Montana’s Bravest (Red Mark Rescue & Protect)

1. Samuel Redley Kelleher

1

SAMUEL REDLEY KELLEHER

Helena, Montana.

We’re losing daylight. We’ve been on a wild tail chase skirting the city edges, but now our target has holed up in a downtown hotel. The son of a bitch has turned it into a personal bastion, and young Noah Forbes isn’t spending another night in that viper’s nest—not on my watch. A botch job by another firm’s got the suspect twitchy, more dangerous. It’s a powder keg waiting to blow.

As we hit the Mountain Hotel, my partner flashes me a sharp two-finger cue— time to split up . Mark muscles into the hotel, now a ghost building after the evacuation, while I bolt across the alley and charge up its neighboring building.

“The bastard’s jammed the elevators, barred the fire escape,” his voice crackles in my ear. “Your 20?”

“Fifth floor,” I grunt out, taking the stairs two at a time.

“Roger, I’m?—”

A blast tears through the comms. It feels like a fucking jet had just been blown up right next to me. The explosion must be very close to where Mark is.

“Mark?” No comeback. I immediately stop, ready to turn around and get to my partner’s aid. “Mark!”

A beat of silence, then he coughs out, and I can nearly hear him brushing off debris. “Gelignite on the door. I’m still green.”

Mark presses on despite the risk of more traps. As I approach the top, he alerts me, “Eyes on target, moving to the roof.”

Standard playbook—the perp’s heading skyward, maybe for a last stand. It’s the psychology of someone backed into a corner. That’s why I’m poised on the roof of the neighboring building, two-floor higher than the Mountain Hotel, separated by a gap wide enough for a Navy patrol boat to pass through.

“Zander’s boys with you?” I check in, referring to the alliance we’ve got with Helena PD.

“Affirmative.”

Partnerships between the police and private security companies are still generally shaky. But this time, Captain Zander from the Helena PD has agreed for Mark and me to lead—partly because he’s desperate, and partly because of Noah’s mother. Being one of the most powerful people in Montana, she has insisted that Red Mark be in charge of the rescue.

Soon I catch the kidnapper’s silhouette against the rooftop. I drop low, MK25 drawn.

Dealing with money-driven kidnappers is usually straightforward, but this isn’t your typical ransom gig. This perp’s spun out, deep in delusion, thinking he’s holding the key to some national conspiracy with the kid.

“The asshole’s strapped with C4,” I report, watching him like a hawk. “And the kid’s with him. On him.”

Mark swears, and I can picture his mind racing. Noah’s squirming could turn this standoff into a bloodbath.

No parent deserves to lose their child. No brother or sister deserves to lose their sibling. I have to get to Noah now.

Somehow.

Then the target kneels, unloading his pack. My window. But it means Mark’s walking into the jaws of death.

“He’s setting a charge on the exit. I’m taking the gap,” I decide, eyes calculating the leap.

“You’re off your head!” Mark’s voice is tight in my ear.

But it’s go-time. Noah breaks free, and I’m in the air.

I hit the other side, wrist trapped beneath me, a raw flare of pain. I shove it aside. Mission’s all that matters.

I scoop Noah up just as the kidnapper whips around, his face a mask of shock.

“End of the line, Bower!” I keep it even, despite the urge to pull the trigger. I won’t let myself burst his head in front of a pair of innocent eyes, or risk him detonating the explosives attached to himself upon impact.

The man smiles as he keeps his hands in his pockets. The door to the rooftop moves.

“Sam, I’m coming in!” Mark’s alerting me.

I feed him the info he needs as our suspect clocks the new arrival. I back away and crouch behind an exhaust fan, widening my shoulders to make sure Noah doesn’t see anything past my torso.

“It’s okay. We’re safe here,” I comfort Noah, protecting his ears from the shots and the din of helicopters circling overhead.

If time stood still, this boy in my arms could be my long-lost brother. What would I give up to change history? If I had a chance to go back in time, to the Labor Day weekend in Syracuse twenty-two years ago, I wouldn’t have let Jack leave my side, not even to be with my father.

“Noah, you good?” I look into his eyes. For a six-year-old in peril, the boy seems pretty calm. Perhaps, despite the noise, he’s not aware of how much danger he’s in.

Noah hugs me as the police start to gather around us. Strangely, people’s voices appear to spook him more than the gun shots. I motion to Zander’s men to stay away while I keep Noah in my arms. At the moment, this spot behind the exhaust fan, and this man in a black suit and armored vest he’s clinging to is his safety—and I don’t want to change that. Not yet.

But where the hell is my partner?

“Mark! You there?” I check on him through my device.

“I’m fine, buddy.”

I exhale a relieved breath, then scoot myself to peek at the carnage. I keep Noah’s face on my shoulder, preventing him from turning around. The asshole is dead, and it looks like he didn’t even have time to properly install the dynamite strapped onto his chest.

Mark soon finds us. But Noah squeezes my shoulder in panic, as if my partner was an alien from Mars. When Mark reaches out his arms and smiles at him, the boy cries.

“What’s wrong with me?” Mark says. It’s unclear if he’s asking me, Noah, or just himself.

It’s a mystery indeed. At thirty-two years old, Mark is only a couple of years younger than me, but the guy has a baby face as if he was forever twenty-three. Yet, little Noah prefers to stick with me.

