Cora knew Liam was upset over her endangerment and so was lashing out, but it still didn’t stop his words from cutting her like a knife. She had only been trying to help. No, she had helped. She wouldn’t allow Liam to take that away from her. If he had wanted a complacent woman who hid in a corner while her man went off to war, he picked the wrong girl. “I did what I had to, and I won’t apologize for it. If you can’t accept that then to hell with you and get out of my life.” Cora spoke calmly, but her tone was icy.
Cora turned away from him dismissing him and went upstairs to check on Ortiz who was already being looked over by Carter, a fellow member of Ben’s team whom they all called Doc. As Cora approached them, she could see Ortiz on his back with his eyes open. Cora dropped down next to him and smiled in relief.
“Is he going to be okay?” She asked Carter.
“Are you kidding? He’s too stubborn to die especially from a piece of wood.”
Ortiz grunted in agreement. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
“Thank you, Ortiz.” Words couldn’t express how thankful she was he had been on the roof with her and pulled her to safety. Before today all she saw was a fun-loving guy but when lives were on the line he took charge, all while eating cookies. It was odd, but whatever worked.
“No, Chica. You didn’t have to be on that roof, but you were. You saved our lives. I couldn’t have done all that shooting on my own.”
Cora gave him half a smile. “Glad I could help.” Cora didn’t want to think about what she had done. Killing wasn’t in her nature, but she had protected these men. Her friends. She knew she would do it again if she had to. “Is it over now?” Cora asked Carter.
Carter paused in his patching up Ortiz and looked at her. “It is. When we came back, Bulldog told us they were coming so we hid in the tree line, and we waited.” Carter wasn’t telling her something Liam hadn’t already told her. “We cleared them all out. We thought we got them all when we heard the voices in the house. I’ve never seen Liam so scared before as when he saw you facing off three men. As soon as you were clear, he took the shots. That was good thinking racing for the kitchen and not leading them towards Oreo here or Hannah downstairs.”
“Why didn’t I know you were here?” She was hurt that everyone seemed to know what the full plan was but her. Was it because she was a woman and they didn’t think she could handle it?
“We thought it best. We wanted the element of surprise. Alejandro’s army was so focused on watching the front of the house it wasn’t that hard sit there on the side and wait. If you had known, we were there; you would have been watching for us and given our position away.” Would she? Maybe. Had she judged Liam too harshly for not telling her they had been there? She supposed she would never know.
Cora nodded and turned to Ortiz. “I’m glad you’re alright, Ortiz. If everything is over, I’m going to go pack. I’m ready to go home.” The threat was over. There was no reason for her to stay here any longer. She wanted to go home and forget about Liam and all his damn secrets. She understood the secrets of his job, but this hadn’t been a job. It had been a personal mission and she’d had a right to know about it.
Carter looked up at something over Cora’s shoulder, and she didn’t have to look to know that Liam was standing behind her. She could feel his eyes boring into her. She didn’t turn to acknowledge him. She was still hurt by his earlier remark. She stood and walked off to her bedroom. She could hear the men whispering behind her, but she couldn’t hear what. It didn’t matter. She was going back home after this, and she would never see Liam again. She couldn’t do this roller coaster of emotions with him again. She understood why he kept his family a secret. It wasn’t out of embarrassment but out of not wanting people’s pity for feeling they needed to help shoulder his burden. She understood the secrets of his job. But she couldn’t put herself through this again. She thought she could handle it but she quickly realized she couldn’t. She would go back to her nice normal quiet life. With her mind set Cora began packing.
Chapter Fifteen
Liam stared forlornly after Cora. He didn’t think she would take this so hard, him not telling her that they were there. But then he hadn’t expected her to be on the roof of Hound’s house firing at Alejandro’s men. He had just been trying to protect her. If she had known they were there, she would have been looking for him, and might have given a clue to the enemy where they had been lying in wait. He had seen two sets of flashes on the roof but figured one of them had been Bulldog’s teammates. Why had they let her on the roof? He couldn’t say women didn’t belong in battle. He had seen plenty of women soldiers, but they hadn’t been Cora. When the roof exploded from the RPG, he feared for the two people on the roof. He didn’t want to have to explain to Bulldog’s base commander
