SEALs of Honor: Chase Read online

  But Ronnie wasn’t fazed. He shrugged those massive shoulders and said, “I do what I have to.”

  He motioned at the other two men to get behind Chase and Vanessa. Chase reached out and slid his fingers through Vanessa’s, holding her hand tightly. “Don’t worry, Vanessa. It’ll be fine.”

  One of the guns nudged him in the back and he froze.

  “Move, asshole.”

  Chase didn’t take a step, he glared at Ronnie instead.

  Ronnie snickered. “Still the same old Chase. You always hated to have a gun shoved into your back. We used to do that deliberately just ’cause we knew it freaked you out.”

  Chase’s mind assessed his options and the chances of getting Vanessa safely out of this mess alive.

  Ronnie gave him a hard shove on the back. “Get a move on.”

  Chase stumbled forward, pulling Vanessa with him through the double doors to the underground parking lot. That worked for him. More places to hide. Casually he searched the shadows for options.

  They needed to move fast before they came upon more of Ronnie’s men. Three was doable even if they were armed, but any more would be harder.

  “Excuse me?” a man’s voice called from the right-hand side. “I’m trying to get to the mall that’s supposed to be close by. Any of you guys know how to get there from here?”

  Chase barely hid his smile. Markus would never make a good tourist. On the other hand he was a hell of a distraction.

  Chase spun his knee, knocking the first gun out of the guy’s hand. His fingers jabbed into the man’s eyeballs followed by an uppercut to the jaw. With one down he turned on the second. The man raised his gun to fire but he was already collapsing back from the pain as Chase grabbed his gun arm and snapped it backwards over his knee, hearing the satisfying crunch of broken bone.

  With his right he came up low and hard and hit the guy in the chin with all the force he could manage. The gunman dropped like a rock.

  Chase spun to see Markus holding a gun on Ronnie. He relaxed slightly and realized Vanessa was trembling in the center of the chaos, her hands over her mouth, her eyes huge as she stared at him. He opened his arms. She rushed into them. As he held her close, he whispered, “It’s going to be okay. We’re free again.”

  In a surprise move she reared back, reached up and smacked him against the shoulder. “What do you mean it’s going to be okay? You took on two men with guns. You could have been hurt. Killed.” She turned to glare Markus. “He could’ve been, couldn’t he have?”

  Markus barely hid his grin. But he gave a sage nod and Chase knew what was coming. Damn.

  “Absolutely. He could’ve been really badly hurt.” And Markus gave him the most devilish grin possible.

  Chase glared at him.

  Vanessa spun on Chase and snapped. “See? Even Markus knows better than to attack two men. He picked up a gun first.”

  Markus couldn’t hold his snicker back. She rounded on him. He immediately dropped the smirk and looked like he’d sucked in a lemon. He shot a desperate look over at Chase as if to say help, get me out of this. But it was Chase’s turn to snort as she read Markus the riot act.

  “You have to learn to help each other,” she cried. “The last thing I want is for Chase to get hurt.” Then as if realizing what she said and how she’d said it, she quickly added, “Amrit would be devastated.”

  Chase chuckled, leaned in and whispered, “Just Amrit?”

  She spun toward him and he kissed her.

  Then stepped back saying, “We’ll hold that for later.”

  Her hands on her hips, she gasped. And he laughed enjoying the look on her face. “I’m delighted to see you could hold your own in a dangerous situation.”

  Not giving her a chance to retort, he reached down and picked up the two goons and dragged them to the wall. He dropped them both and stood over them. Turning back to Markus, he said, “What are we to do with them now?”

  But the approaching sirens already answered that question.

  Within minutes they were completely surrounded by several police officers. Ronnie was lying on the ground. Markus guarded him and quickly identified himself. But his gaze never shifted from Ronnie. Chase did the same, stepping protectively closer to Vanessa.

