For a long time, Dan couldn’t move. He breathed and he felt the warmth of her body, the softness of her touch, the strength of her offer. He felt tears on his cheeks, but he didn’t bother to wipe them away.
He missed his friend, and he despaired that he would never know what had happened. For the first time since that mission, he let himself grieve.
When he looked up at her again, the night wasn’t as dark. “What about you?” he asked.
“What about me?”
“Things could change. I don’t know how long I’ll be out there.”
“I signed up for the duration, Danny. So don’t you worry about me. There’s really no chance of you getting rid of me at all.”
Gently, he moved. It was a slow shift, but he knew where he wanted to end up. When she was finally in his arms, and he could look into her eyes and see that she had meant every word, he smiled. “I do love you, you know.”
“Yeah.”
“After . . . ”
She put two fingers on his lips. “I’m good,” she said. “I can wait.”
He nodded as he moved her fingers. Then he kissed her, and he was the man he was supposed to be, and he thought, thank you, thank you, thank God for you.
HER SECRET PIRATE (A Crossfire SEAL Story)
Gennita Low
“The captain has determined that the Ambassador is in imminent danger of being discovered and that we must act now before dawn. The President has given the go-ahead orders. The four of you are tasked to take down the pirates. Zone, you’ve been cleared to go.”
Zodenko “Zone” Zonovich swallowed his relief, retaining his calm demeanor as much as possible. “Thank you, sir!”
He’d downplayed his relationship with the Ambassador’s daughter although he didn’t think his commander believed him. Just a few dates, he’d assured, which was technically true. Rebecca Powers wasn’t someone he could take out on a regular date, not when she was the personal aid to the Honorable Paul Powers, the U.S. ambassador to India, as well as his daughter. No, their secret meetings couldn’t be called dates. And they’d agreed to . . . cool it . . . he guessed that would be the term because . . . damn, he didn’t know why he’d agreed to it now. It was over an argument about, of all stupid things, war. He was a SEAL. Participating in warfare was his job.
He had better push all that out of his mind right now. The first order of the day was to follow instructions, go with his team to get the pirates before they turned on the news and found out Rebecca Powers was the Ambassador’s daughter. That was what initiated the “imminent danger” decision; the media was naming names and in this day and age, it seemed that even pirates checked their Twitter accounts while terrorizing the seas.
His squad of four, including him, consisted of three of his closest friends, Cucumber, Mink, and Joker. Joker and he were snipers and their specialty would be needed once they’d snuck on board the taken vessel. The element of surprise had to be quick and deadly. Their target—the men guarding the captured crew. Four shots for four men. Cucumber and Mink’s job was to take down the rest as quickly as possible while he located those who were still in hiding in the ship, Rebecca being one of them.
While they silently prepared for the mission, his commander, Hawk McMillan, finished his conversation on the satellite phone and turned to them, his expression revealing bad news ahead. Hawk and the rest of Zone’s SEAL team were heading for another target, the “mother” ship coming this way.
“Listen up,” he said. “These are well-prepared hostiles, armed with grenades, launchers, you name it, they probably have it. Their goal, presumably, had been the food aid on board. Everything was still fine at that point until the pirates found out the Ambassador was on board. The fucking media has broadcasted the news all over the channels. So now they’re making threats and looking for the Ambassador.
“We know the Ambassador and his aid have hidden themselves in the safe rooms but they were somehow separated. The Ambassador has radioed in that he’s okay but he’s more concerned about his daughter. He said that if they find his daughter, he’ll give himself up. Needless to say, your job is to make sure you find both of them when you get on board.”
“How many on board, sir?” Cucumber asked.
“We see four securing the crew and we think eight searching the ship. The firefight took out two of the hostiles. The ambassador’s men and the crew’s shots has sunk their skiff, so they’re angry and getting angrier, and they’re starting to feel anxious waiting for their main ship to pick them up. Now, whether my crew and I succeed in delaying the other ship, you four have your orders. Unless they surrender, shoot to kill.”
“Yes, sir!”
“It’s dark. They’ve purposely killed the lights because they know about the possibility of snipers and they’re using human shields. Study the map and photos, locate the safe rooms, and search them. Be aware that they’re searching too so the ones in danger won’t know you aren’t the bad guys. Only the ambassador knows because he has the means to communicate. As far as we can tell, the rest in hiding know nothing so you have to exercise caution who you’re taking out.”
“Yes, sir!”
Zone looked down at the map, studying all the areas outlined in red. Swimming to the ship and slipping on board were the easy part, even though their usual eight-man team had been divided in half. Taking out four hostiles? Hell, he could do that with one arm tied around his back. His finger touched Rebecca’s photo, tracing the outline of her face. But making sure his woman wasn’t harmed? That part made his chest area ached like never before. Where the hell was Rebecca hiding?
Rebecca had never been so afraid in her life. This morning, she’d been so excited about taking part in the international food aid treaty, knowing she was doing something about which she was passionate instead of just working the red tape. She was finally about see, with her own eyes, that the food and aid sent out reached the people that needed them most instead of being “lost” or confiscated once they reached port. Their entourage had boarded from the Seychelles Islands and started their goodwill voyage after signing the treaty, partly political publicity stunt and partly a sincere wish to see a good start to the food program. They were going to meet up with a navy ship, flying off to sign the treaty, and then later in the month, fly to India to meet the ship as it arrived at port there. Everything had been planned to a T, from meeting the VIPs to publicity shots to map routes to handing out the food to the villagers.
