Second Nature (When Seconds Count) (22 page)

T
hey had given her some sort of drug. When Jauhar and Hamisi returned ten minutes later, she felt a little funny, but nowhere near inebriated enough to tell them anything. That was until Jauhar had asked her once more about Grant. She spilled everything. Every moment they had spent together, every word of every conversation, every kiss and touch. She knew she was doing it, but she couldn’t stop herself. It was like having an out of body experience. As if she was looking down on herself, dangling naked and afraid from a chain as she shared the most intimate details about the man she loved. The one man she hated most in the world was soaking in every syllable. She tried to stop herself, an inner voice screaming over the words she spoke aloud, but nothing she tried kept the words from spilling from her lips. What the hell had they given her?

She didn’t know how long she had blabbered on
, but sometime later a man she hadn’t seen before entered the room and handed Jauhar a wireless tablet. Even as she was trying to bite her tongue off to keep the words from leaving her head, she told Jauhar he looked like an angel against the glow cast off from the tablet’s light.
Shut. The. Hell. Up!

His head whipped up, a sultry grin pulling at his lips as he closed the distance between them, the feel of hi
s clothes against her bare skin sending an unwanted chill racing down her spine. Jauhar felt her shiver, his regretful expression telling her he knew it was not one of pleasure. “Soon my pet, you will shiver with anticipation for me.”

“Never
.” Her head shook frantically.
Yes! Finally!
It was about damn time she got to tell him off. “You’re a murdering pig! I will never want you the way I want Grant.”

“Ahh
.” Jauhar grinned, his lips grazing her ear, his hot breath flowing down her neck. “But you have already confessed to loving a murderous pig, my pet. You see?” He held up the tablet for her to see. She didn’t feel dizzy, but everything was out of focus. She had trouble seeing the image on the screen. She shook her head, trying desperately to dislodge the cotton in her brain. When it did finally come into focus, her heart shuddered inside her chest, burning tears welling in her eyes to blur the image again.

“
No! It’s not possible!”
No! No! No! “
That’s not him. He didn’t even know me when Issa was murdered.” She shook her head, refusing to play into Jauhar’s evil hand. “You killed Issa. You killed him in cold blood and I swear I will kill you for it!”

She turned her head away, determined not to believe what she had seen. Jauhar gripped her chin and for
ced her to look at him again. His head tilted to the side, his eyes searching hers with focused intent. “You truly do not remember me, do you?”

Remember him? Why
the hell would she remember him? She had never met him until he’d walked into the room shortly after Hamisi’s men had stripped her. A second later Jauhar released his grip on her chin and took a step back, amusement dancing in his eyes as his gaze raked over her outstretched body. “I think I am going to like getting reacquainting with you, my pet. But first you must pay the price for that lie you told me when we first began our little chat. And my friend here would like a little word with you regarding a spat you two had a few weeks ago. Oh, do not fret,” he chuckled when her eyes widened in panic. “I will not always be so lenient, but today no permanent harm will be a part of your punishment.”

He turned away and marched toward the door,
tossing the tablet to Hamisi on his way out. “No penetration and no permanent scars.” His head turned, tossing a wicked grin in her direction as a mixture of panic and adrenaline burned away any lingering effects of the drug he’d given her. The bastard winked at her before turning back to Hamisi with a nod. “She is yours until midnight.”

She had long ago lost track of the time she’d spent inside the small, dark box Hamisi’s men had stuffed her into.
Another bone jarring chill wracked Thalia’s naked frame, her muscles seizing until she thought her spine would snap in two. It could have been hours, or days, for all she knew. Her only connection to the world outside the box was the sound of Hamisi’s bellowing laughter bleeding through the thick walls each time she screamed.

The more she struggled the hotter the inside the box became, the small amount of oxygen inside turning stifling and heavy, disappearing rapidly with each struggling movement until she could feel the fine edge of unconsciousness begin to take its hold. When she thought she would take her last breath, a powerful blast of ice-cold air would explode over her sweaty skin, shocking her back to awareness. It was like being thrown into a frozen pond after soaking in a hot
bath, her lungs seizing inside her chest from the sharp sting of the cold air. She was unable to process the fresh wave of oxygen that came with the beginning of each new cycle of torment.

More hours had passed. Lying
on her side, the sharp plastic band binding her wrists behind her back sliced deep into her skin, making it feel as if her hands were being severed from her body each time she tried to pull them free. Her throat was raw from screaming, her skin now coated in a dirty sheen of sweat, her hair matted and sticking to the side of her face. She didn’t think she would ever know the day when she would beg for Jauhar’s mercy, but she was approaching her breaking point with Hamisi’s depraved torture.

