“If someone comes, find out who they are and what they want, if you can. But don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Promise me.”
He frowned, sensing the real danger she was hiding. “Since when have I ever been a hero? Stay out of sight and I’ll grab you a soda. Damn, that Jacques. Someone needs to kick his ass.”
She slipped into the back and pretended to browse in the computer and video sections while keeping her eyes and ears open. Her boots were ready to run. Drinking the soda Jimmy gave her, she tried to unravel the complicated mess that was suddenly her life. Her breath froze in her chest when two men came off the escalator on the second floor. The place was packed with Chinese teenagers searching for cheap video games. The two men couldn’t have blended in if they’d tried.
They weren’t wearing uniforms, choosing plain white T-shirts and blue jeans to fatigues, but it didn’t take a genius to see they were military. Short haircuts, rippling biceps and broad chests were a dead give-away. American. The CIA couldn’t have sent them already. It didn’t make any sense.
The stockier of the two flashed a photo at Lilly, one of the cashiers. Lilly shook her head before she’d taken a good look. The stocky guy grabbed her by the top of her head and forced her head down to stare at the picture again.
Oh, shit. They meant business.
Jimmy Chew caught her eye and motioned for her to stay back. “Excuse me! Excuse me! Can I help you?” He rushed forward to save poor Lilly.
The man let Lilly go. She scampered away with her face in her hands.
“We are looking for this lady,” Stocky said. “Have you seen her?”
Amber peeked through a rack of video games and hoped to God that they didn’t see her.
“Why? She rob a bank, mister policemens?” Jimmy laid his fake poor-English on thickly as he took the photo and turned it toward the light for a better look at it.
“Answer the question,” Stocky snapped.
Who were they? She’d bet money they were one of the contacts Jacques had called, which meant only one thing—they wanted the memory stick in her pocket.
Jimmy tapped his chin. “Yes! I know this one. She came in here much times.”
Stocky gave the other man, a tall guy, a knowing glance. “I told you.”
“Not today. So sorry. Much, much sorry.” Intentionally messing up his “r” sounds, Jimmy sounded like a cartoon Chinaman.
Tall Guy growled. “What do you mean?”
Jimmy shrugged. “Me English no good. I have not seen this lady for…” He held up his thumb and two fingers. “…three weeks. She be with a man. Maybe they marry, have babies. They move away. All gone.”
“This man?” Stocky flashed another picture.
Jimmy scrunched his eyes, staring long and hard. “Yes. He calls his name Jackie. You know, Jackie Chan?”
“Jacques,” the tall man corrected. When he put his hand on Jimmy’s thin shoulder, Amanda saw a large tattoo on his bicep. “You wouldn’t be lying to us, would you?”
“Me? I no lie!” Jimmy acted properly offended.
Stocky took one long look around the place. “If you do see her, call this number.” He handed Jimmy a business card.
“Sure, Mr. Policeman. I call. I call very fast. Much sorry.”
Amber didn’t take a real breath until the two men had left.
When Jimmy came to her, his face was pale. Those guys had scared him almost as much as they scared her. She couldn’t put Jimmy in danger. This was her mess to fix.
“They’re gone. Here, do you want this?” Jimmy handed her the business card. It was plain, white, with no logo, and only a single name and number.
“John Smith,” she read. “Very original.”
“Yeah. Freaky shit. Poor Lilly is crying her eyes out over there.” He pointed at the cashier. “Jacques owes me and my staff a nice dinner after all of this.”
She bit her lip. “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”
“Why? Don’t tell me that loser took off and left you to deal with his crap.”
“Jacques is dead. But thank you, Jimmy. For everything.” She kissed his cheek. “I’d better leave before those creeps come back.”
His mouth was still hanging open as she opened the exit door to the back stairs.
Amber slinked in between two buildings and over a couple of blocks from the shopping center before she caught a taxi.
