CHAPTER NINE
Being taken away from ZQ was like having her heart extracted with icy prongs. For all her grumbling, Ivy had needed and adored every short minute in his strong arms. She focused her gaze on him as JJ hopped into the helicopter, its whirling blades blowing her hair around. As she was gently placed on padded bedding, she craned her neck to keep her love in sight.
A curtain was pulled to conceal patient and medic from the rest of the crew. The helicopter rose, then banked to the right before increasing in altitude. She was leaving behind the man she’d always loved. No, she would not cry. Enough tears over her SEAL giant had been shed over the years. How many times would her heart be broken? He should be here with her.
Would the drug cartel really be a continual threat to her and her son? She’d handled enough cases to know how vengeful they were; she had to admit ZQ was right. Gratitude for his selfless act warmed her heart. Not much, but enough to show her he still cared. And, heaven help her, so did she.
JJ snapped on latex gloves and opened various bags. “Nance, take care of Ivy for ZQ.” A powerful German shepherd rested his chin on her shoulder. Woebegone brown eyes stared at her. The dog licked her chin helping to put her more at ease.
“Any other injuries I need to know about?” JJ’s voice was low. “Ashley, the woman I love, was raped repeatedly by ISIS in Syria. Were you hurt that way?” His eyes were gentle.
Sharing wouldn’t be easy, but necessary. “I wasn’t raped. But…but they stuck their fingers inside me. Dir…dirty fingers. I tried to wash as best as I could afterward.”
“Ashley insisted I bring some vaginal germicidal ointment along.” She tensed at the thought of his touching her. The man was a stranger. He handed her a glove. “Put this on. I’ll open the tube and hand it to you and look the other way while you squeeze the contents on yourself and try to finger some inside. Okay? Ashley’s taught me to be very considerate of women’s feelings about their bodies. I won’t watch.”
He did as he promised while she took care of herself. “You must love her very much.”
“She’s been through hell. When we’d rescued her, she’d retreated so far into herself, she couldn’t speak or look at any of us. Emotional healing has taken a long time. She’s just now allowing me to kiss her. If I want her—and I damn well do—I have to be patient and wait for her to make a move when she’s ready.”
“When were you in Syria?” She removed the glove and put it in the bag he’d provided.
“As best as I can figure, a year or more after you had Quinn. Any other injuries?” His gloved fingers lightly passed over her bruised face. “I can’t exactly strip you down here. ZQ would kill me. He’s been in fifty kinds of knots since he found out it was you who’d been abducted.”
“Well, imagine my shock when I came to and saw him leaning over me.” Her heart was still running in circles and jumping over hurdles. Why did the man have to look so good? He was still a muscular warrior with a deep, rumbly voice that made her hormones want to slide and slither over every inch of him.
“Injuries, Ivy? You haven’t answered.” JJ touched her back after pulling up her tank top and she gasped. “Christ, you look like you’ve been beaten by rubber hoses. You’ve got dried blood back here. Hell, your back is almost totally black and blue.”
“I was, for hours.” She held up her wrist. “I hope the swelling here doesn’t mean it’s broken.”
“Believe me, when the boss gets done with them, they’ll be dead women beating motherfuckers. Tell me where it hurts.” JJ moved her wrist around and massaged it.
“More tender to the touch than any bad pain.”
“That’s good. I’ll just wrap it so you can’t move it for a day or so. Any allergies? Health issues?” He kept moving, assembling an IV drip, and preparing a hypodermic needle.”
“No. None.”
He cleaned her hand with a sterile wipe. “A little prick.” A minute later she was hooked to an IV drip. “I’m going to put you under now so I can remove the bullet.” He injected medicine into her drip. Nance licked her arm. “The canine nurse will see to your emotional needs. She’s helped me mend a lot of SEALs. That’s why we all love her so much. Speaking of love, you know ZQ loves—”
When she came to, Nance barked once. JJ pulled back the curtain and scooted into her area. He checked the bandage on her thigh. “You’re doing good, Ivy. I got the bullet out. No major damage. Rest some more. We’ll be stopping at an airport to refuel and take a restroom break in about two hours. I’ll stop the morphine drip. Here,” he handed her two pills and a bottle of water. “Take these, but don’t chug the water. You’ll get sick to your stomach.”
