Hot Extraction: SEALs, Marines, and Infantry - A Military Romance Boxed Set Page 15

  “I thought maybe we had something special,” she finally says. “Except for my dad, these last few days have been some of the happiest of my life. But I realize now, I don’t know you at all.”

  “Ronnie,” he says softly. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s Dr. Baker, if you please,” she says as she steps around Ryker, opens the door, and leaves.

  He stands silently in the room for a moment then gives a middle finger to the security camera in the corner. Let Spreck and Hargraves know about that, too.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Ronnie throws herself across the bed in her room. She wants to cry but the tears won’t come. She’s in shock. In shock that her own government is going to kill her father for what they developed with government money. In shock that the man she thought she could trust with her life is the same man who will pull the trigger to kill her dad. How could she have been so foolish?

  If she had known that her dad was getting money from DARPA she would have never worked on the project. And now, because of it, look at what has happened! Ronnie lies quietly on the bed, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts, staring into the gathering darkness until she finally falls asleep, not even realizing she hasn’t eaten since lunch.

  ***

  Wednesday morning Ryker forces himself to get up and go perform his normal workout. He hadn’t slept much the night before and he needs something to shake off the cobwebs. The equipment is scheduled to arrive at the distributor today. If Mahmud calls the spooks can do their thing and maybe this will all be over today. Not a minute too soon either. He is ready to get out of this fucking country and never come back.

  His normal workout takes forty-five minutes to an hour, depending on the day and the muscle group he is working. Today it takes two because he works himself to exhaustion, trying to clear his head. As he stands in the shower, letting the water pour over him, his thoughts are circling in an ever tightening spiral, tearing at him for his stupidity of having gotten involved with Ronnie in the first place. Looking back on the events, he isn’t even sure how it happened. It just sort of… did. There was no conscious decision, and he damn sure didn’t mean to—if not fall in love—at least become attached to her.

  He doesn’t love her. Not really. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt to lose her. But he was falling for her, that much is true. He should have broken if off after that first night, when Hargraves had warned him off. But no, he had gone on being stupid, and just kept seeing her, knowing it was a bad idea.

  He slaps the shower off. Serves him right for thinking with the wrong head. He just wishes he hadn’t hurt Ronnie in the process.

  ***

  Ronnie picks at her breakfast. After missing dinner last night, she should be starving, but she has no appetite. She had slept on the bed fully clothed last night. Well, slept in only the most general terms. She had tossed and turned last night, drifting in and out of sleep, her thoughts troubled.

  The problem is, she doesn’t know how to feel. Sometimes she is thankful that Ryker is willing to stop seeing her so he will be the one to go in for her father. Other times she is pissed off that Hargraves has put them in this impossible situation. Sometimes she is aghast that Ryker admitted to being willing to shoot her father in cold blood, but then that thought is tempered by the idea if he would tell her the truth about that, then he is probably telling her the truth that he is willing to die trying to get him out.

  The only thing she knows for certain is that she and Ryker are finished. Whatever feelings she had for him are gone, stabbed through the heart by what he is willing to do. How can she ever care for a man that is willing to shoot her dad?

  She pushes her eggs around on her plate. On the other hand, does that matter? If Ryker didn’t go, someone else would, and her dad would be just as dead. If he weren’t committed to the mission, willing to do what has to be done, the next man might be more willing to take the easy way out and not even try to extract him.

  As she stares at her plate, looking for answers, she can feel the tears coming. She tries to hold them back, but they won’t be stopped. She quickly rises from her table, not clearing her meal, and rushes to the restroom, the door closing behind her just as she can hold the tears no longer.

  Ronnie spends several minutes weeping softly, mourning the potential loss of her father… and the loss of the man she thought she knew.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Petty Officer Evans, please report to the motor pool immediately. Your mission is a go,” the young Marine says.

  Ryker springs to his feet and briskly strides out of the mess hall, leaving his half-finished lunch behind. It is Friday, three days since he has last seen Ronnie and the two days after the spooks had planted their bug. Ryker and CIA have suspended their operations in order to not inadvertently alarm whoever might be picking up the equipment. Because of that, the last two days have been nerve racking as they waited to see if the bugged equipment would be picked up.

  As he walks into the garage three black Suburbans are idling with their doors open. “What’s the plan?” Ryker asks the well-dressed man directing people to their cars.

  “Our stalker car just called in that the bug is moving. It is tracking. You and Dr. Baker are in the middle car. Marines fore and aft for fire support if needed.”

  “Dr. Baker?” he asks in surprise. “Why is Dr. Baker coming?”

  “Orders. She is to inspect the lab after it is secured.”

  “Fuck,” he mutters. Now he has two Dr. Bakers to worry about.

  “Dr. Baker. Right this say,” the spook says, directing her to the second car the moment she enters the motor pool.

