Keep My Baby Safe Page 20

  She stood as he moved slowly behind her and brushed past. She felt him pull the wallet, but it wasn’t a bad first attempt. “Not bad. Try again.”

  They worked at it, his hand sliding along her back as he passed, making her blood run a little faster. Again, the thought of Fug and Long fucking came to mind.

  “Shit!” Dan snapped. “Missed it again. This is a lot harder.”

  “Yeah. Do it again. Don’t be afraid of giving me a pretty good bump.”

  He did it again, bumping her harder than he had before. She put her hand on her hip, and the wallet was gone. He grinned and held it up for her to see.

  She smiled. “Not bad. Now, let’s see if you can do it while I’m moving.”

  She kept them late because she could tell Dan was close to getting the wallet and she wanted to end on a success. She was walking along when Dan bumped her.

  “Sorry,” he muttered as he slid past.

  “It’s okay. Try it again,” she replied.

  “Why?” he asked, holding up the wallet with a grin.

  She slapped at her pocket with a surprised look on her face. “Son-of-a-bitch. You got me.”

  His grin spread. “Yeah, I did.”

  “We’re done, everyone!” she called. “Dan the man here just stripped me of my pass to the detention cells, and I didn’t suspect a thing.”

  The three men and Fug made ape-like calls of encouragement and support as they pumped their fists in the air.

  “Good job today, everyone. But don’t use what I’ve taught you for evil. I’m not bailing your asses out of jail if you get caught.” She grinned at the men. “I need to stretch my legs. Who wants to run back to the base with me?”

  Fug shook her head. “Not me. I already know I can’t keep up.”

  “I’ll run with you,” Dan said.

  “Great. I was hoping someone would volunteer. I still get lost out here on all these roads. Anyone else?”

  “I’m not feeling it today,” Thom declined. “This fucking Air Force chow is too rich,” he said, placing his hand over his stomach.

  Dan tossed him the keys to his Tahoe. “Good. Can you drop my rig at the female visitors’ quarters?”

  “Sure.”

  “Anyone else?” Tasha asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll run with you,” Derrick said, then Rich agreed as well as he grinned at Dan. “Think the Air Force can keep up with the Navy?”

  “I guess we’ll see.”

  “Hang on. I need to get my running gear out of the car,” Tasha said.

  She’d been waiting for Dan to ask her to run with him. She didn’t know if he hadn’t run since he stopped beside her on the road or simply hadn’t called her. Either way, she was interested in testing herself against him. She retrieved her gear from the car and glanced around. The desert was as empty as always. She quickly stripped out of her clothes and into her sports bra and running shorts. She was already wearing her running shoes. She put her clothes into her bag and slammed the car door. Fug and Gregg appeared as she was about to open the door to enter the building.

  She winked at Fug. “I’ll try not to wear him out,” she whispered as Thom turned for Dan’s Tahoe.

  Britney blushed as she grinned. “Please don’t.”

  “Come on. I’m ready,” she called, sticking her head inside the building. “Last one back buys the beer.”

  “You’re on,” Rich said they strode toward the door.

  As they stepped outside, Dan skinned out of his shirt, the other two men following suit. Tasha’s mouth went dry. Derrick and Rich were built like brick shithouses, but goddamn, Dan was a fucking walking wet dream, ripped and cut to perfection. He wasn’t as bulky as the two SEALs, but that didn’t matter. Fug could have Derrick. She would take Dan over any of the other three men in a second.

  They started out slow to loosen up until she began to push them. They wore their daily BDU—Battle Dress Uniform—pants and boots, and she was confident she could run these guys into the ground. At about a mile, they were still with her. All four of them were sweating buckets, but Derrick and Rich’s breathing had become labored. She smiled. Time to bury them. She kicked the pace up again, her feet pounding along the dirt roads. Derrick and Rich hung tough for a while but began to drop behind. She smiled, though she was feeling the pace and the heat.

