Seized (Hostage Rescue Team Series, #7) (4 page)

A few minutes later, several of the guys stood up and waved their goodbyes to her. It was still early evening but apparently they had other plans because Tuck, the team leader, came over and bent to shout at Sawyer over the loud music, his dark blond hair glinting in the overhead lights.

“We’re heading out. You coming?”

Sawyer shook his head. “Nah, think I’ll stay for a bit. I’ll catch a ride back with Cruzie later.”

A ball of dread formed in Carmela’s stomach. If he’d just leave, she’d be able to relax and try to enjoy the rest of the night without having her stomach in knots. Surely he didn’t expect her to just hang out with him like old times after what had happened?

“Sure.” Tuck handed him a set of keys and followed the others out of the building.

Then Sawyer half turned in his seat to shift his attention to her.

Before he could say anything Carmela grabbed her purse from where she’d slung it over the back of her chair, and stood. “I’m going too.”

She’d catch a cab back to the hotel. She had no desire to sit here like a fifth wheel and watch her brother bask in true love’s bliss while she was totally miserable and the object of her unrequited love was right next to her, rubbing imaginary salt into her invisible wound.

Sawyer surprised her by reaching out and grasping her forearm gently. “Wait.”

His touch froze her. Made every muscle in her body tighten.

She stilled, swallowing at the invisible sparks that shot up her arm and made her nipples tighten against the cups of her bra. The sexy black lace push-up bra she’d worn purposely beneath the dress she had on, the one that pushed up her girls and showed off her best physical...assets. If she had to see Sawyer tonight, she’d wanted him to see exactly what he was missing. Not exactly mature of her, but there it was. And he could plainly see she was still wearing his necklace.

“Don’t go,” he said.

Gathering her nerve, she forced herself to meet his gaze. “I should leave. I’m tired.”

His grip tightened a little. Not so much that it hurt, but there was a definite command to it. And maybe a plea as well. “Carm. Stay a while longer.”

She raised an eyebrow, refusing to cave to the earnestness on his face. “Why?” She wasn’t going to make this easy on him.

He knew she’d been into him and he’d not only played with her emotions, something she’d never imagined he’d do, but then cut all contact afterward. No, she hadn’t contacted him either, but in light of how things had ended, he should have been the one to reach out. She wasn’t going to put her heart out there so he could stomp on it a second time.

“Because it’s been too long since we’ve seen each other,” he said over the music, then added, “and because we need to talk.” To his credit, he didn’t look away as he said it.

She hadn’t expected him to be so direct.

She opened her mouth to say that’s the last thing on earth she wanted to do, but that look on his face stopped her. He might be over six feet and be built like an NFL linebacker, but he had an inner softness to him that turned her to mush whenever he let her see it. Right now those dark brown eyes reminded her of a puppy dog’s. And in that moment she remembered all the times he’d spent with her and her family in Miami, when he and Ethan could get the time off.

Christmas. Easter. Her last birthday when Sawyer had surprised her two days later by showing up at her door with a cupcake he’d grabbed at the store, a pink candle burning in the center. Trips to the beach together with Ethan. Going to a Dolphins game together. Staying up way too late and laughing together while they all played poker or Risk as a family. Special times that forged a bond she couldn’t ignore, let alone forget.

Dammit, she thought with a sigh. Upset as she was, she didn’t have the heart to say something nasty just to hurt him back and then walk away. She couldn’t do that to him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she told him instead over the music. At this volume, they couldn’t have a meaningful conversation even if she’d been willing to.

He scooted his chair closer and swiveled it to face her fully, his knees almost touching hers. She would have backed up but he still had hold of her arm. “We need to talk,” he told her.

He was right, but she wasn’t in the mood for this conversation right now.
I’m sorry, Carm, I never should have kissed you. Can we still be friends?

No thank you. She sent a longing glance toward the front doors.

