Finally Home (Home Series) (9 page)

"Oh, God, oh, God!" Lainey cried, seeing Tessa go down.  "Mike!"

"She's tough," he assured Lainey, though he had to admit, it looked bad.  The assailant disappeared from view.  Mike called Colt.  "Tessa is down.  Assailant is MIA.  Go in hot."

"I've got building security behind me.  We're on the express elevator.  Two floors to go.  One.  I'm out.  Hall is clear."  Mike heard Colt bust through the office door, and then they could see him.  "She's in the corner office.  She isn't moving."

"Tessa!" Colt called.  He'd gone in with gun drawn and was clearing each room as he went.  When he entered the office where Tessa was, he cleared the room first, then dropped to his knees beside her.  "Tess!  Talk to me!  Tess!  Oh, shit!  Boss!  She's been stabbed.  I've got a pulse, but it's weak."

"
Figlio di Troia
!!" Mike roared, causing Lainey and Kacee to flinch. 

"Tess!!  Come on, Little Bit, talk to me," Colt urged, ripping his shirt off to stuff against her side to staunch the flow of blood from the stab wound. 

Tessa groaned and Mike thought it was the best sound he'd ever heard. 

"Call Sh-Shane," she said, referring to her husband.

"We will," Colt told her.

"Call him now."

"Tess..."

"Colt.  Please."

"God...OK," he said, pulling her phone from her pocket.  Mike watched Colt scroll through her phone then heard him hit speaker as he called Shane.

"Hey, babe, I was..." Shane answered, but Colt cut him off.

"This is Colt, Shane.  I'm here with Tessa.  She's been stabbed.  It's bad.  She wants to talk to you."

"What?" Mike heard Shane's shocked voice over the speaker.

"Shane?" Tessa said, her voice weak.

"Tess?  Baby?"

"Shane.  I love you," she whispered, her voice weak.

"T
essa!"

"She's, um," Colt began, but stopped to clear his throat.  "She's passed out.  You need to get to Springfield, McCanton.  Now."

"What the hell happened??" Shane roared.  "You were supposed to be protecting her."

"We got separated.  She got attacked from behind," Colt looked up when the paramedics came rushing in.  "The medics are here.
  Just get your ass to Springfield.  I'll call you as soon as we get to the hospital."

"You better hope and pray that she pulls through this, Harris
," Shane snapped, then hung up.

"Colt?" Mike said, watching Colt pacing behind the medics as they worked on Tessa.

"Yeah, I'm here.  They're stabilizing her.  Her face is beat to shit but her knuckles are busted up, too."

"She put up a helluva fight, man.  He may have gotten away but he's not untouched.  She got some good blows in on him.  We need to be sure they collect evidence from under her nails.  I don't know if she managed to get any blood on her but she tried to pull the mask off; he nails raked his face a few times, too."

Colt walked over to her and lifted her hand in his.  "There is some blood there."

"Good.  I'm bringing the girls down, I'll meet you on the street," Mike said when the medics loaded Tessa onto a gurney. "Get your things," he said to them, and they both silently collected their things, both shell-shocked.

In the elevator, Mike scrolled through his contacts and made another call.

"Hey, man, what's..." Riley began but Mike cut him off.

"Tessa was just attacked.  She's on her way to the hospital."

"We'll head back tonight," Riley said.

"Thanks."

"Is she going to be all right?"

"She was stabbed.  Colt says it's bad."

"Lainey?"

"She's here with me."

"OK.  See you in a few hours."

They emerged onto the street just as the paramedics were wheeling Tessa out, Colt hot on their heels.  Tessa looked extremely pale, from what he could see of her swollen face.  Shane was going to lose it when he saw her. 

"They were able to stop the blood loss," Colt told him after the ambulance sped away.  "Her pulse got a bit stronger after that."

Kacee met up with her driver and bodyguard and offered them a ride with her but they declined.  Colt rode with Mike and Lainey in Mike's Escalade, calling his wife on the drive, telling her he needed to hear her voice.  Lainey glanced up at Mike as he drove, but his expression was closed.  She supposed she was seeing the SEAL just now, closed and focused.

At hospital, she had the experience of seeing these two strong men pacing and looking ready to strangle anyone who dared get in their way.  Colt had pulled on a fresh shirt on the ride to the hospital, but his pants were still stained with Tessa's blood.  An hour into their vigil, the waiting room doors burst open and she saw a man with the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen come in and head directly for Colt.

"Shane, man, I -" Colt began, but Tessa's husband charged him, fist connecting with Colt's jaw and knocking him back against the wall with a forearm to the throat. 

"You promised you'd keep her safe!"

"Shane," Mike said, his voice low and calm.

Shane turned his head and looked at Mike.  "What the hell happened?" he asked, releasing Colt.
  Lainey could tell that Colt wanted to retaliate but was holding himself back.

Mike filled him in on what he'd seen.  Lainey watched Shane take it all in, thinking he was handling it all remarkably well. 

"And he got away?" Shane pressed.

"Unfortunately," Colt confirmed, "I didn't get a chance to ask her anything about him.  Hopefully he spoke to her.  If she heard his voice, she can help identify him."

Shane raked both hands through his hair, pacing away from the guys.  Lainey got up and went to him, introducing herself.

"Tessa put up a heckuva fight," she told him.  "I've never seen a woman fight like that."

Shane gave her a weak smile.  "She's always been a fighter."

"She was amazing.  My friend Kacee called her an Amazon Warrior Queen."

He half laughed.  "God, she would love that.  I'll have to remember that one."

"She must be an amazing person...so strong.  To have joined the Army and served with a bunch of Rangers like Colt, then to be picked for Mike and Riley's task force.  And I know she was the agent who brought down the Naturalists a few years ago."

