Shadow Rescue

by Rebecca Deel

  What was it about this one man that brought down her barriers and made her comfortable with his touch? She trusted every member of Shadow. Yet Joe’s touch was the only one she didn’t fight herself to allow.

  “Tough session.” Joe eased back enough to see Sam’s face. “You okay?”

  “I will be. Just need a few minutes to settle.”

  His gaze dropped to her mouth, then shifted to her eyes again. “Do you want a few minutes to yourself?”

  “I’ve been inside my own head for the past 90 minutes. I’d rather not keep myself company right now.”

  “What do you need from me?”

  A kiss. Sweet, scorching, or something in between. She didn’t care as long as he kissed her. Sam just couldn’t bring herself to ask for the kiss. “This,” she whispered and snuggled closer.

  Joe’s hold tightened. “A real hardship,” he teased. “Holding a beautiful woman is a tough job.”

  Sam lifted her head from his chest to stare at him, eyes wide. “Beautiful?”

  He tilted his head, studying her. “Hmm. Wrong word.”

  Her heart sank. “Oh.”

  “Gorgeous is the right word. Drop-dead gorgeous. Yeah, I’m really suffering here.”

  Just like that, her emotions soared as did her confusion. Where was the teammate who had been so reluctant to get involved with her for the past five years? No question Sam was thrilled at the change in Joe, but what did the shift mean? “You’re turning on the charm today.”

  Joe sobered. “I’m being honest.” He used the pads of his thumbs to brush away the remnants of tears from her cheeks. “We should go back. Nico will have more information from Maddox and Zane by now.”

  She released him and reached for the door knob. Joe covered her hand with his to still her movements. When she turned to ask him what was wrong, her partner moved into her, captured her chin in his hand and pressed a light, gentle, lingering kiss on her lips, nibbling from one corner of her mouth to the other.

  Her knees weakened and she would have gone down if not for his secure hold. When he eased back, Sam’s breath stuttered out. “What does that mean?”

  A slow smile curved his mouth. “If you have to ask, I’m out of practice.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Maybe I should try again.”

  Oh, yeah. Good plan. “Maybe you should.”

  Joe took his time bending down to kiss her. He cupped the back of her neck and squeezed gently. “You planning to tell me to stop?”

  As if. “I’m not stupid.”

  With a soft laugh, he closed the gap between them and captured her lips with his. Gone was the gentle exploration. Joe took control of the kiss from the first touch. Where earlier his lips brushed across Sam’s mouth with a touch as light as a butterfly, now his touch was possessive and hot. His lips caught and explored her own with a thoroughness that stole her breath and made her moan. He lifted his head to stare at her with glittering eyes.

  Sam shivered as goosebumps surged across her skin. “Where did you learn how to do that?” She held up her hand. “Wait. Scratch that. I don’t want to know. I’ll assume you were born with a gift for dynamite kisses.”

  Joe laughed and reached around her to open the door.

  Sam made her back way up the aisle in a daze.

  Nico motioned to Sam and Joe from the conference table. “Join us. Zane sent more information. We have copies of the emailed threats Hollingbrook received and a list of the accidents Janine suffered along with the police reports from the disappearances of the women.”

  Ben’s hand hovered near a carafe. “Coffee?” he asked.

  Sam’s stomach rebelled at the idea. Normally as much of a caffeine junkie as the rest of her unit, today she couldn’t handle the buzz. “Not for me.”

  “None for me, either.” Joe opened the small refrigerator and pulled out two decaffeinated soft drinks. He handed one to Sam.

  Joe Gray had good instincts. After being shot at and her long session with Marcus, Sam’s stomach was unsettled. Joe’s kiss had butterflies dive-bombing inside her stomach. Somehow, he knew and hadn’t made a big deal out of it. Still protecting her, she realized.

  Nico tapped a few keys on the keyboard and projected a document on the screen. Sam scanned the contents as she sipped her soft drink and frowned. “Is this the first threat Hollingbrook received?”

  “It has the earliest date.”