His long fingers wrapped around her wrist now, and he leaned in until his mouthwatering scent filled the space between them. Lemon and something else spicy that was uniquely him.

The low pitch of his voice resonated deep inside her as he spoke close to her ear. “Please, Carm,” he murmured, his grip on her arm gentling, almost a caress.

He was so big and powerful, yet always gentle with her. His touch used to give her butterflies. Now it made her ache for what would never be and what she could never have. And that
please
hit her square in her stupid, squishy heart.

She reluctantly lowered herself into her chair once more, then glanced over her shoulder. Out on the dance floor, Ethan and Marisol were still completely lost in their own world. She could leave now but it might make Ethan suspicious that something was wrong.

Exhaling, she gave Sawyer a stiff nod. “Fine, but not here.” Better to go someplace where they could have at least a semblance of privacy and get this over with so they could both put it behind them.

“Then come on,” he said, releasing her as he stood, the brim of his hat casting a shadow over his face.

Ignoring the hand he offered to help her up, she pushed to her feet and headed for the door without looking back, all too aware of how closely he followed behind her.

****

S
urabaya, Java

As usual, his visit home had passed far too quickly.

Wira Tedja patted his elderly mother’s hand and pushed from the edge of the bed to his feet, a familiar heaviness settling in his chest. She’d begun to go downhill right after Leo disappeared last year but she’d gotten so weak the past few days, it worried him.

Looking at her now, it was impossible to ignore the possibility that this might be the last time he saw her. In the morning he’d be on another plane headed back to the States. The day after that he’d report to the docks and board the cruise liner for another contract at sea.

Ten months of twelve-hour long shifts, with only a half day off per week. Ten months of sleeping in the crowded bowel of the cruise ship and helping keep rich westerners safe during their lavish vacation. They made him sick.

“I’ll miss you,” his mother said with a sad smile, her voice weak.

“I’ll miss you too. But don’t worry, you know I’ll contact you whenever I get the chance.”

Her eyes shone with the unswerving love that had made her such a phenomenal mother, and person in general. “You’re so good to me.”

He shrugged off the praise. She was counting on him and he would not fail her. “You’re my mother.”

Those deep brown eyes glistened with tears. “You’re a good man, Wira. I’m so proud of you.”

He glanced away as guilt seeped into his heart. She’d raised him to be a good, loving man. This upcoming mission went against all that, but there was no other choice. This was the only way.

Putting on a smile, he turned his gaze on her once more. “Do you need anything before I leave?”

“No. Your brothers are here to help me. And we all appreciate the sacrifices you make for the rest of us.”

His job, she meant, and the long absences from home. A job he hated but kept taking because of the money. The pay was good and he sent almost every bit of it home to support his mother and younger brothers. The only two brothers he had left.

You don’t know that for sure. Leo could still be alive.
He prayed it was so, that the mission wouldn’t come too late. “You’ve all made plenty of sacrifices too,” he said.

She inclined her head, looking exhausted. Her face was pale and she had dark circles beneath her eyes. The doctors hadn’t found anything to explain why she’d suddenly deteriorated like this. Even though they insisted it wasn’t, he was still concerned it might be cancer and they just hadn’t been able to detect it yet. “Yes. May God be with you, my son.”

“And with you.”

He slipped from the house and stepped into the front garden, breathing in a deep lungful of the fragrant evening air. His childhood home was small, but he was deeply attached to the little bungalow with its walled yard. Other than her sons and her devotion to God, the garden was his mother’s pride and joy. Banana trees, palms and a plumeria in the corner provided privacy and structure, and the many orchids his mother favored bloomed in a riot of color all over the yard.

His brothers would be back from the market soon. He wanted to be long gone by then. He didn’t like drawn-out goodbyes, and since this might be the last time he saw his family, he didn’t want to tip any of them off that something was wrong. They had no idea what he was about to do.

Casting one last look at the house from the sidewalk, he drank in the sight of it, committing every detail to memory before walking to his car. He’d just climbed behind the wheel when his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but the country code told him it had to be someone from the organization, so he answered.