  “This way,” Dan said as they left the unpaved roads of the desert and turned toward the base proper.

  She knew where she was now and was glad to be off the dirt roads. The dust coated the inside of her mouth and the back of her throat. She kicked her pace up again and began to creep away from Dan, but she couldn’t hold it and he soon caught her again and began to edge ahead.

  No way, asshole, she growled to herself, reaching into her reserves. How can he run like that in long pants and boots?

  She pulled up beside him and took some satisfaction that he was hurting as much as she was. They pounded across the base, and there wasn’t a dry thread on her. They made the final turn, and she could see the visitors’ quarters. She dug deep and began to pull away.

  Her elation was short lived as Dan gradually passed her, slowly but steadily pulling away. He staggered to a stop maybe fifty feet in front of her as he reached the building. She pulled up beside him, so out of breath she could hardly talk.

  “Fuck,” she gasped as she walked in slow circles.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good run.”

  “Yeah, except you…tried to kill me,” he panted.

  She giggled then coughed. “How far?”

  “About ten miles…give or take.”

  The loop she ran at home was about ten miles, but she’d never pushed it that hard before. Dan was a machine. She looked around but Long and Tesley were nowhere in sight. They must have given up. She smiled. They might be bigger and maybe stronger than Dan, but they didn’t have the endurance, and God, did she love a man with endurance. She smiled at her private joke.

  “Want to come in? Can I get you anything?”

  “Water?”

  She bobbed her head and huffed out a hard breath as her breathing finally began to slow. “Sure. Come on in.”

  They entered her quarters as he wiped his chest with the shirt he’d been carrying since he took it off. As she ran a glass for him and another for herself, he shrugged into the shirt. She didn’t know why he bothered, because he was coming out of it again, and his pants too, as soon as she recovered.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thanks,” he replied as the accepted the glass and downed it. He stepped to the small kitchenette and refilled it before downing it again. “I needed that.”

  “What I need is a shower,” she purred, making the offer clear in her tone.

  She could tell he got the message, but as he looked at her his eyes unfocused. “Yeah, me too.” He shuffled a moment. “I guess I’ll go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She clenched her jaw. She wasn’t going to throw herself at him, the asshole. “Yeah. I’ll see you guys in the morning,” she replied, all the warmth gone from her voice.

  He nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. Thanks for the run,” he said before he turned and left, setting the glass on a table as he did.

  “Sorry?” she murmured as the door closed. Yeah, she was sorry too.

  Daniel

  “Here it is,” Dan said, pulling the small envelope from under the bench. They had trained hard and were two months in, and Tasha was starting to put it all together. They were picking pockets and picking up dead drops to get their information. Today, they were outside the base exchange, or BX for short, the military version of Wal-Mart, and they had to retrieve the address for their ‘hostage’ without anyone seeing them. Not an easy task considering the near constant flow of shoppers in and out of the store.

  He and Thom turned away, walking slowly to the parking lot as if they didn’t have a care in the world. That was the hardest thing they had to learn, to not act like they were on some sort of mission and to pretend nothing was happening
. They hopped into the staff car as Rich pulled to a stop at the curb. As he pulled away, Dan ripped open the small envelope and extracted the card inside. 3206 Nebraska Circle. He read the address to Rich.

  Tasha was watching, he was sure of it, but she was like a ghost. No one saw her unless she wanted to be seen. He grimaced. He’d really fucked up with her. She was still as professional as ever, but she had cooled noticeably toward him. Even the others had noticed something was up between them. When they asked what happened he brushed it off, and they hadn’t pried. They were professionals. So long as it wasn’t affecting the goal, they would let him keep his counsel.

  They rolled to a stop well down the block on Nebraska. “Thom and I go in. Derrick, you’re on over watch. Rich, you be ready to move,” Dan instructed. Tasha had, for the first time, allowed them to use radios and had issued them tiny buds they could put in their ears. They plugged in their radios. “Ready? Mic check.”

  “Check.”

  “Check.”

