Keeping Penny

Book 4: Rescue Angels

by Susan Stoker

Genres: Military Romance

Synopsis

They taught him what family means…now he’ll risk everything to protect it.

Raised in the foster system, Kylo “Pyro” Mullins knows what it’s like to have nothing to call his own. Parents, siblings, friends, possessions…growing up, he had none of these. Now an elite Night Stalker pilot, Pyro considers his teammates family—but he doesn’t truly understand mine until he meets Penny and Bowie Burns. The widow and her blind daughter show Pyro a kind of bravery he’s never seen on any mission, and for the first time in his life, he wants the family he’s never had.

One day they’re living in Africa, destitute and in danger thanks to her deceased husband. The next, Penny and her six-year-old daughter find themselves being airlifted away from devastating riots by one of the Army’s finest. Despite having no family in the States, Penny’s happy to be returning…and even happier for Pyro’s attention. The handsome pilot is kind, generous, beyond amazing with her daughter, and seemingly determined to spend even more time with Penny and Bowie when they reach Norfolk.

But if there’s one thing two adults raised in the system know well…happiness and stability can be ripped away at a moment’s notice. And the sins of her dead husband are about to come back to haunt Penny, Pyro…and especially little Bowie.

**Keeping Penny is the 4th book in the Rescue Angels Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.

Release date: May 5, 2026

Sample

Chapter One

 

Penny’s heart was racing. She was terrified. But she’d learned the hard way never to show fear. Her husband had loved to see her cower. Had reveled in it. This wasn’t the same kind of situation, not at all, but lessons learned were hard to forget.

Her husband was dead now, and she didn’t have to fear him—or what he’d do to her—any longer. What she did have to fear at this moment was the possibility the pissed-off Gabonese citizens would take out their frustrations and anger at their government on her, her daughter, and the two dozen or so other women and children on the roof of this hotel.

They’d been sent to this place to await instructions on how they were going to be extracted from the country. Gabon was in the midst of a political shitstorm and no one was safe. The US government had decided to evacuate as many of their citizens as they could. Except nothing had gone according to the directions they’d been given.

Penny had gone to the hotel with a glimmer of hope…but the building had quickly become one of the gathering points for the riots going on around the city. She’d gotten a phone call to get to the roof, so they’d left their small room with nothing but Penny’s cross-body purse holding their passports and the tiny amount of cash she possessed.

She and Bowie reached the roof, only to find they were trapped. There was no way off, and even if there was, they couldn’t go down. Everyone could clearly see the chaos happening in the streets all around the hotel.

The sound of rotor blades in the distance had everyone looking to the sky. A helicopter was coming closer and closer, except no one knew if it was someone there to help them or the government coming to crack down on the rioters.

Everyone seemed paralyzed with fear. Crying and shaking.

Penny was scared too, but she had the greatest motivation of all to get the hell off this roof in one piece—her daughter.

Bowie was six years old, blind since birth…and the best thing that had ever happened to Penny. They’d both been through hell during the girl’s short life, though the last two years, since her husband’s death, had been a bit more peaceful.

Her husband always blamed her for Bowie’s lack of eyesight. Not a day went by that John hadn’t berated her for bearing him not only a daughter instead of a son, but a “defective” one at that.

But Bowie wasn’t defective. Not at all. She was beautiful inside and out. A ray of sunshine in a world that often didn’t have much light.

After her husband was killed, Penny was unsure what to do…especially when it turned out complications from John’s life—ones unknown to Penny—didn’t die with him.

She and Bowie couldn’t afford to stay in their apartment in Libreville, Gabon’s capital, but within days, she’d thankfully been referred to a job outside the city. It was in a tiny little community, but Penny wasn’t choosy. Flying back to the States wasn’t an option, as there was no way she had enough money to get there. So she’d moved herself and Bowie and made the best of a difficult situation.

And with John no longer around to terrorize them both on a daily basis, Bowie thrived under Penny’s care. Came out of her shell. Now she was fearless, maneuvering in a dark world better than many of those with perfect eyesight.

Penny watched with awe as the helicopter got closer and closer and then “parked” itself with one skid on the roof and the other hovering in midair. The pilot was obviously a pro, and for the first time her hopes rose that they really might get out of this situation alive.

