Chapter 8 #2
“And I know he’s not here, but please thank Truck for me,” Chase said, looking at Ghost, “for not giving up on Munroe. I don’t know all the details, only what he told me on the phone just now, but you guys could’ve easily given up.
Figured he’d bleed to death, but you didn’t.
Knowing one of those men is alive today…
and happily married…I just… I don’t have the words. ”
“Sir,” Ghost began, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
His intense gaze met Chase’s. “Truck would totally say this if he was here too. You don’t have to thank us.
So don’t do it again. If any of those other men had even a one-in-one-hundred shot at making it out of there alive, we would’ve taken it.
The fact that Fish was bleeding out and would obviously lose his arm only made us all the more determined to save his life.
And if we’d have found you there, we would’ve done the same thing for you. ”
The atmosphere in the room was charged. Everyone’s emotions were running high.
As if she knew the mood needed to be lightened, Annie climbed off of Fletch’s lap and walked over to Chase. She didn’t ask, simply climbed onto his lap and put her hands on both his cheeks.
Sadie smiled and moved over, giving the little girl some room.
Annie leaned in and rubbed her nose against Chase’s, then sat back, leaving her hands on his face, and said, “Next time, don’t sleep through my daddy coming to rescue you.”
Everyone burst out laughing.
Somehow Chase managed to keep it together, and he brought his hands up to Annie’s head and pulled her toward him so he could kiss her on the forehead. “I won’t. Thanks, Annie.”
And with that, Annie nodded and scooted off his knees. She padded back over to Fletch and he lifted her back up to his lap.
Sadie pushed an arm behind Chase and rested her hand on his hip, then curled her legs up onto the couch. She leaned into him and put her free hand on his chest. He covered it with one of his own and carefully wrapped his injured arm around her back.
He inhaled, then let out a huge sigh, and Sadie felt him melt against her, as if all the worries he’d been holding in had been released with his breath.
The knowledge that one of the men he’d thought dead was not only alive, but happily married, was obviously enough to help him let go of some of the tension he’d been holding on to.
Talk turned to general, everyday matters, until it finally came back around to Jonathan, and the reason she and Chase were in the house in the first place.
“We need to talk about Jonathan,” Chase said, but looked pointedly at Fletch and Annie with his eyebrows raised.
Getting the hint, Emily stood up and said, “And with that, I think it’s time for Annie to get to bed.”
“But, Mom,” the little girl complained, “I wanna hear the stramagy for keeping the bad guy away from Sadie!”
“When you’re a soldier in your own right, you can be in on strategy meetings,” Fletch told her. “But for now, it’s past your bedtime and you need to get some sleep.”
She whined a bit more, obviously tired, but eventually allowed her mom to help her off Fletch’s lap and lead her to her room.
“Should I go too?” Rayne asked quietly from beside Ghost.
Chase shook his head. “No, I think you need to hear this. The last thing we want is to leave you, Emily, and Annie vulnerable to this asshole.”
Sadie shivered and felt Chase’s arm tighten around her.
“Here’s the deal. Sadie’s uncle is coming down tomorrow with Ian Taggart.
Simply having those two around will go a long way toward giving us the upper hand.
They were Special Forces as well, and they’re badass.
And Sadie is certain that was Jonathan today.
He flattened all four of my tires and disabled my car in the parking lot to give him a chance to get to her. ”
“How’d he find out she was here?” Ghost asked.
“I’m not sure. I’m guessing that maybe there are still some officers down in San Antonio who used to visit the school that weren’t caught in the aftermath of the bust. It’s possible he could be blackmailing them to get information on Sadie’s whereabouts.”
“Why does he want you so badly?” Rayne asked.
Sadie bit her lip and looked down at her lap. She didn’t want to tell Chase; there was no way she was telling her new friend and the Deltas.
Luckily, Chase came to her rescue. “It doesn’t matter. It only matters that he does. So let’s talk scenarios.”
Sadie squeezed Chase’s waist in silent thanks and he gripped her hand at his chest in reply. She relaxed further into his side, feeling connected to him in a way she hadn’t felt with anyone in a really long time.
