SEALs of Honor: Mason (19 page)

In clear details, some Mason hadn’t even heard yet, she stood tall and calmly told the massive audience sitting rapt all the details of what had happened this last week.

Instead of appearing terrified, she was steady and convincing as hell. When she came to the part about Hawk and fearing he was dead, Mason could feel the color bleaching from his own skin. Lord what she’d been through…

“Now let me tell you why I’m sharing all this…”

The audience was silent… “It’s because what I have created
will
save lives. Our soldiers, men and women who stand for us each and every day –
their
lives. For the lives of the men who have saved me every time this last week. I know SEALs aren’t supposed to get the glory but these men…” she pointed to Hawk in the back of the room, Swede on the far side, Cooper in the front, and Dane against the left wall and Shadow, standing in the shadows on the right. Her final gesture was to turn and motion to Mason himself. “I have nothing of value to give them in thanks but to see that this program does what it’s intended to do. Save
their
lives that they might in turn help someone else in need.”

“So how does it work?” She turned on the projector. With all eyes on her, she lifted her necklace over her head and unhooked the cross she had dangling on the end. With a simple motion she proceeded to pop it into two pieces and plug one side into her laptop.

Shit. She’d been wearing that thing the whole damn time. Mason’s shocked gaze went from one of his men to the other and saw the same shock in each of their faces. No one had guessed. She’d been wearing that necklace the whole time she’d been captive in enemy hands – and they never knew. He caught sight of his commanding officer and saw the same surprise on his face. But his second in command at his side…yeah, that wasn’t a look he’d ever expected to see.

And damn if Tesla’s father hadn’t called it. He lifted his communicator and said to Hawk, “Dodgson is looking ready to make a move.”

“Swede is already on it. He saw the same damn look.”

Swede reached the man in seconds, who only at the last moment realized the threat bearing down on him. The man jumped up and bolted to the door. Hawk stepped in front of him, his fist connecting with the man’s jaw.

The officer dropped like a stone to the floor. Hawk and Swede bent and lifted him and whisked him away, their actions only causing a small disturbance in the room. All eyes were on Tesla and her program as she led them through the process of what it could do and what her future plans for the program were going to be.

When she finished, she fell silent for a long moment. Then she said, “I lost my brother to the job. He knew I was working on this. For him, I finished it.” She gave a tremulous smile. “I’ve called it Harry’s Hope.”

She straightened and looked around the room. “Are there any questions?”

And the place erupted.

In a calm orderly fashion, she stood until she looked like she couldn’t stand any longer, and answered the questions as they were fired at her.

Finally, the room fell silent.

Mason stepped up and offered his arm.

She accepted. “Ladies and Gentlemen, if there are no more questions, I’m sure you’ll understand if I leave you now to think about this while I go find a doctor to check out my broken ribs,” she said in a dry, humorous voice and she withdrew her USB and clicked it back into a cross. As she replaced the piece on her necklace, she added, “And as long as Mason’s taking me, I know I’ll get there safe.”

The audience chuckled.

Then she added, “Except if we’re going on a helicopter. Then I’m going with Hawk.”

And she turned and walked away. The audience stood and clapped as she left. She lifted a hand in acknowledgment and kept walking.

Mason had never been more proud of anyone in his life.

She was something.

And what she was – was his.

She just didn’t know it yet.

Chapter 27

“N
OW IF WE
can keep you safe and out of trouble long enough to heal…” The nurse smiled down at her. “You just need to stay in bed for a couple of days and let your body get over this trauma.”

She nodded and curled up under the sheets. She really hated hospitals. Although this was a nicer one than most. “I could go home and sleep.”

“Maybe. Waiting on the rest of those X-rays first. If the doctor is good with them, then you can. But you have to rest. No more racing around the countryside.”

“My racing days are done,” she whispered, yawning.

“Good. Sleep a bit. When you wake up the doctor will be here.”

She barely heard the rest of the nurse’s statement as the warmth and coziness of being curled up in bed, all the nastiness of the last few days over and the stress of the presentation and demonstration gone, finally allowed her to relax.

