SEAL on a Mission Read online

  “Do you have another magazine?” Wes asked.

  She flinched as another bullet hit the concrete near them and skipped off into the back of the house. “Another what?”

  “Do you have more ammo?” He fired toward the wood line beyond the patio again. “I’m almost out.”

  When she shook her head, Wes frowned. “We can’t stay here. Once I’m out of ammo, we’re dead. On my say, we’re hauling ass for the house. You go first. I’ll cover you.”

  Meaning that any bullet coming her way would have to get through Wes first. She didn’t like that idea at all.

  “On three,” he said when she opened her mouth to argue. “One…”

  “Freeze!” a man shouted from somewhere beyond the patio “This is the La Jolla Police Department. Drop the weapon and get on the ground! Now!”

  Kyla blinked. How was she supposed to freeze and get on the ground at the same time? Not that it mattered one way or the other since Wes still had an arm around her waist and didn’t seem interested in letting her go.

  “There’s a sniper in the woods,” Wes shouted back.

  Unfortunately, the police didn’t seem to believe that.

  “Last chance,” the cop warned. “Let the woman go and drop the weapon now or we will shoot you!”

  As he spoke, several red laser lines pointed their way, resting dead center on Wes’s chest.

  Kyla tensed, ready to beg Wes to do what the cops were telling him, but her pleas weren’t necessary. Taking his arm from around her, Wes carefully placed the pistol on the patio and kicked it aside, then lay facedown on the ground. Kyla was about to join him, but all at once, there was a police officer at her side, whisking her away as another cop moved over to check on Nesbitt. Shaking her head, the cop stood and aimed her gun at Wes as two other officers put cuffs on him.

  She expected Wes to tell them that he wasn’t the one who shot Nesbitt, but instead he kept saying she wasn’t involved in any of this, that he’d brought the gun and made her come to Nesbitt’s with him.

  As the cops yanked him to his feet, Kyla opened her mouth to say that wasn’t true, that the gun was hers, but he pinned her with a look, his gaze telling her without a single word that she needed to stay quiet. And even though that made her feel like absolute crap, that was exactly what she did as two cops led Wes to a patrol car while another asked if she was okay.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ALL RIGHT, MARSHALL, let’s go. Someone paid your bail.”

  Wes jerked awake at the sound of his name. He lifted his head from the wall he’d been resting it against, groaning as he attempted to work out the kink he’d gotten from trying to sleep sitting up on the hard concrete bench attached to the wall of the tiny holding cell.

  “You coming, Marshall?” Outside the cell, the uniformed officer gave him an impatient look. “Unless this is your way of saying you’ll like to spend more time with us.”

  Wes didn’t reply as he got to his feet. Damn, he was sore and stiff all over. He was starting to rethink that low rating he’d been planning to post on Yelp for the Air Force and their cargo planes. Compared to the San Diego County Detention Facilities, that pallet of mail was looking damn fine about now.

  As a Navy SEAL he’d never been one to take freedom for granted because he knew what it cost to keep it, but he couldn’t even begin to describe how good it felt to walk out of that cell. That said, he’d gladly spend years in there if it meant keeping Kyla out of prison.

  After locking the door of the cell, the cop led Wes along the stark gray corridor with its many holding areas similar to the one he’d been in. They’d taken his watch when they booked him in the hours right before dawn, and with no windows in this part of the detention area, it was impossible to know what time it was, but it had to be close to noon.

  There was a lot of paperwork to fill out, initial, and sign in order to get his personal possessions back, including his belt and shoes laces. As he scanned through the paperwork, he looked for some indication of who’d bailed him out, but there was nothing on it. He still wasn’t sure why he’d used his one call to let Owen know where he was and what was going on instead of telling any of his teammates. Maybe because some part of him hoped the cops would simply release him and his boss would never have to know. But after his bail hearing that morning, no way was that happening now.

