Cooper (Shadow Warriors #10)

CHAPTER ONE

Cooper Salcedo listened to the story of how his parents fell in love for the tenth time.

Since he’d turned five, every Valentine’s Day is mother would tell him the story about how she’d been running from her criminal uncle, leaving Abe to wonder where she’d gone, only to find her again at Belle Fleur.

As a boy, Cooper thought it was all mushy love stuff. As a teenager he found it exciting that his father and the other men tracked down the bad guys and made them go away. Permanently.

“I don’t ever want to put a woman in danger,” frowned Cooper. “I think I’d rather be single forever than do that.”

“Well, sometimes when you’re a SEAL,” started Abe.

“Ranger,” said his son in a whisper. He looked up at his father with a blush. “I want to be a Ranger, Dad.”

“Ranger is a good choice,” he nodded. “Did you think I’d be angry about that?”

“I-I don’t know. Maybe not mad but disappointed?”

“Son, you’ve chosen to follow in the footsteps of giants. You’ve chosen to serve your country at the highest level, assuming you make it through Ranger school,” he smirked. Cooper laughed at his father, shaking his head.

“I know, Dad. Can I ask you a question?”

“You can ask me anything,” smiled Abe. Lyra smiled at them both and rose, kissing them on the cheek.

“I’ll let you guys have your father-son chat. See you at lunch.” She left and Cooper just sat there a moment, his father not rushing him at all.

“Why didn’t you just walk away from mom? I mean, if you knew how much danger she was in and you were in love with her, which would have distracted you, why didn’t you just let the others handle it?”

Abe smiled at his son taking in the words and working through them carefully.

“One day, Cooper, you’re going to fall in love with a woman or feel a connection so strong that you can’t explain it. When that happens, you’ll know why I couldn’t walk away. I just couldn’t leave her safety to someone else.”

“Even knowing how dangerous it was?” he asked.

“It was because I knew how dangerous it was,” said Abe. “Do you have feelings for someone?”

He worried that perhaps his son was already thinking about someone special in his life. But his fears were squelched when Cooper laughed.

“No way,” he said shaking his head. “I mean, there are a lot of pretty girls at school, and some of them are cool. But most of them are moving too fast. It’s photos of things they shouldn’t be taking photos of being sent for the whole world to see.” Abe lifted a brow and nodded.

“Well, I’m proud of you for realizing the difference between appropriate and inappropriate. I would just say keep your heart open, Coop. Don’t close off opportunities just because you believe duty comes first. Sometimes duty is the woman you fall in love with.”

“Thanks for talking with me again, Dad. You and mom have plans for Valentine’s Day?” he said with a grin.

“Maybe,” chuckled his father. “What about you?”

“Does playing dungeons and dragons with the guys count?” he laughed.

“I’m not sure that counts,” said Abe slapping his sons’ back. “Come on. Let’s have lunch with your mother. She deserves as much time with you as she can get. It won’t be long before you’re gone.”

“It’ll be a while, Dad. Don’t worry.”

But it wasn’t a while. It was there before they could blink. Everyone had told them that Coop’s time in high school would fly be. And it did. It felt as though he was a freshman yesterday and then he was walking away from them with a rucksack on his back, giving a wave and a smile.

Their son was a Ranger.

Two weeks ago

“You’ve been asking questions about Marco,” said the beautiful woman pouring another glass of lemonade for the three men at the table. She didn’t look up, she didn’t look them in the eye.

“That’s right,” said Coop staring at the beautiful woman. Her white peasant blouse fell across her upper arms, emphasizing her full breasts. He tried not to notice but it was damn hard.

“I can help,” she said quietly. “Touch my ass.” Cooper frowned.

“What? I will not,” he muttered.

“Meet me near the river by the suspension bridge. Touch my ass and I’ll make a scene,” she whispered.

Cooper didn’t want to do it but the other two men raised their brows, both ready to lift their hands. Damn if he was going to let that happen.

He reached out, placing his big hand across her taut ass filling out those jean shorts. She slapped him across his face, cursing in Spanish. She set the lemonade down and left the small store and café, slamming the door behind her.

“Ouch,” said Coop.

“The boss is mad at you,” said a teenaged boy. “She doesn’t like to be touched.”

