Shadow Rescue Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  About the Author

  SHADOW RESCUE

  Rebecca Deel

  Cover Design by Melody Simmons

  Copyright © 2018 Rebecca Deel

  All rights reserved.

  #

  To my amazing husband. I love you.

  CHAPTER ONE

  A bullet slammed into the wall an inch from Sam Coleman’s head followed by a barrage of gunfire. Small pieces of brick peppered her cheek. While her brain screamed at her to move or the next bullet would slam into her, Sam’s body stood rooted in place, sweat beading under her uniform on this hot, sultry July night in Nashville.

  A second later, she was falling. A hard-muscled teammate took the brunt of the hit with the ground, then flipped their positions and covered her body with his. Joe Gray quartered the area with a Sig in his hand, his expression grim.

  Through Sam’s ear piece, her team leader demanded a sit rep.

  “Sniper shot at Sam,” Joe snapped. “Trace, you have a bead on this clown?”

  “Negative. You could stick your head up so the shooter fires a few shots for me to pinpoint his location.”

  “East quadrant near the rock wall,” Ben Martin, Shadow’s EOD man, said, his voice ice cold. “Caught the muzzle fire.”

  “Ben, circle around to the east. I’ll take the west. Capture if possible,” Nico said. As always, Shadow’s leader was calm under fire. Unlike Sam. Not anymore.

  “Copy.”

  “Sam, Joe, check the principal.”

  “Come on. We need to move.” Joe rose and crouched, placing his body between Sam and the shooter.

  Furious with herself and terrified for Joe, Sam scrambled to her feet and ran toward the corner of the house with Joe on her heels, covering her back. The gunfire should have alerted the principal to trouble but the woman hadn’t checked the area.

  Praying the shooter didn’t focus his scope on Joe’s back, Sam vaulted over the low fence. She winced at the jarring pain in her chest when she landed on the other side.

  Ignoring the discomfort, she raced to the back door. Light spilled from the kitchen window, the beam illuminating part of the patio. Sam avoided the patch of light and turned the knob. Locked.

  So much for a simple grab-and-go. Sam thrust her hand into a cargo pocket and pulled out her lock picks. She noticed the fresh scratches around the lock and frowned. Not good. Within seconds, the tumbler shifted and she twisted the knob.

  Sam palmed her Sig and stepped into the silent house. She glanced around the kitchen quickly. Nothing looked out of place. Not wanting to be a well-lit target if the shooter managed to slip past her teammates, Sam turned off the overhead light, leaving a low-watt bulb burning over the stove.

  Joe entered the kitchen with silent steps and closed the door. “Anything?” he whispered.

  She shook her head. The place was quiet as a tomb.

  “Take the bedrooms. I’ll start in the living room and meet you back here.”

  Sam scowled. Joe would be in the line of fire if the shooter remained in place. Knowing him, that was the reason he’d chosen to search for their principal in the front part of the house.

  She sighed, frustrated with herself. One of the best-trained operatives she’d ever worked with, Joe wasn’t careless or reckless. As alpha as he was, Joe would be angry if he knew she worried about his safety. Talk about insulting the man’s ego.

  Despite chaotic emotions rioting through her, Sam nodded and turned to the darkened hallway. Joe grabbed her hand and squeezed gently before heading for the living room.

  Sam’s heart rate skyrocketed, this time for a different reason than fear. Joe had been doing that since she’d been shot 12 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, and 20 minutes ago. Just touching her, the contact unfailingly gentle. But what did it mean? Did he still see her as a friend?

  Dragging her attention back to the task at hand, Sam entered the hallway, gaze searching the darkened spaces as she approached the first door. Ignoring the beads of sweat trickling down her back, she pushed the door open. A bathroom, shower curtain pulled back. Empty.

  Sam returned to the hall, scanning for changes in the narrow corridor. Nothing. Drawing in a calming breath, she moved toward the second door, this room on the front side of the house.

  She pressed her back to the wall and opened the door, expecting more gunfire but heard silence. A quick glance inside revealed a guest bedroom. The closet door stood open. Empty.

  Sam hurried past the open doorway and headed for the two remaining rooms. Praying the shooter had been apprehended by Nico or Ben, Sam pushed open the partially closed door of the room to the left and peered inside. Home office. No closet or principal.

  She eyed the remaining room. Had to be the master bedroom. Weapon raised and ready, she moved into the room on silent feet, tracking with her Sig. A suitcase filled with folded clothes lay open on the queen-size bed along with a carry-on bag and purse.

  Sam’s attention shifted to the closed bathroom door. If the Shadow unit had arrived in time to thwart an attack on their principal, Sam was about to embarrass the woman. Joe had tasked her with finding Janine Hollingbrook. The woman would be mortified if Shadow’s spotter walked into the bathroom while she was in the shower. Sam knew that wasn’t the case. Something was wrong.

  Sig by her side, she went to the bathroom door, grasped the cold metal knob, and twisted. Sam pressed her back against the wall, pushed against the door, and met resistance.

