With the sun already set, grayish shadows were cast all around the patio and into the surrounding beds of flowers and shrubs. The women went down two of the three stairs leading to the street. In that instant, they realized they weren’t alone.
Rob Howard and Len Jenkins closed in from either side. With the two FBI agents were several members of the Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team.
“Felicity Garner, Eve Garner, you’re under arrest,” Rob stated.
Felicity didn’t wait for him to get close to her. She leapt off the stairs and took off running toward the street, Eve right behind her, matching her steps. Sheriff Rafferty and deputies Griffen Cauldrey and Mary Shelton blocked the street, weapons drawn.
Without hesitation, Felicity turned toward Rob Howard, a gun in her hand. It was already blazing fire at the agent. Eve had also pulled a weapon, but she fired at the wall of law enforcement personnel in front of them. Len Jenkins shot Felicity as she continued to fire toward Rob. The agent went down just as Felicity crumpled to the ground. Eve followed her, landing over the top of her as those in the sheriff’s department returned fire.
Shabina had been yanked back into the café by Rainier and Larado the moment guns appeared. The two men instantly placed their bodies in front of hers. She couldn’t even see around them at first. Neither man fired a weapon, although both had them out.
Jenkins pronounced Rob alive and well, that the vest he wore had stopped the bullet from hitting his heart. He looked up from the twins’ bodies and shook his head.
Shabina closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against Rainier’s back.
“I didn’t want them to die, Rainier,” she whispered. “I guess I should have expected that they would have a plan if they were caught.”
“They wanted to be with their sister,” he reminded, turning around to draw her into his arms. “You and Raine had them dead to rights. They confessed with a security camera going. You even informed them about the camera. They also gave Raine permission to search Felicity’s computer even though she knew there was damning evidence on it.”
“Her computer indicated she’d recently put them in,” Rainesupplied. “Most likely she’d removed them, putting the videos and photographs on an external, and then when she was certain I wasn’t going to take her up on her offer, she put them back.”
“They trusted us,” Shabina murmured softly.
“They should have known you well enough to realize you both have a sense of justice,” Rainier pointed out. “Go sit down,Qadri. It’s going to be a very long night.”
Chapter Twenty
Shabina held out her left arm to show the scorpion that was tattooed two inches above her wrist. The tattoo artist was considered one of the best. Rainier knew him. He had once worked in the same occupation as Rainier.
“I want this tattoo covered, and I brought in the artwork I would like to replace it with. I believe it will cover it nicely.”
Across from her, Rainier held out his hand to her. Shabina immediately put her hand in his. There was a special intimacy in going together to get two tattoos each. One on the arm and the other on the thigh.
“Why didn’t you have this done years ago,Qadri? You should have rid yourself of him completely.”
Shabina thought about her answer. She knew the reason, but explaining it to someone else was difficult. She’d always worn long sleeves and kept the tattoo covered. Even when she swam with her friends, she wore a shirt over her bathing suit.
“It was important to me to know I belonged wholly to myself. I wanted to know I was strong, and that he could never take that strength and belief in myself away from me again.”
“He never took your strength, Shabina,” Rainier pointed out,his voice gentle. His gaze softened to tenderness. “He tried, but you refused to give in to him no matter what he did.”
His obvious pride in her touched her. She wasn’t used to compliments or having anyone look at her with such love the way he did.
“Rainier, I know you love me, and I appreciate you thinking I’m a strong person, but you know I suffer from PTSD and the episodes are horrific at times.”
The tattoo artist’s head jerked up, his dark gaze moved over her face and then settled on Rainier’s.
Rainier didn’t seem to be in the least bothered by the fact that the man heard everything. “Qadri, I suffer from PTSD. Most of my men do. We’ve all seen and had to do things that stick with us. PTSD isn’t a sign of weakness. Our brains and bodies are on overload at times and we need a little help. Everyone does. That isn’t a weakness.”
She found herself frowning. Rainier was the strongest man she knew. “Do you go to a counselor?”
The tattoo artist once more bent over her arm. He would place her own tattoo there, the one that saideye of the stormin Arabic. Rainier helped design the artwork with a friend of his.
“It isn’t like we can just talk to anyone. Most of what we did and do is classified. Finding a counselor is not always easy for men like us, but it’s necessary. It’s also necessary to reach out to one another when we’re in crisis.”
She hadn’t considered that Rainier suffered from PTSD, but it made sense. Just his childhood alone was enough to have given him psychological issues, let alone the many missions he’d been sent on by Blom as well as his role as the assassin in the Middle East. It hadn’t occurred to her that Larado or any of the other men on her protection detail had moments like she did. She consideredherself weak because she couldn’t overcome the episodes when she was triggered. She would never consider Rainier or his men weak. Not ever. Why hadn’t she thought of herself like them?
Being with Rainier made her feel safe, but it was the way he empowered and believed in her that made her love him so much. More every day when she hadn’t thought she could love him more.
