Chapter 14
Marta walked into the VOQ and set down the bags of groceries on the kitchen counter. She couldn’t handle being in the office any longer. It had been over forty-eight hours since she’d told Trevor that she loved him. He’d been very quiet, nearly silent toward her, since then.
She’d awakened early and showered, refusing to smell like sex in a room filled with men as they watched the raid and rescue. Dressing while Trevor showered, they traveled in silence to the conference room where the other officers had already gathered.
For hours they’d watched multiple views from helmet mounted cameras. Occasionally, Kam Hood reported to the group. She had Homeland teams taking down the newly opened Doll House in Los Angeles and raiding Finger’s training camp.
Joseph Rippe had been able to sneak combat gear and weapons to the Black Swans he’d taken to the island. The two women had been able to record the young girls’ treatment and conditions and forward the information via secure satellite to Homeland Security.
Although Marta was proud of the SEALs, she held a special place in her heart for the Black Swans.
She was all too aware of the world they worked in and the attitudes of the men they worked with and for.
The women had performed superbly, personally accompanying the young girls off the island on their first helicopter ride.
As planned, Mak Barker and his team quickly found Admiral Finger and subdued him.
Via video, Kam Hood read the man his rights.
He was one of the first airlifted to the Navy ships waiting just over the horizon.
He was the only person in the brig on the aircraft carrier and put under double guard and suicide watch.
All his security force were taken to other ships and secured in their brigs.
It wasn’t until noon that SEALs had swept every inch of the island rescuing girls and capturing their guards.
“All clear, sir.” Chaos, whose real name was Ethan something, Marta couldn’t remember his last name, reported as soon as he approached his lieutenant, Joseph Rippe at his side.
“Chaos, I need you to restrain Mr. Rippe. He is to be held in a private cell—” The lieutenant named which ship the man who helped them take down Rear Admiral F.X. Finger was to be held prisoner.
The lieutenant removed his camera and faced it.
“This is Lieutenant Brian Till. Operation No Joy is complete. No one is left on this island. Eleven tangoes down, bodies removed. Eight tangoes injured and medevac’d to awaiting ships where they’ll be treated before we throw their ass in the brig.
Three SEALs injured, non-life-threatening, transferred to waiting ships.
Forty-two children rescued and two adult females…
those women didn’t need rescuing.” He grinned crookedly.
“At least four of those kills belong to them. They can kick ass on my team anytime you’re ready to change their assignment.
” Dropping his smile he continued with his report, “We’re bringing them all home.
Everyone accounted for. Lieutenant Till out. ”
The conference room had erupted. Grown men jumped up and down with excitement and relief, hugging and backslapping each other. Marta stood off to the side, a few feet away from Trevor, who accepted congratulations from every man in the room.
He never looked her way.
For the next several days, their conversations were stilted whether they were in the office or at the VOQ.
She’d cleaned up after supper by herself each evening while he pretended to busy himself at the desk in the small office.
When she announced she was going to bed, he’d simply grunted.
She wasn’t sure when he’d actually crawled under the sheets, but he hadn’t touched her since she’d blurted her feelings.
Marta had finally had enough of his silent brooding. They were going to talk. She’d decided to cook supper for the two of them. After picking up what she needed for lasagna at the Commissary, she’d stopped by the base liquor store and bought her favorite bottle of red wine.
She didn’t feel bad at all about taking the car they had rented for their use while at Little Creek. He had a driver who would take him anywhere he wanted.
Marta poured herself a glass of wine and put the pot of salted water on to heat. She preferred to make her own tomato sauce with hamburger and Italian sausage. She’d just dropped the noodles into the boiling water when she swore she heard the door between the house and the garage close.
Damn. She was sure she had more time. Peering around the wall, the hallway was empty.
Whew. She returned her attention to her supper preparations.
An hour and a half later, she pulled the lasagna out of the oven and set it on the granite counter to cool. The salad was chilling in the refrigerator, and the garlic bread was covered in foil ready to be popped into the oven as soon as Trevor got home.