The helicopter’s door flew open, and a man wearing a flight suit, a helmet with a headset near his mouth, and sturdy boots was kneeling at the entrance, gesturing for them to come to him. But the women around her weren’t going anywhere. They were frozen in fear. The chopper was loud and the wind was whipping all around them in a frenzy.

“Mommy, what’s happening?” Bowie asked from behind her.

Making a split-second decision and feeling in her bones that time was running out, Penny turned to her and said, “We’re being rescued. There’s a helicopter parked not too far from us.”

“Really? Neat!” Bowie exclaimed, as if they were at some air show back home in the States and not in the middle of a life-or-death situation on a roof in Africa. One of the many things she loved about her daughter was how willing she was to embrace new things.

“Right? And we get to ride in it. I’m going to need you to walk over to the nice military man who’s waiting for us to get on. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Mommy!”

“It’s about thirty steps in a straight line from here to where he’s waiting for you. There’s nothing between you and him. Just walk slow. Don’t run, and don’t trip.”

Bowie giggled. “I won’t!”

With her heart in her throat, Penny watched as her daughter walked confidently toward the huge chopper hovering at the edge of the roof. If she veered too far to the left or right, she could literally walk off the side of the building.

To Penny’s relief, the man jumped out of the helicopter, said something to Bowie, and reached for her. The next thing she knew, her daughter was inside the chopper. Safe.

The women around her weren’t sure if they should go or not, and Penny was done.

“He’s obviously here to evacuate us. Go! We need to get on! Leave your stuff here. It won’t fit.”

She managed to corral most of the women toward the huge machine hovering next to the hotel. Penny saw Bowie sitting on her butt against the far wall inside the helicopter with a huge smile on her face. At least someone was enjoying this experience. Penny was still scared to death. Her muscles were trembling with fear, but the sooner she got everyone onboard, the sooner she could get to Bowie.

It was ingrained in Penny to take care of others before herself. Her husband had seen to that. And her job with the United Nations Population Fund had further enforced it. She may have basically fallen into working for the UNFPA by accident, but it was an ideal fit, and she would always be thankful she’d found the job after John’s passing. He’d been in the oil industry, moving them to Gabon a decade ago, and when she’d gotten pregnant, Penny immediately realized how poor the local healthcare was for pregnant women.

Her job with the UNFPA, an organization that specializes in reproductive and maternal health, was rewarding and fulfilling. She’d helped bring countless children into the world, making both them and their mothers safer during the entire birthing process.

Considering Bowie’s lack of sight, and the vulnerable population she worked with, Penny had basically dedicated herself to putting others first.

Which was why she wasn’t pushing her way to the front of the group to get inside the helicopter. Why she was encouraging the scared and jittery people in front of her to quickly enter then move back to make room for others. Why she was pulling bags out of people’s hands and throwing them to the roof without a second thought. Every bag left behind meant more room for another person. And human lives were more important than whatever these women had packed in their suitcases.

It wasn’t quite that easy, as several women were opposed to leaving their things. But Penny was insistent without being a bitch about it.

When there were about six of them left on the roof, Penny sensed a change in the man helping them onboard. An urgency that wasn’t there before. He’d been in somewhat of a hurry since opening the door, but now he was practically throwing the women into the helicopter, where before he was being a little more patient.

The change made the hair on the back of Penny’s neck stand up.

“Hurry!” she yelled at the woman in front of her, who was balking at getting into the helicopter.

“I can’t!” the lady wailed.

Penny didn’t need to see the man’s tightly pressed lips and frown to know they were almost out of time. She put her hand on the woman’s back and shoved her forward.

“Get on or we’re all dead!” she yelled in the woman’s ear.

She didn’t think the woman actually made the decision to get onboard by herself, but with Penny at her back pushing and the military man grabbing her waist and lifting her off her feet and into the chopper, she didn’t have a choice.

The woman’s mouth dropped open, and she probably let out a screech of surprise or protest, but it was lost in the noise of the rotors.

The man with the helmet turned to her and gripped her waist, but Penny was ready and willing. As soon as she was on her feet inside the chopper, the man leapt inside himself. He grabbed the door to pull it closed, and Penny instinctually reached out to help.

He nodded at her, and Penny couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were a beautiful, rich mahogany-brown color. His face was…trustworthy. Which might seem stupid, but she’d become a good judge of character over the years. Having to make split-second decisions on who to trust and who to be wary of.