A wave of relief washed over her when the cab pulled up in front of the American Embassy. It felt like safety. Home. She’d tell the officials inside everything and hope they believed her. Someone with a good computer background would be able to follow the trail and verify her story. She wasn’t in Hong Kong when Jacques first started the hack. That should be enough proof to save her behind. Then she would tell them how to plug the security holes. She felt better and her hands hardly shook when she paid the driver.
Before she opened the door, she noticed a group of armed military men gathering by the embassy’s gate. Full alert? And then she saw him. Stocky, the guy from the Ho King Shopping Centre, had beaten her here. He was talking to the other guards, showing them a picture. Hers? It didn’t make any sense.
Why did he get to wander around in there giving orders? If he was the one who shot Jacques, would she be safe at the embassy? Would the memory card be in good hands?
She sank into the back seat and whispered to the taxi driver. “Change of plans. Get me out of here.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know yet. Just drive.” She dialed her Dad’s number. He answered on the first ring. “It’s me. I can’t go to the embassy. I saw bad guys there. Oh, God, Dad. I don’t know who to trust.”
He exhaled loudly. “I’ll send someone to get you out of there.”
She knew he could. Her father had contacts all over the world from guides to businessmen to government officials. “Be careful. Only send someone you know, okay? If the wrong people find out where I am, a lot of innocent Americans could be hurt. I’ll call you again when I can.”
“Who killed that man in your apartment?“ His voice was strained as if he struggling to hold himself together. “Who’s after you?”
Her lip quivered as much as her hand holding the cell phone. “I wish I knew. I’m scared, Dad.”
“I’ll find a way to get you out of there, I promise.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“I love you.”
Sobs gripped her. No one had said those three little words to her in a very long time. She couldn’t remember a time when Dad said them at all. She hung up without saying good-bye.
“Stop here,” she told the taxi driver. She stepped out on a bridge and threw the phone into the South China Sea.
Alone, she fled.
“Babe, you awake?” Lieutenant Commander Mack Riley placed kisses along the delicate curve of his fiancé’s soft back. It was still dark outside his condo and most civilians on Coronado Island were blissfully snoring, but the Navy had pounded an internal alarm clock into him that he couldn’t shut off. Mack woke every morning ready to fight. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.
He suspected Jenna’s father, Admiral Collins, woke at this hour too, ready to rain hell upon his teams. The man was a tough bastard. Mack swallowed hard. He was soon to be Mack’s tough bastard father-in-law. Shit. The thought caused his stomach to clench.
He tucked Jenna into his chest and held her in the dark. The urge to fight, kill, and strike the enemy became background noise when her heart beat next to his. The survivor’s guilt that roared through his brain eased back to a dull throb. Jenna’s tender light flooded the dark, dangerous places inside him. Her love was healing his warrior’s heart.
She liked to think she was in charge here. Hell, maybe she was.
A cell phone rang. Mack tensed until he realized it was hers.
He wrapped his arms tighter around her. “Don’t move.”
“Who calls at…?” she squinted at the clock. “Five o’clock! Let me up, Mack. It must be important.”
>
“Or it’s one of your travelers lost in Europe. Maybe one of your billionaires screwed around and missed his train. Your clients are smart people. I don’t know why they can’t figure out how to breathe without their travel agent. Come on, Jenna. You deserve a break.”
The phone stopped.
“There. The dude breathed.” He kissed her neck. “And now that you’re awake…”
Another ring.
“Why won’t they leave you alone?” Mack snatched the cell before she did. “Who the freaking hell is this? Jenna’s on vacation. Got that? Stop calling.”
“Mack!” Jenna slapped at his shoulder.
“What? You need time off as much as this joker does—”
“Lieutenant Commander Riley! Don’t hang up,” the caller said.
Mack frowned. “Who is this?”
“It’s Duncan Fitz.”
Jenna pulled the phone from Mack’s hand and flipped on the light. “Duncan! What’s wrong?”
