Kidnapped Hearts (26 page)
Authors: Cait Jarrod
“There’s also a missing Scorpion. They’re
like spiders. They multiply way too fast.” Steve made a spider with his hand.
Pamela giggled and smacked his arm with
her good hand, then looked up at Jake. Movement was becoming somewhat easier,
but she cringed at the pain. “How will we leave?”
Steve motioned toward the neighbor’s
beach. Three Jet Skis were strapped to their pier.
“I can’t drive,” Pamela said.
“No, you’ll ride with me.” Jake kissed
the side of her head that wasn’t bruised, then helped put the damaged life
jacket back on. “Let’s go.”
Pamela was exhausted. Jake must have
known it, since he cradled her to him and carried her to their ride. After
sitting her in front, he straddled her and gripped the handlebars, his body
snug against hers.
So much had happened that she forgot she
had been mad at him. Why had she been mad?
She shrugged. Jake must have thought she was cold. He nuzzled her closer to
his body.
Steve climbed on and strapped his duffle
bag to the back of his Jet Ski. “I’ll need to check in with Larry. He’s
probably anxious, wondering if we’re okay. The Director needs to know, too.”
Jake nodded. “You’re right, but I hope
they can pull off being concerned when they know everything is okay.”
Steve started the motor. “Want to take
bets as to our mole?”
Jake cocked an eyebrow. “Lever.”
Pamela’s chin dropped. “Agent Lever,
really? He was always so polite,” she said, raising her voice to be heard over
the motor.
“Yeah, he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,”
Steve added. “Follow me.”
Pamela’s head throbbed, but the breeze
running through her hair soothed it. The path Steve took never went over waves,
so the ride was smooth like riding on glass. A little while later, Steve broke
away from them and headed to the pier near a restaurant. Jake motored around
the open water, out of eyesight.
Steve returned, and they rode in silence,
giving Pamela time to think. The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind.
Arriving at the beach house, arguing with Jake, confronting Nicholas, and being
held at gunpoint, all of these incidents would drive a person insane.
Hundreds of emotions competed for her
attention, knotting her thoughts. When Jake and she weren’t doing the
horizontal mambo, as Sue would call it, they’d dozed. Maybe they slept two
hours. She smiled and wondered if Sue and her dad had opened the café. Surely,
Mark had finished repairing everything. Did Charlene show up to work?
Her mind was spinning.
Her stepfather was thief, a dead one, who
put his wife and stepdaughter in harm’s way.
What an asshole!
She needed to check on her mother and
Marge. How was her father handling everything? What about Paul and Celine, did
they have any idea what was happening?
She sucked in a breath and choked as the
wind from the Jet Ski forced its way into her mouth. Her dad would call the
Director of the FBI and find out whatever he needed to know, and he’d pass it
to Paul and Celine.
Wouldn’t he?
The two boats exploding minutes ago
rushed into her mind’s eye. Another shiver ran through her body, and Jake’s
thighs tightened.
Sometime later, they pulled up to an
island. No one and nothing was there. Jake helped her dismount, then he and
Steve pulled the Jet Skis into the woods. They each found a branch with
greenery and used it to scratch out the tracks in the sand.
The guys joined her in the clearing in
the middle of the island. From the looks of things, it was the only a small
patch without any trees standing. There were a few dead ones on the ground. “Is
this another one of the FBI’s safe locations?”
“No, we’re not getting any more
assistance.” Steve pulled out two brown bags from his duffle bag. “Hungry?”
Thinking about it, she realized she was
starving. The pain in her head had subsided, but hurt to the touch. She tried
to wiggle her shoulder, but couldn’t.
“Have a seat.” The three of them sat on a
fallen tree, and Jake helped Pamela remove her life jacket. Steve handed Pamela
and Jake a foil tin and a fork, then pulled the lid off Pamela’s. Italian
spices drifted under her nose. She propped the container on her lap.
Around a mouthful of food, Steve said, “I
called Larry when I was at the restaurant. He said that Agent Dennis found
evidence of Lever’s activity late last night. Evidently, Lever had the alarm at
the safe house disarmed. The goal was for Sanjar to find
The Warrior
and destroy him.”
Pamela shifted, and her tin fell. Jake
caught it just before it touched the sand and handed it back to her. She eyed
him. His movements were lightning-fast.
Wow.
“Do you know why Lever joined forces with
Sanjar?” Jake asked.
Steve pulled out three cans of soda and
handed them out. “Lever cut a deal with Sanjar. You in exchange for his life.”
Jake dropped his fork. “That wuss.”
“Yep. Agent Dennis has no tolerance for
moles. He’s throwing the book at him. Right now, Dennis is taking him to the
“Wh-what’s a
Warrior
?” She stabbed some food with her fork, then looked at Jake.
Jake sucked in a deep breath. “That was
my alias a few years ago. I took down the leader of the Black Scorpions, who
happened to be working for Sanjar.”
“Were you trying to take down Sanjar,
too?”
“He was the main goal, but my assignment
was to remove his right hand man.”
Pamela licked some sauce off her lip.
“The question still remains, are these men chasing me or you?”
“They’re after both of you, and since we
don’t know which Scorpion is after who, we have to believe both of your lives
are in danger whenever a brown jacket with a scorpion on it shows up.”
Jake leaned forward, his elbows on his
knees. “We need to go back to
find the bonds, and get to Wine’s partner.” He lifted his tin and ate the last
bite. “By the way, we found Nicholas Wine’s body.”
“The sack in the boat?” Steve asked.
“Yes,” Jake said, replacing the lid on
his tin.