“Yes, I can see that,” said Coop still rubbing his cheek. “I’ll go apologize.”

He followed the trail to the location, leaving his two teammates behind. He found her exactly where she’d said.

“I’m sorry if I hit you too hard,” she said. “I had to make it look real.”

“It was pretty fucking real,” he grinned. “What do you have for us?”

She told them almost everything they needed. Where his home was, where the drugs were, where the animals were, and so much more. Now, she was in danger.

Fuck me.

One week ago…

Cooper’s team of Rangers, along with two other teams, descended upon the area surrounding the drug warehouses. They couldn’t touch the animals and they couldn’t touch the coliseum but this was their domain.

“Coop? If we do this those animals are going to die,” said one of his teammates.

He nodded, realizing that it was the truth.

“We can get to the warehouse holding the product and destroy that by flooding the building. We’ll set off the fire suppression system, soak the product, and it’ll be destroyed, at least temporarily. ”

“I guess we don’t have an option,” frowned Coop.

“There is another option,” said a soft voice from behind him.

She was their source, their informant and she’d been giving them intel for weeks now. Her own parents and two brothers had been killed during the construction of the coliseum, their bodies tossed in the river like they were nothing but trash.

That’s when she vowed to ensure the death of Marco. The problem was she wasn’t a soldier or a spy. She wasn’t a woman that had any real talents at all other than making handbags for tourists from recycled materials found in the area. It was enough to live on but it did little to fight a mad man.

“Alright, Bianca, we’re listening,” said Coop.

He’d told the entire team that she was hands off. She would be treated with respect and dignity and if anyone dared to touch her, they would answer to him. She wasn’t some jungle whore, she was an innocent wanting exactly what they all wanted.

“Beneath the warehouse there is a tunnel that leads to the river for easy escape or an alternate delivery of the drugs. If you blow the gate, the tunnel is flooded.”

“And so is the warehouse,” smirked Coop.

“Yes. The sprinklers in the warehouse can be shut off easily. You might cause some damage but not enough.”

“But the river isn’t going to rise enough in the warehouse to destroy it all,” said one of the men.

“That’s true,” nodded Coop.

Lightning flashed above them, the sounds of a storm rolling through the region, about to begin.

He shook his head realizing what shit luck they were having.

He thought about calling home but shook his head.

No. This part of it they needed to do themselves so that the others weren’t left with all of it.

“The gods are listening to you,” smiled the beautiful woman beside him.

Her thick dark hair was braided down her back, the huge brown eyes staring up at him.

She couldn’t be more than five-feet-four to his six-feet-two.

She had a narrow waist, curvy hips and the most gorgeous chest he’d ever seen on a woman.

“The gods?” he said hoarsely.

“Yes. We are about to have a, what do you Americans say? Ah! A deluge.”

“Great, we’re all going to get wet,” he frowned.

“Yes and if we open the roof of the warehouse, so will the product. Blow the gate to the river and create holes in the roof. It will flood from up and down.”

“Fuck, she’s right. We can get on the roof, plant a few blocks of boom-boom and the whole thing will cave,” said the man.

Coop nodded. It could work and it would give the home team the opportunity to focus on the manufacturing site, the animals and the coliseum. Rodriguez was arrogant enough to think it was all just an accident caused by nature.

“You need to leave,” he said turning to Bianca.

“What? No! No, this is where I should be. I want to see him destroyed,” she whispered.

“He will be destroyed but we won’t risk your life in doing so. You need to be far from here when this happens or he’ll know you were involved.”

“But…” He gripped her arm, roughly pulling her away from the men. He wanted them to know he didn’t favor the woman and he wouldn’t risk their lives.

“No buts,” he said firmly. “I told you when you offered to help you would follow my orders or leave. Now, leave.” She stared up at him and shook her head.

“You’re like the rest. You get what you want and you throw a woman aside. I thought we were friends. I thought…”

“You thought what? I’m a United States Army Ranger doing my job, Bianca. That’s all.” He could see the flash of hurt and surprise in her face. The pain was emphasized in those doe-like eyes and it nearly made his exterior crack.

“Of course. My mistake,” she whispered. “Good luck, Cooper.”

