Chapter 8

 

Patrick muttered a curse as he climbed back into his SUV in Rebecca’s driveway. Staying here making love to her all morning wasn’t exactly an option; he had a goddamn job to do. The CO needed him on base ASAP for an emergency briefing with the Pentagon. The other men had been notified to pack their bags and report to base immediately.

And Patrick was already on his way.

Hell, adrenaline had already been rushing through his veins before he’d spontaneously carried Rebecca off to the bedroom. He’d needed to see her before he left, to kiss her goodbye, but lying her down on the bed to claim her once more as his hadn’t exactly been part of the plan.

As soon as he’d kissed her, he’d been desperate to be closer though. He’d needed to feel her inner walls clamping down around his rock-hard cock, to kiss her senseless, to hear her crying out his name as he brought her to release.

He’d wanted to make her come several more times—to flip her over and take her from behind, watching her fists clutch the sheets in desperation as he thrust into her and sent her over the edge. He’d needed to spread her out on the bed and kiss every square inch of her soft skin, laving at the sweet folds between her legs until she was coating his tongue with her release.

He clenched his jaw, gripping the steering wheel as he headed onto the highway leading to base.

He didn’t have time for any of that this morning. Cutting their lovemaking to a session that was short and sweet was all he could do.

And hell if he wouldn’t be dreaming of her sweet cries and silken walls on the long journey over to Afghanistan.

He dropped his gear in the locker room and hurried to the bullpen, where the CO was watching the live feed from CNN. Patrick crossed his arms, seething at the relentless coverage all over the media. Nothing like giving the enemy a head’s up that the U.S. military was on its way. They were putting the life of the American woman in danger and jeopardizing the rescue operation before it had even begun.

His CO pounded his fist on the table in frustration. “At least they don’t know how high this goes. She’s not even the daughter of a congressional aide, but a damn Senator.”

Patrick narrowed his gaze. “You’d think Congress would be doing everything in their power to keep this quiet, not have it blasted over the national news.”

The secure video connection went through a moment later, and the CO and Patrick were staring at a roomful of generals and admirals in a secure conference room at the Pentagon.

“We’re sending your team in,” Admiral Davis barked. “Team Delta as well. Chatter confirms the hostage is in the camp shown in the sat imagery. It’s all over the damn media. We’re going to retrieve the hostage before they move her to a secondary location or make good on their threats.”

“Understood,” Patrick’s CO replied.

“Word hasn’t leaked yet that she’s the Senator’s daughter, but with the way this shit storm is brewing, it’s only a matter of time. I want her out of there before that makes the evening news.”

“The Blackhawks are on standby,” the CO said in a clipped tone. “My SEAL team will be on the next C-17 out of Virginia.”

“Team Delta is already en route,” Admiral Davis continued. “You’ll meet up at base in Afghanistan, and the teams will go in at 2300 tomorrow night.”

“Sir, we’ll retrieve the Senator’s daughter,” Patrick assured him, his blood boiling.

“I don’t doubt it,” the Admiral said. “We all know how pressing this matter is.”

The connection disappeared, and the CO turned to Patrick. “Notify the rest of the team we’re deploying immediately. They should already be on their way in to base but don’t have the details yet. Flight leaves in two hours. I’ll be watching the takedown of this op live.”

“Understood,” Patrick said. “We’ll coordinate with Delta once we land?”

“Affirmative. You’ll have specs and coordinates to review on your flight over. Hash out the final details there. You’ll each be approaching the camp from opposite directions. We don’t want them getting wind of this op and heading out with the hostage.”

“I’ll notify the rest of the men,” Patrick said.

Two hours later he was walking up the ramp of a C-17 cargo plane, his ninety-pound rucksack on his back. A salty breeze blew in off the nearby ocean, and he took a deep breath. Nothing like trading the gorgeous Virginia Beach weather for the Afghani desert.

Christopher “Blade” Walters, the computer guru of their SEAL team, fell in step behind him. “Delta is already on their way?” he asked.

“Probably almost there,” Patrick confirmed. “Hunter’s got a good team,” he said, referring to Hunter “Hook” Murdock. “Hell, if he had his way, they’d probably already have conducted the rescue op by the time we arrive.”

Christopher chuffed out a laugh. “Sounds familiar, Ice,” he said, shooting Patrick a knowing look. “You aren’t exactly the type to sit around.”

