Shadowed

by Kariss Lynch

  He swerved into a parking spot and jumped from the Jeep, his feet landing on gritty cement. Micah appeared at his side, his face etched with controlled rage. Janus had done the unthinkable from captivity. She’d taken one of their own.

  Seconds later Colt, Titus, and Jay climbed from their cars on either side, and together they entered the base, a solid wall of enraged SEALs.

  Chapter 40

  KAYLAN’S HEAD THROBBED, the cadence of her heart mixing with the rush of waves not far away. She groaned and grasped her head. The room felt is if it were rocking. She stilled, ignoring the pounding. She could almost feel the waves lapping beneath her.

  A sharp pain shot through her, causing her stomach to churn. She sat up and emptied her stomach on rough wood planks, dizziness assailing her with the quick movement.

  “Drugged,” she heard someone croak to her right.

  She lay back down and turned her head slowly. Megan. She could barely make out her form in the darkness. Her heart settled. They were together.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’ve been kidnapped, drugged, and locked in a boat shed. No, I’m not okay.”

  At least she hadn’t lost her attitude. As if in déjà vu, Kaylan took stock of her prison. Water lapped beneath the floor, indicating they were at a marina on the ocean. A speedboat sat six feet to her right. Doors resembling those found on a barn barred their exit and any escape to the sea. But at least they weren’t tied up. If only they were both in a condition to swim, but without an understanding of what lay below the boat where water sloshed, venturing out into the ocean seemed unwise.

  “What’s going on? Who put us in here?” Kaylan fought to sit upright.

  Megan seemed to have a clearer head as she pushed herself up on her elbow. “Don’t know. Haven’t seen him since he threw you in here a while ago. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

  “The last thing I remember is climbing out of my car and heading for Imperial Beach Pier. Then this sweet smell.”

  “What are we going to do when they come back?”

  A sinking feeling filled Kaylan’s stomach, and she shook her head, trying to dispel the fog. “I left a message with Logan for the FBI to start looking for us at Imperial Beach Pier. The rest of the SEAL team is supposed to arrive home tonight. Let’s figure out a plan and pray the Feds or the SEAL guys get here in time.”

  “Pray for both of us. If we get out of this, I just might start talking to this God of yours.”

  Kaylan stood and offered her hand to Megan. “Let’s look around, see what we can find that could act as a weapon.” They split up and began to survey their prison, groping in the darkness as Kaylan silently prayed for a miracle.

  They found tools on the boat—a wrench and a screwdriver. But Kaylan didn’t care about the size of the weapon as much as the strength of her swing. “Did you get a look at the guy who took you?” she asked Megan.

  “Did I ever. Good-lucking guy, blond, about five-eleven. Sexy accent. He knocked on the door and asked if he could borrow some tools to fix his broken-down car. I let him in, we wound up in my bedroom, and I woke up here.”

  Kaylan looked at her.

  “You can drop the judgmental look. Mark this as the day I acknowledged I have a serious guy problem.”

  “If we get out of here, I’ll remind you.”

  Kaylan and Megan huddled at the back of the boat shed behind the boat, wrench and screwdriver in hand, listening for any sounds of their kidnapper returning. The drugs had worn off, leaving Kaylan with a splitting headache and really bad temper. She doubted their assailant would return alone and feared what more manpower would mean for her and Megan’s escape plan.

  “Have I ever told you that I’m claustrophobic?” Megan’s alto voice broke the silence.

  Kaylan chuckled. “No, I don’t think I knew that.”

  “It’s bad. I start hyperventilating. Then drooling all over myself. Then talking really fast.”

  “I think you’re just doing the last one.”

  Megan hit her head against the wall of the boat shed. “Man, it must be getting worse. I’m doing it all out of order.”

  “Save your energy, Meg.”

  Silence descended again. Kaylan gripped the wrench. They’d be in for the fight of her life if she had anything to say about it. Exhaustion threatened to break her focus. “Have I ever told you that you’re the best friend I ever had?”

  Kaylan turned to look at her roommate. In the dim light from the moon, Megan’s porcelain skin looked even paler. She wouldn’t look at Kaylan, but Kaylan reached for her hand and squeezed.

  “You aren’t so bad yourself.”

  “I mean it, Kaylan. I don’t know anyone that would have come after me like you did.”

  Kaylan tasted fear creeping over her. In a way, this moment reminded her of her last minutes with Sarah Beth. She gripped Megan’s hand tighter. “You know we’re getting out of here, right?”

  Megan shifted to face Kaylan, her legs curling beneath her on the boards. “I want you to promise me something. If it comes to a fight and one of us has the chance to get away, I want you to run and not look back.”

  “No way.”

  “Kayles, I’m serious. You have a life, a family who loves you, a man who would die for you.”

