Her Fierce SEAL: Midnight Delta Book 6 (22 page)

“Mason is going to be here in twenty minutes,” Drake said, looking at his watch.  “Campbell, are you one of those survivalists?”

“I bought this place from one of those survivalists.  It suits my needs.  Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”  There was a high pitched beep that sounded.

“I guess your man has arrived sooner than you thought.”  Laird went behind his desk to a computer and tapped in a code. A huge monitor appeared on the wall.  They could clearly see a car with Mason in the driver’s seat.  “I can activate the gate from the computer, the panel at the door, or from my watch.  I’ll get you all the codes.”  He clicked in a code and the gates opened. 

“I’ll go meet Mason and bring him in,” Finn said.

“Did they have like sister wives and shit?” Drake asked as he left the room.  He opened the door as Mason was getting ready to knock.  God, it was good to see his boss.  Mason looked tired and grim.

“Dammit, Finn, I was hoping to see you under better circumstances.”

“So was I.”

Mason gave a half smile.  “You’re looking better than when I last saw you, though.  We’ve missed you.”  Mason put both hands on Finn’s shoulders and looked into his eyes.  “I’ve missed you.  Are you doing okay?”

“It gets better every day, but no, I’m not there yet.”

“Better is good.  Better is damn good.”  The tension around Mason’s eyes eased.  “What kind of place did Declan manage to find for us?  And where is everybody?”

“The girls are making dinner.  Angie and the men are in Laird’s office.  Before we go in there, I wanted to let you know I have an idea I want to run by the team.  It might seem out there.”  He hated that he was even the slightest bit hesitant.

“If you have an idea, then I sure as fuck want to hear it,” Mason said decisively.

“Okay, let’s go.”

Finn pushed the office door open, and Laird turned from the screen where he was pointing out the layout of the compound.

“Mason Gault.  I’ve heard about you.  It’s a pleasure.”

“Laird Campbell.  The same.”  Mason moved forward and shook Laird’s hand.  “You worked with our Captain Hale on a mission.  He mentioned you a couple of times in passing.”

“Telling tales out of school, huh?  Well, he sang your team’s praises.  When Declan called, I was happy to help out.”

Mason frowned.  “Yeah, well I’m not too happy with Declan at the moment.”

“It ebbs and flows with him.  We’re just going over the footprint of the compound. Declan said he will have the general’s private number tonight.”

“What are you talking about?” Mason asked.

“That’s part of the plan I was talking about,” Finn said.

Everybody turned to look at him.  “The general has been finding us, but it’s time for us to set up the trap.”

“You’re thinking here.  This place would be a good spot,” Laird said thoughtfully.

“How would you get him to come to this place, just say, ‘hey, here we are’?” Drake asked sarcastically.

“Shut it down, Avery,” Mason clipped out.  “Continue,” he said to Finn.

“I’m not quite sure.  We get them to figure out our location.  Either through the back and forth communication when we call the general, or when they demand to see Dasha. Which you know they will.”

“Shit, that could work,” Drake said excitedly.

“We need to call Clint.  He needs to figure out how to do this, so it doesn’t look like we’re leaving breadcrumbs.  It needs to look like we were trying to hide our location,” Mason said thoughtfully.

Finn liked this more and more.  Angie stepped over to him and squeezed his hand.  He returned the squeeze and caught Mason’s glance.  Nothing ever escaped Mason’s notice.

***

D
eclan’s call came two hours after a subdued dinner.  Between Lou’s sorrow over losing his ranch and Dasha’s torment about her baby, even Drake couldn’t raise the energy. 

Laird motioned for the team to meet him in his office while the girls cleaned up. “Hey everyone, I have Clint on the line.  We’ve been discussing how we can dink with the general’s phone, e-mail, or Skype.”  Declan’s distinctive voice came through the phone. 

“Do you have the phone number we need?” Mason asked.

“Yes.  I gave Vlad’s number to Clint.  He should be able to call it and at least track it to the nearest cell phone tower unless he has it encrypted, which is very well possible.” 

“Thank you, McAllister,” Mason said.

“You’re welcome.  I’m going to have my phone on me for the next two days, I’ll answer if any of you call.”

“I appreciate it,” Mason responded.

“He hung up,” Clint said.

