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“You ready?” Straw asks as they hit the door.
“More than.” Tank’s long strides eat the distance to the truck up. In a matter of minutes, they are in the truck and headed home. Ruby will be there waiting for him. It’s only been a few hours since he held her last, yet it feels like an eternity. He’s drumming his fingers on the steering wheel while they’re stopped at a light.
“What’s got you so antsy?” Straw asks from the passenger seat. Tank glances over at his friend to see the grinning smirk on his face.
“Just ready to be home,” Tank answers honestly. “Don’t act like you aren’t ready to get home, too.”
“Oh, I’m very ready to be home,” Straw answers. “Abigail is healing nicely. She had a nap this afternoon and…” Tank looks over one more time waiting to see if Straw is going to answer. “Ellie is staying at Hawk’s tonight.” Straw grins at Tank. “No munchkin to worry about interrupting bed aerobics.”
Tank busts out a laugh at that one. Seriously? Where in the world did his teammates and their women come up with so many different sayings for sex? “Bed aerobics?” Tank couldn’t help but ask.
“Yeah,” Straw answers, and if Tank wasn’t mistaken, his friend’s cheeks flushed a little. “Ellie nearly caught us one morning. When she asked what we were doing with the door locked and the bed squeaking, Abigail said the first thing she thought of, bed aerobics. So that’s what we call it now.” Tank and Straw are both laughing as they pull into the garage. The driveway is blessedly empty, this time, which means bed aerobics indeed.
* * *
Two days later,Tank and his team are loaded up on their MV-22 Osprey headed to South America. He has had three nights of Ruby sleeping curled into him after he wore her out with multiple orgasms. She’s given him plenty in return. Now more than ever, he loves her deeply. He’s anxious to get this mission over and done with so he can get home to Ruby. He’s got a nagging feeling in his gut. It’s never been wrong before, and when he’s listened to it, it’s never let him down.
Straw is sitting next to him on the bench that’s serving as their seats on this flight. Tank can tell Straw is feeling the same way. Straw’s right leg is nervously jarring up and down.
“What’s got you agitated?” Tank asks once everyone is loaded, and the plane has begun its taxi down the runway. Straw looks over at him, shaking his head.
“I’m not sure,” Straw replies. “Just got a bad feeling, like maybe we shouldn’t be leaving.” Yeah, Tank has the same feeling, but they don’t have a choice. It’s their duty. Fuck if it didn’t suck. Tank has never before not wanted to uphold his duty to his country and his team, but his gut is churning. His deep-seated need to protect Ruby is making him nearly ill, and Straw being agitated isn’t helping the situation. Tank feels the plane lift into the air. He huffs out a breath and prays this trip doesn’t end in disaster.
Two days later, the team is back on the plane headed home. Tank still has an uneasy feeling, but he doesn’t know why. The mission has been a complete success. The SEALs recovered the girl without any injuries. Tank and his team backed them up. It’s one of the easiest missions they’ve had in a long while.
“Well, that was a letdown,” Virus comments once the plane is in the air. “I was expecting a full-on fight to the death, but it almost seemed like the cartel let us get the girl back.” Tank has been thinking along the same lines.
He glances over at the girl who’s sitting between Wolf and Mozart, two of the Navy SEALs who helped rescue her. She looks a little worse for wear, and Tank knows she’ll have to be debriefed once they land in San Antonio. The SEAL team mentions feeling like it was too easy as well. Once they’ve reached cruising altitude, Wolf turns to the young woman.
“I know you’ve been through a lot, but I need to ask some questions,” Wolf begins. The woman takes a deep breath before meeting his gaze. A slight nod is the only indication she’s willing to cooperate. “Did you overhear anything from your captors? Can you give us any information as to why it seems like they gave you to us? I’m sure it didn’t feel that way to you, but we’ve done this many times, what gun fire was exchanged was insignificant at best. I’m just trying to figure out if we missed anything.”