Patrick smirked. “Hell, I don’t blame the guy. Get in, get the girl, get out. The Pentagon’s set on sending both teams in to complete the extraction though.”

“Well, Delta can sit on their asses knitting, waiting until the real boys arrive,” Brent joked, joining the rest of the team on the plane.

Patrick stowed his gear and grabbed his noise-cancelling headphones as his gaze slid toward Brent.

“Damn, and I forgot my knitting needles,” the medic on their team, Mike “Patch” Hunter quipped, grinning at them from his seat.

“No problem,” Brent said, a wicked gleam in his dark eyes. “Blade can loan you his pair.”

“Sonofbitch,” Christopher muttered.

“Easy fellas,” Matthew “Gator” Murphy said, easing down into his own uncomfortable seat on the C-17. “No need to get your panties in a bunch. I’m sure Cobra has enough extra sets of knitting needles for everyone.”

“Hoorah,” Christopher said as the others chuckled.

“Fucking pansies,” Brent muttered.

Patrick cleared his throat. “After we go wheels up, we’ve got specs to go over. There’s a chance the mission may get moved up since Delta’s going to be there ahead of us.”

“Roger that,” the men grunted in reply.

“Are we taking Humvees to the camp where the woman’s being held?” Evan asked.

“Negative. We’ll be flying in on Black Hawks. Each team to a helo.”

Evan nodded, and Patrick recalled how on their last hostage rescue, Evan’s Humvee had gotten blown into the air after driving over an IED, leaving Evan injured for nearly a month. Hell of a way to conduct a rescue op, he thought, clenching his jaw. They hadn’t sustained any serious injuries since then, and Patrick intended to keep it that way.

He sank down into his own seat and buckled in, pulling his headphones on to drown out the noise in the cargo plane. One non-stop flight to the Afghani desert, coming up.

 

***

 

Rebecca took a sip of her decaf tea, pulling up the legal documents she needed on her computer. Juggling multiple clients proved a challenge some days, but with her cases in different stages of divorce proceedings, there was no way to avoid it.

Her gaze was drawn to the sunny blue skies and view of the distant Atlantic Ocean from her office window. The men had probably taken off on a helicopter from Little Creek hours ago. Multiple military jets were always screaming across the Virginia Beach sky on training drills from Naval Air Station Oceana. It usually awed the tourists and provided little more than background noise to the locals, who were used to hearing the sounds of the fighter jets and seeing them fly in formation.

The SEAL team flew out on bigger cargo planes with they deployed, but she wasn’t privy to details aside from that.

There were lots of children with parents in the military around the Virginia Beach and Norfolk areas. Until Patrick retired and got out of the Navy, Logan would have to be used to his frequent deployments. And even then, it was hard for Rebecca to imagine Patrick ever leaving the service.

He’d probably end up the next CO at Little Creek or something—maybe he wouldn’t be deploying on ops, but he’d be down there 24/7 running them. Patrick thrived on adrenaline, was a man who seemed to need the physical nature of his career, and she couldn’t imagine him ever wanting to miss out on all the action.

Her cell phone buzzing on her desk caught her attention, and she glanced down, seeing Alison’s name flash on the screen.
“Hey hun, how are you holding up?” she asked. “It’s never easy when they go, is it?”

“I’m in Labor and Delivery,” Alison said.

“Why’d they send you there when you’re an ER nurse?” Rebecca asked, clicking on her screen to open the newest email from her client.

“They didn’t send me up here to work. I’m in labor!”

“Holy crap,” Rebecca said, nearly dropping the phone. “Early as in the baby is coming now? Or pre-term and they’ll stop it? Does Evan know? You’ve still got another month to go!”

“It’s pre-term labor, so they’re trying to stop my contractions. And no, I can’t get ahold of Evan,” Alison said. “I talked to their CO—Captain Ryan Mitchell. He said he’d try to get word to the team, but honestly, he didn’t sound too hopeful that Evan could be sent back in time if the baby decides to come early. They’re probably halfway over the Atlantic by now.”

“Wow. Yeah, they wouldn’t turn the entire plane around. They can’t. Maybe when they land, Evan can come back?”

“I don’t know,” Alison said with a sigh. “I don’t want to mess up their mission. And I’m not supposed to be in labor right now anyway, so what if he did manage to fly all the way back here for nothing? They’re trying to stop the labor, not let me have the baby today. I’m on steroids to help the baby’s lungs develop in case he does arrive early though.”

