Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) (22 page)

“Finn, then me.  Rylie is asleep on the couch in the living room right now.  She treated tonight like a slumber party, they just got done watching Frozen for the third time.  If I have to hear “Let it Go” one more time, I might shoot myself.”  Darius laughed again.

“Go get some shut eye.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

***

“H
uh, I thought the island was a bird sanctuary, I never saw a plane land there before,” Brandon said.

“What are you muttering about?” Albert asked, clearly annoyed.  Darius knew it was Mason who had landed the plane at the nearby island, and he wanted to distract his hosts.

“I can’t wait to finally see Sylvia in action.  Tomorrow will be quite the spectacle.  How many buyers will be at the silent auction?” he asked.

“We expect at least thirty.”

“Oh, I thought this was the big auction of the year.  I guess it isn’t going as well as you and Sylvia had hoped.”  Darius took another bite of his salmon.

“You don’t get it,” Brandon set down his bourbon and gave Darius a sloppy smile.  “These thirty will spend millions and millions.”

“Shut up Brandon.”  Albert glared at the blonde man.

“What?  It’s true.”

“I didn’t realize your antiquities were worth that much,” Darius said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he cleared over a hundred million tomorrow night,” Brandon slurred.

“Brandon, leave the table.”

“I’m not a dog!” 

“No, you’re a drunk!  If you can’t behave like an adult, then you need to leave.”

“Albert, he can’t possibly be correct, can he?  A hundred million?” Darius asked.

“No, he’s not correct.”  They both watched Brandon exit the verandah.  “Brandon likes to feel more important than he really is.”

“If I thought we were dealing with those kinds of numbers, I would insist Sylvia have a bodyguard with her,” Darius said.

“There’s no need.  These are well respected people and just dusty old artifacts.  I’m going to go over to Victoria Island tomorrow morning, I would like to ask you a favor.”  Darius raised an eyebrow.

“Would you mind flying over with Brandon in the early evening?  It would be better if I had time to work with Sylvia without him there to distract me.”

“I hope you don’t expect me to keep him sober, that’s beyond my skillset.”

“Apparently it’s beyond mine as well.”

“As long as I can make it in time for the auction, I will be happy to do this favor for you.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to in my room.”

Darius went into the bedroom and took out the equipment Rylie had left for him and checked to make sure the room was still free of listening devices.  Then he called Mason’s phone, thankful for satellites. 

“So did they see me?”

“Yeah, but we ended up talking about the auction instead of your landing.  Everything all right?”

“Yeah, I’m going to take the zodiac over tonight.  You can guide me in to where you want me to land the boat.  Midnight, right?”

“Yep.  I want you to get a feel for the layout.  Should take you about forty minutes to get here, right?”

“Give or take five minutes.  I’ll come back for the plane after they leave for the auction tomorrow afternoon and we’ve secured the hostiles.”

“Mason, you’re going to need to hold me back, I swear I want to take them down hard.  Everyone attached to this operation needs to go down hard.”  Darius replayed what he saw in the clinic, and how they talked about the mother and child. 

“I know that’s how Jack and Clint felt about the Guzman’s, and you were with me when Krill went after Sophia.”

“I know man.  I have no idea how you kept your shit together.”

“It wasn’t easy.”

Darius took a breath.  “Okay, I’ll see you tonight.  I’ve got to check in with Clint and Lydia.”

Darius hung up the phone and then turned on his computer to start a Skype session.

“Dare, I have news about Rylie’s sister,” Lydia started the conversation.  She looked really upset.

“What is it?”  She shook her head and put her hand over her mouth.

He turned to Clint.

“What is it?  What did you find out?  Is she okay?”

“It was a lot of bad news.  And no, I don’t think she’s okay.  If I had to guess, it was her body they found in the fire.”

“Tell me.”

“Pamela Jones aka Pamela Charles was taken in by the Edwards family when she was nine years old, Rylie was twelve at the time.  Pamela was deaf.  She started running away when she was eleven.  She was found a couple of times and brought back to the Edwards house.  The last time she had been beaten.”

“Ah God.”  Darius was sick at the thought.

