RULES OF LOVE (A Navy SEALs Romance) (21 page)

Jackie didn’t want to, but they didn’t have a choice. They hadn’t told anyone where they were going when they left—no specifics, so either someone at the base tracked the Hummer and managed to relay the message before they got there, or it was Shane. He knew they would track down any leads they could on him.

“Eddie… Answer your phone!”

Eddie limped over to the dresser and snagged her phone, still in the middle of getting dressed and putting her holster back on. “Jackie?”

“Eddie…. Safe… Get out…”

“Jackie, I can’t hear you,” she said as Beau came back in the room. “Jackie? Damn it!

“What’s wrong?”

She frowned. “I don’t know. Jackie, but I can’t hear her. Jackie!”

“Shane… Get out…” The line died, and Eddie pulled the cell from her ear, her hands numb as she glanced from the screen to Beau’s face.

His hand moved for his gun before she said anything. “We need to leave. Now.”

“What did she say?”

“Shane… Something about my brother and safe—or not safe,” she muttered.

Beau waited until she holstered her gun. Together, they left the bedroom and hustled downstairs. Eddie barely felt the pain in her leg as other cares clouded her mind, worries about what Jackie’s call meant. She reached the front door and pulled it open, and Ted was suddenly there.

“Eddie, you know the drill. Get back inside,” he said gently. His eyes narrowed as he stared from her to Beau. “What’s wrong?”

“Jackie called. Something’s wrong,” she said. “We need to leave. Now.”

“My orders haven’t changed,” Ted argued. “Go back inside, and I’ll call Reinhart.”

“No!” she yelled. “Ted, listen to me. It’s Shane—he’s missing.”

Ted frowned and laughed as he glanced over his shoulder. “No, he’s not. He’s right there.”

Eddie felt Beau step closer behind her before he put his body in front of hers. Shane was out on the gravel drive, talking with a few of the other agents. “When did he get here?” Beau asked over her head.

“Few minutes ago. Eddie, you alright? Maybe you should go lie back down. You’re pale.”

“Ted, please just listen—”

Eddie staggered backwards when Ted fell into her, blood pouring out of his chest as he gasped for air. Beau grabbed her and yanked her back inside, Ted’s body coming with them, before he slammed the front door. Yells erupted outside on the drive as Beau pulled Eddie down, covering her with his body while bullets whizzed overhead, taking out the windows and bursting through the front door.

“Ted… Ted!” Eddie put her hands on the wound, but it was no use. His eyes found hers, shock and fear in them before they glazed over and his head fell back on the floor. “No! Stay with me, you bastard, stay with me!”

“Eddie, he’s gone,” Beau yelled over the sound of gunfire. “Eddie! Look at me!”

He grabbed her face between his hands and forced her gaze to his. He was right. She knew he was right, but she couldn’t register the thought of Ted being gone. He gave her a little shake as he drew his gun, and she struggled to keep it together. This was not the time to fall apart, not when their men were being gunned down outside.

“We need to get to a vehicle and get the fuck out of here,” Beau ordered. “Eddie, are you with me?”

She nodded and drew her gun, grabbing the keys from Ted’s pocket. Getting out of this alive… that was her priority. She was not going to watch him die before her eyes, and she sure as hell wasn’t ready to go yet. Not until she took her brother down.

“The back. We might be able to sneak out that way,” she said hoping she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt.

They stayed low, hurrying through the living area, but right when they reached the kitchen, the back door flew open and a man dressed in black rushed in, his gun blazing. Eddie ducked low, aiming for the shooter’s knees. He fell and the second man who came in behind him fell too as Beau took him out with a shot to the head.

Beau finished off the first one with a shot to the head as well, then kicked their guns aside. A hail of bullets ricocheted around the kitchen as he fell to the floor, pressing his back to the kitchen cabinets. Eddie was forced back to the living room, bullets still flying through the shattered front windows and hitting in the wall above her head.

