Protecting Fiona (SEAL of Protection Book 3) (16 page)

Whispering now, Fiona frantically grabbed her friends’ arms. “Okay, they know about me, but you guys can still get out of here. I’ll give myself up to them, and you guys go out that other door. Get away. You have to get away. I’ve already been through it, I can take it. You guys go. Just go.”

Caroline saw the look Fiona had shot the two Hispanic men standing nearby. She jerked her chin up at Alabama as she’d seen Matthew do to his team time and time again. Luckily, Alabama had been around them long enough to understand. She let go of Fiona’s arm and stood up to ask the men to leave. While she was telling them, she’d tell the other bystanders to leave as well. It was rude to stare.

Fiona saw Alabama start to head toward the men and jerked out of Caroline’s hold. “No! Alabama No! Run, dammit, run!” She leaped after Alabama and had enough of a head start over Caroline that she reached Alabama before Caroline could stop her. She grabbed Alabama’s arm and jerked her backward. Fiona then rushed up to the now gaping men. “You can’t have them, assholes. You can’t. Take me back if you have to, but leave them alone!”

The men, obviously surprised at the venom in Fiona’s voice, took three quick steps away from her. They looked around in surprise, wondering if the crazy lady was really talking to them.

Caroline had caught Alabama when Fiona had whipped her in her direction, and ran to catch up to Fiona.

“Please, you guys, just go, she’s having a flashback. You’re making it worse. You didn’t do anything wrong, but please, just go,” Alabama pleaded with the men as she reached Fiona.

The men, happy to leave the vicinity of the crazy women, fled the store as if they’d suddenly found themselves surrounded by hungry tigers.

Caroline and Alabama each grabbed hold of one of Fiona’s arms and held on tightly. She wasn’t getting away from them again.

“They’re gone, Fiona. They’re gone. Come on, sweetie. Sit down.”

Fiona collapsed on the floor in the middle of the store in relief. The men had left. They wouldn’t take her friends. They wouldn’t take
her
. “We have to get out of here in case they come back,” she told Caroline and Alabama earnestly. “You don’t know them, they won’t give up. They’ll be back.”

“Okay, we’ll go,” Caroline soothed. She wished with all her heart that the guys were around. Fiona needed Hunter. “Alabama is going to go and get the car. We’ll just sit here until she gets back, okay?”

Fiona nodded, closed her eyes and rocked back and forth on the floor, oblivious to the looks she was given by curious shoppers and the concerned looks from her friend. 

Caroline sat on the floor of the lingerie shop holding Fiona until Alabama came back. Caroline knew Alabama was hurrying, but it seemed to take way too long for her to arrive back at their sides.

“I’ve pulled the car around to the back door. The manager said it’d be okay if we took her out that way. I tried to explain some of what’s going on. She’s worried about her too.”

Caroline nodded and took hold of Fiona’s head and forced her to look into her own eyes. “Fiona? Alabama has the car here. Can you walk? We’re going to go home.”

Fiona tried to focus on what Caroline was saying. Why was Caroline there? Was she taken too? “Caroline? Did they get you too?”

Caroline just shook her head sadly. “No, we’re safe, sweetie. Come on, let’s get out of here, okay?”

Fiona nodded numbly. Getting out of there sounded good to her. The men could come back any second, it was better to leave.

The three friends shuffled out the back door to the waiting car. The manager looked on with sad eyes. Alabama had told her enough of Fiona’s suffering for her to feel bad about what had happened in her store.

Caroline and Alabama got Fiona buckled into her seat, and Alabama drove while Caroline sat next to Fiona and held her. Fiona shook uncontrollably all the way home.

After getting Fiona back to Caroline’s house, they tucked her into bed and stayed with her until she fell asleep. Neither questioned when Fiona started counting backwards from one thousand. They even joined in when it seemed to calm her more.

Caroline and Alabama sat at the kitchen table, speechless.

“She needs help. I feel helpless. I don’t know what to do,” Alabama said sadly.

“All we can do it be there for her.”