And this man—he was someone she could trust. After all, she’d seen him treat Bowie as if she were made of glass, which was a huge plus in her book.

People tended to either dismiss her little girl—thinking she was worthless because she couldn’t see—or treat her as if she was stupid because of her disability. Both reactions were irritating. But Penny had recognized the moment this man understood the situation with Bowie, and he instantly adapted to her condition. Based on her daughter’s movements when she was inside the chopper, the man seemed to give her very precise instructions that were easy for the girl to follow.

Of course, she could’ve misread the situation, as she wasn’t close enough to hear what he’d said to her daughter, but she wanted to think that he’d been reassuring and comforting.

With the door closed, the man had to push his way through the throng of bodies to get back to the front of the chopper. Before he made it to the seat at the controls, they were already moving. And not slowly either. The helicopter lifted, then banked to the right, hard.

Everyone around her screamed in fear, and Penny instinctively looked toward where she’d last seen Bowie. To her surprise, her daughter was holding on to a rope that was strung along the side of the chopper—and she still had a huge smile on her face. As if she were on a roller coaster instead of in the middle of a death-defying situation.

Of course, Bowie had never been on a roller coaster in her short life, but she’d listened to stories about them that Penny read to her. And when she was around four, Penny had even constructed a kind of roller coaster out of a box, putting a fan in front of the box and shaking it, letting the little girl pretend she was riding one.

Penny’s attention turned to the men behind the controls. She was too far away to see more than sky out the front of the windshield, so she kept her gaze glued to the pilots. One in particular. The one whose hands she would swear she could still feel around her waist.

He was strong and competent, and she had to believe that he’d get them all back on the ground to safety in one piece.

He turned and yelled something back toward his passengers, and Penny read his lips more than she heard the words.

“Hold on!”

No one had time to heed his warning before the chopper was once more banking hard to the side, throwing everyone into one another violently. There were more screams, and some women were crying now.

She held on to the door with a white-knuckled grip as the chopper banked to the right and left. When it finally leveled off, most of the women and children were crying.

The rotor blades of the chopper were loud, and there was no point in trying to talk to anyone or asking if it was okay if she moved, so Penny took the chance to finally weave her way around everyone kneeling or sitting on the floor so she could get to Bowie.

The second she touched her daughter’s shoulder, Bowie lifted her head and smiled.

“You okay?” Penny asked, going to her knees in front of her child. There was no room to sit next to her against the side of the helicopter, but that was all right, Penny would prefer that Bowie hold on to the rope in case they had more turbulence.

Calling what she suspected was the pilots dodging missiles or people shooting at them “turbulence” felt like a joke. But it was better than admitting people who didn’t even know them wanted them all dead.

Bowie’s hearing was better than the average child’s, likely overcompensation for her lack of sight, so she was able to hear her mom’s question over the roar of the engine and rotor blades.

“I’m great!” she answered enthusiastically. “This is fun!”

Penny couldn’t help but smile. Her daughter was patting the arm of the crying woman next to her, offering comfort. But the six-year-old looked decidedly unfazed herself. Once again, pride swelled within Penny. The two of them had been through some pretty tough times together, and it was obvious her daughter had learned to go with the flow as much as Penny had.

Relieved her daughter didn’t comprehend the danger they were in, Penny sat back. She kept a hand on Bowie’s leg as her gaze was drawn once more to the man flying the helicopter. Well, one of them in particular.

All of the man’s attention was on the instruments in front of him and the terrain outside. His lips were moving as he spoke to the man next to him, or maybe to someone else through the headset over his ears. He oozed confidence and competency, and that alone made Penny feel safe. He obviously knew what he was doing. Neither him nor the other pilot were panicking. From what she could tell, they were working in tandem, getting them away from whatever was happening below, away from whoever was trying to hurt them.

She’d learned the hard way that the only thing that truly mattered in life was Bowie. Her husband had let her down time and again, and when he was killed, he’d left behind a mountain of debt…and an enemy who’d do whatever it took to get the money he felt was owed to him.

Financially, the last two years had been tough. Extremely tough. Most of the money Penny made went toward paying off her husband’s debts. Even though she’d left the city, the man John owed had found her, insisting she give him regular payments to settle the obligation. She and Bowie lived just as many of the locals did…in extreme poverty.

