“Oh God, Sawyer what did y’all do?” Rylie demanded, her accent suddenly thick.
“I didn’t do anything, sis,” he said innocently. Too innocently.
“What did you have Trey do?”
“It all depends, Rylie. If you’re going to Omaha like you said, to go pitch some new software to a company, then Trey did nothing but confuse some lady in San Diego. But, if you are actually planning on going undercover to Vancouver as Sylvia Hessman, then you will end up with some Navy backup.”
“Dammit, Sawyer, y’all had no right.” Rylie remembered to keep her voice lowered at the last moment. She didn’t want to wake up Georgie or Charlotte.
“Are you telling me you aren’t going to Omaha, Rylie?”
She slumped against the avocado green refrigerator and stared at the young man’s steely gaze.
“Vancouver. I’m going to Vancouver. What did Lydia say?”
“She kind of reminded me of you.” Sawyer finally grinned. The knot in Rylie’s stomach eased. “She demanded to know all about me and Trey. After we had given her our names, within minutes she had the size of our underwear. Then she stonewalled us. Said she would keep you safe, and if we wanted more information, we would have to ask you.”
“I love that woman.” Rylie smiled thinking of Lydia Hidalgo, a woman who had been tortured by Mexican drug lords and was still intent on finishing her degrees so she could join a law enforcement agency.
“Well, apparently the feeling is only somewhat mutual. She has been trying to track you down for a long time, and she sounded really frustrated she hadn’t managed to find you until we had contacted her.”
“Yeah, well, I liked it better when she didn’t know where to find me.”
“Rylie, we read all of your chats with her, before we contacted her. Trey was not impressed you kept those on your computer by the way. Anyway, we could tell she was one of the ‘good-guys.' We’re not stupid.”
“Sawyer, you are one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. I would trust you with my life.”
“Then why haven’t you?” He shot out of the chair, nearly tipping it over. Suddenly, he was towering over her, his eyes glistening with tears. “Rylie, you are the heart and soul of this family. You’re the one who saved all of us. You, Char, and I were together in that soulless home for orphans. You rescued us when you became an adult. You concocted this bullshit story about being our older sister. You didn’t forget about us. You saved us, you saved Georgie when his piece of shit mother threw him away, and now you’re putting yourself in danger. I won’t have it.”
“It’s not as bad as you think, Sawyer.” She watched in horror as a tear dripped down his face.
“It’s worse, we saw those videos you forwarded to Lydia. You’ve done some intensive research on this father and son named Guzman. My God, they behead people. You have videos of it. Trey showed me how you actually met up with them in Lerado. Are you out of your damn mind? They torture people, cut out their tongues, and you go traipsing down to a Texas border town so you could get donations for the damn children’s home. Don’t deny it, Trey showed me all the proof.” He was trembling so hard Rylie thought he’d fly apart. She wrapped her arms around him, and he clung to her.
“This is my last time pretending to be Sylvia Hessman, I promise.”
“Please don’t go.” It was the pleading of the nine-year-old boy she had first met. The boy she had made a solemn promise to years ago.
“Sawyer, I have to.”
He pushed out of her arms. “Fine, then expect to have company on your flight from Dallas to Vancouver.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that even though Lydia wouldn’t tell us anymore than we had already found on your computers, she did promise us you would have back-up on this mission, and Trey and I believed her.”
“I can’t. It will get me killed.”
“Doing what you’re doing is what will get you killed. Don’t you see that, Rylie?”
“Lives are depending on me. I’ve met these girls, Sawyer, some of them are younger than you. They’ve been taken from their homes, some sold by their families, some orphaned, some just fell for a gimmick, and now they have been shipped to North America to be sold. They need help, and I can help them.”
“Call the authorities.”
“They’ll just shut down this operation, and start again somewhere else. I need to make sure we cut out the whole cancer, and I’m the only one who can do it. I’ve been playing this part with Albert Liu for almost a year. I’ve gained his trust. I’m so close, I can’t afford to have anyone, or anything upset this operation. It’s delicate.”