  “Check,” each man repeated in turn.

  Dan, Thom, and Derrick opened their doors and stepped out into the heat. They were going in totally blind. They had no idea what waited for them, and it wasn’t a good feeling. They were in an older part of the base. The houses were empty and awaiting renovation, so they didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing them playing spy and calling the MPs.

  Derrick went one way, Dan and Thom the other. They strolled down the sidewalk, chatting about nothing. More of the fieldcraft Tasha had taught them. Only soldiers moved together without talking.

  “How’s your stomach?” Dan asked. It didn’t matter what they talked about, so long as they talked.

  “Okay,” Thom replied.

  “You sure?”

  “Okay, no, not really. Most days it’s fine, like today, but other days it hurts like a motherfucker. When it hurts, I get the shits, then I feel better. I’m not used to eating real meals in an air-conditioned mess hall. That’s probably all it is. Air Force food sucks.”

  “Yeah. It can’t compare to the MREs you ground pounders are used to eating.”

  Thom laughed. The quality of MREs—Meals Ready to Eat—were a joke. “Maybe it’s the water. I don’t know.”

  “Maybe you should get checked out.”

  “I’ll be fine. I first thought I pulled a muscle or something. That may be all it is.”

  Dan nodded. “Try laying off the desserts.”

  Thom snickered. “You got it, Hoss.”

  They walked past the address, on the opposite side of the street, to scope out the area for trouble but saw nothing. “Over watch in place?” Dan asked.

  “Back is covered,” Derrick responded.

  “You ready to do this?”

  “I was born ready,” Thom replied.

  The two men turned and crossed the road before starting back. They walked up to the house as if they owned the place. According to Tasha, nothing screamed ‘look at me’ like hesitation and sneaking around. While Dan watched for trouble, Thom picked the lock. He could do it, but Thom was faster than all of them, save Tasha. Another skill they’d picked up from her.

  Dan went in nice and quiet. He pointed at his eyes with two fingers then at the door as he moved slowly through the house. Thom nodded and stepped to the side of the door and took a position to watch where he could see both the front and kitchen doors, and watch through the front windows.

  Dan crept into a bedroom. A woman stood in the empty room in full hand-to-hand combat training pads. She smiled and keyed a radio. “Go,” was all she said before tossing it away. Her smile widened. “Sergeant Angela Starm. You must be the asshole sent to kidnap me. I’m not supposed to let you take me out of this room, by whatever means necessary.”

  “Fuck,” Dan muttered. This was the first time the hostage was hostile. Tasha was still up to her tricks.

  “Bandits!” Rich called loudly.

  “Two bandits moving in at the front,” Derrick hissed in his ear.

  “I see them!” Thom responded. “Rich. Get ready to move. Rich! Fuck. Derrick, Rich is down. I’ve got this. Find us a ride. Stop fucking around, Dan. We need to move.”

  “Busy.”

  “On it,” Derrick replied.

  Angela began to circle in a crouch. “Ready to get some?” she taunted, flicking her fingers at him to draw him in.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She smiled. “Don’t worry about me, babe. I teach close quarters combat.” She began to move toward him, and he back-pedaled. She lunged in and he grabbed her wrist, twisting it to the side as he pivoted. She moved with him and brought her knee up to slam into his stomach. He grunted in pain as he rolled his hip and threw his opponent to the ground. He tried to put her into an arm-bar, but she was slippery as an eel and squirmed out of his grip before he could lock her down.

  He tried to roll to his feet and pin her again before she could escape his grip, but she used his grip against him and reversed his hold.

  “Move your ass, Dan,” Thom hissed.

  He could only grunt in answer as he strained to power out of her grip while she tried to tear his arm off. He curled up, wrapped a knee around her throat, and arched his back as he used the strength of his legs to wrench her off him. They scrambled for their feet, but she was quicker than him and drove into him, driving him hard into a wall. He wrapped her up, trying to use his superior strength, but she fell back, pulling him down with her. She applied a hold, forcing his arm out and making it useless as she wrapped him up with her legs. He began driving with his legs, trying to power out of her hold, but she was attached to him like a limpet. The hold was very sensual, with his head buried in her chest and his cock pressed against her pussy, but he didn’t think about it, all his focus on breaking out of her pin.

