“The first day I met you at the courthouse, I had to come home and take a cold shower because of the fantasies filling my head. Everything about you appeals to me—from how gorgeous you are to the way you stood up to me and even threatened to use your Taser on me.”
She arched an eyebrow. “So the idea of getting hit by a Taser is a turn-on? Wow. You are kinky.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No, you’re just that sexy.”
“For being so interested in me the first day, you certainly kept things tame that night.”
“You have no idea how much I wanted to make a move on you that night. But that date… I don’t know how to explain it. I told myself I wanted to get to know you because you worked for Francis. In reality, I wanted to go on a date with you because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. After having such a wonderful time with you, I didn’t want to risk ruining things by moving too fast.”
“Did you think less of me when I made a move on you after our second date?”
“I’d never been more aroused in my life. Your confidence and the way you took charge of things were like a fantasy come true. I’m used to always being the one in charge. Women who meet me, knowing I’m a SEAL, expect me to control everything when it comes to sex. Having a beautiful woman like you tell me exactly what you wanted and then getting off before we even fully got undressed—damn, that was sexy as hell.”
“You certainly gave me a new experience that night. I had heard it could happen, but I never thought I’d experience it.”
“Seems every time we’ve been together you peak at least twice. I’m honored you’re experiencing it for the first time with me.”
“You must have magical sexual abilities.” She winked at him.
Santo shook his head. “It’s the chemistry between the two of us. I’ve never been with another woman where that’s happened.”
Her desire to tease him for his sexual prowess quickly changed to surprise. “Seriously? So this is a first for you, too?”
“Yes.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “There haven’t been very many women in my life. When I first joined the navy I had a fairly serious relationship. We were together for nearly three years, but we changed so much. We were both just eighteen when we got together, and I don’t think she knew where she wanted to go with her life. I, on the other hand, did not doubt that being a part of a SEAL team fit me perfectly. We gradually drifted apart, and at first, it broke my heart. But I shook it off and moved on, but nothing serious.”
Evie swallowed hard. What if he’s afraid of having his heart broken again, just like I am? What if we both can’t get past the hurt from so long ago to find out what we could really have? Is that why he’s struggling to identify the feelings he has for me? Is that why I’m struggling to repeat my earlier words? Am I really falling for him?
She needed to change the subject before she drove herself crazy with questions she couldn’t come close to answering. “Why are you using a camping lantern as your lamp?”
He hesitated a moment, obviously thrown off by the sudden change in topic. “Power went out about an hour after you fell asleep. We’ve got a back-up generator that’s keeping all of our security going as well as the air conditioning so we don’t melt. But all non-essential electricity is off to conserve the pull on the generator.”
“What if you run out of gas? What will happen to the security if the generator goes down?” Anxiety made her nerves feel tight and could be heard in the sound of her voice.
“Don’t worry. You forget you’re surrounded by a bunch of Navy SEALs now. We’re always prepared for any scenario. We’ve got enough gas at our disposal to run at least two weeks without power. We’re fairly certain it won’t even be a few days.”
She let out a soft sigh of relief. “Good. Still, a few days even seems like such a long time. I remember something needed to be—”
“Don’t worry. We’re on top of everything. I hope you don’t mind, but I grabbed your purse from my truck and handed off the file to Buzz. He’s already started analyzing everything and should be able to get the information to know where we go next. Knowing Buzz, he’ll be up all night reviewing the information.”
“I hope he finds the answers we need.”
Santo ran a hand through his hair. “Evie, we’re going to need you to walk us through that game on the dark web. How did you get your name embedded in the game?
“When I first started playing, it was almost addicting, and I spent a lot of time on the dark web. I learned how to navigate it, and even hacked into some systems to learn advanced code that I had no business knowing. So, yeah, I’m not very proud of the stuff a couple of years ago. I constantly craved the high from being able to get into places people thought they had made it impossible to enter.”
“Do you remember finding hidden rooms on this site?”
Evie felt as if the world had suddenly tilted sharply on its axis. “Yes.” The hidden rooms had been a scary place to visit, far more terrifying than the game had been. “And I think Judge O’Connor was using them to communicate with some bad people. Some of the rooms had forums and discussion groups. After seeing all of her screenshots, this is how the judge was getting her information on what people were up to.”
“You realize how critical this information is, right? We’re going to need you to show us how to get into those hidden rooms.”
“I used to know the algorithms. I discovered lines of code I could read and it would point me to new areas in the game. These areas in the game… I thought they were innocent challenges, but they were real—hacking into government databases and some of the largest corporations in the world. When I’d hear there had been a security breach, I knew the secret areas were being run by something I didn’t want to be involved in.”
“And yet you continued playing the game and even introduced Francis to it?”
“I showed everything to the judge before I knew the secret rooms were dangerous. About the time I discovered it, Judge O’Connor told me she’d stopped using it. It seemed as long as I stayed away from certain types of code, the game was harmless. Have you seen one of these secret rooms? It is nearly impossible to get into them.”