“Tough. I feel for these women, I do, Rylie. But it’s you I really care about. Lydia said the men who would be coming to help are the best. They’ll keep you safe. Since you don’t seem to have the sense God gave a turnip, I’m trusting the people she’ll send.”
The image of a man with dark hair shot through with auburn highlights burst in front of her, his dark, intense eyes glaring at her, as he rubbed her feet. As much as she wanted to rail at Sawyer, she couldn’t help thinking Darius Lane Stanton might be an answer to a prayer.
“Talk to me, Rylie.”
“I still can’t believe you did this.” Now she was beginning to feel vulnerable, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all.
“If you’re so upset, then stay home. I know this Lydia lady was positive these Navy guys could keep you safe, but I don’t want you to go. Please, Rylie, I’m begging you. Stay here. Stay here with Char, and me, and Georgie. We need you.” She hated to see him so scared. She had to reassure him somehow.
“Sawyer, they’re not just navy, they’re Navy SEALs. Seriously, I’ve seen them do amazing things. There is this one man who you can absolutely trust.”
For a moment she saw a glimmer of hope in the boy she considered her brother, then it was replaced with grim desolation.
“It’d kill us if we lost you. And what would happen to Georgie? Char and I would make it. We’re almost grown. But what would happen to Georgie?”
“I’ve made provisions.” And she had. They were airtight. Nobody was going to split this family apart if she were to die. And the life insurance money would ensure they would be taken care of, including Georgie, forever.
“I see your wheels turning. What? You think money is going to make a difference to us if you’re gone?” She winced at his loud tone.
“Let’s take this outside. Go get your coat.”
“You get yours,” he countered.
“Meet me on the porch in five,” she said as her stomach rumbled.
He yanked his coat off the hook and went out the back door, closing it quietly.
She checked on Georgie on the way to her room, he was sleeping sprawled out on his back, clutching his stuffed bunny. Then she stopped in the bathroom before she grabbed her parka and laptop and headed outside.
“Okay, I’m listening.”
“Give me a minute to boot up my computer.” Rylie shivered as she logged on. Sawyer plucked the machine out of her hands.
“Put on your jacket before you freeze to death.” Rylie did. When she took back her computer she could access her files. She went to the encrypted ones.
“So did you bother to look up these files?” she asked as she pulled up a record on Midnight Delta. She glanced sideways at Sawyer and saw her screen had his full attention. Six Navy SEAL personnel pictures and records were pulled up.
“Let’s start with their lieutenant, Mason Gault. Read through the info. Do you see all these medals? They don’t give out silver stars for having your thumb up your ass. No, it’s for conspicuous gallantry in action. It’s the third highest award for combat valor.”
Sawyer pulled the computer from her lap and started scrolling through the records. “Is this the guy?” he asked, stopping on Darius Stanton’s photo.
“What? What do you mean, ‘the guy’?” Rylie asked.
“Lydia said Dare would be r
elieved to know where you were, and he’d be the one to meet you in Dallas. I figured Dare was a nickname for Darius. Why is he so relieved, does he have the hots for you?”
“Give me back my laptop.”
“He has a silver star too.”
“I know.”
“It doesn’t say why.”
“That entire mission where, he, Mason and Drake were awarded the medals was redacted.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s where parts of the report are lined out with a thick black marker and not keyed into the file,” Rylie explained.
“You mean you don’t know what happened? I find that hard to believe. They uploaded that information somewhere.” Rylie looked over at Sawyer.
“I don’t,” she lied. There wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to tell him about the barbarity that they had dealt with.
“So these are the guys that are going to keep you safe?”
“Yes. Now you’ve called them in. I still wish you hadn’t. Seriously Sawyer, this is a tricky situation, and adding someone new is going to make this tough.”
“I don’t care, you’re great at living double lives, I’m sure you can figure out something. I’m not going to let you go undercover alone again. We checked your flights. You were in Vancouver the last three times you said you were in Omaha. This is with this guy who is selling those women. That Chinese guy. What’s to stop him from selling you?”
Rylie burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny.”