  When the police realized what had gone on they came racing in and handcuffed all three men. Markus handed over the weapon he’d picked up. He looked over at Chase. “You need to explain from here?”

  Chase nodded and said, “I need to speak with the DA. I have information on a case.”

  Ronnie roared, “No.” And tried to lunge at Chase.

  Chase glared at him. “Yes. This has to stop. Gregory is a murderer and you and I both know that. For all I know you are too.” He waved his hand at Vanessa, taking in the whole car park and apartment above him. “You just threatened to kill two little boys, their mother and Vanessa. Did you expect me to stand by and do nothing?”

  Ronnie glared at him and stayed quiet. Chase hated the sense of betrayal inside. The last vestiges of guilt of the young boy who felt he owed Ronnie for sheltering him and making life in the gang a little easier. “I wish you’d gotten out, Ronnie. We wouldn’t be here now if you had.”

  “I’ll be out in an hour,” Ronnie stated deliberately misunderstanding him. “Don’t you worry”

  Unfortunately that was all too possible. A decent lawyer, no record, good behavior and some kind of decent excuse and he would be free again today. Chase hoped he’d seen the last of him but doubted it.

  Chase and Vanessa watched as Ronnie was stashed into the back of the cop car. An ambulance had been called for the other two gang members. Soon they were secured with an officer in the back standing guard as they were driven to the hospital.

  “We’ll need your statements.”

  Chase nodded. “We’ll come down to the station in a few minutes.” The cops left, leaving the three of them standing. Vanessa turned to study Chase and Markus.

  “Now what?” Chase asked, confused at the look in her eyes.

  “What about Ronnie’s guys who waited in the vehicle for Ronnie to return?” she asked. With a nod of her head toward the left side of the parking lot, she whispered, “That’s who they are, aren’t they? They’ve been hiding here the whole time.”

  *

  Nudging Vanessa quietly in front of them, Chase led her toward the sunshine as Markus trailed behind them. He needed to get her away from the vehicle and the two men sitting inside watching.

  “We don’t know who they are,” he said in low tones. “What we don’t want to do is let them know we care.”

  “So we’re just going to leave them?”

  “Nope,” Markus said cheerfully. “Absolutely not.” He stepped ahead of them, leading the way. But he called back in a low voice, “We do need to force them to make a move, so we know whose side they are on either way.”

  Vanessa groaned. “I suppose wearing the same tattoos around their upper arm and sitting in a vehicle with tinted glass isn’t an admission,” she said sarcastically, her voice so low both men leaned in slightly to hear.

  “And if you thought that why didn’t you mention it to the cops?” Markus asked.

  “Because like you said, I had no proof.” The corner of her mouth quirked. “And neither did you.”

  Chase could hear the van start up and slowly drive behind them. He caught Markus’s gaze for that split second before Markus broke off and walked toward a vehicle to the side.

  Chase urged Vanessa forward, looking for a place to stash her. “When I say go right,” he said. “You race to the far side of that truck, do you hear me?”

  She gave him a startled look when he grabbed her and said urgently, “Don’t turn your head. If they are approaching then let them come. But we don’t want them to know we’re suspicious.”

  The van slowly approached. When they were six feet from the truck he said in a low hard voice, “Go.”

  Vanessa bolted to her hiding spot. The van stopped with a squ
eal of the brakes. Chase jumped onto the side of the van and put an arm choke on the passenger in the front.

  Markus attacked the driver, and Chase asked in a hard voice, “Who the hell are you?”

  Only the men couldn’t speak.

  Chase eased up the grip on his captive’s throat long enough to open the van door and throw the man out onto the cement floor. Snatching up the gun, he quickly opened up the sliding door to make sure there were no other men hiding inside the back, but the van was empty.

  “All clear, Markus.”

  Or maybe not all clear as he turned back and a fist met him square in the jaw. He was slammed back against the side of the vehicle, briefly stunned.

