inside herself to escape. He didn’t blame her. He needed a drink.
“You’ve seen a lot in the Army. How bad is this?” Summer asked.
“She’ll be all right. What you need to understand is that in combat, or special ops, you know what you’re facing going in. Your enemy assumes the same risk you do. Jenna didn’t ask for this. She didn’t sign up and say, ‘Let’s go fight.’ Someone beat her and tortured her because she’s weaker and smaller and couldn’t fight back. I can’t make sense out of that, the way I can rationalize combat. What this person did makes me sick.”
He shared a look with his sister. They had always been close, but he’d been distant for a long time, keeping everyone at arm’s length. He had never felt closer to her than he did at this moment. He had Jenna to thank for that.
The front door crashed open to the shouts of Lily calling for her mom and him.
“Stop her before she comes up here. She’ll be scarred for life if she sees Jenna looking like this.”
Summer rushed out the door and down the stairs to intercept her daughter and husband.
Caleb took one look at his pale and exhausted wife. “That bad, huh. Pete called,” he answered her unspoken question about how he found out.
“Worse. Go up and see Jack. Don’t say anything, though. When she heard Pete’s voice before, she panicked. Just see if Jack needs any help cleaning up. Tell him I’ll come by in the morning. I’m taking Lily home.”
They shared a long kiss, Summer holding him as tight as she could, Lily squirming between them. Caleb returned the embrace, knowing she needed the support.
Chapter Nine
* * *
CALEB MADE HIS way up the stairs without a sound. He’d served with Jack in the Army and saw a lot of things himself. They’d both been in the Rangers and had special training in emergency medicine. Nothing prepared him to see his long-time friend holding a woman’s hand, the same haunted look he’d seen in his eyes when he sat beside their friend’s burned and bloodied body. Dead from a roadside bomb, Jack unable to save him. Caleb hoped to never see that look on his friend’s face again. But here Jack sat, the past haunting him.
Caleb took in the woman’s injuries and how Jack had tended all of them. A bandage covered her entire thigh. Caleb knew whatever happened, it was bad. As steady as they came, confidence under fire, the one person Caleb could count on to get him out of any type of dangerous situation. Here Jack sat, staring at a woman, a single tear sliding down his cheek. Struck speechless, Caleb wouldn’t have been able to say anything, regardless of his wife telling him to remain silent.
Sally gave Caleb’s presence away when she let out a low growl. Stunned, Caleb had never heard the dog growl at anyone. Jack scrubbed both hands down his face. He held his finger up to his lips to make sure Caleb stayed silent. Caleb nodded and went into the bathroom and brought out the trashcan. Jack gathered the bloodied bandages and used medical supplies, dumping them inside. They repacked Jack’s medic bag and headed for the door and downstairs. Before Jack made it to the door, he turned back to the bed and leaned down to the woman.
“I’ll be back. Sleep now. You’re safe.”
“Rabbit’s on the run,” came her soft whimpering voice.
Jack didn’t understand her meaning. He didn’t understand any of this. He kissed her hair softly and joined Caleb at the door.
“What did she mean, Rabbit’s on the run?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t been really clear the last hour or so.”
They went downstairs in silence. Jack led the way to the bar in the Great Room. While pouring a double shot of whiskey, he rubbed at the back of his neck, then lifted the glass and drained the entire thing. He thumped the glass back onto the bar and with both hands, raked his fingers through his hair. He poured another double for himself and handed a second to Caleb.
“You okay?”
“Do I look okay?” Jack snapped.
“No. Who is that woman upstairs? Pete called the house, said Summer might need me here, and you have some beat-up woman lying in your guest room. What the hell is going on?”
“Jenna Caldwell. That’s all I know. Her name. Well, that and the fact she mentioned driving from God knows where for the last four days. Can you imagine