Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Beauty (Kindle Worlds Novella) (The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros. Book 5) (4 page)

MELODY STRETCHED AND yawned. Her husband was already up and from the looks of it had just gotten out of the shower. With a crutch under one arm and a towel precariously wrapped around his hips, he cautiously approached the bed. She scooted over to be closer to him as he prepared his stump for his prosthetic.

She watched as he took the prosthetic leg and placed it on the bed beside him. He couldn’t put it on right away. He had to prepare the skin first. Wearing it for most of the day could do damage to it without preparation. But to him, and her, it was now a matter of routine. Melody watched as he applied his ointment already placed on the bedside table in preparation. After massaging the lotion in, Tex made quick work of putting on the sock that covered his stump. He had lost the limb due to injuries he sustained in Iraq. The doctors tried to save it, but after numerous surgeries and infections that were so painful, the decision had been made to just remove the limb so that he could finally deal with it and begin the recovery process. The leg had been removed just above the knee.

Nothing about what she watched bothered Melody. Not even in the beginning. There had been mild curiosity at the start, but that was it. Hell, she was half in love with him before she had even laid eyes on him. Nothing could have pushed her away. And nothing ever made her tired of watching him either. He was pure muscle and sinew. A Navy SEAL. A man. And that is all she noticed.

For Tex, he, too, no longer noticed her watching him take care of the old injury. Though initially, he had wanted her not to look at him while he took care of it. He’d had a few too many experiences with women who had turned away from him in disgust after they had seen it. But not Melody. She hadn’t even flinched that very first time. In fact, now she even took care of it for him sometimes when he was too tired to do it himself.

From the get go, Melody wanted to know everything. And it had been a good thing too that she had shown such interest, and that he had shown her how to properly care for the missing limb. Their adopted daughter was also an amputee. And her dog, Baby, had suffered an injury and so the Hound had to have a leg removed as well. They were quite the extraordinary family. His letting her in had only helped to solidify their trust in each other, and had healed wounds in both of them regarding faith in humanity.

Tex sighed applying the prosthetic and then turned to face his wife. “I ordered breakfast, babe,” he informed her as he bent over to plant a kiss on her pale cheek. “Want to do a relaxing beach day?” he asked. “Or maybe some snorkeling?”

Melody contemplated her choices. Both sounded good. But she also wanted to shop. She had promised souvenirs for all, and she knew walking beside her all day wouldn’t be his idea of fun, although he would do it without complaint. She broke the news to him gently. “Actually, I wanted to do a bit of shopping today. I need to get souvenirs for everyone,” she stated as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat next to him, and as she did she dropped the sheet she had been clutching to her chest.

Tex’s eyes glazed over at the sight of Melody’s full breasts, but she ignored his suggestive leer letting him know she wasn’t accepting his advances right now. She simply got up, completely naked and unaware of how sexy he found her, and walked towards the bathroom picking up the towel he had dropped on the way.

“Okay, we can do that,” Tex stated, swallowing past the dry lump in his throat and trying to ignore the massive erection in his drawers as he searched the open lid of his suitcase for something to wear.

“Um, actually, I know you had some work you needed to finish for Wolf, so why don’t you work on that? I’m shopping mostly for the girls anyhow. You’ll just be bored. Amy wants ‘something beachy.’ She’s gonna disown me as a best friend if I don’t bring her back something cool. And Akilah wanted a new bathing suit and some other things.” She cleared her throat and Tex nodded understanding her meaning instantly. They may have adopted their daughter just a year ago but in that time he’d already become uncomfortable with certain topics between Melody and their pre-teen daughter. It seemed like everything happened so fast and was so drastic with teenaged girls.

“Sure,” he gave in easily, “But why don’t we meet for a late lunch somewhere?” he suggested, selecting a comfortable pair of shorts. He’d enjoy the day relaxing on the balcony with his laptop.

“That sounds great,” Melody agreed as she headed into the bathroom to grab a quick shower before their breakfast arrived.

