ROMANCE: Badass Boss (Billionaire Alpha Bad Boy Romance) (Western Mail Order Bride Calendar Contemporary) (30 page)

Chapter 9

Repairing Stone

Abdul Al Sharif joined Al Queda a month earlier after witnessing an America drone kill his entire family. His life had no purpose other than revenge.

He made his way on his hands and knees down the grove of trees. He’d been surprised by the temperature of the water he had to crawl through. Water at a temperature just above freezing was virtually unknown in his tiny village.

He knew where the two Americans were. He could see them occasionally through the trees, but he couldn’t get an unobstructed shot. They crawled towards him along the ground. He smiled. They were moving in a straight line, directly toward him. He thought,
“Two Americans for my two sisters.”

Stone’s back hurt and, for some reason, his shirt wasn’t drying as quickly as it should. He fell flat on his stomach and looked ahead of him. His target knelt down on the forest dirt with his AK47 pointed directly at him. He whispered to Delia, “Down” and tried to burrow his entire body into the pine needles and ground up trees underneath him.

The American military spends a year training combat soldiers how to shoot. Guerilla’s might get a three hour course on the use of their particular weapon and nothing else.

Abdul didn’t know about stacking his arms on his knees in a stable manner. He didn’t know that the picture he saw as he looked through the sights should appear like a post surrounded by a half-circle. He didn’t know to hold his breath for a few seconds when he pulled the trigger.

His shot flew past Delia and Stone three feet off the ground and two feet to the side.

Most untrained soldiers lose patience. Abdul was no different. He fired five more times with even less accuracy and flipped the switch on the side of the weapon. He sprayed the remaining twenty four bullets in the general area of Delia and Stone, missing every shot. He didn’t have another magazine with him. He threw the rifle on the ground. His leader had given him one grenade. He pulled the pin and lobbed it in the direction of Delia and Stone.

Stone shouted, “Grenade!” and lunged toward Delia.

The grenade sailed, with exceptional accuracy, straight at Stone’s broad back. Abdul had done his job well, accidentally well, but well none the less.

The grenade hit the ground and bounced straight toward Delia and Stone.

Stone hurtled himself closer to Delia and positioned himself between the deadly grenade and her upper body. The grenade exploded when it hit the ground a second time.

In the American west, countless pieces of land were settled and farmed then abandoned. The policy of giving anyone who would farm the land 640 acres and a mule meant that most immigrants gave it a shot.

Most of them fenced their property in. They dug post holes. When they left, the holes stayed and most of them lost their posts in the ensuing hundred years.

A former post hole sat between Stone, Delia and the bouncing grenade. The grenades last bounce ended inside the hole. The hole wasn’t very deep, but the soil around it was packed tightly. The explosion threw dirt fifty feet in the air and contained the shrapnel and shock wave that would have killed Stone.

Stone saw the man who’d thrown the grenade sprinting toward the road. He got to his feet and told Delia, “Let’s go back. I still need to get whatever they're looking for from underneath the car.”

Delia brushed the dirt off. She looked distracted. Stone asked, “Are you alright?”

She nodded and followed him back to their car. She stumbled several times. Stone noticed each stumble. He waded into the cold stream and turned around. “Are you sure you’re alright. That was quite an explosion.”

She looked at him with new awe. “You saved my life.”

Stone wasn’t impressed. “Yeah, but you pulled me out from under the car, we’re even.”

The five men had driven out of the small depression when they got back. Stone and Delia heard the car stop to pick up the sixth man and drive away. They were alone.

This time, Stone positioned himself to dive car from the side instead of from the submerged rear. He opened his multi-bladed tool before he sucked in the mountain air and disappeared underneath the car. Two minutes later he surfaced with a plain steel cube, four inches square, in his hand. He told Delia, “It was installed inside the gas tank.”

They rested for a few minutes. Stone said, “How the heck do we get this thing and the records to their destination?”

Delia stared at their car, upright in the stream. “Maybe it still runs.”

“Why not?” Stone opened the door and put the drivers seat back in the car. The car turned over but wouldn’t start. Stone lifted the hood and cleaned the water out of the distributer. When he tried again, the car started. They had to maneuver it to get it out of the stream, but they had a ride, if you can call a car with no dashboard, headliner or door panels, and seats that just sit on the floor of the car a ride.