  Trace whistled. “He should have reported this immediately, whether to us or the cops.”

  “That threat is specific.” Joe laid his arm across the back of Sam’s chair, the warmth of his skin seeping into her own. “Mentioning Janine’s school is a deliberate shot across the bow, warning her father that they knew how to get to her.”

  “At the very least, Hollingbrook should have assigned her a bodyguard.” Curt rubbed his jaw. “We could have prevented her death if we’d been called in sooner.”

  “Her father knows,” Sam said. “He’ll have to live with that on his conscience for the rest of his life.”

  Joe motioned to the screen. “Put up the next one, Nico. Side by side if possible.”

  More keystrokes. Eight documents popped up on the screen. As Sam read each one, her frown deepened. “Do we have a timeline of the development of Hollingbrook’s investigation?”

  “Zane thought we might want to see the overlay.” A moment later, Nico brought up a new image on the screen, thumbnail prints of the threats with lines drawn from each email to specific points on the timeline.

  Each time Hollingbrook made more inquiries into the disappearances of the women and the possibility of connecting an employee with the women, the threats ramped up, all centered on Hollingbrook and the cruise line. Janine’s death seemed to be a way to hurt her father. She didn’t appear to be the target of the terror campaign.

  “What about Janine’s accidents?” Joe’s brows knitted. “Did Z add those to the diagram?”

  The screen morphed again, this time including Janine’s accidents.

  “After the first couple of accidents, Hollingbrook should have sent Janine for a long vacation out of the reach of these clowns.” Trace folded his arms across his chest. “There are only a couple of days, three at most, between the new threat and Janine’s next accident.”

  “Does Hollingbrook have any idea who targeted Janine?” Sam asked. She didn’t hold out much hope that he’d suspected one person or group in particular. If he had, Hollingbrook would probably have gone after them himself.

  “He doesn’t, no.”

  Curt’s eyebrow rose. “But we do?”

  “Not confirmed. Maddox has been hearing rumors of a human trafficking organization targeting vacationing women, especially women traveling alone. If the woman is beautiful enough, they will try to capture her anyway.”

  Sam closed her eyes briefly. That was the reason Shadow had been assigned this mission. Their unit specialized in freeing victims from human traffickers.

  “But we don’t have confirmation.” Joe turned slightly, his thigh pressing against Sam’s. “The human trafficking group might not have anything to do with the missing women.” He angled his head toward the wall screen. “Most of the threats are focused on Hollingbrook and his cruise line. Maddox said his business has been under attack, especially this cruise route. Someone wants to take down Hollingbrook and his company. Who has it out for him?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Excellent question.” Nico tapped on another key and brought up pictures of three men and one woman.

  Joe studied the pictures. “Who are they?”

  “Mike Hollingbrook’s confidants. They are executives in Hollingbrook Cruise Lines. Each of these four people are friends, some closer than others. They know the best ways to hurt him and the business. As a whole, Hollingbrook stays in the background and out of the media spotlight. The average person on the street wouldn’t have a clue where to strike to hurt him the most. These four have that knowledge.”

  “Trouble in paradise?” Ben asked.
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br />   “That’s what we’re going to find out.” Nico shut down the projection screen. “The four executives are already on board the Pacific Star. Hollingbrook was scheduled to go. Their plan was to combine planning meetings with enjoying the cruise. They were supposed to fly back to Nashville from Puerto Caldero. With all the trouble plaguing this cruise, Hollingbrook hoped to see for himself what was happening. With the death of Janine, his part in the plan changed.”

  “But the other four went on the cruise anyway?”

  “He told them to go and come up with plans for the next year. He’ll review the plans when they return and schedule a meeting to discuss them. The cruise planning sessions are a yearly tradition. They usually meet for two or three hours, then knock off for the rest of the day, enjoying the cruise experience for themselves.”

  Joe thought about what Nico said and what he hadn’t. “There are problems behind the scenes.”

