Code Name: Ghost (A Warrior's Challenge 1) (40 page)

“What was that? If it was about Kayla, I
want to know.” Already his guts rolled.

“She was married for ten years.”

He shot a look toward his Master Chief who
pinched his lips together and looked away from him. “And,” he
ground out getting angrier by the second.

“And—” Manchester’s jaw went taut. “In those
ten years there were a reported thirty visits to the hospital with
contusions, burns, fractures, and lacerations.”

Everything inside him chilled to subzero.
Ten years?
She’d been abused for ten years.

Manchester paused, shaking his head. “A
final incident put the husband in jail for attempted murder after
he was released from the hospital. A Canadian serviceman named
Lapierre intervened, but not soon enough. Kayla was hospitalized
for two months. Her injuries were so severe they didn’t expect her
to live.”

“Oh, God,” Mace groaned. “There’s got to be
a mistake.”

Manchester surveyed Mace carefully. “No
mistake. The final attack occurred on December twenty-fourth. You
had no knowledge of this?”

“No, none,” Red blurted, his expression
contorting with distress.

“His name—is Daniel, correct?” Thane’s jaw
clenched tight.

Manchester nodded.

Thane swiveled to stare at Fox. “You knew,”
he shot at him. “You knew all of this.”

Fox rubbed his beard and stared at the
carpet. “It doesn’t make a wisp of difference, Commander. It’s the
past, and she didn’t want you to know. She said it didn’t have any
bearing on how she did her job. I agreed.”

“When?” he ground out. “When did you know
this?”

“I visited her after Mexico, when she was
housebound.” Fox paused and looked at the team. “Commander, this
doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on.”

“Like hell it doesn’t!” he roared. “Do you
have any idea how tormented she is, how scarred she is? She has
nightmares every night. She fights him off every goddamn night. I
have to hold her in my arms for hours until she can finally get a
couple hours of peaceful sleep.”

Silence sat thick in the room.

Then he realized what he’d just admitted, to
all of them. Fuck it. “Tell me, now,” he demanded, the rage
spiraling inside him. “I want to know it all.”

Fox swayed his head and continued, “I don’t
think you do, Commander. Your anger is out of control right
now.”

He hurtled out of the chair and went toe to
toe with Fox. “Tell me.”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“Tell. Me.”

His Master Chief sighed and crossed his
arms, flitting a look across the team. “I asked her if she had any
indigenous blood. I’m half Cherokee, and something told me her
blood was like mine. Her mother was Haida, and her father was of
European descent. Kayla had it tough growing up, Commander.”
Reading the darkening storm in his eyes, Fox hedged.

“What else?”

“Kayla wasn’t just abused by her husband,
Commander.” Fox shifted uncomfortably and rubbed his jaw. “An
uncle, her father’s brother, sexually abused her when she was a
little girl. When her mother found out, she was about twelve, but
the abuse had been going on since she was eight or nine. I think
you can understand why she didn’t want anyone to know, especially
you. Commander, there’s strength in that woman. You need to believe
that.”

“Believe it? Jesus, Fox, I’ve always
believed in her.”

Her footsteps coming back down the hallway
halted the conversation. “Here it is,” Kayla said, walking in the
door and handing Manchester the card, but she clung to the
flowers.

Cobbs bowed his head to hide the pained
expression he couldn’t control. Having daughters of his own,
Kayla’s childhood must have hit home.

“Thanks, I’ll uh, have it checked out, but
Kayla, I don’t think these flowers have anything to do with the
case.” Manchester’s features softened. “I think it’s safe to say
you’ve simply caught someone’s eye.”

The tight expression on her face relaxed.
The Shark was already playing mind games by putting her hair in the
envelope. Most women would be shaking with panic, but she wasn’t.
Anger swirled inside him with the thought. She’d been so abused
this didn’t even phase her. He bowed his head, sitting back down in
the chair, hiding his expression from her. A beautiful little girl
bloomed in his mind, and then a striking young woman. He imagined
the fear and the pain she must have endured. War—she’d been at war,
against men who took her innocence and trust, far longer than he
had, and she only had her will to fight back with. The threads in
the cool leather padding of the armrest snapped under his grip.

