Page 37 of Loved by a SEAL

Chapter 11

“The kids are asleep already,” Rebecca said quietly as she opened the front door, purse slung over her shoulder and keys in hand.

“Okay, great,” Sarah said, dropping her own purse and overnight bag to the floor. “I’ll just crash on the sofa if you end up staying at the hospital overnight. Any word on Alison?”

“She’s on something to slow her contractions—some type of IV drip. They’re hoping to at least stall labor for a few days. They’ll probably keep her overnight for monitoring, but we’re hoping she can head home in the morning.”

“Did they get ahold of Evan?”

“I don’t think so,” Rebecca said, shaking her head. “I haven’t heard from Captain Mitchell either—Ryan,” she amended. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”

“Were you watching the news today?” Sarah asked, eyeing the other woman carefully. She didn’t want to upset Rebecca or say something she shouldn’t, but it seemed pretty obvious where the team was.

“Yeah. I guess you’re thinking the same thing I am?”

“Yep,” Sarah said with a frown. “I don’t like it. I mean I’m glad they’re rescuing her, but the play-by-play on national television? Not cool. I don’t know the first thing about conducting secret ops, but even I can figure out that giving it constant media attention is a no-go.”

Rebecca wrung her hands together. “I flat-out asked Patrick if that’s where they were going.”

“Let me guess—he wouldn’t tell you.”

“He couldn’t. Which I understand, but I’m just beside myself with worry.”

“That’s his job,” Sarah said. “He can’t tell us all the dirty details. And trust me—I doubt we would want to even know half of what those guys do.”

“You’re right; I just get nervous every time he’s gone.” Rebecca glanced down at her phone. “I should get to the hospital. Alison’s been by herself for hours. I know she has friends that work there, but they’re still on their shifts and can’t wait with her in the maternity ward.”

“Of course. Go! Don’t worry about a thing. The kids and I will be fine and whip-up some yummy pancakes in the morning.”

“I’m hoping to be back before then.”

“And if you’re not—it’s not a big deal.”

“All right. Text me if you need anything. Or if you hear anything about—well, you know.” The two women exchanged a knowing look.

“I parked down the block,” Sarah said. “I wasn’t sure which side of the garage you were on and didn’t want to block the driveway.”

“Thanks. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your coming all the way back to watch the kids. I know you just drove back to Norfolk last night.”

“It’s no problem—I’m only an hour away. I’ll talk to you later on—or in the morning.”

The women said their goodbyes, and Sarah shut the door of her brother’s house. She felt on-edge as she paced the front hall. Why did she have such a bad feeling about things? Patrick deployed all the time. This is what the entire team was trained to do. Just because this particular mission seemed to be playing out on the national news didn’t make it any different.

She had half a mind to call up Ryan, but that was crazy. He was busy running things on base. Large and in charge. Wasn’t that where he’d rushed off to Saturday night? Why waste time on the beach with her when he had missions to plan? He may have insisted on giving her a ride back, but he left when she walked back to Morgan.

Besides, she didn’t even know the man’s number. Even if she wanted to call him for reassurances, she couldn’t. He was probably too busy running things at Little Creek to give her a second thought anyway.

***

Ryan clenched his jaw as the images shook on the screen as the men parachuting in hit the ground running. The Black Hawk had flown dangerously close to the mountains, but it didn’t appear that the insurgents at the camp knew they were coming. No more movement than usual was showing on the drone feed. The cover of night was exactly what they needed.

Patrick led the assault, his weapon moving back and forth as he scanned the area, flanked by Mike, who was aiming his own weapon.

“Damn this desert air,” he muttered.

“You boys need to toughen up,” Matthew drawled behind them. “I’ll take this over Florida’s humidity any day.”

“You’re fucking crazy,” Brent said. “The desert is goddamn awful.”

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