  Shadow’s leader nodded. “Aside from the missing women, the cruise has been plagued with mishaps and deliberate sabotage, all minor to this point.”

  “At least one person on board is involved in the campaign to discredit the cruise line.” Trace poured more coffee into his mug. “Maybe more. Does Hollingbrook think his executives might be connected to the sabotage?”

  “That’s what we need to determine. Zane sent files on each of the executives to your email. Familiarize yourselves with them. We’ll be interacting with the four of them on board the ship. Charlaine Bennett is a fan of Mercy’s art work as is Colt Riley. Dax Alexander is all about mechanics while Lance Farraday is obsessed with tree houses. Learn everything you can about each of them. Zane’s information was thorough, as usual. We’ll land in San Diego in four hours. We don’t have long to become experts on these executives. In the meantime, Maddox and Zane are digging into the human trafficking angle. Maybe we’ll get lucky and nail down one of these problems before the cruise is finished.”

  Trace grunted. “We need a list of employees who worked this cruise since the sabotage and threats started.”

  Nico stood. “I’ll send the request to Zane. We should receive new information soon. Joe and Sam focus on Dax and Lance. Mercy and I will dig into Charlaine and Colt. Ben and Trace, start on Hollingbrook’s background. Even though he didn’t mention a relative with motive, that doesn’t mean there isn’t at least one. People tend to be blind to motives of those they love. Curt, focus on the security people. They have access to everything on board ship. Everyone be looking for the employee information from Zane.”

  Joe followed Sam to their seats and grabbed his laptop. “Dax first?”

  “Sure. Dax loves machines and Lance loves building.” Sam eyed him. “I know Maddox assigned Shadow because of the possible human trafficking angle. Other teams could have handled the job as well.”

  “Yeah, except for the interest in art, mechanics, and tree houses. No other team will connect with the executives as well as we will.” He gave a short, soft laugh. “The boss always has more than one reason for his choices. Never thought of my knowledge of mechanics as a strength.”

  “No one would ever think of my tree-house hobby as an advantage.”

  “At least building tree houses is an interesting conversational piece. Backyard mechanics are plentiful. Do you have pictures of your work?”

  “On my phone.”

  “Good. We’ll use the pictures as a way to draw Lance in.”

  “What about you and Dax?”

  He smiled. “I have a lot of pictures to flash. Who doesn’t love talking about classic cars?”

  “The sweet 1957 Corvette?”

  Joe narrowed his eyes. “Sweet? That ‘Vette is a piece of art. The term ‘sweet’ doesn’t do it justice.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “If you say so. Boot up your laptop. Nico is glaring our direction.”

  He glanced over. Shadow’s leader was looking at them with that intense stare of his, the one that said quit goofing off and get busy. Joe saluted and booted up his computer. A moment later, he angled the computer so his partner could see the screen as well, then settled in to read.

  Dax had worked at Hollingbrook Cruise Lines for twenty years, joining the company as soon as he graduated from college. He’d worked his way up the ladder in the finance department until he’d been promoted to vice president of the company. He was reputed to be Hollingbrook’s best friend. Married and divorced four times, he was currently on wife number five. Two children, a girl from the first wife and a boy from the fourth. There was a fifteen-year gap between his children. Dax’s son had just turned five. His daughter was a sophomore at Vanderbilt, studying to be a doctor.

  The finance VP made good money, an excellent thing since Dax also had a weakness for classic cars. Joe whistled softly as he read the list of vehicles Dax had acquired. Absolutely amazing. He’d love to see Dax’s collection. The pictures Zane had embedded in the file wouldn’t do justice to the beauty of the cars.

  “Can you estimate on how much money he spent collecting those?”

  “Easily four million. He also has maintenance and upkeep plus the insurance on each of the vehicles.”

  “Sounds like a black hole for money.”

  “It can be. That’s why I restore and sell the classics. I enjoy fixing them, making a tidy profit, and sending the restored beauties off to a new home.”

  “Except for the Corvette?”

