Hers To Take

by Karen Anders

  “You and me. Together until it isn’t fun anymore.” His thumb rubbed along her full bottom lip, her body thrown into sensory overload by his soft caress against her hot, moist mouth.

  Sienna huffed in a breath, trying to breathe around the sensations he evoked in her. “Sounds really tempting, but I do have something to confess.”

  “What?” He leaned forward and ran his lips along her jawline.

  “My friends challenged me to a dare. Get you in bed and get a souvenir to prove that I actually slept with you.”

  That confession jerked his lips away from her skin. One corner of his mouth kicked up and a wicked glint appeared in his eyes. “A dare. I like that.”

  “You would,” she said, her voice unnaturally weak.

  The glint intensified. His gaze still riveted on her, he rubbed his thumb slowly on her jaw; then he gave her another one of his heart-stopping smiles.

  Those cobalt blue eyes riveted to hers not giving her any indication of his next move. So he took her totally by surprise when he framed her face with his hands, tipped her head back and covered her mouth in a full, no-holds-barred kiss.

  Shaken and weak, with her heart hammering so hard that she could not catch her breath, Sienna extricated herself from him and backed away.

  “After my response to that kiss, it would be lame for me to say you don’t affect me. Let’s get on this investigation and you cool your jets.”

  He grinned at that, his eyes dancing with mischief.

  “Truce. You go shower and change and we’ll go from there. Deal?”

  “That’s a deal. Although you look good in that uniform, you might want to change. It’s a bit conspicuous.”

  His grin never wavered.

  “I’ve got a duffel with civvies in my truck.”

  She looked up into his face and couldn’t dredge up any animosity. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she stuff all those feelings in a mental closet? She was normally a levelheaded, practical person, but she knew this for what it was: a losing battle.

  ONCE IN the locker room, she indulged herself for one moment by closing her eyes and letting out a long breath.

  She’d been right the whole time. A.J. was a dangerous man. What she’d experienced was complex and confusing.

  It wasn’t like her, she told herself as she took the time to gather her wits. Losing control in the arms of a man felt strange to her. If a man even tried to push her buttons, she put him in his place and received no argument in return. A.J. obviously wasn’t just any man.

  It was no secret she liked being the button pusher. Rules and regulations dictated her life and she kept that one hard-and-fast rule. Stay in control. But her interaction with A.J. told her he could break that one. If he got close enough, he could totally break that one.

  She’d worked so hard to shape herself into the person she was, laying her life out in very deliberate stages. With inner strength she’d overcome the chaos in her life. With courage and determination she’d beaten it back. She could change the blueprint when it was necessary. She wasn’t rigid. But nothing, absolutely nothing, jolted the vision.

  All that should be on her mind right now was the fact that there was a truckload of guns—including grenade launchers—out on the streets of San Diego and it was her responsibility to keep the city safe. That meant tracking down A.J.’s brother and seeing that justice was served, regardless of the private toll it might take on her or A.J.

  She wondered how she was going to keep her professionalism, not to mention her sanity, when it was all over.

  RAYMOND MERCHANT, weapons manager for San Diego Naval Base parked his car outside the offices for Taylor Import and Export and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. He wouldn’t normally come here to talk to Jack Taylor. It only served to make Jack’s summons more ominous.

  Damn Buckner for panicking and taking the weapons shipment with him, a carefully assembled shipment that had been very difficult to amass right under the Navy’s nose.

  Getting a job on the huge naval base located in Coronado had been Jack’s idea.

  But it had been Ray’s idea to hire Buckner, who’d been willing to take on the job for money.

  When he knocked on the door and was told to come in, Jack was sitting casually behind his desk.

  “Ray, make yourself comfortable,” Jack said pleasantly as if Ray was there for a social call.

  Jack gave him a friendly smile. It made his skin crawl. Ray knew that Jack could not stand incompetence. He knew that because he’d worked for Jack for three years. People who crossed Jack stopped breathing.

