Protecting Caroline (SEAL of Protection Book 1) (18 page)

She had no idea
how whoever it was behind her had ended up in the water with her just when she
needed him, but she couldn’t think about it now. She’d appreciate it later. She
tried to relax. She went limp in the man’s arms so he’d know for sure she
understood he was there to help her.

He lifted one of
her hands to the mask on her face and pressed hard. She nodded. She got it; she
had to hold the mask on. She could do that.

Cookie relaxed a
little. She’d understood. He was afraid Caroline would’ve been too far gone in
her panic and pain and wouldn’t remember what Wolf had told her about the signal
to let her know who he was. After everything he’d heard about her from Wolf, Abe,
and Mozart, he should’ve known she’d keep her head and trust him to do what he
needed to do to make sure they both made it out alive.

Cookie had been
prepared to knock her out if he had to, but it was so much easier with her
cooperating with him. He was doubly thankful he’d gotten to her before she’d
gone unconscious. It would’ve been much harder if he had to worry about doing
CPR under water. It wasn’t something any of them wanted to have to do, but
they’d been trained on the lifesaving technique. Cookie wasn’t sure what was
going on above their heads, but knew he was working on limited time.

Cookie couldn’t
do anything about the weight around Caroline’s ankles right now, but the extra
weight and the fact she couldn’t use her legs wouldn’t slow him down. He kicked
away from the terrorist’s boat. He had to get them moved a good distance before
Dude blew it up. The shockwave under the water could kill them as easily as a
bullet or inhaling water would.

He kicked hard;
checking every now and then to make sure Ice was still holding the mask to her
face and breathing the lifesaving oxygen.

Every time he
looked down at her she was still breathing. He knew she’d had a close call.
Even now he could tell she was using all her remaining energy to hold the mask
on her face. She wasn’t trying to help him swim. She was deadweight in his
arms.

* * *

Wolf looked
around. It was hard to see anything with all the parts of the exploded boat
floating around them. Where was Dude? Where was Cookie? Where was Caroline? Fuck.
He’d never been this anxious about the outcome of a mission before. Benny joined
him at the side of the boat while Abe maneuvered slowly around the main
wreckage site. They all scanned the surface for a glimpse of their teammates.
Abe saw the signal first. It was Dude. He eased the boat over next to the man
and Wolf and Benny helped pull him on board.

Dude pulled off
his mask.

“Have you picked
them up yet?” he asked, just as anxious as Wolf was. Wolf shook his head,
knowing Dude meant Ice and Cookie then stood back up to scan the surface of the
water again. Dude stood up and joined him.

“Cookie and I
split up about two hundred feet from the boat. He went after Ice who’d ducked
underwater right before that asshole shot at her. I went around to the front of
the boat. Just as we planned, while you guys distracted them, I put the
explosives on the bow and backed off just as they gunned it to leave. You know
the rest.”

Wolf nodded
absently. He knew what the plan was and recognized Dude’s part in the plan went
off exactly as planned. Even with his busted up hand and missing fingers, Dude
was the best demolition expert he’d ever seen. There wasn’t a bomb around today
he couldn’t figure out how to disarm and there wasn’t a type of explosive he
couldn’t use to its best advantage. Even with the thoughts running through his
mind about how grateful to Dude he was for ending the standoff, he wondered
where Cookie and Caroline were. He desperately needed to know she was okay and
alive.  

* * *

As Cookie swam Ice
away from the boat she’d been thrown off of, he felt the explosion. It was
close, but not too close. They’d made it. He continued swimming underwater to
make sure they were safe from any flying debris. After everything she’d been
through, Cookie didn’t want them to be hit by anything either above or under
the water. He swam a bit further then what he figured was safe just to make
sure they were in the clear and cloaked by darkness. He didn’t know exactly
what had gone down above their heads…he knew what was
supposed
to have
happened, but he also knew that wasn’t always what
did
happen.

After judging they’d
gone far enough, Cookie eased them slowly toward the surface. It was pitch dark
now. He saw the SEAL boat about five hundred yards off to his left, its lights
bobbing up and down in the waves, but didn’t immediately signal. He had to make
sure it really was safe and that Ice was all right. He knew Wolf would be
pissed at the delay, but he wasn’t going to risk Ice’s life after everything
she’d been though.

