SEAL to the Rescue

by Paige Tyler

  “Don’t let her come down here, Kyla!” he shouted into his mic as he ran after Wes toward the main corridor. “Keep her there with you!”

  “I can’t,” Kyla said. “She’s already on the way.”

  Holden cursed as he and Wes raced down the passageway, his mind spinning at a thousand miles an hour. What the hell did Kendall think she could do in this situation. She was a Fed, not a soldier. There was no way she could fight her way through the battlefield on the grounds above them and get down here to help.

  She’d end up getting herself killed.

  He was so wrapped up in those thoughts he didn’t even realize people were down there in the vaults with them until he stepped out into the main corridor and almost got annihilated in a hail of gunfire coming his way. Holden launched himself across the corridor into one of the alcoves while Wes pulled back into the passageway they’d just come from.

  Holden dropped to one knee and poked his head around the wall only to quickly pull back as the area where he’d been exploded in fragments. He shoved his carbine out and popped off a few rounds. That earned him a hundred rounds of assault rifle ammo slamming into the wall and floor. He caught Wes’s eye to see his Teammate looking back at him with the same expression. They were trapped. And screwed.

  Then as fast as it started, the gunfire ceased, leaving his ears ringing as the people at the far end of the hall paused to reload. He was about to poke his head out again to see if he could catch one of the shooters unaware when he heard a familiar chuckle.

  “When the alarm went off, something told me it was you, Holden, even as I tried to convince myself you’d never be stupid enough to come here,” McKinney said. “You had to know I’d never let you walk out of here with that. It’s worth too much. Now, why don’t we stop playing games? Toss it out and we can handle this like family.”

  Holden’s first instinct was to do exactly like McKinney asked, toss the tech toy into the center of the hallway, then put a full magazine of rounds through the damn thing. It would be petty and spiteful, but it’d feel good. He decided against it, though. The Key was the only thing that might keep him out of prison.

  He peeked around the edge of the wall to see McKinney and at least half a dozen of his men tucked into alcoves and hallways all the way down to the entrance of the stairwell he and Wes had come down earlier. He swung his gaze back to McKinney when he recognized one of the men with his old boss. It was the guy from the drive-by shooting who’d almost killed Kendall. The fact that the man worked for McKinney wasn’t exactly a shock, but it still pissed him off.

  “Family?” Holden snorted. “Maybe you should have thought about that before you manipulated me into stealing this thing for you. I mean, if you actually considered me family, you should have mentioned I’d stolen something that would get me executed for treason if they caught me. Seriously, not even a heads-up? That’s cold as hell.”

  McKinney laughed. “It’s not cold. It’s pragmatism. The Holden Lockwood I knew never would have gotten caught. Becoming a SEAL made you careless.”

  “Maybe,” Holden agreed. “Or maybe you planned on me getting caught all along, figuring I’d take the fall without ever giving you up.”

  When McKinney didn’t answer, Holden knew he’d hit that one out of the park.

  “It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” McKinney’s voice was harsh. “I know you’re stalling, hoping those men you have upstairs can help, but the truth is, there’s no way you’re walking out of here alive unless you give me that little black box.”

  Footsteps echoed in the hallway, and Holden leaned out far enough to see several of McKinney’s men creeping down the corridor. Shit. The man he used to think of as more of a father than his real dad had just been distracting him so his goons could get in a better position to take him and Wes out. He and Wes were SEALs, but they were heavily outnumbered and trapped with their backs to a wall.

  “Dalton. Noah,” he said softly into his radio mic. “If you two were waiting until the last second to make a dramatic appearance, now would be a good time.”

  There was a burst of weapons fire over the radio as someone upstairs keyed their mic to respond. “Sorry, buddy!” Noah shouted. “We’re a bit busy up here. You’re on your own for a while. Good luck and all that shit.”

  Holden cursed just as another voice came over the radio.