  Ray sat down. A burly man, who had been sitting in a chair in the corner, stood and strode to Ray’s chair, standing at his right elbow. Ray looked up at the hard, dark eyes and quickly turned back around. His heartbeat increased in tempo.

  “Corporal Buckner has decided to make this all-important shipment his own.”

  “How is that?” Ray choked out, wiping the perspiration from his upper lip.

  “He’s already tried to sell it to one of my rivals.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I have a man inside.” Jack paused and pinned Ray with a cold look. “I’m very displeased.”

  “Look, Jack, Buckner’s spooked. He thinks the FBI is on to him. He told me he needed to get out of the country. He said he refuses to go to Leavenworth and rot.”

  Jack regarded him thoughtfully and made a gesture to the man behind him.

  The blow caught Ray on the right temple and he slumped sideways, cupping the side of his face as a trickle of blood oozed slowly down his cheek.

  Jack rose from his desk and walked around to lean against its edge. He pulled a pristine handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to Ray who staunched the blood.

  “Ray, I don’t give a damn about his motives. I only care about my shipment.”

  The icy look in Jack’s eyes made Ray’s blood freeze. His temple throbbed to the frantic beat of his heart. “Yes, sir.”

  “You find Buckner. Got it? If you don’t retrieve my guns, I’ll make sure that you never get to spend all that money in your Swiss bank account.”

  Ray swallowed.

  Jack patted Ray’s shoulder, and then he squeezed hard.

  “One more thing. Take care of Buckner.” Jack’s words were flat and hollow.

  “How do I do that?”

  Jack laughed without humor. “I think you get my drift. Now get out of here.”

  Ray didn’t argue.

  4

  WHEN SIENNA EMERGED from the locker room, A.J. was waiting for her. She smelled so good as he fell into step with her.

  “Well, you do have good timing. This morning I planned to interrogate the perp we collared on the possession of unlicensed firearms. We found two handguns and a shotgun along with the M-16.”

  “Why didn’t you talk to him right away?” A.J. asked.

  “I had a break in another case after I dropped you off on Friday and I’ve been out straight ever since. I just finished the paperwork for that one late last night.”

  They made their way swiftly through division headquarters until Sienna stopped at a door. Once inside she indicated the wide glass window. Inside A.J. could see a man sitting at the table. An officer was standing near the door.

  “This is Tyrone Knight. I’m going to work on him until I get him to tell me the truth.”

  “How do you know he’s lying?”

  “They all lie.” She paused and said, “Remember that I said there were very few coincidences in my job?”

  A.J. nodded.

  “I think it would be beneficial to show David’s picture to Tyrone.”

  “You’ve already condemned my brother? I thought in this country it was innocent until proven guilty?”

  “It still is. I just want to rule him out, okay?”

  In his heart he was certain his brother couldn’t have been associated with anything illegal, not willingly. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a picture o
f his brother on the day he’d graduated from college. The year he’d enlisted in the Marine Corps.

  Sienna looked at David’s picture. “I can imagine how hard this must be for you. I have a sister and I couldn’t imagine how I would handle even the suggestion that she would be involved in something criminal.”

  She put her hand on his arm and the warmth of her compassion touched him.

  She exited through the door while A.J. waited behind the glass. He wasn’t happy about it, but he knew Sienna wouldn’t break protocol and allow him into an interrogation room with a suspect, so he hadn’t even asked.

  But his initial frustration at being stuck behind the two-way glass faded as he watched Sienna work. Her patient, systematic interrogation had a technique all its own. Not only was she thorough, but unyielding, as well.

  Tyrone couldn’t break her stride or ruffle her cool, professional exterior. She ignored his sarcasm and abusive language and never once raised her voice.