  Pushing harder, Sam opened the door wide enough to see jeans-clad legs, sneakered feet, and a pool of blood.

  Oh, man. Her medic training kicked in. Sam holstered her weapon and shoved her way into the bathroom. One look and she knew Shadow unit had arrived too late.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Joe walked into the living area, Sig up and tracking as he quartered the room. Empty. That left the garage, laundry room, and basement. As skittish as Sam had been since the shooting three months ago, he refused to send her into a dank basement to search for their principal or an intruder.

  His mouth curved. If she knew he deliberately gave her soft duty, the feisty medic would hand Joe his head on a silver platter. The smile faded as he remembered the moment Sam froze after the shooter’s bullets whacked into Janine’s house near her head. Although Sam insisted she was ready for duty, his partner was still working through the aftermath of her near-death experience.

  He opened the basement door and shined his small, powerful flashlight around the interior. Memories of Sam on a bathroom floor, bleeding
out from a bullet wound to the chest, flooded his mind. He’d never been more terrified in his life as he held her in his arms while a teammate drove to the nearest hospital. Afraid every shallow breath would be her last, Joe had begged God to spare her life and pleaded with Sam not to leave him.

  Now, she was almost healed and on her first mission with Shadow since the shooting. An easy grab-and-go mission, according to Fortress Security’s CEO, Brent Maddox. Joe snorted. Right. No such thing as an easy mission for his unit.

  “Joe.”

  He started to ask if Sam had located Janine. Her grim expression told Joe the other woman was dead. If the principal had been injured, Sam wouldn’t have left her alone. “Show me.”

  She led him to the master bathroom and moved to the side. Joe’s stomach knotted. As a former SWAT officer, he thought he’d seen everything. This was a whole new level of viciousness. What information had Mike Hollingbrook withheld? “You know what this is?”

  She slid him a look. “A slit throat. I haven’t been sidelined that long.”

  “It’s a Columbian necktie. Someone wanted to send a clear message to her father.”

  Sam grimaced. “They succeeded.”

  Joe’s gaze returned to their dead principal. “How long has she been dead?”

  “A few minutes. The body is still warm.”

  He growled. Fortress had dispatched them to retrieve Janine thirty minutes ago. Her father had received the threat six hours earlier and delayed contacting Fortress. The delay cost Janine her life.

  “We should take pictures of the scene and leave. The cops need to be notified.” Joe activated his comm system. “Nico, we located the principal. She’s dead.”

  “Copy. Shooter’s in the wind. I’ll contact the boss. He’ll handle the next of kin notification as well as the police contact.”

  “Two minutes.”

  His partner slid her phone away a minute later. “Finished.”

  “Let’s go. We can’t be here when the cops arrive.” His lip curled. “We’ll be the first suspects. Did you touch anything?”

  “Only with gloves on.”

  Relief loosened his muscles. The need to whisk Sam from the house rode him hard. They returned to the SUVs where their teammates waited.

  As he and Sam climbed into Nico’s vehicle, sirens sounded in the distance. Joe twisted in the shotgun seat to keep Sam in his peripheral vision. He didn’t like her pallor. His hand clenched. Was the reaction from the brutality of Janine’s death or Sam’s near-death experience outside the principal’s house?

  Although he hadn’t said anything, Joe was worried about her. He was no stranger to PTSD. With his experiences in the Army plus his years as a cop, he understood as did every member of Shadow. The horrors of war and the situations they encountered in their quest to stop human trafficking took a high toll from them all and caused Maddox to keep a close watch on the unit.

  When Joe was alone with Sam, he intended to broach the subject of another counseling session. She had to deal with the memories before she or someone else was hurt.

  “What happened to Ms. Hollingbrook?” Nico asked as he merged into Interstate 65 traffic.

  Between them, Joe and Sam gave a detailed accounting of the scene inside the pretty house, a house now marred by the death of the owner.

  “Any evidence of the intruder inside the house?”

  Joe frowned. “Aside from the dead body, no. I wish we’d had more time in the house.”

  “We’ll ask Zane to hack the police computers to see what they discover. How did the perp enter the house?”

  “The back door had fresh scratches,” Sam said. “The person who killed her picked the lock, slit her throat, and locked the door on the way out.”

  “A child could have broken in that house.” Janine had installed an adequate alarm system with low quality locks. While Sam was a top-notch medic sought after by Fortress units, she wasn’t the best or fastest lock picker. That dubious distinction belonged to Joe. Leftovers from his misspent youth. “Hollingbrook should have insisted his daughter install a better alarm system.”

  “Wouldn’t matter if the system wasn’t armed.” Nico passed a slow-moving motorist and eyed Sam in the rearview mirror. “You okay, Sam?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Have anything to tell me?”

  Sam turned away from Nico’s scrutiny. “No.”

