Riordan (13 page)

“But you and Bri protected me, didn’t you, love?”

“Dad, stop flirting with my future wife. And for the record, we will not be waiting

generations. I would very much like for you to take this seriously and say yes. I have asked you

to marry me. Twice now, as a matter of fact.” Stormy just rolled her eyes at Riordan, and he

glared. “This is not up for discussion, Storm. I’m serious.”

“Oh, speaking of serious, Mr. President called me this morning and reminded me about this

thing he has going on at the White House. He wanted to extend an invitation to you and the rest

of your family. I have to go, but you guys don’t if you—”

“We’re invited to the White House? Oh my, this is getting better and better all the time.

We’d love to go. Are we to dress up and everything?” She told him it was black tie. “Yes, I’ll

have to dust off my old tux. I wonder if it still fits. And, of course, Bri will need to be all dolled

up. This is exciting news. Thank you.”

Stormy looked embarrassed, and he nearly asked her why she had to go. It didn’t seem like

it was her thing, dressing up for an outing. He wondered if she even owned a dress, much less

high heels. But she cleared her throat, and he looked at her.

“You said you had some questions for us to answer?” Ordan nodded and thought of the list.

He’d been here for less than an hour and the two of them had answered many of them already.

But there were more.

“When I met you the first time, you knew what I was. I’ve been trying to think how you

knew that not only was I a tiger, but that Mac and Riordan were my sons.” She nodded and

picked up one of the white iced cookies that were on the tray. “If you don’t want to answer, I

completely understand.”

“No. It’s not that. It’s just…when I was with my men, we would talk about the strangest

things. There were things that were off limits, of course, to most people. We never talked about

the mission that we’d been on, who had not made it, nor did we talk about religion, politics, or

race. Not that we didn’t have a few crude jokes about all three, but we did try to keep it light.”

The cookie looked great when she set it down and picked up the next. He watched her face. This

was a woman who rarely did anything without fully thinking it through. She and Riordan were

very much alike in that. “What I’m going to tell you, very few people knew. Tony did, of course.

He and I had the same kind of bond.”

“He bit you.” Stormy nodded at Riordan when he spoke. “That’s how he knew that you were

in trouble that day at the hospital. He had your blood.”

“Yes. And the others in my group, too, that were paras. Actually, all nine of my men were.

And when I say men, I mean both sexes. I had seven men and two women who worked with me.

All of them wolf, believe it or not. I think Tony had a hand in that.” Ordan thought he had, too,

but said nothing. “When we sat around, either going from one point to another or on a plane to

go somewhere that was not that easy to drive to, we’d talk about shit. Mostly what we were

going to do when we got out. How we were going to go from killer to human again. And that

was when they told me what they were.”

Ordan thought that she was hurting from the memories and nearly told her to forget it. But

Riordan touched his hand and when he looked at him, he shook his head. He supposed she did

need to talk about things, but he didn’t want her to hurt because of it. Ordan just hated to be the

one to make her sad.

“We were more than just a team, a squad. I thought of us as a single unit, and we were.

Communication was quiet and easy. They could see things better at night or in bad weather than

I could using night goggles. And with this freaky thing I could do, you know, sort of see the

conclusion to a mission before we did it, we were safe, kept each other safe.” Ordan asked her if

they ever shifted. “Yes. We had special packs full of clothing that one of us would be responsible

for. One of them would go ahead of us, as a wolf, and lay them out, close to the place where we

were headed. Then as one as their other selves, they’d go ahead of me, guiding me where to step,

when to pause. There were times when one or more of them would cover me with their bodies as

a troop would walk by us. It was what kept us alive as we were going in and out of dangerous

situations.”

She got up to check the ovens again, and Ordan noticed something he doubted even she had.

Looking at Riordan, Ordan thought he didn’t even see it. She was stronger. And not only that,

she moved with more ease, too. Stormy was careful still, getting up slowly and moving with a

slight limp, but he’d bet that in a few days she’d not even do that.

“What’s your next question? I’m not sure…I think I answered that for you, didn’t I?” He

nodded. He picked up his list and she did another cookie. For every one of Riordan’s messes, she

did a dozen perfectly decorated ones.

“What are you? I mean, you’re human, I know that, but what are you in the service?” He

flushed slightly. “I’m sorry, I’m rude.”

“No, you’re not. I’m Special Forces.” Danny snorted from across the room, and Ordan

realized that the man had been listening to them. “I am Special Forces.”

“Yeah, that’s like saying that I’m a man. She’s more than just the Special Forces. She
is

Special Forces.” Ordan asked him what he meant. “Do you know what that means? The term

Special Forces?”

“I know that they’re highly trained men and women who can do some extraordinary things.

That they’re the ones that are called on to do what others can’t.” Danny nodded and told him that

there was a lot more. “I’m sure that there is, but what does this have to do with her title?”

“She and her squad were Green Berets, army. And when you called in the Browning Squad,

you could pretty much know that the shit had hit the fan and there ain’t no hope for anyone else

getting them out or getting the job done.” Stormy told Danny he was exaggerating. “No, I’m not.

I seen you in action, you know that. They could jump from a moving plane and land in water in a

way that you’d never see a drop come back up and touch you. Shoot a rifle so good…hell, you

couldn’t even see the person firing the rifle, much less what he was aiming at, until the person at

the receiving end was dead. ‘Cause if they shot at you, you was dead. If you had to be brunged

out cause you got your fool self caught behind enemy lines, you’d pray for them to be the ones

that come for you. There just ain’t none better than the Browning Squad.”

