by Jordan Dane
“He’s looking for his precious mother.” She glared at Amadeo. “Set up an alert. If he uses his cell, I want to know where he is. He’s the one I want, but there’s a bonus for you both if we get his mother, too”
Camila stared down at Tavio, who still lay on the only bed in the room. She took off her robe and let it drop to the floor. Naked, she ran her fingers across his bare chest and pushed into his gaping injuries, squeezing blood out. His body tensed, but he didn’t make a noise. The smell of his wounds drove her insane.
“I’ll have you first.”
Without asking, she undid the zipper on Tavio’s pants and kept her eyes on his.
“Do not expect me to show you mercy because you were shot.”
In truth, the heady scent of fresh blood in the muggy room had made selecting Tavio—as her first for the evening—an easy choice to make. His chest heaved as he braced for what she would demand and his pants bulged with his willing manhood. Tavio held a strange mix of titillation and fear in his gaze. She never knew which tipped the scales more for him and she didn’t care.
Camila only knew what she would have.
“Amadeo. Take off your clothes. Now.” She straddled his twin with her naked body. “Your brother will not be enough for me tonight.”
***
Everglades
An hour later
“There’s a subtle pattern of bent grasses.”
Sam studied the ground as if it were a road map. Every nuance held his attention and Kate Cypress marveled at his remarkable night vision. Over the last several hours, he’d searched for traces of his wounded mother, in a fierce storm that would have stopped any other man.
“That could be from the rain weighing the blades down,” she argued. “What pattern?”
She had to push back if she believed she was right. Geneva’s life hung in the balance. Sam’s mother would need the best the two of them could be—together.
“Connect the dots. Here...and through there.” Sam pointed into the shadows, seeing what only he had caught. “It’s almost a straight line…and there’s more.”
The stiff bluster battered them with stinging rain. The abuse had been steady and Kate’s skin felt a tingle of numbness. When Sam moved to a muddy puddle and knelt down, she did too.
“This straight rut is filled with water from the rain. It could be something was dragged through here.” When she didn’t look convinced, he said, “Not many people hike in this area of the glades. Someone had to be here to make the furrow…and it happened not long ago, otherwise the heavy rain would’ve washed it away.”
Like Sam, Kate had grown up near the reservation and learned from tribal leaders to respect the land and God’s creatures. She became a Fish and Wildlife special agent because she believed it had been her destiny to be a steward of the land she loved.
After she met Sam Rafferty when they were teenagers and she realized this white boy held the same respect for the land, she opened her mind to accept him into her life. A tribe wasn’t always defined by blood. Sam had the soul of a Seminole. When they were younger, he could track animals like the best hunters in her tribe. Her two brothers envied his skill.
She had to trust him now.
“Okay, I can see your point. Do you think this trail was made by your mother?”
“I don’t know, but we have to track it. It’s the only sign we’ve found.”
“But what if we’re wrong?”
Kate regretted saying the words that meant she had her doubts and worried about making a mistake, but if they spent time chasing nothing, Geneva could die.
Sam’s shoulders slumped. When he looked at her, she knew he had a tumble of thoughts troubling him. Old Sam might’ve blurted them out, but she didn’t know the new Sam, the skilled Navy SEAL who kept his feelings buried deep.
“Forget I said that. You’re right,” she said. “This is something. We have to see where it leads.”
He fixed his gaze on her.
“Try your radio again. See if you can reach dispatch. Maybe someone found her.”
Kate would do as he asked to give him peace of mind, but she knew the two-way mic that she wore on her uniform and clipped to her shoulder, it had its limitations. She had a feeling Sam knew this, too.
She’d been trying different frequencies to communicate with anyone, but she only found static. Weather, and obstructions such as downed trees and storm damage, could make communication impossible while the hurricane still raged.
“Nothing. We’re on our own,” she told him.
“Then let’s keep moving.”
They followed the tracks Sam had found for another hour until he spotted a glint in the moonlight.
“Look. There.” He pointed and rushed to a spot on the wet ground. Sam’s spirits lifted for a brief moment until he realized what he’d discovered.
“These are the shotgun shells she uses.” He picked up a handful of shells and what had been left of the cardboard box they came in. “Looks like the box got wet and broke open. She left her ammo behind.”
Kate knew by the dejected tone in his voice that Sam had arrived at the same conclusion she had. Geneva Rafferty wouldn’t have dropped something as vitally important as ammo unless she wasn’t thinking clearly or didn’t have the strength to care.
Sam had found his mother’s trail, and unlike before, he had real proof she’d been where they stood, but he had more reason to worry.
“She has to be hurt, bad,” he said.
He peered through the darkness surrounding them, looking miserable. Kate knew she had to keep him focused on the positive.
“If she brought the shells, she still has to have the shotgun. She’s armed, Sam.” Kate touched his shoulder. “She can defend herself if these bastards are after her. Everything she’s done has been smart. We’ll find her.”
Sam forced a weak smile and nodded.
“Let’s keep moving. I started out having a good hair day. I don’t want to lose the momentum.”
Hours later, they were no closer to finding his mother and the storm had escalated to gale force winds—and drew first blood.
