RYDER: A Standalone Military Romance (Blake Security Book 1) (13 page)

RYDER

              Listening to Alicia talk about that son of a bitch hurting her was killing me. When she got to the part about having her own child, I was shocked, but at the same time, it explained a lot. There was one other thing I was curious about however, “Alicia why has he left Aleks alone?”

              “Aleks knows too much, and he’s smart. He allowed Abel’s men to search his house. Once they didn’t find anything that connected him to Natalia he told Abel that he has given documents to people close to him that will be delivered straight to the authorities if he or his family are hurt or harassed in any way further. He took photos of what he had and sent them to Abel. I don’t know what it is he has, but apparently Abel is afraid of it. He’s left them alone, and I’ve done my best to stay away from them as well. I guess today is proof that Abel is still watching him. That phone call I made to the university had to be how they knew where to find me.”

              “So your child is in Alabama?” Blake asked.

              She nodded—and that was when Leif spoke up. “While y’all were picking Alicia up, Vlad called.” That got everyone’s attention. Vlad was back in Russia, and he had a team of his men watching Abel Rapava.

              “What did he say?”

              “Abel is on the move. He got on a private jet early this morning in Moscow. Vlad is still working on getting that flight plan so we know where that plane was going. In the meantime, I checked the local airports and no private flights from Moscow are expected today. I didn’t check Alabama though.”

              “Do that now,” Blake said. I looked at Alicia. Her pretty face had gone as white as a sheet at the mention of Abel being in the country.

              “Interpol would know where he was going,” she said, flatly.

              “Right!” Blake said, excitedly. He stood up and pulled out his phone. “This is actually perfect, Alicia. We need him here. It’s perfect!” It was the most excited I’d seen Blake in a long time. I was further surprised to see the glimmer of a silver dime dangling from a chain around his neck. He saw me looking at it and glared at me as he tucked it into his shirt.

I laughed to myself. Only Granny could have convinced him to wear that. I hoped it was bringing him good “mojo” as Granny would say.

Blake went on talking, “Leif, keep looking. I’ll be right back.” He pressed in a number as he left the room. I looked at Alicia again. The poor thing looked like she might implode any second.

              “Why don’t you and I get some air?”

              She nodded, and I stood up and took her hand. “Leif do me a favor and let Blake know we’re going to take a little walk. I have my radio on if you need me.”

              Leif nodded without looking up. I led Alicia out the front door of the house and onto the sidewalk. As we started walking she said, “Who lives here?”

              “The house belongs to Abrahem. I’m honestly not sure why any of us keep our own place, we’re so rarely there.”

              “Is he from the Middle East?”

              “Yes, he was an officer in the Iraqi army. Once he retired, he immigrated to the U.S. and he became a citizen just last year.”

              “Good for him. I need to do that.”

              I smiled. “It sounds like you’ve been a little busy.”

              “Ryder, do you think less of me now?”

              I stopped walking and turned toward her. “Look at me, Alicia.” She brought her eyes up to mine, and I said, “I don’t know how you could think anything you just told us would make me think less of you. If anything, it’s given me even more respect for what you’ve been through and what you’ve accomplished.”

              “I kidnapped my own child and I gave her away. I know that you have…issues…with your own mother leaving. I was so afraid you would hate me when you found out.”

              “I don’t think I could ever hate you,” I told her. “I tried hard not to even like you.” She smiled, and I went on. “You did what you thought you had to do in order to save your child. You gave her to someone that you knew would give her a good life. That had to be harder than anything I could even imagine, but you did it, for her. I’d be a terrible person if I wanted to hold any of that against you. My mother left me because I was an inconvenience to her. Those are two completely different things.”

              “I can’t imagine anyone ever wanting to leave you,” she said softly. I gently pulled her up on her toes by her arms and brought my lips down to cover her mouth. I wasn’t in the mood for soft, gentle kisses. I wanted her so badly that it was tearing me up inside. I kissed her hard and with a passion that would leave her lips bruised and swollen. As soon as my tongue came out, she parted her sweet lips. I slipped it into her mouth and probed the darkest crevices and recesses of it. She was pressed into me so hard that I could feel the pounding of her heart in her chest…or maybe that was mine. I wasn’t sure, but I liked the idea of them beating together.

              I didn’t stop kissing her until I could no longer breathe. When I pulled back, she actually let out a little whimper that made me want to re-think the need for oxygen. Our breaths were ragged, and it was several moments before either of us could speak.

Alicia spoke first, “Where are we going with this, Ryder?”

              “I don’t know, but I know where I want it to go.”

              “And where is that?”

              “I want us to get to know each other better. I want to take you out on a real date. I want to take you down to Lake Pontchartrain and rent a sailboat and show you what being on a real boat is like. I want to take long rides on my motorcycle and feel your warm body holding onto me while the wind whips through our hair…and someday Alicia, I want to make love to you, all night long.”

              I saw her swallow hard and then with a little smile she said, “I want all of those things too, but…”

              I put my finger to her lips. “No buts,” I told her. “This mess will be over with soon, I promise you.” I couldn’t really promise that but I had faith in my friends and I had enough determination for all of us. She didn’t deserve a man like Abel and she definitely didn’t deserve to go to jail. I was going to give everything in me to make this right for her. I was going to do whatever I had to do in order to see her smile and know that she was happy.

              I took her hand back, and we started walking again. Abrahem’s neighborhood was quiet and well-kept. As we walked I looked at the houses and caught myself imagining Alicia and me living in one someday with her daughter and maybe a child or two of our own. “Alicia, have you spoken to Dante or his wife since you got to the States?”