Destress. Not that she knew what that was. Still, she needed downtime in a big way. Talk about surviving a week of hell.

Mason had helped her off the stage, and she was ashamed to admit she’d all but collapsed on him afterwards. But he took it in stride, picking her up and rushing her here. She hadn’t seen him since.

In fact, outside of the nurse she hadn’t seen anyone.

She wasn’t sure what was to happen next. Was her little house she’d been in prior to the latest kidnapping available to return to? Did she want to go back there? She was of mixed feelings over that. She’d loved Mason there but had been kidnapped as well. Not exactly a good balance. Later, she’d think of it later.

She also felt naked, until she reached up and clasped her necklace. She’d loved the start of surprise from the audience when she’d unclicked it and hooked up the special USB end on it. The enemy had to be kicking themselves over that. She’d been asked to come back in a few days for a more in-depth session. Of course she’d been pleased to accept.

But she wouldn’t be showing them everything until she had a contract. She had a long list of add-ons she wanted to develop. She had to decide on a priority list first. And hire more help. She frowned, her fingers pleating the sheets.

Poor Robert. He hadn’t survived. His body had been found, dumped in the woods by his house.

The whole scenario felt…odd now. There’d been so much tension, fear…just that unknowing had driven her for so long she felt cut off. At loose ends in a way. As if adrift and no idea of what to do or how to do it.

Maybe that was okay too.

She closed her eyes and drifted. There were sounds in the hallway. Doctors talking. Clipped footsteps. Her room was empty and there were birds chirping outside yet everything was muted. She yawned again and snuggled deeper.

Sleep waited just outside of her awareness. But she couldn’t seem to get there. She needed sleep.

Sinking deeper she reached for it.

And slept.

She barely felt the needle go into her arm. Or the sheets under her lifting as she was moved to another bed. As the awareness of something happening to her filtered into her subconscious, she struck out, her arms falling limply at her side. The cold hit her next as she was suddenly outside. Then inside a vehicle. She struggled to open her eyes, but there was a weird set of colors everywhere. She had no idea what the heck was going on.

“Mason,” she cried, only her voice was weak as a kitten.

She collapsed back to the bed, and the last thing she heard was someone saying, “She’s out. Finally.”

“Good, the plane is ready. Let’s get the hell out of this damn country.”

*

H
AWK HEARD THE
rustling beside him. They weren’t in rooms yet just in the small examining rooms. His head was booming like a series of rockets going off.

Mason walked in. “Hey. What are you still doing in bed?”

“Trying to get this asshole in my head to stop trying to break his way out.” He waved to the space around them. “This is hardly even a room. You can hear everything. It’s making my head boom like rockets going off.”

“You’re off duty until that’s fixed.”

“Good luck with that. Loved the nurse, I overheard her say something to Tesla about no more running around and she needed to rest.”

“Yeah, like that girl needs the reminder.”

“I know.” Hawk grinned. “She’s good people.”

Mason nodded, staring at the curtain that surrounded Tesla. He’d tried to see her earlier, but the nurse had kept him away. Only now there appeared to be several people in there. And why was that?

“The doctors maybe?” Hawk suggested in a low voice, but he didn’t sound like he believed it himself. Mason slid to the curtain and peered around the corner. Two men dressed as orderlies were moving her to another bed, only she didn’t seem pleased to go. Was she hitting them? Damn. The men pushed the bed to the door and maneuvered it out into the hallway.

He watched a moment longer until the man whose back was facing him, turned slightly. Just enough that he could see his profile.

Daniel.

He spun and stared at Hawk, who’d already bolted to his feet. They raced down the hall in the direction the gurney had driven.

By the time they found them again, the orderlies had pushed Tesla down the far end of a hallway and turned the corner. With a shout, they raced after her, catching sight of them again as they barreled out to the loading bay – in time to see Tesla loaded into the back of a waiting ambulance and the men jumping into the front.

“Stop,” Mason roared as the doors slammed shut. He sprinted to the vehicle only to have it rip out of the parking lot just as he tried to jump onto the back.