Delia said nothing at all during the ride to Luck, Nevada. It was a different kind of silence. Stone studied her expression. She didn’t have a sullen appearance. She was wary and thoughtful. Stone shrugged. He didn’t know if it meant anything.

They stopped in the little town of Luck, Nevada. The local office of their agency was closed. They called home and were told to spend the night in Luck. The local office was in a small set of room with a door labeled ‘High Desert Import and Export’.

The only hotel in town, the Rattlesnake Arms, had rooms for the night. Stone told the desk clerk, “Two rooms please.”

Delia said, “No, make that just one room. We don’t need two.” Stone looked with a questioning look. She took his arm. “We don’t need two rooms, sweetie. I forgive you for spending time with that skank in the bikini.” Stone nodded and signed the register.

Delia turned to the desk clerk. “Do you have a first aid kit?”

The clerk handed her a small box with a red cross on it.

She turned Stone around and pointed to the long rip across his back. “Damn fool fell into a barb wire fence.”

The clerk said, “We’ve all done that.” They were in the part of the country where the man told the truth.

They walked to room A 31, a non-smoking room at the end of the corridor.

In the room, Stone said, “Why not two rooms?”

“Take your shirt off.” Her voice didn’t hold any hostility, but it didn’t sound sympathetic either.

Stone removed his shirt with difficulty. It’d stopped bleeding when the cold water of the stream washed over it, but it opened up again on the drive to Luck. Delia made him stand in front of the mirror and look over his shoulder. He saw the six inch furrow in his skin and muscle and said, “Damn all. Another wound, another scar.” He seemed to remember something and froze in place. Nothing happened. He glanced at Delia who stared at herself in the mirror. She didn’t pay any attention to his words.

She said, “That was the first time I’ve ever shot at someone.”

“It’s a significant experience.”

“I know. I wouldn’t change it. I’m just having trouble adjusting to that much responsibility and violence.”

“You handled yourself well.”

“I did, didn’t I.”

She found a sewing kit and some rubbing alcohol in the first aid kit. She soaked a thread in the soap dish with some alcohol and used a match to sterilize a needle. She had Stone turn around. “Sorry, no anesthetic. Do you want a pencil to bite on?

“No, just do it.”

Stone shook with pain when Delia wiped the wound with a paper towel soaked in alcohol. He twisted slightly when the needle went in and groaned after the tenth stitch. The first aid kit had a long piece of gauze and some tape which made an effective bandage and stopped the bleeding.

Stone examined her work. “Thanks. You did a good job.”

“My pleasure. I have two brothers. They get a lot of cuts and bruises. That’s the kind of men they are.” She stepped out of the bathroom. “Take a shower. Don’t get the wound wet. I’ll wait for you.” She closed the door.

Chapter 10

Reality

Her cell phone rang. She said, “Hello.”

“This is Colonel Hanson. How are you doing?”

“Quite well. You know we were attacked on the road to Las Vegas.”

“Yes. We were following your progress on satellite. What I don’t know is why. Is Stone there?”

“Yes, but he’s in the shower.”

“Are you two getting along any better now that you’ve been in a fire fight together?”

“Not really. I still think he’s only half an agent, and he thinks I’m a frigid, unforgiving bitch. I know that sounds completely heartless, but it’s my emotions talking, and my emotions are wrong. He really came through when the bullets were flying. He protected me from a grenade. He could have been killed. My emotions don’t fit reality. I guess I really don’t want a man like him in my life.”

“I want you to see something. I’ll send it to you now. Try to read it before he gets out of his shower.”

Seconds later, Delia had an email with an attachment. She opened it and began reading. She read Stone’s service record. The more she read, the tighter her lips got. She had to put her phone down and close her eyes several times.

Stone came out of the bathroom. Delia said, “Come here and sit down. I want to talk to you about something.”

She watched him walk toward her. She’d seen the same attitude in her brothers when they’d done something wrong and were about to be punished. Arrogance and fear and an overwhelming desire to run blended together.

Stone sat down on the other chair around the little table. His voice was guarded and neutral, but in control. “Tell me what it is.”

Delia said, “The Colonel thought I ought to see your service record. He knows we’re not working together as we should. He thought it would help. I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me about the medals you won and how you did it.”