  Which was why it wasn’t a surprise to see his team leader, Chief Petty Officer Chasen Ward, and Commander Mack Hunt, the man in charge of SEAL Team 5, waiting for him in the lobby. Crap, they looked pissed.

  “Commander. Chief.” Wes gave Hunt a nod, then looked at Chasen. “I can explain—”

  Hunt scowled. Tall with wide shoulders, his jet-black hair had a slight touch of gray at the temples. “Damn right you will.”

  The drive to NAS Coronado in Chasen’s pickup was uncomfortable to say the least, mostly because they spent the first few miles in complete silence. Wes was wondering if he should launch into his explanation or wait until Hunt started asking questions, but he couldn’t do either until he knew Kyla wasn’t in jail.

  “The cops didn’t arrest Kyla, too, did they, Chief?” he asked.

  “No,” was Chasen’s curt reply.

  Wes let out a sigh of relief. He’d been fairly certain the cops would let her go, but it was still good to hear.

  “What the hell happened last night, Marshall?” Hunt demanded from the front passenger seat. “And no bullshitting. I need to know exactly what you told the police.”

  Chasen caught Wes’s eye in the rearview mirror, giving him a nod. Not sure how much Hunt already knew, Wes decided to start from the beginning, giving the commander the background on Kyla, her father’s death, and the role Nesbitt played in it. Then he got into the details of what happened yesterday, from Nesbitt getting released to how distraught Kyla had been, and finally Owen and Andrew calling to say she was probably going after the former councilman.

  Hunt half turned in the seat to frown at him. “You never thought of calling the police and letting them know Kyla was heading for Nesbitt’s place so they could have stopped her before things got out of hand?”

  “I didn’t want the cops involved,” Wes said quietly. “She’s had things hard enough lately as it is.”

  Hunt regarded him thoughtfully, eyes sharp. “Is there something going on between you and this girl?”

  “No.” Wes did his best to answer as casually as he could. “We’re just friends.”

  Hunt snorted. “Yeah, right. Okay, so what happened when you got to Nesbitt’s house?”

  Wes told them about getting to Kyla’s side in time to stop her from shooting Nesbitt, and how the man had implicated Stavros and agreed to testify against him.

  “A minute later, a sniper put a round through Nesbitt’s forehead,” Wes added. “I returned fire with the 9mm handgun Kyla brought with her, but at that range in the dark, it wasn’t very effective. The next thing I know, the cops showed up.”

  Hunt’s mouth was tight. “And you told them the gun was yours.”

  “Yeah.” Wes shrugged. “I didn’t want Kyla to get jammed up over this. She’s still in college and if she got arrested, it could mean the end of her financial aid. She might even have gotten tossed out of school.”

  “And you naturally thought it would be better for you—a Navy SEAL with a Top Secret security clearance and responsibilities out the ass—to take the heat for a woman who you claim is merely a friend?”

  Wes nodded, figuring saying anything else would probably on get him in more hot water.

  Up front, Hunt cursed. “You recognize how bad this looks for the SEALs, right? First, there was a rumor some of my team helped take down Nesbitt in the first place. And now, the moment he gets out of jail, you’re there when he’s mysteriously murdered. The media is going to have a field day with this.”

  This time, Wes caught Chasen’s eye in the mirror. His chief was sitting there behind the wheel completely chill, which was damn impressive considering that “rumor�
� Hunt mentioned wasn’t rumor at all. Chasen and a few of their teammates had in fact been responsible for Nesbitt getting arrested with the gun Stavros used to murder Kyla’s dad.

  But Hunt was more interested in fact than rumor right now. And from the set of his jaw, the commander seemed ready to nail his ass to the wall. While Wes hadn’t killed Nesbitt, he’d gotten arrested and put the SEALs in a negative light. It wouldn’t be the first time Hunt punished someone to make an example of them. Wes had known that was a possibility the moment he’d gone after Kyla. He’d been willing to risk anything to keep her safe.