She fired a few shots out front, aiming for the men she could see moving towards the house. Were the agents dead already? Her eyes found Ted’s body near the front door, and her rage consumed her. This was all because of Hugh, that bastard.

When the gunfire paused from both directions, she rushed into the kitchen, taking cover beside Beau.

“We can’t hold out forever,” he said. “Ideas?”

“A few,” she said with a shrug, a sharp breath blowing the hair from her face. “You won’t like them.”

“Says who?”

Her lips twitched as she told him to cover her. She slid across the kitchen floor. Beau rose up and fired a few shots out the door as she dragged the two dead men’s bodies towards her.

“Eddie, I think you and I are going to work very well together,” he said when she grabbed the flash grenades and lethal grenades from the men’s tactical vests. She handed him a few, taking the rest herself. When she sat back, he leaned over and kissed her fiercely. She pressed against him, needing to devour him, but it ended too soon.

“Ready?” she asked.

He nodded, his jaw clenched as his eyes were drawn to the grenade she held in her hands. She pulled the pin and threw it towards the front of the house. Beau turned to the back door with her, and they fired as they ran outside, Eddie gritting her teeth as pain tore through her left leg. Gunshots ripped around them, and Eddie felt red hot pain slice through her shoulder, but she kept moving. Beau tossed a flash grenade into the tree line, and a moment later, men’s yells met her ears.

Beau grunted in pain, and Eddie saw blood spreading on his shirt. They reached the front of the house and peered around the side. Four men advanced on what was left of the front while several more headed around the side. Eddie gripped her Sig, knowing she was just about out of bullets. Beau nudged her arm, and together, they ran out.

Eddie’s clip clicked empty, and Beau covered her back as they reached the Hummers. Ted’s was near the front of the line. Beau’s gun was clearly empty, but she saw him pull another flash grenade from his pocket and throw it behind them as they climbed inside the Hummer. Beau took the wheel as Eddie climbed over into the passenger side. He put it in gear and took off down the drive, bullets hitting every side of the vehicle as they drove.

“Eddie? Stay with me, Eddie!”

Her eyes closed again as she groaned in pain. Her left leg shook violently, and her shoulder throbbed, but she wasn’t the only one hit. “Your side.”

“I’ll live,” he grunted. “We can’t go to base.”

“No,” she agreed and forced herself to straighten, cursing as she did so. She turned to the back seat to find the first aid kit when she caught sight of the vehicles coming up behind them. “Beau, drive faster.”

His hands clenched the wheel, and Eddie saw his eyes flicker closed for a long moment as his foot hit the accelerator harder. “Won’t stay awake too much longer,” he muttered.

“Just hang on,” she said and climbed painfully into the back seat. The windows were bullet proof, and she hurried to find a way to get the trailing vehicle off of them. She clambered all the way to the back and the secured case. She punched in the code, grabbed extra clips for her gun, and picked up a grenade from underneath everything else.

“Eddie,” Beau muttered.

“Stay awake, Beau! Don’t you dare pass out yet!”

The SUV chasing them was barely a car-length away. Its engine roared as it sped forward and hit the Hummer. Eddie fell back against the seat, gripping the grenade tightly in her hand as it backed off for another hit. She couldn’t shoot out their back window, so she climbed back into the second set of seats and threw open the door.

“What the hell are you doing?” Beau yelled.

“Keep going!” Shots hit the door, and she ducked back inside until they paused. “Swerve left!”

The Hummer shifted, and Eddie had a clear view of the SUV’s windshield. Her Sig reloaded, she fired as many rounds as she could before the gunman leaned out his window. Her shots cracked the windshield. As more shots hit the open door, Eddie waited for her chance, grenade in hand.

“Do it again!”

Beau cursed, but the Hummer swerved. Eddie saw the gunman kick out the windshield so the driver could see. She pulled herself up to stand on the side of the Hummer, and gripping the top rail, she threw the grenade. She fell back inside and yelled for Beau to floor it. The Hummer lunged forward as Eddie reached out to close the door.