But despite that, they were content, if not happy. The threat of John’s wildly changing moods was gone. Penny didn’t have to worry about whether or not he’d come home from work pissed off at the world, ready to yell at her or Bowie for the smallest things he’d decided they’d done wrong. She no longer walked on eggshells, and the sound of laughter frequently rang out in their tiny one-room hut.

Finding themselves in the middle of an attempt at taking over the government was surreal. And never in a million years did Penny think she’d be inside a helicopter. Still…even though they were basically on the run for their lives, and people were probably shooting at them, she couldn’t hold back another smile at seeing the pleasure Bowie was getting out of the flight.

She had no idea how long they flew, but eventually the sound of the engines changed. Penny assumed they were landing, but she had no clue where. The instructions she’d received at the hotel were vague at best. She and Bowie were at the mercy of the US government now. They had nowhere to go, no family to return to in the States, and no money to stay in a hotel. They could only wait and figure out what came next.

She should’ve been stressed out beyond belief, and while she was a little apprehensive, Penny had lived through worse. And the thought of getting out of Gabon, away from those who thought she should pay for her husband’s sins, was actually a huge relief. Because the truth was, she had no way of leaving Gabon if it wasn’t for the US government intervening and evacuating them.

Penny didn’t like being at the mercy of others, but she’d been that way for much of her life, so this didn’t feel so different. She had faith she’d be all right. That she and Bowie would navigate whatever was in their future together, as they’d done everything else.

Holding on to Bowie’s leg, Penny jerked a little as the chopper landed. Anticipation swam in her veins. What new opportunities awaited her? Would Bowie get to go to a school for the first time in her life? She hoped so. Because while Penny had done her best to homeschool her, she knew the older her daughter got, the harder that would become.

And Bowie was extremely social, more so than her mom. She loved meeting new people, and most of those she met immediately loved her. Bowie would have no problem making friends, and Penny had no fears about her being left behind academically. Her daughter was smart. Probably too smart for her own good.

She wondered where the government might place them in the States. It didn’t really matter, but Penny hoped it was somewhere safe. That’s all she wanted for herself and her daughter…to be safe. It had been so long since she’d known true safety, Penny didn’t even remember what it felt like. To never have to look over her shoulder or cringe every time someone knocked on the door. No longer wonder who might show up out of the blue, saying they were there to collect on John’s debts.

Realizing she was worrying about things she had no control over, Penny did her best to turn her thoughts to the here and now.

The rotor blades on the chopper slowed, allowing everyone to be able to talk once more.

And talk they did. The women began asking the pilots where they were, what was going to happen next, when they’d be able to go back to their homes in Libreville.

The man sitting beside the one who’d helped them into the helicopter climbed out of his pilot’s seat. The rotor blades had mostly stopped by then, and he held up a hand as he took off his headset.

“You’re all safe now. We’re on a US aircraft carrier off the coast. I don’t know what the plans are for you to return to the city, but I’m guessing it won’t be anytime soon. Once we get you out of this chopper, you’ll be brought to a room and someone will come in and explain what happens next.”

Everyone seemed to speak at once, complaining, crying, and generally expressing their fears and concerns about the future. Penny couldn’t blame them, but bitching about the situation wouldn’t help anyone.

“Mommy, we’re on a boat?” Bowie asked, the awe and excitement easy to hear in her voice.

“Yeah, honey. I guess we are.”

“That means there won’t be any dust.”

Penny chuckled. They both hated the red dust that seemed to be everywhere outside the city. The roads were made of the hard-packed red earth, as was the floor of their home, and it got into everything. “You’re right, sweetie.”

“Awesome!” Bowie breathed.

Leave it to her daughter to be excited about something as small as no dust, instead of worrying about where their next meal would come from or where they’d sleep tonight. But then again, those were things for Penny to be concerned about. Not a six-year-old little girl. Penny had always done whatever it took to make sure her daughter was fed and comfortable. That she never knew what the scary men who visited their hut at random times really wanted.

The door to the helicopter slid open, and Penny stared out onto the deck of the aircraft carrier in fascination. Her life seemed surreal right now. First a helicopter ride, and now she was on an actual military ship. Life was weird sometimes.