He nodded.  "She was."

"That is impressive. 
She
is impressive.  You must be so proud of her."

"I am...she's been through a lot in her life.  This is just the latest in a long line of injuries...and I can get mad and tell her that I won't allow her to do this kind of thing any more...and she would just laugh in my face and tell me I'd be welcome to try to stop her."

Just then, a doctor walked into the waiting room and all eyes turned to him.

"Tessa McCanton?" the doctor called.

Shane stood.  "I'm her husband."

"She came through surgery just fine.  We gave her some blood and repaired the damage from the stab.  She has a lot of scar tissue," the doctor began.

"She was injured in an IED attack in Iraq and further injured later in her career in the FBI," Shane explained.

The doctor looked a little surprised by that, then cleared his throat.  "Wow, she's been through a lot."

"Yes, sir, she has," Shane confirmed.

"Ironically, it was that scar tissue that saved her l
ife.  Prevented the knife from nicking an artery or reaching anything vital.  One of the plates in her face was knocked loose, we repaired that."

Lainey's eyes widened.  Plates in her face??  What in the world had Tessa been through before?

"All-in-all, she was very fortunate.  We'll be moving her into a recovery room in just a few more moments and then you can see her."

"Thank you, doctor," Shane said, shaking his hand.

Lainey looked over at Mike and Colt, who were both looking immensely relieved.  They waited with Shane until he was taken back to the recovery room, then, promising they would return, left him to see to his wife. 

"We forgot to call Coop and Whit," Colt said as they were heading out to the parking lot.  "They're going to be pissed."

"They'll get over it," Mike said.  "As soon as we get to Lainey's, start hacking the security system from that building.  Let's see if we can figure out where the hell that jackass came from and where the hell he disappeared to."

"I'll find him," Colt vowed.

Chapter Six

The two men Colt referred to as Coop and Whit met them as they walked through the door at her house.  They'd been all smiles until they saw the blood on Colt's pants and the dark scowls on both their faces.

"What happened?" the one Colt greeted as Coop asked.

"Tessa was attacked.  She's in the hospital but she's going to be all right," Colt explained, "where's your office, Lainey?"

"Just around the corner," she told him.  He thanked her then disappeared into the office.

"System is up and running," Whit told Mike.

"Thanks.
"

Lainey watched Mike with his men and saw that they recognized as well as she did that he was hanging on by a thread...a thread that was quickly unraveling.  She knew that he'd wanted to go in after Tessa with Colt but that he stayed because he didn't want to leave her unprotected.

"Mike?" she said, turning his attention to her.  "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Not right now," he said, walking away.

She sighed, shaking her head.  He was taking all of what happened on himself, which was the last thing he needed at this point.  She walked past Coop and Whit and went toward the stairs.  On the halfway point, she turned and looked down toward her office, saw Mike and Colt at their computers.  Her heart hurt for them; for Mike for having to helplessly watch his friend get beaten, and for Colt who had to find her like he had, and for Tessa, who had already been through enough trauma to last ten lifetimes. 

In her room, she paused, looking down at he
r bed, which was still messy from their quick exit earlier that morning.  Stepping out of her shoes, she lay down on her bed, her hand going to the pillow he'd used for the three hours he'd allowed himself to sleep.  She wanted to help him, to ease his mind so that he...

Her phone was ringing.  Sitting up, she saw that it was from an unknown caller.  For a moment, she debated on whether or not to answer, then decided to roll the dice.

"Hello?"

"Your lady cop friend packs a helluva punch," she heard her "admirer" say.

"Why did you have to hurt her?  She was only trying to protect me."

"You don't need protecting from me, Miss Lainey.  I told you.  I love you.  I would never hurt you."

"You didn't have to hurt Tessa.  She's been through so much.  And she has a baby boy.  You nearly took her away from him.  You could have stayed hidden.  You didn't have to hurt her."

"I had to send your man a message.  I know who he is.  Mike Casiano.  He runs Orion Securities with your cousin, Riley.  I know who that big man who came after the lady cop was, too.  Colt Harris.  I could have taken him do
wn, too; had my scope on him.  Would have been easy.  So you tell them, Miss Lainey.  You tell them I can take them out any time, anywhere.  You send them on home now."  She got up and flew down the stairs, colliding with Colt as she burst into the office, her eyes locked on Mike.

"Don't hurt them, they're only doing their jobs," she said and she felt an instant change in the room as all four men went on full alert, gathering around her.

"You tell that Casiano to back off.  I saw how he was looking at you.  Send him away, Miss Lainey.  I'll kill him if he touches you."

"Who are you?  Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because I love you."

"That isn't love!!" she cried.
 

Mike reached for the phone but the Admirer's next words had her jerking away.

"If he takes that phone from you, I'll shoot the first man I see.  You're mine, Miss Lainey.  I'll be coming for you."

He ended the call and she dropped the phone as if it had burned her.  Mike stepped closer as if to touch her but she scrambled away.

"Don't!  He can see!" she said on a frantic whisper. 

Mike's eyes shot to Whit and Coop, who held their hands up. 

"We did a sweep, Boss.  It came up clean," Whit said.

Coop crossed to the window, but Lainey grabbed his arm.  "He can see!  He said if Mike touched me, he would shoot the first man he saw.  Stay away from the window.  He said he could have taken Colt out when he was in there with Tessa.  Said he had him in his scope.  He knows you," she said to Colt, then shifted her gaze to Mike who was scowling down at her.  "He knows both of you.  Called you by name and mentioned Orion Securities."

"We need to get her out of here," Coop said.  "Take her to a safe house."