  “No,” Ryker says. “Put her in the last car. If you have to, bring a Marine up to my car. I want the two fire teams to hold back unless the shit hits the fan. No, scratch that. Get a fourth car. Put one Marine and Dr. Baker in that car. It is to hold well back until the area is secured.”

  “My orders…”

  “I’m changing your orders. Now move it!” Ryker barks. At first it appears the man is going to argue but then he moves off to comply. Ryker spots one of the Marines that were pinned behind the SUV’s when the bomb went off at the apartment. “Corporal!”

  Three men turn to look in his direction so Ryker points to the man he wants. “Corporal Londergan,” the man says, stepping up and cracking off a perfect salute.

  “Corporal, you are with Dr. Baker. You stay well back and keep her safe. She is more important than you, me, or this entire fucking mission. You got that? If the shit gets too deep you get her the hell out of there. Her safety is your only concern.”

  “Yes sir!”

  “Good man!” Ryker says. “Alright, everyone else listen up. I know the Marine way is to go in and BSU, but we’re going to do this nice and quiet and hopefully there won’t be any need to blow shit up. Londergan here is going to take Dr. Baker and hold back well out of range until the area is secure.

  "Team One,” he says, pointing to the first SUV, “when we get to where we are going I want you to hold back about three blocks if we are in town, about a mile if we are not. Go to ground and wait for my signal.

  "Team Two,” Ryker says, pointing to the second SUV just as another rolls to a stop at the back of the line, “I want you to do the same, but on the opposite side. I will be in the third SUV. I will go in alone.

  "Wait for my signal. I will call for fire support only if I need it. Gunfire is not the signal. Everyone clear on that? I’m going to shoot everyone I see except for Dr. Baker, so don’t come in with support unless I call for it. It will really piss me off to shoot one of my own guys. Once again, I will call for fire support only if I need it. If I do, you come in and kill everyone that moves. I mean everyone because all the friendlies will already be down. Clear?”

  “Do you have a go word?” one of the Marines asks.

  Ryker grins. “How about, ‘Marines! Get your asses in here!’”

  Everyone laughs. “Fuckin’ ay, sir,” says the M
arine that asked the question.

  They are flying by the seat of their pants, so there isn’t a lot more to say. They will have to adapt and overcome when they get wherever it is they are going and the entire assault team is dressed in civvies to make them less conspicuous..

  “Alright people, let’s mount up. Everyone stay frosty and let’s get Dr. Baker and get out without any casualties.” Ryker then turns to Ronnie and Corporal Londergan. “Dr. Baker. You stay with his Marine. You do what he says, when he says, and nothing else. Clear? We’ll get your father secured then he will bring you in. Londergan, keep her safe.”

  Ronnie can feel herself wanting to pout. Yes, she had told Ryker to call her Dr. Baker, and yes she had told him to stay away, but he seems so formal around her now. Like she was never anything to him… the bastard. “Whatever you say, Petty Officer,” she snaps, her voice cool.

  Ryker hears Ronnie’s jab but keeps his face neutral, focusing on the mission. He just needs find her father and get him out. Then he can wash his hands of this whole fucking affair and get some normalcy back into his life. He takes his radio and attaches the thumb-size box to his belt, threading the cord for the small earpiece under his shirt as all the Marines do the same. “Hand me a radio for Dr. Baker,” he says, taking another unit from the private passing out equipment. Without asking permission he mounts the radio to Ronnie in the same fashion. “I’m putting you on push to talk. There is a small button on the ear bud. Press it with you finger…” he says, demonstrating on his own ear bud, “…if you want to talk. But keep quiet and just listen unless it is damned important. Got it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Comm check.” Ryker says.

  Each Marine speaks one at a time, Ryker hearing their voice in his ear as well as normally. “You too Dr. Baker.”

  Ronnie reaches up and pushes the ear bud. “Uhh… comm check.”

  He nods. “Now, without pressing the button.”

  “Comm check,” Ronnie says again.

  “Alright people. Mount up and get ready to come out swinging,” Ryker orders, then takes Ronnie by the arm as she begins to turn, pulling her back to face him. “We’ll get him out safe, Ronnie. I promise.”

  Her eyes are welling with tears as she nods and she stays silent, afraid that her voice might crack if she tries to speak.

  In that brief moment she sees the old Ryker, the man that is willing to die to protect those under his care, not the cold-blooded killer she has made him out to be.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ronne and Corporal Londergan ride in uncomfortable silence. Ronnie is suffering from a serious case of butterflies, remembering how badly it all went horribly wrong the last time she was out of the compound to inspect a “secured” lab. Londergan isn’t nervous, but he is having impure thoughts about the stunning woman riding next to him and has to force himself to pay attention to his driving.

  “Dr. Baker? May I ask you something?” Londergan finally asks to break the silence.

  “Sure. Londergan, isn’t it?”