  When the second blow landed it hurt like shit. And pissed him off. He grabbed the man by the shoulder and sent several hard punches into his gut. The two grappled for several minutes before something swung out of the corner of his eye and connected with his assailant. In a comic move the man in front of him slowly slid to the ground. And lay still. Chase raised a stunned gaze to Vanessa holding a semi-automatic rifle as a bat, even now raised to give a second blow.

  “Don’t hit him again. He’s out.”

  She slowly lowered the gun then as if hating what she’d done quickly dropped it. “I hate those things.”

  He grinned. “They are very useful.”

  “But are rarely used for anything good.” She looked at him and hesitated then raced toward him.

  At the last minute, he realized what she was doing and opened his arms. She burrowed in so close he could feel the tremors shaking her slight frame. He wrapped her up tight and held her against his heart. “You did great.”

  She shook her head, her hair flying in all directions.

  He smiled and dropped his chin to rest on her head. “Yes, you did.”

  This time she didn’t bother trying to answer, just snuggled in closer.

  He slowly stroked her back, up and down, helping her to relax from the shock of what just happened. He glanced over at Markus and got a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes but knew what Markus meant.

  More sirens sounded in the distance. Markus walked closer, dragging the driver over to them. He held up his phone. “Mason’s en route.”

  “Good.” Chase studied the man at their feet. “I need to go down to the police station. This needs to stop.”

  “Not alone,” Vanessa said, rearing back enough so she could look up at him. “There seems to be no shortage of these men. You can’t go down to the station alone. They could ambush you.”

  “She’s right, you know, by now the rest of the gang will be hunting you,” Markus said. “Besides, Vanessa needs to go down to the station to make a statement as well.”

  “Great. It’s not like I’m much protection, although I can do better than I have done so far,” she admitted. She stepped back out of Chase’s arms with a smile then stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for saving me again.”

  “I think you saved him,” Markus said in a humorous note. “The guys are going to love that.”

  “Then we’re even,” she said, laughing. “He’s already saved me.”

  Chase knew the laughter was just of relief from the event being over. A release. He assumed the hug and kiss were the same deal. Although it would be nice if they weren’t. She was good people. He’d love to spend some time with her.

  Maybe if he could finally deal with this headache it would be safe to ask her out.

  The air filled with sounds of vehicles racing toward them. They stepped to the side as trucks and a big ass Jeep rolled in. In the distance they could hear police sirens. Chase laughed.

  “Looks like half the gang came.”

  Markus walked toward him. “What did you expect? When one of us is down, the rest come to pick us up.”

  “Are these all the men you work with?”

  Chase could hear the fascination and curiosity in her voice but thankfully no fear. He slipped an arm along the back of her shoulders and tucked her up close against him. “Yes they are. They are my best friends, my brothers, actually,” he said quietly, a proud look on his face. “I consider them my unit.”

  She gave a hard emphatic nod. “Good. Somebody needs to look after you. You keep getting into trouble.”

  Swede and Mason were close enough to hear her comment. Swede barked out a hard laugh. Mason just grinned. Both men reached out and shook her hand first then introduced themselves. Chase added, “Vanessa is the one dealing with Amrit.”

  Instantly the men’s faces warmed even more.

  And that’s how it was with the guys. Anyone that was good people was welcome to the group. And of all the things he trusted, he trusted these men’s judge of character most. They’d also had recent experiences with special women. He wanted them to like her like he did. To see that same specialness they’d already found.

  Of course that didn’t mean she felt the same about him.

  “What was this I heard about Chase always getting into trouble?” Dane asked as he and Hawk came up from behind. He hadn’t seen them approach. Behind them stood Shadow, silent and ever watchful.

  And Vanessa seemed to pick up on that immediately. She studied the four men in front of her then let her gaze land on the fifth. “If you’re one of Chase’s men you’re welcome here too.”

  Chase squeezed her shoulder. “His name is Shadow. And yes he’s one of us.”