  She screamed in effort as she tried to hold him, but he kept driving with his leg, grunting and gasping as he thrust at her. He felt her grip slip, then slip a little more, and he exploded free. He was panting hard and his legs felt like rubber bands, but he rolled away from Angela and bound to his feet. She wasn’t quite as fast getting up this time, and she was panting as hard as he was.

  “You’re strong as shit,” she panted as they gathered their strength for another attack.

  He smiled. “Ready to get some?”

  “You take me down, I might give it up willingly.”

  He charged in. She blocked his feint, realized her mistake, and tried to recover, but he had her, drawing her in as he slid past, pulling her arm around and pivoting to apply pressure to her shoulder. She turned with him and fired a vicious kick at his leg. He grunted in pain as the blow connected and he stumbled. She nearly slipped his hold again, but he hauled her back and body-slammed her to the floor. She tried to scramble away, but he threw himself on her and wrapped her up in the same hold she’d used on him only moments before.

  Sergeant Starm began to drive with her legs as he had, trying to break his hold. She was strong as hell but not strong enough. She screamed again as she strained, then relaxed and tapped him on the shoulder in surrender. He immediately released her.

  “Fuck,” she gasped.

  “Come on,” he snarled as he took her hand and hauled her to her feet.

  “What the fuck were you two doing in there?” Rich asked.

  There were two MPs standing to the side with paint splatters on their helmets.

  “Negotiating,” Dan replied as he paused at the door.

  “Derrick. You got us a ride?” Thom asked.

  “Say the word.”

  “We’re ready.”

  Moments later, a Hummer skidded to a stop at the door. Dan shoved Angela out first and into the Humvee, his hand on her ass as he pushed her into the vehicle. Rich followed a moment later and scrambled over them to the front seat. As they bounced over the curb, a glob of white paint splattered off the windshield, another off the side glass, then they were clear.

  “You okay?” Dan asked their prisoner.

  She gri
nned back at him. “Fine. My shoulder will hurt like hell in the morning. How’s your leg?”

  He chuckled. “It’s going to hurt like hell in the morning,” he said, deliberately parroting her words back to her. “You’re damned good at your job.”

  “Thanks. I would have had you, but you’re so damned strong, and covered in sweat like you were, I couldn’t hold you.”

  “Sorry to disappoint.”

  Her smile widened. “It was my pleasure.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Derrick muttered. “Get a room, you two,” he added, glancing back and smiling broadly so she would know he was kidding.

  Everyone was still smiling when the four stepped out of the Hummer. Rich was already there, standing beside Tasha.

  “What happened to you?” Derrick asked as they approached.

  “Damned ambush. You’d just gone in the house when a Humvee showed up with four guys.” He tugged at his white-splattered shirt. “I never had a chance. Sorry, guys.”

  “Good idea to leave someone for an escape, but much of the time it’s better to keep your team together so you don’t leave a man hanging out. You can always return to the car or find another, as Derrick did.” She nodded at Derrick. “Good job on finding the ride so fast and not wasting any time on taking it.” She then looked at Thom. “Nice. I like how you let them come into the house before you took them out. You couldn’t see a thing from the street.” She smiled at them. “Only one casualty and an otherwise clean extraction. Great job. I was watching you at the BX. Even though I knew where and what to watch for, I didn’t see a thing. Score another win.”

  She turned her attention to Dan. “How’d you like my little surprise?”

  “You might have warned us. If I knew she would call in the cavalry, I would have handled it differently.”

  “You never know. Someone can say they want to be extracted, then change their mind. The important thing is, you got her out.” She looked at Angela. “You didn’t hold back, did you?”