by Sommer Smith
“I think our CO just told him that because he didn’t have any solid reason to hire him over me. That’s just how they do things sometimes.” His stance alone was patronizing, chest out, chin jutted forward like he was really someone. But the way he talked to her like she was a slow-witted child made her want to give him a thorough tongue-lashing. He didn’t even know the first thing about dolphins.
She managed to hide her irritation. “Oh, well, I’m sure you were very angry with Micah, if you were better qualified for the job.”
“You have no idea. And because of military protocol and all the people watching, I just had to act like I was happy for him. It was like a couple of ditzy cheerleaders trying out for the team or something.”
“Squad.” She absently corrected him. She was focused on the rest of what he had said.
“I knew I’d get my revenge eventually, though. It’s obvious to everyone on base he’s in love with you. So killing you will have multiple benefits for me. And until then, you’ll be a good bargaining chip.”
“But what is there really to get revenge for? I mean, you probably ended up in a better position anyway.” She was trying to keep him talking about anything besides killing her. This had to work. Like he had mentioned, he was worried about appearances. She could use that to her advantage.
“Ha! Nope, I still have to work twice as hard as anyone for ungrateful citizens who sit around and wait on me to defend their freedoms.”
“But you’re a hero. How would it look to all those citizens to find out you killed an innocent person? You could turn in your cohorts, make a confession and still be the good guy.”
“It’s too late for all that. Besides, I’ve found out it pays better to work for someone other than Uncle Sam. In any case, they won’t find your body. See that dark area of water over there just past those rocks? Dozens of sharks frequent those waters. A little blood to draw their attention and there will be nothing left of you by nightfall. Or if you’d rather, I can leave you tied in one of these caves. When the tide comes in, they fill with water. You would drown and your body would drift out to sea with the lowering tide.” His laughter caused her pulse to beat hard in her neck. Keilani had the chilling thought that he was enjoying the prospects.
She needed a new plan. “How did you get involved in all this? Surely, you were a good guy when you first became a SEAL. Don’t you have a wife or mother? A grandmother? A daughter? Or even a sister? Anyone at all who would want to see you continue to fight the good fight?”
He jerked her back to her feet. Watching her for a moment, he seemed to consider her words.
His face changed. “Don’t you see? I’m doing this for them. The drug lord has men holding my wife and my daughter hostage until I deliver the drugs. I can’t let you ruin this or they’ll kill my family. I can’t let that happen.”
His expression turned wild again, but she tried anyway. “The navy will help you get them back without letting anything happen to them. Just turn these men in to the authorities. You’ll get a lighter sentence, and—”
Something about that was the wrong thing to say. His anger returned with a vengeance and he hit her across the cheek with the back of his hand. “No more talking.”
Keilani stumbled back and fell hard, unable to catch herself with her zip-tied hands. Her shoulder hit a rock and she cried out. He was on her in an instant, holding her arms against her sides and fighting her struggles as if they were nothing.
Suffocating fear like she had never known before gripped her like a vise. She couldn’t breathe, only pray for mercy and a fast death. She would rather die quickly than endure whatever torture he might have in mind for her.
She heard her own scream, as if listening from afar, but then he cuffed her on the head again and blackness was all she remembered.
* * *
Micah coughed and sputtered, fighting to regain his memory. For a moment he thought he was on a training mission as he recalled hearing the voice of a fellow SEAL. However, as he remembered losing Keilani, he realized what that voice had said to him, and a sick knot formed in his stomach. The situation returned to him with a violent assault to his midsection. One of his SEAL brothers was behind this—and Dalton Taggert had taken Keilani.
Water surrounded him and he fought to keep above it. His boat was sinking beneath him and the bay around him looked deserted. If he had to swim back to shore he would lose precious time. But what choice did he have? He couldn’t go after Keilani without a boat. And worse yet, he had no idea where the guy had even taken her. He grappled for other options but only for a moment. Fighting the water’s pull around him was costing him precious energy. He ripped off a piece of his T-shirt and tied it tightly around his wound, then dove into the water and began to swim for shore.
The distance seemed almost insurmountable in his weakened state, but he turned off the thoughts of possible failure, numbed his mind and simply swam. Considering every problem he needed to solve right now would do nothing but overwhelm him. He needed to focus on one thing at a time, and before he could rescue Keilani and locate his dolphins, he had to get to shore and find a boat.
The tide pulled at him and the sting of salt water flooded his nose, erasing the scent of seaweed and fish with the salty brine. The cold water was a relief against his hot skin, and he could hear nothing but the white noise of the ocean around him, punctuated by the occasional cry of a gull up above. His eyes stung from the water’s constant assault on his face, but it didn’t matter much. There was nothing to see but empty waves.
No matter how much he tried to block it all out and focus, however, Keilani’s sweet face was always there in his mind, driving his heart rate up and pushing him to go harder. She was counting on him. She needed him, and he needed her. In that instant he knew with certain clarity that he would give up all of his previous goals and expectations for his future to be with her, even if it meant sacrificing his career as a SEAL and working with the dolphins.
He loved her and would never be able to continue if he let anything happen to her. He had to find her and tell her. More than anything in that moment he wanted her to know that he loved her.