“I have to get back to work. Do you have any
questions for me?” Kayla asked.

“I do, but I’ll interview you later. You can
return to your post, Kayla,” Manchester said.

She nodded and turned to leave, then
stopped. Her gaze found Captain Redding’s as if she needed his
strength. “How am I going to die?”

The question rocked the entire room.

“Are you asking what he does to them, Ms.
Banks?” the Lieutenant said, placing the file back in his
briefcase.

She barely nodded.

He shook his head once—harshly, but the
Lieutenant ignored him, a somber expression covering his features.
“He’s a knife man, always to the throat. After that it doesn’t
matter.”

She continued to stare at Redding, and he
stared back, then said, “I don’t know, my dear. Maybe it was
because you were on the phone with Ghost. Who knows what screwed-up
thoughts ran through his mind.”

“What?” He shot to his feet. “Red—”

“Ghost, I’m sure you can understand why I
lied to you. It was for your well-being. If I’d told you what we’d
found on the cameras, your mind would have been on her, not
warfare.”

“Jesus Christ, you should have told me,” he
shouted. “Kayla?” He turned back to face Red. “What was on the
camera?”

“They couldn’t ID him, Ghost. He didn’t come
any farther than the anteroom.”

“How do you know it was him?”

Kayla and Red exchanged a look. “Even though
we couldn’t ID him, the knife in his hand was plain to see.”

The air rushed from his lungs with the
thought. The son of a bitch had been that close to her, within
striking distance, he could have taken Kayla from him right then,
and he would have been thousands of miles away.

Kayla concentrated on the floor. “Let things
happen that are meant to happen, Commander.” Her eyes rose to his,
emotionless.

Lapierre’s words ghosted through him.
Don’t let her die, Commander, that’s what she wants.
How had
she gone through so much abuse and become the woman she was?
Christmas had been hard, but as the days passed it had been like
someone switched a light on, and Kayla had come back to them. Only
the nights were hard, that’s where she kept the darkness…in her
dreams.

In the next second, he was prouder of his
team than he had ever been. They were all exemplary men, and they
proved it on every mission. Sharp minds and clutching their fear
under extreme pressure, he had witnessed. He accepted nothing less.
To be men with heart, to keep a place reserved for compassion, was
not a requirement of their jobs, but every SEAL strove to do just
that. Cobbs placed his hands on her shoulders as the rest of the
team laid a hand on her. Mace curled his arm protectively around
her waist, and gave her a squeeze.

“Kayla, we’ve got your back. He’ll have to
kill every one of us, before he’ll get to you,” Cobbs vowed.

She jerked her head, and looked into each of
their faces. “Thank you, Lieutenant, really.” She turned her eyes
to Mace. “Don’t be concerned. Just make sure I’m his last victim.
Put your energy on setting a trap, use me, and stop him.” She
pulled away from them and strode out of the room headed back to the
Command center.

She had already given in, and the thought
tore through him like a spray of bullets. She had them, and Cobbs
was right—they’d protect her, putting their lives in front of hers,
him most of all.

“Commander?” Cobbs questioned.

“Close the door, Nathan,” he ordered,
turning his attention back on Manchester. “We’re going hunting,
gentlemen.”

Although Manchester resisted, it was slight,
which meant he was hoping they’d help. The Blood Shark was looking
for his chance, and every day that passed, he would become more
impatient—hungry. They were going to push him to the point of
starvation until he revealed himself.

Before they wrapped up, he stood and pressed
his knuckles on the desk. “I want to see the file, Lieutenant
Manchester,” he demanded.

“Commander, maybe you shouldn’t,” Cobbs
warned him.

Mace stood beside him, shaking his head. “I
don’t think so, Commander. I don’t even want to see it.”

Blood, death, the worst things a mind can
conjure, they had witnessed it all from Korea to their own
backyards. Terrorism, torture, nothing surprised him anymore. He
waited. Manchester wasn’t leaving until he produced it.

The Lieutenant hesitantly pulled it from his
briefcase and laid it open on the desk.

“Oh, Christ,” Red breathed, swiveling one of
the photos of the dead women. “This fucking guy is angry.”

