Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (38 page)

“What is it? What’s wrong with him?” She demanded to know.

He looked at the other man and nodded his head with some unspoken communication. The other man ran off and Scott turned to her. “Penny, right now his heartbeat is good, but he took a hard blow to the head. I’m worried about that just because he hasn’t regained consciousness, although I really think it’s just superficial. It’s hard to tell out here. Regardless, he’s lost a lot of blood from the head wound. He also took several hits to his body armor and I think that he may have some internal damage. We need to medevac him to the hospital as soon as possible.”

“Internal damage? Medevac?” She lifted her head to the sky as she now heard a helicopter coming. “I need to stay with him. I have to, Scott.”

He nodded. “I’ll do everything I can to get you on the flight with him. It’s going to be okay, Penny.” He lightly touched the side of her face where the boss hit her earlier in the afternoon. “You probably need to be looked at, too.”

Two men rushed over and placed Colton on a backboard. He was so still and pale. Someone tugged at the cuffs, but she never took her eyes off Colton. As soon as the hands let go of her, she rushed back over to his side, just in time to follow him onto the helicopter.

* * *

Colton cracked his eyes open, trying to figure out what bus hit him last night. Everything hurt, but he was surprised to realize he was in a hospital bed. He didn’t remember coming to the hospital and had no idea what could have happened. The last thing he remembered was…Penelope! He sat up suddenly and gasped at the bolts of pain shooting through his body.

There was a whisper of movement along his right hand and he looked down at it, being careful to move slowly. Draped across his hand were the beautiful blonde locks that he knew and loved so well. Penelope was sound asleep with her head lying along the edge of his bed. He eyed her critically, checking for injuries. Her cheek was bruised and swollen and she had a couple of butterfly stitches above her brow. She had circles of exhaustion under her eyes, but otherwise, she looked to be whole and safe. He closed his eyes in relief.

He opened them again when he heard the whisper of the door opening. A nurse walked in and smiled at him when she saw that he was awake. She moved to the opposite side of his body from Penelope when he lightly whispered “shh,” to her.

The nurse smiled indulgently to Penelope’s sleeping form. “She’s refused to leave your side, but she’s exhausted after her ordeal.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. You’re the one who got hurt. A bullet grazed your head and you lost a lot of blood. You also have several bruised internal organs and a cracked rib. You’re one lucky man to be alive and now that you’re awake, it looks like you’ll probably stay that way.”

He gave her a wry smile. “I certainly plan to.”

Penelope stirred at his side.

“Good morning beautiful.”

She gave him a blinding smile and that look alone told him that everything was going to be just fine.

It took several days for everything to get sorted. After the raid, there were sixteen MM members in US custody. Three died and two mysteriously disappeared. Ethan was one of those who disappeared.

They were getting information from several of the MM members taken into custody who worked plea deals. Ethan went to work for the Martins three years prior. It was through his connections that Thomas became involved and he quickly rose to a position of power within the organization. From the little he’d told Penelope and through journals they found in his room, they were able to piece together his motivation. He felt like he needed the power and the retribution against his father, whom he blamed for his mother’s death. A death that obviously affected him more as a child than anyone ever realized.

The MM used the Martin ranch as a regular dispersal point for both their drug and human trafficking. With so much land on the ranch and Ethan and Thomas working on the inside, it was easy for the organization to remain undetected while using the land. Thomas had the added advantage that he could closely watch Andrew’s movements with the Texas Rangers and could warn the MM when things were getting dicey. Over the few years he’d been involved, Thomas managed to immerse himself into several fingers of the Mexican organization.

He’d succeeded in one aspect of his plan. Michael Martin was devastated. He’d appeared to have aged twenty years in just a few days.

It was through the ranch and Penelope’s connection to it that the bookstore came onto the MM’s radar. They were using the ARC’s and Hannah’s blog posts to transmit delivery times, dates and locations throughout the US. Through the archives of the blog, they were able to determine the organization had used the bookstore to disperse information for over a year and a half. Originally they’d worked by simply posting encoded messages on the blog, but then the scheme became more complex and the ARC’s came into play.

The weapons smuggling and theft ring was a new venture within this branch of the organization. Abilene Authors were clueless as to how they’d played into it all or that they were even doing anything wrong, which in all actuality they weren’t. They were as much a pawn as anyone else. It was their benefactor, Dev Masters, who was the connection. He was active duty in the Air Force from Dyess Air Force Base and had access to the Top Secret files about the weapons shipments. He encoded that information into the details of the books that he then directed the Abilene Authors to write.

When Penelope took
The Gift of Serendipity
home with her, it disrupted everything in the chain. That particular ARC detailed the drops coming up for the next six months for the entire West side of the United States. The Department of Homeland Security was still working to decode it all, but the book was already responsible for several huge busts in the Western US of MM cells.

Damon recovered fully from his captivity and his partnership with the Texas Tech Archaeology department was finally settled. The MM became interested in him and his dig while they were following Penelope. They saw his dig as another opportunity to help their drug flow into the US.

Colton’s recovery was slower than he’d hoped, especially since Penelope kept her distance from him the entire time. She kept deflecting his advances, saying he needed more recovery time before he “taxed his poor, battered body.” Two weeks of forced celibacy while sleeping with her and he was ready to show her how fully recovered he truly was.