Sam had been hit by splintered wood that embedded into his chest. Kate did her best to pull out all the shards, but Sam wouldn’t let her fuss over him. He wanted to keep searching for his mother and she couldn’t blame him.
Eventually the wind became impossible, until Kate couldn’t stand without stumbling. For every two steps, she took three back and Sam had trouble seeing anything in the murky darkness until he had to face the harsh fact.
The hurricane had wiped out any trail he’d been tracking.
“I’ve lost her,” he yelled. “And now I could be leading us in the wrong direction.”
“I’m with you, Sam, and I’m staying. Count on it.” she said, as she clung to a tree. “What now?”
“We find your truck and get out of the storm. I need time to think.” Sam shook his head. “We were close, Kate. That trail we found, it had to be Momma. I just know it.”
Kate had felt it, too.
“I’m sorry, Sam. I wish—”
He nodded.
“Yeah, me too.”
Kate knew she must have been several hours past looking like a drenched goat, but she didn’t care. Geneva had to be scared. Kate prepared to trudge on, but when Sam opened his arms and beckoned her to come to him, she couldn’t move. At first she didn’t understand why until she realized she would need his help navigating the storm’s winds back to her truck. The punch to her heart came and went.
She leaned into the wind and pushed toward him, until he grabbed her into his arms and said, “I got you.”
Something passed between them that Kate couldn’t explain. She saw it in his eyes and felt the pang of yearning in her heart. It was as if the present became swallowed by the intimacy of their past and the bridge between then and now had turned into something new. Maybe her eyes were seeing him for the first time.
They weren’t the same people. They weren
’t kids anymore. Had she been wrong to cut him out of her life? The boy she thought she knew had turned into a man without her help.
“Don’t let go,” she said.
He only smiled and pulled her to his chest, holding her tighter. Sam was too much of a gentleman to remind her, but a long time ago, she had been the one to let go.
***
As the pelting rain hit her skin with a worsening chill, Kate leaned into Sam’s embrace and let him hold her as the storm made it nearly impossible to walk. She prayed they would find her truck soon to get out of the worsening weather, even for a short while. But the pummeling drops—and Sam’s strong hands on her body—triggered a memory that often haunted her nights.
Sam Rafferty pulled her into his warm naked body and caressed her under the steamy, wet heat of his shower. His hands buttered her breasts with herbal scented soap as he kissed her neck from behind her. When Kate leaned into him, she felt his penis stiffen against her wet skin. He slipped his soapy fingers between her legs and pressed his perfect muscled body against her.
“I want you inside me,” she begged.
Her throaty whisper echoed in his shower stall and she heard the growing intensity of passion in her voice. When she turned toward him, the feeling of her hard nipples pressed against his body sent a rush through her. As she slid her hand over his engorged cock, her fingers grasped him and ran the length of his flesh, working him into a fevered pitch.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Kate.”
She loved hearing him say her name in a whisper meant for only her. With his fingers covered in lather, Sam mimicked the velvet touch of her hand on his penis, and slipped his soapy fingers between her legs. He brought her pleasure until her body shuddered, wave after wave. The sounds of her mounting need came in urgent panting that grew louder than the pounding water.
When he plunged his tongue into her mouth, Kate writhed against him until he reached down and hoisted her up with both hands. She wrapped her legs around his hips, still kissing him as he pressed her against the shower tiles to hold her. He pushed his rigid cock into her and mounted her with a thrust that filled her.
“Yes, yes,” she cried as he shoved into her and she demanded more.
Sam pumped harder and faster until hot semen shot from his body and spewed his heat into her. They cried out together as Sam’s hard body convulsed in spurts. With the intensity of her orgasm, Kate saw stars as every muscle tightened around his cock. She clung to him, refusing to let him go.
She always wanted to remember the feel of him inside her, and the hardness of his body pressed against her as he quenched her need.
“Oh, God. Don’t stop,” she cried out.
“But we have to stop. We’re here.” Sam’s voice yanked her from the warm comfort of her memory.
“What?”
“Your truck. You have the keys?” He held out his hand, yelling over the whine of the storm.
Kate shoved a hand into her wet uniform trousers, pulled out her vehicle keys, and unlocked the truck. She slid behind the wheel and Sam climbed in on the passenger side. The hurricane battered and rocked the vehicle, but they both collapsed into the seats, relieved to be sheltered from the torrential rain.
The sounds of their panting competed with the storm and the windshield steamed with their body heat until Kate glanced toward Sam.
“You’re bleeding.”
She nudged her chin toward the wound on his chest, caused by the splintered wood. Kate didn’t wait for him to agree this time.
“Take off your shirt. No arguments. Infection can set in fast in the swamp.”
She leaned across his legs and pulled open the glove compartment to retrieve her first aid kit. When she touched him, feeling the solid muscle of Sam’s thighs through his jeans, a rush of adrenaline flushed her cheeks.
“You can’t wait for a peek at the goods?” He pulled his T-shirt over his head with a smirk. “I said you could have a rain check and I meant it.”
“I’ve seen your goods, Rafferty.” One glance was all it took to shut her up.
