Rescuing Ellena (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Bravo Series Book 4) Read online

  Rescuing Ellena (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

  Bravo Series Book 4

  Anna Blakely

  Contents

  Foreword

  About the Book

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Also by Anna Blakely

  About the Author

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2020 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  This book is for all of my fellow Susan Stoker fans. Like most of you, I’ve read Susan’s amazing stories for years. Also like you, I’ve fallen in love with every single hero she’s created. To be a part of her world is an unbelievable honor, and I’m grateful to each and every one of you for giving my stories and characters a chance. I look forward to sharing even more exciting tales of love and suspense with you in the future.

  XOXO

  Anna

  About the Book

  Two Estranged Hearts. One Second Chance. An Unknown Enemy Threatening to Destroy It.

  He thought leaving would keep her safe.

  Five years ago, Gabriel Dawson had it all. He was in charge of his own SEAL team, was married to the love of his life, and together, he and Elle were planning the future he’d always wanted. When he almost loses it all to an enemy out for revenge, Gabe is convinced walking away is the only way to keep his wife safe.

  She thought he no longer loved her.

  Military psychologist Ellena Dawson spends her days doing all she can to help active duty and retired service members cope with the aftermath of war and battle. Her nights are filled with dreams of the husband she loved…and lost. For three long years, Elle has prayed Gabe would find his way back to her, but when he finally does, she’s crushed to learn it’s not for the reasons she’d hoped.

  They couldn’t be more wrong.

  Convinced the threat to Elle is real, Gabe insists on being her personal bodyguard. That means staying by his wife’s side…day and night. Despite both their efforts against it, familiar sparks soon begin to re-ignite, and the love they both thought was lost is found again.

  When the unthinkable happens and Elle is taken from him, Gabe and the members of Bravo enlist the help of Ghost and his Delta brothers to hunt down the man responsible and bring Elle home.

  Will these two soul mates finally get their second chance, or will the evil targeting Elle destroy their last chance at happiness forever?

  Prologue

  Three years ago…

  “Put the gun down, Campbell. You don’t want to do this.” With his heart lodged in his throat, Master Chief Gabriel Dawson somehow managed to hold his own weapon steady. Finger next to the trigger, he kept his gun trained on the man he’d once considered to be a brother.

  “Wrong again.” His former teammate chuckled. “I do want to do this. I want to look into your eyes while I rip away the only thing you’ve ever really cared about. Just like you did to me.”

  Though he wanted to—God did he want to—Gabe refused to look at Ellena. If he did…if he saw her fear and allowed himself to think of everything he stood to lose…his control would shatter.

  “She’s not the only thing, Vic.” He stared at his former teammate. “I care about every man on our team.”

  “Except it’s not our team anymore, is it?” Vic’s upper lip curled into a vengeful sneer. “It’s your team, Dawson. Judd, A.J., Neil… they walk around in your shadow like a bunch of fucking puppies searching for some tit. And you”—he snorted—“you lead ’em around like you’re the head of the goddamn pack.”

  “I’m just doing my job. As the team leader it’s my duty to—”

  “As the team leader, you’re supposed to protect us!” The man’s face turned red, the barrel of his gun pressing against Ellena’s head even harder.

  Gabe’s trigger finger twitched. “I did protect you.”

  “You threw me under the fucking bus!”

  “I told the truth.”

  “You ended my career.”

  “Wrong.” Gabe clenched his jaw. “You did that all on your own the second you killed that man in cold blood.”

  “He was a terrorist!” Spittle flew from Vic’s mouth as he spoke.

  “He was an unarmed prisoner on his knees with his hands bound behind his back.”

  Two weeks ago, the team had been sent to Pakistan to stop a group of men who’d invaded and terrorized a small village just outside Karachi. Hamza Hassan, the man Vic had murdered, was among those captured.

  “Hassan raped and murdered a woman while her six-year-old son hid under the bed. I did the world a fucking favor, and you damn well know it!”

  A vein in the middle of the unstable man’s forehead bulged, anger and resentment turning the skin there a dark reddish-purple. Sweat beaded and fell from Vic’s temple.

  Gabe knew he needed to tread carefully. For the past month, he’d been worried about his teammate’s mental wellbeing. Concerned the darkness of the world they lived in was too much for the young SEAL to handle.