Mack watched her face as she listened to her boss. Was it pale? He rubbed her wrist and discreetly checked her pulse. It was racing. That bastard had better not be ordering her back to work after only two weeks of downtime. She deserved months of rest after what happened in the jungles of Colombia. She’d saved his billionaire clients and the company’s precious reputation, she deserved a friggin’ break! For crapsake, how many employees would join a SEAL team and rush into the jungle to save a kidnapped family?
His heart raced now. Those damned militant guerrillas had captured his Jenna. If the team hadn’t found her when they did… Seeing a pistol pressed to her temple had nearly killed him. He’d never been more scared in his life. Jenna was strong and working on her demons, he’d give her that, but no way in hell was she ready. He wasn’t ready. Shit, if it were up to him, she’d never work again.
He wasn’t the one to make that call, though, just as she was staying out of his re-enlisting decision—for now. Running his hand through his short hair, he groaned. Crap, they had a lot of things to work out.
“Okay. We’ll be there.” She hung up.
He narrowed his eyes. “Where, babe, Tahiti? Because honest to God, if he expects you to go back to work at eXtreme Adventures—”
“Us. He asked all of us to go back to work.”
“You want to repeat that?”
She rubbed his shoulder. “Duncan Fitz needs the SEAL eXtreme team, Mack. He says it’s important.”
He sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m sure it is. To Fitz. Not us, babe. He’s the CEO of the damned company. Let him get someone else for this job. We’re on R&R. Trust me, you need this time off. ”
“I know.” Sharp fear in her brown eyes slashed the air from his chest. Raw emotions rippled through her. Bad memories. He wanted to pound something, or better yet, rip a bad guy’s head off. No one hurt his girl and lived to tell about it.
He rubbed the chill bumps spreading across her tanned skin. “So take the time. Lie back down and I’ll make you forget about your demanding boss.”
“Duncan is sending the jet to us.” She bit her lip. “He’s scared, Mack. It’s personal, his daughter is missing. We have to help him. I’ll get a shower. You pack.”
He waited until her naked body disappeared around the corner to the bathroom before he grabbed his own phone. He’d put a stop to this. Jenna was not leaving his condo and neither was he. They deserved a chance to love each other. To heal.
Admiral Collins picked up in one ring, his deep Southern drawl rolling through the phone, “Good mornin’, Lieutenant Commander Riley. I heard.”
Why wasn’t he surprised? The admiral had ears and eyes all over the place. Mack had learned the hard way in Colombia that the old man had slipped a tracking device on Jenna’s phone to keep tabs on his daughter. Was he also listening in on her calls?
Admiral Collins went on, “Fitz called me, too. You’d better take the team and get going.”
Dammit. He didn’t want to leave Jenna behind. “We aren’t back in play, sir. Our C.O. is still pissed at the Handlys and taking it out on the whole team.”
“I’m authorizing this mission. It’s off-book, just like what we did in Colombia. You'll take your orders from me on this. I'll get you the supplies, transportation, anything you need.”
“But, sir—”
“Don't try to sweet talk your way out of it, son. There are a lot of things going on here that don’t add up. Fitz claimed his daughter was ready to turn herself in with information she hacked from the D.O.D. until she saw military guys at our embassy plotting to kill her. If that isn’t a load of bullhocky, I don’t know what is. The D.O.D. hasn’t announced a breach alert yet. If Amber Fitz really did hack in, they don’t know it yet. How could our embassy military know it?”
“Maybe she’s lying, sir. Playing a joke, messing with her father, or mentally ill. Who knows? MP’s from Ship Support in Hong Kong are closer. Why not send them to pick her up for questioning? Why us?”
“Good question. Let’s say for shits and grins that Amber’s story is true. That means we have guys in the field who know a helluva lot more than they should. Terrorists inside our military trying to get their hands on top secret weaponry.” He growled. “Sons of bitches.”
Mack held his tongue, waiting for his orders.
“Stop this shit before they kill the girl and take the data with them. Lieutenant Commander, we do this on the down-low. Top secret. Agree to help Fitz, snatch and grab the girl, and get out before the local authorities catch a wiff your cologne. We don’t want the Chinese to know we’re in there. Understand?”