***

WITH MELODY ENSCONCED in the bathroom, Tex slipped on his shorts and a soft grey t-shirt. Making his way over to the small desk in the corner of the room he powered on his computer. He would check in with Wolf later, but right now he had wanted to check on something else. He only had fifteen minutes or so and getting Wolf’s work done would definitely take longer than that, and it would require his undivided attention. Wolf was his former leader, but his real name was Matthew Steel. He had to check in with Wolf once a day and report the locations to him of a new surveillance monitoring program they were using now. It worked with the new Apple phones each of the men kept on them. They were testing out the equipment. Normally it only took about fifteen minutes each day to report in, but the software was getting an update and so they wanted to test it with moving targets. The men were all being sent to various locations in California with different routes in order to see how accurate the devices were with the new satellite access points they had acquired. It was a few hours work. But he would handle that later.

When Melody suggested that he stay in while she shopped a bit, he immediately thought of Cat. Maybe he could spend a bit of time trying to find out what happened to her over the years. He was going to wait until after this vacation to do that. But he knew it would always be in the back of his mind until he knew something concrete. He didn’t know her current name, or the name she had taken after leaving foster care and going into the Witsec Program, but he still had some friends he could call that would be able to tell him if she was no longer in hiding. He’d make that call later too. But right now he could still do an old fashioned search on his own. He opened his browser window and pulling up Google he entered Cat Stenin. That was the name she had given them when they had rescued her, the name they knew her by all those years ago. Not expecting to find much, he was shocked that so much information appeared so quickly.

By checking the google images he knew he hadn’t made a mistake either. He’d found the right Cat. He figured her cover had been blown by the headlines he scanned. Reading those, he saw to his despair that his presumption had been right. Even with a new identity, Cat Stone, someone from her past had found her, and the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, administered by the United States Department of Justice, had no way of knowing that her cover had been blown. He kept reading and his guilt began to claw at him even more. It seemed Cat had been hunted by a psychotic sociopath, a serial killer, who had known her from her time as a sex slave, and he had nearly succeeded in killing her. In fact, it had been her disappearance that triggered his mania.

He’d killed several of her friends and had it not been for the Marinos, he’d have killed her in a cabin in Virginia after he’d kidnapped her. His heart beat frantically as he continued to read the article he found in the
Tampa Tribune
posted seven months ago. The serial killer had several names. The name that caught his attention was Spiro Makas. His world almost went black. That was Demetrius’ son. The one he had abused. The one who had disappeared after the trial. Spiro had also used other aliases, one was Salvatore Mazzelli. That was the name he had while in New York when he first started killing. He killed six women in New York, and an elderly couple there a decade ago. The papers had dubbed him the Rosedale Romeo then. He went off the grid for a decade and then started killing again once he came across Cat. She triggered his next killing spree and had apparently triggered the first when she had gone into Witsec. In Florida, he had killed six others under his Florida name, Darryl James, but it was his real name that made the black dots appear in his vision. It crushed Tex to know that is was Spiro Makas that had caused so much pain and destruction. He remembered the young man. He had been unassuming. He had been a victim of his father as well. During the course of the trial, he had even testified against his father and helped to convict them all. They had plans to help him in Witsec until he disappeared on his own before that could happen, so they had just let him go.

Apparently that had been another mistake, he thought gloomily. Another black mark he could put down in his record book. He hadn’t saved her at all. He kept reading. For years she had remained hidden under a new name, Cat Stone, but had become a prostitute, a high priced call girl, and then Madame. The career path she chose was the only one she knew. Dumped out of foster care a few months later, she had pursued the only path a girl like her felt possible. But then the stalker from her past, the boy who had a crush on her from afar found her in Tampa. A tragic and cruel twist of fate. He began to stalk her. This monster nearly killed her.
Shit!
He couldn’t read anymore. Not right now. He slammed down the computer screen. He needed to calm down before Melody came out of the bathroom.

