“Hey Cora, are you up for a little shopping this morning?”
~
Hannah had just come back from shopping an hour later and was setting her bags down and looking over her bounty of sexy nightwear when the front door handle jiggled as if someone was testing to see if it was locked. Out of habit, Hannah always kept it locked when she was there. She was suddenly glad she did right now if it was a burglar. When the door didn’t open, she nearly jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang. Hannah pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and dialed 911 and kept her hand on the send button just in case. Who could it be? Ben had a key, so he would just let himself in. Cora always knocked. Shedidn’t know anyoneelse.
She inched towards the door and peeked through the peephole and saw an older man in uniform. Hannah stood paralyzed with fear. Could it be someone posing as a military person or was she just being paranoid, and it was a military friend of Ben’s coming to see him?
Hannah slid the phone back into her pocket and opened the door. “Can I help you?”Please don’t say Ben is hurt. Please don’t let it be about Ben.
The man in uniform looked down at her in disdain. “Ms. O’Connell,” he swiftly masked his features and said in pleasure.
“Yes?” Was she supposed to know him? He seemed to know her.
“Well, I see I was right,Bendidn’t follow orders. I ordered you away from the base and the state and dumped back home where you belong.”
Hannah reared back as if slapped. This was Ben’s commander? She knew she wasn’t supposed to be on base because of this asshole, but she didn’t think she was supposed to leave the state because his royal highness said so. “Ben has asked me to stay to help him find out who was behind the ambush. I have valuable information about Alejandro and those he has worked with.”
Ben’s commander seemed to pale hearing her statement, and a look of panic came into his eyes. “That won’t be necessary, Ms. O’Connell. The team doesn’t need your help and have already figured it out.Benhas asked me to come see you home, now that the issue has been resolved.” The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Something about this man nagged at her. It was his voice. She swore she had heard it before. But where? She hadn’t been on base in a while and before that she was in…oh God. Now she knew why she recognized his voice. He had been in Panama. This was Fox. She had to get away from him. He knew who she was and probably planned to return her to Alejandro. There was no way she was going back to him. Besides the front door that was currently open the rest of the house was locked up. If she could close the door on him she could call Ben and barricade herself upstairs.
Hannah slowly started closing the door while maintaining eye contact with Fox. He was bigger than her and stronger. The element of surprise would be the only thing that would save her. “How could Ben have sent you to tell me? He left a short while ago because you requested to see him.”
The look of panic in his eyes quickly turned to anger, and he launched himself at her. Hannah tried to slam the door in his face, but he blocked the door with his shoulder. “Get over here you little bitch.”
Hannah gave up trying to close the front door and took off for the sliding door in the dining room. She could hear the commander curse and stomp after her, he was hot on her tail. She screamed at the top of her lungs for help and saw a glass case next to the TV. Ben would forgive her, she hoped. Hannah opened the door and flung figurines and awards it looked like, at the commander. He deflected a few and dodged others. Glass shattered behind him. She reached into the case for something else to throw but came up empty handed. Hannah stared at the commander wide-eyed and raced for the slider but tripped over the shopping bags she had set down when she came home. Stupid.
The commander pounced on top of her and pinned her to the ground. “You my dear have been a pain in my ass, but that all ends today. I have a friend who is dying to see you, and I don’t want to disappoint him. You are going to come with me quietly, or I will have to knock you out.”
“Leave her alone,” a feminine voice shouted before a thwacking sound was heard.
The commander swore, and his body jerked before he turned his head and saw Cora standing over them with a baseball bat in hand. “You just signed your death warrant.” He slowly stood up and approached Cora like an animal that had cornered its prey. Cora looked around frantically for an exit but didn’t want to leave Hannah. Hannah scrambled up from the ground and looked around for another weapon. When shedidn’t see any, sherealized she would have to be a weapon. She looked over at Cora and saw her swing the bat at the commander again, but since he was expecting it this time he caught it and pulled it out of her hands. He backhanded Cora, which caused her to stumble into the wall. Hannah’s vision turned red, and she launched herself at the commander’s back and hit him. The commander easily flung her off and turned his deadly eyes on her.
“I’m done playing nice, girlie. Come with me quietly, or I kill your little friend.” The commander sneered down at her with his fists clenched at the side.
Hannah looked at Cora and saw her standing but holding the side of her face. As much as Hannah didn’t want to go with him she knew she couldn’t risk Cora’s life. Cora was a good person and didn’tneedto be involved in this. Hannah opened her mouth to tell the commander she would come with him when a blur raced from the front door and tackled the commander to the ground.
Ben.
Hannah smiled at seeing Ben. She frowned when she saw him straddling his commander and rained blows to his face. Hannah couldn’t allow him to do that. He could never live with himself if he killed his boss. Hannah picked herself off the ground and made her way to Ben, who hadn’t let up. If he continued, there would be nothing left of the commander. “Ben,” she called out to him, but he either didn’t hear or ignored her. She called him a few more times and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Ben, please stop.”
He finally stopped and took deep gulps of air. His fists were covered in blood, and shehad no ideaif any of it was his. The commander was eerily quiet, and she couldn’t see much of his features anymore. Hannah squatted down and stepped to Ben’s side and touched his face. He stared at the commander for a long minute before turning his predatory eyes on her. When they focused on her they turned softer. “Hannah,” he sighed her name.
Hannah gave him her most radiant smile, trying to quell her fear. “I’m here. You saved me. Again.”Benstood up and stepped over the commander and pulled Hannah close. She could barely breathe, he was holding her so tight, but she didn’t protest. They were both alive.
He pulled back from her and looked her over. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Rattled but okay. Oh, Cora.” She looked over at her friend but saw another man looking over Cora despite her protests. It was Liam. It was the first time she had seen him since they landed in California almost three weeks ago.
Chapter Ten
Benhated his morning interrupted with Hannah. They had made love throughout the night, and he was sore and in need of a few hours of sleep before he did it again. The phone call from his Commander had sounded odd but when commanded for his presence he couldn’t say no. Hannah had looked at him sadly this morning at his abrupt change in attitude, but he was angry at his commander for calling him. It wasn’t like him to call him right after a mission. He hadalreadydebriefed and sothere hadn’t beena reason for him to call. But Commander Brady said there was new intel on the ambush, and Ben needed to get down to the office immediately.Benkissed Hannah and rushed out the door, hoping to rush back to her.
He could tell something was wrong when he arrived. The building was quiet, and the commander wasn’t there. Strange. Why would the commander call him and tell him to get there if he wasn’t there himself? Maybe he ran out to get something to eat or go to the bathroom.Bensat down on the bench outside the office and waited. Thirty minutes later the commander still wasn’t there. NowBenwas pissed. The commander had interrupted his morning for no reason. He stood up to storm out of the building when his cell phone went off. It was Hound.
“Hound, how’s Cricket?” Cricket had been clipped in the shoulder by a militia on their last mission. The guy had just popped out of nowhere. Now Cricket was in the hospital getting it looked at, and Hound volunteered to keep an eye on him.
“Grumpy, but what do you expect?” Hound chuckled.
“Glad to hear it. Is that why you called?”Bendidn’t have time for idle chit-chat right now. He wanted to get back to Hannah.