“Hey Clint, it’s Finn.  I want to run an idea by you.  Is there any way we can arrange it so these bastards can track us here?”

“You want them to come to you?  You want to bait a trap, is that it?” Clint asked.

“Do you have a plan for the girls?” Mason asked.

“There’s a safe room.  Hell, it’s not a room, it takes up half of the basement,” Drake explained. 

“Are we good now?” Clint asked over the phone.

“Yep,” Finn answered.  “And yes, in answer to your question.  We want to bait a trap.  How do we do it?”

“We can’t do it by the phone call.  We would have to do it via the internet.  Do you think you could get him to do some kind of Skype call or e-mail with you?”

“If that’s what we need to do, then that’s what we’ll do,” Finn said vehemently.  “But we need to do it in such a way, that it doesn’t look too easy.  We need to make them work for it.”

“I can ping them around the world, but still, end up finding you.”

“Perfect.”  Finn grinned.  His team was the best in the world.

“How soon do you need to set this up?”

“What e-mail or Skype address are you going to use?”  Finn looked at Mason, who nodded.  “Mason’s,” Finn answered.

“Give me an hour, then call your general.  We’ll still try to trace his phone.  There’s still the possibility that he doesn’t have his location encrypted.” 

Finn snorted, “Yeah, I’ll hold my breath.”

***

I
t had been decided that Sergei would make a brief call to the general, and demand he call Mason’s Skype number if he wanted Dasha, and would call off the attacks.  Three minutes after Sergei hung up the call to come in, but the general didn’t do a video feed.  He immediately started speaking in Ukrainian. 

Earlier Angie had overheard Mason and Finn talking in the hall.  Finn’s lieutenant had said since Finn had been on point for this whole operation, it made sense for him to continue to take the lead.  The confidence Mason had in Finn was tangible, and it warmed Angie’s heart.  Therefore, it was Finn who interrupted General Vlad Lutsenko’s tirade.

“General, I don’t know what you’re saying, nor do I care.”

“What is it you want?  Why have you demanded this call?  Who is Dasha?” the man said in heavily accented English.

“Cut the shit.  If you want Dasha, you’ll start negotiating now.”

“I don’t understand.  Negotiating for what.  Who is this Dasha?”

“The girl whose boyfriend you killed.  The girl who you are threatening to blow up half of Texas to find.” Finn said with barely suppressed rage.

“I am a high ranking officer of the Ukraine.  I will notify your government of your slander.”

“Go ahead.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.  You are accusing me of some kind of crime, and I will not have it.”

“Fine, then we have nothing to talk about.”

“Wait, don’t hang up.”  Everybody in the room grinned.  They had the general just where they wanted him.  He was stalling for time.  He must be trying to trace the call.

“I cannot comment on this on an unsecure line, you must understand,” the man wheedled.

“I don’t have time for your bullshit,” Finn bit out.

“You must allow me to investigate what you are saying.”

“Dasha Koval.  Does that name ring a bell?  You know her from Odessa.”  The screen went blank.  The general had hung up.

Angie felt a surge of excitement.  Another call came through, this time, it was Clint and Lydia whose faces came onto the screen.

“Austin.  We were able to trace him back to Austin.  We weren’t able to pinpoint his exact location, but his IP address was definitely Austin,” Lydia said excitedly.

“Will he be able to locate us?”

“Yes.  I arranged it,” Clint promised.

“It sounds like we have six hours before they’ll be here,” Laird said.  “I think we all need to get some rest.”  Angie was on board with that plan.  She was tired, and she hurt, and she wanted to rest in Finn’s arms.

“Maybe we’ll have six hours,” Mason said thoughtfully.  “I hate taking things for granted.”

“You’re right,” Laird agreed.  “I’ll take first watch.”

“I’ll relieve you in two hours,” Mason said.

Angie looked at her grandfather, who for the first time was beginning to look his age.  She started to go to him, but he waved her off.

“I think I’m going to have a drink with Sergei, and talk over old times.  You go rest, honey.”

“No, I need to go check on the girls.”  Angie started towards the stairs.

“Penelope took cocoa upstairs to the girls an hour ago.  She has everything under control,” Sergei assured her.

“But I should say goodnight.”

“They’re probably already asleep,” Sergei assured her.

“Are you sure?”  Angie didn’t want to sound too anxious, but Sergei gave a knowing chuckle anyway.

