It's Always Been You (3 page)

“Why the fuck would they do that? She’s not a criminal or a terrorist.” Protective instincts kicked into high gear as he reined back the million emotions rushing through his system. Compartmentalize. Years as a SEAL had taught him this.
 

“Someone thinks otherwise,” Nate replied. “Get in your car, Travis, and get the fuck over here. Someone from the CIA, Lewis Adler, wants first dibs on talking to Sarah. I’m trying to hold him off with all I’ve got, including calling in some favors at the agency. I suggest you do the same. Call Porter.”

Travis slammed into his car, programmed the GPS for the American Embassy, and was thankful that it was only twenty minutes away. He navigated his way out of the airport and took out his phone to call Benjamin Porter. It was 5:00 a.m. on the east coast.
Fuck
. He made the call.

Nate was already waiting for him at the main entrance located on the north side of the building. Travis had to park some distance off because the embassy was built to protect against car bombs. The short-term street parking behind the embassy wouldn’t cut it since Travis had no idea how long this whole business was going to take. Despite the relative calm he tried to exude on the surface, his insides were threatening to explode with hope and excitement as he pictured an emotional reunion with Sarah. Travis tried to ignore the nagging anxiety of why she had not contacted him all these years, and the only thing he could come up with was that John Cooper had kidnapped her and held her captive. His gut clenched at what she might have experienced at his hands. He never trusted Sarah’s drifter friend. And why hadn’t she contacted him immediately once she was clear of that motherfucker? It didn’t matter. He was here now to take her home.
 

Nate had a smirk on his face when he spotted him. That was a good sign. Looked like Porter pulled through for him after all. The admiral wasn’t too pleased to receive an early morning call, but when he realized what was at stake, the man assured him that he was on top of it.

“Ms. Lopez is talking to Ben Porter right now,” Nate informed him as they walked past the guards.
 

“Ms. Lopez?”

“Elena Lopez is the assistant to the consul general and is in charge of Sarah’s aka Caitlin Kincaid’s case.”

“Caitlin Kincaid? What are you talking about?”

“Ms. Lopez is insisting that the woman they have in custody is Caitlin Kincaid,” Nate informed him as they got into an elevator. “I had to pull in several documents from our database, including your marriage certificate and some pictures to prove that Caitlin Kincaid and Sarah Blake are the same person.”

“Aren’t the fingerprints and pictures enough?”

Nate stared at him incredulously, and Travis felt heat crawl up his neck. With the work they do, he should know better. Only DNA analysis, with full-proof chain of custody in place, was the only reliable method of establishing identity. Travis just wanted to get this over and have his wife back.

A woman was waiting for them when the elevators slid open. Her eyes appraised Travis critically, much like putting him under a microscope.

“I believe you’re Travis Blake,” the woman said. “I’m Elena Lopez. I’m in charge of Ms. Kincaid’s case.”

“Sarah Blake,” Travis bit out.

“I’m going with what’s on Caitlin’s paperwork,” Ms. Lopez said coolly. “I’ve established that you have the right to talk to her first. Mr. Adler is not pleased, but you have many friends in Washington that have vouched for you. I will be with you in the room. That’s non-negotiable. At the first sign she feels threatened, you will be removed immediately. Am I clear?”

Travis was tempted to tell the woman to fuck off, but Nate shot him a look to shut up. His friend was right; he shouldn’t let his infamous temper delay or ruin his reunion with Sarah.

His heart pounded wildly against his sternum when they reached the last room at the end of the hallway. Ms. Lopez opened the door to reveal its lone occupant.

Sarah. His Sarah.
 

There was not a fucking doubt.
 

Same long blonde hair with streaks that reminded him of warm honey. His eyes focused on her face, and the first inkling that something was wrong triggered the alarms in his head. It was the same beloved face, the same gorgeous hazel eyes, but instead of love and fucking joy, what was reflected in them was suspicion and enmity.

“Ms. Kincaid. This is Travis Blake and Nathan Reece. Do you know them?”

Why wasn’t she jumping up and rushing into his arms? Travis thought with rapidly deflating hope.

Sarah sat back and crossed her arms on her chest in a defensive posture.

Her next words shattered his world all over again.

“So which agency are you guys from?”

