Page 74 of Protecting Bree
Smiley targeted them first. He silently snuck up behind the larger of the two men and, using the knife strapped to his thigh, quickly slit his throat. Even as he was falling to the ground, Smiley had already turned to the second man.
Losing the element of surprise meant the next man was a little more prepared. But he was no match for Smiley. He was a pissed-off Navy SEAL with his woman’s wail of fright still echoing in his head.
Smiley sacrificed the knife as it embedded deeply into the man’s chest, right over his heart, when he fell face down into the dirt.
He turned toward the last man. The one who dared to touch Bree.
Every muscle in his body tensed. The third man had Bree in a headlock. He was wrenching her head back so far, she was looking straight up instead of at Smiley. She was making choking noises in the back of her throat and standing on her tiptoes.
Smiley’s senses were on overload. The sounds from Bree, the briny smell of the ocean and dead fish, the blood he could feel on his hands, the bitter taste of fear in his mouth—and finally the sight of the woman he loved, practically naked, wearing nothing but that damn slip, both the material and her body covered in dirt. The slip was hanging off one shoulder because of a broken strap, exposing one of her breasts. Like Fiona and Julie, there were no shoes on her feet.
Out of everything, it was the lack of shoes that hit Smiley the hardest.
“Get back!” the man ordered.
But Smiley had no intention of doing any such thing. He also wasn’t going to stand there and have a fucking conversation with this asshole or give him a chance to hurt Bree any more than he already had.
In one fluid movement, Smiley grabbed the pistol from the holster at his back and swung it up. He fired one shot.
It went right through the man’s forehead.
He fell like a stone, taking Bree with him.
Smiley rushed forward and desperately tried to untangle her from the dead man’s grip. On his knees, he pulled Bree into his arms and held her so tight, it had to be painful, but he couldn’t seem to loosen his arms.
That is, until he heard a slight whimper from her lips.
That had him pulling back faster than anything she might have said to him.
“Bree?”
“Smiley…You’re here,” she croaked.
“Of course I am. I told you that I’d come for you no matter what.”
“How…how are you here?” she asked.
Smiley frowned. She sounded out of it. “Where are you hurt?” he barked, wincing at his tone. But she didn’t seem to even notice. She blinked, and it was only then he realized that one of her eyes was swollen shut.
He’d killed these assholes too quickly.
“Bree? Talk to me. Where are you hurt?”
“Um…everywhere. Do you have any food? I’m so hungry.”
His heart broke again. Smiley didn’t think anything could be more painful than seeing the woman he loved so damaged. But hearing the desperation and fear in her voice was like a physical blow.
“I have some in the car. Come on, I need to get you out of here and somewhere safe.”
Just as he finished saying the words, loud shouts echoed through the port, coming from the direction of the water. He reached for his phone but came up empty.Fuck. He remembered holding it, getting ready to text Kevlar when Bree’s hiding place was discovered. He must’ve dropped it.
Moving quickly, Smiley acted on instinct. He picked up Bree, holding her against his chest, and began moving quickly away from the dead men.
He still had his pistol, but not enough bullets to take down an entire group of bad guys. His teammates would’veheard the shot, but it would take too long for them to figure out exactly where it came from. He had no way of communicating with Kevlar and Blink without his phone, and Bree was seriously hurt.
He needed to get them out of here.Now.
He ran, with no destination in mind except getting away from the yelling he heard behind him. Unfortunately, the team’s vehicle was in the other direction, but at the moment, getting Bree away from the men he heard shouting back and forth—a dozen or so, at his guess—was his only mission.
