Breaking Through (Book 2 of the SEAL TEAM Heartbreakers) (47 page)

Clara picked up another,
To Kill a Mockingbird
, and found similar
highlighting and comments on the text and smiled. She started picking up the mess.

***

Russell took the Thomas Wolfe book with him to the couch, straightened the cushion, and sat down. He thumbed through the pages, pausing to read an occasional note Evan had penned about what he’d read. The closeness he still felt with his son while reading his words eased his anger and his grief. He glanced up to find Clara still sorting through books and stacking them.

“Clara.”

She turned and straightened. Exhaustion deepened the lines around her eyes and mouth. Her clothes were wrinkled, her hair mussed, her makeup non-existent, exposing the scattered freckles across her forehead, but she had never looked more beautiful to him than she did at this moment. And he’d never loved anyone more. He motioned for her to join him. “Leave the mess. We’ll pick it up in a while.”

She set the books on the nearest stack and wandered over to where he sat. She flopped down beside him. He slid an arm around her and drew her close against his side. He laid the book face down on the table next to him.

“When we get back to San Diego, I want you to move in with me,” he said.

She drew back to look up at him, surprise in her expression.

“I know, with everything that’s happened since we met, you’ll need some time to be certain about how you feel. But I want us to be together while you make up your mind.”

“Does that mean you’ve already made up your mind how you feel about me?”

Had he never said the words? He tipped her face up to him and kissed her with all the tenderness he could offer. For standing by him and his son, for being Evan’s champion she deserved all the love he had to give her. “I love you, Clara. I want you with me, and when you’re ready, I want you to marry me, if you’ll have me.”

A smile curved her lips, and he kissed her again. When he raised his head, she nestled close. “I love you, Russell and neither one of us is getting any younger, but I’d like some time for you to convince me to marry you, when we’re both up to it.”

He smiled. The love she gave him cushioned his heart a little against the pain. “When we’re both up to it, I’ll give it my best shot.”

***

Hawk sighted down the barrel of his M-4 rifle and kept a steady pace down the dimly lit corridor. Speed and surprise had been on their side when rushing the compound. They’d taken out seven terrorists and captured one. None of his men had been injured. But that could change. Anyone left in the building would be waiting and preparing. They knew they were coming. And there was no guarantee that some of the locked doors they faced might not be booby-trapped.

He paused outside the door and waited for Greenback to take position with the breaching tool. The metal tube had a flat head mounted at one end and handles on the top. Greenback swung it, sprung the lock and the door thrust inward. He hustled out of the way while Hawk, Bowie, and Kelsey Tyler rushed in, each yelling
down
in Arabic. The three boys locked inside the room looked about thirteen. They obeyed immediately and lay on the floor while they were searched and secured with plasticuffs.

The rooms were little more than prison cells with mats on the floor for sleep and a bucket in the corner for human waste. The smell of urine, sweat, and human misery were strong.

Hawk handed off the three to another team for transport and moved on to the next door.

Ian Kelly had been a no-show thus far. Hawk shoved aside his concern. If he was here, they’d find him. If they’d taken him somewhere else, they’d keep looking. Five breaches further down the corridor, he paused outside another door. Greenback rushed up to take position. “Stay sharp,” Hawk cautioned. The repetition of what they were doing was mentally dulling. Though they’d met with little resistance, there was always a possibility it could take a drastic turn.

Greenback swung the breeching tool. The door bounced open. Hawk saw a man secured to a chair, a blindfold covering his eyes and a gag pulled taut across his mouth. Bright red hair hung around his head to his shoulders. It had to be Kelly. Hawk stepped forward. A small figure bobbed up from behind Kelly and pointed a pistol at his head. Hawk froze.

Sanjay al-Yussuf held the pistol as though he knew what to do with it. There was no tremor in his hand, and his eyes never broke contact with Hawk’s face.

“You do not want to do that,” Hawk said in Arabic.

“Yes, I do, American,” Sanjay said in English.

“We are here to rescue you, Sanjay. Your father and mother are waiting for you to come home.”

“My father is a traitor and my mother a whining cow. They have welcomed you with open arms into our country. You have no business here.”

