by Rebecca Deel
“We were surrounded by at least thirty people. The security team couldn’t have known one of them had a knife.”
Sam exchanged a glance with Joe and saw the same knowledge in his eyes. The Pacific Star’s security people should have been more aware. How much training did they have? This might be a good opportunity for Maddox to suggest sending the Hollingbrook security personnel through Personal Security International, Fortress’s bodyguard training arm based in Otter Creek, Tennessee. PSI was run by two of the best teams Shadow had worked with on missions, the teams Maddox called on for the toughest missions because they always got the job done.
Those teams plus Shadow, Zoo Crew, and Adam Walker’s team, based in Nashville, were deployed frequently. That was the reason Maddox had recruited the Texas team and was in the process of forming more teams. Shadow had been close to burnout. Sam wasn’t sure about the other teams, but she knew the mental wellbeing of his teams was as important to Maddox as their physical safety.
Winestock returned, a bag in his hand. “Found a long-sleeved t-shirt with the Pacific Star’s name on it, sir.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Bart. What’s the latest from our employees?”
Sam and Joe listened to the update on the ship’s crew without commenting. When the security chief finished, Sam pinched Greer’s arm near the injury. “Do you feel that?”
“Just pressure.”
“Excellent. Winestock, sit across the table from Captain Greer and talk to him about your new security plan while I work on his arm.”
A frown. “How did you know I’m making changes?”
“The plan in place at the moment needs adjustment. Whoever set the bombs knows ways around the procedures you’re following at the moment. It’s logical you would make changes to prevent a repeat of events.” She inclined her head toward the captain. “Talk to him.” Hopefully, she would finish her work before Winestock completed his report.
The security chief shifted his attention to Greer. “She’s right, sir. Our procedures obviously have holes in them.”
“Tell me how you plan to close them.”
As the two men discussed options, Sam stitched Greer’s wound. Joe held the edges of the wound together, making the stitching process easier and faster.
When she finished, Sam covered the wound with gauze and tape. “Are you allergic to any medications?” she asked the captain.
He shook his head.
She handed Greer two packets of pill. “The capsules are antibiotics. Take one twice a day. The white pills are mild pain killers. Take one every six hours as needed. Have the ship’s doctor check your arm and change your bandage tomorrow. You’ll be sore for a few days, Captain.” She told him a list of things to watch for that indicated the wound was infected.
“Thank you, Sam. I appreciate it.”
“Glad I could help, sir.” She and Joe cleaned up the medical debris and left the conference room with Greer and Winestock deep in conversation.
“Nice work.” Joe glanced at her. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.”
“Sam.”
Maybe having a partner so attentive to her wasn’t such a great idea. “I’ll be fine, Joe. I’m a little sore, but it’s not bad. How did you know?”
“You winced when you stretched a few minutes ago in the employee dining room. Take something to dull the pain.”
She stopped in her tracks and stared at him, eyes narrowed at the command in his voice.
“Please,” he added, his tone softer.
With a nod, Sam resumed walking toward the dining room where they met the rest of their teammates.
“How is Greer?” Nico asked.
“He has a cut on his arm that required twelve stitches.”
“I want to know how the captain was injured and so will Maddox.” Nico called their boss who picked up on the first ring.
“Talk to me, Nico.”
“You’re on speaker with our team and Mercy. We had trouble brewing before we arrived on the ship.” He went on to explain about the bombs on board the Pacific Star. Joe and Ben explained the steps taken to dismantle the explosive devices and the interviews with the various law enforcement agencies.
“I’ll warn the communications people to expect an influx of phone calls with follow-up questions for the three of you. I assume you’re still in port?”
“Yes, sir,” Nico confirmed. “We’re in the terminal, waiting for law enforcement teams with bomb-sniffing dogs to clear the ship. An hour ago, Jerry Greer, the Pacific Star’s captain, was attacked while visiting with cruise passengers.”
“Not what I wanted to hear. What happened?”
Joe summarized the incident and Sam chimed in with her treatment of Greer’s wound.
“What about the four executives?”
“All of them were eating together at the time of the captain’s attack,” Trace said. “They were more than three hundred feet away.”
“One of them could still be involved in planning the attack on the ship and the captain. How can I help?”
“Find out what the feds know,” Nico said. “Local law enforcement and the Coast Guard are also in the mix. Everybody is cutting us out of the loop. I don’t like working in the dark.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?”
Nico glanced at his team members and his wife. No one spoke up. “Not right now. Tell Zane to keep digging into the backgrounds of the four executives and Hollingbrook’s relatives. Someone is out to hurt Hollingbrook and his business.”
CHAPTER TEN
Twelve hours later, the announcement finally came over the terminal’s loud speakers for the passengers to begin boarding the Pacific Star by decks. Joe stood, held out his hand to Sam, and helped her to her feet as his teammates grabbed their own gear. “Can’t say I’m sorry to see the last of this dining room. I’m ready to change clothes.” And take a shower. He’d gone longer between showers and fresh clothes on missions. Didn’t mean he liked it.