“Copy, sir.”
“One more thing. I know Jenna likes the girl, but if Amber Fitz did what she said she did, she committed treason. She could be a part of a terrorist cell, willingly or not. I need you to get over there and figure out who she’s working with. Get rough. Break her if you have to.”
He dropped his head. He didn’t want to go to Hong Kong. Nu-uh. Too damned far away from his girl.
As if reading his mind, Admiral Collins added, "Assign someone to keep an eye on Jenna. She went through a helluva ordeal and is still recovering. She still won't accept my help and is barely speaking to me. You, she’ll listen to. Keep my daughter safe and out of harm’s way this time. Do you hear me? It’s an order."
“Yes, sir.” It was a sharp order, aimed at Mack's gonads. The Admiral blamed him for what happened to Jenna in Colombia.
Get in line, Admiral.
No one blamed Mack more than he did himself. If Jenna had died in Colombia, Mack would’ve taken his own life. Not two seconds later. He couldn’t live without her. But there was one problem with the admiral’s direct order. Mack didn't trust anyone else to keep his girl safe.
No one but him.
Once Mack had stowed the gear in the jet, he climbed inside and sat beside Jenna and linked his fingers with hers. Though she’d never admit it, he knew take-offs and landings scared the shit out of her. “You okay?”
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s always scary. What about?”
“Duncan Fitz suggested I come with the team. Amber is running scared and he wanted her to recognize a familiar face.”
“Yep.” Mack ran his thumb over her knuckles.
“I agreed with him. Before Amber left, I gave her a city map and pointed out many of the hideaways off the tourist path. Many locals won’t open up to foreigners, especially American military. If they’re hiding her they might not tell you. I lived there for several months and know my way around the backstreets and alleys. The team will be able to get in and out quicker if I’m there. Coming with you is a good idea, this time.” She was talking fast, like she did when she was trying to convince him to see her point.
“And…?”
“Why’d you agree to take the job at all?” She cocked her head, reading him, always trying to figure him out. “This is too easy. What made you give in?”
He couldn’t mention Admiral Collins ordered him to take the
job. Jenna’s relationship with her father was like a stretched thin rubbed band, any extra weight and the whole thing could snap. Besides, she usually bucked at orders, especially when they came from her father.
He hiked his eyebrow. “Nothing about me is easy, Jenna. I never give in. Never surrender.”
She snuggled closer. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“Okay, sometimes I surrender.” He leaned over and said softly in her ear. “But only because you’re so sexy.”
“You’re evading the question.”
“Yes, I am. Consider it evaded. Why don’t you climb into my lap like last time? Let’s see if we can pull off a repeat performance.”
"It's not that easy, hot stuff." She cast an eye toward the bulge in his jeans and got that hungry look in her eye that he loved. She'd give in. He just had to wear her down a bit.
"I'll show you hot." He ran his knuckles over her breast.
She captured his hand, held it in place. “You didn’t want to call the SEAL eXtreme Team in to rescue Duncan’s daughter. Why’d you change your mind?”
“Babies.”
“I…babies?”
“Yeah. I put myself in Duncan’s shoes. If our little girl was out there hiding for her life, I’d do everything to rescue her. Every damned thing. Hell, I’d rip heaven and earth apart to save her. And I’d kill every S.O.B. who dared to look at her wrong.”
She pressed his hand to her heart. “Our little girl?”
“Or boy. It wouldn’t matter to me. One of each? Two of each?”
“Oh, Mack.” She unbelted and climbed into his lap, just as she’d done the last time they were on this jet.
“Careful, babe. We might get started on our little family right now.”
Against his lips she whispered, “There’s a pack of condoms in my backpack. You know me. I’ve always got a plan.”
“That’s my girl,” he growled and grabbed her ass. “Yes, babe, just like that. I surrender.”
Later as Jenna napped in her seat, Mack made his calls to arms. Tavon would be the first.
Lock and Load (SEAL EXtreme Team) Page 4