Rescue Mission

by Danica Winters

  The medic gave him a glove-handed thumbs-up. “You got it, sir.”

  The SF put his hand on Mike’s shoulder, the action too invasive, and Mike turned out of it. The airman was just doing his job, but he always hated to be touched—except when it came to Summer.

  “The guy was up this way,” Mike said, motioning toward the snowy patch where his victim had been. He started to pick his way through the airmen and medics milling around the area, some talking on handsets and others talking with one another as they all seemed to be trying to make sense of what had happened. He didn’t envy their job.

  “Did you see what happened to him?” the SF asked, following him off the tarmac and into the knee-deep mounds of snow shoveled off in preparation for a day of flights.

  Mike shrugged, noncommittal. “I saw him take the shot that hit Summer. Then I saw a splatter of blood when a projectile hit him.”

  “Did you see who made the shot on the assailant?” the SF asked, his breathing heavy as he stumbled over a chunk of ice and was forced to recover.

  Mike held back a chuckle; he felt bad for the kid, he really did. Here he was, trying to do his job and investigate a shooting and not look like a total idiot, and not only was Mike going to have to keep some key details from him, now the kid was tripping around in front of his main eyewitness.

  “You all right there, Lieutenant?”

  The soldier straightened his uniform and put his hand down to his sidearm as though afraid that somehow it would slip from its holster. “Yep, just fine.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “You were saying...about the shooter?”

  Mike smiled as he looked away and up toward the man who lay dead in the snow. “I didn’t see who shot him, or where it came from. Sorry.”

  “But you are sure the shooter was neutralized.”

  He nodded. He knew death. “Absolutely.”

  The young SF continued asking questions until Mike spotted the little knoll. “The guy is up there,” he said, pointing just ahead of them. “You can make out his footsteps behind in the snow, just there.”

  The SF pressed by him, hurrying toward the body. He knelt as he reached the man and pulled back his balaclava. Even from where he stood, based on the chunk of missing flesh, Mike could tell the man was deceased. And yet the SF pressed his fingers to the man’s neck. As he did, the man’s head rolled slightly, exposing his face.

  Mike knew that face. He had seen it outside Summer’s apartment complex when the man had been sneering at him. It was Ben.

  Mike had been right all along. Ben must have been stalking them, watching as they went around Great Falls together. If Mike had just trusted his gut from the first moment and kicked the guy’s ass, this shooting would have never had to happen.

  Now he was going to have to tell Summer she had been gunned down by her ex.

  But why? Summer had told him that Ben had threatened them because of their being together, that he was just a crazy ex, but could this have also had something to do with Rockwood? Had they found out that she was, in fact, a double agent?

  On the ground, by the tip of Mike’s boot, lay a cell phone.

  There was the crunch of footsteps in the snow behind them and Mike turned. Kevin was making his way next to him and, as he stopped, he looked down and also spotted the cell phone in the snow.

  “Whoever made this shot was one hell of a marksman.” Kevin winked in his direction.

  What was that wink supposed to mean? Kevin couldn’t have known that Mike had made the kill shot, and yet he definitely seemed to. Son of a...

  “Yeah,” the SF said, looking back at Mike from over his shoulder. “Considering I barely saw this dude until I walked right up on him, the shooter had to have known what he was doing.”

  “I’m sure it was probably one of your guards. You airmen are on the money when it comes to this kind of thing. You should be proud. I know I am,” Kevin added.

  “Well, sir, it will take a bit of investigative work, but I’m sure we will figure out exactly what happened here in just a few days. Either of you recognize this man?” the SF asked.

  Kevin looked over at Mike then looked down at the cell phone, but not before Kevin gave him an understanding smirk. “I think ID’ing him shouldn’t be too challenging. In fact, I would appreciate it if you could pull together as much about this incident as possible in the next day or two. I will talk to your superior officers and let them know that my team will be handling it from there.”

  “Yes, sir.” The SF looked slightly excited at the prospect of working for someone as high up in the Pentagon as Kevin. He turned back to the body, snapping a few pictures with his cell phone as though he was trying to capture the entire scene.

  Kevin had definitely just lit a fire under the lieutenant.

  Mike looked over at Summer’s boss, who was still staring at him as though he was trying to read his mind. After a moment, Kevin knelt and pretended to tie his shoe. Checking to make sure the SF’s back was turned to them, Kevin picked up the cell phone and stuffed it into his back pocket. He stood and gave Mike a tip of the head.

  “Do you know this man?” Kevin asked, his voice barely above a whisper so that only Mike could hear.