  “Look, I’m not going to try and tell you to say away from Kyla because I know you won’t do it, but you will stay away from anything regarding the Nesbitt case from now on.” Hunt half turned in his seat to pin him with a hard look. “Do you understand me, Petty Officer Marshall?”

  Damn. He might actually get out of this with his ass still in one piece.

  “Nesbitt’s dead,” Wes pointed out. “There isn’t much of a case to stay away from.”

  Hunt’s glowered at him. “Don’t play dumb with me. You know as well as I do that this thing isn’t over. If whoever killed Nesbitt is the same person who murdered Kyla’s father, she’ll want to go after him and I don’t want you getting involved. Do I make myself clear?”

  Wes bit his tongue to keep from saying something that would get him into trouble. “Crystal clear, Sir.”

  Hunt turned back around in his seat. “Good.”

  They drove the rest of the way to base in silence, arriving at headquarters fifteen minutes later. Wes stepped out of the pickup, not surprised when Hunt got out and walked around to glare at him.

  “Get cleaned up and in uniform. I want you in the main conference room ASAP. The CIA wants to go over your statement about what happened in Nigeria again.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Luckily, Wes always kept a clean uniform in his locker. He wondered if he had time to grab a shower and a quick bite to eat, too. He was starving.

  “That went better than I thought,” Chasen said as Hunt disappeared inside the headquarters building. “You’re still alive at least.”

  Wes met his chief’s gaze, blue eyes hidden behind the sunglasses he wore. “If Kyla needs my help again, I can’t walk away from her, regardless of what Hunt wants.”

  “I had a feeling you’d say that.” Chasen sighed. “Just be smarter about it.”

  “I didn’t do anything you didn’t do when it came to saving Hayley,” Wes reminded Chasen. His chief had done whatever he had to do to rescue his wife and damn the consequences.

  “Yeah, you did,” Chasen said. “You got caught. Make sure that doesn’t happen again. And next time, don’t go it alone, huh?”

  Wes couldn’t help but smile a little at that advice. It was exactly what he’d expect from his chief.

  * * * * *

  KYLA’S PULSE SKIPPED a beat at the sound of combat boots on the stairs. She wasn’t really sure how she knew it was Wes—especially since there were several Navy people who lived in his apartment building—but she did. Getting to her feet from where she’d been sitting for the past hour, she slipped her phone into her purse and did her best to look calm even though her heart was going absolutely bananas in her chest right then.

  The moment Wes reached the landing, she immediately ran to meet him at a pace that verged on out of control.

  So much for calm.

  “Thank God you’re okay,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.

  A part of her knew throwing herself at him was probably a bad idea, but another part—the one in control at the moment—couldn’t help but notice how good he smelled. And how amazing all those muscles felt under her fingers.

  Kyla sighed as Wes’s strong arms came up and enveloped her, pulling her in even tighter until all she could feel was his warmth.

  “Of course, I’m okay,” he murmured, resting his chin on top of her head in a way that was incredibly comforting. “Why did you think I wasn’t?”

  She pulled back enough to frown up at him. “You got arrested. And it was all my fault. If I hadn’t lost my mind and gone after Nesbitt without thinking, you would never have had to come stop me from doing something really stupid. Thanks for that, by the way. Even if it was insane.”

  He gazed at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Let’s go inside. This isn’t something we should talk about out here where anyone could hear us.”

  While Kyla agreed talking out there in the hallway about her plan to murder Nesbitt wasn’t a good idea, she was still disappointed when Wes took his arms from around her. She’d never realized how nice of a place it was until he stepped away.

  “You weren’t waiting for me long, were you?” Wes asked as he unlocked the door of his apartment and motioned her inside.

  “No,” she said as he flipped on the lights.

  Unless you call four hours a long time.

  She could have called him, she supposed, but talking about what happened last night wasn’t something they could do on the phone.

  But there was no way she’d ever let him know her pathetic butt had been sitting on his doorstep feeling guilty about getting him arrested for that long. While she was furious he’d put himself at risk for her, she was also very appreciative.