The sounds of shoreline activity gradually began to blend into the white noise. He couldn’t see it, but he knew it was getting closer. He fought harder, anxious to reach the sand and move forward with his plans. He knew just where to get a fast boat, and as soon as he found sand under his feet, he was moving in the direction of the dock.
He had drifted a pretty good ways up from the base and there were a few civilians milling about this section of the beach. He hoped he would find his friend Jesse and his Baja speedboat at the dock where Jesse rented out jet skis and other water toys to tourists and occasional locals who were looking for weekend entertainment. He made his way to the shop next to the dock.
The door bounced off the wall, startling the blond, tanned young man behind the counter, but his grin grew wide when he saw Micah. “You always know how to make an entrance. You have a nice swim?”
Micah didn’t take the time to respond to his friend’s gibe. “Jesse, I need to borrow your boat. It’s an emergency.”
“Sure, man. Anything I can help with?” Jesse turned and grabbed a set of keys with a yellow foam floatation device attached to the key ring from the wall behind him. He tossed them to Micah without questioning his intent, just as Micah knew he would.
“Can you get a message to Emmett and Xavier for me? I lost my cell phone when my boat sank.” He was already moving toward the dock.
Jesse raised a brow, but seemed to realize there wasn’t time for Micah to explain. “Sure. What’s the message?”
As Jesse followed him out, Micah told him what Xavier and the rest of the team needed to know. “Tell them I’m headed toward Pirate Bay. I have a feeling he might have taken Keilani there because he wants me to follow. Tell them to be careful who they trust. Our perp is a SEAL.”
Jesse sucked in a breath. “Man, that’s rough. Do you know who?” Jesse knew most of Micah’s platoon-mates from hanging out with them off duty.
“I know one of them for sure, but I don’t know if anyone else from the platoon is involved. I hope not, but you never know.” He briefly explained what he had pieced together about the possibility of Taggert’s involvement and watched Jesse’s eyes widen in disbelief. He just nodded, though, and promised to have his back.
Micah jumped onto the sleek black Baja while Jesse helped him unwind the tie-out ropes from the hooks on the dock.
Jesse nodded his understanding. “Stay safe, brother.”
Micah fired up the boat’s engine and the entire craft shook from the powerful answering rumble. He gave Jesse a salute before easing out of the slip and giving it the full throttle. The pungent fumes disappeared in a flash as the nose took to the air and the craft shot across the water.
Step one solved, but the next question would be whether or not he was correct about where Taggert had taken Keilani. It was a good distance to Pirate Bay, a little-known area of caves and jetties that was rumored to be used for illegal activity from time to time. It seemed like the logical place for someone to take a captive. Micah only knew of the place because it was occasionally used for SEAL training since some of the caves went under water during high tide, making them nearly impossible to escape. Training there had been torture—something none of the SEALs on his team would ever forget. If he guessed right, Dalton Taggert probably had similar memories of the place.
His gut squeezed at the thought that the man intended to harm Keilani. Taggert was one of his brothers. No matter what was going on with Taggert, Micah would never want it to come to this. Whatever Taggert was involved in wasn’t worth him coming to harm.
The Baja ate up the miles of water in a matter of minutes, although it seemed much longer to Micah. The waves of the open water were daunting today, and he had to slow the boat more than he would have liked before reaching his destination. He would never reach Keilani in time if the boat capsized. When the dark shape of the rocks outlining Pirate Bay finally came into view, he wanted to speed up again, but knew better. He tamped down his impatience and kept a steady course.
The waves breaking the shore along the jagged rocks were thankfully still low and a good ways out. That was a good sign. The caves wouldn’t begin to fill with water until the tide rose farther up the shore. He scanned the coastline looking for the other boat. Nothing was visible at first glance, but after another scan, Micah thought he saw a small slip of dark burgundy glinting in the sun just beyond an outcropping of rocks. He adjusted the throttle on the Baja and cruised in closer, careful not to get near enough to alert Keilani’s captor of his presence. That wasn’t an easy feat considering the loud rumble of the Baja’s engine. He cut the motor and drifted in for a closer look.
The other boat bobbed listlessly between two outcroppings, the rocks shielding it from view at most angles and keeping the waves from battering it to pieces. He might have missed it had he not known where to look. As he drew near, Micah scanned the rocks and caves, hoping for any bit of evidence to point him in Keilani’s direction. He tried to keep thoughts of being too late out of his head. If anything happened to Keilani before he could get to her, Micah hated to consider what he might do to the man in his anger.
The Baja drifted in beside the other boat and Micah threw out an anchor at the back before silently leaping out and tying off the nose to a big rock against the shore. It wasn’t easy to keep quiet, considering what he wanted to do was crash the caves and demand he get Keilani back immediately. But his SEAL training won out in the end. Stealth was much more effective. It gave him the element of surprise.
He was making his way toward the first cave when all of his good intentions were nearly lost forever as Keilani’s scream filled the air.