“We are leaving soon,” Hawk said. “We only wish for your army to be strong enough to protect you and your countrymen from terrorists. The same terrorists who took you.”

“They did not take me, American. I waited for them to come.” Sanjay flicked Ian’s ear with the barrel of the pistol.

Ian flinched and made a sound from beneath the gag.

Lord, he didn’t want to kill this kid.
But if he started to squeeze that trigger, he’d have to put him down.

Bowie shifted a fraction behind him, changing the angle he would shoot from should Hawk need backup.

“You have to release Mr. Kelly.”

“No.”

“Why not, Sanjay? Do you really want to live the rest of your life in a place like this for killing a man? Is there not more waiting for you at home with your parents?”

“Ever since my father has been helping your military, providing services for your men, I have no life. The other boys remind me daily of what he does. I am tired of listening, tired of being spit on.”

“And do you believe that taking a man’s life will change any of that? Will it make you feel better?”

Sanjay remained silent, but his eyes narrowed.

“The man you are holding hostage searched for you, Sanjay. He led us here hoping to return you to your mother and father. They are grieving because you were taken from them. Your father has been to the base numerous times waiting for word of your rescue. They love you. You are their son.” Hawk shifted his gun closer and looked down the barrel to the boy’s face. “But if you harm Mr. Kelly, I have no choice but to shoot you, Sanjay. And I will shoot you.”

The boy studied his face.

Sweat ran down Hawk’s back between his shoulder blades, but he didn’t move from his stance. If the kid so much as twitched, he’d get a shot off and put the boy down.

Sanjay’s attention shifted to the gun and Ian Kelly’s head.

Hawk’s finger tightened on the trigger.

Anger flickered across Sanjay’s face. He stepped back from Ian and dropped the pistol on the floor.

“Walk toward me Sanjay, and lie face down on the ground.”

“Are you afraid of a defenseless boy, American?” he asked as he walked forward arms thrust out in defiance.

“You were holding a loaded weapon to Mr. Kelly’s head just a moment ago. That makes you neither a boy, nor defenseless. It makes you a terrorist,” Hawk replied. “Lie down on the ground.”

“No.” Sanjay raised his chin. “I will not bow to the likes of you.”

The urge to step in and knock the kid on his ass was strong, but Hawk curbed it. He sighted the kid, “You make a move, and I will put a bullet in your brain, Sanjay. Bowie, take him.”

Bowie slipped past him, jerked the teenager’s hands behind his back, and secured them. Hawk didn’t say anything when Bowie searched Sanjay for weapons and didn’t handle him with the kid gloves he had the others.

Bowie marched the boy out of the cell. Hawk lowered his weapon and moved to Ian Kelly’s side. He slung his rifle and removed the blindfold and the gag. Kelly had a bruise that covered his cheekbone, but otherwise he appeared in good shape.

“That little fucker is a sadistic prick, and I wish he’d given you reason to kill him,” Kelly said. 

Hawk untied his hands and grimaced as Kelly drew them around to rest in his lap.

Kelly shuddered in pain. “They broke my fingers one at a time, and the whole time that little asshole was in the room, grinning.”

Hawk couldn’t say he was surprised. The kid was trouble. “You’ll get to testify to that when we get back to base, Mr. Kelly.” Hawk hit his COM button. “We need a medic in here.”

“You’ll be hearing from that little fucker again sometime down the road,” Ian said. “And if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to walk out of here before I’m seen by anyone. I need to see the sky above me, and breathe air that isn’t tainted by filth.”

“We’ll wait until we’re ready to transport you out. Though we’re patrolling the perimeter, there might be bad guys hanging around. I don’t want to have to explain to your daughter why I didn’t get you back in one piece.”

Kelly looked up and his eyes narrowed. “You know my daughter?”

“Brett Weaver’s my girlfriend’s brother.”

Ian smiled and shook his head. “Small world isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

An hour later, Hawk sat next to Ian on the CH-47 as it lifted off. The excited chatter of the rescued boys was like a tenor drone that melded with the sound of the propellers. Though their hands remained secured, the helicopter ride was too big a novelty for them to sit in silence. Three SEALs stood guard, their feet braced against the movement of the helo, their rifles resting in the bend of their arms.