Pamela dropped her tin on the ground. Her
appetite had vanished when she heard the name
Warrior
and what they were planning on doing.
“I have a question.”
Both men eyed her.
“Not a question really, but … Sanjar
wants Jake dead.” She looked at Steve first, thinking it was safest. She was
dealing with too many emotions to look Jake in the eye.
Steve cleared his throat. “Yes.”
An indescribable ache flooded her body, and
the little bit of energy she had in her body left. She stood, fighting back
tears as she realized that if she stayed with Jake, this would be her life,
always worrying about him. “A terrorist is hunting me, and he wants you dead. I
need a few moments alone.” She walked away. In her subconscious, she knew she
shouldn’t be upset with Jake, but the thought of him continuously being in this
situation, unsettled her.
“Damn it.” Jake tossed his tin to the
ground.
Steve got to his feet and held out his
hand. “Let me handle this.”
“
I don’t need you to handle my problems.”
“Maybe not, but I’ve known Pamela a hell
of a lot longer than you have, and I didn’t sleep with her. She won’t be as
emotional with me.”
Jake held up his hand, fingers spread.
“Five minutes.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
The bay breeze stirred the air as Pamela
stared at the water and tears leaked from her eyes. Once again, she’d picked
the wrong man to fall for. Berating herself wouldn’t help. Nothing would
change. The fact that she attracted men with a colorful past seemed to be a way
of life for her.
Though Sam didn’t compare to Jake, he had
beaten his past girlfriends, but none of them ever went to the police. He was
unstoppable until the night he attacked her. She often wondered what would have
happened if Steve hadn’t found Sam pinning her against the wall of The Memory
Café. Would she have been strong enough to get him off her or file charges?
Sam was arrested, and now, served time
for attempted rape. Too bad she didn’t know about the other women he’d hurt
before the attack.
Not an apt comparison, but Jake’s life
was extraordinary. He protected citizens by putting his life on the line. In
turn, people wanted him dead. Who knew how many searched for him? The reality
sent a cold chill down her spine, making her sick to her stomach.
A rustling noise stirred behind her. She
hoped it wasn’t a wild animal. Jake had already reassured her that the island
was free of large, wild creatures. How would he know?
A branch snapped, and a hawk screeched
overhead. She was ready to run.
Black material shined through the
branches. She blew out a breath. It was either Jake or Steve, not a wild
animal. Neither man seemed to have any other color in his wardrobe. A tree
branch moved, and Steve’s sandy brown hair became visible as he emerged from
the trees.
Pamela looked at him, her eyes stinging.
“I’m so stupid. I knew better than to fall for him.”
Steve stopped in front of her.
“People want him dead, Steve.” She waved
her hand in a circle. “Even with all the stuff I’m dealing with right now, not
knowing who will come after me,” she toed a shell lying in the sand, “I’m
worried about him. You’d think I would learn. I go from a man that tries to
rape me to a man who puts his life in jeopardy on purpose.”
His hand dropped. “Not on purpose, he has
a job to do.”
She faced the water, as tears wet her
eyes.
From behind her, Steve’s arms closed
around her. “Pamela, you’ve dealt with me for years. Anyone who protects, at
some point of time, will have their life threatened. It comes with the job, but
you can’t think about it. Otherwise, it makes it difficult for them to work.”
She patted his arm that stretched across
her stomach. “I don’t know if I could handle it.”
“If you like your boy toy, you will.”
She giggled.
“I’m not going to encourage you to be
with him. An FBI agent, retired or not, has seen a lot, done a lot. If you stay
with him, there are a lot of things you’ll never understand, and he’ll always
have secrets.”
She relaxed into her friend’s embrace.
“Like you.”
“Exactly, but you’re stuck with me. I’m
more than a boy toy.”
Patting his hand, she maneuvered out of
his embrace and picked up a shell. Staring at it, she asked, “Steve, am I a
fool?”
“No, Pamela, you’ve never been a fool.
You picked one wrong guy. Sam is in jail, thanks to you, and can’t hurt another
woman.”
She dropped the shell. “What about Jake?”
Steve closed the gap between them. “What
are you asking?”
“Am I dumb by pursuing a relationship
with him?”
“Do you know if that’s what he wants?”
She shrugged. Jake hadn’t said what he
wanted. The words he spoke in the bed and breakfast rang through her head.
My body and soul want to be with you
.
Still, she didn’t know.
“I can’t believe we’re having this
discussion now.” Steve let out a breath as his hand passed through his hair.
“From what I know of him, which is all second-hand, he’s a terrific agent,
loyal, and hard working. He’s one of the Director’s chosen ones. I can’t say
I’m on that list.”
All good traits. Steve wouldn’t name them
if he didn’t believe it. “Give me a second, would ya? I need a few minutes to
get myself together.”
Steve kissed her forehead and disappeared
through the trees.
Pamela faced the bay, folded her arms
across her chest, and stared at the ripples in the water. They were hypnotic.
Her thoughts were still discombobulated. She had no idea what to make of her
life. Actually, this was a terrible time to analyze it.
An osprey dived into the water, flew
away, then dived again.
“You still mad?” Jake asked. His voice
was deep and as hypnotic as the water.
Pamela spun around, hitting her nose on
his chest. Rubbing it, she fell into his embrace. “I was never mad, Jake. I
just don’t know if I can handle being your girlfriend.”
“You stay good friends with Steve. What’s
the difference?”
I’m
not falling in love with Steve.
Her hand
stroked his chest as she looked into his eyes. She would keep that thought to
herself, for now anyway. “None. I’m just scared. I hate to—” she paused.
“You hate to put yourself into a
relationship with a man who does the work I do?”