But that was this morning. All the planning hadn’t covered this. Never in her life had she imagined that by dark, she would be hiding in the bowels of the ship being chased by pirates. She was afraid. For herself. And for her father, who had been separated from her when the lights went off. Someone had roughly grabbed her and she’d kicked out at him, just the way Zone had taught her when he was instructing her class, and she’d escaped.
Zone. Rebecca closed her eyes. She’d called him a pirate once. They’d snuck away on his motorcycle and once they were out in the country, they’d ridden around without their helmets. With the carelessly tied bandanna over his dark curly hair and his equally dark gypsy eyes, all he needed was an earring and longer braided hair. Pirate, she’d teased him. And he’d laughed and hauled her over his shoulder, threatening her with all sorts of delicious things pirates were supposed to do to their captives.
Rebecca opened her eyes. Dammit. This wasn’t the time to think of Zone and her playing pirate. This was the real thing. With big evil men shooting up there and looking for her and Dad. She’d been in enough political maneuverings to understand now that without their getaway boat, the pirates were going to need hostages and they were looking for the most obvious. Her father, the ambassador would be the prime candidate. Of course, with them all separated, she had no idea whether they’d captured him. She prayed that he was safe.
Zone. She mouthed his name as she peered out into the darkness. They had an argument. It’d escalated from a simple discussion into their work; she was all about pe
ace and he was all about war, or some such stupidly childish accusation. She’d been horrible, saying he was a killer. She was wrong. She knew it then but wouldn’t take back her words. Now the universe was punishing her by showing her how wrong she was, because right now, real killers were looking for her. She almost screamed when somewhere above, a volley of gunfire interrupted the suffocating silence, almost in unison, like gunshots at a soldier’s funeral. What was happening on the deck?
She drew back at a sound from around the corner, becoming louder. Flashlight zigzagged its way down the passageway towards her. Hurried footsteps. A loud thud. A curse in some language she didn’t know.
Behind a stack of boxes, Rebecca flattened herself against the wall, trying not to breathe, trying to listen above her thudding heart. Her hand curled around the dinner knife she’d picked up. Training. She must remember all the moves she’d learned from Zone’s self-defense class.
The flashlight came closer. She hoped her pursuer wouldn’t see her till he actually came close enough to inspect. Then maybe she had a chance of surprising him. The light became brighter as the man came closer and she could hear the first of the boxes being shoved aside. She’d moved a few of them aside to get to her hiding spot and knew they weren’t that heavy.
She braced one foot against the box in front of her, the cardboard cool and dry against her skin. She’d taken off her heels after running away from her pursuers; they were making too much noise. She could feel the beads of perspiration slowly traveling down her forehead as she waited. Two more. One. Then, with as much strength as she could muster, she kicked out, toppling the stack.
But her timing wasn’t quite right. Too late Rebecca realized her mistake. The stack of boxes didn’t fall over immediately, swaying for one precious second, giving her attacker time to leap out of the way. She saw the light swinging a wide arc to her left and made the quick decision to run for it from the right side. Something tripped her and she let out a small shriek as she fell on her knees. That something was a hand and it encircled her bare foot.
She tried to stand up anyway, knowing that she was done for if she let herself fall flat, blindly kicking out with her free foot. Her attacker let go. She turned to run. He was quick, somehow managing to grab hold of her skirt. Suddenly remembering the knife in her hand, she turned and swung out. It wasn’t the sharp kind but it still went through flesh and the man yelled out in pain. Sickened, she turned again to escape but he still held on to her tightly. A big hand grabbed her neck. This time, she screamed in panic as she tried to wrench free.
The sudden flare of the emergency lights startled them both, freezing their struggle as their eyes tried to adjust. A figure, clad in black, appeared in the tight passageway. He walked toward them, weapon in hand.
“Let her go. It’s over.”
If it weren’t connected to her skull, Rebecca’s jaw would have fallen on the floor. Zone. She would recognize that husky voice with the slight accent anywhere, even coming from a stranger with black and green camouflage streaks painted on his face. He was the answer she’d been unconsciously praying for—powerful, dangerous, one hundred percent warrior. He glanced at her once, very briefly, his gaze cool, taking in the situation. Then his gaze returned to some point above her head.
“Come nearer and she dies,” her captor warned, his accent thick. The hand around her neck pulled back threateningly, choking off her air. “She’s coming with me and you’re going to let me take the lifeboat to wait for my ship to pick me up. You’ll do as I say or I kill her.”
“You hurt one hair on her and you get a bullet right in the middle of your forehead. I don’t miss. Let her go. Surrender and live.”
Zone’s toneless voice sent shivers down her spine. He’d never sounded so scary, even when he played the bad guy during class.
“No. You tell the captain I want to negotiate for a lifeboat. She’s coming with me. You go tell whoever is in charge. Or I’ll start using this knife on her.”