He still held
her firmly with one arm. She was heavy from the chain around her ankles, but
she wasn’t in danger of sinking. Cookie was the best swimmer of all of them.
That was part of the reason he was chosen to be in the water in the first
place. Wolf had volunteered to go, but they all knew he had to be on the boat.
The man on the tape knew who he was and it’d be better if he was there to try
to negotiate with him. Cookie knew it killed Wolf to back off and agree. Unspoken
was the fact that if Caroline hadn’t survived whatever the terrorists had done
to her, Wolf would lose it. It was better to have Cookie in the water, just in
case.

Cookie held Ice’s
back to his front with one arm, and tried to ease her hands down from the mask
with the other. She was still holding it in place with a death grip.

Caroline
repeated to herself,
Don’t let go. Don’t let go. Don’t let go.
It was
her mantra. She was so tired and hurt so much, but she knew she had to keep holding
that mask to her face, otherwise she’d die. Caroline heard something…she tried
to concentrate, but she was so tired…finally she realized it was someone
talking to her.

“It’s okay, Ice,
you’re okay. You can let go of the mask now, you’re all right. You made it. I’ve
got you. We’re not underwater anymore…you’re safe…” Cookie kept talking to her
soothingly. He’d keep it up as long as it took for her to come out of her
stupor.

Caroline opened
her swollen eyes as far as they’d go. She couldn’t see much, as it was dark,
but she could see a light bobbing off in the distance. She could feel herself
bobbing up and down in the waves. She tried to relax her arms, but they
wouldn’t move. Finally she forced her screaming muscles to let go of the mask.
Cookie reached up and removed the mask from her face as soon as she let go, and
Caroline took a shallow breath, any more hurt her ribs. She grabbed on to the
arm that was across her chest holding her up. She couldn’t see the man behind
her, but she knew he was one of the good guys; he was one of Matthew’s
teammates.

“Th-th-thank you,”
she got out in a low cracked voice.

Cookie squeezed
her chest gently in response. “You did all the hard work, Ice. I was just there
at the end when you needed a little help. How about we get out of here?” he asked
softly. He felt her nod and smiled. He activated the signal light and waited.

* * *

“Look!” Benny
said while pointing off into the distance. They all looked and saw a light
bobbing in the water about five hundred yards away.

“Thank God,”
Wolf muttered, knowing that Cookie would have found Caroline. He refused to
think differently. He turned to make sure Abe had seen Cookie, but Abe was
already turning the boat and heading in their direction. Wolf watched as the
light got closer and closer. Finally he could see Caroline safe in Cookie’s
arms. He thought he’d lost her for good. God. When they didn’t immediately find
either her or Cookie, Wolf had begun to think the worst. He should’ve known she
was too stubborn to die. Abe pulled the boat up next to them.

“Careful, Wolf,”
Cookie said softly. “She’s hurt pretty badly. She also has that chain around
her ankles.”

Wolf clenched
his fists. He wanted to go back and kill the men again. He nodded stiffly
signaling he’d heard his buddy’s words.

Cookie leaned in
close to Caroline again.

“Ice, you have
to let go of my arm. Wolf is here…he’ll help you on the boat…okay?”

Caroline nodded
and opened her puffy swollen eyes again but shut them quickly. The light from
the boat hurt her eyes. She cautiously uncurled her fingers from around Cookie’s
arm and waited.

She couldn’t
help herself. She just waited for someone to haul her butt on the boat. Finally
she felt Matthew’s arms go around her waist and felt Cookie let go. She felt
really heavy…oh yeah, she still had the weights around her ankles.

Wolf gingerly
took Caroline by the waist and grasped her to him. She was heavy, and he saw it
was because of the chain and weight around her ankles. He eased her over the
side of the boat and when he saw she’d cleared it, he lay backward on the deck
with Caroline on top of him. The water from her clothes quickly soaked him, but
he didn’t even notice. Her arms hadn’t reached around him, but stayed clenched
together in front of her, against his chest. He could hear her shallow
breathing.

“My God,
Caroline,” he whispered to her. “Thank God. Thank God. I’ve got you. You’re
safe.” He was babbling and couldn’t stop. All he knew was that his Caroline was
in his arms, battered and bruised, but safe.