Stone grunted. Delia thought for a moment he wasn’t going to do it, but he began talking. “Since we’re not going to be together any longer than this mission lasts, I’ll give you the true version. I won’t edit it. I won the Silver Star and two Bronze Stars. The incident that brought me the Silver Star happened in Fallujah, and it started out in a strange way. We were patrolling a street known to be hostile territory. I had a squad with me. A diminished squad, just five soldiers and me. I was a few meters ahead of the other guys when a woman came out of a home and tool her veil off. That’s strange right there. She smiled at me, another strange moment. She acted like she was my best friend. She wanted me to come into her house for a cup of tea. I thanked her, and told her I was on patrol and couldn’t leave. She wouldn’t stop. She pulled my arm and begged me to come inside the house. I jerked her into my chest and put my hand over her mouth. She squirmed and struggled more than I could believe.” He cleared his throat. “Just a minute.”

He went to the little refrigerator and got a can of root beer. He turned to Delia. “Do you want anything?”

“Yes, a Sprite if they have one.”

Stone brought both cans back to the table.

He continued, “So there I was with an armful of struggling woman. I used hand signals to call my guys over and told them to go around the house to the back. I didn’t imagine her husband would face me without backup. If it was in back of the house, I wanted it neutralized before I went inside.” He hesitated. “I don’t know how to tell you the next part, because it doesn’t make me look good.”

“Just tell me. I know something about combat.”

“I held the woman at arms length and belted her on the chin. I didn’t have any other way of keeping her silent, and I couldn’t let her warn her husband. I guess I looked like a caveman. I held her dress in front in one hand and my pistol in the other. I dragged her through the open door. I remember the sound her heels made in the dirt. I remember the way her head hit my leg every time I took a step.”

He stopped talking and took a drink of root beer. “I don’t like the next part. I heard a sound as soon as I went inside. It was the shuffle of feet. I turned and brought my weapon up just as her husband came at me with a very big knife. I put him on the ground and waited. My guys should have come through the door in just a few seconds. They didn’t.”

He didn’t go on. He took a deep breath. “I went through the back door. My guys weren’t there. I heard a noise from further on in the alley. I saw ten insurgents herding my men along in front of them. They’d been handcuffed with plastic ties.”

He stopped again. Delia put her hand on his on the tabletop. “You don’t have to tell me this. I can see it’s painful.”

“It won’t be any less painful if I don’t tell you. Anyway, we need to get to the part where I earn my medal.”

She sat back. “Okay. Go ahead.”

“I ran after them as fast as I could. They didn’t hear me until I got within fifty feet. As long as I’m bragging, I might as well tell you I qualified as ‘Expert’ with the 9mm pistol.”

“Good for you.”

“I took two of them out as I came toward them. They fired back, and I realized I needed to find cover fast or I wouldn’t survive. Did you notice that bullets flying near your head make a noise like an angry bee?”

“Yes. Odd sound.”

“I know. I heard ten or more rounds whiz by me before, I turned to run toward the nearest building. I felt something hit me hard in the ribs five times. I noticed it but forgot about it immediately. I had to find a place to hide. I got lucky. The next house had boxes stacked next to the wall. You may have noticed I’m fairly tall.”

“Yes. That’s the first thing I saw when you walked in the restaurant.”

“I remember. I leaped on the first box and put everything I had into getting up on the roof. I jumped high enough to get my entire body across the little edge on top. I was lying on the roof, listening. They didn’t expect me to know Farsi.”

“I didn’t either.”

“They were more surprised than you were. I listened to them make their plans. Two of them were going to hold their prisoners while the other four went around the house and found other ways of getting on the roof. The two men holding my friends were going to shoot at me to keep my head down. I listened to the footsteps run to the other sides of the house. Before they couldn’t scramble up where I was, I rose over the little edge and killed both insurgents who were guarding my people. My buddies were free but unarmed and tied up. I motioned for them to sit and wait. I made my way around the roof; shooting insurgents below me or as they clambered onto the roof. It got a little complicated. At one point, I had four insurgents on the roof all firing at me. It didn’t matter. I could hit what I aimed at and they couldn’t. I finished and climbed down. My buddies and I were alive, and the bad guys were all dead. The Army said that was worth a Silver Star.”

“I agree.” She stood up. “I need to think a little more. Stay here. I’m going to go in the bathroom and take my shower.” She walked away. Stone drank his root beer.

He listened to the water run in the shower enclosure. He held his hand out in mid-air. It shook like a leaf in a hurricane. He’d learned to turn his mind off when it brought up things that hurt him. He stared out the window at the parking lot until he heard her come back.