  “I’m on the way,” Kendall said. “Hold out another minute and I’ll be there to help.”

  “Don’t you dare fucking come down here, Kendall!” Holden shouted into his mic even as McKinney’s men started shooting, filling the corridor with a cacophony of ear-splitting noise and peppering the corners he and Wes were hiding behind with debris. “I’m telling you. Don’t do it!”

  Wes leaned out and started shooting back. Holden moved to do the same.

  But before he could pull the trigger, he caught sight of the door at the end of the corridor opening. His heart constricted in his chest as Kendall stepped out into the open, holding nothing more than a small frame Glock pistol.

  The damn woman ignored his violently shaking head as she crept down the hallway toward the men intent on killing him and Wes. She lifted the Glock, taking aim at the nearest man. Holden wanted to shout at her to stop, to tell her she was being suicidal. She’d get the first shot off without anyone noticing her, maybe even the second. But then they’d turn around to cut her down without a second thought.

  The moment she fired, a handful of McKinney’s goons spun, realizing there was a threat at their back.

  “Cover me, Wes!” Holden shouted.

  Stepping out from the alcove, he lifted his M4 to his shoulder and popped off slow, methodical shots one after the other. His actions were as a suicidal as Kendall’s. Stepping into the open with so many weapons pointing his way was insane. But he knew she and Wes would keep McKinney and his men from being able to focus on him until he was able to get close enough to finish this.

  Aiming proved damn near impossible as his entire world seemed to narrow down to the vision of Kendall walking toward him, shooting her small 9mm at the men to trying to kill him. Holden kept moving, engaging the men daring to point their weapons toward the woman he loved. He didn’t care if he survived, as long as she made it out alive.

  McKinney’s eyes widened as his men started to fall around him. He pulled back into an alcove, gaze swinging back and forth between Holden and the Kendall. He must have known he didn’t have time to shoot at both, and being the bastard he was, he aimed his weapon at Kendall.

  Holden didn’t hesitate. He simply pointed the barrel of his weapon and pulled the trigger. McKinney, a man he’d loved like a father, got shoved back against the wall as three red spots appeared in the center of his chest.

  The few remaining bad guys were easy to take out and the moment the shooting stopped, Holden strode over to Kendall, the terror he felt replaced by white hot anger.

  “That was the dumbest, most insane thing anyone has ever done!” he shouted, breathing so hard his chest hurt. “You could have gotten yourself killed. Damn you, I told you not to come down here!”

  Kendall didn’t say a word. Instead, she closed the distance between them at a run and threw herself into his arms. He dropped his M4, letting it dangle by the straps, and caught her. The kiss they shared was so intense, it almost made him dizzy, but he didn’t care. He kissed her back like his life depended on it.

  “Shitty time for that,” Wes said as he ran past them. “Dalton and Noah need help, so knock it off and let’s go.”

  Holden cursed silently and pulled away.

  “Stay down here where it’s safe,” he ordered Kendall as he reloaded his carbine.

  Kendall didn’t say a word as she bent over and picked up the Belgium-made automatic rifle McKinney had been holding, then dug through his pockets until she came up with a spare magazine. Not looking at Holden, she turned and headed for the stairs.

  Holden cursed again, this time out loud, but had no choice except to go a
fter her as she ran up the stairs. He tried to keep her from doing anything reckless once they got outside, but she took far too many risks as far as he was concerned.

  The fighting ended within minutes. Mostly because the people who’d been there for the auction jumped in their fancy cars and high-tailed it out of there. Holden and the others let them go. They’d gotten what they came for.

  When it was clear there were no more bad guys to deal with, Kendall finally let him pull the automatic weapon out of her hand. He tossed it on the ground and pulled her into his arms, hugging her fiercely. “Don’t you ever do anything that crazy again.”

  “Don’t ever steal another piece of NSA tech and I won’t have to,” she whispered.

  He snorted. “What do we do now?”