“God damn it,” Mason was already calling in the license plate when a jeep came screaming around the corner.

Swede pulled up in front, they hopped in and he took off after the ambulance.

“Why didn’t you take them out at the hospital?” Swede asked.

“Guns in a hospital are never a good thing,” Hawk said, his phone ringing.

“And this has to stop once and for all,” Mason snapped. “If they are meeting someone then we need to finish this.”

He snatched up his phone and listened to an update on the situation. A small plane had caught the radar this morning out in the old airstrip primarily used now for pilot training. A team were there now. The plane had landed last night and was lined up with several other private planes. The other planes were registered and owners were local. Not this one. According to the recent intel, there was no pilot and the plane was just parked.

He relayed the information to the others.

“And if that’s not the way these guys are going?”

“Then we take them out sooner than later,” Mason snapped.

“Not to worry, look…” he pointed as the ambulance turned down Sexsmith Road, which was the old highway.

“Right direction but it’s going to be obvious if we follow,” Hawk said.

“No. We can take the shortcut from Taylor Ave and come out ahead of them.”

“And take a chance of losing them?” Hawk asked. “We need eyes in the sky on them.”

“Already in progress. Should be overhead in a couple of minutes.” In fact, he could hear the sounds of a helicopter approaching from the left.

“Isn’t an ambulance a little too visible for a getaway vehicle?”

“Oh hell. That’s right, they are doing practice rescues at the airstrip today. EMT drills. The ambulance is going to fit right in.”

Shit. Mason watched as several other ambulances took the turnoff heading in the same direction. That was three now. Damn it.

The helicopter quickly relayed all were heading to the same location. Without needing to hide any longer, the men moved up between the second and third ambulance. And using the helicopter, kept an eye on the first one.

The convoy hit the old airstrip in ten minutes. The ambulances lined up on the side with the people exiting and gathering around. Mason had no idea what the training schedule was for the EMTs, but he knew Tesla wasn’t supposed to be part of it.

Swede drove to the far side of the planes. They quickly disembarked and raced to the plane.

His communicator crackled. “Someone is boarding.”

His men moved into position. Mason, hidden behind the wheel on the far side watched as Tesla was picked up and carried to the small set of stairs.

There’s no way he was letting that plane take off.

A hawk’s cry rent the air. The man carrying Tesla raced toward the stairs and was up in a flash. The third man stopped and turned. Daniel.

Mason stood up. “Hello, Daniel.”

Daniel made a startled movement then turned to face him, his hands in his pockets, casual like. “Well, Mason. We meet again.”

Mason walked over. “You’re not leaving with her, Daniel.”

“I am,” Daniel said in a conversational tone. “Not sure why you care though.”

“Why do you?” Mason snapped. “She already handed over the software.”

“Ah, but she’s the brains behind it and some of her other ideas now… That’s what the buyer is interested in.”

“Not happening.”

Daniel tilted his arm and shot through his jacket pocket. Just a single pop. Mason had already moved. He came in low and hard and had Daniel on the ground in seconds. With his knee on the gun and his thumb digging into Daniel’s neck, he whispered, “You should have chosen someone else, Daniel.”

Gasping for air, Daniel asked, “Why?”

He shoved his face into Daniel’s. “She’s one of us now.”

“Like hell.”

Hawk stood behind Mason. “He’s right.”

“She’s not a damn SEAL. No way she’d make it.”

Mason smiled gently. “I bet that rubs, doesn’t it? See, she has something you will never have.”

“Loyalty,” Hawk said.

“Courage,” Dane piped up behind him, pushing the pilot and third man, now cuffed ahead of him.

“Endurance,” Swede offered, carrying Tesla in his arms over to the group.

“Determination,” Cooper said, walking around from the other side of the plane.

“Grit,” said Shadow.

“And on top of all of those, she’s got heart,” Mason admitted. “And a lot of it. She’s SEAL through and through.”

“She’s nothing but a damn woman,” Daniel snapped in an ugly tone. “They are good for one thing and one thing only.”