A Moment in Time Read online

  “Why?”

  “Why? You want to know why?”

  “Yeah,” Kassie whispered, not liking Richard’s tone. He sounded exactly like he had in her apartment the week before, when he’d lost it and beaten her.

  “Because those fuckers cheated. They cheated and embarrassed me and my platoon! They think they’re hot shit—and they won’t get away with it. I’ve got plans for them. Oh yeah, big plans.”

  “Who? Cheated in what?” Kassie asked, still completely lost.

  “The fucking exercise!” Richard shouted. “They had us killed before we were even ready to start. They cheated!”

  Kassie had no idea what he was talking about, but she tried to placate him anyway. “Okay, Richard. I can do that.” She had no intention of trying to lure a guy into talking to her on a website, then using him to give information to Richard. She wouldn’t do it. He couldn’t make her, not like he had with the grog and the other stuff he’d done at his apartment the other night.

  “Good. One just started dating a chick with a kid. I can totally use that.”

  Richard was talking more to himself than to her now, but Kassie didn’t interrupt him. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she was scared to death at the implications.

  “Yeah. We need a do-over. I can get Dean to help, and my other buddies. We’ll need money though…oh yeah, I know just how to get it.” He laughed then. An evil laugh that was cold and unfeeling.

  “Are you coming to Austin this weekend?” Kassie asked softly, wanting to know if she needed to hide out to stay away from him.

  “No. But that doesn’t mean you get to fuck around on me. Dean’s there and will keep his eye on you. I gotta go. I’ll email you the details.” And he hung up without another word.

  Kassie clicked off her phone, relieved that Richard wouldn’t be coming down to Austin to see her, but feeling nervous for whoever the woman and child were who he’d been mumbling about. That really couldn’t be good. She felt a twinge of guilt for feeling glad it wasn’t her Richard had set his sights on this time.

  Sighing, Kassie went into her bathroom to put on her makeup. She could use a scarf around her neck to hide some of the bruises from her coworkers and the customers, but it looked like she’d need to use a heavier than usual foundation for a while more.

  Kassie collapsed into her couch and sighed in relief at finally being home. Work was a bitch and it sucked that Dean was still following her around, but at least she hadn’t seen Richard in a while.

  She clicked on the television and closed her eyes, trying to work up the energy to get up and make something for dinner. The news droned on in the background—and it wasn’t until Richard’s name was said that she sat up and her eyes popped open in surprise.

  * * *

  Tonight’s big story comes from Fort Hood. Sergeant Richard Jacks has been charged with kidnapping and a whole host of other charges stemming from an incident last night. Allegations are that he kidnapped a woman and her child then used them as bait for a platoon of soldiers. Our source tells us that he was upset over a training exercise that took place a couple of months ago and retaliated by kidnapping the girlfriend and child of one of the soldiers he considered responsible for his embarrassment.

  Sergeant Jacks was wounded in the altercation, but is expected to survive. He is currently in the hospital and once he recovers, he will stand trial. If convicted, he faces time in federal prison, most likely at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. Tune in tomorrow morning for the latest updates on the situation.

  * * *

  Kassie tried to suck in breath, but couldn’t. Richard had kidnapped the woman and child he’d talked to her about a couple of months ago? He was wounded? He was in jail?

  For the first time in a long time, almost a year, Kassie felt as if she could breathe.

  She was free.

  Free of Richard and his threats.

  Free of Dean’s eyes watching her every move.

  She could delete her account at the stupid dating site.

  Free.

  Her cell phone rang, and Kassie jumped ten feet. She laughed at herself and swiped her thumb across the screen without looking down.

  “This is Kassie.”

  “Don’t think you’re off the hook.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t think you’re off the hook,” Dean repeated. “Your boyfriend might be behind bars, but nothing changes.”

  Kassie shook her head in disbelief. “He’s not my boyfriend, Dean. This is crazy.”

  “You’re still his woman. Until he tells me differently, I’m keeping my eye on you, as usual. Be a good girl and I won’t have to report your defiance to Richard. Step things up on the dating site. Those fuckers think they’ve beaten us—they haven’t. We just need to regroup. And we need intel.”

  The ball of dread that had disappeared a moment ago was back, tenfold.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because you belong to Richard. Lock, stock, and barrel. I’ll call later with more information.”

  Kassie stared at her cell phone and collapsed back on the couch. She’d tried to stand up to Dean and Richard. She had. But after her tires had been slashed four times, threatening letters had shown up at work, and Dean himself had shown up at her work time after time, only to stand around and stare at her, she’d caved. It was easier to act like she was going along with what they wanted than to outwardly defy them.

  The threat of Richard always loomed over her. He liked to show up at her door and surprise her…and knock her around while he was at it. At least with him behind bars, he couldn’t hit her anymore, but Kassie wasn’t sure Dean was any less of a threat. He was…creepier. He wouldn’t hit her. No, he’d destroy her life however he could—but he wouldn’t lay a hand on her.