  Her fingers dug into Megan’s skin, and Kaylan’s gaze never wavered from Megan’s eyes. “Listen very closely. I will not leave you. We are going to fight, and we are going to get out of here. Logan will send someone.”

  Megan shook her head. “I know you believe that. But just promise me. I’ve been through this before. I can handle it.”

  Kaylan’s heart sank. There it was, the secret Megan guarded with sarcasm. “Megan, what do you mean . . . ?”

  Scuffling sounded from outside the doors, and Kaylan heard the shifting of a metal chain sliding free. She stood to her feet, fighting the dizziness. If they came in, she would not be lying down. She would take this fighting. Megan stumbled up behind her. They scurried to the back of the shed, flattening themselves to the wall. The metal tool seemed to heat in her hand. Time to fight.

  Chapter 41

  NICK HAD FAILED to protect Kaylan, and he was going out of his mind with worry. Surrounded by other SEALs, he beat a path toward Janus, caring little about the repercussions. If she wouldn’t talk, someone would have to restrain him from killing her. They had reached a dead end. Their last hope for quickly identifying Kaylan’s location remained in the hands of a psychopathic terrorist.

  “Hawk, chill, brah. You’re not thinking clearly.” Colt grabbed at his arm, but Nick swung away, barreling across the landing field and toward a waiting plane. They’d only been back from Ukraine a few hours, but he knew they didn’t want to wait long to transport Janus to a safe place for questioning. The plane sat gassed and ready to load.

  He spotted her walking across the tarmac. All five foot one of her, head held high, nose almost stuck in the air. Right now he didn’t care if this woman was the pope; he wanted to punch the smug look off her face and keep going until she told him Kaylan’s location.

  Micah stepped in front of him
, and Nick stopped short, coming nose to nose with his best friend. “Move.”

  Nick watched Micah’s jaw flex, could almost see his mind whirring, choosing his words carefully. “I want to find my sister as much as you do. But you will not help things if you take that woman out, wanted murderer and terrorist or not.” Micah reached in his pocket and tossed Nick a piece of Juicy Fruit gum. “Now pop that in your mouth, shut up, and let me talk since you clearly can’t control yourself right now.”

  “Bulldog, get out of my way.” He attempted to shove past Micah, but he stood firm, his mouth tightening slightly as Nick jarred his injured arm. Nick would care about that. Later.

  “Hawk!” Nick flinched at the sound of X’s gruff voice. He stiffened and refused to turn around, his gaze glued on Janus’s progress. The team around her had stopped, taking in the action.

  X moved past Nick and popped the back of his head. “What are ya thinking, you idiot? Let me handle this.” He moved toward the head of Janus’s security, his hands on his hips as they talked.

  Nick held his breath, straining to hear across the tarmac, but the sounds of base life ruined his chances. He took a step, but Micah and Colt stepped in front of him again. “Cool it. It’s under control.” Nick refused to meet Micah’s eyes, knowing the concern and caution he would find there. He didn’t want to be the controlled man. Irrational, in love, terrified, and pumped full of adrenaline with no direction all defined him right now. He’d temporarily deleted calm from his vocabulary.

  But he knew if he were to get anything accomplished, he would have to remember to stuff his emotions and call on his training to do what was necessary, even when his world crashed around him.

  X motioned them forward to join the party. “Carmichael, they are having trouble with the preflight check. They are giving you ten minutes with her in the hangar. But I don’t trust you or Bulldog alone with her. Colt and I will stay in the room. You keep your hands to yourself, you understand me?” He pointed a finger in Nick’s face. Nick choked down his anger at feeling like a child under the administration of a disapproving parent.

  “Got it.”

  “Great, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s go find your girl.”

  X led the four of them into the hangar where Janus’s security detail stood waiting for them. At a nod from X, they moved a few feet away and began to whisper.

  Nick clenched his fist and furiously chewed his gum, trying to find the inward calm he usually achieved in the heat of a mission. Somehow, making it personal stripped any semblance of normalcy.

  Janus smirked. “Come to gloat?”

  “No. There’s no point.”

  She flexed her hands, the handcuffs rattling. “These aren’t the prettiest bracelets I’ve ever worn, but far from the worst.” Her smirk went slack, and a deadly cold filled her face. “Even in custody, American hospitality is better than anything under the Iron Curtain.”

  He didn’t have time for her mind games. He took a measured step. “Where’s Kaylan?”

  A wicked smile blossomed on her face, and he forced himself to stay put. “When they didn’t hear from me, they took her.”

  “Who’s ‘they’?”

  “Men you never want to meet. They live for money, and they are very good at what they do. You will not find her unless I give the word.”

  Nick advanced a step, Micah tensing at his side. He held his phone out for her to take. “Then give the word.”

