Free Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Us (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Magan Vernon

there was a sudden sense of pride. Yet I also had so many questions, not just for Luz, but eventually for my gran as well. “Do…do you want me to stay here with you? In this…um…bordello?”
    Luz smiled, shaking her head softly. “No, my dear. This will probably be the last time we see each other for a while. I wanted to be closer. I thought many times of just closing down and moving to California, but this was as close as I could be for your safety. I didn’t want them to catch our scent. If they found one of us together, they’d find the other.”
    She sighed. “If it is poachers that were after you, they’re already on the trail here. I will have to contact the rest of the rook and make sure they’re safe before I send my men after them. Maybe this time my men can end the threat and we won’t have to go in hiding, but I can’t count on that. If the poachers close in on us, we’ll all have to leave.”
    “When will I see you again?” I asked, not wanting to sound desperate but I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to stop the questions.
    Luz nodded toward my necklace. “As long as you have the stone and listen to the sea, you’ll always find me.”

Chapter 12
     
    Calder
     
    Maya was silent on the drive back from the bordello.
    I didn’t know how the hell we were supposed to read the map with all of the gibberish and I had so many more questions for Luz. Maya seemed just as confused about the map as I was and neither of us had a hint how to read it. But she shooed us both out, saying it was too dangerous for us to stay any longer, before we could ask anything more.
    “So…how do you think she knew so much about each of us?” I asked Maya, trying to break the silence.
    “I think she sees things. Like, more than other people do. That or she probably did a quick Google search and it’s pretty easy to find out everything about you from there.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Have you searched me on the internet?”
    Even in the dim light of the car I could see the blush creeping on her cheeks. “Maybe.”
    “And what did you find?”
    She shrugged. “It was just a quick search, the night I met you. I just found stuff about you being a hometown hero and the military…”
    “And my injury, I guess.”
    She sighed. “That too.”
    I licked my lips, shaking my head as I turned off the highway onto the road toward the villas. “You know, I used to think that the accident defined me. That everything else before that didn’t matter. I wasn’t a hero or a naval doctor anymore, just a gimp. Now I know, especially after meeting you, that we’re more than the thing that holds us back.”
    She opened her mouth to respond but instead gasped when we crested a hill and the moonlight cascaded over the ocean and onto a beautiful village of villas surrounding a grand hotel.
    “Calder, is this where we are staying?” she asked.
    I grinned, pulling up to the main building. “I knew you’d say no if I told you, so I just booked it. I have to go check in and then we can unpack in our villa.”
    She stared at me open mouthed. “You didn’t have to.”
    I parked and opened the door, then looked back at Maya and smiled. “I know. But I wanted to.”
    I got our key from the front desk and then drove around an array of smaller villa and then down a small road until we approached a house that was bigger than Maya’s grandmother’s. It was two stories tall with a large wrap around deck on the second floor.
    “This is home sweet home. At least for a night or two,” I said, opening my door then walking around the car to open hers.
    She continued to stare. “Calder, I’d have been fine just camping on the beach.”
    I shook my head and opened the trunk, grabbing both of our bags. “Look, I haven’t taken a vacation in a while either, so this is a treat for both of us.”
    Maya followed me to the door and I slid the keycard in before pushing it open, turning on the light, and setting down our bags.
    The living