  He nodded. “It’s Ben, Summer’s ex.”

  Kevin sighed. “Good. Good. I’m glad he has been taken out of the situation. I have reason to believe he was feeding information to his organization about Summer.”

  “Well, he won’t be anymore,” Mike said with a devilish smile.

  “Good job out here,” Kevin said. “You handled this situation very well. I can only imagine what you’ve gone through, you know, with everything with your son.”

  Mike didn’t know if he should admit his role to this man, but clearly there were to be no secrets between them when it came to this shooting. “Just doing my part.”

  As he looked over at the dead man and stared at Ben’s lifeless eyes, Mike couldn’t help but be the slightest bit pleased. He didn’t like having to pull the trigger and take down a bad man, but he had told Ben that if he wasn’t careful, he would put him in his grave. The man had been warned to not mess with Summer. Ben had made a choice to mess with the dragon, and he had called the flames.

  “If there’s anything I can do, as a token of my gratitude for your service to this country, all you have to do is let me know,” Kevin said, extending his hand in gratitude.

  Mike shook his hand as a sense of ease filled him. “Actually, there is something that Summer and I wanted, maybe when things cool off a bit, you can help...”

  Chapter Twenty

  It felt good to rest. A week had passed and she had been answering a flurry of phone calls with requests for interviews from a variety of newspapers and military journals, but as soon as she had mentioned their constant badgering to Kevin, all had come to a stop. In fact, besides hearing from Mike when he’d run to the commissary and a couple of messages from Kevin, she hadn’t gotten any other phone calls. It had been pure bliss and she had finally just been able to enjoy her alone time with Joe and Mike. Things hadn’t been this quiet in her life in a long time. Not saying she wanted to be shot again, but she was thoroughly enjoying the peace.

  Mike was busying himself around the kitchen of their house in Kirtland, making her a sandwich. After she had been seen by the doctors at the infirmary and cleared, they had gotten on the plane and headed to New Mexico where Kevin had instructed them they were to stay until the things with Rockwood were cleared and she had finished up the training she needed for her new job—once she healed of course.

  The house they had been assigned was far nicer, and larger, than her apartment in Great Falls. Everything had been prefurnished and all she and Mike had had to do was hang their clothes in the closets and set up a crib for Joe. Everything was nice, far nicer than she had expected to find on a military base. Thankfully, Kevin had gotten them into the officer’s ho
using. Aside from seeing her friend Jessica, she had to admit that she held no desire to go back to Montana for a while.

  Mike sauntered out of the kitchen, carrying a tray complete with two Tylenol and her antibiotics. Setting it down beside her on the couch, he made sure the blanket was wrapped neatly around her feet. “You need anything else? I’m gonna go check on Joe. He has got to be getting up from his nap soon.” He motioned in the direction of the second bedroom.

  “Kevin said he is going to stop by soon. I think he is worried about me.” She smiled up at him. “He sounded off, maybe excited or something.”

  “Kevin’s a good guy. You are lucky to have a boss like him,” Mike offered. “If you want, I can give you guys a few minutes to talk without me around.”

  “No, he mentioned that he wanted to talk to you.” She gave him a questioning glance.

  Ever since the shooting, Mike and Kevin had been up to something, she could feel it, and yet both had kept their lips shut. She had to assume it was about his role in the shooting. No one had spoken of his killing Ben. It was almost as if it had been silently agreed upon by all involved that Ben’s death would be one of those things swept under the rug.

  No doubt, Kevin had had to pull a lot of strings for something like that to happen since the death had occurred on a military base. But the last thing DTRA would have wanted was additional scrutiny on their organization and what they had been doing on an airfield in the middle of a freezing Montana day.

  Mike walked to the bedroom and there were the sounds of him talking to Joe as he obviously began a diaper change. After a few minutes, he came out to the living room with Joe cradled in his arm. When her son saw her, a giant grin erupted on his face and he threw out his arms, reaching for her.

  “Oh, someone is happy to see Mama after his big nap,” Mike said, bringing him over to her and placing him in her arms. He reached behind him and pulled out a bottle. “I made him this too. I bet he’s hungry.”

  She took the bottle. Being a dad suited Mike more than she could have ever expected. Though he had struggled, putting the first diaper on and receiving a little shower, things since then had clicked into place between her two boys. They were made for one another. There was nothing better than watching them together, Mike talking to him and Joe laughing at his father.

  Love filled her as Joe gripped the bottle, shoved it into his little mouth and started suckling. It had taken some major hardships and fighting to get here, but she finally had the life she had always wanted. The only thing that could have made it better was if she could have really and truly called Mike her husband.

