Her Loyal Seal (4 page)

****

Something was wrong. Really wrong.

“Dare!” Clint screamed as the chopper whirled overhead. His friend helped to lower Lydia onto the ground. Clint frantically felt for Lydia’s pulse at the base of her neck.

Darius shoved him out of the way and started to perform CPR. The huey settled into the clearing as Mason ran over to Clint.

“Mase, I didn’t feel her pulse.”

Mason signaled to the corpsman who brought a stretcher and an oxygen mask. They whisked Lydia into the belly of the bird continuing to perform CPR, with Darius running behind them. Mason directed the rest of the civilians to follow. Finn and Drake were next, and then he pulled in Clint.

Clint skidded on his knees to the pallet holding Lydia. They had an IV in her arm. The corpsman working on her stopped compressing her chest. At long fucking last the corpsman gave Clint a thumbs-up. He moved away and Clint saw her breathe on her own. He touched his forehead to hers.

“Thank God. Thank God.”

****

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

“Hello, Beautiful,” he said in a low voice.

Lydia looked up from her hospital bed and did a double take, or was it a triple take? She recognized the voice, but not the man. There was no mistaking the rumble that was Clint Archer’s voice, but this clean shaven, sandy haired man in a button down white shirt and black jeans was somebody new.

“Lydia?” This time he didn’t sound quite as confident. That was when she noticed the flower arrangement in his hands.

“You brought me flowers? Roses?” Nobody had brought her flowers since she had been in the hospital. She had to blink fast so no tears fell. “Clint, how did you find me? They put me under an assumed name.” Lydia cleared her throat to get the words out.

He walked partway into the room and smiled at her.

“It took a while to find out where they put you. Then it took a little bit more time to arrange leave so I could be here with you.”

She pulled the thin blanket up a little higher to cover the cotton gown the hospital provided.

What was he doing here? She was much better and going to be released by the end of the week, so why was she having a tough time breathing?

“I wanted to call, but like I said, it took a while before I could find you. Luckily, after I did, I found out you were still going to be here by the time I could get leave. So I figured I would just show up. That’s all right, isn’t it?” He sounded unsure, having watched as she pulled up the blanket.

“Of course.” His eyes narrowed as she pulled the blanket even higher.

“It doesn’t look like it. It looks like I’m making you uncomfortable.”

“You are,” she blurted out.

He ran his hand through his hair; his other still holding the vase of flowers. “Damn Lydia, I never meant to do that. I just hated the way they took you away. I got them to tell me you were going to be okay, and that you were going to make a full recovery. But the US Marshalls took you into their system and refused to let me know how to find you. Making you feel bad or upset you is the last thing I wanted to do.”

“Oh Clint, that came out wrong. I dreamed of seeing you again. Only I wanted to see you one day when I was normal. Not sick. Not in a hospital bed. I wanted you to see me like I really am. I’m strong.”
But she wasn’t strong, she was babbling.

“Are you kidding? You’re one of the strongest people I know.”

She snorted. “Yeah sure. You always have to carry strong people through a jungle.” She started to tear up.

“Hey, Lydia, what’s wrong?” He was across the room and beside her bed faster than she could blink.

“It’s this damned pneumonia. My emotions are all over the place. Then having you here. I’m so happy, but I just wanted…”

“It’s okay. I think I understand.” He set the flowers on the nightstand.

“Well then, you’re doing better than me.”

He chuckled and reached his hand out towards her face. She caught it and brought it to her cheek. He felt so warm, so alive. She kissed his palm.

“Thank you for coming, Clint.”

She stared into the beautiful hazel eyes of the man who had literally saved her life. He finally cleared his throat.

“How is Beth?”

“She puts on a brave front when she comes to visit, but I’m really worried about her. I’ll be happy when I’m out of here and we can be together.”

“Always trying to take care of everyone aren’t you?”

“No I’m not.” Clint laughed. He looked so much younger than when he had been in the jungle. Lydia yawned.

“I can come back later if you need to get some rest.”