  She took a deep breath and pushed herself up and off the couch. She walked to the table in the other room and clicked on her computer. Might as well get the dating website thing out of the way for the night. With tears in her eyes, she clicked it on and began to search.

  Kassie didn’t want to make the call, but she had to. She punched in Dean’s number on her phone and brought it up to her ear.

  “What?”

  “I got one of them to answer me.”

  “Who?”

  “Hollywood.”

  “Good. Now don’t fuck it up. We need information. Richard is ready to move this on. He might be behind bars, but he’s watching, never forget that.”

  Kassie felt the resentment well up inside her. “How can I? You tell me every time we talk. I don’t like doing this, Dean. I don’t know why you guys can’t just drop it. Richard is behind bars. It’s over. We aren’t dating anymore, I haven’t seen him in months, this is insane. What is he going to do if I say fuck it? Huh?”

  “It’s not Richard you need to worry about,” Dean said in a low, evil tone. “This fight is our fight for justice. Not just Richard’s. You want to know what will happen if you don’t do this? If you don’t find out what we want to know from one of those assholes? We’ve been patient. We’ve been nice about everything. You got cold feet and tried to break up with Richard, but he let it go. But you’re still his, Kassie. His. His to do with what he wants, when he wants, and with who he wants. But if you need motivation…maybe your sister will give you that incentive.”

  “What? Karina? What are you talking about? Leave her alone! Please!” Kassie begged.

  “You do what you’re supposed to, and she’ll be fine. Decide to grow a set, and she won’t be fine. It’s your choice.”

  “How did I get here?” Kassie whispered more to herself than Dean.

  “You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be,” Dean said. “Now, behave yourself and no one will get hurt. Let me know how things are progressing with Hollywood and I’ll pass the info on to Richard. As long as you’re doing what he told you to do, nothing bad will happen.”

  Kassie hung up without another word. Through tears, she pulled the keyboard over to her
and clicked on the message Hollywood had finally sent her last night. She’d sent him a few messages, not sure he’d ever respond, hoping he wouldn’t, but apparently she’d piqued his interest somehow. She closed her eyes and hesitated with her fingers on the keys.

  “I’m sorry,” she said softly to the man she was messaging, even though he couldn’t hear her. “I’m so sorry I’m dragging you into this…but I don’t have a choice.” Then she took a deep breath, said, “My life sucks,” and began to type, returning Hollywood’s email and trying to pretend she was a normal girl, trying to meet a man she wanted to date.

  If you want to find out what happens to Kassie and Hollywood, you can read Rescuing Kassie, book 5 in the Delta Force Heroes series.

  The Gift

  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.

  * * *

  Copyright © 2017 by Susan Stoker

  * * *

  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.

  Author Note

  This short story features little Annie and her new friend, Frankie. You met him in Protecting Kiera. Now, I am aware that PK is only available on Amazon US, but you can read this story and get the gist of who Frankie is and what happened to him in Protecting Kiera.

  Also, before you ask…yes I’m planning on writing Annie’s story someday. I can’t NOT write it. She’s an amazing character and I know everyone wants to see her get her HEA.

  The question is…will it be with Frankie or not? :)

  Enjoy and I hope you get ALL the feels with this story!

  ~Susan

  The Gift

  Annie fidgeted between her parents and stared hard at the entryway. She squeezed her mom’s hand and looked up at her. “How much longer?”

  “I don’t know, baby,” Emily told her daughter. “Their plane landed ten minutes ago, but it sometimes takes a while for everyone to get off. And maybe they had to use the restroom. They’ll be here soon. Patience.”

  “I can’t wait to meet Frankie,” the little girl told her parents for the millionth time.

  Her dad, Cormac “Fletch” Fletcher, squatted down in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t be offended if he’s shy, squirt,” he said. “Since he’s deaf, it’s probably hard for him to make friends.”

  Annie nodded enthusiastically. “I know, but I want to show him my Army men, and my room, and where I play cars behind the garage. Do you think he’ll want to spend the night with me? There’s only one bed in the apartment and the adults will probably want to stay there and even though the couch is super comfy, maybe we can have a sleepover?”

  “We’ll see,” Fletch told her, standing back up. He stepped to his wife’s side and leaned in, whispering in her ear, “I’m not sure I’m okay with my daughter setting up sleepovers with boys at age seven.”

  Emily choked back a laugh and whispered, “We’ll see how she feels when she can’t communicate with him.”

  Fletch merely shook his head and grinned. “Don’t underestimate our daughter. I think she could make friends with a terrorist if she put her mind to it.”

  “Isthathimisthathimisthathim?” Annie cried out, jumping up and down in her excitement.

  Emily looked up and saw a couple walking toward them. The man was holding the hand of a boy who looked to be about the same age as Annie. When he gave a chin lift to Fletch, she knew for certain it was. “Yes, that’s them.”