  It had been awkward when they had been shown the house and asked the status of their relationship. Neither had really known what to say until Mike had finally told the man they were engaged. Of course, the man had instinctively glanced at her naked ring finger, but had been gracious enough not to mention the lack of a ring.

  There was a knock on the door.

  She moved to stand, but Mike stopped her with a wave. “I got it.”

  He walked over to the door and opened it for Kevin. The warm desert air swept into the living room, with it came the scent of earth and dried grass.

  “How are you feeling?” Kevin asked, walking inside and closing the door behind him. “All healed up and ready to hit the ground running?”

  Summer put her hand to her side where the stitches were itching. “Maybe a few more days before I go for a run. But I should be ready to get back to training shortly. When were you thinking?”

  Kevin glanced over at Mike and they exchanged looks, but she didn’t understand why.

  “I don’t want you to worry about going back to work just yet. I’ll let you know when we want you. In the meantime—” Kevin paused, walking over and sitting on the edge of the chair across the room from her “—I wanted to let you both know, in person, that we have analyzed Ben’s phone. As it turns out, we found text messages and emails between him and his fellow members of Rockwood—one of which was a senator’s son. He had been sent to take you out if he found that you were working for the feds.”

  “So, they didn’t know anything about me stealing the codes from ConFlux?” she asked, silently begging for that fear to be unfounded.

  “No,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “You are in the clear. They had just feared that you were a double agent, as I said. When Ben learned the truth, he did tell his team. They ordered him to put you down.”

  “So, she is never going to be safe as long as Rockwood knows she was working for you?” Mike asked.

  A lump rose in her throat.

  Kevin rubbed his hands together. “Just for now. As such, we are going to keep you here until we can neutralize their organization. However, in the meantime, we will start building Summer an alternative identity. I have no doubts that we can make you, Summer—for all intents and purposes—disappear.”

  Disappearing and being safe at the expense of giving up her public identity was just fine. There was little to her life as it was, besides Joe and Mike.

  “That’s fine.”

  Kevin smiled and some of his nervousness evaporated. “Good. I was hoping you wouldn’t find that to be too much of a problem.”

  Summer nodded. “I know we’ve had our issues, but you’ve gone above and beyond in making up for it. I appreciate all your hard work.”

  Kevin gave a slight dip of the head in acknowledgment. “You know how I feel about what happened, so I appreciate that you guys are taking all of this in stride.”

  Mike walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. “Here, let me take Joe.” He lifted Joe from her as he kept feeding.

  Kevin slapped his knees and smiled up at Mike. “Enough of that. Now, you said you weren’t up for a run, but are you up for a small walk, Summer?” Kevin gave Mike a wink.

  Mike held out his hand to help her to standing. Gently, she rose.

  “What are you guys up to?” she asked, grinning.

  “Well, no pressure or anything, but Kevin and I have been working on a bit of a surprise for you.”

  She cocked her head slightly. “And this would be?”

  Mike smiled. “Come outside and see.” He interlaced their fingers and pulled her toward the door. Opening it, she walked out.

  There, along the road, someone had lined the sidewalk with red roses. The yard was covered in fake snow and at the end of the walk there was a string quartet playing “Ave Maria.” The song brought tears to her eyes.

  She really did love that song, and hearing it and knowing just how much work Mike must have gone through to make this happen in a place he had never been after changing his life basically overnight for her and Joe...it was all just perfect.

  He walked her out into the middle of the fake snow and dropped down to one knee, Joe still in his arm. “Summer Daniels, I have loved you from the first moment we met. Our lives have been like our love and filled with ups and downs, but truly what they were meant to be. I want to be the best father and husband in the world and build a life with you that is filled with all the laughter and happiness that our lives will allow. Summer, will you marry me?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a gold band with a princess-cut solitaire at its center.

  It was simple and beautiful as it gleamed in the New Mexico sun.

  “Yes, Mike Spade.” She covered her mouth with her hand and excitedly bounced from one foot to the other as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

  But he didn’t get up. “Now, since we are engaged...and before either of us can run, be chased, or slip away—” He looked over toward the quartet, where a man was standing with a Bible in his hand “I propose that we get married right here, right now.”

  He reached into his other back pocket and pulled out two rings, a simple gold band for each of them.

  Summer squealed in agreement.

  For once, everything was perfe
ct. No more fear. No more running. They were safe and the stars had aligned. She and Mike would have their forever love and they could officially and legally become a family—the greatest gift she could have wished to receive.

  For once in her life, she had everything—honor, love, and family.

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