The Captain's Wife
Chapter 10
Miller had moved the containers that held the sprouting plants to strategic areas. Some were in the barn, some in the greenhouse, a few in the house. If Giorgio and his bunch showed up, Fellows would have gave him the intel that the seeds were in the greenhouse and they had to be protected, as much as Christine Slattery did. They hadn't used all the original seeds and so Miller took the seeds out of the container and stuck them inside one of Adam's toy dinosaurs. They wouldn't look in it, and if they shook it, he had also put cotton balls in them to make them not rattle and stuck it in the bottom of the toy box. He hadn't even told Captain Slattery where all he had hidden them. It almost made him smile, the fate of the world's food supply was inside of a two year old's toy dinosaur.
There was only way onto the farm that was easily accessed, the lane. It was more like a logging trail and Mike and Miller had set up some booby traps. They also set a huge bonfire, with a twofold purpose, to light the yard and to draw in Giorgio's crew and the reinforcements. They were outnumbered, it was dark, and there were only two of them to protect a woman and three children plus the seeds. Mike was personally invested which meant that he would fight to hell and back to protect his family and Miller would follow suite. If they had nothing, they had that.
About eleven o'clock they heard a lot of noise out by the lane. Miller had worked out a signal with the headlights for their envoy with Tom and when the vehicle didn't do the exact sequence they knew it was Giorgio's crew. Mike nodded at Miller and they both looked towards the bedroom window. All they could do is offer a silent prayer that the family would come out of it okay.
There were so many things that Mike still wanted to do with his family. He wanted to watch the kids grow up, he wanted to play an active role in their lives, and he wanted to help Brooke get through her issues, to show her that he would leave the Navy for her. He wanted to grow old with Christine, he wanted to help her farm this land, he wanted to sleep in the same bed with her every night, he wanted to show his beautiful, amazing wife off when she made those stupid seeds grow into food, and show her how beautiful he thought she was. He wanted to be there with them. He also wanted to watch Miller grow into the amazing sailor that he was capable of being. They just had to live through the night.
There were two separate S.U.V's, carrying over a dozen men and Lucia. Mike and Miller were horribly outnumbered and Tom and their reinforcements were at least an hour out. It would be a miracle if they survived.
"What's the plan, Sir?"
"Win. That's all I got. I don't care about the seeds. Christine and my kids come out of this okay. They are your priority; get to the back of the house."
"Sir, if I do that, you are here by yourself. I understand what you are saying but…"
"Go."
"Yes, sir"
They split up. Mike knew that Miller had moved all the sprouting plants and original seeds but he wasn't sure where to. He was thinking on his feet which was a good thing. He saw Giorgio and Lucia get out of the first SUV. She was wearing high heels, a skirt that was slit half way up her hip and a low cut top. Giorgio looked bored. They had figured out while they were in the Med that Lucia was more of the brains and they were both controlled by their father. Mike had a small packet of similar looking seeds in his pocket that he would use as a diversion.
"My guess is you want the seeds?"
"Yes, give them over now or we will kill your family. They are your weakness well except for Nostos."
"Mmm, that is where you're wrong. They are my biggest strength. As far as the Nostos is concerned, well, if you hadn't stabbed me, that wouldn't be an issue. Now here is a packet of the seeds. Our botanists have used them up and this is it." He tossed the packet over to Lucia, and could see the outrage on her face.
"Well, that's just too bad. See, a couple of the guys snuck around the back before your sailor went back and they have your oldest daughter. Pretty girl. Your wife and other kids are okay. She volunteered to save them. My guy has already dosed her with the Nostos. She is a mess. You are already aware of what that stuff can do to someone and now your precious little girl is dealing with that. She keeps talking about Lucas crying for you while he was dying. My guys could rape her, could kill her, but I think this is much more effective. This is something that will affect her for the rest of her life and you will have to watch it."
Mike felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. He heard the front door open and two large men practically carrying Brooke out onto the porch. She was sobbing and had sunk to her knees. Mike couldn't lower his weapon to help her and so all he could do was listen to her sob and talk about Lucas crying for him.
"You have a choice. You give the seeds up and you can go help her. Or you can let her sob and cry. If you are any kind of a father, you will give them up. She is trapped in her own head and so she will be no help to you and your sailor thinks all is well."
"If I had seeds to give, I would. That packet I just tossed you is all that is left. My wife and I were a bit busy and she hadn't planted them yet. You know, we were just a bit distracted with one another. Hadn't seen her in three years, you can imagine. Sorry I can't help you. As far as me being any type of a father, I am pretty worthless to my kids. So I will stand here all night with this gun pointed at you. Brooke can cry, because like I said, I am pretty worthless to her. "
Lucia and Giorgio looked at each other. They hadn't been prepared for Mike to stand his ground and not go to Brooke. None of their men knew quite what to do either. And Brooke's loud sobs were distracting. Mike was standing with his back to her pointing the gun at Lucia and Giorgio. He couldn't watch her. Listening to her was bad enough.
Miller had called Tom when Mike told him to split off, and he knew there was a back way in to the farm. He had heard the entire conversation and knew that Brooke and Mike were both in the crossfire. He went upstairs and got Christine who was completely overwrought and the two younger kids to come downstairs and go to his bedroom. As upset as Christine was, she could prove a tactical advantage. Miller knew that a mother protecting her child was better than any Navy Seal. Vulture team showed up using the back entrance just as Miller was getting Christine and the kids situated.
