Rescuing Rayne (16 page)

“My barrette. Chase gave it to me. It’s full of all sorts of things. A small blade, a screwdriver, and a lock pick. He tried to show me how to use it once, but I was hopeless. I don’t know if it’ll work or not, shit, it’s probably a novelty thing that will break off in the lock, but maybe…” Her words trailed off at the men’s matching expressions of disbelief.

Ghost watched as Rayne turned her head awkwardly and he saw an antique-gold barrette in her hair. He reached for it and it unsnapped easily. He pulled it out and examined it. She was right, the prong in the middle opened up into a sharp point.

He handed it without a word to Wolf, who leaned over her ankles with a smile. “Only
you
would find a woman who’d happen to be carrying the exact tool needed to rescue herself, Ghost. Only you. Damn.”

Ghost leaned down and placed a quick, gentle kiss on her forehead, ignoring the dirt. “You’re amazing. Hang on, Princess, We’ll have you out of here in a jiffy.”

It wasn’t quite a jiffy, but amazingly, the hair clip worked. After freeing her feet, Wolf passed it to Ghost, who made quick work of the locks at her wrists. After he freed her, Ghost quickly replaced the barrette, making sure to clip her hair back so it wouldn’t fall into her face as they made their escape.

After being released from the chains, Rayne sat up quickly on the bed and would’ve stood and run out of the room if not for Ghost’s hand on her arm, holding her still. “Hang on, Princess, let’s get you a shirt, yeah?”

Rayne nodded and tried not to be self-conscious about her almost-nudity. It wasn’t as if Ghost hadn’t seen all of her before, and Wolf wasn’t even looking at her. He was at the door peering out carefully.

“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Rayne breathed as she watched Ghost quickly shrug out of his bulletproof vest so he could remove the black shirt underneath.

“It’s me.
I
couldn’t believe when your friend said there was a woman named Rayne still somewhere in the building.”

“Sarah? You found her and the others? They didn’t blow up? The assholes said they blew up the room.”

Ghost nodded. “They did blow it up. But the women managed to get behind something. Some are hurt, but as of now they’re all safe.”

“Thank God. And the men who were with them?”

“Them too.”

“Good.”

“Come on, arms up. We need to get out of here.”

Rayne did as Ghost ordered and obediently lifted her arms. She didn’t even wince when the shirt scraped against her wrists and blood ran down her arms in rivulets.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you, Princess.”

“Honestly, I can’t feel them, Ghost.” At his frown, she tried to reassure him again. “My ankles either. They don’t hurt. It’s okay.”

When he continued to frown, Rayne only shrugged. “Let’s get out of here. I’m ready. Please?” Rayne stood up and went to take a step to the door and would’ve fallen flat on her face if Ghost hadn’t been there to grab hold of her. He scooped her up in his arms and strode toward the door.

“I-I don’t know what’s wrong. I can walk…at least I think I can.”

“I’ve got you, Rayne. Hang on to me and don’t let go.” Ghost followed Wolf out of the room and into the deserted hallway.

“That I can do,” Rayne slurred.

Blade’s voice came over their headsets. “ETA? Tangos entering the complex on the west side. Copy? Coming in hot and heavy on the west. Everyone else is out. Over.”

“We’re east, coming out with the package. Ghost’s hands are tied. We’ll need backup. Over.”

“Copy. Get the fuck out of there. Fletch and Truck are on their way to assist.”

Both Ghost and Wolf breathed a sigh of relief. They weren’t out of danger by any stretch, but having Ghost’s men on the way would make any fight they had to engage in more in their favor. With Truck, especially. The man was huge and no one in their right mind would mess with him. He wasn’t pretty, not even close. His nose had been broken several times and he had a scar that he’d gotten courtesy of a pissed-off terrorist that pulled the side of his mouth down into a perpetual scowl.

No, he certainly wasn’t a ladies’ man, more often than not they ran in the opposite direction when they saw him. He was exactly who Ghost needed right now, however. He needed a mean motherfucker to help them get out of there in one piece.

“How’re you holding up, Princess?” Ghost murmured as they made their way through the eerily quiet hallways.

“I’m tired. I’m so tired.”

Ghost jostled the precious bundle in his arms. “Don’t fall asleep. You’re losing too much blood, you can’t go to sleep. Do you hear me, Rayne?”

He felt her try to sit up straighter in his arms, but she didn’t have the strength to do it. One of her arms was around his neck and he could feel the blood from her wrist oozing down the inside of his vest against his now-naked back. It was warm against his skin and knowing it was her blood, and not sweat, made him slightly nauseous.

