THEY’D WON.
Well, they weren’t going to be able to bring the orphans back to the United States at the end of the week, but no one had really expected that. The Tulgerian government had given the Relief Aid volunteers permission to move the children to a location near the American Embassy. Paid for, of course, with American dollars.
The other good news was that the government was making it possible for American citizens to travel to the capital city, Tulibek, to petition to adopt. The older children in particular would be allowed to leave, for exorbitant adoption fees.
It was a victory—although it was a bittersweet one for Colleen. She was sitting, looking out the window, her forehead against the glass, as the bus moved steadily north, into the even more dangerous war zone.
Bobby watched her, well aware of what she was thinking. In a matter of minutes they would arrive at the hospital where the children had been taken after the orphanage had been destroyed. As they went inside, Analena wouldn’t be among the children who rushed to greet her.
Yes, it was a bittersweet victory for Colleen.
It was a city bus—this vehicle they were in. Some of the hard plastic seats faced forward, some faced the center of the bus. There was space for people to stand, bars and straps to hold on to.
Colleen was facing forward, and the seat next to her was empty. He sat down beside her, wishing for the privacy that came with seats that had high backs. He lowered his voice instead. “You okay?”
She wiped her eyes, forced a smile. “I’m great.”
Yeah, sure she was. He wanted to hold her hand, but he didn’t dare touch her. “The past few days have been crazy, huh?”
She gave him another smile. “Yeah, I’ve been glad many times over that you and Alpha Squad are here.”
God, he’d missed her. When Thomas King had given him her message—don’t come over—he’d known that it was over between them. Right up until then he’d harbored hope. Maybe if he went to her and told her that he loved her… Maybe if he begged, she’d agree to keep seeing him. And maybe someday she’d fall in love with him, too.
“You and Wes are on friendlier terms again,” she noted. “I mean, at least you seem to be talking.”
Bobby nodded, even though that was far from the truth. The final insult in this whole messed-up situation was the damage he’d done to his decade of friendship with Wes. It seemed irreparable.
Wes was talking to him, sure—but it was only an exchange of information. They weren’t sharing their thoughts, not the way they used to. When he looked at Wes, he could no longer read the man’s mind.
How much of that was his own fault, his own sense of guilt? He didn’t know.
“Life goes on, huh?” Colleen said. “Despite all the disappointments and tragedies. There’s always good news happening somewhere.” She gestured to the bus, to the four other Relief Aid volunteers who sat quietly talking in the back of the bus. “This is good news—the fact that we’re going to bring those children back to a safer location. And, oh, here’s some good news for you—I’m not pregnant. I got my period this morning. So you can stop worrying about Wes coming after you with a shotgun, huh?”
She wasn’t pregnant.
Colleen tried to smile, but just managed to look…almost wistful? “You know, it’s stupid, but I imagined if I was, you know, pregnant, the baby would be a boy who would look just like you.”
She was kidding, wasn’t she? Bobby tried to make a joke. “Poor kid.”
“Lucky kid.” She wasn’t kidding. The look she was giving him was fierce. “You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever known, Bobby. Both inside and out.”
He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to think.
And Colleen went back to looking out the window. “Funny, isn’t it, how one person’s good news can be someone else’s disappointment?”
“You’re disappointed? About…” He had to search for the words. “You wanted to have a baby? But, Colleen, you said—”
“Not just any baby.” When she looked at him, the tears were back in her eyes. “I wanted Analena. And I wanted your baby. I’d make a terrible mother, wouldn’t I? I’m already playing favorites.”
“Colleen. I’m…” Speechless.
“I had this stupid fantasy going,” she said in a very small voice, almost as if she were talking to herself, not to him, “that I’d be pregnant, and you’d have to marry me. And then, after we were married, I’d somehow make you love me, too. But real life doesn’t work that way. People who have to get married usually end up resenting each other, and I’d hate it if you ever resented me.”
Make you. Love me. Too. Bobby wasn’t sure, but he thought it was possible he was having a heart attack. His chest was tight and his brain felt numb. “Colleen, are you telling me—”
“Heads up, Taylor. We’re getting close,” Senior Chief Harvard Becker’s voice cut through. “I need your eyes and ears with me right now.”
Damn.
Colleen had turned her attention back to the drab scenery flashing past, outside the window.
Bobby stood up, shouldering his weapon, using every ounce of training he’d ever had to get his head back in place, to focus on the mission.
Rio Rosetti was nearby, and he caught Bobby’s eye. “You okay, Chief? Your shoulder all right?”
His shoulder? “I’m fine,” he said shortly. Dammit, he needed to talk to Wes. Just because Colleen loved him—and she only maybe loved him, he didn’t know it for sure—didn’t mean that gave him the right to go and ruin her life by marrying her. Did it?
“Okay, listen up,” Captain Joe Catalanotto said for the benefit of the Relief Aid volunteers, the bus driver and the Tulgerian guard who was leading them down the unmarked roads to the hospital.
All of the SEALs knew precisely how this was going to go down. Swiftly and efficiently.