Home. She’d come to think of these temporary quarters as home in just a few weeks.
It had felt like a home. They ate supper and breakfast there, spent hours on the couch reading or talking.
Occasionally, they’d watch a movie together.
Several times a week, they’d go out to supper then return home where they’d go to bed and most often, make love.
At least Marta thought they were making love. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d read far too much into their time together. She was his first lover after his wife’s death. Was she nothing more than a rebound fuck?
She didn’t know, but she was going to find out as soon as Trevor got there.
The sound of a car in the driveway caught her attention. Glancing out the kitchen window, she watched the man she loved get out of the back seat of a blue Navy sedan. He waved goodbye to his driver and said something to him.
Someone grabbed her around the neck and pulled her back against his body.
He was several inches taller than her and very strong.
She tried to fight, twisting and turning to no avail.
“Hold still,” he growled.
He tightened his hold on her neck until she could hardly breathe.
She knocked the bottle of wine off the counter, and it shattered on the floor.
Marta knew she was in trouble when cold metal pressed against her temple. Out of her peripheral vision she could see a gun held to her head.
Trevor walked through the kitchen door and stopped.
“About time you got home. The little lady here has been cooking for you for hours.”
Marta recognized that voice: Rear Admiral F.X. Finger.
“Well, isn’t this sweet. Seems the Boy Scout has been fucking his secretary,” Finger taunted.
Trevor wouldn’t look at her. His gaze never left Finger’s. “Francis, put the gun down. What do you expect to gain here?”
“You’ve taken everything away from me—my money, my clubs, even the training camp.
Your fucking men invaded my island and arrested all my men.
They stole all my girls. Now the fucking CNO said he’s going to strip me of my Trident.
I have nothing. This is all your fault! The great Vice Admiral Trevor Maddox, international hero. ” Finger’s vitriol spat from his mouth.
“Everything is gone, so I’m going to take away everything that’s important to you.
” He poked the gun into her temple. “I’m going to start with the perfect Ms. Marta Merkel.
She’s living in these quarters and although the second bed is made up, all her clothes are hanging next to yours in the master bedroom closet.
You’re fucking her, aren’t you?” It was an accusation, not a question.
Marta wondered how long he’d been in the house. He’d certainly had an opportunity to check out the closets. Had he pawed through her underwear drawer? At the moment, that seemed more revolting than the gun pointed at her head.
“She means something to you, doesn’t she?” Admiral Finger was so close to her face she could feel the heat of his words.
She stared at Trevor. She also wanted to know the answer.
“She’s nothing to me. She’s my rebound. She got me back in the saddle, so to speak.
She’s the first woman I dated since my wife died.
” Trevor grinned. “Now that I know everything works the way it’s supposed to”—he grabbed his crotch—“I’m ready to move on.
In the meantime, she’s with me working here so I might as well take advantage of a woman in my bed every night.
I’d be stupid not to. When she heads back to California, my two sons and I are headed to Turks and Caicos for fun in the sun and scantily clad young women.
Marta’s old. I’m looking forward to fucking women half her age with beautiful bodies. Marta means nothing to me.”
What the hell? She and his daughter were planning on going to Turks and Caicos with him and his sons. Was he trying to bullshit Finger so he’d let her go?
He finally dropped his gaze to her. “Sorry, Marta, this isn’t the way I wanted to break it off.”
“You fucking bastard,” she yelled at him.
Ignoring her, he refocused on Finger. “Francis, I thought you were in jail.”
“I have attorneys and judges on my client list who will fight till their last breath to keep their dirty little secret hidden. Luckily, I still have access to some accounts they haven’t found yet.
I had to put up a shit ton of bail and surrender my passport.
” He chuckled. “Like I only have one passport.”
“Does anyone know you’re here?” Trevor sounded earnest.
“Fuck no.”
“Good. I have a list of pilots to fly to the Caribbean from here. I’m sure you had some kind of exit plan.
How about I call some of these guys? I can get you some cash that you can use to pay them, and they’ll fly you to wherever you want to go.
