Marching Orders

“Okay.” Janine shrugged. “Then small talk it is. Mmm, let’s see where we were.”

“I was thanking you for your help with the wedding.”

“Yes. And I was about to accept your thanks along with any future gifts of gratitude.” Janine smiled, caught Anna’s hand and lifted it so the light glimmered off the wedding band. “A one-carat, emerald-cut diamond, nearly flawless. Rafe did good by you, huh?”

Anna stared at the ornate band. Since Janine owned a jewelry store and had perhaps helped Rafe pick it out, she wouldn’t dare say that it wasn’t her style. But it wasn’t. Nowhere close.

Funny that Rafe hadn’t known that.

She kissed Janine’s cheek and got her moving toward the door. “I’ll meet you at the reception after the photographer’s done.”

“More small talk?” Janine questioned.

“Yep. Now, get going.”

Janine looked more than a little skeptical but thankfully didn’t press the issue. She followed the rest of the guests when they began to trickle out to go to the Officers’ Club at the base.

Anna stepped around the photographer, who was making adjustments to his equipment. She knew him and offered a friendly smile. They often did freelance work for the same company.

Rafe sank onto the pew, folded his hands behind his head and stretched his legs out in front of him. There was nothing remotely odd about it. Anna had seen him do that a hundred times. Rafe didn’t sit. He lounged. And it was that familiar pose that had her relaxing. It was normal, and if that was normal, then probably everything else was, too.

Probably.

As if he’d sensed that she was staring at him, Rafe looked up. “What? Having second thoughts already?” he asked, another grin shoving up the corner of his mouth.

She didn’t have time to answer. There was a soft beep. Just one. It came from Colonel Shaw’s pocket, and it was more than enough to get her complete attention.

The colonel pulled out the tiny phone and pressed it to his ear. “Alpha One,” he said to the person on the other end of the line.

It seemed as if time ground to a screeching halt.

But only for a moment.

Something shattered. A loud deafening blast. Anna whirled toward the sound and saw the jagged multicolored pieces fly through the church. They’d come from the stained glass window behind the altar. Or rather, what was left of it. God, someone was shooting at them.

Just like that, Rafe sprang into action. He whipped out a sleek matte black gun from his shoulder harness and yelled for her to get down. Colonel Shaw did the same and hurried to turn off the lights.

The place was suddenly pitch-black, the darkness closing around her, and Anna found herself standing alone in the middle of a deadly silent room. She dropped to the floor, made her way to the organ and ducked behind it.

Lots of thoughts crossed her mind. None good. This was the culmination of all her nightmares. The rebels had come for Rafe, again, and this time he might not get so lucky.

She heard the footsteps. Barely. They were more movement of air than sound, but she didn’t know what direction they were coming from. Not until the hand slid over her mouth.

“It’s me,” Rafe whispered. “Shhh.”

He eased his hand from her mouth and moved her farther behind the organ. Without warning, he pushed her to the floor, a cloud of silk and lace fluffing up around her.

Anna held her breath and tried not to make a sound. Hard to stay quiet though when fear kept trying to grab her by the throat.

The moments crawled by. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she peered out from behind the thick wooden base of the organ. Colonel Shaw was nowhere in sight. She prayed he hadn’t gone outside, alone.

Of course, there weren’t many alternatives.

Were there gunmen still out there? Maybe members of the rebel faction that had taken Rafe hostage? Or was this some other special ops mission? Maybe it didn’t even matter. After all, a bullet could be deadly no matter what the motivation or cause behind it.

Only threads of moonlight filtered through the thick stained glass windows. It was too dark to see the photographer on the other side of the church, but she could hear him. His breath came out in short, fast spurts.

Unlike Rafe’s.

Even though he loomed over her, only inches away, he was completely silent. If he had any reaction to the situation, he certainly didn’t show it.

Something darted past one of the windows, casting a sinister shadow over the sanctuary. Rafe must have felt her body tense because he pressed his hand on her shoulder.

“Stay put,” he warned in a rough whisper.

Anna latched on to his arm when he moved slightly. “You’re not going out there, are you?”

“No. Colonel Shaw would want me to stay here with you. We have people all around the place. They can take care of the situation.”

Anna hadn’t known about the people who were outside guarding the church. But Rafe had. And so had his commanding officer. They obviously assumed something like this could happen, or they wouldn’t have made such security arrangements.

What else did they know?

Another shadow slashed across the window, and a swish of sound followed. Maybe a gun rigged with a silencer and maybe just the wind rustling through the trees. But Anna didn’t think it was the wind.

“At your six, Rafe,” Colonel Shaw called out.

Rafe pivoted, took aim and fired twice. There was a spray of hot lead and glass. A sharp groan of pain.

And then the silence returned.

Anna counted off the seconds with each thud of her heartbeat. She wanted to ask Rafe if he was hurt, but she didn’t dare risk it.

“The situation’s contained,” she heard a man announce. His voice hadn’t come from inside the church, however, but out there somewhere on the other side of that shattered window.

The lights flared on, and in the same motion, Rafe sprang to his feet. Seemingly as an afterthought, he held out his hand and offered it to her so he could help her up from the floor.

“Are you okay?” he asked. Rafe reholstered his gun as calmly as he’d drawn it.

No. She wasn’t. Along with the incident in Monte de Leon, these had been some of the most terrifying moments of her life. Anna gulped in a huge breath of air and glanced back at a gaping hole in the glass. She caught a glimpse of an Alpha Team member before he darted out of sight.

“What just happened?” she managed to ask.

“We’ll know more when the colonel’s had a chance to meet with the team.” Rafe turned toward the photographer who was cowering near a pew.

“Why don’t you go ahead and pack up? We’ll have pictures done some other time, okay?”

The man eagerly nodded and began to take down the equipment. Anna didn’t intend to be placated quite so easily. “What’s going on here, Rafe?”