  “Of course he is. He’s got that dangerous look to him you all have.” She rounded on the rest of the team and added, “And that’s a good thing because Chase is in trouble and as you can see he just keeps going from chaos to chaos. Somebody needs to take him in hand and stop this.”

  Chase rolled his eyes at the grinning men in front of them.

  Markus stepped up closer to Mason and Swede. “Agreed, Chase is in a mess. But Vanessa’s been a big help. She beat the crap out of the last guy before he had a chance to shoot Chase.”

  “Great,” Chase whispered half under his breath. “Now I’m going to get bugged forever.”

  Only he forgot Vanessa could hear.

  She rounded on him. And poked him in the chest hard enough to make him step back. “Don’t you dare make light of this.”

  She poked him again. “You’re too important to make fun of something that could kill you. These men are your friends and they will help you.”

  With each poke he took a step back, not quite sure how to handle her. And with each poke her voice got louder, and finally he heard the note of fear threading through her words.

  “I’m not going to do anything foolish,” he said quietly. “I value my life too much for that. But I don’t need them hanging around making sure I don’t get shot,” he said, looking at his friends in disgust. “They’re already going to be laughing at me for years to come for this.”

  Her hands immediately went to her hips, and she tapped the cement floor with her boot. “Better they laugh at you now than they cry at your funeral.” She glared at him. “You take care of yourself, do you hear me?”

  “Does that mean you care?” he teased gently. Instantly, hot color surged over her face.

  But she stood her ground and glared at him even harder. “There you go teasing again, trying to make light of this. But if I have to come along to make sure we save your sorry ass, then I will.”

  Swede’s teasing voice piped up from behind her. “You know, I think that might be a really good idea. If we keep you with us than I’m pretty sure Chase will behave himself.”

  “Like hell,” Chase said good-naturedly, trying to move the conversation on quickly before she understood Swede had emphasized the word keep. That it was an inside joke and not one she would understand. It might upset her even more. He had no intention of explaining it to her. Not now. Maybe not ever.

  The police cars arrived within seconds, their sirens loud as they reached the large group of men. Mason walked over to talk to the driver of the first car. Before long the two thugs were handcuffed and questioned, but un
cooperative and sullen, they were led into the back of the vehicles then downtown. When they were gone Mason turned back to Chase. “You heading downtown now?”

  It was more of a direct order than a statement and referenced more than the incident with the thugs, but Chase understood. “I already contacted the DA last night. We do need to go to the station and give our statements right now though.”

  He glanced over at Vanessa, just noticing they’d been holding hands the whole time. He stared down at their entwined fingers, realizing how right it felt. How natural. How perfect. He squeezed her fingers and said, “Are you ready to go?”

  She winced. “You know I’d rather go to the dentist for a root canal than give a statement, right?”

  His grin flashed. “You’re the one who said you’ve given testimony in court and although it was bad it wasn’t that bad.”

  “Sure, but that was giving testimony on behalf of someone else.” She sighed. “Never for myself.”

  “And maybe you should have.”

  At the hard tone of his voice she glanced over at him and frowned. Then realized what he meant. Her shoulders slumped. “He left the country right away. What was I supposed to do?”

  “Open a case file so if the bastard ever does come back, they catch them. Maybe there is some kind of agreement with Russia that could send him to a trial.”

  She shook her head. “I did ask and there wasn’t so I decided to just move on.”

  “As long as you have.” Not giving her a chance to answer, he nudged her toward the big Jeep ahead of them. “One of the guys is going to give us a ride up to your vehicle,” he said. “Then we’ll go to the police station.”

  “Alone?”

  “No. I already told you. You won’t be alone until this is over.”

  “And you? Who is going to watch over you?” she asked in a tart voice.

  He didn’t answer.

  Chapter 13

  Giving testimony on behalf of her clients and the people she worked with was a different story than giving a statement about something that happened to herself. She much preferred the former to the latter.