              She shook her head. “No, not at all. I’ve been so tempted, but I had to watch every step and I was terrified Abel would have me followed.”

              “Alicia, make me a promise?”

              “Okay.”

              “I told you once that you’re not a prisoner and I meant it, but please never leave that way without telling me again. I’ve been through hell on my tours in the Middle East and Kuwait and nothing terrified me like I was when I woke up this morning and you were gone. Thank God Blake was back in town. If we hadn’t found you…”

              She put her hand on my face. “You did find me. I promise. I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine what your Granny is thinking of me.”

              I smiled. Granny was the one that woke me up and told me she was gone. Within minutes of getting home, she had me loaded up into T-Bo’s truck and headed to New Orleans. “She thinks you’re too skinny, and as soon as we get a chance she wants us back out for dinner. She said she’s making Gumbo next time.”

              Alicia laughed. Music to my ears. “I can’t wait,” she said. “And I’m ready to go back in there and figure out where to go from here.”

              I pulled her in for another hug and brushed my lips across the top of her head. “Let’s do this.” I couldn’t wait for this to be over and for Alicia and I to have a chance at a real relationship.

********

Three hours later, Abrahem and I sat in a small aircraft at Mobile Regional Airport waiting for Abel’s plane to land. “This is what passes for a U.S. Air Force plane?” Abrahem said with a distasteful look on his face.

I shrugged. “I was Navy, so don’t judge me for it. You should see our jets, they’re bad ass.”

He laughed. “Unfortunately, I’ve only seen the underside of them as they dropped bombs on my country.”

“Sorry, bro. Technically, this is a civilian patrol plane. It belongs to Angel Flight.”

“Cool, I guess I’ll stop dissing it then. What time is this fool’s plane supposed to land?”

I looked at my watch. “According to Vlad, the flight plan said he’d touch ground about three, so any minute now.”

“I’m surprised Blake didn’t take you with him to Mississippi.”

I chuckled. “Because you’re afraid I’m going to take this guy’s head off when I see him?”

“Kind of, yeah. I’m not in love with the girl and I’d like to do it.”

“Whoa…in love?”

Abrahem rolled his eyes. “That word scare you, bro?”

“Look who’s talking. I haven’t known you to be in any kind of relationship at all in all of the time I’ve known you.”

“You’re just trying to change the subject,” he said. “We weren’t talking about me.”

“Now that you mention it, we never talk about you. You could be an Iraqi spy in our midst for all I really know about you.”

He laughed. “Man, you’ll go to any lengths to keep from admitting that the mighty Ryder Grant is in love. What is that about? You worried about all of those pretty girls that are gonna have their hearts broken when they realize you’re off the market?”

“Oh look, a plane.” He rolled his eyes again, but we both watched the small tan-colored jet touch the ground.

While we waited, I thought about what he said. Am I in love with Alicia? I’ve never been in love before so I really had no idea what it was supposed to feel like. I knew that I was incredibly attracted to her, more so than I’ve been to anyone before, ever. I knew that I loved talking to her and listening to her talk. I loved the sound of her laughter, and I hated the idea of her suffering in any way. I knew that I want to wrap her up in my arms and protect her from the world. I knew that I’d be willing to take another bullet…or ten, to keep her safe. Damn. Maybe I was in love with her. Who knew? I glanced over at Abrahem, and he was grinning at me.

“You’re thinking about it now, huh?”

“Mind back on the mission, man.”

He turned his head back toward the plane, but he was still laughing. “They’re opening the doors.” The doors on our plane were already open. We were in a direct path from where Abel would step off the plane and make his way to the car we’d already decided was waiting to pick him up.

“Get in position,” I told him. I slid my gun out of its holster and stepped out the open door of the plane. I stayed flat against the side of it just in case they were looking out the window of theirs, and I ducked underneath the wing. I made sure to stay far away from the front propeller, and seconds later, Abrahem started the plane and it spun to life. I couldn’t see the other plane from where I was but my radio crackled softly, and I heard Abrahem say, “Our subject and two men headed in your direction. In five…four…three…two…go!”

I rolled out from underneath the plane and was up on my feet in half a second with my gun trained on the three men. One of them went to reach inside of his jacket. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you and fond of that hand.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Abel asked. Then, in his grand arrogance he asked me, “Do you know who I am?”

I smiled at him and with my gun trained right between his eyes I said, “Yes, I do. You’re a kidnapper, a drug trafficker, a rapist, and a wife-beater to just name a few. Now, you’re my prisoner. Get on the plane.”

“Screw you.”

I lowered the gun slightly and carefully moved it to the right before pulling the trigger. The bullet hit the bodyguard in the kneecap, and he went down. “Now, are you going to make me waste more bullets?”

“Screw you,” he said again, this time enunciating each word slowly, as if he were talking to an idiot. I shot the other bodyguard in the foot. He screamed, as he hit the ground.

I had the gun back on Abel and I said, “Tell the men approaching me from behind that I have a hair trigger on this thing and unless they have a sniper in position somewhere there is no way they’ll be able to take me down before I put a bullet in your head.”

I could tell that he was considering his chances. He didn’t take long before holding up his palm and stopping the men rapidly approaching. I wasn’t worried either way. I knew that Abrahem was already in position with his own gun trained on them and he was a crack shot. “Good move. Now, get on the plane.” I stepped around so that I was behind him and the two men from the car were in my side vision. As soon as Abrahem appeared in the doorway, I turned my gun on those two and said, “Drop your weapons and get on the ground.”