“Yes.  It was about that time the Edwards’ asked Rylie to come and live with them, the thought was she could be a stabilizing influence.  For a time, it must have worked because Pam stayed at the house.”

“Rylie’s has always taken care of everyone, hasn’t she?  Didn’t it raise a red flag that Pamela was running away?  They should have taken away their license, not given them another child to care for.”

“Here’s the kicker, his brother was a state senator in Oklahoma.  So there was never going to be any sort of negative repercussion.”

“Fuck me running.”  Darius remembered all too well what Rylie said back in Houston those many months ago about her foster father coming into her bedroom late at night.  He must have been doing the same thing to Pamela.

“Finally, when Rylie was fifteen, Pamela took off again for almost two years.  The Edwards took in three more kids.  Pam became one of those milk carton children.  The next thing we knew there was a fire and Rylie Jones was presumed dead.”

“But Dare,” Clint interrupted.  “Guzman was operating in Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona at that time.  Her sister would have been just the type of girl his organization would have targeted.”

“Dammit,” Darius breathed out.”

“Exactly,” Lydia said.  “That could be why Rylie has been so intent on taking down first Guzman’s organization and then Liu’s.  It’s that personal.”

“That might explain her vendetta, but it doesn’t explain how in the hell she then showed back up at the fucking orphanage as Rylie Jones and adopted Char and Sawyer as her long lost brother and sister?  Shouldn’t she have changed identities?  This makes no fucking sense at all.”

“Calm down, Dare, it gets a bit complicated.  Her mother’s last name is Charles, that’s how she and Pam were listed in the paperwork.  When she came up with the scheme about the ‘real’ dad, she used her real dad’s name, which was Jones.  Her death certificate is Rylie Charles.  As for how she fooled the orphanage, she worked through an attorney, it’s amazing how much can be accomplished when you have money.”

“Fucking A.  She always has the most complicated schemes, and they always work.  I love this woman.”

“Yay!” Lydia shouted.

“For real?” Clint asked.

“Done deal,” Darius assured his friend.  “I just have to convince her it is for the long term.  She doesn’t believe someone will really stand by her.”

“Can you blame her?” Lydia asked.

––––––––

D
arius snuck out for the fourth time, excited to know that in less than twenty-four hours this operation would be completed.  He’d talked to Lydia and Clint for quite a while that afternoon.  He knew there had been other girls rescued from the mission with Jack and Beth, and he wanted to know how they were doing.  He was gratified to learn many were back with their families, and others were actually doing well in half-way houses.

He had remembered a girl named Joanne, she was so brave working with Beth, Lydia’s sister, to get rescued in Mexico.  She was living with a friend of Jack’s mom down in San Antonio and flourishing.  He sincerely hoped there would be those kinds of happy endings for these girls as well.

This time, he bypassed the clearing and went around to the beach, flashed his flashlight four times, and waited.  Finally, Mason appeared paddling the zodiac.  He helped his lieutenant bring the boat onto the beach. 

“Damn it’s good to see you,” Darius said.

“Right back at you.  What kind of mess do we have here?”

“Every single time you think you’ve seen the worst, they keep finding ways to prove us wrong.  There are three buildings.  Two house the women, and one t acts like a clinic.  The clinic has the girl in it where they are trying to delay her labor.”

“Okay, take me there.  I’ll watch over things tonight, and then we should be able to shut this shit down tomorrow.  I have people on tap from Anacortes and Whidbey Island.  They are five miles off shore.  We’ll bring them in closer tomorrow.  They’ll be ready to hit here and Victoria at the drop of a hat.”

Darius loved his commander.

***

R
ylie needed a drink.  She felt like the afternoon of a prom.  Not that she had ever gone to one, but this is what she had always imagined it to be like.  Girls getting ready together, nervous about their hair and make-up, wondering if the boys would like them.  Only, in this case, wondering if the men would be kind to them, and mostly hoping they wouldn’t. 

Ophelia looked at her with such hope, she had to turn away.  But it didn’t work, because finally the girl was able to corner her.

“Ursula?  Is Ursula safe?”

“I don’t know.”

“You will save us?”  Rylie put on her sternest Sylvia face.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”  One of the other girls came up to where the two of them were talking.  The seamstress would be arriving in an hour with their gowns, for now, they were all running around in robes the woman had left for them.