  He was right.

  “You disobeyed my direct order to stand down,” he reminded Vic.

  “It was just you and me, man.” Vic stared back at him. “You could’ve looked the other way.”

  “No.” Gabe shoo
k his head slowly. “I couldn’t.”

  Vic smirked, but his crazed eyes held no humor. “Always a fucking boy scout. You couldn’t wait to run your mouth and tell everyone what happened.”

  “I didn’t have a choice.”

  “Yes, you did! You could’ve chosen to have my back like all those times I had yours. Instead, you looked me square in the eye and tore that patch from my chest. That patch meant everything to me, man. Everything!” A tear leaked from the corner of Vic’s eye, the silver streak mixing with the thin sheen of sweat. “You destroyed the only family I’d ever really known. How could you…” His voice cracked. “They want to send me to prison, Gabe. Fucking Leavenworth.”

  “I know.”

  Because that’s where the Navy sends murderers.

  “You were supposed to have my back!” Vic yelled again as another tear fell. “How could you do that to me?”

  “You’re right,” Gabe lied. The man wasn’t even fucking close to being right but agitating Vic even more than he already was could be a fatal mistake for Ellena. “I should have, and I didn’t. That’s on me.”

  “You’re damn right it’s on you!”

  Keeping his voice steady, Gabe inched a step closer to the man holding his entire world hostage. “I know that, now. And you have every right to call me out, but this is between us, Vic. Ellena had nothing to do with it.”

  “But I wanted her to be involved,” Vic revealed as he backed up slowly, toward the door leading from the kitchen to the back yard. The other man glanced down, his next words spoken directly to Ellena. “I wanted them to send me to you for my psych eval, but they wouldn’t.”

  “They couldn’t, Vic.” Ellena’s swallow was audible. “I’m your team leader’s wife. I-it would’ve been a conflict of interest to have m-me be the one to evaluate you.”

  For the first time since walking in on the horrifying scene, Gabe allowed himself to glance at his wife. The tremble of fear in her sweet voice made him want to put a bullet between his former teammate’s eyes.

  “Elle, look at me.” Gabe stared into Ellena’s frightened baby blues. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Her bottom lip quivered as her bow-shaped lips attempted to form a smile. “I know.”

  That smile turned into a wince as Vic pressed the barrel of the gun even harder against Ellena’s temple.

  “You’re wrong,” the angry man growled back at him. “Everything’s not going to be okay. It’s never going to be okay, and it’s all your fault.”

  As if she could sense Vic was about to pull the trigger, Ellena blurted out, “I’m pregnant!”

  Vic froze. His cold, dark eyes shot to Gabe’s.

  “It’s true,” Gabe confirmed the news, barely resisting the urge to end the other man for daring to touch what was his.

  “Bullshit.”

  “It’s not bullshit, Vic.” Ellena tried to convince him. “Look at the fridge. Look at the picture hanging there. That’s a copy of the sonogram I had last week. I’m only eight weeks along, but I was h-having some cramping, so my doctor ordered the test. Just to m-make sure everything was okay.”

  Gabe watched the man’s eyes slide to the appliance on his left. Hanging by a thread, he waited while Vic studied the blurry, black and white image.

  Vic’s voice filled with an accusing tone as his focus shot back to Gabe. “You never said anything.”

  “Because I asked him not to,” Ellena responded quickly. “I-I wanted to wait until we’d made it past the three-month mark.”

  “Please, Vic,” Gabe pleaded. “Just drop the gun so we can talk about all of this.”

  “Talk.” Vic chuckled. “I don’t want to talk. I’m sick to death of fucking talking!”

  “Okay, fine.” Gabe nodded. “Then let Ellena go. She and the baby”—Gabe had to swallow to keep his own voice from cracking—“they’re innocent in all of this. You were right before. This is all on me. So if you want to kill me, fine. But not them. Please, man. Just let her go.”

  “No!” Ellena shook her head vehemently. The blues in her eyes darkened with anger. “You are not going to sacrifice yourself.”

  Gabe’s heart swelled, even as it began to shatter. “That’s my job, baby.” He smiled sadly. “I’d sacrifice myself a hundred times over if it meant keeping you safe.”