He watched her walk away and everything in his gut told him that he should run after her, hold her and tell her that he was crazy about her. He was proud of her strength and spirit, her resilience in the face of all this evil. But he couldn’t, he just couldn’t.

Turning, he returned to his men who were all staring at him.

“What?”

“She cared for you, brother. You didn’t have to treat her like that,” said one of the men.

“She’s an informant. That’s all,” he said coldly.

“Coop, you can fool yourself man, but you’re not fooling us.

You two have grown close.” He held up his hands as Coop started to speak and shook his head.

“I’m not saying anything has happened between the two of you.

You’d be in a better fucking mood if it had.

I’m just saying she’s been valuable and faithful to us. ”

“She’s an innocent and needed to leave.”

“So, you were worried about her?” said another man.

“Yes. No!” He frowned at them shaking his head. “We have a job to do. You three set the charges at the river. I’ll set the charges on the roof. You won’t see me, but I’ll be there.”

“Another family secret weapon?” smirked one of the men.

“Something like that.”

Two days ago…

“Sir? We’ve caught an intruder.”

“Bring him to me,” he frowned.

“Her, sir. It’s a her.”

Marco sat across from the woman, a towel now wrapped around her shoulders. Not because he cared whether she lived or died, but because he didn’t want his carpets to get wet.

“Why were you on my property?” he asked.

“I-I got lost,” she said shaking her head. “I was headed back to the village, something I’ve done a million times but I was sad and lost and the rains made it difficult.”

She kept her head lowered, hoping that he wouldn’t recognize her face. But he’d been in her shop, he’d seen her with her parents. He wasn’t a man that could be easily fooled.

“I know you,” he smirked. “The little bird making purses for tourists. How quaint. And your family. Yes, your family met a terribly unfortunate demise during the construction of my golden coliseum.”

Bianca said nothing, knowing that she was going to die. If only Cooper had listened to her and allowed her to stay. She was just trying to get a front row view to the destruction of the man that had taken everything from her. Her family, her entire world.

“Why were you on my land?” he asked.

“I told you, I got lost,” she said shaking her head. He backhanded her, his ring slicing a line across her cheek, blood dripping onto the carpet.

“You see what you’ve done!” he screamed. “You’re a whore who wanted my bed.”

“NO! No, I swear,” she cried. “I was lost. Please, just let me go and I’ll go home.”

“Go home? No, you’ll never go home,” he said leaning forward. He pulled her chin up to stare into his face and he looked down at her delicious breasts. Taking the sides of her top, he ripped it in half, exposing her simple white bra and the breasts oozing from the top.

“This will be more fun than I expected,” he said. Reaching into his pocket he opened a small packet and forced it into her mouth. She cried, kicking and begging, then suddenly an unwelcome euphoria stretched over her body.

He pressed the back of his hand just below her throat, pushing hard against the flesh as he ran his hand between her breasts. His ring, the one with the silver crown sliced into the flesh, giving a single line of blood that matched her face.

“Shall we stay, sir?” asked the man. He’d almost forgotten they were there.

“No. No, I have this,” he smiled. “I may sleep in a bit in the morning. It depends on how good she really is.”

The men left, happy to be out of his sight and out of the range of his anger. The woman, was not so lucky.

Marco stripped to his boxers and then removed everything except the woman’s bra and underwear. He was going to enjoy this and enjoy her flesh. He tucked his thumbs into the boxers and grinned to himself.

“You’ve sinned enough, don’t you think?” said the deep voice from behind him. He turned so fast, he lost his footing, falling to the carpets. He opened his mouth to scream for guards but nothing came out. The figure before him was misty and unrecognizable, then became clear.

“You will not succeed,” smiled the man. “You will not succeed because good men will stop you. Men that will never allow people like you to live.”

He tried to move, tried to speak but could not. The figure moved toward the woman, seemingly releasing her bonds with a snap of his fingers. She fell forward into his arms and he picked her up, still hovering over Marco.

Try as he might, he could not get his legs or arms to cooperate and move. Nothing was working for him.

“I will enjoy watching you die and a man like me does not admit that often,” he said holding Bianca closely to his chest. He kissed the girl’s forehead and whispered to her.

“Let’s go home, child.”