  She held her hands out in front of her face, checking her now cracked nail polish. “And why should I?”

  “Because it might make things a lot easier for you.”

  “Might is not a promise I am willing to cash in on. I speak in currency. And in comfort.”

  “Two things I can promise you will never see again if you don’t help me.”

  “Again, you haven’t given me a reason to.”

  “What do you want?” Nick shouted. Micah took a step closer to him.

  A wicked grin spread across Janus’s face. “I want to tell you a story.”

  “We don’t have time for that.”

  “Oh, I think you will make time for this one,” she snapped. “About twenty-eight years ago a young Stasi officer received an assignment to make contact with American military personnel in strategic locations on the other side of the Berlin Wall. Sometimes she posed as a young student, other times she just slipped past the guards. Quite an accomplishment, I might add. She met a young man in the United States Air Force. He was young and handsome enough. Full of life and naivety. The perfect candidate.”

  “Does this story have a point?” Micah gritted through clenched teeth.

  Her cold blues eyes fastened on him. “In fact it does. And that point is standing next to you.”

  A roar filled Nick’s ears as her gaze shifted to him. Her eyes, icy blue. Lifeless. And entertained. He felt sick.

  “And how am I the point? I need to know where my girlfriend is. Now.”

  Janus seemed to tire of the charade. The smirk dropped from her voice, and the ice in her eyes laced her voice. “I left you wrapped in a blue blanket with a brown rabbit for the Americans to find. Your name is Nikolai Sebastian.” She shrugged. “I am not the motherly type. It was even worse when I found out I was having twins. I got rid of you as soon as I could. Now do you really want to turn me over to your government?”

  Nick smirked. “You have really done your homework. I’m impressed.”

  “Man, I said she was crazy.” Micah shook his head.

  “In my business that is possible, but it is more than likely that I know what I am talking about. I never had to research you, Nikolai.”

  Nick’s head spun. Mother. Janus was claiming to be his mother. It seemed impossible. He didn’t have time to think about it now.

  “You’re lying.”

  “Now is that any way to talk to your mother?” She took a step closer and spoke in Russian. “I know you understand me. I know your name. I know who you are. And I know where your sister, Natalia, is. I can make life very difficult for her as well.”

  Nick responded in English, fighting the fear that clawed its way through his entire body, threatening to paralyze him. “If you have a motherly bone in your body, you will tell me where Kaylan is.”

  “Do you not realize I never had that trait? I gave you up when you were only days old and never looked back.” She grinned. “Kaylan and her annoying friend will be put to good use. She will make many men happy. Cheer up, my son. You will find someone else to warm your bed.”

  Nick snapped. He lunged forward, his fists raised, but X yanked him back. Colt struggled to restrain Micah on his left. “You sold her into the sex trade? Tell me where my fiancée is!”

  “Temper, temper. I am sure she is awaiting transfer at this very moment. You should have left well enough alone.”

  Nick took a deep breath and tugged free of X’s grip. He straightened his shirt and imagined himself under a hide on one of his missions, his finger massaging the trigger as he scanned the area through his scope. Another deep breath. His senses honed in. A plane taxied down the runway. A gnat buzzed near his ear. His knuckles a
ched from his wadded fists. The gum in his mouth sent bursts of flavor down his throat with every movement of his jaw. He could smell gasoline and exhaust and the faint scent of body odor mixed with liquor. His heart rate settled.

  Janus studied him, her blue eyes growing wary. “You could have done better, you know. Kaylan is just one of many.”

  Nick blew a bubble with his gum, ignoring her jab. It popped and he chewed some more, folding his arms over his chest. “Here’s how this is going to go.” His voice adopted a deadly calm, back in control and back in his element. The predator instead of the prey. Micah settled next to him, his posture relaxed but his hands balled into fists.

  “I’m going to ask you one more time for any shred of information. You then are going to tell me something. The more you share, the more I will work with these guys”—he nodded to the security that had come nearer during his episode—“to negotiate a deal. Your help in exchange for a more comfortable prison sentence.”

  He took a step closer, towering over her, his shadow a giant on the wall behind her. His teammates flinched but held back. “But if you don’t, I’ll make sure your life is a living hell, and every man in Gitmo that you ever cheated in business will know exactly who you are and what cell you cower in. Got it?”

  “You have searched for me long and hard.” Her smug smile made his blood boil. “I have watched you with those you care about. Your threats are empty. You wouldn’t do that to your mother.”

  Nick finally fully appreciated the home he’d grown up in, the love of a woman who hadn’t shared his blood but had spent nights awake when he was sick, hours at the hospital after every major accident, and made dozens of cookies for every kid in the neighborhood. “My mother died. I only see a woman who will die alone.”

  If her eyes could freeze him in place, he would have been a block of ice. But Nick noticed that her hands began to shake.