Defending Hannah

behind and protect them. Who did that? Shouldn’t she have been running and screaming like all the others? She had even warned him when someone snuck up behind him. He was losing his edge. Bulldog would never let him live this down. Who was this woman? This could not be the same Hannah O’Connell from his youth. She had been scared and uncertain of everything. He and Adam had watched out for her but once he left for basic training he didn’t allow himself to think about her. Adam kept an eye on her and told him tidbits about her occasionally. As soon as he left she became everything she hated. Her mother’s protégé. What had made her change? It couldn’t be him. She had a childhood crush on him, nothing more.
She had also had flawless tan skin and a toned body she worked out to have. This woman before him was filthy and her ribs poked out telling him she had been starved for quite a while. Her hair was long and matted. Maybe after a shower, she would look more like the Hannah she claimed to be. How odd that he hadn’t thought of her in years and on the same day he thought of her she appears.
Hannah had been weary of Bulldog after she stepped between them telling him she had a backbone but when Bulldog had looked at her she backed down which told him she had been subdued more than once. He wanted to know how she ended up here. Her parents had always been protective of her and not allow her to leave their side without a bodyguard. When he had spoken to Adam a few days ago Adam mentioned nothing about her either. Strange. Ben studied her carefully. Even dirty and half-starved she was beautiful. Thoughts best dead resurfaced. Made him yearn for things. Things he had no business yearning for. He wanted to hold her and comfort her. He had never felt that way about any other woman. Women were only good for one thing and he left right after. After what Hannah had suffered he was sure a crazy night in bed with him was the last thing on her mind. Not that he would ever do that with Hannah. She was so far above his reach it wasn’t even funny. Her father would kill him just for thinking it. He watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye and saw her whispering to herself but it was too low to make out.
All too soon they made it to a small airport and several team members helped the women off the truck. "Careful with them,” Hannah said but didn’t elaborate why. Ben assumed it was because of what they had gone through. Everyone rushed to the waiting C-17 and there was a collective sigh once everyone was on board and they were airborne. Ben walked to the back where Bulldog and his team were sitting once the plane had leveled out. "You guys good?"
Bulldog nodded. "Not even a scratch. What the fuck happened back there?" Bulldog asked Ben with a pointed look.
"Hound found the trap door in the warehouse. We came across a room full of those women and they were each chained to a cot." Bulldog cursed and muttered to himself about low life scum. Ben continued on, ignoring him. "We unlocked them and that’s when guards came out of nowhere from down the end of the opposite hall. Hannah tried to stay behind to buy us time."
All the men looked at him shocked.
“Hannah?” Bulldog asked. “You’re on first name bases with the hostages now?”
Ben realized his mistake immediately. He was never supposed to get close to those he helped. Hannah shouldn’t have been any different. He ran away from her all those years ago because of emotions she invoked in him. Now they had come back just as hard. He didn’t know what to do about them yet. He should treat her like all the others and get her help and move on but the thought of never seeing her again felt wrong. “I knew her from a long time ago.” Ben played it off.
Bulldog wasn’t buying it. “Uh huh.”
“What?” Ben asked defensively. “There was no way I could have left her behind even at the risk of the mission.” He didn’t want to talk about Hannah and their past anymore. He wanted to talk about getting ambushed and who could have leaked the information. Someone had set them up and he wanted to know who. There had been no one guarding the property. They had been waiting for the right moment to strike at Bulldog’s and his team. They had been lucky to get out of there with their lives.
"No one would have expected you to," Romeo, a teammate of Bulldog’s, spoke up.
“I convinced her to leave and she even took me to the guy’s office so I could upload his files.”
“She sounds like a very brave woman,” Bulldog said quietly.
Ben nodded in agreement. She was selfless and always willing to sacrifice her happiness for others, or at least that was how he remembered her. He realized he took advantage of her when they were younger. She was always helping him and he let her and lust after her. Now wasn’t the time to think about that however. “Something isn’t right about this mission and I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I’ll have Hound contact his FBI buddy, Blade and see what he can come up with.”
“Just do me a favor. When you find out who it is. Let me know. No one betrays brothers.” Bulldog’s piercing green eyes locked on Ben. Ben agreed and went back to his team and watched Hannah. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Like a moth drawn to a flame. She sat forward in her seat with her legs to her chest and resting her head on her knees. He wondered what she was thinking about. He was wondering a lot more about her if he was going to be