His eyes swung to Cobbs. Now he got it.
Their bodies had been mutilated beyond recognition. He’d skinned
them, eviscerated them. Their abdomens were sliced open to their
thighs. Only their faces and their chests remained untouched. The
word
bitch
had been carved across their breasts. He stared
at the pictures, trying his damndest not to imagine Kayla like
that. Every cell inside him exploded with rage. Picking up one of
the pictures, he seared the image into his mind, cementing his
anger to his will. He turned his eyes up to Manchester, and the man
flinched. “I’m going to exterminate this son of a bitch. There will
be no trial, Lieutenant.”

Forty-five minutes later, they looked up.
“Where is she?” He was up and in the Command center within a
second. “Where is she, Gord?” The NCIS techs had cleared the scene
and taken the evidence.

“She left. Why?”

“What do you mean she left?” he roared.
“When?”

Fear splashed across Gord’s face, and he
bolted up in his chair. “Fifteen minutes ago, sir. She said to tell
Lieutenant Manchester to call her at home if he wanted anything.
What’s going on?”

“I’ll talk to you later, Gord. And I expect
the truth.”

Heading for the elevator, the team was close
on his heels.

When they reached the sunshine, he broke the
team up into three, and he and Mace took her normal path to the bus
stop, while the others paralleled it.

She’d almost reached the entrance to the
base when they caught up with her. He signaled for the team to hold
back. “Kayla, what are you doing?” Anger clearly edged his words,
but it bloomed from fear.

She turned. “Going home.” And she began to
walk again.

He grabbed her arm and she stopped with a
jerk, but wouldn’t look at him. “You’re not going home without
me.”

She breathed out heavily and twisted.
“Commander,” She paused, drilling a look into him. “I already said
thank you for all your concern, now piss off.” She wrenched her arm
from his and dug her heels in with purpose as she walked away. Even
though she’d made her message clear, he didn’t really hear it,
seeing her clutch the flowers in her arms. They did pale in
comparison to her. Although she was doing her damndest to hide it,
she was scared as hell. She had to be. “I can take care of myself,
Commander,” she snapped at him when he caught up to her.

“Kayla, this guy is smart and he’s sick.
You’re a target now, he won’t stop until we stop him.”

“The police will catch him. I’m sure there’s
a whole world full of terrorists you can go after. Do it.”

“Jesus, woman!” He grabbed her around the
waist and hoisted her up in his arms, turning and walking back
toward his team, whose expressions were more stunned than Kayla’s.
“Go get my car,” he said, pinning the order on Clay. “Keys are in
my right pocket.”

Clay grabbed them and put it into
double-time for the parking lot.

“Commander, put me down.” She started to
wiggle in his arms, so he restrained her. She didn’t have a hope,
and if he had to tie her up, he’d do it. “You’re under arrest, Ms.
Banks.”

“What?” She stopped fighting him and her
eyes widened.

The biggest, deepest, most soulful eyes
looked back him. “That’s right—arrest. Lock down,” he said so she
would clearly understand him. Her lips gaped open. “You’re not
going anywhere without one of us with you. Do you understand, Snow
White? You have eight dwarves now.”

“You can’t do that.”

“It’s done.” Clay drove his car up and
jumped out, leaving the engine running. “Open the door,” Thane
ordered.

Cobbs chin tightened with a grin. “Where ya
keeping her, Commander?”

“With me.”

Tony jabbed Mace in the ribs. “You’re Dopey,
dude.”

Mace slowly craned his head toward him with
his lips twisted in a wry look. “Right,” he drawled, “and you’re
Shithead
.”

“Don’t remember that dwarf,” Tony flipped
back, crossing his arms over his chest.

“That’s because he was in the head all the
time, just like you.”

The guys broke out laughing, and even Kayla
couldn’t suppress a smile.

* * * *

He parked the car in the garage and then
lowered the door, just in case she thought to make a quick getaway.
Rounding the car, he held out his hand. “Come on.”

Giving him a scowl, she stood her ground and
crossed her arms over her chest.

He offered a quick shrug. “You can stay in
the garage for the next week if you want, but you’ll be more
comfortable in the house.”

“A week,” she barked, her arms dropping to
her sides. “You expect me to stay here for a week?”