Closer (The Unit #1) Read online

  “Sounds good,” she said slowly, trying again to hide her pain.

  Michael would give anything to take that pain she tried to hide, away from her. He hadn’t been there to protect her; instead, she had protected him. Michael scooped her into his arms and carried her up the stairs. Reaching the top step, he could hear Rob snoring. It surprised him that Rob could sleep with all of the stress he was under. He turned and walked to the guest bedroom. He set Emma on her feet and pulled down the covers for her. She gently sat on the edge of the bed and slowly turned. She laid herself down with a consternation of intense pain.

  “I will go get you that shot.” Michael stood to leave her. “Rob. Wake up, man. I need another shot for Emma.” Michael said, shaking his brother’s shoulder roughly.

  He hated to wake up Rob from his deep sleep, but he would do it for Emma. For Emma he would do anything. Rob trudged into the master bathroom and retrieved the syringe from his medical kit.

  “Here. This will help her sleep through the night.” He handed Michael the syringe filled with morphine.

  Michael didn’t even want to know where Rob got his pain medicines; he was just thankful he had them. Michael injected Emma’s arm with the syringe. She immediately felt the lessening of her pain. “Sleep with me.” She patted the spot next her on the bed.

  Michael walked around the bed and got under the covers. He pushed against her body and placed his right arm over her stomach careful not to touch her wound. He placed his left arm under her neck to create a cocoon for her to sleep. Within minutes, her breathing slowed from the labored breaths of pain she was taking before to a soft, steady rhythm. Confident in her newfound comfort, Michael allowed himself to drift off to sleep.

  ∞

  Michael awoke before Emma. He lay there conscious of his sleeping left arm and watched her sleep. How could he ever let her go? He knew his brothers were waiting downstairs anxious to start their mission. He carefully slid his arm from behind her neck and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. He got out of bed without disturbing her.

  Downstairs, Rob had coffee and breakfast ready to go for everyone. Michael sat down and accepted his plate of eggs, bacon, and toast. As he ate, he thought about Rob’s Lizzie and the hell she must be enduring with those terrorists. With Emma safe, he could now focus all of his attention on the job at hand: rescuing Lizzie.

  Michael watched as Rob pushed food around his plate. “You’re going to need your strength.” Michael gestured to Rob’s uneaten breakfast.

  “I can’t think about anything other than Lizzie.” Rob dejectedly moved the eggs to the other side of his bacon and then sipped his coffee.

  “Promise me you will keep your strength up for this mission. I can’t focus on retrieving Lizzie if I am worried about your ass getting shot,” Michael said, placing a slice of bacon into his mouth. Rob didn’t respond, but was lost somewhere in his mind.

  Just then, Rob’s cell phone starting ringing. Rob looked at the number. “It’s them.” Hello,” Rob said trying to hide his maddening rage.

  “Hello, Rob. It looks like you are not playing for my side anymore,” the terrorist sneered into his ear.

  “What do you mean?” Rob asked meeting Michael’s worried eyes. “I can still deliver the woman.”

  “Aren’t you curious how I know you have help?” the terrorist asked calmly which only served to increase Rob’s frustration. He ran a hand over his unshaved face.

  “It was me that arranged to take Emma and her notes from the DOD building yesterday.” Rob looked alarmed and wondered how they knew they were even at the DOD. Someone must be following them. Did the terrorists know they had Ahmed?

  The hair on the back of Michael’s neck stood on end. He didn’t know what was being said, but whatever it was caused the blood to leave Rob’s face.

  “Tell me what you want. I have Emma, and I will deliver her to you tomorrow morning as originally agreed upon,” Rob gushed into the receiver trying to pacify the terrorist.

  “I do believe you do not take my threats seriously,” the terrorist said, “I am afraid I will have to kill the American woman to make my point.”

  “Do that and you can kiss Emma goodbye,” Rob spat. “I know that prototype you obtained does not deliver the chemical agent. Emma was still working on the flaw in the design. She was still three weeks away from a working delivery system. I can bring her to you. You can do whatever you want to her to get your precious information, just as long as you keep the American woman alive.” Rob spoke with venom in his voice and the terrorist knew it.