A few seconds later, an explosion rocked them, and Beau struggled to keep the Hummer on the road as smoke billowed up behind them on the road.

The Hummer steadied and slowed. “Eddie…”

“Hang on,” she demanded, ignoring her pains, and crawled back up to the front. “Shit! Pull over and keep your damn eyes open!”

Beau did as she ducked back again to find the first-aid kit. Once the Hummer was parked, she told him to get in the passenger seat. His breathing was ragged, and any second now, he would pass out.

“Beau, keep your eyes open,” she snapped as he sank into the passenger seat and his breathing deepened. She grabbed the lever for his seat and shoved it back so he was flat. With the first aid kit at hand, she pulled up his shirt and checked his wound. The bullet was still in there.

“Eddie…” His hand reached out for hers, and she held it.

“This is going to hurt, but I need you to stay awake,” she said. “Bite this.” She gave him a roll of sturdy gauze, and he clamped it between his teeth. When she grabbed the large forceps in her hand, she glanced up at him. His gaze was focused on her face. “You trust me?”

He nodded seriously, his eyes darkening with everything he trusted her with. Eddie took a deep breath, said a prayer, and hoped she managed to save his ass as many times as he’d saved hers.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Beau grimaced. Pain bloomed at his side, sharp and hot. He was moving, but lying down. In a car? He tried to remember what had happened, but everything was blurred in his mind. He cracked open one eye and realized he was in a vehicle. He tried to sit up too fast and grunted at the pain in his side.

“Lay back,” Eddie’s voice said beside him. “You’ll make it worse.”

“Eddie?”

“Right here,” she said, and her hand found his on his seat. “You are never allowed to do that again. Ever.”

He smirked and sat up more slowly. “Now you know what it feels like.”

“I’ll never try to get myself killed again,” she said.

“Where are we?”

“In the mountains. I turned off our cells and pulled out the batteries so they can’t track us,” she told him. “I’m taking us to the middle of nowhere before we pull over.”

“What about the GPS in the Hummer?”

She reached for something in the cup holder and held up a small black square with several wires sticking out of it. “Took it out once you were stable.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes, Beau watching the road turn and twist before them. They were still in the mountains somewhere, but Eddie didn’t seem to have much of a direction. She was just going where the road led until it ended and turned to dirt. The Hummer bounced easily over it, taking them through the trees until they saw an old abandoned house, overgrown by the forest around it with a dead vineyard to the side.

“Stay here,” she said as she parked. “I’ll clear it first.”

He wanted to go with her but was still groggy. He watched her in the headlights, noticing that she barely let her left foot touch the ground. She disappeared inside the old stone house. A few tense minutes later, she came back out to get him.

“There are some supplies in the back,” she said once he was out and on his feet. “Can you make it inside alright?”

He shot her a look and took the flashlight she offered. “I’ll be fine, Eddie.”

“Be a hotshot later,” she snapped. “You were shot. Can you make it or not?”

He frowned and nodded, watching her head to the back of the Hummer. The walk to the house did him good, though his side throbbed in pain with each step. Once in, he set the flashlight down so its beam shone at the ceiling, giving the room a bit more light. He lifted his shirt and pressed tenderly around the gauze where he’d been shot. Had she dug the bullet out? He couldn’t remember.

“Stop touching it,” she ordered, coming up behind him. “Bad enough how much you flailed when I dug it out.”

She set down the duffel and pulled out several glow sticks, cracked them, and tossed them around the small room. Bags shadowed her eyes, and her face pulled tighter with each movement. She turned, and Beau saw the blood staining her shirt on her left shoulder.

“Were you shot?”

“I’m fine,” she muttered. “It went through.”

Beau pulled her into his arms, needing to hold her and feel her safe and breathing against him. Before all this started, he thought she was just another civilian who was in too deep, and now, he knew exactly who this woman was, knew what she was made of. She could’ve died again today. They both could have, and all Beau wanted to do was stay in that abandoned house and hold her close.