“Do you think she’s gonna remember today?”

“I sure as hell hope not, Alabama. If she does, she’s gonna be mortified.”

“That’s bullcrap. She doesn’t have anything to be embarrassed about.”
              “I know that, and you know that, but I bet anything, she’ll be embarrassed anyway.”

Alabama then whispered softly, as if afraid she was saying something blasphemous, “I wish the guys were here.”

“Me too, Alabama. Me too,” Caroline agreed just as quietly.

Fiona rolled over with a groan. She felt like crap. The room was dark, but she was starving. Her stomach growling had woken her up. She looked at the clock, at least where the clock should be. It wasn’t there. Then Fiona remembered. She was at Caroline’s. She and Alabama had spent the night there because the guys had been sent on a mission.

Then Fiona sat bolt upright. Oh no. Jesus. Shopping. The men. Her freak out. Fiona buried her face in her hands. Oh my God. She’d seen those men and thought she was back in Mexico. She’d accused innocent men of horrible things. What if she’d been by herself? What would she have done? She was mortified.

She had to get out of there. Fiona looked around cautiously. She was alone in the room. She could go back home. No. She had no home. She would go back to Hunter’s apartment, then go…somewhere. She couldn’t stay. Hunter deserved so much better than her. What if she’d freaked out when he was there? She’d be so embarrassed. She was so screwed up in the head.

Fiona tiptoed around the room, finding her shoes and purse and checking to make sure she had everything. She cautiously opened the door to the room. Seeing and hearing no one, she made her way down the hall. When she got to the living room, Fiona saw both Caroline and Alabama sprawled on the sofa sectional. There was an empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the coffee table and several cans of soda lying around as well. They’d obviously gotten hammered as a result of Fiona’s actions the previous day.

Tears sprang to Fiona’s eyes. Jesus, they’d been so embarrassed over what she’d done they had to get drunk to make it through the night. As Fiona headed toward the door she knew she’d never forget the sight of her first and only true friends, passed out on the couch because of something she’d done.

* * *

Caroline woke up and groaned. Jesus, she’d had way too much to drink. She knew better, but she’d been so worried about Fiona, she’d just kept drinking. She saw Alabama still passed out next to her, and nudged her with her foot.

“Hey, Alabama, get up. Let’s go check on Fiona.”

Alabama groaned, but sat up gingerly. “Why’d you let me drink so much last night?”

“Me? You were the one encouraging
me
to keep going.”

“Okay, so we might have been encouraging each other.”              

They smiled at each other. “Come on, let’s go get Fiona and get the awkward crap out of the way first, then we can make a huge breakfast, choke it down, and figure out what we’re gonna do and how to help her.”

Alabama led the way toward the room where they’d left Fiona last night. They stood there in shock when they pushed the door open and saw the empty bed. Caroline turned and left the room as if she wasn’t feeling sick a moment ago.

“Come on, Alabama, we have to get over to Hunter’s. She probably woke up early and thought she’d be polite and not wake us. She was probably also embarrassed and wanted to avoid us. We have to go get her and let her know she has nothing to be embarrassed about.”

The two women threw on clean clothes and raced out of the house without a thought to their appearance. Their only focus was finding their friend and reassuring her.

Once they’d arrived at Hunter’s apartment, Alabama and Caroline knocked on the door, when there was no answer, they proceeded to
beat
on the door, calling Fiona’s name over and over.

When she still didn’t answer they could only conclude that Fiona wasn’t there. “The car!” Alabama raced back to the parking lot. Neither Carline or Alabama had been concerned about looking for Hunter’s car when they’d first arrived.

Seeing Hunter’s parking space empty, Alabama whispered, “Shit.” Her legs folded under her and she was sitting on the ground.

Caroline slumped to the ground next to her friend, stymied about what they should do next.

For the second time in as many days, Alabama said, “I wish the guys were here.”

Caroline could only nod in agreement.

