by Sommer Smith
Finally, Micah managed to get his forearm against the other man’s throat. “Who are you?”
There was no response, only a glare of hatred from the cold blue eyes peering out from the mask. The man began to struggle again, a renewed strength throwing Micah off balance. He slipped from Micah’s grip and launched himself into the water. Micah followed suit, but the perp was quickly swimming away through the gate that led to the ocean, through which he had tried to release Rhianna before discovering she was gone.
He turned back to Keilani then, only to realize she wasn’t where he had left her. Had he let himself be distracted while they took her? He was berating himself before he could even form the thought.
“Keilani!” Frantic, he began searching everywhere for her. He never should have left her. He knew better.
Skidding to a halt around a corner, he heard her singsong voice call out. “Micah, it’s okay. I was just checking on the patient. I’m fine.”
The breath left his lungs in a rush. “Don’t do that again. I told you to stay put.”
He was breathing hard, trying to reconcile the terror he had just experienced with what he ought to be feeling. This wasn’t his normal reaction, not to someone his only feelings toward should be professional. He had completely lost his cool, and why? The glaringly obvious answer made his stomach roll. He was developing feelings for her. It had to stop.
She was scowling at him. “You were gone a long time. I wanted to protect Rhianna in case they discovered where she was.”
He raised an eyebrow and snapped out his reply. “And what were you going to do? Get both of you abducted or killed?”
She held up his Sig. “You left this behind. I thought it might be a good place to start if anyone tried.”
His stomach rolled over again and a sudden feeling of incompetence swept him. He hadn’t even noticed he had left his gun behind. She was affecting him in ways he never could have predicted. This just wasn’t going to work. If he couldn’t get it together and start acting like a trained SEAL, he would end up costing them both their lives.
Toughen up, bad boy. You’re acting like a wimp. He snatched the Sig from her hand.
“Get back where you were. It’s probably going to be a long night.” A moment of staring at him as if she wanted to say something was all that passed. Then she wordlessly turned and went back to where he had left her earlier.
Micah watched her go, running a hand through his damp locks and trying to get a grip on his sanity. The adrenaline hadn’t completely subsided and his hands shook. How was he ever going to keep this woman safe?
* * *
Keilani rolled to her side, facing away from Micah. She was still stinging from his earlier attitude and really didn’t want to talk to him. Maybe if he thought she was asleep he would leave her alone with her thoughts.
She wondered, too, if she should have admitted to him that Gretchen had asked her to report back on the navy’s marine mammal program on behalf of the World Animal Protection Agency. Their earlier conversation would have been a good time to tell him, but she had hesitated. Why? She wasn’t really sure, other than the fact that she felt like she was betraying his trust, somehow, even though she hadn’t told Gretchen anything at this point. Would he be upset to know that she had been contacted by people who believed he wasn’t caring properly for his cetaceans? She shook off the question as foolish. Of course he would. Who wouldn’t? She had to find a way to soften the blow somehow.
What had she gotten herself into? Taking care of military dolphins and helping out with their training had seemed like such a simple thing. She had never expected to have to protect them, nor did she expect to be in danger herself.
And Micah Kent was another matter entirely. To say that her attraction to him was complicating things was a gross understatement. He had her completely out of sorts. One minute he was tender and kind, but a second later he was barking at her again. She had no idea how to deal with it.
She should never have allowed herself to get into this situation to begin with. She had felt so sure that God was leading her to this job, but now she wondered if she had put her own desires first. Funny things happened to her insides when Micah grinned. True, that wasn’t all that often, but even his steel-jawed serious expression made her feel a little flustered. Why did she always seem to have feelings for the men she knew she should stay away from?
Flashes of memory came to her of another man she had once trusted. Her stepfather—a man in uniform who should have protected her...
“Keilani.” Micah spoke softly behind her.
She half rolled to face him and found he was close—too close. She could smell a faint hint of his soap and something else unique to the man. There was a tiny dimple nestled in his cheek and she fought the urge to place her finger there.
“Lights.” He pointed. “We need to go see what’s going on. But I’m not leaving you again.”
She looked in the direction he indicated. She saw shadows moving in the distance, barely discernable in the dark. Keilani and Micah were sheltered by a wall on two sides, but there was an open area beyond, leading out to the enclosures jutting into the bay. She couldn’t tell if the shadows were along the outer runners and walkways or farther beyond.
“Do you think they are looking for Rhianna?” She sat fully up, no longer at all sleepy. The thought that dangerous and angry men might be coming for the sweet girl made her stomach flop.
“There’s a good possibility. But the other possibility is that—”
“They’re coming for me.” She finished his sentence flatly.
“Yeah.” He looked at her for a long moment. He didn’t have to say what he was feeling, because she could see it in his eyes. He would protect her with his very life. “I guess there’s one way to find out.”