“Yes.  You and your man go to bed,” her grandfather finally ended the discussion.  She grinned.

Finn was huddled up with the other men of his team, but at her grandfather’s words, he excused himself.  He came over to her and put his arm around her.  “Laird said we can have one of the cabins.”

“You mean one of the sister wives houses?” Angie teased. 

“I don’t care what it is, as long as it affords us some privacy.”  They snagged their stuff from the hallway, before heading out the front door and down the steps. 

The night was clear and beautiful.  The sky filled with stars.  As soon as the cabin door shut behind them, she turned to Finn.  “Are you all right?  I know today has been stressful.”

He stared at her, his eyes deep and solemn.

“What?” she asked.  He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her close.  “What Finn?  What is it?  Are you all right?”  He had to be all right.  She needed him to be all right.  He was her rock.  He had to be steady.  He had to be strong.

“Let it out, baby.”

“No.  I’m okay. I’m worried about you,” she insisted.

His thumb traced circles on the nape of her neck.  “Let it out,” he whispered.  “I’m so sorry about your grandfather’s ranch.”

Oh God.  The ranch.  She practically grew up on that ranch, the bluebonnets, the ridge, the range.  She grabbed at the front of his shirt, and her breath hitched.  She swallowed.  She needed to control herself.  She needed to get past this.  Nobody liked a whiner.

“I’ve got you, Angie.  It’s okay, baby.  I’m here for you.”

She looked into his eyes.  This man who had been through so much.  Who had lost so much.  Yet he was here for her, and she could break on his shore.  Angie let loose and started to cry.  Big gulping ugly sobs, not just for the ranch, but for so much more.  For all the times she hadn’t been allowed to cry because there hadn’t been someone to hold her, someone to offer solace, comfort, love, and tell her it was okay to need.

He swung her into his arms and took her to the too small bed that would be perfect to press close to Finn.  She didn’t want a sliver of space between them as he sheltered her through the hours before dawn.  Never once in the long minutes of her weeping did he tell her to stop, he just held her and kissed her and told her he was there for her and he loved her.  Everything he did was like sunlight to a new rose.  It helped her grow and flourish.

“I love you too, Finn.”

He kissed the top of her head.  “I don’t deserve you.”

“I think we’re both pretty lucky to have found one another. Now if we can survive the zombie apocalypse we can start talking about a future.”

“I want a future with you.”  He tipped her chin up so he could see her face.  “I want it very badly.  I want you to go into the safe room with the girls.  Please, Angie.  You’re still not healed.”

“We don’t know how many are coming.  You’ll need me.”

“We have a good idea.  Declan said  there are ten men who always travel with the general.  You can be damn sure he won’t be here.  So we shouldn’t have more than ten.”

“They could have hired some mercenaries.”

“This isn’t something they would outsource.”

Angie gave a weak laugh.

“What?”

“I have been dreaming for a strong, protective man to love me.  Now I finally get one, and I’m pissed because he wants to put me in the safe room.  Well, Finn, you knew what you were getting too, and it wasn’t the shy retiring type who would be going into hiding.  So, thank God we love each other for who we really are.”

She saw him mulling over her point, and he didn’t laugh.  He pulled her even closer.  “If something happens to you, I won’t be able to survive it.”

“I’ll be careful.  This isn’t my first rodeo.” 

“I know, but your last rodeo didn’t go so well.”

“It was an ambush.  This time, we’re ready for them.  Hell, Laird has landmines.  I could learn to love him,” she said.

Finn huffed out a laugh.  “The guy is something else.  He
is
actually ready for the zombie apocalypse.” 

She stroked her hands up the front of his T-Shirt and kissed his throat.  She reveled in his groan.

“Angie, you need your rest.”

“I need this more.”

He clasped her wrists in one big hand.  “I’m serious, we need to sleep.”

“Seriously, are you going to sleep, or doze with one eye open?”  She watched him.  It was a ‘gotchya,’ as he flushed.  She shook her hands out of his grasp and cupped his face.  “Make love to me.”

“Always.  It will always be lovemaking.”  Then he grinned down at her.  “Well except for the times when we get to down and dirty fucking.”

She burst out laughing.  “Oh cowboy, I can’t wait.  Can we do that now?” she asked eagerly, her legs rubbing together.