Lucia and Giorgio had not planned well at all because as soon they had brought Brooke outside, all of their men were in the front yard. The downfall was that if the team went through and around the house it would put Mike and Brooke directly in the middle. Tom told Miller that if they did that Mike would immediately dive to cover Brooke. It was really the only plan that they had and it was not a good one. Miller was just happy there was someone else besides him calling the shots. Captain Slattery was distracted between holding off Giorgio's crew and listening to Brooke. He wasn't sure how he was even doing it. It was heart wrenching.
The team slowly went through the house, staying low so they wouldn't be seen. A few of them went around the sides of the house. Azima had stayed with Christine and the kids.
Mike had heard some movement in the back of the house and all he could hope for was that it was Miller. It was absolutely the hardest thing he had ever done not going to Brooke. Had he done that, it would have distracted him to the point that Giorgio and Lucia could do whatever they wanted. The only thing he could hope for was that she was so trapped within her hallucination that she wouldn't remember him not helping her. It was a horrible hope but it was all he could do.
The greenhouse had been sat on fire. Mike could only hope that Miller had gotten the original seeds out of there. He heard a shot fired from behind him and saw his crew coming from behind the house and from in the house. He knew Giorgio's people would open fire and in Brooke's state, she wouldn't have the sense to protect herself. As badly as he wanted to help his team, he couldn't lose another child and she took priority. He dove on top of her, his entire body covering her's and the shots were going off everywhere. He felt a bullet go into his shoulder but he honestly didn't feel any pain. As long as it didn't go through him and hit Brooke, he didn't care. She was being remarkably still.
Giorgio's goons had snuck in the back of the house before Miller had gone around back and came upstairs. Brooke volunteered to go with them because she didn't want her mom or siblings hurt and her mom couldn't get a shot off. Her mom and dad would get through losing her; they wouldn't if something happened to Hannah or Adam. She was a mess anyway. The two idiots had wanted her to drink some weird smelling tea that they had with them, and had poured it into one of Adam's cups. They were too distracted and she swapped it out with another cup, problem being was it was milk that had started to sour. She gulped it down before either of them realized it wasn't the tea. They had talked about her having hallucinations and being high and so she just acted the part. Once they got outside and her dad heard her talking about Lucas, it had to hurt. She had to make it sound realistic but her dad had done exactly what she figured he would do. He did move to where he was standing in front of her but he held his position while she sobbed and cried.
Brooke heard the crew coming through the house and knew she couldn't move and give away their position and when the first shot rang out, she curled up into a fetal position and immediately felt someone covering her with their body. She had realized it was her dad when she felt him get shot. He had cried out in pain but didn't move. She just stayed still. She could feel blood dripping and at first she thought her dad had died, but then felt his heart beating and felt him breathing.
Finally the shooting stopped and she felt someone lift her dad off of her. He had passed out but was still breathing. The bullet had hit an artery and there was blood everywhere. Tom helped Brooke up off the ground and was checking her over. Thankfully she was unharmed and told him that she wasn't really high. It had brought a laugh. Giorgio, Lucia and their crew were dead. Tom's team was completely unharmed, except for Mike and he would be okay as soon as they got the artery clamped. Rios and Greene were working on him. Brooke wanted to stay with him and so one of the other crew members went in and told Christine and the kids that Brooke was okay and Mike would be.
They carried Mike inside and Miller took the two younger kids upstairs so they wouldn't be upset by the amount of blood that Mike was losing. Between Rios, Greene and Tom they finally got the bleeding to stop, the bullet had shattered Mike's collarbone and he had lost a tremendous amount of blood. He needed a transfusion. Brooke immediately sat down next to him and insisted that they use her blood. Rios wasn't happy about it, and Brooke had to assure him that she hadn't actually drank the tea, but once the blood was transfused, Mike started doing better. Christine couldn't handle being downstairs and so she went upstairs to try and get the younger kids to sleep. She tried to convince Brooke to go up too but Brooke refused. She sat next to the couch where Mike was laying and held his hand.
Mike slowly came to, his whole body hurt. But all he could think about was Brooke. He knew his team would protect Christine, Hannah and Adam but Brooke had been in the line of fire. His eyes were already welling up with tears when he realized someone was holding his hand. He expected it to be Christine. Whoever it was leaned against the couch and he couldn't really see them. He was thrashing around and Rios came over to stop him. Tom had bent down to shake Brooke awake.
"Brooke, my baby girl? Is she okay? Please tell me she is okay?"
"I'm right here, Daddy. I'm okay."
Brooke was kneeling to where Mike could see her and he immediately tried to pull her close which caused him to cry out in pain. Someone had gone up and got Christine. She knelt next to Brooke and touched Mike's hand. He was trying desperately to hug both of them but Rios had his left arm strapped to his chest due to the collarbone being such a mess. The bullet had gone through the back of his shoulder and struck his collarbone. If had been a through and through it would have hit Brooke and probably killed her. He had noticed the blood on Brooke's shirt and immediately thought that she had been hurt but when she promised him she was fine, he settled back down and went to sleep.