A Hero In Uniform - The Complete Series (6 page)

“
A little.” Kelley admitted. “Not the feeling. I don't find that strange. I just find it strange that it happened so fast.”

Daniel was silent for a few minutes before he asked, “Are you okay with seeing where it might lead?”

Kelley couldn't stop the smile that split her face.

She'd been expecting the this was a mistake line, and here he was, the man she'd fallen in love with, was asking if she wanted to make a go of a relationship. 

She was very eager to see where it went.

Daniel grinned at the goofy smile on her face and stated, “I'll take that smile as a yes.”

She nodded and pulled him down for a kiss, her body warming for more of his touch.

At midnight, Kelley gets a craving for something meaty, so she and Daniel head out to the kitchen to eat some left overs from the roasted dinner. The house is dark and quiet, with Yvette and Hank already in bed.

Which made it the perfect time for Kelley to tell Daniel the exact details of what happened the night Ronald attacked her and changed her life forever.

“
You don't have to tell me.” Daniel told her, not sure if he could handle hearing what his brother had done to the woman he was falling in love with.

“
I want to.” She replied. “If we're going to make a go of this relationship, I don't want that night hanging between us.”

Daniel handed her a slice of roast lamb he'd cut and said, “Okay, babe. I'm listening.”

Kelley began, starting with how she'd been in the middle of preparing dinner when Ronald came home.

“
He mumbled something about women being sluts and went straight for his liquor cabinet. I continued to fix dinner, knowing that he sometimes needed space after working a hard case. But then he suddenly pinned me to the counter, took the knife I was using and placed it against my throat.”

As she spoke, her hand went to her throat, as though she was back there, reliving what he'd done to her.

Daniels hand that was resting on the counter tightened into a white-knuckled fist as he said, “Kel … Baby, stop talking.”

But she didn't. She kept going. “He told me I wanted to live through the night, I had to be silent and do everything he wanted.”

By now, tears were running down her cheeks and the sight of them tore at Daniels heart. He wanted her to stop. He didn't need to know the details; he was already more then willing to kill Ronald.

“
He raped me in the kitchen first. Then he beat me before dragging me by my hair to the bedroom, where he raped me again, over and over.” Kelley said, her voice a whisper and laced with fear and regret as she continued to speak about that night. “I didn't think it was ever going to end. I did nothing to stop him. I just lay there, taking it all.”

Daniel was shocked to hear the guilt in her voice and he could hold back no longer. He went to her and cupped her face in his hands, telling her, “Kelley, look at me.”

She lifted tear-filled eyes to his.

He wiped them away and told her, “It wasn't your fault.”

“
But if I'd ...”

“
No!” He growled. “It's all on Ronald. Do you hear me? What he did to you … you are not to blame for that!”

Kelley buried her face in his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist as she cried. Daniel tightened his hold on her and let her cry, realising that she'd been carrying this emotional burden around with her since her attack.

He cursed his brother.

Ronald had really messed her up.

But Daniel was in her life now, and he wouldn't let anyone or anything harm her or her baby.

He held her until she had cried everything out of her system, then he carried her back down to his room, where she fell asleep in his arms. And, just before he drifted off himself, Daniel kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I love you.”

In Cairns, Ronald was a block away from the apartment building where he believed Kelley was still living, and his excitement at seeing her again was growing with every step.

He knew exactly how he was going to get his revenge on her.

She was going to pay for what she'd done to him, and before he was finished with her, Kelley was going to be begging for him to kill her.

And he would do just that. But not before he used her to lure his brother back to port and she watched him kill Daniel right in front of her.

He grinned; God, he was so evil! 

And he just loved it.

What Ronald didn't know was that the AFP had a small task force linked to the WPP en-route to Cairns.

They'd found the agent he'd killed and had connected the dots.

Agent-in-Charge Michael Blake was leading the team and their first task was to locate Kelley Harmon.

Daniel Coleman had called to inform them that he was taking her to his family's property in Weipa and, although the AFP had advised against that, he'd done it anyway. And once they got to that property in the far north of Queensland, their next move was to re-located Kelley for the second time so that Ronald couldn't find her.

Nine

Michael and his team arrived at the Coleman property thirteen hours after leaving Cairns Airport and forty-six hours after leaving Melbourne.

Kelley was seated on the front verandah of the house when they pulled up in two black Toyota Kluger 4x4's. She recognised Michael when he got out of the front passenger seat of one the big cars and she stood to greet him.

“
Agent Blake, what are you doing here?”

Michael eyed her slightly swollen belly and ignored her question, asking one of his own. “Are you pregnant?”

Kelley rubbed the evidence of what Ronald had done to her and nodded, telling the federal agent, “I am.”

“
How far along are you?”

“
Just over three months.”

“
Who's the father?” Michael almost demanded.

His anger was understandable; if Kelley had gotten pregnant to the brother of the man they were hunting, that could seriously complicate things.

But she put his mind at ease when she held his gaze and stated, “Ronald.”

“
Oh. I'm sorry to hear that.”

“
You're not the only one, Agent Blake.”

She invited them into the house just as Daniel came in from helping his father out in the paddocks. He looked at the man next to Kelley and put two-and-two together.

“
You're the man responsible for relocating Kelley.”

“
Michael Blake, AFP.”

“
Daniel Coleman, RAN.”

The two men shook hands as they were joined Daniels parents. But Michael ignored them as he looked at the man in front of him and demanded, “Why did you move Miss Harmon from her location in Cairns?”

“
For protection.”

“
On whose authority?”

“
Mine.”

“
You could have seriously jeopardised her safety, Coleman, not to mention this case.”

Kelley stepped in then and said, “Agent Blake, how about we get to the more pressing issue at hand instead of discussing what Lieutenant Coleman should or shouldn't have done?” She placed her hands on her hips and added, “After all, he is the one who took me away from Ronald before he had a chance to do anything.”

Michael consented and told them the plan that was being put into effect until they got more Intel on where Ronald was. “Agents will posted around the property, with others located inside the house and others doing patrols between dark spots every thirty minutes. I'll be in here with you all, and a lock-down will begin at 2100 hours and end at 0630 hours.”

Yvette frowned and asked, “What does that mean?”

“
It means no one can leave or enter the house or the property between nine o'clock at night and six-thirty in the morning.” Daniel explained to his mother.

Michael came in with more then, saying, “In order for this to work, everyone needs to co-operate.”

“
And what happens if Kelley needs the doctor?” Daniel asked.

“
We'll figure that out when it happens, Coleman.” Michael said.

Kelley looked at Michael and said, “We'll see how effective your plan works when Ronald decides to drop in for a little murder.”

Because the question wasn't if Ronald would show up. 

It was a question of when? 

Kelley was going into her second trimester and she was getting angry at the strangest times while experiencing the weirdest cravings that kept her up at all hours of the night.

Daniel thought she was a trooper for not letting the presence of more then a dozen federal agents get to her.

It was ten o'clock, just after lock-down of the second night, and they were in his room. Daniel was giving her a shoulder massage while she went over the contents of the bag they'd need to grab when she went into labour in five months.

“
Can you hold this for a second?” Kelley asked, holding up a baby blanket.

Daniel took it, marvelling at how small it was. It was so soft and it smelt like a baby had already been wrapped in it. “Was this yours?”

Kelley shook her head and said, “No. It was yours.”

“
Really?” Daniel looked at the blanket again. “This was mine?”

“
Yeah. Your Mum gave it to me.” She stopped what she was doing and looked at him over her shoulder as she asked, “Is that okay?”

He kissed the tip of her nose and said, “It's fine, babe.”