Caroline heard Matthew
in the recesses of her mind. She somehow found the strength to open her eyes to
slits. She couldn’t lift her head from the crease of his neck, but she managed
to unfurl one fist and lay it flat on his chest. She could feel his heart
beating under her hand, and it calmed her. She was finally safe. “I’m getting
you all wet,” she said softly, then promptly passed out.

Benny and Dude
cut the chain off her ankles as they headed back to shore. Wolf didn’t move. He
couldn’t. He wrapped his arms around his woman and held on tight. He could see
her swollen eyes and saw that blood was still oozing from her head somewhere.
She’d been through hell, but she was here, and alive.

Cookie covered
Ice and Wolf with a blanket. Wolf nodded his head in thanks at his teammate. He
held Caroline close to his chest and prayed she’d be okay. He counted her
breaths, taking solace in the fact that she was actually breathing after
everything she’d been through. She felt so fragile in his arms. He was scared
to move her. He knew she was hurt. This happened to her because of him. He knew
she wouldn’t agree, but he knew the truth. He had some decisions to make.

Caroline
groaned. She hurt. She tried to remember what she’d done that had made her so
sore. It came back to her in a flash. The cabin, Matthew, the warehouse, the
boat…she opened her eyes, or at least tried to. Wow, her face hurt. She reached
a hand up to her face and felt how swollen it was. Oh man. Finally she got her
eyes open a crack and looked around. A hospital room. She was in the hospital.
She
hated
hospitals. She looked around. It was empty except for her. She
tried to push down the disappointment she felt. Matthew had no reason to be
there when she woke up, but she’d hoped he would be anyway. Where was everyone?
She wanted out of there…she wanted…hell. She closed her eyes and was asleep
again in seconds.

* * *

After dropping
Caroline off at the Navy hospital, Wolf and his team called their commander.
They’d explained all that had happened that night. Tex had analyzed the tapes
and enhanced them. Surprisingly, the man in the suit was easy to identify. When
Tex had sent the picture to Wolf, he’d recognized the man immediately. 

He was an FBI
agent, and they’d actually talked to him in Nebraska after they’d landed the
plane. It was no wonder he’d been close enough to be able to come and talk to
them. He’d arranged for the plane to crash in the first place. He’d obviously
volunteered to come to Nebraska and interview them. Wolf, Abe, and Mozart had
felt something was off about the interrogator after they’d been interviewed.
Their instincts were dead on.

They had no idea
what his real motives were behind his double-cross, but at this point it didn’t
really matter. The only thing that mattered to Wolf was that they’d rescued
Caroline. It was up to the rest of the Feds to see how deep his betrayal went.
For the country’s sake, Wolf hoped he was working alone. God only knew their
job was hard enough without having to constantly battle domestic terrorists as
well as foreign ones.

Wolf was
thankful they’d kept what had really happened close to their chests. The only
person they’d told all the details about the flight and Caroline’s role in it had
been their own SEAL commander. They’d have to report all that had happened in
Virginia, and the repercussions would be long lasting most likely, both for the
FBI and the SEAL team, but Wolf couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Not as
long as Caroline was safe.

* * *

Wolf tried to
ignore his teammates. They weren’t happy with him. Not happy was an
understatement, they were pissed. They’d argued most of the night and he still
wasn’t swayed. He was no good for Caroline. Look what had happened to her after
she met him. Nothing but bad things. She’d almost died in a plane hijacking,
her apartment had been broken into, she was put in the witness protection
program, she’d been kidnapped, beaten up, shot at, and then almost drowned. It
wasn’t safe for any SEAL to be in a relationship. Why couldn’t his team members
see that?

They’d wanted to
wait for Ice to wake up when they’d brought her into the hospital. Cookie, Benny,
and Dude needed to meet her while she was conscious, not half conscious on the
bottom of a boat. Cookie more than the others. Caroline seemed to affect
everyone the same way. She impressed the hell out of Cookie, and that was a
hard thing to do. He told them all how she’d panicked, but recognized their
signal to her right away. How she relaxed and let Cookie swim them to safety,
and even how she’d thanked him while floating in the middle of the damn ocean.