“Buzz has. I told you Buzz is a genius with computers. If it exists anywhere out in cyberspace, he can find it. There’s a man we’ve been tracking who is doing hard programming, hacking, and coding for people south of the border, as well as a group we believe mobilizing within the U.S. to lead treasonous activities. His skill is almost, if not as, good as, Buzz’s. We believe designed this complex code.”
“Slade4tune,” she whispered.
“Who?”
“His name is David. Slade4tune is his handle on the dark web.”
A dark expression crossed his face and she nearly recoiled from him in fear. She had seen the same expression on his face as he’d tackled the man chasing her in the courthouse. “How do you know him? Damnit, Evie, what other secrets are you keeping from us?”
“I’m not keeping any secrets from you, Santo, I promise! It’s like you said—this is a painful part of my past that I’ve been working really hard to forget.” She lifted her right hand, hating that it trembled and revealed her nerves and fear and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to gather her thoughts. “I met David through one of the forums on the dark web discussing various ways to build unique code that you could leave as your calling card, essentially. It was a long time ago.”
“You were friends with this guy?” A vein stood out on his forehead and he looked even more intimidating than ever.
“No. No! I soon realized he was using the forum to pose as this helpful guy to perfect someone’s code they were struggling with, only to steal it to use on his own projects. Jonas Franklin, the guy Elena discovered was a human trafficker, used to try to get Judge O’Connor’s help on various items, and he would sometimes forward emails from this guy named David. Most of the time I go through her email to check for any urgent items to address before she gets
in to start her day, so I saw a few of the attachments. When I opened the attachments from David and saw they were programs she had to run on her computer to see a new layout of plans Jonas had for the facility he wanted to build or similar programs, I recognized his work. I knew it was the same David who used to steal the lines of code from the forum. He’s the criminal master coder. I know it’s his signature design for the hidden rooms, but I think each room he built was for someone different every time because the requirements were always different.”
Santo ran a hand through his hair and dropped his forehead to the pillow next to her head. “Just when I think this nightmare couldn’t get any worse, something new pops up and reminds me we haven’t even come close to solving this disaster yet.”
Chapter 26
“I don’t want anyone to know that we want her alive. No one can know why I’m after her.” Greg ran a hand through his thick, dirty blonde hair and stared at the small town of Hebbronville marked on the map in front of him.
The group in the apartment he rented watched him passively. He had hired eight mercenaries to do his dirty work. Unfortunately, the man with Evie had killed one of them in their brief firefight that afternoon and it appeared he had killed two others at the Mitchell home.
“Whoever the man she’s with took out one of my friends today. He didn’t die quickly, either. It took nearly ten minutes for him to bleed out and no longer be in pain. I want to take down that asshole along with her.” A large and imposing man sat on a couch against the living room wall, his arms stretched out along the back of the cushions. He appeared completely calm and relaxed, but Greg knew the man could move with unbelievable speed and kill any target quickly, quietly, and efficiently. He came highly recommended, and Greg had agreed to pay a hefty fee to bring him on board with him.
“I didn’t hire you for revenge. If the opportunity presents itself when you get this woman, feel free. But the people I report to are already disturbed by how much media attention the deaths so far have garnered.”
“What did your boss think would happen if he ordered hits on a county judge, a state appellate judge, and a district judge’s family? Of course, the media goes crazy over such stories. That doesn’t change the fact that people still need to die.” A mercenary sitting at the far end of the apartment focused on sharpening an already lethal-looking knife.
“Agreed,” Greg sighed. “We just need to make sure any deaths from here forward seem like accidents or make sure the bodies are never found.”
“You know your boss put out the hit on both judges and this assistant before we could get close enough. If everything keeps going his way, we’ll never get near this woman to bring her to you. The question, then, will be where you’ve been as everything went down.” John, his most trusted mercenary, spoke from in the apartment’s kitchen where he assembled a sandwich.
John had connections in many countries, but the ones in the U.S. were the ones Greg relied on the most. John had enough experience and knowledge to be a deadly threat to anyone who crossed his path. He also knew Greg’s goals, and wanted a part of the action, and had turned into his most loyal supporter.
“I wear many hats, John. I’ll be readily available to him, encouraging him, guiding him—hell, I may even get the opportunity to misdirect his search for this assistant if he happens to ask me. I can always tell him my sources in the judicial system gave me false information. He’ll be more willing to believe me since he ordered the hit on Francis. He is foolish enough to believe she has always been my biggest source of information. If he knew the truth, he would realize she would’ve hunted me to the ends of the earth before helping me.”
“Misleading him could work out nicely for us.” John nodded, licking his fingers as he came out of the kitchen, a half-eaten monster sandwich in his other hand.
Greg nodded, returning his gaze to the map. “Let’s focus on the objective. Get her to take us to the final secret room, erase the site permanently, and destroy her.”
The sound of the rain slicing against the house wouldn’t let up. Evie had fallen into a deep sleep, and Santo turned off the camping light, trying not to jostle her awake with his movements. As soon as he lifted his hand from where it rested on her she stirred restlessly, murmuring his name.
