Hi:

Hope you enjoy and feel the hook enough to keep on reading.

Chapter 78

For whom the bell tolls

As Ryn stands in line holding the receipt for Ben's welcome home cake, an unexpected conversation starts in the light blue SUV.

"I can smell the bread. This place is fantastic." Ben expresses as he opens the window to inhale the pleasing aroma.

"Ben," Maddie's expression is strained, she takes a deep breath. "Ben, do you ever think…like…" Pressing slender fingers to quivering lips, Maddie starts to shake.

"Mad, what's the matter. Mad, my darling. I love you." It becomes the young lover's turn to inhale. "We," his blue eyes peer through the bakery window at Ryn. "Ryn and I love you. We will be together on land and under the sea."
Reaching from the backseat, his hand grips her shoulder. "Maddie, are you afraid of the stem cell therapy?" His face strides her head rest.

"It's not that." She expresses, still pressing her teeth together under a solemn expression. "Ben, do you ever wish…I mean that day you picked up Ryn…" Pearl white teeth scratch a lower lip. "If we never met her? If…maybe we imagined it all?"
Ben sits back his mouth open.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"I mean, since she has arrived…there has been death and people's lives have been tossed upside down."
She turns to the back, her knees on the seat.

"I know, your mother can walk. But have you noticed how she's changed?"

"But?"

"But nothing. Robb would still be saving the oceans. A bunch of Russian guys would still be with there families instead of lying unidentified in some government morgue."

"What about Tia? Without Ryn, Tia would have destroyed our way of life."
"Ben!" The shout fills the vehicle. "Our way of life is destroyed."

"You're wrong. Maddie you are wrong."

"I won't stay here any longer. Ben come with me, before it's too late."

"Maddie, how can you leave us? Why?" His words are torn from the anxiety running through Ben's mind.

"Maddie…Why?"

"This baby is not yours."

He attempts to reply, but she will not be stopped.

"Look at you." Her face sports an angry look. A petite nose flexes as hot air zooms to the stunned man's face.

"Sometimes, sometimes…it's like you are her pet or even a child."

He pushes forward but again his response is stifled.

"Don't speak. Please listen. I know you're having the most unbelievable sex you ever had. Damn, any man ever had." She grabs his hand.

"Ben, I love when the three of us are together." There is a pause though he seems unable to speak. "But how long before she realizes the baby I carry is not yours.?"

The shaken young lover falls back onto the beige cloth seat. His silence is overshadowed by hurried breathing.

The thought is too horrendous to comprehend.

A safe distance from the SUV, Hawkins and Martinez wait for the vehicle to resume its journey.

"They are having a party, I guess, ma'am." The Seal decides.

"I'm a little upset. Why are we not invited?" Asks a grinning Nicole.

At the corner of a side street, two pairs of eyes keep a watch on the two Naval personnel in the Dodge two-door. Then something new comes into view.

"That's Cami." Notices Xander. "She looks like she's sneaking up on Maddie's car."
"Never mind that." Annie also notices something. "Look at that guy. He's been staring at the SUV and then tries to look at the bakery."

"Where?" Asks her colleague.

"There." She points, her finger almost touching the windshield. "The one looking like a businessman or…"

"Or a damn hitman." Xander opens his door, a right hand moves to the holster. "She is doing it. That damn woman is doing it."

"You think Mrs. Pownall is that crazy" Annie joins him beside the unmarked car.

Her weapon drawn, covered by the open down coat.

As Xander and Annie take a path circling the advancing well-dressed stranger, Cami and Brother stand on the curb opposite the SUV.

Their presence is still unknown to the angry, but still bewildered Ben.

"Maddie, we have to discuss this. All three of us," he pauses to take a breath. His hand moves to the area of his gunshot wound, "I can't handle this now."
"Ben, I'm sorry." Slender fingers press against her chest as she appears to feel or sense Ben's pain.

"Ben, are you alright?" She opens her door and moves to the passenger side. "Ben, I'll get Ryn." The nervous young woman talks through his open window.

At that moment, Ryn steps one foot outside the bakery. It becomes a signal for all the antagonists to quicken their pace.

The sight of the young woman's leg descending the steps of the shop sends Elvis Conti into a hurried trot.

Observing this congregation of individuals is Martinez and Hawkins.

"This is it Chief." Nicole pulls out a sigsauer semi-automatic as her colleague opens his khaki trench coat and pulls out an M-4 carbine with a folding stock.

"That dude is the assassin." Hawkins shouts as the two hustle to the area.

As Maddie walks in front of the SUV, she sees a well-dressed man with a pistol drawn.

The sound of a gunshot brings Cami to the back of Conti. Her claw-like nails grab his neck.

The air becomes filled with the smell of gunpowder as two more shots ring out.

"Ryn!" The scream shatters the passenger side windshield of the SUV.

Four shots explode from Hawkins' assault rifle.

And then there is silence.

Note to reader:

Review…

Thanks for the interest.

GJ