“Honey, I’m the one who is helping him, he would never sell me.”
“How are you helping him?”
“Right now my cover is to help him sell the girls. I haven’t done it. Before that happens the girls will be rescued, but I’ve convinced him I can get top dollar for them.”
Rylie watched as Sawyer’s face paled.
“This is about your sister, right? Your real sister, the one who died?” Rylie looked away. She hated thinking about Pammy. “You’ve done so much for so many people already, can’t you just stop? This is too dangerous.”
“Sawyer, now the SEALs are going to be helping, I’m going to be totally safe. I promise you. Why don’t you go inside and start breakfast? You’re my ride to the airport, and I have to call Lydia.”
“You’re not going to be able to talk her out of sending someone,” Sawyer warned her.
“Don’t I know it,” Rylie muttered. Sawyer pulled up the collar of her parka so it better covered her neck.
“I did it because I love you.”
“I know. Otherwise, I would have had you killed.” He gave her a bright grin and hopped up off the stoop and headed inside. Rylie started a Skype session and pinged Lydia Hidalgo, hoping it would wake her out of a sound sleep. She deserved it.
The call was answered without video.
“Rylie! Or is this Sawyer? Or Trey?” Lydia didn’t sound sleepy, she sounded out of breath. She must have caught her and Clint at an inopportune moment. Served them right.
“It’s me—Rylie. Put on some clothes and call me back.” She disconnected. Dare’s photo once more filled the screen. His brown eyes seemed to look right into her very soul. God, she needed more sleep. She traced the curve of his lips with her finger. She’d had some very vivid dreams about that man’s lips. She’d only met him the one time in the Houston hotel room during an operation to take down Alfonso Guzman, but he was a hard man to forget.
She thought about the first time she had met the Midnight Delta SEAL Team. She’d been undercover as Sylvia Hessman in Houston and met Clint Archer, Drake Avery, Darius Stanton, and Lydia Hidalgo. Drake had been an overbearing caveman. He’d actually scared her for the first few moments until she realized he was roaring at her because he was concerned for her safety. But Darius? Dare had seen immediately she was tired and hurting and sat her down, taken off her shoes and began to rub her feet. Rubbed her feet! It had been something out of a romance novel, and it had taken everything she had not to melt right into the sofa.
So as Drake yelled, Darius had looked up at her with care and concern and seduced her with his eyes and hands. She had soaked up his kindness like a desert soaks up the rain.
The Skype session pinged, and she put it on video. Lydia’s hair was still a tangled mess. She almost grinned, but she was still too pissed.
“Stay out of my business. You’ll get me killed.” She hung up and waited. When the computer pinged, she answered again.
“That was mature,” Lydia said. Her hair was a little smoothed out. “Rylie, you could handle this. I know you could. You amaze me.”
“Don’t tell her that!” Suddenly Clint’s face appeared beside Lydia’s. “You need help, Rylie. I don’t care how damn good you are. This shit is real. Albert Liu is a stone cold killer. He’s a sadist. You need to stay home and let us dismantle this operation.” Clint looked ferocious, and Lydia pushed at his face with the palm of her hand.
“Don’t listen to my fiancé. Of course, you can’t stay home. This is your operation, and if you leave now, all of those women will be lost. You have to see this through.”
“But–”
“Shut up, Archer,” Lydia demanded. Rylie settled back and decided to watch the show unfold.
“Lydia, now we know everything about her. She might not be an actual mother, but she is responsible for three children. She can’t afford to be gallivanting across the globe chasing after international slave traders.”
“I told you I hate that term. Human traffickers,” Lydia corrected her man vehemently. Clint sighed.
“Fine, whatever. But those three kids need Rylie. This is too dangerous. That boy Sawyer told us all about her life in Oklahoma. She has to stay away from this.”
“Did you not read the same files I did, you asshole?” Lydia looked at Clint in frustration. “Rylie has Albert eating out of the palm of her hand. She has him convinced she can distribute the girls throughout all of North America. She also has him treating them better than they were ever treated by the Guzmans. She’s saving lives.”
