Page 23 of Protecting Talia

“Sure. I’ll give you my email address and information. Same price and stuff. I used to live here but moved to Los Angeles. I’m moving back so you’ll see more of me.”

She nodded and tried for a friendly smile. “I hope you enjoy living here.”

He narrowed his gaze then shook his head. “Sorry. I thought I recognized you but I don’t think so.”

Fear coiled deep in her belly. Being recognized sucked, especially by someone who watched porn with young girls in it. Once she looked older, they didn’t want her.

She shook her head. “Nope, I don’t know you. Must be someone else.”

He nodded and turned to leave but turned back. “Oh, stop by sometimes. I’ll give you a discount.”

She smiled and nodded. “Sure. Thank you.” This guy needed to leave. He would eventually remember where he’d seen her, and then he would want something and take it. There would be no respect, no kindness, just ownership. She’d seen it before.

Bile burned in her belly. She wanted to escape. She had to leave San Diego and go somewhere no one would recognize her.

Dave headed down the stairs, and she stepped back, locking the door behind her. She slid down the flat surface of the door, angry and sad. She wanted a relationship with Zip but doubted she could hold on to what they had. Some guy would do something gross, and Zip would be pissed. There was no out for her. She may have aged some, but she still looked like herself. Maybe in twenty years, no one would recognize her as that girl from the gross porn they’d watched, but she couldn’t guarantee it.

She would have to walk away from Zip to save him. He deserved better than her.

14

Zip texted Talia early on Thursday but didn’t get a response until the end of his workday. Her reply seemed less enthusiastic than he expected. Maybe she was busy with work. Because of her work schedule, he wouldn’t see her until Saturday. He couldn’t wait to spend the day with her.

Early on Friday morning, he received a text that threatened to shatter his plans. He rolled his eyes when he saw they had to be at the base in less than an hour. He took a quick shower and dressed, grabbing a travel mug of coffee on the way out.

He wanted to know what was going on before he texted Talia to tell her he wouldn’t be able to see her this weekend. Rider, Hop, and Q were already there when he arrived, and then Trip and Bud showed up about five minutes later.

They headed into one of the situation rooms and set up. “One of the other teams had to move into action last night to rescue a group of Marines. We need you all on overwatch. We need options. Let’s keep our guys alive.”

Zip read the situation report and saw that Kevlar’s team was the one on the ground. He put on his coms and pulled up the screens he needed to watch. They only called them in for stuff like this when things were bad. Something awful must have happened for them to be watching everything on screens.

Being here on base, not where the action was happening, was frustrating. But when they had people watching over their shoulders, he knew he was in good hands because other SEALs had their back.

He watched as Safe and Preacher headed around a building. Smiley and Blink were on the other end of the compound. Trip and Bud were keeping their eyes on MacGyver and Kevlar.

Zip saw movement on the screen. “Safe, there are two tangos about twenty yards to your east.”

“Got it.”

He watched as Safe turned and took out the two men approaching. The Marines who’d gone down were about half a mile away from their location. It would have been better for them to drop closer to the building where they were being held, but that hadn’t been possible.

Nothing happened for a few minutes, and then he saw more activity to the north and changed his coms, so he only spoke to people in the room. “This is about to get bad. A grenade launcher to the north.”

“See it,” Bud said.

Rider opened coms so Kevlar’s team could hear. “You’ve got a grenade launcher being set up about a mile to the north.”

“Fuck!” Kevlar said.

Zip watched the screen, hoping the guys were able to get to safety. The screen lit up in the area of the grenade launcher. He held his breath, hoping the guys were okay. Not being able to do anything was torture. The men on the ground were professionals, but they weren’t magicians.

They were moving fast, getting out of the way of the grenades sent their way. He held his breath until all the guys were in the clear. Smiley and Blink took off in the direction of the launcher. At least they were taking care of the problem. It would take them a few minutes to intercept the launcher. They would just have to keep the guys informed about the next strike.

The rest of Kevlar’s team was approaching the building where the Marines were being held. Once they had them free, hopefully, a few of the guys would be able to help fight their way out.

The world was becoming more dangerous, and the military was barely keeping up with the changing landscape. SEALs and other special forces groups were equipped, but only because their leaders understood the current condition and were making changes to how they trained.

His team was scheduled, along with Kevlar’s team, to train a group of special forces Marines, but it wasn’t enough. Regular military was getting left behind and put at risk. Fixing it was above his pay grade, so he would have to be satisfied with what they were doing.

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