They were pissed
Wolf was seemingly giving up on her. They couldn’t understand how Wolf could
just leave Ice to recuperate alone in the hospital after all of his angst about
rescuing her. They
knew
he loved her, but for some reason he was being
stubborn now that she was safe.

Wolf could only
think about all that Caroline had been through. She had two broken ribs and too
many cuts, bruises, and scrapes to count. Her wrists were heavily bandaged and
she’d received eight stiches in a cut on her head. She was dehydrated and weak
from not eating or drinking anything. She’d taken a hell of a beating and still
had her wits about her. When she was delirious in the boat and on the way to
the hospital she kept repeating, “I didn’t talk, I swear I didn’t tell him
anything,” over and over. Wolf had been able to reassure her, but as soon as he
let go of her and placed her on the gurney in the hospital, she started saying
it again. It literally broke his heart to leave her there, but he
knew
it was the right thing to do, no matter what his team said.

* * *

Cookie, Benny,
and Dude tiptoed into the hospital room, as much as three grown men could
tiptoe. They went over to the woman lying in the hospital bed by the window.
She was sleeping. She looked horrible. Her face was covered in bruises, her
arms weren’t much better. They couldn’t see the rest of her, but they knew she
had a couple of broken ribs and was most likely covered in bruises everywhere
else as well.

The three men
had wanted to stay with her when she was brought in, but Wolf refused to let
them. They’d come today without him knowing. They had to meet her in person.
They’d heard so much about her from Mozart and Abe, and even watching Wolf with
her on the boat.

Women weren’t
something they’d ever given much thought to in the past. They loved women,
loved
sleeping
with women, but had never thought much about them beyond
that. They wondered why this woman was so special, what was it about her that
made their teammates do things they never would’ve done before meeting her? Cookie
and Benny sat on one side of her and Dude sat on the other.

Caroline
stirred, restless. What had woken her up? She opened her eyes and kept herself
from shrieking, barely. There were three men sitting around her bed. Big men.
Were they there to harm her? Had Wolf captured all the terrorists? She tried to
think…did she have any weapons? Just before she went into a full blown panic
one of the men held out his hand to her.

“Nice to meet
you Ice, I’m Dude.”

Caroline looked
at the man and his outstretched hand. Dude. One of Matthew’s men? She reached
out and grasped his hand in hers cautiously and shook his hand. She decided to
give him the benefit of the doubt. “Nice to meet you, I’m Caroline.” Her voice
came out scratchy and low.

She waited, and
finally felt it. His second and fourth fingers pressed harder than the rest of
his hand against hers. She smiled. “Faulkner, right?” Caroline asked the big
man.

He nodded and
smiled, but said, “Dude.”

“I’m Benny,”
another one of the men said to her softly. Caroline turned toward him to shake
his hand and received the same signal from him. They were Matthew’s teammates.
Thank God. She didn’t think she had it in her at the moment to escape another damn
terrorist.

“Benny...” she
thought for a moment then tentatively said, “Kason?”

Benny brought
her hand up to his lips and kissed it gently. “That’s me.”

Caroline turned
to the third man as Kason let go of her hand. “And you have to be Hunter,” She
said shakily, feeling emotionally raw at meeting the man who’d literally held
her life in his arms.

He nodded and
instead of holding out his hand to her he stood up and leaned over. He gathered
her carefully into his arms and into a tight comforting hug. It felt right to
Caroline. It still hurt a little bit, but she ignored the pain and concentrated
on showing her appreciation to the big SEAL holding her.

“Thank you, Hunter,”
she said earnestly in his ear. “Thank you.” She didn’t have to say anything
else. She felt Hunter nod and then carefully, he laid her back down on the bed.

Caroline looked
at the three men sitting around her.

“It’s so good to
finally meet you guys. Are you all okay? I’m not sure what happened out there.
I know Hunter saved me when I was under the water, but I only have flashes here
and there of what went on after that. What happened to the fancy-man?”

Dude knew who
she was talking about and could hear the fear in her voice. “It’s over, Ice.
You don’t have to worry about him ever again. He was the man behind everything.
He was a disgruntled FBI agent. It looks like he was working on his own and
didn’t have an entire network or anything. He can’t send anyone else after you.
You’re safe.” Dude wasn’t one hundred percent certain that was true, but there
was no way in hell he’d say anything to worry Ice in any way. She’d been
through enough.