Clint struggled with the realization Rylie was going to have to be part of the mission. It was obvious it wasn’t sitting well with him. Lydia winked at Rylie, and she laughed.
“Look, I don’t have much time to talk to you. Sawyer told me you’re going to be meeting me in Dallas for my flight to Vancouver?” Rylie prompted.
“Dare is. He’s packing now. He’ll see you there. Don’t expect a happy reunion either. He’s been trying to track you down since you ditched us in Houston,” Clint ground out.
“I work alone. At least I used to. You guys were the ones who thought I was going to actually jump on board because we met up the one time. You took far too much for granted.”
“You should have had the common courtesy to tell us you weren’t going to meet us the next morning,” Clint said. Rylie snorted.
“Stop it, both of you. Rylie, Dare will be flying in from San Diego. He’ll get there three hours before your flight to Vancouver.”
“Does he have the slightest idea of what he’ll be walking into? I saw him in the room in Houston, and he doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who will mix it up well with Albert Liu.” Clint scowled, and Lydia laughed.
“Yeah, a lot of the guys aren’t much for dressing up. But Dare knows what he was in for. He and Jack went out shopping yesterday and put a rush on stuff. He’ll be the perfect boy toy for Sylvia Hessman.”
“It’s more than just the wrapping. He’s got to play the part. He’s got to know all the ins and outs. He’s got to–”
“Stop it,” Clint interrupted Rylie. “This is what we’re trained for, thinking on our feet. We might not be spies, but we go into the worst places imaginable, and it’s our job to go in and bring people out alive. In order to do that, we have to adapt. That’s what we do, Rylie, we adapt. Dare is probably the best out of all of us.”
She looked at Clint and Lydia and thought about Darius Stanton. He had been so caring, and so smart in
the probing questions he had asked when she had shown her information to the team that night in Houston.
“I still don’t think this is going to work. Please just let me do this on my own. He can be there in Vancouver, if I need him, I’ll call him.”
“Rylie, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Trey copied over your hard drive.”
“He what?!” Rylie shrieked. The computer almost toppled off her knees, she grabbed it at the last moment.
“Yep, we know everything,” Clint smirked.
“You need us, Rylie. We’ve been frantically searching, and using our official and unofficial sources to find out more. Liu’s family in China is as bad as the Russian mafia. He’s ruthless, and his family is counting on this working,” Lydia explained.
“You don’t think I know this?” Rylie hissed.
“What you might not know is his uncle is coming over to check on the operation. You don’t know it because good ol’ Albert doesn’t know. Uncle Liu is–”
“I know who and what Uncle Liu is.” Rylie thought she might throw up. Uncle Liu operated one of the most ruthless gangs in Southeast Asia.
“Is it because Albert’s gay?” Rylie asked
“No, it’s the shipment that was taken by pirates. Uncle thinks it is an inside job. He is coming to inspect Liu’s operation. You’re going to be a major suspect, Rylie. That is, Sylvia will be,” Lydia explained.
“Fuck.”
“You need the backup,” Clint said.
“When will Uncle Liu arrive?”
“His yacht should dock three days after you arrive. He’s coming up from San Francisco. Albert is going to shit his pants,” Lydia answered
“No, he’s not. See, that’s why Dare is wrong for this operation. You guys don’t know Albert like I do. He’s going to handle this just fine.” Rylie mentally crossed her fingers.
“Fine, then we don’t understand everything, you can explain it. Dare will take direction from you. He knows how to follow someone else’s lead. Think about it, that’s the definition of a soldier.” Rylie paused, Clint was right. She hadn’t thought about it like that. Her stomach unclenched.
“Rylie, honey, we all care about you. You saved my life. You helped to save my sister. You’re important to us. Whether you like it or not, you are now a part of the Midnight Delta family, and we take care of our own. Doesn’t it feel a little bit good to know it’s not all resting on your shoulders? Especially knowing you have a family to take care of?” Rylie looked at Lydia’s compassionate face and knew she had to answer truthfully.
Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) Page 3