  “You can call me Jason, ma’am. The rumor is that Evans jumped off a three-story building after you were taken. Is that true?”

  “I guess. There was no other way down that I know of. He jumped down to another roof, but there were no ladders or stairs that I saw. So I guess he jumped off at least a two-story roof to the ground. Why?”

  Jason shakes his head as he grins. “Those fucking SEALs. They are the baddest of the bad asses. I saw the car he was driving when he was ambushed. That thing is beat all to shit. I have no idea how he managed to get away in that thing.”

  “It wasn’t easy.”

  “You were there?” Jason asks in surprise.

  “Yeah.”

  “No shit? What happened?”

  “We were just sitting in the car when someone started shooting at us. Ryker, he used that poor car like a battering ram. He destroyed three other cars before we got away. Then, when the SUV died, we hid in a store until help arrived. I was never so scared in my life. Ryker shot a guy just as I ran out of the store to get in the SUV the embassy sent.”

  Londergan looks at Ronnie with new respect. Hot as shit and tough too! “I saw him get away with you after he took out your kidnapper. What happened after that?”

  “Were you one of the guys hiding behind the SUV after the bomb went off?”

  “Yeah. Me and Private Vaughn. I have to tell you, I was about to shit my pants, but that fucking Evans was standing out in the open cool as a fucking cucumber. It took real balls to make that shot.”

  “Which shot?”

  “When he shot that guy holding you. From that distance with a service pistol? Big brass ones.”

  Ronnie smiles. “You don’t know the half of it. After we ran off he shot two more guys before they could even get out of their car, then he stood down a guy that was shooting at us using his empty gun.”

  “He what?”

  “His gun was empty. At least I guess it was because he wasn’t shooting it any more. Anyway, this guy was shooting at us and Ryker stands up and just points his gun at him, making him duck back behind the wall.”

  Jason begins to laugh. “Big brass ones!”

  “Then he was going to run at the guy and try to take him with his bare hands I guess. Or something. I don’t know what he was going to do. All I know is that he was going to leave me at the car we were hiding behind and ‘draw his fire,’ whatever that means.”

  “It means he was going to try to get the shooters attention on him so you could get away. What happened next?” Jason asks, intrigued. He knew that Ryker was a badass just because he was a SEAL, but if what Dr. Baker is saying is true, he is a serious badass.

  “I was so scared I was about to panic. I was holding onto his arm for dear life. Before he could get me off of him the embassy car arrived.” Ronnie can feel herself begin to tear up from the memory. “Those guys saved my life. Both of our lives. I don’t even know who they were.”

  “Probably CIA. They’re always late to the party.”

  Ronnie snorts out a chuckle. Talking with Londergan reminds her of all that Ryker has done for her. What he was willing to do to protect her. Over the past two days she had sort of come to an equilibrium with her feeling about Ryker. But now, after talking about it with Jason and seeing how impressed he is with his actions, she can feel a flicker of feelings for him return. She is just so confused! She both wants him and hates him at the same time!

  ***

  With the tracking car feeding them directions, it doesn’t take long for the rescue team to close the distance… especially when the bugs stops moving. They wait while the tracking car cruises past the location, only to discover the van is sitting empty. Though there is no way to know for certain, because the van is parked near a restaurant it is assumed that the driver is having lunch. After a moment’s thought Ryker has everyone go to ground and wait.

  As hoped, forty-five minutes later, the tracking car reports the bugs are moving again. They take a circuitous route through the city; the driver of the van obviously wandering about in a misguided attempt to throw off any would be tails. Because the embassy cars stick out like a sore thumb, the strike teams stay well back and out of sight.

  When the van stops again, this time in the Roumieh Main Road Industrial Zone, Ryker is certain they have arrived at their final destination. The Industrial Zone is on the north-east side of Beirut, well away from the hustle and bustle of the city center. That works to their advantage in that they won’t have to worry overmuch about civilian casualties, but it will make sneaking in a lot more difficult.

  The tracker car, a well-worn FIAT that won’t rate a second glance, waits twenty minutes then oozes past the van. The driver of the FIAT, the CIA agent that worked with Ryker to locate the supplier of the equipment, parks the car in a space beside the van and steps into the office on the pretense of trying to sell them a copier.

  The idea is to gather what intelligence he can, but he learns nothing, not even if t
he equipment was delivered to this exact facility. The bug works out to a couple of miles, but it can be located only to within a couple of hundred feet, which means the equipment could be located in any one of four units.

  While Ryker and the rest of the strike team wait, the two agents in the tracking car find hit a few more offices in the park, both for recon and to make the copier salesman scam more believable, before finding an out of the way place to park and settle in to watch the van. They don’t have long to wait before two men exit the building nearest the van, climb into the vehicle, and drive away. The men in the FIAT wait, seeing what else they might learn, reporting a steady stream of intel back to Ryker and the rest of the team.