CHAPTER TWO

Shock. Pain. Confusion.

These were the first emotions that hit him. What Travis wasn’t prepared for was the feeling of betrayal and anger, followed by a strong wave of possessiveness. This woman looking at him as if he were a stranger would know by the end of the day who he was to her.

“I’m your husband, Sarah.” His voice was calm.
 

He was irritated by the way her body jerked at his statement, and how the distrust in her eyes turned into full-scale suspicion.

“Who the hell is Sarah?”

“You. Are,” Travis bit out.
 

Sarah gave a scornful laugh. “You guys would stoop to just about anything.” She turned to Ms. Lopez and said, “You told them I have amnesia, and they suddenly cooked up this story?”

“You have amnesia?” Travis whispered, his mind reeling with this new revelation. This changed everything.
Fuck
. What if she didn’t want to come home with him?
 

“Don’t pretend—”

“I haven’t informed them of your memory loss,” Ms. Lopez said quietly.

Sarah suddenly looked flustered, unsure.

“This . . . this . . . doesn’t change anything,” she said in opposition to his own thoughts. “I don’t know him. He’s not my husband. I have a boyfriend.”
 

Travis swore a blood vessel popped in his head.

“You’re my goddamned wife!” he roared at her.

“I have a boyfriend,” Sarah repeated coolly. “A. Lover.”

Travis took an angry step forward and said, “Who?
 
John Cooper?”

“Who the heck is John Cooper? I’m telling you, asshole, I’m not your wife. I don’t know any of the names you’ve just mentioned.”

“Jase Locke.”
 

At this, her eyes widened like saucers and fear veiled over her once defiant demeanor.
 

“What do you know about Jase?”

“He’s dead.”

“No!” Sarah whispered in horror.

“Damn it, Travis.” Nate was furious. Travis didn’t blame him, but at the moment, he was beyond caring. He wanted to hurt her the way she was hurting him.

“Who is Jase Locke?” Ms. Lopez demanded.

“John Cooper aka Jase Locke is the man who took Sarah from me,” Travis said coldly, turning his eyes on his reluctant wife. “You—are—Sarah—Blake.”

“Jase, what happened to Jase?” Sarah’s eyes were brimming with tears, inflaming his anger to an ugly breaking point.

“Outside. Both of you,” Ms. Lopez ordered him and Nate. “Now.”
 

“Tell me what happened to Jase!” Sarah screamed after them, her face crumpling in anguish by his one statement that her lover was dead.

“He was found dead three days ago. Murdered. That motherfucker deserved everything—”

“Goddamn you, Travis,” Nate shouted. “Enough!”

His friend grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door. Travis was consumed with bitterness and betrayal as he watched his wife break to pieces in front of him.
 

He couldn’t comfort her. She was crying over another man.
Fuck
. He couldn’t breathe.

Travis stumbled out of the room, jerked his arm out of Nate’s grip, and stalked up the hallway. Finding an empty room, he entered it, and paced around like a caged tiger.

“Are you out of your ever-loving mind?” Nate yelled at him. “Jesus Christ, Travis! Could you be more cruel? I thought you loved Sarah, but you’re nothing but a fucking asshole.”

Crack!
 

Travis stared blankly at his friend who staggered back a few steps.
 

He fucking hit Nate.
I’m losing it.

Travis found himself taking deep inhalations. He felt like an IED had exploded in his chest, tore his insides to pieces, and had opened the floodgates of every single emotion that he had tried to hold at bay for the past three days.

“She was with someone else,” he said hoarsely. The words grated on his throat like sandpaper.

Nate took a couple of tentative steps toward him. “We don’t know the whole story, buddy.”

“How the fuck could she do this?”

“You need to get a grip. She doesn’t remember you or your life together.”

His eyes snapped to Nate’s, prickling with stinging heat.

“Well I remember!” he shouted as excruciating pain lanced through him. “Her smile, her laugh, how she used to fucking look at me!” His voice turned ragged. “I fucking remember. And while I was grieving over her, she was fucking someone else.”
 

He flinched at his own words.

Nate stared at him with a mixture of sadness and consternation. Travis turned away and gripped his head with both hands in frustration. “FUCK!”
 

“Knowing this, do you still want her back?”