* * *

Fiona drove for a long as she could. She was tired, but wanted to get as far north as possible. She shook her head. North meant away from Mexico, that was the only thing running through her head at the moment. Fiona had to protect her friends, and the best way to do that, was to get away from them.

She made it as far as the outskirts of San Francisco before she had to pull off the road. Fiona debated sleeping in the car, but then figured that would make it even easier for the kidnappers to overpower her. Then she considered stopping at a flea-bag motel that rented by the hour, but again realized if the kidnappers came for her there, most likely no one would come to her aid because they were all trying to stay under the radar.

Fiona ended up pulling into a high-end hotel. She knew she wasn’t exactly dressed to blend in, her sweats and too-big T-shirt definitely made her stand out, but in the end, decided everyone would be too disciplined to say anything to her about it.

She checked in, using Hunter’s credit card, and went up to her room. Fiona had no luggage, but at the moment she didn’t care. She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. She was terrified and exhausted.

Fiona tried to reason out what was going on. She remembered getting back to Hunter’s apartment and seeing the Hispanic men from the mall in the parking lot…at least she thought it was the same men. She had to run, had to get out of there. She hadn’t even gone up to the apartment, just raced out of the parking lot and headed north.

Fiona shut her eyes. She’d just take a short nap then get up and get going again. She fell back on what had always worked before when she was stressed out, she counted. One thousand. Nine hundred ninety nine. Nine hundred ninety eight…

Six hours later, Fiona woke up disoriented and confused. Where was she? This didn’t look like Caroline’s house. She sat up. It was most definitely a hotel room, but she had no recollection of checking in. Snippets of the day before slowly started filtering into her brain.

I’m losing it. Jesus, I’m losing it. Is this really happening or am I dreaming it? Did my kidnappers really find me?
Fiona couldn’t figure out what was real and what wasn’t. She wanted Hunter, but he was…somewhere. He was off saving someone else and she had no way of getting in touch with him.

As she fell deeper into the delusion that she was being hunted, Fiona thought about Hunter…
He found me in the middle of the Mexican jungle and he wasn’t even looking. He’ll find me here. I just have to stay one step ahead of the kidnappers and wait for Hunter.

* * *

“We have to do something, Caroline,” Alabama implored her friend. “We can’t just sit here and wait for her to come home. It’s obvious she isn’t going to just come back and say, ‘Hey, sorry I worried you, I’m back.’”

“Something’s really wrong, Alabama,” Caroline stated the obvious. “Fiona really thought those men were there to take her back to Mexico. What if she still thinks that? Is that even possible?”

“I have no idea, but, Jesus, Caroline. If that’s what she thinks, there’s no telling where she is. We have to call the commander. He can get in touch with Hunter. He has to know.”

“But what if they can’t come home right now? That would just freak Hunter out and put him and the rest of the team in danger.”

“I know, but what if it was us in trouble? You know Christopher or Matthew would never forgive us if they weren’t notified.”

“Okay, I’ll call Commander Hurt and let him know what’s going on.”

Caroline called the base and left a message for the team commander to call her back as soon as he could. She tried to make sure the Petty Officer who took the message understood it was literally a life and death situation and that the commander needed to call her as he got back into his office.

Alabama sat up suddenly. “Oh my God, why didn’t we think of this before? What about Tex?”

“Tex! Shit! Yes, you’re a genius, Alabama!”

Caroline scrambled for her phone. If anyone could find Fiona, it’d be Tex. She scrolled through her contacts and clicked on his name.

“What’s wrong?” Leave it to Tex to cut right to the chase.

“Fiona’s missing and Hunter and the others are on a mission.”

“Talk to me.”

“We were shopping yesterday and there were two Hispanic men minding their own business in the same store we were in. Fiona saw them and literally freaked. She had a flashback or something and we had to get out of mall through the back door of the store. We brought her home, but when we woke up, she was gone. She’s not at Hunter’s apartment and his car is missing. We think she’s stuck in the flashback or something. We don’t know what to do.”