  She was shaking her head again even before he was finished. “I won’t let you do it.”

  His eyes softened. “Not your choice to make.”

  “Yes, it is.” Ellena stared back at him with a sudden determination. It was clear she was trying to tell him something more.

  The blood in his veins grew cold with fear as he realized what it was. “No, it’s not,” he tried to get through to her.

  Ellena licked her lips nervously before whispering, “I love you.”

  Knowing there was nothing he could do to stop her, Gabe prepared to defend her and their child—with his life, if necessary.

  In what he hoped was an indiscernible move, he curled his finger around the gun’s trigger.

  “It’s my decision,” his wife stated again. A message he received loud and clear. “And I’m making it…Now!”.

  The scene became a slow-motion movie as everything happened all at once.

  His daring wife spun her head to the side—away from Vic’s gun. Simultaneously, she used her right hand to push his arm upward as she threw herself to the floor.

  A deafening boom filled the air as Vic pulled the trigger. Pieces of drywall and paint rained down on them from where the bullet pierced the ceiling.

  With a maddening fury, the unstable man’s eyes went from being wide with surprise to a narrowed, venomous glare.

  “You bitch!” Swinging his gun back around toward Ellena, he made his intentions clear.

  Gabe didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger, his bullet hitting its mark with perfection.

  The sound of the shot barely registered as Gabe watched as his teammate’s body jerked. The man’s brain matter and blood splattering on the door behind him. A second later, Vic fell against it before sliding down to the tiled floor below.

  He was dead before he ever hit the ground.

  “Elle!” Gabe shoved his gun into his waistband against his lower back and rushed to where his wife lay.

  Shaking, Ellena pushed herself into a sitting position. “I-I’m okay.”

  Despite her words, Gabe frantically ran his hands down her arms and back up to her shoulders. He cupped both sides of her face, his own hands trembling. “Did he hurt you?”

  “No.” Tears fell from her eyes, her face crumbling as she glanced over at Vic’s lifeless body. “Oh, God.”

  “Baby, don’t.” Gabe gently forced her focus back on him. “Just keep looking at me.”

  Shoving his hand into his pocket, he yanked out his phone and dialed 911. He kept one hand on her face, his thumb caressing her precious skin as he reported the shooting to the police.

  Hanging up, he immediately made another phone call. This one to his commanding officer.

  When the authorities arrived, he and Elle were separated to give their official statements of the events. Gabe hated to leave his wife’s side for even a second, but he understood the reasons behind the protocol.

  Several minutes later, he was still in the kitchen speaking with the lead detective and his CO when the officer taking Elle’s statement came running into the room.

  “Your wife needs you,” the young man blurted loudly, his wide eyes staring directly at Gabe. “I’ve already called for an ambulance.”

  An ambulance?

  Gabe’s pulse spiked as he shoved past the kid and ran into the living room where Elle had been taken. His heart nearly stopped altogether when he saw her down on her knees, hunched over and clutching her stomach.

  “Elle!” He ran to her for the second time in as many hours. Dropping to his knees beside her, he asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “I-I don’t know.” Tears fell from he
r eyes, sorrow filling her beautiful face. “I was telling the officer what h-happened, and I got this sharp p-pain. Then I felt the b-blood, and I…” She squeezed her eyes shut, crying out as another pain hit.

  The baby.

  Please, God. Don’t take the baby!

  But when he saw the blood seeping through Ellena’s jeans, Gabe knew his silent prayer had come too late.

  Chapter 1

  Gabe opened his apartment door. Distracted by the ghosts of his past, he almost missed the fact that the light he’d left on in his apartment—the one he always left on to give him a clear view of the space when he returned—was off.

  The place was pitch black…almost.

  In one fluid motion, he pulled his gun from its place at the small of his back and flipped the safety. After spending several years as a Navy SEAL, and the last few as the leader of an elite private security team, the weapon was like an extension of his body. And even better than his American Express.

  Never fucking leave home without it.

  “I’m armed,” Gabe warned whoever was there. “And I will not hesitate to shoot.”

  “I know.” A man’s voice rumbled low from the right side of his living room. “That’s why I turned off your light.”

  Christ. He was not in the mood for this shit. “You picked the wrong apartment to rob tonight, my friend.”