SEAL’s Desire (5 page)

The doors shut behind the goons and the car swept away, spitting gravel from beneath the tires. Remy shook off his nerves and anger and started back toward the convenience store. When the vehicle turned another corner, he scooped up his wallet and cell phone and called a cab to pick him up at the store.

Adrenaline pumping and ready to smash some heads, he had to talk himself down before the cab got there. Every instinct inside him had wanted to break bones. Preferably of the men who’d manhandled him, looking for information on Mitchell.

What bothered him most was, even though Mitchell was tough and could probably hold her own one-on-one with a man, she couldn’t defend herself against these two men if they decided to rough her up.

What the hell had Mitchell gotten herself into?

‡

M
itchell headed for
the apartment she’d rented in the same rundown building where Dixie Lee lived. After a few blocks, she knew she was no longer being followed. Which meant Remy was. Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. She worried about making him a target of Hatch’s thugs, and almost turned around to head back to the store to check on him.

As she slowed to turn into a parking lot, she thought of Kelli. If Mitchell went back to help Remy, who most likely could take care of himself, she could blow her hard-earned cover and Kelli would be lost. Time was not on Kelli’s side. Strengthening her resolve, Mitchell reminded herself that Remy was a trained combatant. SEALs were not only strong, but smart. They knew how to get out of tight situations, using any means they had to. If he wasn’t at his apartment when she got there, she’d alert his team and they’d help her find him.

Taking the longest possible route, checking and double-checking her rearview mirror, she eventually pulled onto a street two blocks from the apartment complex where Remy lived. The same place he’d shared with Derek until Derek’s death. She hadn’t been there when he’d cleared Derek’s personal effects. She supposed he’d shipped them all to Derek’s parents in Pennsylvania. At the funeral, they’d been devastated by his death and opened their arms to her in their grief.

After sleeping with Remy, Mitchell had cut all ties with Derek’s folks, guilt driving her away.

In the year since Derek’s passing, she’d driven by the apartment complex several times, tempted to break her vow to stay clear of Remy. Once, she’d actually stopped and climbed the stairs to his unit. His neighbor had been in the hallway and told her that Remy had been deployed. Then they’d started emailing and texting.

Time and distance had done nothing to ease the ache in her heart or the desire she’d harbored all that time. Their conversations had been about nothing, but the communication had meant everything and they’d grown closer with each letter.

Last month, she’d agreed to do an online video chat. Seeing him again resurrected all the same feelings she’d had before, if not more intensely. Remy had looked thinner, the lines around his eyes more pronounced, and the smudges beneath his eyes darker. But he was still the ruggedly handsome SEAL she remembered and had accidentally fallen in love with when she’d been his best friend’s girl.

Parking her rental car in an empty lot, she climbed out and ducked into the shadows. She checked all directions before striking out for Remy’s apartment, taking the short cut through an alley and pushing through hedges to emerge in the apartment complex’s parking lot.

Forty-five minutes after she’d dropped him off, she knocked softly on his door and waited. Her heart rate kicked up a notch and she glanced over her shoulder. The hallway was empty but she hated feeling exposed. Using the key Derek had given her so long ago, she inserted it into the lock and turned it. The door opened. She slipped inside and eased the door closed softly.

The only light in the room shone through the front window from the security light in the apartment building’s parking lot.

Just to be safe, Mitchell performed a quick search. Remy wasn’t there, nor was anyone else. And from the looks of the empty spare bedroom, he hadn’t taken another roommate since Derek.

Crossing to the large picture window in the living room, she stood to the side and peered through the blinds at the lot below. Ten minutes passed and Mitchell paced the living room, bit off a fingernail and returned to the window, unsure at what point she should call it and bring in the rest of his team. Maybe she was being paranoid, but Hatch had a lot of bad people working for him. Remy was capable of taking care of himself, but against how many?

Resigned to waiting another ten minutes, she paced the room several more times. Nearing the end of the second ten minutes, she stared down at the parking lot and out past it to the street beyond. She could see all the way to the next street corner. A cab with its yellow light on top slowed at the entrance to the parking lot.

Mitchell held her breath and prayed the vehicle held Remy. When the cab drove by, she swore beneath her breath. It looked as though she’d have to call on his buddies to go bail him out of the mess she’d gotten him into.

From her position on the second floor, Mitchell could see the cab turn down the next street. The brake lights glowed bright red and the vehicle stopped. A moment later, the brake lights dimmed and the cab moved on.

Her heart beating faster, Mitchell leaned closer to the window. Something moved in the shadows, heading toward the apartment complex. At one point, a dark figure detached itself from the corner of a fence, crossed to the apartment building and disappeared from her view.

Mitchell closed the blinds, moved away from the window and waited, all her concentration focused on the front door. Butterflies erupted in her belly and her breathing grew shallow. She rubbed her palms on her skirt, amazed at how damp they were.

Though she’d made love with him only an hour before, seeing him without the threat of Hatch’s men lurking nearby was like seeing him for the first time in over a year. Before Kelli had disappeared, she’d dreamed of their reunion. In her imagination, the event was nothing like the reality. God, had she really asked him to play the john to her prostitute? As the full impact of the situation hit her, her cheeks burned.

Metal scraping metal made her jump and she pressed a hand to her chest, as if that would slow her racing heart. She edged back into a corner and dropped behind the couch. If the person on the other side of the door wasn’t Remy…

The door swung open and a tall dark, broad-shouldered figure stepped in. By the way he moved with purpose and determination, he could be none other than Remy LaDue.

Suddenly reluctant to break the silence, Mitchell remained crouched behind the arm of the couch.