Everything was on track with Mad Rob and just today, Colton had received word that they’d been awarded the Homeland Security contract. He’d called Penelope to let her know and told her to put on a party outfit because they were going out to celebrate.

He hoped to someday convince her to marry him, but he wasn’t willing to risk their relationship by pushing it before she was ready. For now, he simply counted his lucky stars they both were alive and happy together. He parked his motorcycle in the parking garage and felt the zip of anticipation of a night out with Penelope. He needed to convince her tonight that he was fully recovered from his injuries.

As he entered the loft, he was surprised to find it dark, although some melodic jazz was playing lightly through the sound system. He could have sworn Penelope agreed to meet him here.

“Penelope!” he called, but there wasn’t an answer. He started down the hall to the bedrooms, but his footsteps faltered when he noticed the fall of rose petals leading down the hall to his bedroom. A surge of arousal pounded through his body. Maybe he wouldn’t have to work as hard to convince her as he thought.

When he reached the doorway of his bedroom, his breath caught and every drop of blood surged toward the length of his already engorged cock. Penelope knelt at the end of his bed in a position of submission. Her bra and thong were flame red scraps of barely there lace and her mile-long legs were finished off by incredibly sexy red heels.

But what took his breath away were her bindings. She had on a red leather collar with a metal ring on the front of it. A chain led down from the ring and attached to the cuffs connecting her wrists. There were several other chains draped around her shoulders as she was well and truly bound.

There was also a sign attached to the top of the chain. He walked forward until he could lift the note to read it. She kept her eyes lowered while he read the note.

 
My love,

 
I am yours. My heart is bound to you, now and forever. I love you and want to stay yours for the rest of my life. Please say you’ll marry me. Please.

 
Your humble servant,

 
Penelope

Shock and love reverberated through his system and he sank to his knees in front of her. He reached forward and lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. Her eyes were shimmering with love and tears.

“Are you sure this is what you want? Marriage?”

“I do. I love you, Colton. I’ve been an idiot. I had no idea what real love involved before I met you. Now I know. I know that with you, I wouldn’t lose myself, but without you, I definitely would. You’re the other half of my heart and I need you in my life. Every day from now on. You complete me. Please say yes.”

“Not yet.” He saw the flash of pain in her eyes before she lowered them back to the floor. He lifted her chin once again. “Where are the keys to this?” He waved his hand down her delectable body.

Her voice caught as she said, “On the nightstand.”

He nodded and went to retrieve it. While he was there, he grabbed the small piece of jewelry which had been hidden in the back corner and slid it into his pocket. He unlocked her bindings and removed the collar and cuffs, then drew her up so that she was standing before him. She was so incredibly beautiful looking even with the tears teasing along the corners of her eyes. He kissed her lightly and then had to draw back before he got lost in her barely clothed temptation of a body.

He smiled softly at her. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right. As equals.” A flicker of hope crossed her face. “Because that’s what a marriage is…an equal partnership. That’s what I want with you, Penelope. A partnership, between you and me, that lasts forever. I love you sweetheart, every stubborn, incredible inch of you, and I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. Yes, I’ll marry you, if you’ll have me.” He pulled the ring out of his pocket and held it out to her. “This was my mother’s ring. I hope you’ll wear it and agree to marry me.”

“Oh, Colton, your mother’s ring?” She looked up at him with tears shimmering in her eyes. “It’s beautiful. I love you so much. Yes I’ll marry you.”

She flung her arms around his neck and he groaned long and deep as the press of her curves pushed up against his poor deprived body.

“Good.” He whispered into her hair. “Now that that’s settled, can we please get back to those handcuffs? I really, really liked where that was going.”

THE END

Texas Tech is a real university and Lubbock, TX is a real town. In fact, that’s where I graduated from college and have amazing memories from there. As a result, when I sat down to write my first series of books, I wanted to pay homage to that school and town I love so much.

I probably wasn’t thinking that through when I decided to create all the murder and mayhem of this trilogy in that locale. Don’t let the events in these books influence your perception of either the school or the town. While the places are real, the events absolutely are NOT.

I also took great liberties in the layout of the campus, the kinds of activities the University would allow, Lubbock PD, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, and some of the surrounding businesses. Please don’t hold it against them or me!

This is a work of fiction and should be looked at in that light.

DON’T FORGET!

Book #3 in the When the Mission Ends Trilogy

Operation: Endurance

Releases April, 2013

And if you want to learn more about Chris & Julie’s mysterious history, watch for:

Before The Mission Begins (novella #.5)

Releases Valentine
’s, 2013

As an avid reader my entire life, I’ve always dreamed of writing books that brought to others the kind of joy I feel when I read.
  But…I never did anything about it besides jot down a few ideas and sparse scenes.

When I turned 41, I decided it was time to go after my dream and started writing. Within four months, I’d written over 150,000 words and haven’t stopped since. I’ve found my passion by writing about sexy, alpha heroes and smart, tough heroines falling in love and finding their passion. I’m truly living the dream and loving every minute of it.

My tagline is…

Passion and adventure on the road to Happily Ever After.
  I have to admit, I am loving this adventure!