Caroline let out
a breath of relief. “Thank God. But are you guys okay? Everyone else is all
right?”

Benny nodded.
“We’re all fine Ice. It’s
you
we’re concerned about.”

Caroline tried
not to cry. It was nice to be worried about, but if she was honest with
herself, these weren’t the men she really wanted to see. She wanted to see
Matthew, to make sure he was okay…hell, to just be with him. But he hadn’t been
by at all. She hadn’t seen him since the boat, and she hardly remembered much
of that. It was obvious he’d decided she wasn’t worth it. It hurt. She’d
thought he really liked her. He was damn good at acting that was for sure.

“How’s Sam?”
Caroline asked quickly, trying to hide her pain that Matthew didn’t want to see
her.

“He’s good.”
Cookie told her. “Bitching to get out of the hospital and back to work. He’ll
be coming back to San Diego with us in the next few days.” He didn’t mention
the scarring on Mozart’s face and how bad it was. Cookie knew Caroline probably
felt bad enough as it was.

Caroline’s heart
sunk after hearing Hunter’s words. So they were leaving. Soon. In the next few
days. She knew they would be, but she’d hoped to see Matthew, or at least talk
to him before they left. She tried to pull herself together.

“I’m sure he is,”
she said with a forced laugh. “Tell him I said hello?”

“Of course, Ice.
He’d be here if he could.” Benny told her.

“I know. I’m
just glad he’s okay.” 

There was a
moment of silence in the room. Caroline didn’t want to ask where Matthew was,
or why he hadn’t come to see her. But she
so
wanted to know. As if he
could read her mind Cookie told her gently, “He doesn’t know we’re here.”

Caroline nodded,
even though it felt like her heart was being ripped out. Matthew didn’t want to
see her and didn’t want his friends seeing her. That hurt more than she’d ever
admit to anyone.

Benny continued,
trying to make her feel better, “We wanted to meet you…
really
meet you.
It’s weird not knowing one of our own teammates.” He smiled at her.

Caroline tried
to smile back, but figured she’d failed miserably when Kason didn’t smile back
at her. “Thanks guys, but you know I’m not a part of the team. I just got in
the way of
your
team.”

Not one of the
three men cracked a smile.

Cookie reached
into his pocket and pulled something out. He took one of her hands, placed
whatever it was in her palm, and gently closed her hand around it before she
could see what it was. When he sat back without a word, Caroline opened her
hand and looked down. It was his SEAL trident pin.

“You
are
a part of this team, Ice.” He told her. “I can’t think of any other person,
male or female, that would’ve been as tough as you’ve been these last few
weeks. You didn’t break, you didn’t hesitate to do what you thought was right,
even when you were scared. Most importantly you’ve saved our teammates
lives…more than once. If you need us, all you have to do is ask. ”

He put one
finger under Caroline’s chin and lifted her eyes up to his and put his hand
over hers as she gripped the pin tightly. “I don’t know if you know anything
about The Budweiser pin and what it symbolizes.” When she shook her head,
Cookie continued. “Every SEAL gets their pin after they’ve finished BUD/S
training, completed SEAL Qualification Training, and can officially call
themselves a SEAL. It symbolizes that we are brothers in arms that we train
together and fight together. It’s the one thing most of us are most proud of.”

“But…” Caroline
tried to interject, but Cookie spoke over her.

“You’re one of
us. You earned your Budweiser pin, Ice. You
more
than earned it.”

Caroline felt a
tear slip from her swollen eye and her lip quiver. All she could do was nod. She
was so touched by Cookie’s gesture. She wanted to throw her arms around him,
but she knew it’d hurt too much. She probably should say something profound,
but she just had one thought running through her mind. She knew the guys would
help her.  

“Can you get me out
of here?” She pleaded softly, choking back a sob, “I hate hospitals.”

* * *

Abe sat down
next to Wolf. He wanted to beat the hell out of his friend, but decided to try
to talk some sense into him instead.

“I talked to
Mozart yesterday,” he said quietly.

Wolf nodded.
Mozart was okay. He’d finally woken up and seemed to be all right. His face
would always be scarred and it’d still be quite a while before it healed, but
overall he’d been lucky. He’d be joining the team again when they got back to
San Diego.