  Shadow’s leader glanced at Joe, his eyebrow raised. Not going there, especially with Sam in earshot. He gave a slight head shake. Joe would speak to Nico later. Maybe. He wanted Sam by his side if she wasn’t a danger to herself or a teammate. He’d worked with Rio Kincaid and Jake Davenport over the past twelve weeks while Sam recuperated. They were good but they weren’t Sam.

  Nico activated his Bluetooth system.

  “Maddox.” Their boss’s deep voice filled the interior of the SUV.

  “It’s Nico. We’re on the way back from Hollingbrook place. We were too late, Brent.”

  “What happened?” After a summary of events from the operatives, Maddox said, “Be here as soon as you can. Her father is in the conference room. He’ll want details.”

  Joe spoke up. “Boss, he doesn’t need them. No father should have that information in his head.”

  “That bad?”

  “Columbian necktie.”

  Maddox growled. “All right. It’s enough for him to know her throat was cut. After Hollingbrook leaves, I want every detail.”

  The rest of the trip to Fortress headquarters passed with silence in the SUV. After Nico parked in the underground garage, Joe hopped out and opened Sam’s door. His brows knitted at Sam’s careful movements as she exited the vehicle. Concerned, Joe stopped her with a hand on her arm and looked at Nico. “We’ll be right behind you.”

  “Don’t take long.” Nico strode to the elevator with the remaining members of Shadow.

  As soon as the silver doors closed behind Nico, Ben, and Trace, Joe swung around to face Sam. “Did I hurt you?”

  She frowned. “Why do you ask?”

  He moved closer. “Sam, you don’t have to put on a front for me. I know you’re in pain. Did I hurt you when I tackled you?”

  Sam shrugged and flinched.

  Oh, man. He had hurt her. That was the last thing he wanted to do. All Joe could think about at the time was getting Sam out of the line of fire. “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to hurt you.”

  “Stop it,” she hissed. “I’m not an invalid, Joe. Doc Sorenson cleared me for duty.”

  A decision Joe didn’t agree with. He’d seen her fight through recovery and, because he studied all things Sam, knew almost every nuance of her body language. “I didn’t say you weren’t able to do your job. I just hate that I hurt you.”

  “You saved my life. I won’t complain over a little soreness. Besides, you took the brunt of the hit with the ground.”

  “Your upper body is not in pre-injury condition. You’re the one who insisted I give my body a chance to heal when I was shot in the chest two years ago. Cut yourself some slack.”

  He stared into her beautiful face, longing to draw Sam into his arms and kiss her. He’d dreamed of kissing Shadow’s medic for years. Fear had held him back. No more. Her close call three months ago convinced him he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to find out if she would consider a different relationship with him. “Tell me the truth. How bad is the pain?”

  She dropped her gaze, refusing to answer.

  Unable to help himself, Joe cupped her chin and raised her face to his. Her eyes widened in surprise. “Talk to me,” he murmured. “Please.”

  “It’s improving,” she hedged.

  “But?”

  “I need over-the-counter pain meds,” she admitted. “I’m okay. If I wasn’t, I’d tell you.”

  He brushed his thumb lightly over her bottom lip. What he wouldn’t give to kiss Sam’s perfect mouth right now. Too fast, he reminded himself. Wasn’t it? “I’ll hold you to that.” Joe released her and turned towar
d the elevator. “Come on. Maddox will be pacing the conference room by now.”

  The elevator ride was silent. When the car stopped, Joe laid his hand against Sam’s lower back. She gave him a sideways glance but said nothing. He counted the fact she didn’t move away from his touch as a victory. Sam was prickly about people touching her. One day he hoped she would share the reason with him.

  Their teammates, Maddox, and Zane Murphy, Fortress’s communications guru, turned to look at them when he and Sam walked into the conference room. Maddox motioned toward two empty chairs across from his seat. “Need anything before we begin?”

  Joe glanced at the side table where the staff usually kept a supply of water. No bottles. Good. “Water for both of us.” Joe pulled out Sam’s chair for her. “I’ll get some from the breakroom. Anyone else want water?”

  Nico stood. “I’ll go with you. We’ll bring enough for everyone.”

  Joe strode from the room with his team leader on his heels.

  As soon as they were away from the conference room occupants, Nico asked, “What happened with Sam at Hollingbrook’s place?”

  “What do you mean?”

  The other operative turned to face Joe, frowning. “Come on, man. I’m not Maddox. You know I have your back and Sam’s. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

  Joe pushed past Nico and continued to the breakroom. Once inside the room, he shut them inside to avoid the possibility of being overheard. “She froze, okay? It’s not a big deal. She’ll be fine.”

  “PTSD?”

  “Yeah. Which one of us doesn’t have issues with that?”

  “The rest of us didn’t freeze in the line of fire. If you hadn’t tackled her, she would have taken a bullet in the next second. She was lucky, Joe.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” he snapped. “I’ll be the one with nightmares tonight. I thought I would lose her.” Again.

  “She shouldn’t be on mission rotation yet.”

  Joe snorted. “You try telling her that. Sorensen cleared her for duty.”

  “The doc evaluated her physical condition, not her mental state.”