“So I was right about you being a super-spy after all, huh?”

Ghost squeezed Rayne in response, but didn’t say anything.

“Wearing all black, no insignia on your clothes…you’re either a spy or CIA. No way you can be a normal solider.”

Ghost heard Wolf chuckle almost soundlessly through their radio. He’d opened his mic in case he needed to talk to his team while his arms were full with Rayne.

Rayne continued. “No matter what happens, thank you. I’m guessing you weren’t there for
me
, you said you didn’t know I was there until Sarah told you, but thank you for coming to find me. Thank you for blowing shit up so Moshe couldn’t rape me.”

“What?” Ghost gritted out softly. Wolf held up a hand for them to stop and motioned for them to duck into a small room to wait out the small band of militants passing by their exit. They were three feet from freedom, but they couldn’t rush their escape. The last thing either man wanted was to have to make a run for it once they got outside.

“They’d made up some bullshit ceremony for boys to become men. It involved raping me seven times, including sodomizing me, fucking me from behind, and forcing me to take him in my mouth.” Her words were slurring more and more as she continued.

Neither man interrupted her, wanting to hear the entire story to know how to help her get through it, but also wanting to go back and kill every man they’d come across all over again.

“And get this…if he couldn’t make me come the seventh time, he didn’t succeed in becoming a man and I’d have to go through it all again. As if any woman would orgasm after being raped over and over again…”

“Did he touch you, Princess?” Ghost’s words were low and agonized, but Rayne didn’t seem to notice.

“No, not like that. He didn’t have time. As I said, you blew shit up right when he was about to start. So thank you. But you should know…my last thought was of you. I tried to remember your smell, your hands, and how delicious you made me feel…I wanted that to be my last thought, not of him and what he was going to do to me. I missed you, Ghost.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, almost as if she were talking to herself. “I missed you.”

Rayne took a deep, slow breath that hitched before she continued, her voice trembling. “He said he’d be back. He looked like a nice boy, but the look in his eyes told me he was anything but. Ghost?”

“Yeah, Princess?”

She was whispering again now, as if saying it out loud would make him materialize from thin air. “He’s coming back to finish becoming a man.”

“He’s not coming back.”

“He is. He said so. He turned to me when they were all running out of the room like scared little pricks. I believed him. He wants to be a man.”

“He’s dead, Princess. I killed him.”

Her eyes opened and she tried to lift her head off his shoulder, but couldn’t quite manage it. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure? You’re not just telling me that to try to protect me like you always do?”

Ignoring the immediate thought that he wanted to spend the rest of his life protecting her, Ghost asked in an even voice, “Was he wearing tan pants with a drawstring? Blue shirt?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Then I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty he will never be a man.
Ever
.”

“Thank God. Ghost?”

Wolf motioned that the coast was clear and they headed out of the building where Rayne’s nightmare had begun a week ago. Ghost was pissed, understanding now why the boy’s pants had been undone. The little fucker had gotten way too close to violating Rayne.
Way
too close.

“Yeah, Princess?” Ghost repeated.

“I can’t stay awake. I tried. I did. But if I wake up, will you be there? I don’t want to wake up to an empty bed again.”

Ghost didn’t want her to go unconscious, but she’d lost a lot of blood and it might be better if she didn’t remember anything that happened as they fled the building. If they ran into trouble, he didn’t want that on her conscience as well. He didn’t like the word “if” she’d used though. “You
will
wake up, Rayne. We have too much unfinished business for any other outcome. And you better believe I’ll be there,” he said, his words giving her permission to let go.

Ghost looked down at Rayne after she finally succumbed to unconsciousness and went limp in his arms. It made it tougher to carry her. The good thing was that now he didn’t have to worry as much about not jostling her. He couldn’t hurt her if she was out. The blood from her wrist continued to drip down his back and the blood from her ankles was dripping on the ground as they continued out into the stifling Egyptian air.

“Wolf,” Ghost growled, getting his teammate’s attention. When he turned, Ghost nodded his head toward Rayne’s bleeding ankles.

Wolf nodded and keyed the mic, “Truck, package needs tape, we’re leaving a trail. Coming in fast and hot. Be ready to FedEx the hell out of there.”

“Ten-four.”

As Wolf and Ghost headed toward the pickup point so they could get out of Egypt and get Rayne some medical attention, Wolf mused in a serious voice to Ghost, “I don’t know what happened before today between you two, but you have a wonderful woman in your arms. Figure your shit out and don’t let her go.”

“It’s not that easy,” Ghost protested.