He began to pace. He needed the movement or he would have to smash something and the noise would surely gain his wife’s attention. He’d hoped to ease his conscience by searching her out, but no. He had definitely not gotten that. It was worse than he feared. Her life had been complete shit. And he hadn’t saved her at all. Not from the monsters of her past. They had let one slip through the cracks. And the monster had destroyed her present. He just hoped it hadn’t ruined her future. Seeing her on that balcony, pregnant, still gave him a glimmer of hope. But it was just that. A glimmer. Hope was fading fast.

There was a soft knock at the door and he knew their breakfast had arrived; he welcomed the distraction. He took several deep calming breaths and then strode to the door. He didn’t want to think about it any longer, but couldn’t think of anything else. Spiro had escaped them. All those months on the job, and no one suspected the young man was anything else but another victim. Yes, another monster had gotten away. The son of the monster had become a monster too. The apple did not fall far from the tree.

He opened the door and the young man with the tray gave Tex a polite nod as he stepped aside for him to enter the room and bring in their breakfast. He tipped the waiter and walked him back out. He knew he needed to calm down, have breakfast with Melody, and put these worries out of his mind. There was nothing he could do about it now. He didn’t want this new knowledge to further dampen their vacation. It was bad enough that a black cloud was hovering over him. It didn’t have to be over Melody, too. He decided on the spot not to tell her what he had found out. Not yet anyhow. This vacation was too important to them. But he would use his time this morning to do a little more digging. He needed to find out more, and then he needed to figure out a way that he could live with it all.

The water from the shower shut off and Melody would come out soon. He prepared their coffees and focused on getting his emotions under control, but it would be superficial only. His wife could read his emotions well and he couldn’t keep it from her for long. Upset didn’t begin to cover how he would feel until he found out she was okay now—he desperately hoped so. If not, perhaps there was something he could do to help her. If there was anything he could do to make amends for all those years ago, he wanted to do it. He would make things right if he could. If he couldn’t, those eyes would haunt him the rest of his days.

***

MELODY WIPED AT the corner of her mouth and set her napkin beside her plate. Famished, she had eaten everything on it. Their day at sea and night of lovemaking had increased her appetite. Plus, the cuisine at the hotel,
The Clearwater Palisades,
including room service, had been stellar so far although she would have thought she had enough hotel food and room service to last a lifetime when she was on the run two years ago. But those hotels had not been top of the line. Those hotels, while on the run, had been the best she could afford at the time. She pushed her plate away with satisfaction.

“Well, I’m going to head out now. The shops should open soon,” Melody stated glancing at her watch, and then fiddled with her earrings without thought. The earrings were a gift from her husband. One of his first gifts to her, and she cherished them even knowing they held tracking devices inside of them. Most women would object to their partners knowing their every move, but not her. She knew how important it was for him to know she was safe at all times. It was not about possession, obsession, or controlling her. It was about love, and finding her if there was danger. She was lucky that her husband’s job allowed him to be able to keep her safer than most. His career was tracking people, and he teased her, lovingly, that she would never be lost to him when he’d given them to her. They were one of her most prized possessions.

Tex got up and followed Melody to the door. He waited patiently as she gathered her purse and room card from the top of the dresser. Relief swept through him that he had gotten through breakfast without losing his cool. He had kept it light, and they discussed their plans for the rest of this first week.

Melody was anxious to get her shopping under way. Not because she wanted to get the gifts for friends and family she had spoken of earlier, but because she had another goal she wanted to accomplish this afternoon. She sensed her husband’s change in demeanor immediately, and that he was trying to hide it from her was obvious. Something had happened while she had been in the shower, and she was sure if it had something to do with their friends or family he would have told her. So the only conclusion she could draw was that it had to do with Cat. She had walked by his computer while dressing and felt its warmth, so she knew he had been on it, looking something up. Whatever he’d seen on the computer had shocked him, and affected him deeply. He looked pale and stern around the eyes though he smiled at her jokes, and laughed appropriately. But she sensed his heart wasn’t in it. He was definitely trying to hide something from her. But she was having none of that. She had eyes. She saw the woman too. And whatever had happened to her since her husband rescued her had no bearing on what that woman was feeling now. And that was happy.