Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #2

by Dana Mentink

  And as much as Lexie wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, to scream in frustration and to cry in sadness all at once, she couldn’t. They had three girls to find.

  EIGHTEEN

  Shaun loosened his grip on Lexie and held her at arm’s length, her beautiful face in his hands. “I thought I’d lost you,” he said, pulling her back into his arms before she could protest.

  “We need to find them,” she whispered. “We promised.”

  His relief at seeing Lexie had been palpable, and as much as he wanted to stand there and hold her forever now that the threat of danger had passed, she was right. There were still three young women aboard who needed their help, one of whom might require medical attention.

  “You can tell me how you found me later,” Lexie said, pulling away. She ran over to Josh’s side and crouched, pressing two fingers against his neck. “He’s alive, but his pulse is weak. Call medical.”

  “Already on it.” Shaun stepped carefully and quickly across the deck to use one of the emergency phones, grateful they were still working. The medical team arrived in a matter of minutes and tended to the wounded RCMP officer with practiced speed.

  “We should go,” Lexie said. “One of the nurses is going to come with us, but we still don’t know where the girls are.”

  Shaun tapped the side of his nose. “If I were relocating abductees on a ship, I’d keep them far, far away from other people as much as possible. What better way to do that than hiding them in a room that the people searching for them have already checked?”

  “You think they’re back in the engine room?” Lexie eyed him with skepticism.

  “I think that’s the best place to start.”

  With one of the nurses in tow, Lexie led the way from the outside deck back through the darkened halls, finding the stairs with only a little guidance from the nurse. Lexie and Shaun flew down the steps to the engine room. The door had been locked.

  “That’s a good sign,” Shaun said as he stepped back and slammed a donkey kick into the spot above the door handle. The door swung open with a bang. “Good thing they don’t pay much attention to maintenance on anything down here aside from the engines.”

  Lexie rushed past him into the dimly lit room. The rumble of the engines didn’t stop Lexie from calling out to the girls by name.

  At first, all they heard was the continuous thrum of rumbling engine power, but then a faint, rhythmic banging joined the wall of sound.

  “At the back,” Shaun said. “It’s coming from the back.”

  They sprinted to the back of the engine room as the bangs grew louder. Through a gray door, almost invisible against the wall’s matching gray paint, came muffled shouts.

  Lexie ran to the door, Shaun hot on her heels.

  “It’s locked,” Lexie moaned, banging her fist on a hefty lock across the handle. “Now what? Where do we get a master key?”

  Shaun leaned in and kissed the top of her head. “I’ve got this. I’m a superspy, after all,” he whispered. The smile she gave him in return warmed him to the tips of his toes. He’d done it. They’d done it. And now they were going to finish it.

  After an agonizing two minutes, he felt and heard the soft click of the lock’s release. He stepped back as Lexie pulled open the door, revealing three young women huddled together.

  The nurse dashed in to assist Jamie, who wore a makeshift bandage around her upper leg.

  “Are we safe?” asked Maria, blinking away the darkness of the cramped closet. Shaun recognized her from the photograph.

  “Everything’s going to be all right now,” Lexie said, rushing forward to wrap the girl up in her arms. “Everything is going to be all right from now on.” She looked over the top of Maria’s head at Shaun, relief and gratitude in her eyes.

  It was finally over.

  *

  Back in the captain’s quarters, Shaun observed Lexie from afar as she chatted with the three rescued young women. Despite Reed’s initial advantage when Shaun had encountered him outside of Parsons’s office, the security officer’s on-the-job combat training had been no match for Shaun’s Agency-trained skills. Reed’s first blow had knocked the wind out of him, but within a matter of minutes, Shaun had incapacitated Reed and convinced him to admit his part in the scheme. Parsons’s call through the walkie-talkie had only confirmed Shaun’s findings, and the GPS tracker inside the radio—which Parsons’s computer held the tracking program for—had told him exactly where to find Lexie.

  Shaun returned his attention to the phone, where Jack yammered away about what protocol to follow once the Coast Guard arrived on the icebreaker.

  “You said the RCMP informant is stabilized?” Jack asked, Jolly Rancher candy clacking against his teeth.

  “That’s right. He’s not entirely out of the brambles, but there’s an RCMP evacuation helicopter standing by to swoop in as soon as the fog lifts.”

  “Good. Can’t believe the way this played out, Agent. Incredible.”

  Shaun chuckled, shaking his head. “I can barely believe it myself, Jack. God had His hand in it the whole time. Look, I should get back to Lexie and the girls. Check in with you later? The icebreaker is almost here, so we’ll be back en route in a few hours.”

  Shaun’s finger hovered over the button to end the call, when he heard a shout from the other end of the line. He pulled the receiver back up to his ear. “What now?”

  “Hrrmph. Think you’d be a little more grateful to the guy giving you big news.”

  “Come on, spit it out.” Shaun knew that tone of voice. The case officer had information he couldn’t wait to tell him.

  “Looked into those names you mentioned. A file came up for one of the Reilly women.”

  Shaun’s stomach twinged. Was this something he wanted to know? Had he done the right thing by asking Jack to dig for information?

