On the Line (Special Ops) (6 page)

“What’s up doll?”

“I need a ride. Can you take me somewhere?” She looked back at the officers who were still speaking with the security guard over in their spot under the front entrance. She could see them inside looking at her, and so could the blond on his bike.

“Sure, doll. Hop on and tell me where you need to go.”

She didn’t bother to sit the ladylike way given her scantily clad body. She straddled the bike, placed her hands on his waist and gave him the Squadron address that she had found while thinking about playing matchmaker and trying to arrange a way to get Ariana and Preston to at least have to see each other and talk. She knew if they did that, if the man had even an ounce of love left for the woman, both would realize they were still meant for each other. That was the plan in her head anyway. She didn’t know how she was going to put it together and make it a reality, but that didn’t stop her from plotting and planning and in order to plot and plan she needed to know where this Squadron that he ran happened to be located.

She held on as the guy helping her sped out the parking lot toward the location she gave him. It was late. They could be closed by now, but she hoped they weren’t. She hoped somebody was still there. Seven thirty was well past closing time and if there wasn’t anybody there she didn’t know what she would do. She didn’t have another plan. Waiting on the cops didn’t seem like the best option either because with as slow as they were going anything could happen to her friend between now and their finding her—if they found her.

Zahara got off the motorcycle so fast she was surprised she hadn’t tripped over the skirt of her costume and fallen on her face. She hollered a quick thank you to the man who had given her a ride and she ran through the front doors of the building. She looked for the standard plaque to tell her what floor and what office number to go to, but she didn’t see one, which told her that the building was most likely solely theirs. She ran up the stairs and came to a glass set of doors. She tried to open them, but they were locked. Since she could see a woman sitting at the desk she banged on the door until she heard the lock click and then she rushed in. She was on her way to ask the woman to point her to Preston Strauss’s office when another man stepped out in her path.

Her eyes traveled upward. “Alex?”

“What are you doing here, Zahara? I thought you moved to Alaska.”

Two more men appeared from different angles. She would guess they worked with Preston, but she hadn’t seen Preston himself. She was sure she would recognize him from the picture Ariana had shown her. “I came back about a year ago. I never heard from you while I was in Alaska so I took the hint.”

“Your mother told me you didn’t want to hear from me again. I figured it was because Kelly and I broke up. I assume you’re going to the wedding—she’s marrying my brother.”

“I haven’t spoken to Kelly since she broke up with you. And if my mother told you I didn’t want to see you again it’s because she knows…no matter. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because a friend of mine was just abducted and I don’t think the cops are going to be able to do anything. I thought maybe I could get help here.”

“I’m Micah,” the other man said. “A friend of ours is missing. We can’t help you right now.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex said softly. “Preston is family and we have to find him.”

“Preston…then I think we have a common goal here. My friend is Ariana, Preston’s ex-wife. They just took her.”

“Come on back,” the other man gestured as he urged her forward. “I’m Jet,” he smiled to try to put her at ease she assumed.

Alex came close to her, placed his hand on her back and ushered her toward a conference room. Considering how much skin was showing with her costume she wasn’t surprised at the skin on skin contact when he touched her. She was a little surprised that after all this time his touch could provoke strong sexual desires within her body. He was the one; he always had been, but unfortunately he hadn’t exactly felt the same way about her.

“What did this guy look like?” Micah asked her as she sat down in one of the plush chairs.

“He had dark eyes—very dark and evil eyes.” She remembered the fear that went through her when he looked at her, but she didn’t let that fear stop her. Her friend was in trouble and Zahara planned to catch up with the guy and do her best to make him put Ariana down. “He had dark hair, and I guess he had what people in the western nations would say was a distinctly Middle Eastern skin tone. To me he kind of reminded me of some of the people I saw in photos a friend sent me from his dig in Egypt.”

“Egypt?”

“Yeah, he’s an archeologist and he has been trying to get me to come see the stars from his dig site. He sends pictures from time to time and the guy kind of reminds me of that region. I think politically that still makes it the Middle East, but geographically I think it’s North Africa. I’m an astronomer, not a geographer, so don’t ask me to know for sure,” she said. It wasn’t her field of expertise and trying to rely on the news media to report accurately was like trying to rely on Santa Clause to bring her a new telescope for Christmas—it just wasn’t going to happen—on either account.