I comfort Noah as Mark assesses the aftermath of the showdown. The police have covered up Bower’s body.

“Noah!” a woman’s voice rises above the chaos.

“Mrs. Forbes!” Captain Zander shouts. The woman rushes toward us, ignoring the call. The captain turns to his men. “How the hell did she get up here!”

Noah lifts his head off my shoulder. “Mom!”

I let the boy go.

“Noah!” Ivy Forbes cries out as she kneels to pick him up.

Time stops as the mother and son hug.

I wish it was my mother comforting my brother Jack, and the night at the fair in Syracuse was just an evening of misadventure. I can still feel Jack’s hand holding on to me.

But right now I’m holding nothing but empty air. He’s been missing for so long, his case gone cold. But I haven’t given up. I’ll keep searching until I uncover the truth.

Mark paces along the perimeter the police have just set up, diverting my attention from the Forbes. He scans the ledge I jumped from, “Not the best way to nurse a broken heart, Sam.”

Love’s been nothing but a losing game for me. And as for Mark, he preaches ‘she’s out there’ for me, while swearing off it for himself. I guess it proved that being unlucky in love is part of our job description. But being a fool isn’t—so even though it goes against the grain, I won’t let love come near me again.

This time, though, my partner’s reference to ‘broken heart’ wasn’t referring to the lovey-dovey kind. We both know it’s about Jack.

Regardless, I stick to business, “Did it for the kid. And his mom.”

I did, even though the vision of Jack had stayed with throughout the whole operation.

We wrap up while I reflect on the day’s events. I stand by every decision made.

“I knew what I was doing, Mark,” I tell my partner. My heart told me to jump, but logic drove me to execute it. “A cornered man is capable of doing the unthinkable. It was my only chance. Our only chance. Or we would’ve lost the boy.”

Mark softens. He knows me too well. He’s a man of devotion, whoever he’s protecting—including me.

Down on the street, Captain Zander is escorting Ivy Forbes out of the building, Noah is firmly in her embrace.

“Go home, Sam. I’ll deal with the police.” Mark pats my shoulder firmly. His understanding voice reminds me why he’s the best partner a soldier and a man could have.

“Take care of her,” I quip, winking at him, my head turning slightly to Ivy Forbes.

Mark narrows his gaze, telling me to shut it.

Noah’s mother, the attorney general of Montana who is tipped to be the next governor, is smart, firm, and empathetic—which is rare for a politician of her caliber. But behind all that, now I’ve seen firsthand that she’s a formidable mother. From the day she set foot in Red Mark’s office, briefing our first assignment, she’s had her eyes on Mark. It’s public knowledge that her marriage to a Californian technology tycoon is all but over.

“You okay, Mrs. Forbes?” I hear Mark talking behind me.

I turn around and find Ivy hugging my partner, while Noah seems to be warming up to him now.

Mark has chosen to abstain from relationships after his fiancée walked out on him. But if anyone deserves a second chance at love, it’s Mark. Right now, though, I don’t know what the hell is going on inside his head. The guy can’t even bring himself to hug back the woman who’s been craving for his affection!

Suddenly Noah’s dad barrels in, breaking into the cordoned area, causing a ruckus.

Ivy Forbes lets go of Mark, sidestepping her hero to confront her husband. “How dare you!” She slaps him. “You hired those incompetent people behind my back. Noah could’ve been killed!”

I’m sure she’s talking about the security firm that botched the rescue before we came in. It looks like her husband was the one making the terrible decision.

“I told you I only wanted Red Mark!” she continues.

“Mr. Forbes.” Mark shields Ivy, allowing her to retreat as Noah is now wailing desperately. It’s apparent that the boy is sensitive to people’s voices. “Please wait here.” Mark halts him as the man is about to follow his wife.

There’s a fire in me that wants to eliminate Mark’s competition—albeit it’s her own husband. That man doesn’t deserve her. The trouble is, Mark doesn’t want to admit his feelings for her. At the moment, my partner is trying to be a peacekeeper—treating the couple like any other clients. Right or wrong, to me, Ivy Forbes is more than just a client.

I have to step in and be the bad cop to make sure Mark doesn’t relinquish his protector status just because the husband is here. Most of all, I have to protect Noah from further trauma.

“Please leave, Mr. Forbes. You are distressing your own son,” I decisively say.

“What do you know about my son!” Darren Forbes bites out.

My jaw clenches, staring at him as if challenging him to a duel. “This is how much I know about your son. I saved him, and he was clinging to me while you were shitting in your limo, wondering why you tried to save money.” I step forward, firmly pushing him away. “Leave!”

The man backs off, but he stays in the vicinity. His remorseful face triggers a strange emotion in me. Much as I hate that moron, the man still has the presence of mind to be with his son, and insists on staying even though he was told to leave. That’s what fathers do. It hurts to think that my own father, who used to be my hero, turned out to be worse than a ruthless businessman.

Mark ushers Ivy and Noah to her car, keeping watch on the surroundings. He’s not taking any chances, he even has his hand on his gun. Taking the passenger seat, Mark signals to the driver to go.

Ivy acknowledges me, Noah waves, and in that moment, the choice to shut love out feels right. To see a mother’s face like that, with her precious child safe in her embrace—I feel fulfilled. It’s not just about saving others. It’s a shot at saving ourselves, too.