“We sent a small team in early, to do surveillance,” Joe Cat continued. “One of those men will meet us on the road about a mile from the hospital, tell us if there’s anything unusual to watch out for. If it’s all clear, we’ll pull up right outside the hospital doors, but everyone will stay in their seats. Another team will go in to check the place out, join forces with the rest of the surveillance team. Only when they secure entrances and give the all-clear do any of you get off this bus. Is that understood?”
A murmur of voices. Yes, sir.
“At that point,” Joe Cat said even though they’d already gone over it dozens of times, “you’ll move from the bus to the building as quickly as possible. Once inside, you will stay close. You do not wander off under any circumstances.”
“You all right?”
Bobby turned to see Wes right behind him.
“The bus driver will stay in the vehicle,” Joe Cat continued. “The plan is to return to the bus with the children and nuns as quickly—”
“Your head’s not here,” Wes said quietly. “Come on, Bobby. Now’s not the time to screw around.”
“I’m in love with your sister.”
“Ah, jeez, perfect timing,” Wes muttered.
“I think she loves me, too.”
“No kidding, genius. You’re just figuring that out now?”
“If she’ll have me, I’m going to marry her.” Damn it, he was as good as any doctor or lawyer out there. He’d figure out a way to make money, to buy her the things she deserved. When she was with him, he could do anything. “I’m sorry, Wes.”
“What are you crazy? You’re sorry?” Wes stared at him. “You’re apologizing for something I’d sell my left nut to have. If it were me in love with your sister, Bobby, you better believe I would have told you to flip off days ago.” He shook his head in disgust.
“But you said…”
“Marry her,” Wes said. “All right? Just don’t do it right this second if you don’t flipping mind. We’re all a little busy, making sure these tourists stay alive—in case you haven’t noticed?”
These tourists—including Colleen.
“I’ll forgive you for damn near anything,” Wes continued, “but if you get Colleen killed, I swear to God, you’re a dead man.”
Colleen. Killed.
Wham.
Just like that, Bobby’s head was together. He was back and ready—200 percent ready—for this op, for keeping Colleen and the others safe.
“Yeah, that’s more like it,” Wes said, glancing up at him as he checked his weapon. “You’re all here now.”
Bobby leaned over to look out the windows, to scan the desolate countryside. “I love you, man. Do you really forgive me?”
“If you hug me,” Wes said, “I’ll kill you.”
There was nothing out the window. Just rocks and dust. “I missed you, Wesley.”
“Yeah,” Wes said, heading toward the front of the bus. “I’m going to miss you, too.”
SOMETHING WAS WRONG.
Colleen shifted in her seat, trying to see the men having a discussion at the front of the bus.
They’d stopped, supposedly to pick up one of the SEALs who’d been sent ahead on surveillance.
But instead of picking him up and driving the last mile to the hospital at the outskirts of the small town, they’d all but parked here at the side of the road.
The SEAL had come onto the bus—it looked like the man who was nicknamed Lucky, allegedly from his past exploits with women. Yeah, that perfect nose was unmistakable despite the layers of dust and cam ouflage greasepaint. He was talking to the captain and the SEAL who, according to Wes, had actually gone to Harvard University—the senior chief who was almost as tall as Bobby. The other men were listening intently.
Susan came forward a few seats to sit behind Colleen. “Do you know what’s going on?” she whispered.
Colleen shook her head. Whatever they were saying, their voices were too low. Please, God, don’t let there be trouble.
“All right,” the captain finally said. “We have a situation at the hospital. For a place that’s supposedly staffed by a single doctor and four nuns, we’ve got twelve men inside, wearing surgical scrubs and long white coats—the better to hide their Uzis.
“We’ve ID’d them as members of two particularly nasty local terrorist cells. We’re actually surprised they haven’t blown each other to pieces by now—but apparently their goal of taking out a bus-load of hated Americans is more than enough to overcome their natural distaste for each other.”
Colleen flashed hot and then cold. Terrorists. In the hospital with the nuns and the children. “Oh, my God,” she breathed.
Behind her, she heard Rene start to cry. Susan moved back to sit with her.
Captain Catalanotto held up his hand. “We’re going in there,” he told them. “Covertly—that means secretly, without them knowing we’re there. Lieutenant O’Donlon’s report indicates these are amateur soldiers we’re up against. We can take them out quickly. And we will.
“We’re leaving Lieutenant Slade and Chiefs Taylor and Skelly here with you on the bus. They are in command, if there’s an emergency, you will do as they say. I considered sending the bus back into Tulibek…”
He held up his hand again as there was a murmur of voices. It was amazing, really, how effective that was.
“But I made a command decision. I think you’ll be safer right here until we secure the hospital. Once we have possession of that building, the bus will approach, but you will not leave the vehicle. We’ll be going over the hospital inch by inch, making sure the terrorists didn’t leave any booby traps or other nasty surprises. Our priority will be to check the children and get them out of there and onto the bus.
“Are there any questions?”
Susan Fitzgerald, head of Relief Aid, stood up. “Yes, sir. You’ve just basically told us that you and your men are going to sneak into a building where there are twelve terrorists with twelve machine guns waiting for you. I’m just curious, sir. Does your wife know about the danger you’re going to be in this afternoon?”
