Page 22 of Relentless Surrender

As the door was closing, she could hear Conner’s low voice say, “You hurt what was mine. Now you’re going to pay.” Then the heavy metal door slammed shut.

Hippie was there, close to the entrance. Conner’s truck was parked nearby, the engine running.

Hippie immediately straightened and took off his baseball cap. “Ladies.”

“Hello again, Hippie,” answered Sage shyly. “This is Melissa.” Feeling awkward about exchanging such polite niceties under such trying circumstances.

Hippie offered them both an arm. “Your chariot awaits.” Escorting them to Conner’s truck, he made sure to open the door for them both. He then went around to the trunk to retrieve the blankets and water he knew Conner always kept stashed there. A Marine was always prepared. Tucking the blanket around Melissa’s shoulders he brushed back a lock of her tangled red hair. “You’re safe now.”

Sage caught the look of protective possession he cast over her friend. She was learning to know that look well. She was also learning that Melissa could do far worse than an overbearing, protective Marine.

Sage tried to ask Hippie how they had managed to find them so quickly but his only response was “my criminal cousin” so absorbed was he in seeing to Melissa’s comfort. Instead, she decided to focus all her attention on that scarred metal door, anxiously waiting for Conner to emerge.

The quiet of the parking lot was disturbed by the sound of tumbling crates, the screech of what sounded like a metal chair, the heavy clang of a chain and then finally a pitiful cry.

Then silence.

Sage waited.

And waited.

The metal door swung open and Conner emerged. Throwing off her blanket, Sage ran to his side. Placing both hands against his chest, she checked for injuries.

His t-shirt was torn and bloodied but it didn’t appear to be his blood.

“Did he hurt you?” she asked anxiously.

Conner gave her an amused look. Grabbing her around the waist, he captured her mouth with his own. Pushing his tongue past her willing lips. Reveling in the taste of her. Placing his hand along her jaw to hold her head steady as he continued his assault on her senses. When he finally allowed her a breath, he called out to Hippie without relinquishing her gaze.

“The lady wants to know if that Army dog hurt me.”

“With all due respect, ma’am, Conner’s a Marine. We hit first. We hit hard and we hit fast. That piece of shit didn’t have a chance,” laughed Hippie.

“Is he dead?” came the tentative question from Melissa inside the truck.

“No ma’am. Death would be too good for him. He deserves a nice long life at the bottom of the food chain in prison,” responded Conner.

Melissa smiled at Sage. “I like him.”

Fluorescent blue beams of light flooded the dark parking lot as the thundering sound of choppers rent the air.

Sage covered her ears as she shouted to Conner, “What is happening?”

“The rest of the crew is arriving,” he said with a smile as he pulled her close to shield her from the wind blast from the helicopter blades

* * *

“Are you sure you will be okay?” asked Sage for the hundredth time.

Melissa nodded her head yes. “I’ll be fine. It’s only right. He is my father after all. And from what I hear from the secret service guys, he was actually pretty freaked out.”

They were standing on the lawn outside her father’s Bethesda home. The last two hours had been an exhausting chaotic blur. Conner had not been kidding. He had literally called in the Marines to help rescue her and Melissa. Since many military men went on to have careers in law enforcement it would stand to reason they had a lot of friends in both the state and local police forces…so they showed up to the party too. Not knowing her familial situation and upon learning who Melissa’s father was…through the helpful hacking of Hippie’s criminal cousin…he also had his crew alert the senator who in turn called in the secret service and the FBI.

Sage later learned Conner hadn’t exactly played fair. He and Hippie with the help of Hippie’s criminal cousin quickly narrowed it down to three possible locations as to where Ricardo could take them. Conner sent everyone to the two least likely, saving the most probable location for only him and Hippie. As he put it, he wanted to have a private chat with Ricardo before the others showed up.

Between Conner’s rank and influence, Melissa’s father’s power and influence and everyone’s general dislike of Ricardo, the entire episode was quickly hushed up. As far as the official record and media would be concerned, Ricardo killed his cousin in a drunken rage. There would never be even a hint of Sage or Melissa’s involvement.

And now, at nearly midnight, they stood among the neat redbrick houses and manicured lawns of Bethesda, as if all the ugliness of the previous hours had never occurred.

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