Right Place, Right Time

My faithful readers, I wanted to give you a taste from the 8th book in the published Beauty of Life series … SECRETS. This little scene will occur somewhere in the book, but it makes for a nice little FOABL chapter to tide you over until the next book is available.

I am still hard at work on the 7th novel, GUARDIANS: Mission to Rescue Innocence, Currently on chapter 42. Unfortunately, I still don't have a release date for it … but I expect there to be somewhere between 60 and 70 chapters … depends on where the story goes. GUARDIANS will revamp the second half and complete the story Rescue of Mst Cpl Sam Braddock I posted on Fanfiction … which is on hiatus. It will contain tons of new content, as do all the published books, and you will find out what happens to the bad guys and how the good guys make it back to Kandahar. Like PURGATORY, GUARDIANS will start in the present (picks up where SERENITY ended), go back in time, and return to the present. SECRETS will pick up where GUARDIANS ends.

All my books are available on Amazon, search for Laura Acton, to find FORSAKEN, SOLACE, BELONGING, OUTLIER, PURGATORY, and SERENITY.

Hope you enjoy this little scene.

Setting: Sam and Jules are secretly dating the first time.

Outside Lou's Apartment – 11:55 p.m.

Lou locked his vehicle after grabbing the four sacks of left-overs Spike's ma sent home with him. He spent an enjoyable couple of hours with Spike and his mother after being invited to dinner. Mrs. Scarlatti insisted he take more food than he could possibly consume in days when she noted his wrapped hand. She didn't want him to re-injure it by making food.

He could never say no to the lovely lady so accepted gracefully. Perhaps tomorrow he would invite a lady friend over for dinner. Wait, he couldn't. Tomorrow the team was going to the Goose for drinks. With the past few days, everyone except Boss and Jules owed drinks if they applied the rule fairly. Lou approached the courtyard of his complex with a smile. As he walked through the darkened archway he thought, I'm going to have to call maintenance.

At the conclusion of his thought, Lou found himself slammed up against the wall and pinned. The bags of left-overs and his go bag fell to the ground. One of the five masked men said, "Piggies like you deserve to die, but we want you to squirm first. You should never have double-crossed us. We're everywhere, and you'll never know when we're going to strike. Gonna be fun making you watch your precious teammates die first as payback for what you did."

Lou did his best to fend off the blows as the men set upon him. Overpowered, he collapsed to the ground after two solid punches to the jaw were followed by one to his solar plexus and a kick to the back of his knees. The men continued to land vicious hits and kicks to his body.

A shout from a familiar voice stalled the attack for a moment. As three halted their attack, Lou attempted to rise. The face of one man bounced off the pavement next to him, splattering blood as a sickening crunch of cartilage breaking registered in Lou's ears. Gaining his knees, Lou threw a punch, striking one in the groin … given his condition, he wasn't above fighting dirty. A knee to his jaw sent his own head back against the bricks, stunning him. The next few moments were a blur as his vision swam in and out of focus.

He struggled against hands on his torso until the familiar tone of his teammate overrode his fight reflex.

"Hold still. Lou, it's me. I'm not going to hurt you," Sam said as he attempted to hold Lou upright and assess him.

Confusion lit Lou's bloodied face as he blinked to regain his focus. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"Right place, right time. Couldn't sleep, out for a run." Sam didn't share he was jogging home from an evening with Jules.

"You don't live around here." Squinting, and wrapping his arm around his chest, Lou drew in a painful breath.

Deflecting Lou's thoughts, Sam asked, "Who were those guys? As they ran off, one of them called another Alonzo. Does the name mean anything to you?"

The name Alonzo Nores popped into his head as he recalled the threat after he and Spike witnessed a mugging and the team responded. Nores recognized him and told him he better watch his back. That was so long ago he hadn't given it any thought. Alonzo must be out of jail. Well, shit! How did they find out where I live?

Groaning as he pushed to a standing position, Lou considered whether he should come clean with Sam and the rest of the team about his past.

"Whoa. You're in no condition to be standing." Sam moved to steady Lou. "I'm taking you to the emergency room."

"No. I'm fine." Lou wobbled.