  Before the last word was out of her mouth, Annie had taken off running toward the trio. As if they were long-lost brother and sister, she went right up to the little boy and threw her arms around him.

  By the time Emily and Fletch had reached the group, Annie had pulled back and was smiling hugely at the boy.

  “Coop,” Fletch said, holding out his hand. “How was the flight?”

  “No problems. Thanks for picking us up.”

  “Of course. When our commander said you were coming in to give a few classes on using sign language to communicate with others while on missions, I remembered that Tex had talked about you. I couldn’t resist the chance to pick your brain before we hit the base.”

  Cooper “Coop” Nelson chuckled. “I’m always surprised when I run into people who know Tex, but I shouldn’t be. This is my girlfriend, Kiera Hamilton.”

  Fletch shook the woman’s hand, as did Emily.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Emily said. “Fletch said you’re a teacher?”

  “I am,” Kiera said. She also signed the words at the same time. “I work at a school for deaf children. Frankie is one of my students. I met Cooper when he was volunteering there.”

  “And his dad let you fly him across the country?” Emily asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

  “Yeah. We went through a…thing,” Kiera looked over at Cooper and shrugged, then continued, “He kinda made us Frankie’s God-parents and we’re all pretty close.”

  Fletch wanted to know more about the “thing” Kiera mentioned, but figured he’d ask Cooper later. He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down at Annie. He and Emily had taught her that it was rude to interrupt, but sometimes her enthusiasm got the better of her. “I wanna tell Frankie my name with my fingers. But I don’t know how.”

  Kiera squatted down next to the children. She patiently showed Annie how to finger spell her name for Frankie. She caught on quickly. She turned to the little boy, who had stayed glued to Cooper’s side, and waved her little hand, pointing to herself, then painstakingly spelled out A-N-N-I-E.

  A smile came across the boy’s face for the first time. He waved back, pointed to himself, then spelled his own name.

  Without a word, Annie tried to copy him, and when she forgot one of the letters, Frankie reached out and helped her manipulate her fingers and hand into making the letter.

  Kiera stood up and smiled at Cooper. “Looks like they’re going to get along just fine.”

  They all headed down the escalator toward the baggage claim area, chatting about nothing in particular. Cooper and Fletch talked about work, Emily and Kiera made small talk about the apartment over the garage where they’d be staying, and what Kiera might want to do while Cooper was at the base working, and Annie and Frankie gestured back and forth, giggled, and solidified their fast friendship.

  Emily sat with Kiera on the back patio after dinner and after the men had disappeared inside to talk shop. The two women watched Annie and Frankie playing together in the grass. Annie had brought out her precious Army men Fletch had given her when he’d first met her. They were still in their boxes, even though the cardboard was looking a little rough around the edges. All around the Barbie-size dolls were little plastic green Army men, matchbox cars, and little metal tanks she’d gotten for Christmas the year before.

  The two kids were playing happily, communicating by gesturing back and forth and lots of pointing.

  “What’s Frankie’s story?” Emily asked.

  “He was sick when he was a baby and lost his hearing. His dad moved to our area and enrolled Frankie in my school. He was withdrawn and sullen because of the drama and upheaval of the move and his discontent at his home life. It didn’t help that his mom made it clear she didn’t really like her son and the fact that he couldn’t hear.”

  Emily sucked in a horrified breath. “Oh my God. Poor Frankie.”

  “
Yeah, I’m super over-simplifying here, but his dad divorced the woman, partly because she was a bitch and mostly because she was a freaking drug addict. Frankie met Cooper, who in no way could ever be called anything less than a man, and immediately got a case of hero-worship...not that I can blame him.”

  “Well, thank God for that,” Emily said, sitting back in her chair in relief.

  “Oh, but then she came to the school and tried to kidnap him.”

  Emily’s eyes opened so wide, they looked like they’d bug right out of her head.

  Kiera laughed. “Don’t worry. I jumped in her car too and Cooper and one of his friends came to our rescue. But Frankie learned firsthand that day how cool it was to be able to speak in secret code.” Kiera held up her hands and made air quotes around the last two words.

  Emily smiled at her. “And you? How’d you learn sign language?”

  “My mom is deaf.”

  “Ah. Makes sense. So Frankie’s dad was okay with you guys bringing him with you to Texas?”

  “Yeah. After the attempted kidnapping, and with Cooper rescuing his son and me putting myself in danger for him, he officially made us Frankie’s God-parents His dad had an out-of-town meeting and we volunteered to bring Frankie with us.”

  “That’s amazing. I know I trust any of Fletch’s friends with Annie’s life,” Emily said.

  The little girl laughed just then, and the two adults turned to see what was so funny.

  Annie was giggling so hard, she’d fallen onto her back in the grass and was rolling around in glee.

  “What’s so funny?” Emily called out.

  Annie turned on her side and propped her head up with a hand as she looked over at her mom. “Frankie is. He’s hilarious.”