“If I hear one more person tell me I need rest and take it easy, I might have to kill them.”

Clint threw back his head and laughed. Her breath stopped. Literally stopped. In all the time she had known him in the jungle, she never heard him laugh like that. She wanted to hear it again.

“What?”

“Huh?”

“You’re staring at me, Lydia. Are you okay?”

“I just never heard you laugh like that.” He picked up one of her hands, brought it to his cheek, and then kissed her palm.

“Baby, there was never a moment I felt like laughing. I was scared almost every minute.”

“You saved me. How could you be scared?”

“Lydia, you were so sick. You almost died. I was scared every minute.” She stroked his cheek.

“Well you don’t have to worry now. I’m much better. The pneumonia has pretty much cleared up.”

“Yep, that’s what the hospital records said.”

“You hacked the hospital records?”

“Only at a very high level. I wanted to see what your prognosis was, and if you were getting the right level of care. Your doctors are very highly regarded.”

“You hacked my doctors?”

“Yep.” He didn’t even have the grace to look guilty. He was still standing there holding her hand.

“Wait, how do you know how to hack so many things?”

“It’s kind of what I do. Everyone on the team has a specialty. Mine is computers.” Lydia couldn’t help the grin that spread over her face.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. That’s a pretty big smile for nothing. Spill it, lady.”

“Let me adjust the bed so I’m sitting up.” Looking at her, he immediately let go of her hand, and put his arm around her so he was supporting her. Then he found the remote that brought the bed up to the proper height so she could sit up.

“Is this better?” His arm was now trapped between her back and her pillows. She looked up at him from beneath her lowered lashes.

“It’s much better.” She couldn’t begin to explain what the feel of him was doing to her insides. It made her happy to see Clint looking flushed as he withdrew his arm.

“So what makes you so interested in my hacking abilities?”

“I would love to know some of your techniques. I have studied up on you brash upstarts, and I actually wrote a paper on a hacker who broke into a Fortune 100’s e-mail server and had all e-mails blind cc everyone in the company for a day. It was amazing how much confidential information was leaked in the hour before the server was shut down. It was done by a fourteen year old in Nebraska.”

“Yep, Shelly Reynolds. She’s really gifted.”

“The only thing I couldn’t find out was her punishment. I checked all my sources, but this was one of the few times I came up empty. It really pissed me off. I could never find out whether they prosecuted her as a juvenile or an adult, or what happened.”

“I bet you couldn’t.” Clint grinned over his shoulder as he pulled up a chair.

“Do you know? You can’t. I asked every contact I had. I have a lot of friends in law enforcement and computer science, and some who might have broken some hacking laws themselves. So it’s really weird they couldn’t find out what happened to Shelly.”

“That’s an odd assortment of friends. How’d you manage to get them?” Clint sat down with his foot resting on his knee.

“You tell me what you know first.
And,
how you know it.”

“I know it because I’m military. What I know is Shelly was recruited by Uncle Sam, and she’ll be enlisting on her eighteenth birthday.”

“It’s not against her will is it?” Lydia leaned against the bedrail so she could get closer to Clint and see his expression even more clearly.

“No the draft ended years ago. Like I said, she was recruited and she’s pretty excited. She is going to be able to play with the biggest and best toys, and some of the brightest minds. She’ll never be bored again.”

“How exciting for her.”

“You mean that, don’t you?” Clint gave her an odd look. “So tell me how you got such an interesting group of friends in the US.”

“Not just the US, but all across the world. I have a double major, Criminology and Computer Science. I did a lot of social networking. I’m almost finished with my-” Lydia bit her lip and looked down at the white blanket covering her.

“What Lydia? What are you almost finished with?”

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter.” She didn’t want to talk about it. She gave him a big smile. “Clint, I’m so happy you came and found me.”

“Talk to me Lydia, don’t hide from me. We’ve been through too much to start hiding now.” His chair scraped as he dragged it across the floor so he was now sitting right next to her and he held out his hand. She clasped it.

