Surrendered (Heart of a Warrior Series Book 3) (9 page)

Chapter Eleven

Natalie demanded the truth, but the truth could destroy what she knew to be true of her world. Regret coursed through Kaylan. She shouldn’t have gone against Nick’s wishes. But as she studied the woman sitting across from her, she sensed Natalie came from warrior’s blood, just like her brother. Somehow, Kaylan knew she could handle it.

“Natalie, I’m sorry you feel manipulated right now.” She waited for Natalie’s acknowledgment and received a nod to continue. “I didn’t lie about who I am or how I got to California or about my family. I got your name from my fiancé.”

“Do I know your frogman?”

“No, you’ve never met. And he actually doesn’t know that I’m here. Nick grew up in a loving home here in California. His parents adopted him as an infant, but both of them have since passed away. For the past couple of years, Nick has been looking for his birth parents off and on, just to see what he could find.”

Kaylan stopped, unsure of how to continue. Across from her, Natalie went rigid for the first time since entering the coffee shop.

“Did he find them?”

Kaylan shook her head. “Not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

Kaylan knew she couldn’t say a word about Janus, couldn’t even mention that Nick had found his mother. It was bigger than a family issue. It was a national security issue. She was a protector of that secret now, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t share the rest of what she knew about Natalie’s birth family.

“My grandfather used some of his connections to help locate information and found a death certificate for his dad. And he also found . . .”

Natalie had moved to the edge of her seat, and Kaylan wondered if the twins had both been searching for one another the whole time.

“He found a sister.”

Natalie went as still as stone. Kaylan waited for her to connect the dots. When she finally spoke, her voice came out as a husky whisper. “And you think I’m his sister?”

Kaylan nodded, silently apologizing and steadying herself to comfort the girl across from her if she fell apart or panicked. “That’s what the records say.”

“Why?” Her voice rose an octave. “Why are you telling me this? How can you even be sure? And why isn’t he with you?” She cast a darting glance around the room.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kaylan saw heads turn their direction at Natalie’s elevated tone. She leaned forward and placed a hand on Natalie’s intertwined fingers, feeling her tension, seeing her knuckles whiten.

“He didn’t want to disrupt your life, and he didn’t know how to tell you.” Kaylan offered a gentle smile, beckoning Natalie to look at her again. “He’s a guy, Natalie. He’s a SEAL. When he couldn’t figure out how to deal with it, he compartmentalized it and focused on other things. There’s been a lot going on.” Deep water again.

Natalie leaned back in the chair and hugged both knees to her chest. Her high-back chair swallowed her slender frame like a doll. Calm stole across her face. “I knew I was adopted. But I have a great family. Awesome parents, a sister. I always wondered about my birth family, but just didn’t care enough to actually find out, because what could possibly be better than the family I had?”

Kaylan nodded. She understood having a tight family unit and the weight of what she’d always known being shattered. She thanked God Nick had grown up with loving parents, but her heart ached a little that he had been lonely since their death.

She pulled out a file she had prepared with condensed info from what Pap had given Nick. She had removed anything that might trace back to Janus. “Here.” She waited for Natalie to take the file. As she flipped it open, Kaylan saw the photo of herself and Nick that she had paper-clipped to the top. “That’s Nick. Listen.” She sat on the edge of her seat and leaned closer to Natalie, desperate to be heard, to bring home the sister Nick had always wanted. “Don’t take my word for it. My phone number is in there. This is the info Pap gave to Nick that led him to you. I included a couple of photos and a little about Nick. I figure it’s only right that his privacy is a little invaded since yours has been.”

That drew a small smile. “Thank you.” But the expression on her face told Kaylan that Natalie needed time alone to absorb the shock.

“Look, I don’t want to overwhelm you with everything all at once. I know how long it took Nick to process all this. So take a look at the file, then call me if you have any questions or want to talk or maybe even want to set something up to meet Nick. No pressure. Like I said, he doesn’t even know.”

Kaylan stood and Natalie’s gaze darted upward. “Will he be mad that you told me?”

Kaylan wondered, but it was too late now. “Probably at first. But I wanted to give both of you the choice.”

Her tortured blue eyes met Kaylan’s. “And what if I decide not to pursue this, that the family I have is all I need?”