The door swung shut, he twisted the lock and then reached for the light switch.

Mitchell stood. “Don’t.”

His arm, arrested in mid-motion, dropped to his side. “No one followed me.”

“Humor me. I can’t afford to be careless.” She stepped out into the open. “Can we talk in the bedroom? It’s as far from the street as we can get and there are no front-facing windows in there.”

“Fine. But I want the full scoop. Everything.”

“Fair enough.” She led the way into his room.

Remy followed and closed the door behind him. “Can I switch on the light in here?”

“Of course.”

The click of a switch sounded and the room was flooded with soft lighting from the ceiling fan hanging over the bed.

Mitchell blinked, squinting in the sudden glare.

Remy leaned his back against the door, crossing his arms. “Okay. Start talking.”

With a deep breath, Mitchell began.

After fifteen minutes
of detailing out all she’d done to position herself in Hatch’s organization, Mitchell stopped and stared up at Remy.

His gut twisted and Remy’s fists clenched. “You’re setting yourself up to be hurt or killed.”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around her waist. “I know. But I couldn’t let Kelli languish in whatever hell Hatch has her in. I’ve seen what happens to women who are forced into prostitution. They’re drugged, sometimes chained to filthy beds in the nastiest, bug-ridden, diseased places imaginable. I was in on an operation that exposed a small sex den nine months ago. One of the women had died chained to the bed. She’d been shot up so many times and overdosed after being raped by who knows how many men. If Kelli is in a place like that…” She shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself if I stood back and did nothing.”

“What exactly is your plan?”

“You’re not going to like this.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out, then stated, “I’m the bait.”

Remy’s blood pressure shot up. “No fuckin’ way.”

She stepped close and laid a hand on his arm. “Hear me out. Multiple agencies have suspected human trafficking was going on in this area. In the past six months, at least one woman a month had disappeared. Two college coeds, a couple of prostitutes and some teen-aged girls known to have a drug habit.

“A week ago, a friend of mine became the seventh woman that we know of who has disappeared. Navy Lt. Kelli O’Neal was reported AWOL from duty at Norfolk Navy Base. I’d had dinner with her the Friday before she didn’t show up for work on Monday. They got NCIS involved because Kelli is Navy but the case was handed to an imbecile, Brendan Wallace.”

“Why not you?”

“Because she was my friend, and I couldn’t be objective.”

“Who would have more incentive?”

“My point exactly.” A hand slapped her chest. “I knew how important it was to move quickly. In missing persons’ cases, the longer they are missing, the more likely the trail will go cold. Brendan was moving too slow, so I did some checking on the side, ran the stats through the crime databases and discovered the pattern of missing women. Hit up a few contacts in the FBI and found out they’d been looking into the possibility of a human trafficking ring. They suspect Rocco Hatch, but have no solid evidence to substantiate. They’ve had a couple witnesses claim he was up to something, then the witnesses disappear, too.”

Remy pushed a hand through his hair. He knew how she felt about finding her friend. He’d have been as concerned if the missing had been one of his teammates or Mitchell. “Why don’t you turn over what you’ve found to Brendan and ask your supervisor to follow through?”

“I tried. He wants Brendan to do all of the legwork, starting with what I’d already done. He told me specifically to stay out of it, since I couldn’t remain objective and he didn’t want the evidence tainted if they had to take it to a trial.”

His lips quirking on the edges, Remy said, “I bet that went over well.”

Mitchell’s lips twisted. “Right. I told the boss that if I couldn’t at least assist on the case, I wanted to take two weeks of leave. He denied me access to the case, and granted my request for leave.”

“How did you come to the conclusion Hatch had anything to do with this?”

“The Friday before when we’d had dinner, she’d told me about this man she’d met, and what a gentleman he’d been. He’d taken her out to dinner at an expensive restaurant in his limousine and basically treated her like a princess.”

“And the man was Hatch?”

She nodded. “I warned Kelli to be cautious and not trust the man until she got to know him better.”

Remy’s mouth tightened. “Or not to trust them even when you know them well?”

“I also warned her not to rely completely on her own judgment.” Mitchell gave him a sad smile. “We all have regrets for decisions we’ve made. It’s how we learn and grow.”

Remy reached out to take her hand. “I’ve never regretted making love to you.”

Mitchell squeezed his hand. “Me either. But I have regretted the timing. It’s something I’ve had to live with. I still have a hard time forgiving myself.”

“I had hoped we’d have gotten past it by now.”

Mitchell held his hand a moment longer, then let it go and walked away. “Whatever is between you and me is secondary to getting back Kelli alive.”

“True.” Remy gave her the distance she needed, but he wasn’t done breaking past the wall of guilt she’d erected around herself. When they resolved their current situation, he’d take time to scale that wall or knock it down. “Go on.”

“Kelli is a damned good navy officer, but she can also be too trusting.” Mitchell paced the length of the room and back. “When she didn’t show up for duty, her commanding officer called me as her emergency contact. She doesn’t have any family. I’ve been to her apartment, questioned her neighbors and more or less canvassed the area before Brendan was even assigned the case.”

“What did you learn?”

“The last person to see her was the woman who lived in the apartment beneath hers. She saw Kelli leave to go jogging Saturday evening before sunset. She said that was Kelli’s usual routine. She’d jog before sunset and return right before dark. Only this time, she didn’t return.”

“Anything else?”

“I used my credentials to review some surveillance camera footage on prospective jogging routes leaving from her apartment. I found her jogging by a convenience store and that was about it.”

“Again, why Hatch?”