“When do you leave?” the man asked, someone Wira had spoken to several times before. They always spoke in English, since it was common to them both. Wira spoke it fluently in addition to Javanese, Malay and some French, but no Arabic as this man did.

“In the morning. I’ll be in the States by tomorrow night, Pacific time.”

“Good. And what about the others?”

“Either en route or already there. We board Saturday morning.” As a long-time and trusted member of the cruise line staff, he had some authority in terms of who was placed under his command. For this voyage he’d made sure to select two members of their group to be on his team. Men he knew personally from secretly training with in a militant camp outside of Jakarta last year.

But someone powerful behind the scenes had been pulling strings to make this operation possible as well. The
Mawla
. The figurehead of this cell, respected and revered by all, but especially by him.

This particular cruise happened to have the highest density of their members on the crew, which is why the organization had chosen this one, with the added bonus of some of the passengers on board and the timing. Several American fat cats were scheduled to be aboard, all the better to leverage ransom with if they decided to go that route. And the anniversary of 9/11 was next week. The significance of the date would give their message even more media attention around the world.

His contact made a satisfied noise. “Your equipment has already arrived in port and is scheduled to be loaded at the time given in our last correspondence.”

“Perfect.” He glanced around to make sure no one was watching him. So far he hadn’t noticed anything unusual, but he couldn’t be too careful. One slip up, one whisper in the international intelligence community and he’d either wind up dead or face the same fate as Leo.

Taken in the middle of the night by American commandos and whisked to a secret CIA “black” holding facility somewhere in Eastern Europe.

The U.S. continually denied the existence of such places, but a few had recently come to light in places like Vilnius, Lithuania. Though the Americans kept denying they had anything to do with Leo’s disappearance, Wira knew better.

They were only half-brothers, both having different fathers. Wira’s mother had given birth to Leo when she was very young and unmarried. Leo’s father had taken him away shortly after he’d been born, and Wira’s mother hadn’t seen him until a few years ago when Leo had reestablished contact with her.

Half-siblings or not, Wira had instantly bonded with his older brother, who’d been a huge influence in his life ever since. They believed in the same things and thought the same way. Because of his ties to an Indonesian terror group Leo had been on the U.S. terror watch list for months before he was taken, but since he and Wira had different surnames and hadn’t grown up together, so far Wira had managed to avoid any attention from authorities.

Their mistake. Now he had new and powerful allies around the globe helping him.

The Americans might deny being involved with Leo’s disappearance, but the Russians had video evidence of a group of heavily armed men in military-style fatigues taking a group of hooded prisoners into an abandoned building in the outskirts of Riga, Latvia. The Russians had enough evidence to believe that one of them was Leo.

“I’m ready,” Wira told his contact. He would either get to Riga and free his brother personally along with his hand-picked team, or die trying.

And if he died on this mission, at least his death would shine a spotlight on his brother’s disappearance. People would demand answers. If Leo was still alive, maybe after this incident there would be enough pressure that the Americans would release him.

“I’ll be in touch before I board the ship,” he said.

“May the blessings of Allah be upon you, brother.”

“And you also.”

After tucking his phone back into his jacket pocket, Wira started the engine and pulled away from the curb, heading for the airport where he’d spend the night before catching his flight overseas.

The Alaskan cruise season lasted from May to late September and he’d endured it a dozen times before. But this last voyage would be unlike any other he’d ever taken.

A little over a week from now, he’d finally get his revenge. And maybe, just maybe, he’d see his brother again.

––––––––

S
hit, he’d hurt her. More than he’d realized, and hurting Carmela was the last thing he’d ever intended. Even if he’d been the one to allow the distance between them to grow to this extent. That bothered him. He wanted back what he’d lost—her trust and friendship. She was important to him, he missed being able to talk to her, missed the way they used to be so comfortable around each other.