How did he get hold of her knife? Zone kept advancing as her captor, pulling her along, kept backing away. She kept her gaze trained on Zone, trying to read his thoughts.
In class, Zone had emphasized three things in the act of self-defense. Scream a lot. The element of surprise. And if all failed, attack when the enemy least expected it. The thought of going with the pirate onto a lifeboat made her sick with fear. The knowledge that she might actually end up being a hostage away from the ship scared her into another split-second decision.
“Stay back! I say I’ll cut—”
The women in her self-defense class had practiced the move many times because many attacks came from behind. Rebecca pivoted sharply to her right, at the same time throwing her right hand high in the air. Her elbow angled perfectly to break the pirate’s hold. Then, using all her strength, she swept her other elbow up and backwards, powering all her momentum into his solar plexus.
He let out a gasp and toppled backwards.
The next part of her lesson was easy. Run.
Rebecca turned to hurry off in Zone’s direction but he was already there, pulling her behind him as he trained his weapon on the fallen pirate. He kicked the fallen knife out of the way. She grabbed on to his back for a long moment. He felt so solid and safe. And familiar. She wanted to hang on to him. She wanted him to turn around and hold her tight. A hundred questions flooded her brain—why he was here, how, her father—but she understood that it wasn’t over. Taking a deep breath, she took a few steps back to let Zone do his job.
She watched as he pulled a cord from a side pouch and went down on one knee. He worked unbelievably fast, gagging and tying up the downed man as if he were cattle. Then he turned, his gaze darting left and right, checking the surroundings.
His camouflaged face had a fierce expression as he reached for her. He cupped her face and gave her a hard kiss.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. She opened her mouth to ask him all the questions swirling in her mind but he bent his head and kissed her again, this time more lingeringly. The taste of him, male and something indefinable, always made her go a little crazy. This time was no different. With adrenalin added to the mix, she responded with a passion that surprised him into allowing her to push him against the passage wall. She ran her hands all over his hair and his hard muscled body as her tongue tangled with his wildly, insistently. She’d missed him so much. Did he miss her?
Damn, he didn’t want to stop. He’d kissed her to reassure himself. The sight of her in danger had given him a jolt of fear that he’d never felt before. And then she’d gone and taken care of her attacker with an efficiency that would make his SEAL brothers proud.
Just a quick kiss, he’d told himself. But her tongue and her hands tempted him to continue. She was kissing him with that sexy passion that made him want to take her then and there. How many times in the past months had he fantasized having her in his arms again? Naked. Sweaty. With hours . . . heat gathered where it shouldn’t. Man. The timing sucked.
With great reluctance, Zone curled his hands around the sweet curve of her hips and put her away from him. “We’ve got to get back on deck to make sure the others have been taken down,” he told her. He gave her a fleeting caress on the side of her face. “Later. You’re mine later.”
He grinned when she made a face at him. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and he’d wanted to distract her from her fear. “Come on,” he told her. “Follow close and keep quiet, just in case there’s another lurking close by.”
She nodded.
He activated the receiver in his belt. “Zone reporting in. Miss Powers is with me. Two hostiles are down on my end. Over.”
“Bad news. The enemy has the ambassador,” his commander told him through his ear mic. “He communicated with the satellite phone again.”
That explained the emergency lights coming on. The head pirate must have activated it after capturing the ambassador. He didn’t need to grope around in the dark now. “How many?”
Zone asked.
“One, as far as we know. He’s heading to the deck. He has asked for a lifeboat for him and his men. He doesn’t know all his men on deck are down.”
“He’ll want to contact his ship to pick him up,” Zone said. He shook his head at Rebecca’s questioning gaze. “Are we negotiating?”
“We’re almost to their main ship. We’ll be delaying any contact from our end. Can you take out the lone pirate?”
“I’ve to go on deck and find a suitable location.”
“Do it if you can. But the ambassador’s safety comes first. Joker’s listening in. You coordinate with him. Copy that? Over.”
“Yes, sir, copy. Over.”
The look on Zone’s face had changed from teasing to serious as he talked to the person on the other end. The conversation made her fear for the worst.
“Zone?” she whispered when he finished. “Is it Dad . . . the Ambassador?”
He nodded. “He’s been taken. Let’s go up.”
Rebecca shook her head. “Wait. We were down two levels when the lights went off. Someone tried to grab me but I got away and ran up here. I heard Dad calling me but we got separated. No one has come up here. I’ve moved around but not far from the stairs.”
Zone frowned. “The lights went off and you were attacked immediately?”
“Yes.”
“When did your security detail order you to come down?”
“When the pirates started firing at us and managed to come close enough to board.” It was her turn to frown. “They shouldn’t be on us so quickly, right? And the lights shouldn’t have gone off that fast either.”
“Right.” Zone clicked on his belt again. “Joker, count the security personnel. Ask for who’s missing. Any chance you can kill the emergency lights from up there? ASAP. Suspicion of breach in the ambassador’s security detail. Over.” He pointed to the boxes behind which she had been hiding. “Rebecca, get back there now and stay out of sight.”
SEAL of My Dreams Page 29