“At first, the leader, Guerrero kept insisting I was Mary Catherine Amato,” she answers. “I kept trying to tell him, that’s not my name, but every time I denied it, I was beaten. One of the guards told me to keep my mouth shut and just agree with the man. He said I wouldn’t be beaten if I agreed, so…I did.” She lifts her chin defiantly as if daring one of the men to point the blame at her for the lie.
“We understand,” Wolf replies kindly. “Go on. What else happened?”
“Well, I knew they were about to send me to someone called Russo in New York,” the woman shivers. “I speak fluent Spanish, though I don’t think they knew that. Anyway, a couple of days ago, Guerrero got a phone call when he was checking on me. He came a few times a day, never at the same time, to just look at me. It was like he was checking up on his men, making sure they were really guarding me.”
“We had gotten intel that he’s very paranoid,” Wolf informs them. “He never keeps the same schedule, which is what makes taking him out so difficult. It’s what’s allowed him to achieve so much in such a short amount of time.”
“Heisvery paranoid,” the girl continues. “He was constantly questioning the guards. He’d ask the same thing several times, but in a different way like he was trying to catch them in a lie. I could tell most of the guards were afraid of him.”
“So about this phone call.” Deadeye tries to steer the conversation back to what the girl might know.
“Yeah, so he began arguing with whomever was on the other end,” the girl says. “At first, I was only getting his side of the conversation, but there was a pause, I guess whoever was on the other end was getting someone else for him to talk to, and Guerrero got impatient holding the phone to his ear. He put it on speaker and laid it on a table in the room where they were holding me. There was only silence or the sounds of ruffling like someone was holding their hand over the speaker. Then a deep voice came on the line. I later deduced it was the Russo guy who they were planning to give me to. Guerrero told the man he had Mary Catherine, meaning me, and he was prepared to deliver me to Russo in a couple of days. He looked so proud of himself, kind of smug, you know. He was staring right at me. When Russo laughed, his face fell. Russo told Guerrero he’s an idiot, because Russo knew for a fact Mary Catherine is in North Carolina living under an assumed name.” Tank jumps to his feet although there’s nowhere for him to go. He now knows why his intuition has been riding him hard not to leave Ruby alone. Everyone turns to look at him. Straw is on his feet as well.
“Calm down,” Straw says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We don’t know for sure if he really knows her location or if he just has a lead.”
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!” Tank yells. “You weren’t calm when Todd was after Abigail.” Tank regrets his words as soon as they leave his mouth. He clenches his jaw. Straw is his friend and brother. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, but Ruby is out there unprotected. That fucking asshole may have her already. I can’t lose her.”
“I know,” Straw replies. “I was freaking crazy when Todd was after Abigail, and you were with me every step. I’ll be with you, too, but we can’t do anything until we get back. I know you won’t be able to but try to hang tight until we have more intel.” Tank nods, but he can’t calm down. He paces the cargo hold. The woman they rescued is eyeing him like he’s going to attack her. He knows he needs to reign in his emotions, but he can’t get past the fact Russo knows Ruby’s whereabouts. He could have his hands on her at this moment. Images of Ruby smiling and happy come to the forefront of his mind, rapidly followed by those of her the day she ran when her brother had tried to take her from the shelter. He never wants her to be afraid like that again. He promised he’d take care of her. If Russo has gotten her, has harmed her, Tank will burn New York to the ground, if needed, to get her back. God forbid, he’s hurt her. The man will wish he’d never been born. Hell will be an upgrade for the man after Tank is done with him.
“What’s going on?” Wolf asks, rising to his feet. “Who is Ruby, and what does she have to do with Russo?” Deadeye stands as well.
“Ruby is the real Mary Catherine,” Deadeye informs the SEAL team. “She’s Tank’s woman. She’s been on the run for six years, hiding from Russo and his goons. She changed her name to keep him from finding her, but if what this woman is telling us is correct, then Ruby is likely in a lot of danger.”
Tank stops pacing when he’s in front of the woman. She looks up, fear evident in her face.
“What else did Russo say?” Tank asks doing his best to not growl or yell at the woman. “Please I need to know everything you remember.” She swallows and licks her lips with a nod.