Sam smirked. "Yes, I'm sure you are fine … which means a trip to the ER."

A chuckle escaped Lou, which he instantly regretted as pain lanced through his chest.

"Yep, ER here we come." Wrapping Lou's arm over his shoulder, Sam started them towards the parking lot at a slow pace. "Now, about those guys?"

Allowing Sam to take much of his weight, Lou realized the Blooddrop Crew's threat was real, and his team would be in danger. "Gotta call Boss. I got a bit of a problem."

"You can do that on the way. Where are your keys?"

"Right pocket of my jeans."

Sam retrieved the keys and unlocked Lou's sedan, helped him in the passenger seat, closed the door, and scanned the area again. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled as if they were being observed. Striding quickly to the driver's side, he got in and inserted the key. About to turn the ignition a sense of dread ran up his spine.

Leaving the key untouched, he pulled out his phone and dialed. "Hey, Peter, this is Sam. I'm at Lou's place. I need you to send a team now and EMS. Lou was jumped, and I suspect there might be a bomb rigged to his car to go off when turned on."

Lou's eyes popped open. "You what?"

Sam put a hand on Lou's arm. "I also think someone is watching us, but I can't be sure." Sam listened for a moment then said, "Thanks. They need to sweep Lou's apartment too. I'm going to move Lou back to the cover of the courtyard entrance." He hung up and turned to Lou. "Play along when we get out. You've talked me into you being fine, and I'm taking you back to your apartment."

Lou nodded.

Exiting the car, Sam spoke loudly in an exasperated tone as he returned to Lou's side, "Fine, you win. No hospital."

As Lou got out, biting down on the pain and using it to fuel his response, he said, "Hey, you're not the only one who hates hospitals. I don't need to waste my entire night for a few minor bumps."

"Minor my ass. You can barely walk."

"But I'm walking. So I'm fine."

Sam assisted Lou to the archway and carefully lowered him to the ground in a corner, relieved to have him in a relatively safe place. In a soft voice, he said, "Wish I was armed right now."

Lou leaned his head back and grinned. "Thought you were. You have both hands. Aren't they considered lethal weapons?"

Despite his worry, Sam chuckled. "Okay, spill it. Who are those guys?"

Blowing out a breath, Lou shared his secret. "Blooddrop Crew." Lou then told Sam about his youth, about how his childhood friend Esteban Caballero died saving Father Lopez and how the father and the SRU team saved him that same night. How the events changed the direction of his life one hundred and eighty degrees. "No one but Boss knows the full story … well, now you too. Ed and Wordy are aware of my past gang affiliation but not all these details."

Sam listened, and when Lou took a breath and sagged against the wall, he reached out a supportive hand. "Thanks for telling me. I'll keep the particulars to myself."

A long sigh, followed by a moan came from Lou. "Team's gonna need to know. Those guys delivered a message … they want me to suffer. They are going to target the team."

Team Two pulling up stopped the conversation. Sergeant Bradley along with team lead, Doug Starveling, strode over to them. Sam outlined the issue, leaving out details of Lou's acquaintance with his attackers.

After getting Babycakes out of the truck, Curtis Stafford, the team's tech and explosives man, moved the bomb-sniffing robot to Lou's car. "Positive on explosives."

EMS arrived, and Sam grinned as he recognized the lanky form of Jim. His brother would be pleased he wasn't the one needing treatment, but still unhappy Lou had been injured. As Jim and his partner attended Lou and the team took care of searching and securing the area, Sam pulled out his phone.

He wanted to call Jules first to warn her but doing so might let the cat out of the bag on their secret relationship, so he dialed Boss instead. He explained the situation, giving Boss the same line about being out for a run, hating to lie, but not having another option, and attempting to justify it was a partial truth … he had not been sleeping and was running home … so … yeah, it was a lie, and one day it might come back to bite him in the ass.

As Lou was loaded on a gurney, Sam hung up with Boss and said, "He's gonna contact the others. They will all be on alert. He's going to meet us at the hospital, and he said to expect Spike too."

"Mother-hens out in force," Lou groaned but secretly liked the concern of the team.

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Love to hear what you thought of this little piece.