Hanging back, letting the other women and children get helped out of the chopper first, Penny held Bowie’s hand tightly in her own. She had some anxiety about what came next for them, but she stayed calm. Unlike a lot of the passengers, who were still crying and carrying on, she stood patiently with Bowie, waiting their turn.

“You two okay?”

Glancing toward the deep voice to her right, Penny saw the man who’d helped them onto the chopper. He’d taken off his helmet and headset, so she could see him more clearly now. He had brown hair with blond highlights, currently damp from sweat. His dark stubble was more a short beard than an actual five o’clock shadow. His brows were drawn downward, as if he was truly concerned about them and not asking out of obligation.

“We’re great!” Bowie answered, before Penny could. “That was fun! The way we swooped here and there!” she exclaimed, using the hand that wasn’t in her mom’s to demonstrate how they’d darted from side to side. “And everyone screamed, but not me!”

“Not you, huh?” the pilot asked with a small chuckle.

“Nope. You have a really deep voice. It’s friendly. I like it.”

The man looked taken aback for a moment, then he smiled—and it transformed his face.

Bowie had a way of saying things that people didn’t expect. She “saw” the world through her other senses. And if she said the man had a friendly voice, that was a good thing. A very good thing. Her daughter’s keen hearing often allowed her to cut through the bullshit and easily figure out if people were sincere or not, simply by the undercurrents in their tone.

“Thanks. I like your voice too. I’m Kylo. Kylo Mullins, but people call me Pyro.”

“Kylo, Pyro,” Bowie singsonged. “And your last name reminds me of cotton-headed ninny-muggins. Mullins-muggins.”

“Bowie,” Penny scolded gently.

“What?” her daughter protested, looking up in Penny’s general direction. “It does!”

“She loves the movie Elf. We splurged one year and saw it in the city at Christmastime,” Penny explained.

“It’s perfectly all right. I love that movie too,” Pyro said. Then he surprised Penny by squatting down so he was on Bowie’s level. “So, your name is Bowie? That’s an unusual name, and beautiful.”

“It’s Gaelic. It means yellow-haired, which I’m not but that’s okay, because it was the name of Mommy’s dog growing up and she named me after him.”

Penny wanted to sink into the floor. She loved her daughter, but she had a habit of saying whatever she was thinking, which many times was embarrassing as hell for her mom.

Pyro looked up, and Penny could tell he was trying really hard not to laugh.

“He was a good dog. The best,” she said, defending the dog she’d befriended in one of the foster homes she’d been in—and her decision to name her daughter after the yellow lab.

Pyro turned his attention back to Bowie. “Are you okay? You didn’t hit your head or otherwise get hurt while we were doing all that crazy flying?”

“I’m fine. And I loved the crazy flying!”

Pyro chuckled again, then stood and held out his hand toward Penny.

“It’s good to meet you, but I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”

“Me too. I’m Penny Burns, by the way. This is obviously my daughter.”

Pyro held her hand, and Penny could feel the warmth from his palm snake up her arm and fill her from the inside out. They stared at each other for a long moment, holding hands and not saying a word.

“Mommy, I think everyone else is out already. Can we go too? I want to check out the boat!”

Her words had Penny jerking in surprise, and Pyro let go of her hand. She felt the loss of his touch down to her toes, which was alarming in itself.

“You’re right. Have I told you how smart you are lately?”

Bowie giggled. “This morning, Mommy!”

Two men were standing by the door, waiting to help them down, and Penny turned away from Pyro to lead her daughter toward them.

“Ten steps,” Bowie said under her breath.

That was their thing. Counting steps. It was Bowie’s way of navigating the world. She’d obviously counted how far it was from the door to where she’d sat in the chopper.

“Penny.”

Turning at the sound of Pyro’s voice, she looked at him.

“If you or Bowie need anything…just ask someone to find me and I’ll see what I can do for you. Okay?”

It was a very nice offer. And while Penny didn’t understand why he was making it, why he’d singled them out over all the other women and children on the helicopter, she wasn’t going to question it.

Not that she intended on taking him up on his offer either. She’d learned the hard way that relying on others never ended well. Most of the time they expected something in return, and Penny had nothing to give…to him or anyone else.

She offered Pyro a polite smile and nod, then turned her attention back to Bowie and getting out of the chopper without falling on her face. ...