The Alpha Bodyguards Books #1-3

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A hand closed over my mouth at the same time something brushed against my ear.

“Don’t scream,” the deep male voice commanded.

I went from dead sleep to sheer panic in zero point two seconds. Unable to suck in air, my arms flailed out and I tried to kick my abductor.

“Brooke, stop,” he whispered. “It’s me, Garrett. We don’t have much time.”

It was instant. I recognized his smell, then his voice, and my limbs stopped moving, but my heart kept beating out of control.

I shoved his hand off my mouth and glanced at Maverick in his crib to make sure he was still sleeping before I whispered angrily, “What are you doing?”

“We only have a couple minutes. I don’t have time to explain, but we need to get you and Maverick out of here.”

“We?”

Garrett nodded over his shoulder.

I glanced behind him. The blond man from the SUV was standing in the doorway, dressed in all black, with a Kevlar vest on, holding a huge rifle. I looked back to Garrett and realized not only was he dressed identically, but both men had extra ammo clips strapped to them, the cargo pockets on their pants were stuffed with who knew what, and Garrett had his rifle slung over his back by the shoulder strap going across his body.

“I-I can’t,” I blurted, remembering every sick word Nathan had said to me. “Nathan has a recording of me on his phone. It’s damning. He’ll take Maverick from me. ”

“We’ll handle it,” Garrett countered with total confidence. “But we need to go now.”

I instantly felt both terrified and protected, but I had to tell them what they were up against. “Nathan has extra guards here tonight.” I’d heard the men outside the pool house earlier. Something about a shipment. There was no way we could get off the estate without them seeing us.

“We know.” Garrett stood, bringing me up with him. “There’re seventeen guards patrolling. We don’t have much time.” He glanced at my cutoffs and bikini. “Throw a shirt on and grab a few things for Maverick.”

The blond-haired man stepped into the room and silently handed me Maverick’s diaper bag.

I looked between them as I took the bag. “Are we coming back?”

“No.” Garrett didn’t hesitate. “Grab what you can. We’ll replace the rest.”

I panicked, but then realized there wasn’t much Mav was attached too that I couldn’t replace. I shoved some clothes into the bag and his favorite stuffed dinosaur, then I carefully lifted his blanket out of his crib and tucked it in the bag. I glanced around the room once but didn’t see anything else.

Garrett took the bag from me and handed it to the blond man. “Go put a shirt on, but don’t turn on any lights.”

Half in shock he was here, half ready to already be gone from this place, I nodded. “Be right back.”

I rushed into my bedroom and grabbed my purse. Pulling a T-shirt over my head, I shoved some underwear and a change of clothes in my bag and a few toiletries. Reaching under my mattress, I grabbed the little money I had and shoved it in my pocket as I stepped into a pair of sneakers sans socks.

“We need to go. Now .”

Not having heard Garrett come up behind me, I jumped. “I’m ready.” I slung my purse over my head and one shoulder so it sat across my body .

“Are you leaving any identifying information here? Bills in your name, ID, papers, pictures, computer, anything?”

“No. I don’t have any bills in my name or a computer. My ID is in my purse, along with Mav’s birth certificate, and there are no other papers.” I’d been living for this moment for years.

Garrett nodded once.

“I’ll get Mav.”

The blond man stepped into the doorway of my bedroom and looked at Garrett.

“I know, I know. I heard.” Garrett put his hand on my lower back. “Let’s go.” He ushered me toward Mav’s room as the blond man stepped back.

“What did you hear?” I asked, but almost didn’t want to know. My heart was already pounding like I was going to have a heart attack. If Nathan saw us trying to leave, he’d have his men shoot. I had no doubts about that.

“Lewis has a shipment at his dock, and ATF is moving in. Shit’s gonna get ugly any minute.” Garrett scanned the windows in the living area that faced the pool. “Grab Maverick. Keep him as quiet as possible.”

The blond man moved to the French doors as I ran into Mav’s room. Pasting on a big, giant fake smile, I reached in his crib and picked him up. “Sh, sh, baby. Momma’s got you.”

His big brown eyes fluttered open in confusion. “Mama,” he whispered in his sleep-rough voice.

I held him close as I walked us into the main living space. “Mav, Mommy needs you to not make a sound. Do you remember how we practiced this before? In the closet when we play hide-and-seek?”

He nodded.

“This is like that. We’re not going to make a sound. Mommy has two friends who are coming with us, and we’re going for a ride, but you have to be absolutely quiet. No talking. Okay?”

His eyes wide, he looked over my shoulder.

I felt Garrett’s heat on my back a second before he stepped in front of me and quietly spoke. “We have to move. Stay on my six. Stop when I stop, run when I say run, and keep your head down. Questions?”

“No.” I shook my head, and Mav put his thumb in his mouth as he looked at his father.

Garrett touched something in his ear. “We’re coming out. We clear?”

It must have been a communication device, because in the next second, he nodded at the blond man and swung his rifle in front of him. Opening the French door, his rifle in front of him, Garrett scanned the area surrounding the pool, then glanced at me once and stepped out into the night.

My diaper bag over his shoulder, his rifle in his hand, the blond man stepped up behind me and Mav and put his hand on my shoulder. “Go,” he whispered.

Terrified, I stepped out after Garrett.

Constantly scanning the pool area and the yard beyond it, Garrett looked over his shoulder to make sure I was behind him, then he nodded once.

In the next second, he was moving at a fast clip along the side of the pool house, his rifle in front of him.

My arms tight around Mav, I clutched him to my chest and ran with Garrett.

The breeze off the water blew the palm fronds. The intracoastal slapped against the seawall. The cicadas made their nighttime mating calls. Everything sounded as it usually did, but something was off.

We rounded the back of the pool house, where we wouldn’t be visible from the main house, and it hit me.

I didn’t hear any voices.

I always heard voices on the property. Day or night. There were always at least six men patrolling, and they spoke to each other. They’d smoke cigarettes by the detached garage. You’d hear them coming and going from their shifts. You’d hear something other than just the night sounds.

But tonight it was silent .

Eerily silent.

Garrett paused by a large ficus tree and motioned me behind him. I opened my mouth to warn him about the strange silence when he abruptly shoved me to the ground and went on one knee.

Then all hell broke loose.

A dozen or more men, in combat gear and helmets, with night vision goggles and rifles, came from every direction. They rushed toward the main house as the night exploded with shouting and automatic gunfire.