  “We get on the phone to the San Diego field office and try to make everything better,” she murmured, kissing him. “If that doesn’t work, we go to Mexico.”

  Holden saw about a million holes in the simplistic plan, but didn’t point them out. “Works for me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  YOU’RE NOT REALLY falling for this load of crap, are you?” Isaac demanded as SAIC Danner and several other senior FBI agents sat back in the chairs around the conference table and considered the story Kendall just finished telling them. She and Holden had been in the San Francisco field office all morning.

  She’d spun a tale about how a Navy SEAL had been tricked into stealing something without knowing what it was and how he’d decided to work with a rookie undercover agent to help get it back when he realized the national security implications of the theft. Fortunately, Holden was smart enough to keep his mouth shut when they got to those parts of the story that were creative, though she’d seen his mouth twitch a few times.

  “This is a complete joke,” Isaac continued. “Agent Patton allowed a suspect in federal custody to escape, then conducted an unauthorized mission with uncleared military service personnel that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen U.S. citizens. She and Lockwood should be in prison right now.”

  Danner ignored Isaac, his blue gaze trained on Kendall. “Tell me more about this unauthorized mission and this surveillance person you had on your team. The one who acquired hours and hours of video footage from McKinney’s residence.”

  He was talking about Kyla. The FBI knew there had been other SEALs involved besides Holden, but they weren’t interested in them. When Kendall told Danner she not only had the Key but also surveillance feeds on every foreign intelligence agent who’d bid in the auction as well as all their overseas bank account information, too, he’d practically started drooling. He was even more impressed when the FBI’s IT people said McKinney’s security system should have been too encrypted to ever hack into.

  Kendall didn’t intend to give away Kyla’s identity, of course, no matter how badly the FBI wanted it. The girl had risked too much already. There was no way Kendall wanted her on the FBI radar.

  “That particular person was an outside source I found on my own,” she said. “Their assistance was contingent on them maintaining that anonymity. I’d prefer to maintain my confidential relationship with this person in the event that I have need of them again.”

  Isaac muttered something under his breath. “Without a legal chain of custody, anything that person obtained is worthless in a court of law.”

  Beside Kendall, Holden looked like he wanted to punch Isaac. She didn’t blame him. Isaac was pissed because she’d gone over his head and called Danner to negotiate for Holden’s freedom. He was even more furious that he wasn’t getting credit for recovering the Key.

  Danner scowled at Isaac. “There are plenty of situations where admissibility in court isn’t an issue. Right now, I’m more interested in hearing how long Agent Patton has been developing contacts this capable.”

  Isaac looked like he was about to give birth to a cow, maybe even a bull with horns. But he was smart enough to stay quiet when he realized Danner and the other agents were more interested in this kind of stuff than with the original theft and recent recovery of the Key.

  The meeting continued for another twenty minutes. Danner shot her and Holden questions from every direction, asking about everything from why Kimber and Sam had gone to Mexico, to where Holden and the other SEALs had gotten their weapons. She was impressed at how well Holden handled the questions Danner tossed his way. Even the one he told about being forced to kill McKinney and how it hadn’t bothered him at all, rolled off his tongue smoothly and without a flicker of emotion, even though she knew that wasn’t true.

  Danner dismissed Isaac and the other agents a little while after that. The moment the door closed behind them, Danner gave her and Holden an appraising look. It made Kendall wonder how much of their story he’d actually bought.

  “I won’t pretend to know the entire story between the two of you, but at the end of the day, I don’t really care,” Danner said. “The FBI has entire field offices full of agents who know how to follow the rules and do things by the book. You ignored the rules and rewrote the book, Agent Patton. I have a lot of agents with more experience who couldn’t have done what you did. You got the Key back without letting it be compromised and have mountains of data on foreign intel operatives we can exploit for years. Bottom line, consider me impressed. I’m only sorry to lose you as an asset.”