  But although she put up a nice solid front for the perp, A.J. wanted to discover what all that sass and vinegar hid. In the short time he’d known her, he’d seen a wide range of emotions from the independent detective. The glimpse of the passion, anger and sympathy was only a sampling of what lay below the surface. Beneath the professionalism, the in-your-face attitude was a richness that he wanted to mine.

  “You should be impressed.”

  A.J. turned toward Captain Sandoval’s voice. “I am.”

  “How about you, Lieutenant? Are you impressive, too?”

  “Are you on a fishing expedition to make sure that I can cover Sienna’s back? I’m a SEAL. I know all about teamwork.”

  “Right. Just make sure that you remember that.”

  “Do you make a habit of attending her interrogations?”

  “No. I wanted to check you out. You may be a SEAL, but I don’t know you.”

  A.J. stood silent while Raoul watched Sienna for a moment. She was sitting calm and at ease as Tyrone drummed his fingers on the table.

  “How’s she doing?”

  He felt as if he was going to come out of his skin. “He’s still saying that he stole the weapon and ran. But she’s holding a trump card.”

  “What would that be?”

  “David Buckner’s picture.”

  “She’ll get what she needs from him. The guy doesn’t have a chance.”

  “No doubt.” Silence descended as they watched her twist Tyrone into a pretzel.

  The moment he dreaded came when Sienna laid the picture of David in front of the perp. The man’s face drained of color and he stammered, “N-never seen the guy before.”

  A.J. closed his eyes against the pain, his brain trying to accept the reality that was staring him in the face.

  Sienna sat forward and shoved the picture just a little bit closer. “Take a good look, Tyrone. You wouldn’t want to lie to me.” Her voice was as cold as steel.

  Tyrone closed his eyes, his breathing shallow. “That’s the guy.”

  The man looked as terrified as a trapped rat. Sienna leaned a little bit closer. “Is there anything that you left out of your story?”

  “No. I don’t have anything else to say.”

  “I didn’t ask you if you had anything else to say. I asked you if you left anything out because there’s nothing I hate more than to be jerked around by a punk. We’ve got you cold on the charges of illegal gun possession. We’re running the serial number on that gun, and I’m betting we find that it was stolen from a military base.”

  “I told you it was a green truck and it looked like a military truck, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did, so why don’t we go over your story again just to make sure that you didn’t leave anything out?”

  TAKING HER TIME, she’d put Tyrone’s statement under a microscope, sucking him dry. She never gave him an inch. When she was satisfied that he’d told her everything he could tell her, she made him write it down. She wasn’t convinced it was everything.

  She was jazzed as she proceeded to her desk. Yet, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for A.J. Tyrone had identified David’s picture and her next step was to search David’s apartment. The first thing she did when she got to her desk was dial up the assistant district attorney, Jericho St. James.

  When he answered the phone, Sienna said, “Jericho, I need a search warrant for the premises of David Buckner…”

  “That won’t be necessary.” A.J. said standing next to her desk holding a white paper bag.

  “Jericho, never mind. Looks like I’m going to get consent.”

  The bleak look in A.J.’s eyes made her crazy. Before she thought about what she was doing, she grabbed his hand.

  “I still can’t believe that David is voluntarily involved in this, Sienna,” he whispered, his voice rough with strain.

  “Right now all we have is a lowlife saying yes to David’s picture. It’s only the beginning of the investigation. I still think Tyrone’s holding back on me.”

  He released her hand and stepped back. “Don’t sugarcoat it. I know that David’s a suspect.”

  “A.J., I’ll be honest with you. It doesn’t look good, that’s true, but I never jump to conclusions and you shouldn’t, either.”

  A.J. ran his hand through his hair and her heart squeezed with sympathy for him.

  “You’ll give me consent to search David’s apartment?”

  “Yes, but I think you should eat first. I brought you some lunch.”

  “I’ve got to find the rest of these guns.”

  “I agree, but you need nourishment. You didn’t even have a doughnut this morning.”