Eventually she gave up and stopped struggling altogether, unable to do anything but shiver
or sweat. She was uncertain if the numbness in her hands and feet was caused from lack of circulation or the extreme cold from the last blast of frigid air, but an entirely different type of pain had spread like fire over a fuel-slicked lake through her entire body, surprisingly more excruciating than the agonizing sting of pins and needles she’d felt before. She was going to die. Surely her body couldn’t take much more of this.

Her physical pain was paired with a destructive tide of humiliation
and sense of betrayal that suffocated her basic will to survive. Her humiliation wasn’t caused by her nakedness. Nor was it caused by being strung up like a fish and hung on naked display in front of the man she’d spent the last year and a half hell-bent on destroying. The last year and a half…it had been a complete lie. She had been so completely wrong, about everything.

Grant had played her. She had bought his entire act.
The pictures Jauhar showed her were irrefutable. She couldn’t see his face, but she would recognize him anywhere. He was there, standing next to Issa’s car; gun in hand, right before he pulled the trigger. She had been such a fool to believe he’d ever wanted her. He had only wanted the thumb drive. He wasn’t good and noble. He was nothing more than the same wicked capitalist he described Jauhar to be. He’d preyed on her weakness, fed her lies and kept her under his control until she told him where she’d hidden it.

It all made sense now.
Why he hadn’t turned her over to Hamisi’s men when they found her on the island, why he wouldn’t allow her to make the call to Jauhar, his suspicious behavior the morning after she had told him where she’d hidden the thumb drive, all those cheesy lines.
You heal my soul.
She had been a complete fool. She never could understand why he was so determined to help her. Now she knew why. She thought she had caused him so much trouble. She was no trouble at all as long as he got what he was after. The only thing she couldn’t figure out was what part Daniel and Rebecca played. What did they get out of lying to her? Unless Grant was cutting them into whatever deal he’d struck for the data on the thumb drive. Even that wouldn’t explain the pictures of her. She guessed they could be faked, but why? Why not just kill her and leave them out of it?

Her brain
hurt with so many questions. She had given him everything; her trust, her love, her heart. She’d given him something she had been unable to give to any other man; her complete surrender. He’d never once blinked at taking it all when he knew all along he was robbing her. He knew the whole time that he had taken the one thing in her life she could never get back.
Issa, I’m so sorry.

Her head rocked against the floor of the box as the las
t wave of chills left her body, the final ounce of fight remaining inside her following in its wake. Her heart ached with sadness and regret as a memory of Grant’s awkward, boyish grin floated on a wave of exhaustion through her battered mind before it faded away into nothingness.

“Stand down!” Rebecca could hear the order repeating over the ear pieces the men around her wore, the voice of Grant’s friend shouting in her other ear as she pulled up a map of Mumbai on the laptop she’d commandeered from her boss, Deputy Director Dax Keller.
Triple D-K.
Her lips twisted in frustration as she studied the map. After Natalie was snatched from the airport in Mozambique and they had confirmed through airport surveillance that it was Hamisi and Jauhar’s men who took her, he’d flown in and taken over her entire case.
What an asshole.

If it wasn
’t for her suspicion that Natalie would run and using the opportunity to plant the tracking devices, they wouldn’t have a damn clue where Jauhar was hiding. She hated thinking of Thalia’s circumstances as a lucky break, but her consequential abduction had blown the lid off an international operation. They were now closer than they had ever been to taking down one of the highest ranking traffickers in the bureau’s history. And she had been cut out of the action with a stiff hand shake and nothing else but a nod of appreciation for her efforts.

She didn’
t get Keller. As a boss he was…efficient. It was about the only adjective she could use considering the man avoided her like the plague. He was good looking, in a brooding
Thinker
sort of way, always deep in thought or too distracted for common niceties such as ‘
good morning, Danes’
or
‘how’s your day?’
The dimples that peeked out beneath his perpetual, sexy five o’clock shadow on those rare occasions when he did grace her with a smile, gave him a hint of boyish charm, but before she could fully appreciate them she was staring at his backside as he walked away.
He does have a nice ass.

When she did manage to wrangle some time from him, or bump into him in their typical comings and goings around the office, he was polite but curt;
nothing but a quick nod or a stern hello
before he practically sprinted in
in the opposite direction of wherever it was she was going.

In the three months she’d worked for him since transferring from Saint Louis to the
D.C. headquarters, she could count on one hand the number of times she’d actually had a two-way conversation with him. And always about work. Granted, she liked not being micromanaged, having to report in three times a day, or being treated like a department lackey. He’d never asked her to play mystery shopper for his wife’s birthday gifts, or his mistress’…or both like her old boss. She didn’t even know if he had a wife or a girlfriend. She had heard some of the assistants whispering about him a time or two but never really paid attention. She hadn’t had time to care about anything but this case. Still, it would be nice to get a ‘
hey, nice job, Danes’
out of him every once in a while. Now he was inserting himself into her life’s work as if he’d been her partner all along, and taking complete control like an egotistical, glory hound.