  Kendall had been sure that all of this was going to work out okay, until Danner said that. Holden looked as confused as she was.

  “Sir?” she said. “Am I being fired?”

  Danner shook his head with a laugh. “Hell, no. You’re being promoted.”

  She blinked. “Promoted?”

  He nodded. “I naturally assumed you’d want to transfer down to the San Diego field office so you and Holden don’t have to do the long-distance thing.”

  Kendall didn’t say anything. She and Holden had spent a lot of time kissing and murmuring words of affection last night, but in the confusion of bright lights and endless questions this morning, things had gotten fuzzy. She had no idea what came next for them.

  Danner pushed back his chair and got to his feet. “Petty Officer Lockwood, I’ll be calling your commander within the hour to let him know how much I appreciate the Navy officially helping out the FBI in this matter. I’m sure you’ll end up with some kind of commendation out of it, even if it will be too classified for anyone to ever see.”

  Holden nodded, and Kendall could see he was relieved. So was she. They’d both made a lot of assumptions that everything was going to be okay and he’d be released, but this was the first time anyone had said anything official.

  Giving them a nod, Danner left the conference room, closing the door behind him.

  The silence stretched out after Danner left as Kendall tried to figure out what to say. She hoped Holden would say something, but he didn’t. So much had happened between them in such a short time, it was difficult to know what was truth and what was merely something she wished was the truth. It was hard even knowing where to start. But she needed to say something because she really wanted this. Whatever it was.

  “I’m sorry,” she finally said, figuring it never hurt to start with an apology. “For not telling you earlier that I was a Fed undercover with you to find the Key.”

  Holden looked at her. “Is that what you were trying to tell me the other morning before Isaac showed up at my front door with his SWAT buddies?”

  She nodded, offering him a small smile. “Yeah. I’d wanted to tell you the moment you got back from that mission, but I couldn’t. Not when it was obvious you needed me so much. I convinced myself it would be okay to wait until we woke up, but of course, I was wrong.”

  He shrugged. “Truthfully, I’m not sure things would have gone differently if you’d told me the truth that morning. I still would have felt betrayed, still gotten arrested, and still ended up in that FBI interrogation room.”

  She frowned. “So, what? You’re saying telling you the truth wouldn’t have mattered? That nothing I
could have said would have helped?”

  Holden gazed at her so long she thought her heart might stop beating from how much it ached. When he finally nodded, she was convinced it actually did stop beating then. It was over. After everything she’d done to try and rescue their relationship, it was over.

  Blinking back tears, Kendall started to get to her feet, but he caught her arm. She refused to look at him, not wanting him to see the tears running down her cheeks.

  “Nothing you said then would have changed things because too many things had already been said by that point,” he said softly. “Things that were true and things that were lies…on both our parts. When you came down into the vaults below McKinney’s garage, you said everything I needed to hear without ever saying a word. You risked your career and your life for me. You’ll never need to say anything more than that to prove you love me. I love you, too, even if I didn’t get to prove it the same way.”

  She looked at him, shocked to see tears in his eyes, too. Her heart began thumping so hard it felt like it was going to explode.

  “You don’t have to prove you love me,” she whispered. “Just saying the words is all I’ll ever need.”

  Holden was on his feet before Kendall realized he’d moved, pulling her into his arms and holding her close. “I love you, Kendall Patton. For as long as you’ll let me.”

  More tears spilled onto her cheeks, happy ones this time. She’d been so damn sure she’d lost this. Holden held her the whole time, rubbing small circles on her back and making the most ridiculous calming noises.

  “So, should I formally put in that request for transfer to San Diego?” she asked softly.

  Holden tipped her head back with a gentle finger under her chin. “I’d like that.”

  Then he kissed her, long and hard, until she was ready to find out if the door of the conference room had a lock on it.

  “Come on. Let’s go to my apartment,” she said, kissing him again. “You can tell me how much you love me, then help me figure out how all my stuff is going to fit in your place.”