  Michael’s eyes shot to Rob’s. If he didn’t trust his friend, he would have killed him for what he just said. Michael nodded his head up and down, encouraging Rob to continue. He knew there was no way Emma was stepping anywhere near the terrorist hold.

  “Very well. Bring her. You have the advantage, as I do need her to make the system work. Once I have her, I will release the American woman. She is tough. I’ll give her that. She hasn’t once yet begged to die, and I know she is in a great deal of pain,” the terrorist chuckled into the phone raising Rob’s blood pressure to dangerously high levels.

  “I can be there tomorrow at noon. Tell me where to drop the woman,” Rob requested.

  “I will text you the directions tomorrow at 1100,” the terrorist declared. “Until then.” Rob pressed the end button on the phone. Rob looked down at the table to his uneaten food. He could feel the bile rising in the back of his throat. He swallowed to keep it down. Regaining his composure, Rob met the eyes of his brothers and explained the conversation.

  “We have to leave now. I am not waiting a second longer. Is everything packed and ready to go? If we drive straight through we can reach them tonight at 0100.” Rob stood and scraped his uneaten food into the garbage can.

  Just then all eyes turned to meet Emma coming into the kitchen. She was holding her side but she was walking. A definite sight for Michael’s sore eyes.

  “Are you leaving now?” she asked, looking at Michael for confirmation of what she had just overheard Rob say. Michael met her eyes and nodded his head.

  “I will help you guys pack. But Michael, before you leave, I just need a few minutes of your time.” She walked to the table and started picking up plates and taking them into the kitchen.

  “Tony. You’re going to have to watch and make sure she doesn’t overdue it.” Michael walked up to her and removed a plate from her hand mid-scrape.

  “She won’t,” Tony assured Michael as he looked sternly into Emma’s eyes. Emma cowered under the intense glare. She knew Tony meant business.

  “Guys wait here. Give Emma and I a minute alone please,” Michael requested, knowing how anxious everyone was, knowing they only had a few precious minutes.

  Michael led Emma into the living room by placing his hand on the small of her back. Just being near her threw him off center. How could he function in a normal environment knowing how she affected him? He led Emma to the other side of the room, away from the men and they both looked out the window. Across the street the wind was battering some tangled wires and cables.

  Tony stood behind Emma wrapping his arms around her waist careful to avoid her injury.

  “What is it,” he whispered into her ear.

  She felt the familiar tingle down her spine at his breath in her ear. She pushed back, closer to his chest. “Promise me something before you go…” she begged Michael.

  “Anything,” he whispered inhaling her earthly scent.

  “Promise me that…” Emma stared at her feet. How could she tell Michael everything she felt for him? There weren’t words to explain what she was feeling, and she had an extensive vocabulary. She didn’t even know how to put words to her feelings, because she never bothered to name them or recognize them before. Words written by Gustave Flaubert from his novel titled Madame Bovary came to her mind, “…human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the star
s.” The quote precisely summed up her feelings for Michael. She had no way to express them.

  “What is it? You are starting to worry me,” he whispered against her neck.

  Gathering her courage and her assertiveness, she asked, “Promise that you will come back to me.”

  Michael exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Emma, that is one promise I will gladly make.”

  “But you have to keep it, Michael,” she said, fighting back the teardrops. If she looked at him now, she would lose it. He turned her around and met her glistening eyes. She saw the emotions reflected back to her. Tears streamed down her check, and he thumbed them away.

  He lowered his mouth over hers in a possessive, mind-bending kiss. He communicated his promise to her through that kiss. She kissed him back with equal desperation. He stopped the kiss and admired her glistening eyes.

  Then, he walked over to his bag and removed a gun. He closed the distance in three strides and placed the gun in her upturned hand. “Take this. In case.”

  Her fingers closed around the gun. She felt safer having it.

