Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) (2 page)

“Careful!” Mason yelled.  “Don’t do anything to dislodge Darius’ hand.  He’s keeping Tate alive.”  Finally, a crane was used to pluck the Zodiac out of the water and onto the deck of the ship. 

“I’m the ship’s surgeon,” a voice said over his shoulder.  “Can you hold on to him while we move him to the operating room?”

Dare nodded.

Corpsmen carefully lifted the CIA operative out of the boat, while the surgeon and Darius worked to make sure Darius’ hand never moved out of his chest cavity.  As they went below decks, Darius heard the captain of the ship and Mason talking.

“Lieutenant, what in the fuck happened out there?”

“Tate saved them, sir.  He saved them all.  They got away, but he sacrificed himself to do it.”

“Nobody was supposed to know where they were.  That compound was a highly guarded secret.”

“Sure it was, and that’s the reason Darius Lane has to hold Tate together like a split
piñata
.”

The door closed behind Darius and the medical team, and he didn’t hear any more of the conversation.  At no point had he stopped pinching the artery shut.  By God, Tate Llewelyn was not going to die today.

***

“D
are, you have to wake up.  We have to debrief.”  Darius heard his friend’s voice like it came from the far end of a tunnel.

“Shit, he’s really out of it.”

“He was awake for forty-eight hours straight, dumbass. Dare?” Finn’s voice sounded worried.

“I’m fine.”  Darius propped up on his elbows on his bunk.  He barely remembered coming down here after the surgery.  He woke up with a vengeance. “How is Tate?”

“He’s stable.  They airlifted him to San Diego after the Doc gave the thumbs up.  He’s still not talking.  The folks from Langley couldn’t wait until the ship docked, so they’re waiting for us to assemble.  I heard from the captain’s aide that Langley was all up in his shit until they heard it was our team that pulled Tate out.”

“Our reputation proceeded us,” Drake said with a grin. “It’s good to be the best.”

“Cut the shit, Avery,” Finn growled at Drake.  “Mason told us to can the attitude, and you know he meant you.  We need to act professional and walk them through this by the numbers.”

“I don’t see why they have their panties in a twist, their guy is a hero,” Drake complained.

“He might be a hero, but five Middle-Eastern scientists are no longer under our care.  He was supposed to be babysitting them so we could help bring them to the states,” Darius explained patiently.

“Fuck, Dare, you know damn good, and well those five scientists really didn’t want to come to the good ole U.S of A.  They’d heard so much negative propaganda about us they decided to go to Europe for asylum.”

“We can’t know that for sure.  It’s possible they went straight into the hands of ISIS.  That’s why we have some pissed of CIA folks.  In some ways, Tate’s being looked at as a traitor for saving those men and woman.  Some of the thinking is they would have been better off dead than going into the wrong hands.”

“Tell me that’s not for real.”  Drake groaned.

“There is a real asshole in the captain’s quarters.  Mason wants you there to explain just how dicey it was for Tate.”

Darius swung out of the bunk, his feet hitting the deck.  “Lead the way.”

***

R
ylie swung Georgie up into her arms.  Had he lost weight?  She knew the new meds he was on made him lose his appetite, but please God, let him not have gotten any smaller.  She looked at Sawyer and Charlotte, they looked as concerned as she was. 

“Don’t go away anymore.” Rylie bit her lip.

“Sweetie, just a few more times, and then I’ll be home for good.” 

“No!”  Georgie hit her hard, his boney fist catching her on the cheek. 

“Georgie, no hitting,” Rylie kept her voice soft but firm, as she staggered a step.

“Little man, what did we say about hitting?”  Sawyer took Georgie from Rylie, and the boy immediately started to cry.

“Want Rylie.”

“You shouldn’t have hit her,” Sawyer said reasonably.

“Let me get you some ice before you end up with a black eye.”  Rylie looked around the small bright kitchen of their house in Oklahoma.  The yellow daffodil wallpaper was beginning to swim in front of her eyes.

“Rylie,” Sawyer said sharply.  “Sit down.  Charlotte, help her.”  She looked at the tall boy she had helped to raise and plopped her ass down in a chair like he had commanded.

“Rylie!  I want Rylie!” Georgie was now screaming.

“Give him to me.” Rylie held out her arms.

“Char, tend to her.  I’m going to get little man settled down with his iPad.  Then the three of us are going to have a family conference.”

Georgie’s shrieks continued as Sawyer took him out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom.  They stopped abruptly. 