  “The older sibling, Nikki, right?”

  “Yes, that’s right.” Shaun’s blood ran cold.

  “Full name Nicola Grace Reilly, yeah? Turns out one of our teams picked her up as part of a bust for a similar op six years ago. We had her under agency protection to testify against her captor, and kept her around as a possible asset for future trafficking cases afterward. In theory, that part was voluntary, but you know what that means with the Agency sometimes. Anyway, for some reason the files for her and several other witnesses were reopened not twenty minutes ago when you called in. There’ll be a lot of paperwork before she and the other protected witnesses can get back to their normal lives and families, but she’s alive and—according to the record in front of me—in good health.”

  Shaun thanked Jack and hung up, shock ricocheting through his system. Lexie’s sister was alive.

  Fighting to suppress a nervous grin, he crossed the room and tapped Lexie on the shoulder. “Can I interrupt for a moment?” Maria and the girls excused themselves, so he took a seat across from Lexie and clasped her hands between his. “I have some news, but first, how are you doing?”

  Lexie shivered despite the warmth of the room, pulling her hands from his to wrap them around her middle. “I got an all clear from the nurse for now, but they’ll give me a full checkup once we reach the island. Just in case.”

  Shaun shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t mean your health, Lexie.”

  She shrugged and smiled at him under her eyelashes. “I know. I guess I’m all right, but there are still a few things I don’t understand. Like, how did you find me?”

  “Parsons’s GPS tracking program helped, but so did this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a delicate, silver object. He took Lexie’s hand back and dropped her silver Nikki bracelet into the center. “Took a cue from the missing girls and the earring, did you?”

  Lexie grinned and clasped her fingers around the bracelet. “I thought it might help you to know I didn’t leave on my own.”

  “You thought right.”

  “But what about Reed? Parsons said he’d come after yo
u to take care of things.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of durable. Takes a lot to keep this lumberjack down.” He winked and tugged at the corner of his plaid shirt. “Yeah, I know that’s what you’ve been thinking.”

  Lexie laughed and shifted her position to lay her head on Shaun’s shoulder. “Just because you have terrible fashion sense—or just a bad ability to disguise yourself, I haven’t quite figured that out—doesn’t mean I like you any less.”

  “Oh?” Shaun pulled away, forcing Lexie to lift her head. “Is that an admission I hear? You actually like me? To what do I owe this revelation?”

  Lexie rolled her eyes, though her smile remained. “Don’t count your chickens, Lane. I just can’t believe this is over.”

  His grin returned, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Everything except for a few loose ends, it seems.”

  “Loose ends?” It was Lexie’s turn to pull away from him. “Whatever on earth do you mean by that?”

  He cleared his throat, trusting God for the right words to say. “Your sister. She’s alive and has been under—all right, I’ll just say it—CIA protection for a number of years. It would’ve been too risky to allow her to contact her family, but I imagine you’ll hear from her soon.”

  Lexie’s jaw dropped and she gasped, her eyes immediately filling with tears. “You can’t be serious.”

  He nodded, and that was all the confirmation she needed. He drew her close again and let the waves of emotion carry her away. After a time, she lifted her head, a shy smile curving the corners of her rosy lips. “So, now what? Where does this leave us?”

  Shaun frowned in confusion before recognizing the true, unspoken question behind her words. “That’s the other loose end. You and me. But I’m ready to figure it out. With you, Lexie. Only you.”

  Lexie’s cheeks turned pink as Shaun planted a kiss on the crown of her head. She laid her head back on Shaun’s shoulder, releasing a sigh of contentment that brought a wave of pure joy to Shaun’s heart. “If that’s the only loose end left to make sense of? I’m okay with that. I trust you.”

  EPILOGUE

  “You’ve got some nerve bringing me here.” Lexie laughed, stepping one foot at a time into the rocky canoe. “I thought we promised no more boats.”

  “We did, but I’d hoped you’d make an exception for it this time.” Shaun held her hand as she got seated before passing her a gray wool blanket. “For your lap, in case you get cold.”

  “Did you steal this from the ferry?” Shaun only winked in response. Gazing around, Lexie took in the beauty of Lake Ontario at sunset. Reds, yellows and oranges sparkled over the surface of the water, the air cool and pleasantly crisp with the onset of autumn. The trees and landscape along the water’s edge were turning early shades of the sunset’s brilliant palette.

  Lexie took a deep breath and released it slowly, savoring the peace that came with healed bruises—both hers and those of the people she cared about. While there would always be more people to find, it had been so beautiful to see Maria and the other missing young women reunited with their families. Even more incredible, Nikki was flying in to visit next week. Lexie had learned that Nikki had spent her time under CIA protection attending a community college and obtaining her teacher’s license. Nikki now spent her days in a position of responsibility as a teacher’s aide in a Fairfax County, Virginia, elementary school. Lexie had so many questions for Nikki, but before any of that, she planned to give her sister the biggest hug of her life and not let go for a long, long time. She’d even organized a big family celebration for Nikki’s arrival and, to Lexie’s surprise and delight, when they’d spoken on the phone her sister had hinted that she might be interested in doing a little house-hunting during her visit.