“The fuck it’s not. Someday I’ll tell you the story of my own woman, Caroline. And if there’s time, you can listen to the rest of my team tell their stories. We were just like you and your group. Badass Navy SEALs who didn’t need women in our lives. We thought there was no way it could ever work, but we were wrong, and so are you. Give her some credit.”

“We’re Delta.”

“So? If anyone gets it, we do. We can’t tell our women anything. They don’t know where we are or how long we’ll be gone. There’s no guarantee we’ll come home, but they love us anyway.”

Ghost grunted, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t let her go, Ghost. From what I can tell, she’s an amazing woman. She needs you, especially after what happened in there. You, out of anyone she knows, understand and can help her. But more than that, you need
her
too. I can see it.”

Ghost had never been so glad to see Fletch and Truck in all his life. He wasn’t comfortable with Wolf’s words. He wanted the woman in his arms more than he’d ever wanted anything; he just had no idea how to accomplish it. Wolf said it could work, but Ghost had no idea how.

First things first. Rayne needed a doctor and they needed to get the fuck out of Egypt.

After that? Who knew?

R
ayne lay sleeping
on the makeshift bed Ghost had made for her. Luckily, their escape from the square had been anticlimactic. They hadn’t run into any more militants and the Egyptian Army had finally gotten serious about making sure the coup was squashed once and for all. They’d swept into the government building after hearing all the hostages had been rescued and hadn’t wasted time trying to negotiate or take anyone alive.

The sympathizers who’d been on their way with their RPGs had been taken out before they were able to set off any of the rockets. For now, the building was secure, but everyone knew that chopping off the arms and legs of the beast wouldn’t keep it down for long. The head would have to be cut off for the coup to be fully extinguished. And the likelihood of that was slim. Ghost wouldn’t be surprised if they found themselves back in Egypt sooner rather than later. But that was fine with him. He’d gladly take out the fuckers who had hurt Rayne. They might not have physically been in that room with her, but they’d given the militants the firepower to make it happen.

Ghost didn’t care about the Egyptian Army at the moment. All he cared about was Rayne and making sure she was safe and healthy. Truck and Fletch had met them in a back alley off the square and quickly wrapped Rayne’s ankles and wrists in pressure bandages. Truck had lifted Rayne out of Ghost’s arms as if she didn’t weigh more than a child, and they’d hurried off to meet the rest of the teams.

Ghost would’ve protested, but he knew Truck could carry Rayne for miles and not tire…he was that big and strong. Besides, Ghost was hoping they’d run into more militants so he could blow them away to get some revenge for what Rayne had gone through.

They’d met no resistance and arrived back with the teams within ten minutes. Mozart, one of the SEALs, had asked if they were taking Rayne to the Red Cross hospital that had been set up to deal with the hostages, and before Ghost could answer, Wolf spoke up.

“No, she’s Ghost’s. She stays with us all the way home.”

Not one man argued, not one man questioned Wolf’s statement. If she was one of theirs, then there was no question that she wasn’t going to be let out of their sights.

Ghost looked into the eyes of the SEALs standing around him. Every single one of the men, who he knew were just as deadly as his own team of Deltas, had looks of compassion and care on their faces. If he hadn’t seen it for himself, he never would’ve believed in the middle of a mission, in the middle of a country on the verge of civil war, a group of badass Alpha men could be touched by the plight of a woman, who certainly wasn’t looking her best at the moment.

Besides only wearing his T-shirt, Rayne’s hair was covered in dirt and it lay lankly around her face. She had dark circles under her eyes, along with bruises on both cheeks. She hadn’t said the assholes hit her, but it was obvious they had. She wasn’t a small woman, but lying hurt and dirty in his teammate’s arms, she looked small and defenseless.

Rayne stirred in Truck’s hold and her eyes opened into slits. She looked up at the large man who was holding her, and instead of freaking out, as some women had done in the past when they’d been confronted with Truck’s face, she merely smiled a half smile and mumbled, “I hope you killed the fucker who hurt you,” and she passed back out.

The look on Truck’s face would’ve been comical if the situation wasn’t so urgent.

They’d set Rayne down and Truck and Mozart got to work on her wounds. They were deep and the two men didn’t want to stitch them up without thoroughly cleaning them first. For now, they did the best they could with what little sterile fluid they had in their packs and re-wrapped them tightly. Thankfully, Rayne didn’t move throughout what had to be a very painful process.

Ghost stayed by her, with one hand resting on her forehead the entire time. When they were done, Truck picked her up again and all thirteen men made their way to their extraction point.