Nico paused in the doorway and shoved his hand into his pocket. “Forgot to give you these.” He placed two gold wedding bands on Joe’s palm. “You and Sam are now on stage and will be every minute you’re outside of the suite. Zane set up a cover story that Mercy and I are longtime friends of you and Sam.”
Joe stared at the rings a moment while the rest of his team left the room. This marriage was fake despite the license in his duffel that said otherwise. He raised his gaze to Sam. She looked uncertain.
Wouldn’t be easier if he waited. Joe lifted Sam’s left hand and slid the smaller gold band on her finger, then handed her the larger one and held out his left hand.
Fingers trembling, the medic slid the wedding ring on his finger.
“Are you okay with this?”
That brought her eyes back to his. “Why do you ask?”
“Your body language says you don’t want to do this, that you’d rather be anywhere else than here.” With anyone other than him. And that caused a sharp pain in his chest. “We can form another plan.”
“It’s too late. We board the ship any minute.”
“I don’t want you uncomfortable with me, Sam.”
“I’m comfortable with you,” she protested.
“Not like this. We have to act like we’re on our honeymoon. That means me touching you. A lot. People will notice if newlyweds don’t even hold hands.” And, man, did he want to do more than hold her hand.
Sam moved close enough to lay her hand over his heart. Her light touch branded him.
“I can handle it as long as you are the one touching me.”
He studied her for a moment, then nodded. “If I do something to make you uneasy, tell me.”
“It’s not a problem. Besides, the relationship isn’t real.”
Joe framed her face with his hands. “The piece of paper isn’t real. I wouldn’t say everything else is fake.”
Sam’s eyes widened, confusion clouding their depths. “Joe?”
He kissed her, his t
ouch feather-light and filled with a glimpse of what was in his heart. When he drew back, Joe dropped one hand from her face and let the other slide down her arm to clasp her hand. Breathing room. He had to back off or risk losing his chance with Sam. “We need to go. They just called the name of our deck for boarding.”
While they walked, he saw Sam glancing at the wedding band several times. Joe’s lips curved. His ring felt like it weighed several pounds. Guess the weight bothered him because he didn’t wear any jewelry. Never seemed prudent to wear a ring when he was likely to end up in hand-to-hand combat while on a mission. If the ring signified a real marriage, he would adjust and wear the band proudly. Not gold, though, he decided. Maybe cobalt to absorb light instead of reflect it.
They breezed through security again with the security personnel glancing at their IDs and waving them through without checking their bags. This time when Casey, the perky employee, took them through the check-in procedures and offered to direct them to their cabins, they accepted her assistance.
Casey glanced at the cabin listing for their names and beamed at them. “Aww! You’re in the honeymoon suite. Congratulations.”
Joe lightly rested his arm across Sam’s shoulders. “Thanks.” She stiffened for a second, then deliberately relaxed against his side and smiled at Casey.
“Enjoy your cruise. If we can do anything to make your stay with us more enjoyable, please let us know.”
With a nod, Joe urged Sam forward. “Let’s go so we can change clothes,” he murmured. “We are a tad conspicuous in all black.”
“Oh, yeah. Passengers are beginning to stare.”
They hurried toward their cabin, arriving in time to see Nico and Mercy unlocking the door next to theirs.
“Curt, Trace, and Ben have already dumped their gear in the cabins and left. They’re keeping eyes on the foursome.”
“Six,” Mercy corrected.
“The client is here?” Sam asked.
“Charlaine is traveling with her daughter and nanny.”
Sam’s face softened. To Joe, she was always beautiful but he’d never seen this expression on her face before. Would she look like this as she held her own child? His child? He turned to Nico, afraid Sam she would catch a glimpse of the naked longing that lived inside his heart. “Orders?”
“Mingle with the passengers and crew as newlyweds. Mercy and I will do the same. People talk. Hopefully, they’ll say something useful.”
Based on the conversations he overheard in the security line, Joe wouldn’t bet on that. He glanced at Sam and noticed she looked tired. Although Dr. Sorensen cleared her for duty, Sam wasn’t at full strength. “Any time in your schedule for a nap? I need my beauty rest.”
Shadow’s leader snorted. “Won’t help your ugly mug. You’re right, though. We need sleep. We’ll mingle until lunch, then take shifts. Mercy has a drawing seminar this evening. The whole team is on duty during her session.”
Nice. Joe loved watching Mercy work. “We’ll walk the decks soon to learn the ship’s layout.” Joe unlocked the door. Because several couples were in the corridor, he scooped Sam into his arms, carried her over the threshold, and kicked the door shut behind them. The action startled Sam but made the right impression based on broad smiles from the men and envious looks from the women who witnessed his behavior.
He set her down and placed their bags inside the bedroom near the door for easy access.
She set the mike bag beside her Go bag and duffel. “We should change clothes.”
“We have time. Take a shower if you want. I’ll wait in the living room and take mine when you’re finished.”
Joe returned to the living area and drew in a deep breath. This was harder than he thought it would be. He wanted everything to be easy and natural for Sam’s sake. But this felt real to him. He glanced at the wedding band on his finger and grimaced. He wasn’t helping himself.