Travis searched inside himself for the answer and it didn’t take long. “I do. It’d kill me to lose her a second time.”

“You’ll have to get over what happened with John Cooper.”

“I know.”

“Maybe you should let her decide. Leave her alone at first.”

“No—fucking—way.”

“Travis,” Nate eyed him warily. “You have to consider that she might have left with John Cooper willingly. They’ve been friends since they were kids.”

“Not another word on that, Reece, or you’ll be picking yourself off the floor,” Travis warned. “I’ll say this to you only once. John Cooper may have been a fixture in Sarah’s life. I hated it. But what Sarah and I shared was real. I just fucking know it. I suspected that fucker Cooper had always been in love with her, but Sarah never looked at him the way she looked at me. That was how I knew her heart was all mine the way it fucking mattered.”

Nate nodded solemnly.

“The only way Sarah or Caitlin would know that she belongs to me is if she spends time with me. We fell in love overnight, Nate. I’m not saying it’s going to happen that way again, what with everything that’s gone down between her and Cooper, not to mention this distrust she’s harboring against me right now. But fuck, man, I’ve held on for three years. You think I’m going to let her get away now?”

“It might not be up to you.”

“I know. That’s why I’ve made contingencies and flew via chartered flight instead.”

“Uh . . . you don’t mean abduct her?”

“If I have to, yes.”

Nate barked with laughter, although there wasn’t much humor in it. “Kidnapping is a class-1 felony where we’re from, my friend. You can kiss your reputation and business goodbye.”

“She’s my wife.”

“Not according to her.”

Travis realized his friend was going to poke holes in all his plans. They were not the type of best friends that stuck their heads up each other’s asses. They could be blunt and to the point and keep each other honest. This didn’t mean Nate didn’t annoy him, which was particularly true at this moment when it concerned what he wanted most: Sarah. Or Caitlin—he’d call her that, if that was what she wanted. If that was what made her feel comfortable.
 

Just then, the door opened, and Ms. Lopez stepped into the room. The scowl on her face indicated her displeasure with what had transpired.

“I’d like to go on record, that what you did was the stupidest way to win your wife back,” Ms. Lopez said.

“You neglected to tell me she had amnesia. How the fuck did you think I was gonna react when she tells me she has another man?”

“I had to protect her best interests. People are after her. It makes me worry what she really knows.”

“Do you believe I’m her husband?”

“I do, Mr. Blake. And I’ve talked to Ms. Kincaid at length to calm her down. I’ve shown her the evidence of your claim that proves she’s your wife, and she’s considering this.”

“Considering,” Travis repeated the word before his eyes flashed angrily. “What do you mean considering?”

“She may not want to leave the embassy with you.”

“The fuck she isn’t. Where would she go? And didn’t she say there were people after her?”

“That’s what I tried to tell her. You own a security business. Who best to keep her safe if not you?”

“Thank you.” Hell, that was the first compliment this woman had paid him.

“Don’t thank me yet. Now, the CIA wants a word with her, and I suggested that you and I should be present. She was amenable to that.”

Travis looked at Nate who grinned at him. Finally, some headway.

When the three of them emerged from the room, Travis immediately sensed something amiss. The guard in front of Sarah’s room was missing, and there were droplets of dark liquid on the floor. Blood. His anxiety deepened when Ms. Lopez sprinted in front of him and barged into the room, Travis close at her heels.

Sarah was gone, and there was an unconscious guard on the floor with an apparent gunshot wound to the neck.
 

Nate cursed a blue streak behind him as Ms. Lopez picked up the phone to alert security.

Travis had one thought in mind as his eyes followed the bloody tracks on the floor, smeared purposefully by a shoe. Sarah had left them some breadcrumbs, and he was going to get her back.
 

*****

Caitlin was numb. The news that she had a husband had thrown her for a loop, but it was the news of Jase’s death that eventually caused her to implode into a crying mess. He was gone. How could he be gone? Caitlin should have stood in front of the car and insisted he take her with him.

Whoever was after Jase could still be after her. And Ms. Lopez was insisting that this man, Travis Blake, could be the only person to keep her safe. Wasn’t it convenient that the man was also her husband? What if Travis Blake was telling the truth that Jase was the one who took her from him?