For a moment there was complete silence on the bus. No one moved, no one breathed.
But then Captain Catalanotto exchanged a look with his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander McCoy. They both wore wedding rings. In fact, many of the men in Alpha Squad were married.
Colleen looked up and found Bobby watching her. As she met his eyes, he smiled very slightly. Ruefully. His mouth moved as he spoke to her silently from across the bus. “This is what we do. This is what it’s like.”
“Yeah, Dr. Fitzgerald,” Captain Catalanotto finally said. “My wife knows. And God bless her for staying with me, anyway.”
“I don’t care,” Colleen mouthed back, but Bobby had already looked away.
COLLEEN SAT ON THE bus in silence.
Wes and Jim Slade both paced. Bobby stood, across the aisle from her. He was still, but he was on the balls of his feet—as if he were ready to leap into action at the slightest provocation.
Colleen tried not to look at him. God forbid she distract him. Still, he was standing close, as if he wanted to be near her, too.
“How much longer?” Susan Fitzgerald finally asked.
“We don’t know, ma’am,” Wes answered from the back of the bus. He touched his radio headset. “They’ll open a channel we can receive at this distance only after they’ve got the place secure. Not until then.”
“Will we hear gunshots?” one of the men, Kurt Freidrichson, asked.
“No, sir,” Wes told him. “Because there’ll be no weapons discharged. Alpha Squad will take them down without a struggle. I can guarantee that as much as I can guarantee anything in this world.”
“This isn’t the time for conversation,” Bobby said quietly.
And once again there was silence.
“Jackpot,” Wes said, into his radio headset. “Affirmative, sir. We copy that.” He made an adjustment to his lip microphone. “We’ve been given the order to move toward the hospital. The building has been secured with no casualties.”
“Oh, thank God,” Colleen breathed. It was over. They were all safe—children, nuns, SEALs.
“Let’s move it out,” Spaceman—Jim Slade—said to the bus driver.
“No!” Wes shouted from the back of the bus. “Bobby!”
Colleen barely looked up, she barely had time to think, let alone react.
But the Tulgerian guard, the man who’d been hired by the bus driver to guide them to the hospital, had pulled a gun out of nowhere. He was sitting three rows up and across the aisle. She was the closest to him.
The closest target.
But Colleen got only a glimpse of the bottomless dark hole of the gun’s barrel before Bobby was on top of her, covering her, pushing her down.
The noise was tremendous. A gunshot. Was that really what it sounded like? It was deafening. Terrifying.
A second one, and then a third. But Colleen couldn’t see. She could only hear. Screaming. Was that her voice? Wes, cursing a blue storm. Spaceman. Shouting. For a helo. Man down.
Man down? Oh, God.
“Bobby?”
“Are we clear?” That was Bobby’s voice. Colleen could feel it rumbling in his chest.
But then she felt something else. Something wet and warm and…
“We’re clear.” Wes. “Jeezus!”
“Are you all right?” Bobby pulled back, off her and, thank God, she was. But she was covered with blood.
His blood.
“Oh, my God,” Colleen said, starting to shake. “Don’t die. Don’t you dare die on me!”
Bobby had been shot. Right now, right this minute, he was bleeding his life away onto the floor of the bus.
“Of all the stupid things you’ve done,” she said, “stepping in front of a loaded gun again—again—has to take the cake.”
“I’m okay,” he said. He touched her face, forced her to look into his eyes. They were still brown, still calm, still Bobby’s eyes. “Breathe,” he ordered her. “Stay with me, Colleen. Because I’m okay.”
She breathed because he wanted her to breathe, but she couldn’t keep her tears from spilling over. “You’re bleeding.” Maybe he didn’t know.
He didn’t. He looked down, looked amazed. “Oh, man.”
Wes was there, helping him into the seat next to Colleen, already working to try to stop the flow. “God damn, you’ve got a lot of blood. Bobby, I can’t get this to stop.”
Bobby squeezed Colleen’s hand. “You should get out of here.” His voice was tight. “Because you know, it didn’t hurt at first—probably from adrenaline, but God, oh my God, now it does, and you don’t need to be here to see this. I don’t want you here, Colleen. Please.”
“I love you,” she said, “and if you think I’m going anywhere right now—besides with you to a hospital—then you don’t know me very well.”
“He wants to marry you,” Wes told her.
“Oh, wonderful timing,” Bobby said, gritting his teeth. “Like this is the most romantic moment of my life.”
“Yeah?” Colleen said, trying to help Wes by keeping Bobby still, by holding him tightly. “Well, too bad, because I’m marrying you whether you ask me or not.”
“She said that she loved you,” Wes countered.
“Don’t die,” Colleen begged him. She looked at her brother. “Don’t you dare let him die!”
“How could I die?” Bobby asked. “I’m surrounded by Skellys. Death couldn’t get a word in edgewise.”
Wes shouted toward the driver. “Can we move this bus a little faster? I need a hospital corpsman and I need him now!”