Joe moved across the room. Wouldn’t do for Sam to think he was a stalker. She’d find out soon enough he was nuts about her, had been for the past five years. He couldn’t stay near the door where he’d hear the shower run and his imagination would drive him crazy.
Looking out the glass balcony doors, Joe scanned the activity on the dock and noticed one man watching passengers board the ship from the terminal. He stayed in the shadows and leaned against a nearby building. No threatening moves, but the man looked out of place among the excited crowd. The man raised his cell phone and took a picture.
Joe swung his gaze toward the area the stranger had photographed. His gut tightened. A group of young, beautiful women. Maybe he enjoyed looking at beautiful women. What man didn’t? But this man set off Joe’s trouble meter. Joe snapped a picture of him with his phone, hoping Z could ID him.
The man took another picture of a different group of women, turned around, and walked away.
Joe sent his photo to Zane and called his friend. “It’s Joe.”
“Heard you defused the second bomb. Nice work.”
“Thanks.”
“I know you’re a crack shot with a rifle. Why didn’t I know about your second skill set?”
He smiled as he watched people boarding the ship. “I thought my sparkling personality was my second skill set.”
Zane gave a bark of laughter. “No one but Sam Coleman thinks you have a sparkling personality, buddy, and that woman is biased.”
“Maybe.”
“When did you learn to defuse bombs?”
“I’m still a rookie compared to Ben. I’ve been training with him on weekends for months. My first chance to use the new skill was on the South American mission two weeks ago. The bombs on the Pacific Star were similar. Ben talked me through what he was doing before Sam contacted me about the second bomb. They were set to detonate at the same time. Made sense to split the work.”
“Your new skill came in handy. Since chatting is not in your arsenal of skills, you must need something. How can I help?”
“I just sent you a photograph. Quality isn’t good but I need an ID on the man. He was taking pictures of female passengers as they boarded the ship.”
“I’ll do what I can and get back to you.”
“Thanks, Z.” He ended the call.
A door opened behind him. “Everything okay?”
“I don’t know.” He continued to watch the passengers streaming onto the ship in case the suspicious man returned.
“What do you see?”
“Nothing at the moment.” He brought up the picture he’d taken and turned his screen toward Sam. “This guy was photographing female passengers as they boarded the ship.”
Sam studied the photo. “I don’t recognize him. Is it possible he took pictures of friends or family members going on the cruise?”
“If he watched one woman or group of women, I’d consider that possibility. He took pictures of several groups of women and left.”
“And you don’t like it.”
He shook his head. “This guy is trouble.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Joe’s words reverberated in Sam’s head long after he’d left the living room to shower and change clothes. She studied the photo, her stomach twisting into a knot. The stranger’s stalker-like behavior made Sam worry about the women blissfully unaware of the potential danger.
From this angle, Joe couldn’t take pictures of the women to identify and warn them. Sam had noticed cameras as she and her teammates passed through security. She and Joe might be able to match the time stamp from Joe’s picture to the security feed and identify the women.
Sam kept her attention riveted to the dock in case the stranger returned. While she maintained her vigil, she considered the turnaround in Joe’s attitude toward her in the past three months.
Her shooting scared him. She understood. The close call scared her, too. When the bullet had slammed into her, Sam thought she would bleed out on that bathroom floor before her teammates found her. Worse, she’d failed in her role as Mercy’s bodyguard. Nico had almost
lost the woman he later married.
On the heel of those thoughts came the sweet, dim memory of Joe carrying her to the SUV, holding her tight in his strong arms and begging her to stay with him as a teammate drove her to the hospital. After she woke from the haze of anesthesia, Sam found Joe at her bedside, holding her hand tight in his. He stayed by her side for the next month, sleeping on her couch in case she needed him after she was released from the hospital.
During that month, she grew comfortable with Joe’s company and ached for him when he and the rest of Shadow deployed with a substitute medic. While he was gone, Joe texted and called often. The contact helped. Not enough, though. A phone call was a poor substitute for seeing his face and feeling the gentle touches she’d come to crave as much as her next breath.
She was in so much trouble and in serious danger of losing her heart to the handsome spotter. What if he didn’t feel the same?
Sam rolled her eyes. She needed to get a grip. If he didn’t return her feelings, Sam would move on. Whether she could work on the same team with Joe was another consideration. She loved her team and their working rhythm. Maddox would transfer her to another unit if necessary, but she didn’t want to change teams. They were adults. If she and Joe dated and the relationship didn’t work, they would figure out how to work together. Sam didn’t want to lose his friendship or her team.
The bedroom door opened. “Did he return?”
The sound of Joe’s voice sent goosebumps surging over Sam’s skin. She would give almost anything to have the right to touch him. “Not that I’ve seen.”
She turned from the window. Joe looked amazing. Her gaze skimmed over his short-sleeved polo, jeans, and combat boots. Sam smiled. “No running shoes today?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m more comfortable in boots. Hiding my knives is easier with them.”
She gestured to her own jeans and boots. “Same here. After what happened earlier, I feel better with more weapons.” Annoyed at her trembling fingers, Sam clenched her hands into fists. What was wrong with her? This was Joe, not some stranger Maddox paired her with for this mission. She trusted him.