She nodded and woke when the helicopter landed. JJ had the curtain open and patted her arm. “Do you think you can walk with my help to the restroom? The exercise will do you good. I’ll lift you out of the bird.”
Her bladder begged for mercy. “I’ll try. You might have to catch me, if I fall.”
“You won’t fall. Your bullet wound was an easy fix. I’ve done a lot of those.” He unhooked her IV and asked Titan, whoever he was, to grab her when he handed her out. “I’ll be back as soon as I make a piss run.”
“Make it quick, man. My bladder’s on high alert.” Titan was a huge guy with curly red hair. He extended his arms to take her from JJ so he could hop out of the bird. “You’ve had a rough time. You doing okay?”
“I think so. I’m free from those horrible men, thanks to all of you.”
He blushed. “We were only following ZQ’s orders. Gotta say I’m crazy about your kid, ma’am. He loved running his fingers through my curls. Told me I felt like a Fwench Poodle.” He shook with laughter.
Ivy leaned against him and laughed right along, feeling the happiest she had in days— human kindness, the language of home, and safety. Things that meant so much to her right now. “That’s my boy. So, you’ve all met him?”
“Oh yeah. ZQ couldn’t wait to show him off. He’s apeshit over Quinn.” He smiled shyly. “We all are.” He carried her toward the airport. “I can see why ZQ said he was willing to die for you. You’re a beautiful woman, bruises and all.”
What did he mean by Quinn…er…ZQ being willing to die for her? How would they ever have a chance to work things out if he kept running off to fight some enemy?
JJ ran out of the restroom and Titan passed her off to him. “There’s a store inside the airport. Let’s see if they have any shoes you can wear. I don’t want you going barefoot.” He carried her through the aisles until they saw a bin of sandals. “What size?”
“Eight.” An employee seeing her plight, came over to help find a pair. He tore off the tags and buckled them on her feet, his gaze zipping from her bloody clothes to her bruised face.
She directed JJ to the small clothing section. “Put me down, so I can choose for myself.” She grabbed a packet of panties, three pair of shorts and four tank tops. Next, she snatched a hairbrush, deodorant, toothbrush and paste.
Ivy found a box of diaper wipes and, figuring it would be the closest thing she’d get to a bath, she tucked them under her arm. At the register, she grabbed six chocolate bars, two boxes of cookies and a bag of Cheetoes while pointing to a cold bottle of Coke as she began to devour a Snickers in front of the amused cashier. JJ laughed as he paid the bill. Then he carried her to the restroom so she could relieve herself.
As soon as he carried her back on board the helo, JJ took over the pilot’s seat. Dust sat in the co-pilot’s chair.
A man who introduced himself as Steelhead—and where did they come up with these names?—gave her more medicine and water to down the pills. “Next stop, Black Eagle Ranch,” JJ announced as the helicopter rose.
“I’m sure there will be a little boy waiting to crush you to death with hugs. I expect my wife Gina will be there too. Gina’s a physical therapist. She’ll probably work with you to speed your recovery and walking.”
She ripped open another candy bar. God, she was so hungry. “Would you mind closing the drape so I can get out of these bloody clothes? I don’t want Quinn seeing me like this.”
“Okay, but take your time. You don’t want to tear any stitches. Open the drape whenever you want. If you want. But sleep. You lost a lot of blood.”
Before long, she was on such a sugar high, she scooted from behind the curtain and joined the guys. Nance came trotting over when she saw the two packages of cookies Ivy held. “Can I give her one?”
“Not the Oreos. Chocolates give her the shits. She can have two of the other kind though. Pass the Oreos this way.” Titan’s red eyebrows waggled.
Before long, they were all talking, showing her their artificial limbs and scars, telling her how the ranch had become a home to them. “Wait until you meet ZQ’s mom. Her name’s June, but everyone calls her Junebug,” Steelhead said. “She’s a pistol.”