Kate had insult after insult ready to fire back at him. She knew how to deal with aggressive men and the gun in her holster had proven to be a great equalizer. But when she turned to see Sam bare-chested—with broad shoulders and ripped muscles with tight abs—she forgot to breathe.
Gone was the boy she remembered. A lean fit man with perfect biceps and pectorals—with a beefy chest that narrowed to a taut enticing belly—sat in her passenger seat, staring at her through the shadows with his liquid dark eyes and lips she wanted to taste.
Sam Rafferty had endured the torturous Navy SEAL training to become one of the elite few. The cocksure arrogance he had as a teenager had developed into a manly confidence he could back up with the goods and that turned her on. His odd sense of humor always made her smile, even when she didn’t want to encourage him. When had Sam Rafferty turned into the whole package?
Kate ripped open packets of medical supplies and dabbed his jagged open wound with a cotton ball doused with antiseptic. The medicinal odor invaded her nostrils as she worked. She expected him to wince, but he only stared at her—all of her—without saying a word.
Sam’s bare skin triggered feelings in Kate. Her mind flooded with images and memories that warmed her body and sent chills across her skin. He had scars on him from other wounds, reminders of covert SEAL missions she knew he couldn’t talk about. She understood the dangerous life he’d chosen. In her line of work, she often confronted armed criminals doing illegal things, sometimes without backup. It came with the territory.
Everything about this man flipped her switch. To break the sexual tension, she patched him up with a gauze bandage and grasped for anything to say as he put his T-shirt back on.
“Why would someone attack your mom? I don’t get it.”
Her words triggered a reaction from him. Sam heaved a deep sigh of frustration.
"I don't care why the bastard did it. Whoever it is, I won’t need an introduction. I just want to kill him. I don’t think that’s too much to ask."
Kate knew Sam didn’t want an argument. He needed unquestioning sympathy as thoughts of his gutsy but wounded mother filled his head. Every precious second that ticked by left his mother scared and alone—and maybe dying.
But Kate had to be the voice of reason. She didn’t want Sam to jeopardize his life and freedom. His mother wouldn’t want that either.
"I can't let you do that. I'm law enforcement, not a vigilante. When we find whoever did this, we're bringing him in."
Sam glared at her and Kate had no idea what thoughts lurked behind those fierce eyes.
***
Sam didn’t like being second guessed by Kate, not when his mother had her life on the line. He’d run SEAL missions before and Kate’s pushback felt like insubordination.
“Oh, I fully intend to bring the bastard in…to the coroner.” Sam ignored her side-eyed scowl and retrieved his cell phone.
“Your phone still has juice?” she asked.
“I turned it off to conserve the battery. I’m checking for messages.”
Something made him stop as he stared down at the glowing display. A phone number he didn’t recognize had sent a text message, using the emergency protocols that identified the sender as Athena Madero.
“What the hell?” he said as he stared at his cell.
If the Omega Team were under emergency protocol, that meant he’d have to do the same, but he had no intention of disappearing off the grid now. He had his mother to think of. Even if it meant he had to put his life on the line to search for her, that’s the way it would have to be. Since he had no way to acquire a burner phone in the heart of the everglades, he’d turn off his cell and only use it for emergencies.
Besides, who would hunt for him in the middle of a hurricane? His version of ‘go to ground’ would have to do.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A text message came through from one of my bosses. It’s a
warning.” He read Athena’s message to her. “It says, watch your six. Camila Borrego on U.S. soil.”
“What’s it mean?”
He stared through the windshield into the darkness, unsure how much to tell her.
“It could explain why someone attacked my mother,” he said.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say? Tell me what’s going on, Sam,” she demanded. “I’m as worried as you are. You owe me an explanation.”
“I can’t talk about Omega business. This cartel has targeted my team. The lives of other people are at stake. It’s not up to me, alone.”
“Not good enough,” she said. “Look, I know you, Sam. The minute we find your mom—and we will find her, I promise you—you’re going after the bastards who hurt her. Who is this Camila person? What is she to you?”
Sam turned to look her in the eye.
“You don’t want to know my plan, Kate.”
“You do realize that I’m law enforcement, right? I can’t let you—”
“Camila only came after Momma to get at me. I’m going to give her what she wants.”
“I won’t let you risk your life like this.”
“This is my fight,” he said. “I need you to trust me.”
Kate argued that as a law enforcement officer, she couldn’t ignore the pull of her sworn duty, but that she had a personal stake in anything to do with Geneva…and him. Sam knew the conflict she had wouldn’t be easy. In her eyes, he saw the mounting turmoil, until she eventually softened her expression and touched his arm.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Drive, Ricky Bobby. I’ve got an idea.”
***
Tampa General Hospital
Rafael stared out the window in the waiting room, his eyes not focusing on anything in particular. He couldn’t get Jacqui’s face out of his mind. He pictured her sweet smile before he flashed to the image of her bloody body slumped behind the steering wheel.
His mind tortured him with the best and the worst of his memories, punching him in the gut over and over. Not knowing if Jacqui had survived her surgery gripped his heart in a mounting panic. He fought for control, to keep breathing, but his body would only find new ways to torment him.