  He was never selling that baby. The ‘Vette was special and he loved driving that car. “Except that one. She’s mine.” The Corvette was his first restoration project on his own. The ones before that had been finished working in tandem with his father. Heath Gray loved vintage cars and trucks and passed his passion on to Joe. The rest of Joe’s brothers hadn’t been interested in their father’s hobby.

  “Will you let me ride in her?”

  He slid her a look. “Maybe. You’ll have to offer a top-of-the-line bribe to convince me.” He’d planned to sweet talk Sam into a date using the car as an incentive. Didn’t mean Joe couldn’t take advantage of her interest.

  Sam frowned. “Like what?”

  “Don’t know yet. I’m still thinking about the price for a ride in a work of art.”

  “Let me know when you figure it out.” Her eyes sparkled. “If you’re lucky, I’ll be willing to pay up.”

  That smart-aleck response surprised a laugh out of him. Courting Samantha Coleman was going to be a lot of fun. He loved a woman with a sense of humor. Joe sobered. If Sam gave him a chance. Based on her response to his kiss, they had serious chemistry going between them and she was attracted to him. That didn’t mean Sam would be willing to lower her protective barriers and allow him to occupy more than a friend’s role.

  She placed her hands on the keyboard and called up the next file on Lance Farraday.

  They read the file in silence. “Your boy Lance is a player,” Joe muttered. Until the past year, Lance never dated a woman more than a handful of times before moving on to someone else. He didn’t like Sam cozying up to this guy. Yeah, it was necessary to connect with the man. Still didn’t make him happy. Her startled question after the counseling session with Marcus indicated Sam didn’t view herself as attractive, but she would catch the interest of Farraday.

  Some men didn’t make a distinction between married and unmarried women. Guess they’d find out soon if the PR director respected wedding vows. Wish Maddox had given Joe a wedding band to place on Sam’s finger. Wouldn’t newlyweds have rings?

  “Did you see this?” Sam pointed at the screen.

  Joe jerked his attention back on task and read the paragraph she mentioned. His eyebrows winged up. Interesting. “He’s been seeing Charlaine Bennett for a year even though the relationship is unacknowledged by either of them. He’s also a new father. He has a daughter who is four months old.”

  “And Charlaine just came back from maternity leave.”

  “He’s well paid. Hollingbrook is a generous employer.” According to Zane, Farraday started building tree
houses when he was a teenager and kept up the skill by building for friends, family, and by referral. The tree houses looked sturdy, but they didn’t hold a candle to Sam’s creations. Farraday’s tree houses were simple cabins and houses. Sam’s work was more creative. Joe couldn’t wait to see the other man’s face when he looked at Sam’s photographs.

  “Look at the date he joined the company.”

  Huh. The same month and year as Charlaine. Newbies at the same time. Made Joe consider whether the two rookies had cemented a friendship during those early years and it had grown from there.

  They spent long minutes reviewing the files of Dax and Lance, branching out into further research on the two men and their interests, families, and backgrounds.

  Thirty minutes before the jet was scheduled to land in San Diego, Nico spoke up. “Zane just sent the list of employees who worked the cruise route from the time of the first accidents and disappearance. He’ll send preliminary background on each soon. In the meantime, have you noticed something you want to share with the class?”

  “Charlaine Bennett and Lance Farraday joined Hollingbrook Cruise Lines during the same month and year.” Joe’s brow furrowed. They were the same age. Was it possible they knew each other before they started working for the company? “Farraday and Charlaine Bennett have been an item for a year but their relationship isn’t one that’s acknowledged by either.”

  Nico nodded. “Charlaine and Lance are parents of a four-month old girl.”

  “The baby is gorgeous,” Mercy said.

  “Anything to add, Sam?” Nico asked.

  “Dax is all about machines and collects classic cars. He’s also on wife number five.”

  Ben’s jaw dropped. “Holy cow.”

  “Hate to know how much he pays in alimony,” Trace said.

  Joe huffed out a laugh. “And child support. He has two children by different mothers. The oldest is a sophomore at Vanderbilt.”