  “I wanted to be here when you got home so I could thank you in person,” she said. “Not only did you keep me from going to prison forever, but you probably saved my life, too.”

  Wes regarded her thoughtfully, like he had something important to say, but then he tossed his keys on the table in the entryway. “I’m starving. You want something?”

  “Yeah, I could eat.” She dropped her purse on the sofa. “When’s the last time you had anything?”

  He considered that for a while, like he genuinely had to think about it, which was kind of scary. “I had a sandwich four or five hours before I met up with you at the courthouse yesterday, then a Snickers about two hours ago.”

  Kyla blinked. That meant he’d only had a few hundred calories worth of food in the last twenty-four hours. She opened her mouth to ask why he hadn’t eaten more, but he was already heading for the kitchen, leaving her with no choice but to follow.

  Wes opened the fridge, coming out with a carton of eggs and a package of bacon. “What do you think?”

  She smiled. “I think bacon and eggs sound perfect.”

  While Wes cooked, she set the table and poured two glasses of milk, then popped bread in the toaster when the bacon and eggs were just about done. It occurred to her then that she knew where everything was in the small kitchen. There was probably some significance to that, though she wasn’t brave enough to give a name to it.

  She’d been here more than a few times to play video games with Wes, but always with Owen, Andrew, and some of Wes’s SEAL buddies. This was the first time she’d ever been here alone and when they finally sat down at the tiny table to eat, she let herself imagine they were on a date. It was crazy and useless since nothing could ever come of it no matter how much she wanted it to. Not unless she wanted to risk their friendship.

  Across from her, Wes looked up from the plate of food he was devouring, blue eyes meeting hers. “How long did the police question you last night?”

  “Not very long,” she admitted, biting into a piece of buttered toast. “I told them Nesbitt sent someone by my dorm room with a message saying he wanted to talk to me, but that I didn’t want to go alone so I asked you to meet me there. I kept it vague beyond that, playing the traumatized damsel card any time they tried to pin me down on anything.”

  Wes nodded. “Good. I didn’t think they’d hold you since I told them the gun was mine, but I was still relieved when Chasen told me the cops let you go.”

  Kyla took a sip of milk to wash down her toast, wincing at the idea of Wes taking all the heat for her. “Were the police horrible to you?”

  “Not too horrible.” He shrugged, like spending the night
in jail wasn’t a big deal. “Once they figured out Nesbitt had been shot with a rifle and not the handgun I was holding, they only charged me with negligent discharge of a firearm.”

  “Only?”

  His mouth curved up at the corners. “I said only because it’s a misdemeanor. Most likely, it’ll just be a fine.

  Most likely?

  “Oh.”

  Kyla pushed her eggs around on the plate, mixing the gooey yolk and firm white part with the crispy bacon. A while ago, Wes and done something illegal with his Teammate, Holden, for all the right reasons and could have gone to prison for it. Last night, he almost had again. Only this time, it would be for her.

  “I would have bailed you out myself, but Owen already called Chasen and he said he’d take care of it,” she said. “Is what happened last night going to get you into hot water?”

  She couldn’t imagine how it wouldn’t. Nesbitt’s murder was all over the news and they kept mentioning that an active duty sailor was being questioned in the shooting. There was no way this could look good for Wes. And the price he paid would be for her mistake.

  “It’s nothing I can’t deal with,” he said.

  Though the words were casual, Kyla couldn’t help wondering how much he was keeping from her. Wes had been there for her day in and day out during Nesbitt’s trial. She loved Owen and Andrew like crazy, but Wes was her rock, the only thing keeping her sane. He’d gone to jail last night because he’d been trying to protect her. He tried act like it wasn’t something monumental, but to her, it was.

  They both fell silent again, but this time without the comfort that had been there before. When they’d both finished eating, Wes picked up their plates and utensils and walked over to the sink. Kyla followed, leaning one hip against the counter and watching as he rinsed them off, then put them in the dishwasher. Closing the door with a click, he turned to look at her.