“Preston’s in Egypt,” Jet said.

“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Micah countered.

“So you think they went after her to get to him?” Jet asked.

They were all talking as if she were no longer sitting at the table. “That wouldn’t make sense. They have been divorced for too long with no contact with each other. Why would anybody think to go after her because of him?”

“True,” Alex nodded.

“Well…” the woman across the table from her interrupted the conversation. “Preston has been secretly going to some of Ariana’s dance shows.”

“Natalia,” Micah growled.

“It wasn’t my place to tell you before, but I thought it was important I say so now. He would always have me buy the tickets. Well technically I offered to buy them because it didn’t make any sense for him to have to pay off the guy at the front door just to see one dance. Anyway, while he is too stubborn to contact her he has gone to the last several shows with my help, and a few before he obtained my help.”

“Could you see what the other man looked like, Zahara?”

She shook her head no. “It was dark and he had something over his head. But I did get a clear look at the one who carried Ariana out. She wasn’t conscious. I don’t know how he managed that, but she wasn’t awake.”

“If I give you some pictures to look at can you tell me if you see him?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “But please hurry. I’m worried for her.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Micah said.

Micah and Jet left the room, obviously needing to talk outside of her presence. If these guys did all that Ariana implied Preston did then she wanted them on her side on this one. She didn’t think she had ever felt so anxious about anything in her life. This wasn’t just pre-show nerves about embarrassing herself by losing her clothes or missing a move in a group routine; this was life or death—possibly.

“Excuse me,” Natalia said as she got up and left the room, leaving Zahara and Alex alone.

“Maybe it was the flowers.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ariana received flowers with a request that she wait until after her first dance routine to open the card. She waited to open it because she wanted to watch me do my routine. Maybe whoever sent her the flowers took her.”

“We’ll have Natalia check on it, but I need you to stay calm and focused.”

“I am calm,” she said although she wasn’t sure she was. Her heart was still racing.

“No you’re not, Zahara. You always did that,” he pointed to her face in a circular motion.

“What?”

“That,” he said again. “That look where your eyes widen slightly, your lips part and that slight sheen of perspiration graces the hallow on your neck. You’re worried. I need you to keep your mind off the bad things that can happen and focus on finding her.”

She nodded. “Scary how well you still know me,” she said. “After all this time.”

He chuckled. “It’s not as if it has been decades. But I have missed you, Zahara. I missed what we had.”

“Me too.”

“When your mom told me you didn’t want to see me again.”

“When did she tell you that?”

“Not that long after you moved.”

She chuckled and shook her head. Her mother was looking out for her, and her heart, because she knew how much she loved Alex. She was trying to make sure there was nobody holding her back from finding and marrying another man—preferably a doctor in Alaska, much like the one her mother had tried to push her toward before she even got her moving boxes unpacked and settled into her new home. One mention of a doctor at the facility she would be working at and her mother started planning the prelude to a wedding.

“So does this mean we’re still friends?” He looked in her eyes. If only he knew.

“Always,” she said. “But maybe we can deal with the time we lost later. I’m too worried about Ariana to really focus on the past.”

He nodded. “We’re worried about Preston.”

“Has this happened before; Preston going missing?”

“No. He’s been in situations where he lost contact, but we always hear from him. Right now, with his ex-wife now missing too it makes us wonder…makes me wonder.”

She nodded. “I understand.” She took a calming breath and exhaled slowly. “So Kelly is marrying your brother, huh?”

“Yeah. Can you believe it?”

She laughed softly. “They’re perfect for each other.”

“Ouch.”

“She’s a self-centered, money hungry witch and your brother, no offense to you meant, is a jerk of astronomical proportions.”

He laughed. “None taken.”

“You always deserved better than Kelly, Alex. I just wish you had…”

“Had what?”

She shrugged. Some things were better left unsaid. “Do you still watch the stars at night?”

“Absolutely. You know I wouldn’t stop doing that. What about you?”

“I just secured a research grant to study the unknown up there. It’s going to be great. This is huge and I’m going to be moving to a larger facility to do it. This baby is all mines too.”

“Are you leaving Texas? I feel like I just found you again.”

“Well, we did just find each other again,” she said. “But I’m not leaving Texas. The observation facility is in Hill Country—”

“I live in Hill Country.”

“I live in Round Rock,” she told him.