Keeping to the shadows, Keilani and Micah made their way to the far end of the pens where they had seen the lights. Somewhere in the interim the lights had disappeared. She kept searching, but Keilani never saw them again. She wanted to ask Micah, but she didn’t want to give up their position.
As if he knew her thoughts, he pointed. Following his indication, she saw two shadows moving carefully along the walkway only a few feet away now. He put a finger to his lips as she looked back toward him. She nodded and he indicated for her to stay there, just before he was gone.
In a flash Micah had disoriented one man and tossed the other into the water. He wrestled his way out and came back for Micah, however, and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat once more. Keilani watched helplessly, struggling to keep quiet and remain where she was. What if the other guy came to again? Could Micah fight them both off?
As a SEAL, his combat skills were very impressive, but this other guy could certainly hold his own also. Coincidence because he was a hardened criminal, or was he also a SEAL? She didn’t really know what to think.
It seemed to go on and on. Every time she thought Micah had the advantage, the masked man turned the fight to his benefit once more. She wanted to cry out in frustration and when the unconscious man began to stir, too, she debated on trying to help. How would he manage? Did he even realize the second man was waking up?
She was just about to call out to warn him when Micah flung the man he was fighting into the feet of the second man just as he began to stand. The man tumbled into the water on the ocean side, where the enclosures ended and security was lessened because the depth of the ocean made it much more difficult to get to, but the first man stood and came back at Micah in a rage. Micah used the man’s ire against him, however, and soon had him pinned and an arm securely wound around his neck.
Keilani had no time to celebrate his victory, however, before the cold steel of a pistol butt made contact with her temple. A scream burst out a nanosecond before a hand covered her mouth.
She watched Micah’s grip falter and almost lose his hold on his opponent when he loo
ked up to see the third man holding a gun to her head.
Keilani tried to communicate to him with her eyes. I didn’t move this time. I promise.
She could see the indecision, the playing of his options running through his head. He was smart and tough, but he was outplayed. Surely, he could see that. Outplayed and outnumbered.
He began to relax his grip.
“That’s right. Let my friend go and I won’t shoot her just yet.” The voice in Keilani’s ear was raspy and despicable.
She couldn’t quite suppress the whimper in her throat. She knew she was going to die either way. If he let his man go, it would only prolong the inevitable. How could she convince him to hold on?
The thought crossed her mind that maybe she could attempt to get away. Even if he shot her now, it would give Micah the chance to even the score. He could get his man and save the dolphins. It would be worth the risk.
He shook his head at her. She didn’t know if he actually understood what she was thinking but she took it as a sign. Did he have a plan?
She waited a few more seconds. Micah didn’t move and the man jerked her up tighter, beginning to grow impatient.
“I said let him go!”
The man Micah held was grappling at his hand and struggling against him, but Micah had a steel grip on him. “How do I know you won’t just shoot her anyway?”
He was buying time. What was he waiting on?
“You don’t. But maybe if you let him go, I’ll wait and you won’t have to watch. She might be fun to keep alive a little longer anyway.” He shrugged, but the effect was lost because of his lingering anger.
Micah’s eyes narrowed but there was no other indication of how the man’s words affected him. Keilani felt sure he was furious under that calm facade. He would never let his opponent know it, though.
Then, out of nowhere, he just slackened his grip and the man dropped to the floor, unconscious. Keilani stared in awe, looking from the man on the ground to Micah and back. He had known exactly what he was doing, down to the second the man would pass out. The man still holding the gun to her head was trembling. He realized it, too.
“Let her go.” Micah stepped over the downed man and began to stalk toward them, a hunter coming for his prey.
“I’ll shoot her. Stop right there.”
Micah stopped, but feral confidence oozed from his stance. “No, I don’t think you will.”
He half turned, nonchalant in his manner, and when the other man slackened his grip to analyze this odd move, Keilani instantly relaxed every muscle in her body, dragging them down to the ground. The masked man released her, not expecting her full weight to fall on him, and Micah kicked the gun from his hand in one lightning-fast motion.
Keilani rolled out of the way as Micah dove for her assailant, then she slid toward the gun, just in case. The metal grip still warm from her attacker’s hand repulsed her and she had to focus to keep from dropping it. The briny scent of ocean water mingled with sweat from the struggling men and she felt sick, even as a cool breeze wafted over her.
Micah wasted little time overpowering the weaker man and soon he, too, was unconscious. “Call for help and I’ll secure them.”
Keilani did as he asked, but while he tied the man who had taken Keilani hostage, she realized the other unconscious man wasn’t where Micah had left him.
“Micah, the other man.” She pointed.
He muttered something unintelligible. “Stay here.”
She would rather go with Micah than stay with the tied-up man on the walkway, but she didn’t protest.
A few minutes later he returned, his hand standing his thick, dark hair on end again. She knew what he was going to say before the words came. “He’s gone.”