“He must have put on the Ferris wheel page, it always settles him,” Charlotte remarked as she gently placed a bag of frozen peas against Rylie’s cheek.

“Georgie loves the Ferris wheel,” Rylie agreed.  “I can’t wait for the carnival to come back to town so we can take him on one.” 

“If you’re actually home, you mean,” Sawyer’s tone sounded bitter as he sat down at the kitchen table. 

“My sales job,” Rylie began.  Then her voice trailed off as she began to tremble.

“Dammit, Rylie, when was the last time you ate?”  Sawyer turned to Charlotte.  “Do we still have some of the fixins’ left over from last night’s supper, sis?”

“Yep, I’ll make her a plate.  I swear, Rylie, you don’t have the sense God gave a turnip.”  Charlotte turned to the refrigerator and started to pull out containers of food.  As soon as she saw one, her stomach turned.  Rylie couldn’t look at a container without thinking of those poor women in shipping containers being transported by Albert Liu.  She clutched her stomach.

“Are you sick?” Sawyer asked.

“I’m just tired.”

“You work too hard.  You need to stay home and rest.  Can’t you find a way to go back to working from home like you did last year?  I know you need to travel to make ends meet, but still it’s been such a strain on you.”  Charlotte started to fry some ham in the skillet.  Sawyer and Rylie looked at one another.  They knew how much Georgie’s ADHD medicine cost.  Even with the new insurance plan, there was still an awful lot out of pocket that needed to be covered. 

“I’ve decided not to go to college,” Sawyer said baldly.

“Well, I sure as hell didn’t see that coming,” Rylie said sarcastically.  This was all her fault.  She was spread too thin.  She had actually stolen money from a drug dealer six months ago, but she’d used it to fund the Rochester House in Fallon Springs.  She was still doing the computer programming that had always paid the bills, but now was living a double life as Sylvia Hessman because she found out about the human trafficking scheme when she had helped take down the drug dealer.  She was barely keeping her head above water.  Shit, she needed to get her priorities straight.

Charity begins at home, Jones!

“Don’t you dare!” Sawyer pointed at her, his eyes blazing. 

“What shouldn’t she dare?” Charlotte asked as she slid three plates onto the table.  The smell of the food made her tummy growl.  At the same time, the sound of Dare’s name, made her stomach clench, and she grabbed it, pushing her plate away.

“If you don’t start eating, I’ll spoon feed you,” Sawyer threatened.

“Sawyer, we really need to work on getting you to come out of your shell.  I mean you never say what you mean, you’re so shy.”  The teen had the good grace to look a little abashed.

“Well if he didn’t I would,” shy Charlotte spoke up as she sat down and grabbed their hands to say grace.  They bent their heads as Charlotte blessed the food.

“Rylie, you can’t keep up this pace.  Your job is killing you.  I know selling this new software is important, and it’s what’s keeping us afloat, but the travelling isn’t good for you.  You need to stay home more.”  Rylie avoided Sawyer’s raised eyebrow and instead concentrated on her ham and eggs.

“Char, this tastes wonderful.”  The fifteen-year-old girl beamed.

“Please don’t avoid my concerns, Rylie.  I’m not as young as I used to be.  I’m going to be a junior this coming year.  Soon I’ll be graduating.  You can’t treat me like a child anymore.”

Rylie supposed she couldn’t.  She looked at the pretty blonde girl.  It was lucky she, Sawyer, and Charlotte all shared the same coloring.  Of course, Georgie looked like Charlotte since he was her biological brother.  Because all four of the ‘Jones’ family looked alike, the social workers had bought the fact they were
all
brothers and sisters, and that Rylie had concocted a foolproof online background showing their history.  That was the reason Rylie had been allowed to obtain guardianship of her ‘family.'

“This last sale should keep us afloat, Char.  After that, I can work from home again, I promise.”

“And, I’ll make sure she keeps her promise,” Sawyer said menacingly. 

“Sawyer, you can’t make sure she keeps her promise, sales can fall through.  She’s a good sales rep, we both know that, but they might not buy this latest product.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll buy it, but no matter what, this is the last time she hits the road, now isn’t it, sis?” 

Her head jerked as she stared at Sawyer, he couldn’t possibly know anything, could he?

“Rylie, did you hear what I said?” Charlotte asked.

“What honey?”

“Do you want me to scramble you some more eggs?  I forgot and made yours with cheese.  I know sometimes the dairy bothers you when your tummy is upset.”

