Avenging Laura (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

Chapter 46

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Laura watched Cyrus’s every move. She knew it was only a matter of minutes, if not seconds before he would blow. She needed to be prepared.

This is what they were expecting. Cyrus to come after her. She didn’t know if her team was nearby as Highlander had escorted her out of HQ after her draining interrogation with Deanna. She didn’t even know what happened during the interrogation with Kathy.

“You’re lying!” Cyrus screamed as he jumped up from his seat and started pacing.

This Cyrus was totally different from the one she encountered at the hospital and that week in the bunker. That Cyrus was calm, cool, and collected. He was clean-shaven, well dressed and well put together. He oozed control and command.

The man that was before her now was totally the opposite. His hair was rumpled as if he hadn’t washed it in a while, his clothes were wrinkled as if he hadn’t changed them in a couple of days and he was constantly looking around as if he was expecting something to go wrong.

“Think, Cyrus. David only told you to hurt me badly. Ruin my confidence that he felt I had gained. When Maria wanted you to kill me then and there, David forbad it. You go against David, you will ruin any chance you have with that man. I promise you that,” Laura warned him sternly.

“My father loathes you!” Cyrus yelled at her as he paced the kitchen, his hands gripping his hair with the gun still in his hand.

“Yes, he does. Because he wasn’t able to sell me or use me like he is Maria. I’m the one that got away, along with Dominick. He hates that he wasn’t able to use us like he had planned. You fell in line just like Kathy, your mother, Maria, and every other person that man has contact with. Don’t get yourself killed, Cyrus. Not over me,” Laura pleaded with the man.

Laura wasn’t above begging. Highlander was tied to the chair. He was seriously injured. It wouldn’t take much with his height, Cyrus’s unpredictability, and the close proximity they were in for Highlander to be taken out completely with a stray bullet. She couldn’t take that chance with her husband’s life.

Laura looked over at Highlander with tears in her eyes. Highlander kept looking from her to the table. Why the fuck is he trying to get her to crawl under the table, damn it. Seriously!

She didn’t have a chance to even consider it as Cyrus roared with anger and launched himself at Laura. The two fought like two alley cats over the last can of tuna. Cyrus’s movements were uncoordinated when he would swing trying to hit her. He would miss his aim, or the hits would feel sluggish.

Laura’s hip thrusted up to get him off of her and twisted so that he was on his back. She punched him in the face several times to slow him down. Despite everything, she knew he was still a dangerous man.

When she turned to get off of him, she realized then why Highlander was constantly trying to get her attention about the table. When she heard Cyrus bellow as he got up, she felt a bullet whiz past her.

She sent a panicked look toward Highlander to see that he hadn’t been hit again. Reaching up she grabbed the weapon that was under the table and turned toward Cyrus and opened fire.

She fired her weapon three times and waited to see what would happen. When she didn’t hear any shots ring out from the opposite party, she breathed a sigh of relief. Looking where she shot, she saw Cyrus lying on the ground, dead.

Jumping up, she ran to Highlander and checked him over as he was unconscious at that time. She quickly took the duct tape off of his mouth and untied his hands from behind him.

It was then she realized he had been shot, twice. Once in the shoulder and once in the stomach. Screaming his name to wake him up, she ran back to their room to get her cell phone and called 9-1-1.

As she was rushing back into the kitchen with dispatch on the phone, her captain, Sgt. Brocard, and Diesel burst into her home with weapons drawn. Ignoring them as they walked toward Cyrus to check his pulse, she ran back to Highlander.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he was still breathing. She kept begging him not to leave her. Telling him how she loved him and needed him with her. She was oblivious to everything that was going on around her. Her focus was on her husband.

Once she arrived at the hospital, all she could do was pace the hospital room. She was in a world of her own. She didn’t know how she would function without him. He was her rock.

Raso called Marcus to let him know about his brother and had him call the rest of the family. She didn’t know how to respond to her team when they tried to console her and remind her how strong he was. Was this how he felt when he’d been the one on this end?

“MacLeod family?”

“That’s me. I’m his wife.” Laura rushed over to the doctor as he walked into the room.

“Your husband is going to be ok. Both bullets missed any vital organs. The one in his shoulder missed bone and everything important. It was a through and through. The one in his stomach missed all vital organs and bone as well. We were able to remove it successfully. He’s in recovery now. Soon as we get him to a room, you can go be with him. He’s been asking for you.”

“Thank you so much!”

Laura turned to look at her team, seeing the relief in their eyes. Once the doctor had walked out of the room, she broke down. Her team circled her and held her in their embrace as she cried tears of relief.