“Where did you get the name Steelhead?”
“Because his mind is like a steel trap. Bastard doesn’t forget anything. I’m Dust, in case you didn’t catch ZQ’s rushed introductions. Name’s short for Dustin.”
She talked around the Oreo she’d just stuffed into her mouth. “Gee, I feel like I ought to have a nickname.”
JJ pivoted slightly in his pilot’s seat. “If ZQ has his way, it’ll be IQ. You know, short for Ivy Quinlin.”
Ivy snorted. “IQ works because mine has to be higher than his.”
The men laughed and told her she better not mention that fact to the boss.
“Hey, if the man can’t take the heat, he can stay out of the bedroom.” Her hand slapped her mouth. “I did not say that. Must be the drugs talking.” That quickly the feeling of belonging to this gang of warriors enveloped her. She imagined she was one of them. “Thank you all for coming to save me. If I said it before, I’ll say it again. Thanks. You guys are the best.”
Titan grabbed for another cookie. “Oh hell, we know that, IQ.”
“Someone call Junebug and tell her we’ll be landing in ten. Don’t mention Zane not being with us. I’ll have to explain his thinking to her in person. She’ll be upset as hell. So will the rest of the women when they find out we’ll be off again in two days to extract ZQ and Grey.”
“Which one of you guys is going to tell Athena that Grey stayed behind, too?” Ivy glanced around at the men who suddenly seemed busy rubbing dust off their shoes or tucking in their shirt tails or scratching their junk. Even Nance covered her eyes with her paws. “You bunch of chicken shit fellas. I’ll tell her.”
“Good. Because she looks like a walking time bomb to me,” Titan said. “I bet she could charge past a Brahman bull, slice off his balls, and never break stride.”
“You big wimp.” Ivy kicked his foot and laughed.
“I’m serious, IQ. Women have a testosterone level of about two. Men are around seven. She’s a nine point six.” Titan pretended to quake in fear.
Dust leaned toward her with his cellphone. “Quinn wants to talk to his mommy.”
Tears prickled the backs of her eyes. “Quinn? How’s my sweet boy?”
“I been missing you. Daddy pwomised he’d get you back fo me. I been sleeping in the bed Daddy swept in when he was a boy. Can we stay here? I have a pony and a gwandma and wittle goats and fwiends I met at a bookstore. I wike wiving on a wanch. I missed you, mommy.”
Ivy had her hand over her mouth. She would not cry, but hearing her son’s voice was the best sound. The two of them had been such a close unit; all they really had was each other. “I missed you, too, Quinn.”
“People call me ZQ2 now.”
She laughed through tears. “Why?”
“Because I’m a little Zane. That’s my daddy’s weal name, but they call him ZQ. Can I talk to him now?”
“I’m sorry, baby. He had to stay to get the bad men who took me. Uncle Grey is with him to help.”
“But…but when will I have you both togethew?” She could almost detect the pout in his voice. There’d been too much disturbance in his life lately. He was used to routine and safety. Suddenly her son had his own personal hell to contend with. How scared he must have been.
“Soon.” She hoped. Her man had to stay safe. They had to have another chance at love and togetherness, especially now with Quinn who didn’t seem to know what his name was. They had a lot of things to work out.
“Home in view, folks,” JJ announced from the pilots seat. “Ivy, you doing okay?”
“Mommy, I heaw da helicoptew. I gotta hang up.” The line went dead.
“Yeah, JJ, I’m fine. I hope I don’t cry like a sissy when I see my son.” She wiped moisture from her cheeks.
Dust looked over his shoulder at her and tapped JJ’s arm. “Take it slow, brother. We’ve got a sister in emotional distress here.”
To her surprise, Titan wrapped his arms around her. “You’ve been through hell, surgery in a helo, missed your son. Warriors cry, too. Not often. But we do. Have a few sobs and get the worst out. JJ will circle the ranch until you’re ready. Go ahead, IQ. Let go. We’ve all got your back.”
Was this a team of warriors or one big family?