“I’ll come to the hospital,” Rebecca said, closing the email that was still open on her screen. “I’m just finishing up some stuff in the office, but I can finish it tonight if need be. Or whenever, if you need me to stay there with you. I’m just doing some paperwork and correspondence—no court cases today, thankfully.”
“What about Abby? And don’t you watch Logan when Patrick is gone?”

“I’ll see if his sister can come over and watch them. Both kids are in summer camp this week. Unfortunately, my nanny has the week off—she’s going to be full-time with us this summer, so this is her vacation. Naturally it happened to be when Patrick deployed, but we never know when that’ll be. It’s not like we could plan around that. I’ll have to wait until Sarah gets to Patrick’s house before I can come see you though. I’m picking up the kids from camp in a little while.”

“All right, if you’re sure she can watch the kids later on. I’m kind of freaking out at the moment.”

“Of course I don’t mind coming to wait with you. And I’m sure the stress of the guys leaving didn’t exactly help. I was a wreck when Patrick came to say goodbye this morning.”

“Sorry, hun. Believe me when I can say that I relate. I’m drinking tons of water, and they’ve got me on an IV drip. Hopefully it’s just a false alarm and this little guy will stay cooking longer.”

“All right, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Call me ASAP if anything changes before I get there.”

Rebecca called Sarah, and a couple of hours later she was finally heading to the hospital. Goodness. It was always something, wasn’t it? Patrick and Evan were deployed, her nanny was out of town, and now her best friend was in labor.

She parked in the garage closest to the maternity ward and hurried inside the building. How ironic that she knew every in and out of the hospital since her first husband had worked here. Their life together seemed like a million years ago now—the accident and everything in the aftermath was pushed to the back of her mind.

It was amazing how Patrick and Logan had changed her life for the better. Only a year ago, she was content to live her life devoted to raising Abby. And now?

She blew out a breath.

Overwhelming was one way to describe it, but she was happier than she’d been in years.

After checking in at the nurses’ station, she rounded the corner to find Alison’s room. Her best friend was lying in a hospital bed, her strawberry-blonde hair pulled up in a top-knot, hospital gown on.

“It’s the latest in fashion,” Alison said with a grin. “Can you believe they made me change out of my scrubs into this?”

“Well, it’d be hard to deliver a baby in pants,” Rebecca said, sinking down into the chair beside her. “How are you doing?”

“The contractions have slowed, which is good. They’ll probably have to keep me overnight hooked up to all these monitors and the IV drip. Good thing I’m not afraid of needles,” she joked, glancing at the IV inserted into her hand.

“And you say I never leave work,” Rebecca teased.

“Ha. I might have to start my maternity leave early if we can stall labor. Even with changing my shifts around, too much time on my feet isn’t good for the baby. I will say it was convenient only having to take the elevator upstairs though. I guess I’ll never be one of those women who give birth on the side of the highway or something.”

“Never say never,” Rebecca quipped. “And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“Evan’s CO called to check on me.”

“Ryan? That was sweet.”

“Yeah, I think he feels guilty, which is crazy. I mean, Evan’s job is being a Navy SEAL. Deploying to God knows where. He’s just doing what he’s paid to do.”

“I think Ryan knows that Evan would worry about you. The entire team looks out for one another. And Ryan’s just as protective as the rest of them. They’re not around, so he feels like he should step in or something.”

“He’s not stepping foot in the delivery room.”

Rebecca burst into laughter. “I don’t think he’d literally step in, but he’s trying to be supportive. That’s what I’m here for. And besides, doesn’t he have a mission to run or something?”

“Something like that,” Alison agreed. She rubbed her hand over her stomach. “I’m absolutely starving, and they won’t let me eat anything since I’m in labor. It’s so annoying.”

“Sorry, hun. I’m still in the phase of early pregnancy where I’m sipping on tea and eating crackers all day long. At the moment, I’m pretty sure I’ll never want to eat most foods ever again.”

“Just wait, after the first trimester is over, you’ll be starving.”

Rebecca shuddered.

“Sorry. I guess it’s hard to even think about food right now.”

Rebecca pulled her phone from her purse. “That was Patrick’s sister texting me. The kids are both sound asleep, so I can stay here as long as you need.”

Alison groaned. “Thanks, sweetie. Although I’m hoping we can both bust out of this joint sooner rather than later.”