matter so did she.

  Logan and the guys had left and would take care of what was necessary on their end, and she could only wait and pray. She knew the SEALs would stick close to her until Nick came home. If the Russian approached her again, she was to leave wherever she was and call one of them. She wanted to be strong for Nick. She didn’t want to live bound by the fear of her kidnapping months earlier. Truth be told, she was still quaking in her boots, but she just didn’t want to respond in fear anymore. Kaylan knew her man. He wouldn’t run from danger, didn’t turn from fear. He would run toward it in pursuit of victory. She would stand firm, too. But she would be smart about it. And that meant asking for help.

  “So let me get this straight,” Natalie said from the swing to Kaylan’s right. Her feet traced patterns in the mulch. “A terrorist fixated on you, had you and Megan kidnapped, and Nick is now trying to catch that little weasel’s boss?”

  Kaylan had told her everything. Everything short of releasing a national security secret and revealing anything personal about Janus or her relationship to Nick and Natalie. But Natalie knew enough.

  “You know about as much as I do now.” If Kaylan had learned anything in the last hour, it was that Natalie didn’t panic, another indication of her military background. She took in the facts, mulled them over, and then came to a conclusion.

  “I’ve never really been around SEALs, but I know this isn’t normal.”

  “Nope. This person made it personal.” Because of biology. A genetic connection that Kaylan worried might now affect Natalie. The man had known.

  “How did he even know I would be here? I didn’t even know I was coming until I pulled up.”

  If Natalie kept asking questions, she would identify every hole Kaylan had desperately attempted to navigate around. “I don’t think he knew you were here. Just knew who you were. I really can’t answer how he knew.” But she could use logic, and that logic scared her. He was either following her or had somehow gained access to the same file Nick had about his family.

  “I don’t even know what to do about this. How to think. How to feel. I mean, they are supposed to just deploy, fight over there, and come back, right?”

  “Yep. The sooner Nick and the team catch whoever this is, the sooner this can all be over and we can go back to our regularly scheduled deployments and uncomfortably long absences with no terrorists threatening us here. I hope.” Kaylan shoved off the ground, gaining a little air.

  “Boy, what a mess.”

  Kaylan fought panic as she maintained an outward veneer of calm for Natalie. “I trust Logan. And I trust Nick and Micah and the guys they are with. I’ve seen them under pressure. They are warriors through and through.”

  “I still don’t get how this involves me.”

  “I told you that you were related to a SEAL.”

  “A SEAL I’ve never met and didn’t even know existed until a couple weeks ago. That man called him Nikolai.”

  Kaylan kept her gaze on the blue sky and white wispy clouds cutting horizontal lines across its expanse. “It’s the name his biological mom gave him. He never used it.”

  “Is it Russian?”

  Kaylan remained quiet.

  “The name on my birth certificate is Natalia. I’ve never used it either. But that man and his accent and my br . . . Nick’s name. Sounds Russian.”

  Kaylan was starting to appreciate Nick’s ability to keep a secret with ease.

  “You know more than you are telling me, but I know better than to ask.”

  Kaylan brought her swing to a halt, finally meeting Natalie’s gaze. “It’s a good thing you are familiar with the military then.” She forced steel into her tone. “You know as much as I can tell you.”

  Natalie’s eyes darted back and forth over Kaylan’s face. She finally nodded. “Fine. I would still like to meet Nick, though.”

  Kaylan realized she’d been holding her breath. “I think he would like that. Growing up as an only child, he always wanted siblings. I can give him brothers in my family, but a sister”—Kaylan smiled, remembering Sarah Beth—“that’s something special.”

  Natalie grinned. “True. And I wouldn’t trade mine for the world. Call me when he gets back?”

  They stood from the swings and began the short walk back to Kaylan’s house and Natalie’s car. “You bet. Thanks for coming. And I’m so sorry about today.”

  “I’ll keep you posted if something happens, but maybe once I leave here, they will leave me alone and focus on you. No offense,” she added quickly.

  “None taken.” Kaylan chuckled. “In fact, right now I would prefer that.”

  “I promise I’m not a coward or anything,” she gushed, begging for Kaylan to understand.

  “If you are anything like Nick, there isn’t a cowardly bone in your body. This isn’t your fight.” They stopped at Natalie’s car, and Kaylan pulled her into a hug, startling both of them.

  “Maybe it will be.” Natalie’s eyes roved over Kaylan’s face. “Some day.”

  “I’m hoping this is over sooner than some day. Go home. Stay alert, but don’t worry about this. I’ll talk to you soon. And don’t hesitate to use my number this time, okay?”

  As Natalie drove off, Kaylan waved, wondering if her prayers for a kindred spirit and a sister had been answered in both Natalie and Megan, both women too tough and too loving to let Kaylan g
o it alone.

  Nick settled heavy on her mind again. She wrapped her arms around herself, praying that Logan had been able to alert him in time.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Within thirty-six hours, the team exited the plane to a more somber homecoming. Bates had family on the east coast, so his funeral and memorial would be there. Nick heard a few guys might fly out for the funeral, but no details yet.

  Nick always knew it could end this way, but never wanted it to. Bates knew the price he might pay, and when Nick hesitated, lost in the confusion of a gunfight, the kid, the SEAL from Virginia, didn’t. Nick could wear the weight of that his whole life, or he could honor Bates’s sacrifice every time he stepped on the field, letting go in order to function at full capacity.

  Wives and families waited to welcome them home. Nick didn’t know what to expect after his absence. The weeks had stretched without his girl. He scanned the gathering crowd and stopped on an auburn-haired beauty in an ivory and tan dress. She smiled and waved, unsure. Nick hated her hesitancy. Before he knew it he was jogging.

  She darted from the crowd, running to meet him. His bag slid from his shoulder and hit the ground as she flew into his arms. He lifted her into his embrace and crushed her to him, ignoring the pain in his arm. The scent of lavender, of home, filled his senses. “I missed you so much.” For the first time, he realized how close he had come to returning in that box instead of Bates. Kaylan would have been devastated.

  He set her on her feet and met her anxious green eyes. “Are you okay? Did Logan talk to you in time?”

  “Whoa, slow down, babe.” He smoothed her hair back. “What are you talking about?”

  “This man showed up at our place. Well, he showed up at the coffee house before then. And he threatened you and the team. He said you would end up in the ocean if you didn’t stop chasing whoever you are chasing.”

  He squeezed her waist tighter. “What man, Kaylan? Did he mention a name? Anything?”

  She shook her head, his grip tight on his arms. “No. Some Russian guy. Logan was going to try and contact the team.”