Page 25 of Rescuing Sadie

Chase looked over at his sister. “I don’t know. We talk, but I haven’t told anyone about that mission…well, except for Sadie, and that was really recently. I don’t hang out with Ghost and the others too often because of fraternization rules. The Army doesn’t think much of enlisted soldiers hanging with officers.”

“Well, that’s just stupid,” Rayne said under her breath.

Chase smiled but went on. “Thank you,” he said, looking at both of the Delta Force operatives. “Thank you for finding Munroe and getting him out of there. Thank you for what you do, and especially thank you for helping me keep Sadie safe.”

“Fuck that,” Ghost said. “You don’t have to thank us. This is what we do.”

“Exactly,” Fletch agreed.

“And Fish would’ve done the same exact thing if the roles had been reversed,” Ghost said.

“Damn straight,” Fletch agreed.

“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.”