EIGHT
Micah didn’t expect to gain anything from the man they had captured, but when they found out he was a former SEAL-in-training kicked out of the program for suspected involvement in illegal activities, it was the first real break they had gotten.
David Schmidt had reportedly been involved in selling and smuggling illegal substances over four years ago. But that didn’t explain the link he had now, though he had been stationed here at one time. That explained how he knew his way around.
As for the two men who had escaped, the captured man wouldn’t give up their identities. For some reason Micah felt at least one of them was the key to unraveling this puzzle.
His worry for Keilani intensified. It seemed the men after her were professionals, at least in part. While he might be prepared to deal with whatever they threw at him personally, he had to be more careful not to leave Keilani vulnerable. In truth, he was still annoyed with himself for letting the man get his hands on her.
The dolphins, of course, were another worry. He had to figure out how these men were getting access to his mammals and make sure it never happened again. Tightening security from the ocean side of the enclosures seemed to be the first order of the day.
It was past time to investigate the site where Keilani had first seen the divers. In fact, Micah didn’t want to wait a moment longer. He would love to make the dive without Keilani because of the danger, but leaving her unprotected while he explored the deep wasn’t a good idea. Xavier would have to guard her.
When he explained this to her, she protested. They had already loaded the boat and were making their way across the bay.
“Oh, no.” She was looking at him intently. “Please don’t tell me you still intend to make me stay on the boat.”
He tried to fight back the grimace. He was pretty sure it didn’t work. “I think it would be best. We’ve talked about this already.”
“Actually, you talked. I think you might need my help to find the spot.” She almost looked a little smug as she made the announcement—as if she knew she had a valid argument. Which she did...
“It can’t be that difficult to find.” He tilted his head and frowned at her.
“Then how have they kept it secret all this time?” She was still giving him that look. The boat had stopped moving and they were idling in the bay.
He glanced away. “If it’s so hard to find, how did you see the hiding place for the crate?”
She shrugged, her expression relaxing. “I wasn’t looking for it. At first I didn’t even realize where they were.”
He still wasn’t convinced. “And you think I can’t possibly find it without you?”
“Maybe you could. But wouldn’t it be faster if I just show you? It’s under the water and I would be able to point it out easier if I were with you. It isn’t discernable from the surface. We shouldn’t waste any more time.” She knew she was winning.
“It’s true we really don’t have time to waste.” He hated to give in, but arguing about it was only wasting more time.
“I’ll stay close. You already know I’m a good swimmer.”
“All right, then. Are you familiar with scuba gear?” He didn’t look up. People were supposed to have training before going on a dive. He didn’t know what he would do if she didn’t know how to dive.
“I’ve been diving before, yes. I can manage.” Her steady gaze drew his eyes up to hers.
He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Good. Let’s see if we can gather you some gear and get going.”
Xavier and Emmett met them at the dock and they took a local friend’s boat out to the approximate location where Keilani saw the other boat. They didn’t dare take a SEAL RHIB boat out without permission from the navy, and Micah wasn’t about to wait around on the go-ahead. There was no sign of any activity around the site now, and if that changed, Xavier would use his skill as a highly trained sniper to take out any enemy who might approach from the top side. Micah would lead the way with Keilani sandwiched between him and Emmett below the surface. He would rather have it the other way around, but he would trust Emmett with his life, so he could
trust him to have Keilani’s six today. He needed to be in front so he could spot any danger below without Keilani being in the line of sight. He was bigger than Emmett and it would be easier for Micah to signal Keilani to go back if he was in front of her.
The California sun shone yellow and white across the crystal-blue waters, deceptive in the picture of serenity it painted. Gentle waves lapped at the sides of the boat as the trio prepared to launch their mission. Keilani described what she could remember to the men as they prepped to dive.
“I hope we don’t have to spend much time under there.” Keilani was speaking close to his ear. “I’ve never really liked diving with scuba gear. I prefer to swim free or just snorkel. But there is no way I can just sit on the boat and hope you find it.”
It wasn’t the first time he had noticed her dislike of feeling closed in, and he wondered at the reasons for her claustrophobia.
“I’ll be right there if you need me. We will try to get it over quickly.” Micah touched her arm lightly, then wished he hadn’t when the electric current shot through him again. She smiled in gratitude, though.
“Let’s go.” Micah realized that Emmett was watching them again, trying not to make it obvious. He was going to have to set his friend straight. Emmett seemed to think there was something going on between Keilani and Micah.
He put it out of his mind and they hit the water, keeping to the plan as Keilani motioned them in the right direction. The water ebbed around them, turning the world surreal, shrouded in a transparent blue cloud. It was amazingly clear, also very cold, and Micah never ceased to be impressed by the magic of it all. He could see far into the depths, taking in every detail of the bottom and the sea life around them. Sharks would be a concern, but so far there were none nearby.