“I didn’t realize until they picked me up off the street that I’d lost my edge,” Ian said. He leaned his head back against the metal bulkhead behind him. The shot of morphine Doc had given him had eased his pain and made him sound a little drunk. “I’ve always been able to focus on the story; I never let my guard down. But my mind was on Tess, and they slipped up on me. Caring about the people back home, thinking about them, worrying about them, is a distraction you can’t afford when you’re here.” Ian opened his eyes and looked at him. “Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”
She didn’t tell me.
Because Zoe understood that, had heard him say it. That’s why she hadn’t told him. She’d rather take it all on her shoulders than be a distraction.
Do whatever it takes to come home
were her last words every time they emailed. It was the promise he’d made. And putting her and home out of his mind was what it took.

The anger and hurt he’d been nursing dissolved. She loved him enough to hold back the things she knew would worry him, the things that would distract him. She loved him a hell of a lot.

But could she hold out from telling him the whole time he was deployed?

***

Special Agents Wright and Scott came into the hospital room. Thus far, it had been a who’s who of law enforcement parading through.

“Go away. I’m not talking to you without an attorney,” Brett said.

“Why would you need an attorney, Ensign?” Scott asked. 

Brett narrowed his eyes and studied the two agents. They both looked like hell. Scott needed a haircut and some sleep from the size of the bags under his eyes. And Wright looked like a big, hulking thundercloud about to rain on someone’s parade.

Well it wasn’t his job to make their life any easier. They certainly hadn’t made his all gumdrops and lollipops.

“Give Senator Welch my regards, and tell him to go fuck himself.”

Where was Tess with that drink? His mouth felt as dry as the Iraqi desert. The damn medication they’d given him was kicking up his stomach. And these two assholes weren’t helping with that.

“What does Senator Welch have to do with the terrorists you took out?” Agent Wright asked

Brett raised a brow. “I know his son got killed in Iraq and he blames my team. I know he’s had every move my team made in Iraq examined under a microscope. I know he’s putting pressure on someone to make what happened at the house with Derrick Armstrong seem like something it wasn’t to get some payback. Find out who he sent to Iraq to investigate the allegations of murder against me, and you’ll probably find out who leaked my name and to whom. I’m not giving him another shot at me.”

“You haven’t been watching the news, have you?” Wright asked.

“No. I’ve been busy getting shot at.”

The door opened and Tess stopped to eye the two agents, her expression suspicious. Her clothing had been wet and spotted with blood, and the green scrubs they’d given her to wear were too big. She tugged at one pant leg as she strode into the room. She handed Brett a soft drink and a straw. “Don’t say anything,” she said.

Brett laughed.

Agent Scott scowled then continued. “You and Armstrong have been cleared of the murder allegations. A Captain Frank Morrow has sent photo identification to us of the boy. He and thirty-two others were rescued from a training camp. Al-Qaeda forces kidnapped them off the street, just as you told us, and attempted to train them as terrorists. Seven of the eight al- Qaeda operatives died during the raid on the complex.”

“Yes!” Thank God. The relief was unbelievable. He might actually get his life back.

“Your father was being held there at the complex, Miss Kelly. He’s being treated for his injuries. We weren’t told specifically what they were, but none of them was life threatening.”

Brett laughed at Tess’s soft squeak of joy. But her smile was something special. And when the tears started, he tugged at her shirt until she bent down for him to give her a hug.

“He’s okay, Brett,” she repeated, her eyes tear-glazed with joy and relief. She kissed him.

“I knew he would be. He’s as tough as you are.”

She laughed. That did more for him than all the pain pills in the hospital.

 “We know what happened at the house,” Wright said bringing them back to the reason for their visit. “Look, Ensign Weaver.” He rubbed a hand over his forehead. “We got off on the wrong foot. We were told to investigate a situation and we did. And you have to admit, the boy not being seen at the house after you dropped him off looked pretty suspicious.”

“Had anything happened to the kid on our watch, Agent Wright, we would have reported it. The guys covering us would have reported it. We aren’t murderers. We’re peacekeepers. We’re there to protect the innocent and take down the bad guys.”