  “Now you have to promise me something,” he said meeting her eyes. “Promise me you will be here waiting for me when I get back.”

  “I couldn’t leave you now, Michael.” She hoped she wasn’t revealing too much with her statement.

  He appreciated her sincere words. With promises spoken, he could continue with his mission. He leaned into her soft body one more time, pulling her closer to him. He kissed her again for good measure. Then he turned and left her standing alone in the living room.

  « Chapter Nineteen »

  Michael, Rob, Steve, and Ahmed were barreling down the highway doing seventy-five miles per hour. They were an hour outside of Pittsburgh. It had been a tension-packed, thirteen-hour drive straight through from Maine to Pennsylvania. Ahmed tried, unsuccessfully, to gain their sympathies.

  “But I have a wife and two boys,” Ahmed cried in the back seat. He knew he was going to die, along with the rest of the terrorists if these men were successful. And by the looks on their faces, they were going to be successful. His only hope was to escape once he showed them the house.

  Michael knew he needed to contact Kevin, his brother who worked with Homeland Security. He knew the hour, and that he probably should have called earlier, but with everything else going on, now was his window. He looked at the clock. It read 0000. It was now or never. He dug his cell phone out of his front pants’ pocket and scrolled through his list until he came to Kevin’s number. He pressed six and then send. Kevin picked up on the third ring. “Hello,” he said in a sleep-filled voice.

  “Kevin, it’s Michael.”

  “What’s going on? Do you know what time it is?” Kevin countered through the phone.

  “Yeah man, I know, and I’m sorry, but this couldn’t wait.” Sensing the urgency in his brother’s voice, Kevin became immediately alert. He walked into another room to avoid waking his wife’s peaceful sleep.

  “You’re not going to be happy, man, but we need your help,” Michael said.

  “Who’s we?” Kevin asked.

  “Listen, it’s a long story, but Rob, Steve, Tony and I need you on board with this. They have Lizzie,” Michael beseeched looking at Rob who was driving the car.

  “Who does?” Kevin asked confused.

  Michael explained the condensed version of the situation to Rob, including the attempted kidnapping of Emma, until Kevin was pissed off that they hadn’t contacted him sooner.

  “What do you need me to do? You know I’ll do it.” Kevin exhaled. He had been holding his breath through the entire story. He couldn’t believe his brothers, the men who he served five tours with, left him out of this. Of course, he knew why. They had to do things he couldn’t do given his current state of employment. But he was still pissed they wouldn’t trust him enough to include him. He rationalized that that was exactly what they were doing now, including him, bringing him in when they didn’t have a choice.

  “We need this to be above reproach. None of us have clearance or authority anymore. But that isn’t going to stop us. We are going to get Lizzie,” Michael stated succinctly to one of his best friends.

  “Where is this going down?” Kevin asked, praying to God it was somewhere within driving distance.

  “Homestead. Your backyard,” Michael said, thankful Kevin worked for the Homeland Security building in Pittsburgh.

  “Thank God! Otherwise, coordination would take days.” Kevin said, pulling his pants on with one hand. He slipped into a t-shirt and sat down to tie up his boots. “I can have a five-man team ready in under two hours.” Kevin said, switching the phone to a different ear to put his other arm through his jacket.

  “Thank you, Kevin. We have to be in on this though. We found Ahmed; we are taking Lizzie out of there. And we certainly are having a hand in taking down those motherfuckers,” Michael declared.

  “Of course. I will talk to my boss. He will be relieved that this closure will come in under our office. But we need to take as many alive as we can,” Kevin said scribbling a note to his wife. He grabbed his keys from the tray on the table nearest his door and locked his six deadbolts from the outside.

  “Rendezvous at this address.” Kevin rattled it off as Michael programmed it into the GPS.

  “How long will it take you to get there,” Kevin asked sliding into the front seat of his car.