  Although the end of the case had meant Shaun needed to return to Langley, Virginia, to wrap up details of his years-long operation, Lexie had been fortunate enough to meet up with him several times for dinner on Newfoundland when the ship finally harbored. Those long conversations and heartfelt talks had been a whirlwind of a different kind, sending them both down a path they’d wanted to tread, though still rife with uncertainty. He’d managed to fly up to spend a Saturday afternoon with her at least once a month since then, but even with video chats added to the mix, it wasn’t enough.

  Lexie simply wasn’t sure how to proceed. She couldn’t ask Shaun to leave his job, his work was far too important to far too many people. As much as they loved each other, lately she’d been worried that perhaps weekend visits were as far as their futures would take them.

  “Are you comfortable?” Shaun asked, concern in his eyes. “Something’s bothering you.”

  She shrugged. “This is wonderful, Shaun. Perfect, even—despite the boat.”

  “But you’re worried about something.” He reached across and took her hands in his.

  Lexie sighed. “We’ve been through so much together, Shaun, and these past few months have been great, but…”

  “You know I love you, right?” Shaun gingerly leaned forward to kiss her forehead, taking care not to rock their little boat. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met, strong in ways I couldn’t even imagine a person could be until I met you.”

  “I love you, too,” she said, savoring the words, even though they’d been said before. They felt different tonight, though—more potent. She wasn’t the only one worried about something. Shaun kept looking around as though he expected a horde of bad guys to pop out of the water or drop on them from an airplane. “It’s just that, well…”

  “It’s hard being apart most of the time and you want more?” Lexie gaped at his mind-reading prowess, but Shaun just shrugged and ran his fingers through his floppier-than-ever hair. “Wasn’t hard to figure out. It’s because I feel the same way. Six months is long enough to get to know each other at our stage in life. It’s time to make things more permanent.”

  Lexie rolled her eyes. “You’re so romantic, Shaun. But I don’t see how this is going to work.”

  He raised one eyebrow and knelt on the floor of the boat. Lexie’s heart caught in her throat. Was he actually… He wasn’t. Was he?

  “I know exactly how it’s going to work, Alexandra Reilly.” He reached into his pocket, took her wrist and turned it palm-up—just as he’d done after saving her life on the ferry’s parking deck. His fingers shook as he placed a shimmering diamond ring into her hand. “If you’ll agree to marry me, that is.”

  Lexie’s breath came in short bursts. “Of course I will, Shaun, but—”

  “Do you trust me?”

  She pouted at the implication. “Of course I do.”

  “Then say yes.”

  It was true—she did trust him. Who would have thought that after twelve years, she and Shaun Carver would reunite, both of them so incredibly different people after all this time. He had a dedication and faith that she aspired to, and there was no doubt in her mind that he could find a way to make this work for the both of them. If there was anyone in the world who understood her work, it was he—and vice versa.

  “Yes, then. I will marry you.”

  With a shout of joy, Shaun drew her face down to his and kissed her with a fire he knew would only grow with time. “Then how about this—you working as a missing-persons consultant for the CIA. Start an American branch of your company. We’ll make a difference together.”

  The joy that welled up inside of her was uncontainable, and she kissed him back. They laughed as the boat rocked back and forth, which they quickly stabilized with a bit of patience and teamwork…the same way they’d solved their problems in the past, and the same way they would tackle them together in the future.

  *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from DUTY BOUND GUARDIAN by Terri Reed.

  Dear Reader,

  Thanks so much for keeping company with Lexie and Shaun while they were stuck in the ice. The journey from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Argentia, Newfoundland, is actually quite
a beautiful trip when the weather is right! I grew up in Nova Scotia, so the maritime setting is quite close to my heart. Cold weather, though? Not so much.

  Like Lexie, I’ve had moments in my life when I learned that people close to me were not who they portrayed themselves to be. It hurts when people don’t live up to our expectations, but ultimately we are only responsible for our own choices. The good news is God can use any situation for His glory.

  I believe that God brings the right people into our lives when we need them the most. Shaun and Lexie never expected to cross each other’s paths again, but when they did, the timing was right. It allowed them to be a stronger force for good than they could have ever been apart, despite the difficulties they had to work through to get there. Sometimes it’s those rock-bottom moments in life that shape us and mold us the most, and they usually happen when we least expect it. I hope that when those moments come for you, you’re able to take a deep breath and remember that God is always in control.

  I love to hear from readers, so please come visit me at michellekarl.com, or drop me an email at michellekarl@gmail.com.

  Blessings,

  Michelle

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.

  You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.

  Enjoy six new stories from Love Inspired Suspense every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  http://www.harlequin.com/harlequinexperience

  ONE

  A soft thud, out of place and unexpected in the after-hours silent museum, broke Lana Gomez’s concentration. Her heart revved into overdrive and a shudder of fear scraped along her limbs. Her hand convulsed. Ink from the quill pen she was using to craft display labels created a blotched blob of black against the parchment-colored paper, completely ruining the effect of the old-fashioned script.