Chapter 14 #2
“What's wrong?” she asked, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes. After making love to Leo several times in the bathroom, she’d accepted that every single person in the house, minus her daughter, and maybe Indigo, who was still sedated, knew what they’d been doing.
It was silly to have thought otherwise. Even without their enhanced skills, it was pretty obvious, and neither of them had been as quiet as they should have been.
Exhausted, Kate had allowed Leo to help her put her clothes back on, then carry her to the bedroom and tuck her into bed.
When he’d slipped under the covers on Ariella’s other side, she’d finally relaxed enough to sleep.
There were zero memories after she’d closed her eyes, and now that she was awake, she realized she hadn't even rolled over, crashing hard. Her body had needed the rest, but it also needed a whole lot more than it had gotten.
“Someone is coming,” Leo answered, and it was only then that she saw the sharpness in his gaze. She remembered it from that first day when she arrived at the mansion. This was Leo in soldier mode.
She didn't need to ask who that someone was. The expression on his face told her everything she needed to know. Their worst fears had come true. The mansion’s location must have been compromised, more than likely because someone had followed her, the plane had been sabotaged, and now they’d been tracked to this abandoned farmhouse.
“What do you need me to do?” she asked, already pushing back the covers and sitting up. Just because she didn't have the same fighting skills as Leo and his teammates didn't mean she wouldn't contribute in whatever ways she could.
“That’s my girl,” Leo praised, leaning in to give her a quick kiss. “I need you to get up, get dressed, shoes on, coats on, and grab the blankets as well. Then get Ariella up and dressed. Make sure you have her medications on you in case we need to leave in a hurry.”
“I can do that,” she assured him. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden. Well, more of a burden than she already was.
That was why she tried to hide her wince as she swung her legs over the side of the bed.
If she’d hoped that rest would ease the pain of her broken ribs, she was out of luck.
In fact, they felt worse this morning. Her entire body did.
Whatever adrenaline had been masking some of the pain the day before was gone now, and she ached and throbbed all over.
She was so stiff that moving was hard too.
“I'm sorry, Katie-Bear, wish I could give you the time you need to rest,” Leo said, steadying her as she tried to bend down to grab her pants, and the stabbing pain in her chest made her gasp.
“I’ll be okay,” she promised, determined to fulfill that vow.
“You're hurting.”
“And there’s nothing we can do about it. I'm sure you're hurting too.” Although his eyes looked clear, and he didn't move like he’d been mostly unconscious for twelve hours just the day before, she was sure that the concussion still had to be bothering him, at least a little.
Shaking his head, Leo grabbed her pants and shoes for her, setting them on the bed beside her.
“Sorry, babe, but I feel fine now. The benefit of enhanced healing. The guys will be okay, too. Even Indigo will have healed substantially despite how serious her injuries were. It’s you, Ariella, Rose, Cassandra, Whitney, and Maya that we’re worried about. ”
“I'm good,” she insisted, doing a better job of hiding her wince this time around when she grabbed her jeans and shoved her legs into them.
Still looking doubtful, it was clear Leo wanted to argue but didn't have the time.
Instead, he gave her a single nod. “Come downstairs when you're ready. We might need to move quickly. Depending on how many there are, we could eliminate them all and then pack up and go. Otherwise, we’ll need to evade gunfire as we head out.”
“Whatever we need to do, I’ll do,” she assured him.
Curling a hand around the back of her neck, Leo dragged her closer for one last kiss before he was striding out of the room, leaving her fighting the urge to call him back. She’d just promised Leo that she could handle this, that she could do her part, letting him down wasn't an option.
Once she was dressed, shoes and coat on, Kate reached for her daughter. “Wake up, sweetie-pie,” she crooned, keeping her voice soft because the last thing she wanted to do was scare her daughter even more than Ariella had already been traumatized.
“Mom?” Ariella moaned, shifting slightly but not opening her eyes.
“Need you to wake up, sweetie,” she said, a little firmer this time. She had no idea how far away the people coming for them were, but she knew enough to realize that time was of the essence.
“What time is it?” Ariella asked on a yawn.
“Early. But we need to get up, get dressed.”
“Is something wrong?” the smart little girl asked as her eyes finally blinked open.
Lying wasn't really an option, because any minute now, there was going to be gunfire piercing through the quiet night.
So instead, she did her best to present the truth as simply as she could, keeping her own fear carefully under wraps.
“Dad said that some bad men are coming. We need to be up and dressed so we can leave as soon as your dad tells us to.”
“Did the bad men make our plane crash?” Ariella asked.
Seeing bruises on her child’s skin was nothing new, even before Ariella got sick there had been a some.
All little kids usually had a few cuts and bumps at any given time.
After she got sick, those bruises grew worse, and those cuts took longer to heal.
But these bruises covering her daughter today made her little girl look closer to death than Kate had ever seen her.
In just nine short years, her daughter had already been through so much, and now she was trapped in a farmhouse, with people wishing them harm coming for them, still no closer to getting her potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant.
It wasn't fair, and Kate hated that her daughter just couldn’t catch a break.
“I think they probably did. Now I need you to get up, Ariella. Get dressed, go to the bathroom if you need to, then we need to go downstairs. Whatever your dad asks of you, you need to do, no argument, no discussion. Not just your dad. If Steel, Dragon, Blade, Voodoo, or Thunder ask you to do something, the same rules apply.”
“Okay,” Ariella agreed.
When they were both dressed, her daughter’s medical bag slung over her shoulder, and the blanket from the bed in her arms, Kate guided Ariella out of the bedroom and into the hall.
There were no curtains in any of the rooms, so even though there were no lights on, there was enough light to see where they were going.
Pausing at the bathroom, they both did their business, and then they headed downstairs.
Everyone else was already gathered there, dressed, armed, and ready to defend themselves however necessary. It felt wrong not to have a weapon in her hand. Didn't matter that she didn't know how to use it, she’d feel better having a way to protect herself and her daughter.
Leo’s gaze landed on her, roamed over her and their daughter. He nodded, and took a step toward them. Whatever he was about to say, he never got the chance.
Gunfire erupted.
There was no chance to ask questions, gather details about what they were up against, or even ask if one of the weapons could be spared so that she could have it.
Whatever was happening had already started, and all she could do now was follow Leo and the others’ leads and pray that they all made it out the other side.
“You all stay here, in the middle of the building, which protects you from shots coming through the windows,” Steel ordered. “If they get through us you shoot to kill.”
Kate shuddered at the thought. Facts were, if these people shooting at them got past the Delta Team men, then she, her daughter, and the others were all dead.
Again, she fought against the urge to call Leo back when he disappeared out into the dark night, instead clutching her daughter tight.
Tension was high, even from Indigo, who was sitting on the bottom step, propped up against the wall.
Everyone else was armed, but only Rose and Cassandra looked somewhat comfortable with their weapons.
Maya pressed a gun into Kate’s hand, and she nodded her thanks.
The gunfire got louder, and Ariella screamed. Her daughter’s panic overwhelmed her, and Ariella ran. Kate grabbed for her, but the pain in her ribs made her too slow. Ariella ran right out the front door that Leo and the others had just gone through. Right toward the gunfire.
Without a second thought, Kate went after her.