Page 47 of Securing Jane

But his plans went down the drain when the woman sitting next to her refused to let Jane exit the vehicle. Storm’s mind spun. He heard her say she had a bomb, and while he couldn’t see either of them, he also heard her say something about gutting Jane.

Looking up through the crack of her door—which thankfully Jane hadn’t shut—Storm could see how white she was. She was sitting stiff in her seat, and her left arm was motionless at her side.

Without thought, as everyone yelled for the unknown woman to stand down, to give herself up, Storm reached for Jane’s hand.

Her fingers were ice cold, and he knew it was because of shock setting in. He thought she might panic when he took hold of her, but he should’ve know better. The second his fingers closed around her own, she relaxed. Not completely, but enough that he was assured she knew who was touching her.

And when she squeezed his fingers back, determination rose up within him once more.

He wasn’t going to lose her. No fucking way. He had no idea if the woman sitting next to her had a real bomb or not, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

By some miracle, Storm was still undetected, and he crouched down even lower. He didn’t want the other woman to catch a glimpse of him in the side mirror. One wrong move and they could all be blown up. He hadn’t gone forty-seven years without having found the one person meant to be his only to lose her now.

No. Just no.

The longer Storm crouched by the car and listened to the woman rant on and on and demand the officers bring Creasy out, the more determined he became. A plan formed in his mind, and he turned his head to look around him. His position wasn’t ideal. Jane’s car was close to the guard shack, which didn’t leave them much room. But she’d pulled up far enough that the opening to the shack would be behind the door just far enough when it was opened.

Nodding to himself, Storm looked around, trying to see who else was there. He saw a lot of young SPs and older officers, as well—but not who he needed to see.

He’d called Rocco right after he’d contacted the naval police, but he knew it would take time for him to arrive. And he’d surely called his team. Soon, his SEALs would arrive.

Hurry up, guys. I need you, Storm thought to himself. He knew the SPs would stall the woman as long as they could, but she was obviously unstable, and there was no telling how much time they had before she lost her patience and either stabbed Jane or blew them all up.

* * * *

“Where is he?” Carlin yelled impatiently. “You aren’t listening to me! I’ll do it, I’ve got nothing to lose! Bring Creasy here so I can talk to him. That’s all I want!”

“We’re working on it,” the man who’d been attempting to negotiate with Carlin replied.

“Work on it faster!” she screeched. “If you think I’m fucking around, I’m not. I’ve already set off one bomb on this base, and I’ll do it again! But this time it’ll do some fucking damage! If you don’t want to be responsible for the deaths of everyone within hearing distance, you’ll get him here now!”

Jane tuned out Carlin and did her best to come up with a plan. She could slam her foot on the gas and do whatever she could to get the car away from the gate and all the people before Carlin set off the bomb. But there was no guarantee she could get the car into gear and get out of the way before the bomb exploded. She could try to wrestle the knife and box away from Carlin, but again, maybe the slightest movement would set off the damn thing and everyone would get killed anyway. She could wait for the negotiators to do their job, but it wasn’t looking like Carlin was going to back down. Jane didn’t know if seeing and talking to Creasy would help or make the situation worse.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Jane saw a large Chevy pickup careen around the other vehicles that had been evacuated in the line behind her. She recognized it. Gumby, one of Storm’s men, owned one like it. She’d seen it at the beach party…was that just two days ago?

Hope welled up inside her, and for the second time—the first being when she realized Storm was holding her hand—she thought she might just get out of this alive. She didn’t know how, but if anyone could figure it out, it was Storm and his team.

“I’m losing patience!” Carlin screamed, waving the knife that had been at Jane’s throat. She jabbed it uselessly out the window toward the negotiator who was standing at least twenty feet from the car. “Get. Me. Creasy! He needs to know that his actions have consequences! If he didn’t unfairly court-martial my husband, this wouldn’t be happening!”

The sun was just beginning to peek above the horizon now, and as it so happened, the gate was facing east. Jane winced, knowing the sun would blind her as it rose. In ten minutes it wouldn’t be a nuisance, but in the few minutes it took to climb high enough in the sky, it would make it impossible to see anything going on in front of the vehicle.

“Fuck,” Carlin swore from next to her. “This has all gone to shit!”

The sun suddenly rose high enough in the sky to send its blinding rays right into the eyes of Jane and the agitated woman next to her.

Then Jane felt Storm squeeze her hand, hard.

She tensed and held her breath. This was it. Whatever Storm had planned was about to happen. She hoped like hell if it didn’t work, and that damn bomb went off, that her death would be fast. She’d never been afraid of dying, but she wasn’t a fan of pain.

Feeling ashamed of the direction her thoughts had wandered, Jane wasn’t prepared when her car door slammed open, Storm yanked her arm hard enough to almost pull it from its socket, and she went flying through the air.

* * * *

Storm was relieved when Gumby, Rocco, and Bubba jumped out of Gumby’s Silverado and stealthily made their way to the other side of the guard shack. The woman—who he now knew was Lieutenant Simon Sandburg’s wife because of all her screaming—was concentrating on what was going on to her right with the police and the negotiator. She clearly assumed with the guardhouse so close to her left, there would be no danger there.

She’d thought wrong. She had no clue that some of the most deadly men in the world were about to end this standoff once and for all.

Dag had been advised to stay out of sight, but Storm knew he was there somewhere. The second he heard there was a situation at the gate, he would’ve wanted to be there, even if his presence wasn’t being demanded. Storm hadn’t seen him, but he had no doubt he was watching and waiting for just the right time to make his presence known.