Now they were on the military plane, headed back to the States. They’d land at Fort Hood first, then the SEALs would be returning to California, to their own base and their families.

Rayne was in the back of the plane on the pallet that had been made for her. She’d go straight to the hospital when they landed in Texas for some advanced medical care. Ghost had no idea what would happen after they landed.

“This reminds me of Caroline, Wolf,” Cookie said with a smile as they all got settled, remembering how they’d stolen Wolf’s woman away from a “situation” once. She’d lain on a pallet at the back of a military plane, much as Rayne did now.

Wolf smiled in memory, but didn’t say anything.

“So, what’s the story, Ghost?” Dude asked.

Ghost kept quiet.

Not taking the hint, Dude continued pushing. “She doesn’t know you’re Delta?”

Ghost shook his head.

“What’re you going to do about it?”

Ghost shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Dumbass,” Abe murmured under his breath.

“Watch it, Frog,” Fletch warned, standing up for his teammate.

“I already gave him the talk,” Wolf informed his team easily, not in the least perturbed by the hostility emanating from Ghost’s teammate. “Told him he would be an idiot to let her go. You guys know how long it took me to claim Caroline. I didn’t want him to have to go through the same shit I did.”

Ghost broke in before his guys lost it. The last thing they needed was a SEAL-against-Delta fight at thirty-six thousand feet. He had no doubt his guys would win, but it’d be a tough fight. “Look, we met about six months ago. We had a…thing. A one-night thing. That’s all it was.”

“You haven’t hooked up since then, have you, Ghost?” Blade asked knowing a bit more than Ghost would like.

Hollywood whistled low and long, joining in the conversation. “She got to you.”

“Shut it, guys,” Ghost warned. “We’ve been busy. Just because I haven’t had the time to fuck doesn’t mean I’ve been pining over Rayne.”

“It makes sense now,” Coach broke in, ignoring his leader’s warning. “You’ve had time, Ghost. Don’t fucking lie. That night a month or so ago when we all went out and that barrack bunny was all over you…couldn’t figure out why you didn’t take that home and tap it, but now we know.”

Ghost did not want to discuss this, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get his way. “That’s not why, asshole. I was tired and she looked like she’d want to hang on for more than a night.”

“Bullshit,” Fletch said in an easygoing voice. “She wanted what all barrack bunnies want…one night with a military man. She was as much a sure thing as you could get.”

Ghost stayed quiet. They were right. The chick in question
had
been all over him, practically had her hand down his pants right there at the bar. He could’ve taken her in the back alley, had her suck him off, and been back in the bar within ten minutes. But the second he felt her breath on his neck, all he could remember was Rayne’s sweet little nips and sucks against him as she lay exhausted in his arms. He hadn’t had a woman since Rayne, and hadn’t even missed it.

“It was after that mission in Turkey, wasn’t it?” Truck asked. “You had that layover in London. You were a day later than the rest of us getting back because your flight was canceled. That was about six months ago.”

“It’s fate, Ghost. My advice? Don’t fight it,” Wolf said with certainty.

Ghost never would’ve opened up, but he was tired and worried about Rayne, and still felt a bit off-kilter about finding her in the middle of an op. And knowing she’d almost been raped and violated over and over again, all in the name of some fake ideological crap, made him feel raw and even vulnerable.

“I lied to her. She doesn’t even know my name.”

“She called you Ghost in there,” Wolf pointed out easily. “She knew who you were immediately.”

“That’s not my name though.”

“It’s who you are,” Beatle insisted, repeating what Fletch had told him earlier. “You’re Ghost. I’m Beatle. That’s Blade and Truck and Fletch. Half the time I don’t even remember our given names. You know Coach won’t even
tell
us his real name. He goes by his middle name, but hasn’t told a soul what his first name is. What did she call out in the middle of her orgasm?”

Ghost glared at Beatle. “I’m not fucking telling you that.”

Beatle continued as if Ghost had answered him affirmatively. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. You didn’t lie about who you were, Ghost. That’s what matters.”

“I left her in the morning. I didn’t even wake her up to say goodbye.” Why Ghost continued to tell the guys everything he’d done, he had no idea. All he knew was that he felt guilty as hell, even though he’d done the same thing time and time again with other women, women whose names he couldn’t remember.

“Did you promise her you’d keep in touch?”

Damn. Fletch had already been over this with him, but was rehashing for the other guys.

“No,” Ghost said, disgruntled.

Fletch continued, “So she knew it was a one-night thing. I’m assuming she agreed.”

Ghost nodded reluctantly.

“Sounds to me as if she knew what she was getting into.”