“You’re right. It’s not that it’s a big secret. Anyway, I’m surprised you haven’t run a check on me.”

“I thought about it, but I wanted to get to know you the old fashioned way.” She could see he was telling the truth.

“I appreciate that. It seemed like there were a lot of things ripped out of my hands when we first met. I appreciate you not violating my privacy—except for the hospital records of course.” She hoped her grin took the sting out of her words. It must have, because he grinned back.

“So now will you tell me?”

“I was working on my Masters of Computer Science.”

“Pretty impressive. What were you planning on doing with that?”

“With my education in Criminology I intended to work for the Federal Ministerial Police.” She watched him carefully. It was her experience that men were not happy about her career aspirations. She’d only had two boyfriends before, and in both cases they thought she should do something a little more feminine. Preferably, along the lines of becoming a housewife.

Stupid girl, you’re looking at a Navy SEAL and thinking he’s going to be okay with you wanting to work in law enforcement? Dream on!

“Being a police officer is a noble profession, but isn’t it pretty difficult in Mexico City?” She couldn’t get a read on him. He seemed sincere, but she heard a ‘but’. She waited. “What type of career were you hoping to have?” His thumb caressed the top of her hand.

“I spoke to some of my professors at the University. There is definitely a need in the cyber-crimes unit. They’re also trying to get more women in higher ranks within the police force.”

His hand tightened on hers.

“What?”

He let out a long breath. “Haven’t a lot of the higher ranking officers been targeted by the cartels and gangs?”

“The police can’t let fear stop them from doing their job. Anyway, it would be years before I would be promoted. I would first have to prove myself.”

“Jesus, Lydia.” He looked at her and she couldn’t drag her eyes away from his, this time it was her turn to question him.

“What?”

“You amaze me. It wasn’t just circumstances in the jungle. You’re just as noble and brave in your normal life as you were when you saved your sister.” She snatched her hand back.

“I’m nothing. I just do what needs to be done.”

“Lydia, you know that’s not true. You’re special.” He took her hand back and clasped it between both of his. He was so warm and it felt good. She shook her head.

“How about saying you’re a tiny bit above the norm?” he teased.

“Well I
am
pretty good with computers.”

He laughed and she joined him.

“But seriously Clint, we don’t know what I’m like. You’re the one who’s been tested. I am still just taking classes. You’re the one who’s serving his country.”

“Okay, so now I know you can’t take a compliment. Let’s table this conversation for a while and talk about something we can agree on. What have you been doing for fun in this place?”

Lydia looked guiltily over at the drawer in the table next to her bed.

“Toys? I always like finding toys in a woman’s nightstand.” He reached for the drawer and opened it up. “Score!” He reached in and pulled out her computer, headset and game controller. “What do you play?”

“Lots of things.”
God this was embarrassing.

“Please say
League of Legends
.” He couldn’t actually like the same online game that she liked, it wasn’t possible, not in a million years.

“You’re messing with me. If you play, you play
Counter-Strike
.”

“Honey, I live
Counter-Strike
. Nexus all the way.”

“Oh my God, you’re serious. You actually play.
League of Legends
? Clint this is amazing!”

Lydia’s heart sped up and a wide smile spread over her face. “Tomorrow I’m bringing my computer when I visit and I’m going to kick your ass.”

“You’re going to be here tomorrow?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I took some leave. I’ll be here for the next four days. You’re stuck with me until they whisk you away into hiding.” Her grin got even wider.

For the next hour they discussed game strategy, and she realized inside the armor of a SEAL beat the heart of a fellow nerd.

Chapter Three

“Beautiful, we have to quit meeting like this.”

Lydia looked up in shock. Clint couldn’t be here. After leaving the hospital the first time, the US Marshalls gave her a new last name, and she resigned herself to never seeing him again.

“Clint! How did you know?” She started to cough so hard, her chest rattled.

“Fuck Lydia, do I need to get the nurse?” He rushed over to her. He saw her reaching for the glass by her bed and helped her position the straw to her mouth. She drank and the coughing finally subsided.