“Charlotte Jones, the eggs are perfect!”  Rylie took a big bite, and immediately regretted it.  She smiled and swallowed. 

“Oh good.” 

“So tell me how this week has been treating you all?  I know Mrs. Whitehawk has taken Georgie in the mornings and early afternoons.  What have y’all been up to during that time?  Are you bored waiting until school starts again?”

Charlotte giggled.  “Sawyer is working all the time at the gas station.  He doesn’t have time to be bored.  He’s saving up for his car.”

“Okay, that takes care of Sawyer, how are you spending your days, besides cleaning?  The house is spotless.  And don’t think I haven’t noticed your new dress, and the new curtains.  You sure have put the sewing machine to good use.  Boy, Charlotte, I don’t know how you do it, I would be all thumbs.”

“I’ve also been teaching myself some web design.  I can’t quite understand the Java Script, though.  I was hoping when you came home, you could teach me.  I really like building the graphic front end of the web pages, it’s the back end that’s giving me fits.”

“I don’t know if we could be more opposite.”  Rylie laughed.  “I couldn’t make something look pretty if my life depended on it.” 

“Char, you need to get out of the house more,” Sawyer admonished.  “Go out with Ashley.  She’s been calling you, and you keep turning her down.  What’s the deal?”

“They’re all into boys.”  Charlotte touched the napkin to her lips.  “I’m fine if they want to date boys, but they’re sleeping with them.  We’re only fifteen, for goodness sake.”

Rylie shuddered.  Really, she never thought to have ‘the talk’ with either Sawyer or Charlotte.  She had
so
fucked up.

“Do you two know about birth control?” Rylie asked tentatively.

“Do you?” Sawyer shot back.

“Sure she does.  Don’t you remember her with Roger?  She dated him for almost a year, and she didn’t get pregnant,” Charlotte said.  Rylie stared at her aghast.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Sawyer countered.

“You know they slept together, she tried to hide it, but she spent the night over at his house, so I’m sure they were having sex,” Char explained to Sawyer patiently.  “Therefore, she was using birth control effectively.”  Rylie pushed her plate aside and hit her head against the table.

“You didn’t see the pregnancy test she threw away in the bathroom trash,” Sawyer disagreed.  “Obviously, Rylie had some issues with her birth control.”  Rylie hit her head against the table again and moaned.

“I’m sure she would do better now,” Char said soothingly as she patted Rylie’s back.

“Maybe.”  Sawyer tapped Rylie on her head. “So are you on the pill?”

“You mean you haven’t checked the bathroom shelves?” Rylie asked.

“I don’t think there’s been anyone since Roger,” Charlotte said.  “Which is good, he was way too old and a little creepy.”

“She was looking for a father figure,” Sawyer said as he went back to shoveling food into his mouth.

“Enough!”  Rylie stood up.  “Condoms.  You need to use condoms.  We don’t need any babies.  The house is too small.  Yes, Roger was way too old.”

She stalked down the hallway to Georgie’s room. 

“Rylie, look, Ferris wheels,” he said pointing to his iPad.  She sat down on the bed beside the little boy, who meant the world to her, and looked at the Ferris wheel on the screen.  She waited to see if he was in the mood to be touched again, or if he wasn’t.  Georgie might be only seven years old, but it was important to respect his boundaries, and even though she so wanted to hold him in her lap, she needed to see if it was what he wanted.

He snuggled up to her side, still enthralled with the video. 
Score one for Team Rylie.
  She picked him up and settled him in her arms.  It took another twenty minutes before the video she had created came to an end.

“Do you want to watch it again, Georgie, or do you want to play Jenga?” She loved it when she could get him to interact.  He shook his head. 

“Words, Georgie.”  He shook his head again.  She didn’t say anything.  He knew the rules.  She waited. 

Finally, he said, “Jenga.”

“That sounds like fun.”  She set him on the floor, and got down with him.  She pulled the game out from under his bed.  Rylie let him open the box and watched as he put everything together just to his liking.

“Who starts?” 

“Me,” he said barely looking into her eyes, but he did look up.  She grinned.

“Did you miss me, Georgie?”

“You should stay.  I want you to stay with me forever.  Like the stars stay in the sky, except for the falling ones.”  He pulled out the first piece.  “I don’t like things that fall.  I don’t want you to fall.  You do scary things, Rylie.”  It always amazed her when he spoke in full sentences.  It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was often profound. Like now.