“Have you contacted the commander?”
              “Yeah, I just got off the phone with someone on the base and left a message for him to call us back. Alabama thought about you. You can find her can’t you, Tex?”

“Yeah, I’ll find her. Keep trying to get through to the commander, I’ll see what I can do from this end.”

“Thank you, Tex. Oh, and she’s got Hunter’s credit card. Hunter gave it to her to use, she didn’t steal it.”

Tex’s voice lost its edge a bit. “I wouldn’t have thought she did, Ice. That’s good she has it. I’ll find her and get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Okay. Thank you so much. We didn’t know what to do.”

“You did the right thing in calling me. Later, Ice.”

“Bye, Tex.”

Caroline turned to Alabama and told her unnecessarily, “Tex said he’d find her.”

Alabama nodded. “Okay, if he said he’d find her, he will. We just have to pray it’s soon.”

* * *

The phone on the nightstand rang and Fiona nearly jumped a foot. She stared at it. Was it Hunter? Was it the kidnappers? Had they found her? She struggled for a moment between wanting to answer the phone and wanting to run out of the room and jump in the car and keep driving.  Fiona dug down deep to the courage she’d been missing for the last day or so, and reached for the phone.

“Hello?”

“Fiona, it’s Cookie’s friend, Tex. Don’t hang up.”

Fiona sagged in relief. She remembered Hunter talking about Tex. Thank God he’d found her. “Tex?” she whispered, “I’m so scared. They found me.”

On the other end of the line, Tex sagged in his seat. Thank fuck she knew who he was, but Jesus, he had to do everything right here, and he wasn’t sure what that was. Fiona was obviously stuck in the delusion she was being hunted, and all it would take would be one wrong word out of his mouth and she’d run again. Tex decided it’d be better to cater to her delusion for the moment instead of trying to convince her she was imagining everything.

“Fiona, listen to me. Cookie told you about what I can do with computers right? Well, I’ve got them covered. I know where the kidnappers are, and they’re still back in Riverton. They don’t realize you’ve left yet. You’re safe right there where you are. Just stay put. Order room service, ask them to leave it outside your door and put everything on the credit card. I’ve got your credit card secured, so no one else will be able to trace it. Do you hear me? You’re safe right where you are.”

Tex didn’t want Fiona opening the door to possibly a Hispanic hotel worker, or anyone, and freaking out again. He knew she was safe in the hotel for the moment. He’d tracked her down with one short search of Cookie’s credit card. Fiona wasn’t really trying to hide, she was just running scared.

“Okay Tex. I’ll wait to hear from you. Am I really safe here? They don’t know I left?” Her voice was low and trembled with emotion.

“No, sweetheart. They have no idea where you are.” Tex was being completely honest.

“Is Hunter coming to find me again?”

Tex’s heart almost broke. “I’m working on it, Fee. You know he’s on a mission right?”
              “Yeah, I know. That’s why they came now, they knew he was gone and wasn’t here to protect me.”

“We’re trying to get Cookie home so he can come and get you. Remember what I said, don’t move. Stay hunkered down there.”

“Okay, Tex. I will.”

“I’m going to call you every four hours, Fiona. You be there to answer the phone. Okay? Every four hours.”

“I got it. I’ll be here.”

“Good. Drink lots of water and make sure you order food from the hotel. Keep up your strength.” Tex figured if he ordered Fiona to do things, she’d be more likely to follow through.

“Yeah, okay.” She paused, and said in a child-like voice, “I want Hunter.”

“He’ll be there as soon as he can, Fiona. Hang on for him, baby.”

Tex was reluctant to hang up, but he had some other calls to make. He had to get Cookie home. His woman needed him. Now.

“Okay, I’ll wait for Hunter.”

“I’ll talk to you in four hours, Fiona. Four hours. No more, no less. Make sure you answer the phone.”

“Okay, Tex. Bye.”

Tex hung up the phone and swore long and loud. He knew Cookie hadn’t expected this to happen. Fiona obviously needed help dealing with what had happened to her. His first call was to the commander. He had to get Cookie home. His woman needed him.