  “It says about twenty minutes,” Michael said. “But Kevin, we don’t want any shit on this. We are going in. If you can’t guarantee your boss will be on board, we are going straight to the hold up. I must be clear, you must be clear, we are the one’s bringing Lizzie out,” Michael challenged.

  “Michael, I know you don’t trust a governmental agency not to keep you tied up with red tape, but trust me. I will make it so that you, Rob, and Steve are in on the take down. Rob will be the one to bring Lizzie out,” Kevin reassured his friend as he sped down the highway towards his office.

  “Thank you, Kevin. I knew we could count on you. We’ll see you soon.” Michael pressed the end button and relayed the conversation to his brothers.

  They pulled into an empty parking lot not fifteen minutes later. Rob pulled into the spot closest to the door. About five minutes later, Kevin pulled in next to Rob. They all got out of their cars and Kevin greeted each one of his brothers. God, it was good to see them. He made sure to make eye contact and hug each one of the men who had saved his life on more than one occasion. He gave an evil eye to Ahmed. Having a terrorist, alive, in his office, would get him anything he needed. He would make sure this went down the right way, with their assistance. He gave his guarantee to his brothers that they would be held harmless for their actions, which would fall under the guise of Homeland Security. It was a small price to pay for these men he was bound to for the rest of his life. He knew, without doubt, that they would be there for him.

  Rob pushed Ahmed in front of the men who followed Kevin to the outer door. Kevin pulled out his security card and swiped the card reader to gain entrance into the building. Then Kevin had to briefly explain his visitors to the officers stationed at the security desk. They were granted entrance to the elevators where Kevin swiped his access card, and pressed the button for the third floor.

  Once inside the bullpen, he telephoned his boss and the five-man team. They were all set to arrive in the next twenty minutes. It was now 0045. It wouldn’t be long before Rob got to hold Lizzie again. Michael wondered how Emma was doing with Tony. He knew he didn’t have to worry about the terrorists, but that still left Special Agent Daniel Ingrams. If he didn’t trust Kevin, he would not have made contact with a governmental office at all. Other than Kevin, Michael had no idea whom he could trust. He was glad he explained Special Agent Ingrams’ role in the events of the last few days to Kevin as well. This had to occur without any outside agencies knowing. Kevin assured Michael his agency had the authority and would not alert any other agency.

  “Promise me
something,” Michael continued to the men at his side, “promise me that we won’t risk Emma again.” The men nodded.

  The team arrived at the same time as their boss. They must have ridden the same elevator up because they entered the bullpen at the same time. The men got to their feet. If Kevin wasn’t able to convince his boss, then Michael guessed they would be spending the next few years in prison, and he could kiss the future he hoped to create with Emma goodbye.

  “In my office, Kevin. And bring the prisoner,” his boss commanded.

  Kevin led Ahmed to the office on the upper floor of the bullpen. His boss had Kevin close the door. Kevin explained the situation to his boss and his relationship to the men who stood in the bullpen. He explained how they needed to be a part of this take down and were highly trained Green Berets six months out of the military. After Kevin’s explanation and information gathered from Ahmed, his boss acquiesced.

  “Just so we are clear, you three will follow my orders. This is a hostage retrieval mission, and I will permit you there, armed, but my team takes lead,” the boss asserted, looking the men square in the eyes. If any of them had a problem, he needed to know now. Rob, Steve, and Michael agreed.

  “Let’s get Lizzie,” Rob announced to the men as they geared up for war.

  « Chapter Twenty »

  The men traveled to the city of Homestead and found the quiet neighborhood of Munhall. The two-story houses were asleep for the night. The porch lights shown from the road as they traveled passed the well-maintained 1920’s era homes. It was there that the terrorists were holed up in a two-story, brick house. They used Google street view and identified the house at the bullpen. It had a blue metal awning on the front porch of the house. They gathered as much intelligence as they could before embarking on the mission.

  After further interrogation of Ahmed, the men learned there were three men left in the cell. It originally started with five, but the guard Michael killed, and Ahmed in their custody, left three in the house. Three terrorists in the house plus Lizzie.