“Ursula?” the girl said.  “Where is Ursula?”  Her face started to crumple, and Rylie wanted to swear.  She felt the same damn way.  She prayed to God Ursula would be found on the other side of the island and not buried somewhere beside Klein.

“Ekatarina! Go back to the other girls.  You need to work on your make-up.  Your dress is red.  You need to have brown eye-shadow.”

“Yes, Mrs. Hess.”  The girl slunk away. 

“As for you,” she turned to Ophelia, “I know nothing more than what Klein and Howard told me.  Ursula is supposedly dead.  If I find out differently, I will tell you.”

“I would know in my heart if she had died.”  Ophelia placed her hand over her chest, her eyes filled with tears.  Rylie prayed the girl was right.  There was a knock on the door to the master suite.  All of the girls went silent.  She answered it, it was Drake.

“Jiang wants you downstairs.”

“I’ll be right down.”

“All of you,” Drake clarified.

“They’re not dressed.”

“I think he’d prefer that.  Anyway, he’s pissed about something, and he said, everyone.” 

“Well, he’s only getting me.  Guard the door.”

Rylie made her way down the long hall, then glided down the beautiful grand staircase.  Albert and Jiang were waiting for her.

“Where are the girls?” Jiang demanded.

“Their gowns haven’t arrived.  They will be presented when they are properly dressed, and not before.”

“I said I wanted to see them now,” Jiang’s tone was menacing.

“I want these girls to feel confident.  This is imperative to their performance this evening.  Confident women will bring higher prices.  If they feel disrespected and demoralized, they will not interact well, they will walk around with their heads down, and I won’t receive nearly the money I anticipate.  I do not like it when my money is negatively impacted due to somebody’s ego.”

“Listen here, little girl–” Jiang started.

“No you listen, Uncle Jiang.  You have said you admired my way of doing things.  If I fail, then you can berate me.  You can run things your way on the next operation when I am long gone.  This is a partnership between your nephew and me, and this is my contribution.  I will not have it fall to pieces at this juncture.”

“I am head of the Liu family and you will obey me.”  Jiang’s black eye’s glittered at her, filled with rage.

“I am not an employee.  I am a partner.  With Albert, with you, with whichever Liu is in charge, I don’t give a damn.  All I care about is my bottom line.  I want the most money out of tonight’s auction because I am an equal partner.  With that in mind, you will wait to see the girls.”

Jiang looked over her shoulder and nodded his head.  Rylie felt her arm being yanked by Huan.  She wasn’t surprised.  She waited for a tenth of a second, and then she was freed.  She gave Finn a cool nod.

“Thank you, Tibbs.” 

Then looked over at Jiang. “Jiang, we each have men willing to do our bidding.  Mine are more adept.  Please keep that in mind.  I like Huan, I would prefer not to have him killed.”  She saw the flare of panic in Huan’s face.  “I’m going back upstairs now.  When the girls are ready, I will bring them downstairs for inspection.  By the way, I think I will prefer doing business with you, Uncle Jiang.  Brandon was getting tiresome.” 

As Rylie marched up the stairs, she could feel Albert’s hatred following her with every step.  Good, it meant he was more likely to screw up.  She was so damned tired.  Everything was set for tonight’s party.  The real estate agent had come through like she had known she would.  She had triple checked with all of the buyers, and they would be arriving in less than three hours.  Clint and Lydia said the servers would all be military personnel, but Rylie was stressed about getting all of the caterers off the premises as soon as possible.  She didn’t want any non-combatants anywhere on the estate when the shit-storm started.

She took a left at the top of the staircase towards the master suite, but as soon a she was out of sight, she slipped into one of the many unoccupied bedrooms.  She ignored the beautiful elegance and instead headed straight for the closet and went in and leaned up against the wall.  God willing, this wouldn’t be the last chance that she had to talk to her family, but she wanted, no she needed, to talk to them.

“Hello, is this you, Rylie?” Charlotte answered the phone, her sweet Southern accent a soothing balm.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“You sound far away.  How’s Omaha?  Did you get the sale?”  Rylie winced at the question.