FOURTEEN
Micah felt both panic and renewed hope at the sound of Keilani’s cry. It meant he wasn’t too late yet, but it also meant Taggert was hurting her. He squeezed his eyes closed and prayed for her protection. Then he plunged ahead, doing his best to be quiet, but his desperate need to reach her in time was definitely complicating things. His SEAL skills were being put to the ultimate test.
Reaching the top of a boulder along the shore beside the caves, he struggled to hold his composure when he got a good look. The sight of Dalton Taggert hitting Keilani’s already bruised and bleeding face caused him to lose all good sense. He wanted to do that and worse to Taggert in return for all the misery the man had caused Keilani.
But right now he had to save her.
Dalton had his SEAL-issue Ontario MK3 knife in one hand and he stood over Keilani’s form, which now seemed completely inert. Panic swelled in Micah’s chest. Dalton launched the weapon at the dirt beside his feet. That did nothing to comfort Micah. It was not unusual for a SEAL to kill someone without a weapon. Being disarmed and having to use one’s own strength had been a frequent occurrence in Afghanistan.
He had to use the element of surprise to his advantage, so he did his best to shut off all the flashbacks and go into attack mode.
The knife was flying through the air before Dalton even knew he was being attacked. Micah poured every bit of remaining strength he had into doing battle. Every pent-up ounce of fear and concern for Keilani, all the untested feelings for her he had kept bottled up in denial came full force into the fight. Dalton was still trying to recover from the shock of the ambush and it was apparent he hadn’t expected Micah to fight with this kind of strength.
He tried to pull his Sig, but Micah easily knocked it from his hand and took him to the ground. Raining blows down on Dalton’s head, Micah didn’t stop until Dalton began to wail for mercy. Blood spurted from his nose and mouth, and though he had gotten a good blow or two in on Micah, he was definitely losing the fight.
“Micah, stop! You have to listen. I’m not who you think I am.” Dalton shook his head and as soon as Micah’s grip loosened, he managed to raise his hands up a bit in surrender.
“That’s for sure. I thought we were brothers. How could you do this, man?” He tightened his grip on Dalton again, leery of making the same mistake he had made with the man in the past.
“Listen to me. I’m still one of the good guys.” The look in Dalton’s eyes was one of desperation.
Micah considered this for a half an instant before his gaze landed on Keilani’s unmoving body again, and rage filled him. “You’re lying. No matter what, you’re going to pay for what you’ve done. You’ve betrayed us all.”
Micah wanted to keep pummeling the man, but it was doing no good. He couldn’t even feel satisfaction for avenging Keilani’s injuries knowing his brother in arms had turned on them all.
Dalton lay completely still, the blows having rendered him unconscious, but even as Micah stood, he felt the aftershocks as if he was still fighting. All for money, this man had become a traitor of the worst sort. And though Micah had always been sickened by the very idea of it, having someone he trusted so completely turn on him and everyone he held dear in his life was even worse than he had imagined.
He barely got Dalton tied up securely before his stomach rebelled on him. When he had thrown up the contents of his stomach, he hurried to Keilani’s side. She began to stir just a little, but she stayed on her side, balled up like a terrified child.
The bruises and open cuts on her face and arms made him want to finish Dalton off, but he knew he couldn’t do it. He would rather see the drug operation stopped and have Dalton pay for his deeds. The man would have to see the stares of all of his betrayed brothers on him while he stood trial for his crimes. He was the ultimate disgrace.
Focusing on Keilani, Micah gently spoke to her, afraid to try to move her until he knew the extent of her injuries. She only moved her head and mumbled at first, but gradually she began to blink, and finally opened her eyes.
�
�Micah? Am I dreaming?” She tried to push herself up, but immediately cried out in pain.
“Take it easy now. Is it all right if I pick you up? We need to get you to a hospital.” He stroked her hair back away from her face and gently smoothed the strands. He examined her carefully, not willing to rely only on what she told him in the state she was in. He wouldn’t move her until he knew it was safe. But questioning her would keep her talking.
She moaned. “I think so. It’s so hard to tell. I hurt everywhere.”
He began to look her over. Bruises seemed to be popping up everywhere, just as she said, and when he used the knife to carefully cut the zip ties from her wrists, she cried out. There were deep, angry red indentations where they had been so tightly locked around her wrists. He rubbed at them gently, trying to restore healthy blood flow, though he knew the tingling was painful in her hands. She winced and he apologized.
“I know. It hurts, but it will feel better soon.” He noticed the gash on her arm, then, too, and sucked in a breath. “That might need stitches.”
Keilani gave him a weak smile. “How did you find me?”
Micah slid his arms under her and gathered her to him with a careful tenderness he hadn’t known he possessed. The last thing he would want to do was hurt her more. “Just an educated guess.”
She leaned into him, relaxing against his body. “I thought for sure you weren’t going to escape. He left you on a sinking boat and there was nothing I could do. I was so afraid you would drown.”
The tears welled in her eyes and he was almost undone by the knowledge that, despite all the pain she was in herself, the thing that brought her to tears was her concern for him. He would do anything to make her smile again.
“Hey, where’s your faith in me? I’m a SEAL, remember?” He looked down at her, nestled in his arms, and gave her a crooked grin.
It had the desired effect, though her smile was still full of pain. “How could I forget?”