Ghost ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “She did, but she didn’t. She’d never had a one-night stand before. She’s a romantic. She…she expected more. I know she did.”

The men were silent for a beat, and then Wolf spoke up. Ghost didn’t know Wolf that well, but he could tell he was one hundred percent sincere when he spoke.

“I tried to push my Caroline away. Thought I was doing the right thing. We know our jobs are dangerous. There’s no way I’d want any blowback on her. She’d been kidnapped, had the shit beaten out of her, among other things, and after we rescued her, she looked at me as if I was the sun in her sky…and I pushed her away. I thought it was for her own good. I didn’t think I was good for her.”

When he paused, Ghost said, “And?”

Wolf smiled a bit. “And, it was all bullshit. I wanted her more than I wanted anything in my entire life. She made me happy, she made me feel human. I wanted to steal her away. Make it so no other man would dare look at what was mine.”

“So you went to her and now all’s well.”

The other SEALs laughed at that. Wolf said drolly, “Not quite. Cookie here gave her his trident pin.”

Truck blew out a loud, disbelieving breath. They all knew what the pins meant that SEALs earned once they were officially made part of the teams. For Cookie to give Wolf’s woman his SEAL pin had to have been a low blow for Wolf.

“Yeah. Pissed me off. Took me quite a bit of time to exchange his for mine. Fucker. I didn’t get it away from her until our wedding.” Wolf mock-glared at Cookie, who merely chuckled back at his team leader. It was clear the two men were close.

“It wasn’t an easy road. She was upset. I was upset, but in the end, she was mine. That’s all it was. She. Was. Mine. The thought of any other man putting his hands on her, of looking at her, of giving her the things she needed in her life, made me crazy. Bottom line is, Ghost, if the thought of her snuggling up to another man doesn’t make you want to kill someone, then let her go to live that life. She’ll find another man to make her feel good, to marry, to have babies with.” Wolf was purposely twisting the knife, trying to rile Ghost and make him
think
. “But if you want her…figure out how to make it work because she’ll complete you in a way no one else ever has or will.”

The men were quiet after Wolf’s speech and slowly they drifted off to sleep. Ghost knew he wouldn’t sleep, not with worry for Rayne and Wolf’s words rattling around in his head. He went to the back of the plane and took a seat next to Rayne’s bed. She’d turned, awkwardly lying on her side, facing the back of the plane.

She was still wearing his T-shirt and the sheet that had been placed over her had fallen below her butt as she’d shifted. The tattoo on her lower back that Ghost had admired all those months ago was clearly visible with her movements. He stared at it for a moment, not believing what he was seeing. His first thought was to cover her up so any of the other guys on the plane wouldn’t see her, but he was frozen in place, seeing her tattoo that had so moved him again.

When he’d given her his T-shirt in the government building, he’d only been concerned about preserving her modesty and getting the hell out of the room and situation. As much as he loved seeing her naked, that had been the last thing on his mind. When Truck and Mozart had been patching her up, again, she’d been covered from her neck to her thighs by his shirt, and he was more concerned about the wounds on her ankles and wrists than anything else.

But now, seeing the tattoo that had meant so much to him, and the recent alterations, made his breath catch.

She’d added him to her skin.

Oh, he’d already seen himself in her tattoo the way it had been, but now if he’d thought he could deny that their one night meant anything to her, he couldn’t anymore. The proof was in front of him in Technicolor—and it literally made him want to cry.

Fletch cleared his throat behind him, thankfully preventing Ghost from bawling like a baby. He quickly grabbed the sheet and brought it up and over Rayne, shielding her from his teammate’s eyes. Ghost didn’t want anyone seeing what was his.

“Looks like that one-night stand was a bit more intense than you wanted to admit, on both your parts.”

Fuck. He’d been too slow to cover her up and Fletch had obviously gotten a good look at Rayne’s tattoo. Ghost stayed silent and didn’t look up at his friend, not sure what to say.

“Her tattoo looks familiar…much like the one you got on your leg a few months ago.”

Ghost still said nothing. There was nothing to say.

Fletch sighed. Then surprised Ghost by admitting out of the blue, “I’ve met someone. She’s funny and amazing and is more stubborn than anyone I’ve ever known. She’s got secrets, and won’t let me in. But the worst thing is that she seems to already have a man.”

Ghost did look up at that. His friend was standing with one shoulder against the wall, seemingly relaxed, but every muscle in his body was tense and Ghost could tell he was anything but.

“Every time I see them together I want to pound something. She’s got an amazing little girl who is scared of this new guy.”