  “Hmm, looks like I have a funny guy on my hands. Not all cops eat doughnuts. They don’t count as nourishment.”

  “I can see that you keep yourself in great shape.”

  “Do you think you need to look after me, Camacho?”

  “Someone has to. It sounds like you haven’t taken a day off in a while.”

  Sienna shrugged. “I have a job to do and it takes up a lot of my time. Let’s check out your brother’s apartment.”

  A.J. opened the bag and the aroma of pastrami and rye hit her hard.

  “Okay, we’ll take the food with us and eat in the car.”

  WHEN THEY REACHED the top of the stairs of David’s apartment building, his door was ajar. Sienna reached back and pulled out her gun and with the muzzle pointed to the ceiling, motioned him that she was going in.

  A.J. followed her, his body on high alert. She darted a quick look around the corner of the doorjamb. With the flat of her hand, she pushed the door open. Leading in with her gun, she went through the ransacked apartment, checking every possible spot a man could hide. A.J. was close behind her.

  “There’s no one here,” A.J. said as he looked around at the destruction. The couch had been ripped up with what looked like a knife. The pictures on the walls had been ripped from their supports, smashed against furniture and hurled across the room.

  In David’s bedroom, his clothes and uniforms were scattered around the floor, the bed linens dislodged and the mattress ripped to shreds.

  “Wonder if they found what they were looking for?” he muttered.

  A.J. let his eyes roam around the room, hoping for a clue, anything to tell him where David might have gone. He spied a pair of David’s cammie pants lying near the bathroom door. His eyes moved on and spied a yellow piece of paper caught between the bed and the nightstand.

  He walked over and reached down.

  “A.J., you shouldn’t touch anything until the crime scene unit goes over this place.”

  A.J. ignored her words. He didn’t have time to wait around. He picked up the paper and unfolded it. It was a receipt for a U-Haul truck. His stomach sank.

  “What is it?” Sienna asked.

  He handed the paper to her and Sienna quickly scanned the contents. “Let’s head over there and see what we can find out,” she said.

  A.J. bent down and picked up David’s dress uniform
jacket, the gold buttons highly polished. A lump formed in his throat. He placed the coat on the mattress and smoothed out the wrinkles.

  “I’m sorry, A.J.”

  “I know.” His broad shoulders rose and fell. He turned to pace, but her hand settled on his arm, holding him in place as effectively as an anchor. He looked down into her beautiful face, and the air fisted in his lungs. She looked up at him with dark green eyes full of understanding.

  “We’ll find him.”

  A.J. nodded and closed his eyes. But what would they find? Had David gone rogue and decided that the Marine Corps didn’t pay enough? Was he disillusioned after his stint in Afghanistan? He thought he knew David, but had his brother drifted away from him during A.J.’s many missions? Did he really know his brother at all?

  Sienna called the crime scene unit on her cell phone while A.J. went over to David’s smashed and useless computer.

  A.J. knelt down and looked at the case. “This might hold useful information.”

  “I’ll have CSI send it over to the cyber forensic guys to see if they can get anything off the hard drive,” Sienna said.

  He knelt in the mess that had once been his brother’s organized apartment and for the first time in his life felt helpless. He didn’t like it at all. He was a man of action. He looked down at the picture of his brother posing with A.J. and their mother and father. Sentimental sap had it on his desk near his computer.

  The love he had for his brother swelled inside him. “You said you have a sister. Is she older or younger?” A.J. asked.

  Sienna smiled at the mention of her sibling. “Younger by seven years.”

  “You watched out for her?”

  “I sure did. You did that for your brother?”

  A.J. nodded.

  “What is he like?”

  He gestured to the picture. “Sentimental, romantic, wants to save the world.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “What went wrong, then?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He turned to her and their eyes met. Slowly they rose. She had the most irresistible mouth, though as he reached for her he knew it was mostly for comfort. Her mouth met his with a tiny little gasp as if an electric shock traveled between them.