Emily returned after getting Annie settled and immediately went to her husband. She took Annie’s spot on his lap and the conversation continued.
The discussion was fast and furious, ideas and thoughts mostly coming from the men.
They discussed ways to keep Sadie, and the other women, safe from Jonathan, what they thought he might do if, God forbid, he got his hands on any of them.
They talked about what the women should do if they found themselves taken hostage by the man.
Finally, they made a plan on what they should do if Jonathan wasn’t captured in the next couple of days.
The last thing anyone wanted was for the threat from the man to drag on for weeks or months.
Sadie knew offering herself up as bait would be the perfect solution to the situation, but she also knew Chase, not to mention her uncles, wouldn’t let her.
As if he could read her mind, Fletch said, “This is just a suggestion—I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t at least throw it out there—what if we had Sadie go somewhere by herself? We could watch her from a distance and if Jonathan showed up, we could grab him.”
Interestingly, it wasn’t Chase who replied first, but Ghost. “No fucking way.”
“We’d be there watching her; so would the Taggarts. Nothing would happen to her.”
“We don’t put one of our own in harm’s way.
Period. Besides, Jonathan might be a pedophile and batshit crazy, but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid.
He would know it’s a trap. She was with Chase today, and not too long after he tried to take him out, Fletch and I showed up.
He knows she has a protection detail. Besides, would you want Emily in that situation?
Maybe we should send Annie to the park by herself? ”
“No, that’s not—” Fletch began, but was interrupted by Ghost.
“Right. Just because Sadie is new to our group doesn’t mean she’s expendable. She fucking is not.”
Sadie’s eyes filled with tears upon hearing Ghost defending her. It was true, he didn’t know her, nor did any of the other men and women in the room, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to let her put herself in danger just to end the threat to the others.
She started, realizing for the first time that if she were to be Chase’s—really be Chase’s—then Ghost could end up being her brother-in-law and Rayne would be her sister-in-law.
She suddenly wanted that. With every fiber of her being. But she was definitely jumping the gun. She hadn’t even kissed Chase. It was silly to be thinking about marriage…wasn’t it?
Maybe not, considering how many times Chase had said she was his and that he wanted her. He’d even flat-out said he wanted to marry her.
Looking up at Chase, Sadie blinked at the emotion she saw on his face.
He was staring at Fletch with his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed.
He was apparently upset with him for even suggesting that they use her as bait.
She’d thought he was intense when he was talking to that Fish guy on the phone.
But that was nothing compared to what she was seeing right this moment.
“You’re right,” Fletch said, then turned to Sadie. “And I apologize to you too. I wasn’t really saying we should use you like that, I was just brainstorming. Trying to think of ways we could get you safe as fast as possible.”
She nodded at the man. She didn’t think badly of him; she was actually surprised no one had brought it up earlier.
After another hour, the men seemed to agree on a plan of sorts.
It all hinged on Jonathan and how crazy he was.
Sadie had a feeling that Jonathan would make a move sooner rather than later.
He was pissed. And obsessed. Those things alone would make him desperate to get his hands on her, and hopefully he’d walk right into the trap the Deltas were laying.
“Emily’s out,” Fletch said softly. “She has a tendency to conk out because of the pregnancy. I’m going to take her to bed.” His wife had moved to lie on the couch next to him and was dead to the world. Even though she was tall, she looked almost petite sleeping next to her muscular husband.
“I’m half asleep too,” Rayne told Ghost, yawning as if to emphasize her point.
As the group began to break up, Fletch came over to where Sadie was sitting with Chase. He squatted down in front of her and said, “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, Sadie. I didn’t think it was the best idea, but I was just trying to think of something that would help end this for you.”
She hadn’t been expecting him to apologize again, so she didn’t say anything. Chase answered before she could think of a reply.
“Don’t do that shit again, Fletch. I get that in the past, offering people up as bait was something your team discussed, and even did, but those times are gone. Too many of us have our own women to even consider that a viable option anymore.”
“You’re right. It was a dick thing to even suggest, given the circumstances.”
When neither man said anything else, Sadie knew she had to end the pseudo standoff. She put her hand on Fletch’s arm. “It’s okay. I understand, I do.” She gave him a small nod.