Kaylan’s heart sank a little at her words. “Nick will deal and be fine. But whether bound by choice or bound by blood, family is too precious a gift to ignore forever. I promise you will be better for being in one another’s lives. But it’s up to you.” She squeezed the girl’s shoulder and offered a small smile, sensing it was time to go. “It was nice to meet you, Natalie. I hope we get to talk soon.”

With a wave and a nod from Natalie, Kaylan walked from the coffee shop, releasing a deep breath as she pulled the door open, causing the brass bell to jingle.

Chapter Twelve

Scruff covered Nick’s face, causing it to itch in the heat. Between his uniform, gear, and the helmet that had become a necessity, he felt like he might melt. Pockets. Pockets everywhere on this uniform. He felt hot and bulky.

What he wouldn’t give for an ice cream cone and a good dip in the ocean. SEALs weren’t meant to be this far from water. At least he wasn’t. But SEALs trained to operate in all environments—sea, air, and land, including desert. This was just his least favorite of the three.

They’d spent the last few days chasing false leads and acclimating to the environment. Nick hoped today was it—the day they finally connected with their informant.

Their ground assault convoy followed a well-traveled Marine unit as they led the way into a mystery town. Janus rode in another vehicle, Jake no doubt glued to her side. Nick’s vehicle consisted of a driver and radio guy in the front seat, a gunner, Nick, Micah, Bates, and Colt. The going was slow. More time to be patient, more time to mentally prepare, more time to plan and focus. As a sniper, he knew how to be still under a hide for hours at a time. It was less a physical discipline and more a mental one. As they wound through rocky, desert terrain, Nick prayed they didn’t hit an IED.

It had taken a couple days away and back in his element to cool Nick’s mind enough to see reality, the reality that he loved Kaylan, that he had been too harsh with his words, and that she had a tough job, too. He owed her more than a few short emails. Despite his bruised ego, he owed her an apology. But the biggest realization was that he was scared he would hurt her in a way she could never recover from. Her fear had shone a light on a vulnerability in him better ignored. His inability to stuff it down ticked him off.

“Nothing but sand, rock, and guys with funny toboggans for miles,” Micah shouted over the sound of wheels crunching the road beneath them.

“Get used to it. They’ll probably send us here on deployment early this time next year.”

“Yippee kay-yay.”

“How cool would it be if they let us pick where we deployed?” Bates mused.

“I think that’s called a vacation, brah.” Colt sounded bored. “I must be hallucinating because those rocky hills look like killer waves to me.”

“You and I both wish.” Nick grinned at his surfing buddy. The child of surfing hippies, Colt had taught Nick a thing or two in their time in Coronado. Nick wanted to take leave and hit a good beach with Colt to ride some of the waves he’d heard so much about, but he wasn’t sure that would fit into the life he planned to make with Kaylan. Still, that kind of settling down didn’t sound so bad.

They rode in silence for the next hour, stopping only once for a herd of goats and their owners, two teenage boys and a one-eyed man. Nick tried not to see every man as a potential threat. He tried not to imagine those boys growing up to hate America. On his last deployment, he loved playing with the kids and interacting with the teens. The teens were often forgotten in favor of the cute kids, but the teens were the next generation, and they needed to know they were valued. Unfortunately, out here all too frequently someone who looked harmless wouldn’t hesitate to take an American life, especially as they entered a village known to be a meeting place for remnants of the Taliban, so he stayed alert, watching.

They left the vehicles outside of town and split up to hike in, their footfalls sending up puffs of dust beneath them. Bates stayed near Nick, and Nick found the kid growing on him. Bates seemed eager to prove himself, and he exuded a quiet strength and determination that impressed Nick.

“So about this girl you left behind,” Bates said as they walked. “She got any hot younger sisters?”

Nick laughed. “She’s got three big brothers, and one of them is walking right in front of you.”

Micah coughed in acknowledgment but continued to scan the area around them as they entered the outskirts of the town. Nick switched into sniper mode, becoming the eyes of his team as he scanned rooftops and darkened doorways.

Janus walked a few paces behind him, Jake towering over her slight frame. Prison had aged her, but despite himself, he glimpsed what she could have been lurking deep beneath years of hard living.

“How about any cousins?”