Ordan looked at Stormy with new eyes. Here she sat, putting happy faces on cookies, and

she had been in situations that no one might ever know about. She didn’t acknowledge or deny

Danny’s comments. Ordan looked at Riordan and wondered just how much he’d known of what

was said, and had a feeling that it was very little. As she sat there, Ordan wasn’t sure what to do

when she spoke again.

“That last day we were together was going to be nothing, they told us. Not that I believed it.

But we were going to be ready no matter what. The powers that be said that there were no guns

where we were headed. No artillery and certainly no ground warfare. It was going to be a search

and rescue for anyone who had been left behind, and then we’d spend a few days just huddled up

and resting. I had ordered a dozen steaks to be air dropped for us, and we were going to have a

party.” She set down the last of the cookies that they’d been working on and looked away. Ordan

had a feeling she wasn’t with them any longer.

~~~

Hanging from the tree, she knew that she was as good as dead. Below her she could see the

enemy scrambling to get the ruined Humvee off the road and the bodies taken away. They would

use this ploy again, she knew that, and the next time there would be more men and women

killed. When the mike in her ear squawked, she thought it was the men below her, but then she

heard a voice that sounded like heaven to her.

“Stormy, for Christ’s sake, will you answer me?” She had sobbed just a little…the relief that

she’d be able to talk to someone was profound. And Tony Blackson was the only person she

knew who could help her right now. “Stormy?”

“They’re dead.” He told her of course they were, and for some reason that had struck her as

funny even back then. “My men are all dead. I don’t know what happened, but the rest of my

team is gone. Three loaded and they’re all gone.”

Three loaded Humvees had been in line with her. The one she’d been in was in the middle

and had sustained most of the damage, but the other two were just as badly twisted metal as the

one she’d been in.

“We’re coming for you.” She told him no. She was as good as gone. “I can’t leave you

there. If they find you, they’ll…I don’t have to tell you what they’ll do to you.”

“I know, but they don’t see me.” She told him where she was. “Don’t bother. I’m not going

to make it no matter what you do to try and save me.”

She must have fuzzed out because when she woke up, he was screaming in her ear. It was

dusk now and the lights from the compound where they had been headed were bright enough that

she could see a great deal more. Storm looked at where the wreckage had been. The Humvees

were gone and so were her men. Storm looked down at her body. The branch was protruding

from her chest by at least a foot, and it was slick with her blood. The knowledge of her

impending death grew more certain with every breath, as the pain made her sick and dizzy.

“Storm, you have to help us. We need to know what you can see. Are more there? More

men?” She started to tell him she had no idea, her body hurt too much to care right now, when he

continued. “We need to take this guy out. He needs to be gotten rid of. Tell me what you can see,

Stormy.”

“They’re underground. I can see them coming up from under some kind of underground

shelter.” Tony asked her if it was women and children. “No, not that I can see. They’re armed,

and with gear that looks new. Mostly rifles, but I can see handguns too. I can see four…no five

tanks under some kind of tarps. And mortars. Several of them, lined up ready to load.”

“They’re getting ready for you.” She told him that’s what it looked like to her. “There’s a

convoy coming that way, about an hour from you. They’ll be in the line of fire in less than that. I

need to bring in an air strike. But I don’t have anyone there on the ground. I need for you to

guide them for me.”

“All right. I can see their marks from here. I have the right equipment on me.” She did too, a

lot of it. Even a first aid kit that she couldn’t get to in her pack. “I’m pretty close to the

compound, but I don’t think….”

“How close are you? I’m thinking you’re going to be in the line of fire, aren’t you? I really

need to take this bastard out, Stormy, and you’re the only one that can do it.” She looked down at

her body again. The blood was spilling onto the ground below her. The branch that she was

literally hanging from was saturated with it, too. Shifting to another position caused her to cry

out, and she heard him cursing. Then he spoke again. “Tell me how far you are from the place

and if you can get away.”

“I can’t move. I’m going to die here soon, and there isn’t shit you can do about it. I’m not

going to be able to move even if I could. I told you, I’m stuck in this fucking tree. I can see it

sticking from my chest, General. I’m not even sure how I’m still alive right now.”

“Because you’re a soldier and you know that you can’t die until this thing is over.” She told

him yes, sir, and waited for him to tell her what was going to happen. “I have three coming in.

Can you see them yet?” She could and told him so.

~~~

“Within four minutes the place was toast.” She looked at the three men standing there and

wondered what she’d said to them that had them looking so horrified. “I’m sorry. I did get off on

a tangent, didn’t I?”

“That’s what happened to your legs. They hit you when they bombed the place.” She nodded

at Riordan. “How long before they came to get you?”

“Not long, less than forty-eight hours from the time I got there until they came to get me. I

don’t think they expected me to still be alive. Tony was certainly surprised, if I remember

correctly. After that, I don’t remember much else. Just his shocked look.” Her aunt came in the

back then, and her laughter broke the spell of the room. “What are you out of now?”

“The tables are here. The ones we got off that…. Is something wrong, love? Are these

men…want me to poison their Danish? I can, you know.”

Stormy kissed her cheek as she moved to the front of the bakery. The rest followed; the

sounds of their chairs scraping made her aware of that.

Two trucks were in front of the shop, and the men standing there waiting for them looked

like they could have lifted them without any problem. Not just the tables—and they looked