He moved back to her quickly and placed his hand on her once again and she settled back into the healing sleep she needed. A few minutes later, exhaustion demanded payment from him, and he also fell asleep. His dreams were closer to nightmares.
As if on repeat, he saw the man stepping out from behind the large tree and taking aim. Every time he thought the man wanted to kill him, but, in slow motion, he would see the gun go off and the round slam into Evie. In some dreams, he killed the man who shot her. In others, as in reality, he got away. He’d wake up with a start each time, the last image in his mind being Evie in his arms, her blood covering them both.
After a couple of hours of the dream shaking him out of his sleep, he finally found deep slumber, with one hand resting on Evie’s hip, one leg thrown over hers, and his face buried in her silky hair. He woke instantly to a soft, unfamiliar sound, and his hand moved with silent and deadly speed as it slid under the mattress. He aimed his handgun toward the source of the sound between one heartbeat and the next.
Phantom froze, lifting his hands and watching Santo with a mixture of apprehension and amusement. Santo let out a heavy sigh and slowly untangled himself from Evie, placing the gun in the sleek, compact case where it belonged and secured it. He had been in such a rush with Evie, he had stashed it under the mattress when he arrived with her instead of the usual case he liked to keep it in.
“Didn’t want to wake you. Both of you were sleeping so deeply, I thought I could check her quickly without disturbing either of you.”
Santo rolled his eyes at his friend. “Since when have you ever been able to sneak up on a fellow SEAL?”
Phantom’s eyes danced with amusement. “The time we were able to draw a mustache on Snap after he passed out from drinking too much tequila.”
Santo chuckled. “Okay. I’ll give you that one.”
Phantom looked back at Evie. “Has she been sleeping this entire time?”
“She woke up briefly a few hours ago and we talked a little bit. But for the most part, she’s been sleeping.”
“Did she indicate she felt any pain when she woke up?”
Santo hated that their heated petting session had caused her pain, and knew he had to be careful with her until she fully healed. “Not much. After she had been awake for a few moments I could tell the pain had intensified, but nothing more than she could handle.”
“Good. Maybe we’ll be able to keep it all under control with just some over-the-counter pain meds and keep her off of the stuff that will make her too drowsy. Even though I want her to sleep, I don’t want her to be doped up.”
“I agree. She would feel the same way, too, I’m sure.”
“Okay for me to check her wound?” Phantom asked, and Santo appreciated him asking permission. Phantom respected their relationship and didn’t want to overstep and make Santo uncomfortable.
“Have at her, doc. If she wakes up surprised and slugs you in the face, I can’t be held accountable.” He grinned.
Phantom returned the grin. “Noted.” He lowered the sheet only enough to be able to get access to her bandage, and, as Santo had done a handful of hours prior, peeled back the tape and gauze and examined the stitched wound. He frowned slightly and lightly ran his fingers around the wound.
“What’s wrong?” Santo’s gut clenched. The wound looked fine to him. Had he missed something earlier when she had hurt herself? Had she pulled one of her stitches and he hadn’t been able to tell?
Phantom motioned for Santo to step closer. “The skin around her stitches is a little red and pulled tight, which means there’s some swelling. That alone isn’t that much of a concern, but it’s also slightly warm to the touch.”
“You think she’s developed an i
nfection.”
Phantom turned to the medical bag he had brought with him and pulled out a cream-colored device that looked just like a handle with a metal part on the end. He pressed a tiny button on it and it beeped and he ran the metal part across Evie’s forehead. “She has a low-grade fever. It may be nothing. It could just be her body responding to everything that has happened. But you need to keep a close eye on her.” He pulled a bottle of Tylenol out of his bag and handed it to Santo. “When she wakes up, have her take a couple of these. I’ll check on her again in a few hours.”
Santo nodded, glancing down at Evie and wondering how she had slept through their entire conversation directly above her. She seemed to be resting comfortably, which reassured him. Phantom didn’t seem worried, either, which made him confident she would pull through the minor infection without any problems.
Phantom took a step back, gazing down at Evie before looking at Santo and shaking his head. “Do you have any idea how lucky you are? How lucky she is?”
Santo put his hands on his hips and lifted an eyebrow. He had pulled on a pair of jeans over his boxer briefs as Phantom checked Evie but kept his shirt off. He knew the air conditioning had been left on, but they didn’t have it at the super cool level the team preferred, and Santo hated being hot. “What are you talking about?”
“From everything you explained about the shooting, you would probably be dead. If the bullet had been just a little further down, she would have died almost instantly in your arms. She saved your life and gave little thought to her own.”
Santo felt his eye tick. The very idea of her dying was more than he could process. He had just found her. He wasn’t going to let her go. “It’s something she and I are going to have to work on if I’m going to be able to protect her. If she hadn’t pushed me down, I would have been able to kill the asshole who shot her.”
“That would have been good, but there are people out there who want her dead. She may not be as lucky next time.”
Protected in His Arms: An Elite SEAL Rescue (Texas Elite Seals Book 3) Page 25