“Shut it, Bates.”

They came to a halt and scattered, taking up defensive positions as Janus, Jake, and X neared the door of a house on the edge of town. The door opened and a man with shifty eyes, black hair, and a black mustache stuck his head out. With a quick jerk of his hand, he ushered the three into the dark recesses of his hovel. Nick chomped down on his gum, now more gritty than flavorful. The town seemed pretty quiet, but looks could be deceiving.

Sun bore down on them from the desert sky. Sweat dribbled down the back of Nick’s neck as he kept his eyes glued to the rooftops and the people milling about the streets. After ten minutes, the door opened and Janus, Jake, and X stepped out. Janus nodded at the informant, and Nick heard the low tones of another language drift on the breeze as the man responded.

“How about friends? Hook your man up.”

Nick grinned, thinking about sicking Megan on this kid for one date. He would probably never act the same way again after she gave him the what-for.

A flash on top of a building several houses down caught Nick’s attention.

“Sniper!” he yelled, but it was too late. The man talking to Janus fell backward, a bullet hole in his head. Nick hit his knee, steadied his breathing, and searched for the concealed man. He was trained. Few desert Bedouins could have made a shot like that. He prayed they had gotten the intel. Another movement and he fired.

“We’ve got another shooter at five o’clock,” Bulldog spat over the radio, chatter filling Nick’s ear as the team coordinated and communicated in sync with their movements. Bates crouched close to a building, filling in command over satellite radio. Nick turned long enough to see Janus and Jake in full retreat to the convoy as X and Colt covered them. If they could get away from the buildings, they would have a clear shot back to the vehicles. The town would rise up and make setting up a quick sniper position difficult for all but the most skilled and determined.

Gunfire peppered the air as a few untrained townsmen joined the fray, firing at the highly trained SEALs. Nick inwardly cringed as the locals fell one by one. “Second shooter down.” Titus relayed. That meant only one sniper left. “Hawk, you got eyes on the first shooter?”

“Negative. Still looking.”

“Hawk, get eyes on that package. Bulldog, close up the back door,” Titus instructed over the radio.

Nick tapped Bates’s shoulder and began to move, his gun poised as he slipped away to get a better view. “Hawk, shooter at two o’clock,” Bates called. Before Nick could turn Bates had fired. Nick spun, trying to find their sniper, when he heard a thud and intake of breath. Bates went down on his knees, a red stain growing under his armpit beneath his armor.

“Down man. Down man.” Nick ran back to his side and crouched. Shock stole across Bates’s face, but Nick still saw fight in him. “We gotta get out of here. Suck it up and let’s move. Now!”

Despite the glazed look in his eye, Bates lugged his gun into his left hand and began to fire as Nick ran by his side. Micah and Jay brought up the rear. Bates stumbled. “Keep moving, Bates,” Nick yelled, fighting the urge to help him as he kept his eyes peeled.

Titus appeared at Bates’s side. “Hawk, take care of that sniper.”

Without another word, Nick searched for a clean shot. A staircase wound towards the roof on the side of a cracked two-story building. If Nick could get high enough without cresting the roof, he could take a shot and still maintain cover. “Bulldog, cover me.” Micah immediately ran toward the stairs and took up post as Nick climbed. The street had gone quiet, local residents scurrying into homes when the gunfire started.

Whoever the sniper worked for, he’d accomplished his goal in shooting the informant. But then he’d stuck around to have target practice with Nick’s team. Nick didn’t have much patience for that. He crouched low on the stairs just before reaching the flat roof. He scanned the rooftops, easily locating where the sniper waited in the wide open desert air. The man’s eyes were fixed in the direction Nick’s team had disappeared, his gun still trained at the ready.

Nick aimed his weapon. The man’s eyes appeared in all their detail in his scope. He forced his mind not to remember the man’s features as he fired. With a small jerk, the man’s head smacked the rooftop. He didn’t move. Nick counted the seconds as he scanned the rooftop with micro movements through his optic, centering on his eliminated threat. After he hit thirty, he inched his way backward down the stairs.

“He’s down. Contact clear, X.”

Without a word to Micah, they took off in the direction of the team, praying Bates made it through with only a flesh wound and hoping against hope they captured the necessary intel before the informant’s untimely demise.