You were never here. You never threatened Marta’s life, right Marta? ”
Was Trevor really going to let him get away? She’d always thought he was a good man, maybe she was wrong.
“Sure. Fact is, Francis, I need to thank you for showing me what a deceiving bastard Trevor Maddox really is.” She tried to make her voice as hateful as possible. She wasn’t sure what to believe so it didn’t take much acting skills.
“Put the damn gun down and you can use the VOQ phone to call all these pilots and find someone to fly you wherever you want to go. I’m sure you have even more money hidden down in the Caribbean, right?”
“Of course I do.” Francis sounded as though he was calling Trevao a fucking idiot. “You’re going to help me? Really?”
“Yeah. We’ve known each other for a long time. Set the gun down, and I’ll get the list of pilots. Marta, clean up this wine then serve us supper.” Trevor had never spoken to her that way before. He’d lost his fucking mind.
The gun disappeared from the side of her head, and she heard it thunk on the counter.
Marta spun and in one smooth motion picked up the gun and shot F.X.
Finger in the knee. “As disgusting as you are, I should have shot you in the balls, but I was afraid I would hit your femoral artery. Bleeding out and dying in a few minutes is far too kind for what you’ve done. You need to rot in prison.”
“Marta, you can put the gun down now.” Trevor’s voice was gentle.
Holding the gun pointed at the ceiling, she turned toward her lover. “Afraid I’m going to use it on you next?”
“A little bit,” he admitted. “I didn’t know you could shoot.”
“I haven’t worked with SEALs for all these years without learning a few things. Before you got here, I was about to try to take the gun away from him.”
Trevor went pale. “What if he’d shot you?”
“Then I would’ve been really pissed and filled with adrenaline.
Men don’t understand just how lethal women can be.
” She nodded to the knife on the counter.
“I would have grabbed that chopping knife and stabbed him in the heart, twisting before I pulled the knife out. If that hadn’t killed him, the next cut would have been between his legs. ”
Trevor grabbed his crotch. “Okay. I get the picture. Remind me never to make you mad.”
“Too late for that.” She still wasn’t sure if the things he’d said were from the heart or just to convince Finger that Trevor was on his side.
The scraping and moaning noise took their attention away from each other.
“Stop or the next shot will be in your head.” Marta pointed the gun at Finger who was trying to crawl to the still-open door.
“Go ahead and shoot me. My life is over anyway.”
“No, it’s not. Your ass is going to rot in a prison.” She smiled down at the writhing man on the floor. “That is if some other inmate doesn’t kill you first. Even criminals don’t think much of pedophiles and those who feed their obsession.”
Trevor had his phone out dialing the military police. A minute later, he announced that the MPs and an ambulance were on the way.
“Marta, you know I didn’t mean any of those things I said.” Trevor’s eyes were pleading.
“I wasn’t sure,” she admitted. “When you didn’t mention Linda going with you to Turks and Caicos, I thought maybe you were just trying to put yourself on his level. I had my doubts before that, I’ll be honest.”
Carefully stepping around the broken glass and spilled red wine, he cupped her face. “Marta, I love you. When that fucker was holding a gun to your head, all I could think was that I was going to lose the second woman I’ve ever loved. I couldn’t let him take you from me.”
Her jaw dropped. “You love me?” Her voice was a whisper.
“Hell yes, I love you, more every day. I’m sorry I’ve been in ass the last few days. When you told me you loved me, I knew in my heart that I loved you. I just couldn’t say the words.” He dropped his lips to hers.
His kiss felt as though the world had once again righted itself. She put her arms around him and realized she was still holding the gun. Breaking the kiss, she stepped back.
Finger moaned as he lay on the floor holding his bloody knee.
“You think we should tend to his wound while we’re waiting for the MPs and ambulance?” Marta and Trevor stared at the man who had brought so much pain to so many children.
“No,” they said in unison.
“Let the fucker suffer.” Marta turned and pulled Trevor in for a kiss as lights flashed in their driveway.