Having been banished to
a surveillance van nearly twenty kilometers away from the exclusive men’s club in downtown Navi where they suspected Hamisi had taken Natalie to meet Jauhar, she listened as Diver relayed the information to Keller on Grant’s intended destination and what he’d learned from Jauhar’s men.

“We’re only twenty minutes from that location.” Her head snapped up from the map to see the
two other men on the surveillance team shaking their heads.

“Not our problem, Ms. Danes.” The jerk with the elephant-sized ears looked up from his computer screen, his jaw flapping as he chewed a Texas-sized piece of bubblegum. “Our orders are to maintain a visual and record all traffic moving in and out of the city until we’re ordered to locate elsewhere or to stand down.”

“What? What if
she’s not at that club?” Daniel flew from his cramped seat near the double rear doors. “You’re just going to leave her there?”

Rebecca held up a staying hand, her eyes pleading with Daniel to back down. She had assured Keller he wouldn’t interfere. Ripping this guy’s throat out would definitely be considered interfering. “You’ve got to be kidding me! We’re twenty kilometers away from the primary target and it’s almost midnight! What could you possibly pick up from here?”

“Yeah, well, that’s what you get when you pull babysitting duty.”

Rebecca’s
gaze snapped over to the second member of the geek squad she’d been stuck with. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing,” he whispered, shaking his head.

“Oh, fuck you, Larry. Grow some balls.” Dumbo whipped his pen at the other man’s chest. “We all know the only reason we’re out here tagging minivans and mopeds is because Keller doesn’t want her anywhere near this take down.”

What?
“No, we do not
all
know that! Why the hell not?” How was she supposed to do her job if her boss wouldn’t let her? First he moves in and takes over the case she had spent the last five years of her life building. Now he was banishing her to the fringes of the universe to be guarded by the geek brigade while he got all the credit and glory for taking out Jauhar? Not to mention he was putting Natalie’s life at risk by not using every resource available to make sure she was located and extracted safely.
Screw this!

“
Hold on,” she barked at Diver, nodding at Larry. “Take my phone and give me yours. Have Diver patch his video feed of the secondary location into your network drives so we know what’s going on.” She tossed her cell phone to Larry and held her hand out for his. When he didn’t immediately give it up, Daniel grabbed him by the hair and pulled him from his seat.

“That’s my daughter you’re leaving out there to die!
” Rebecca’s gasp of alarm filled the small interior. When she thought Daniel was about to snap the guy’s neck he leaned in close and growled in his hear. “You may think this is a babysitting job, but the most dangerous place for you to be right now is exactly where you are. I will not hesitate to end your miserable excuse of a life if it means saving my daughter’s. Hand. Her. Your. Phone.”

Larry reached into his pocket and pu
lled out his cell phone, hurriedly handing it to Rebecca. Dumbo jumped to attention and grabbed Rebecca’s cell from Larry before it fell from his trembling hand.
Yeah, who needs to grow a set now?

“
When Diver completes the uplink, don’t disconnect the call. We don’t want to take the chance of not being able to get him back.” Rebecca left lovely Larry to Daniel’s mercy, dialing Keller as she unlocked the passenger door and hopped out onto the street. Let Daniel tear them apart. Hell if she cared. They might be following orders, but they weren’t her orders.

“
Yeah, Larry. What’s your status? Why are you calling my cell?” Keller’s deep voice rumbled over the line.

“His status is neck deep in shit and sinking fast, Director. Just like my job apparently.”

“Goddammit!” Dax Keller’s voice trailed off into a colorful rant.

“Why do you have me out here under lock and key being guarded by the geek boutique
? This was my case, sir. I should be the one—”

“
This isn’t the time, Danes. We’re on strategic stand down and I’m not—”

“You’re not u
sing your best resources, sir. We’re twenty minutes from the secondary location. If Diver is correct then we have to cover it.”

“You are not cleared to go to Mumbai, Danes! You hear me? You’re staying where I put you and that’s final! Dammit! I knew I should have sent you home.”

“Excuse me?” Sent her home? What the hell had she done to this guy to make him treat her with such blatant disrespect? “Why are you doing this, Director? I’ve worked my ass off on this case!”

“
No, Danes. And that’s fin—”

“If you want the recognition fo
r the capture you can have it sir, but you can’t just take a chance like this and let that girl—”

“Do not
—!” She cringed when she heard his growl, followed by another long string of inaudible curses. “Listen to me carefully, Danes. This isn’t the only intel we have coming in. You don’t know everything we’re dealing with here.”

“And whose
fault is that, sir? You won’t—”

“Rebecca.”

Her steps faltered, her frantic pacing back and forth in front of the van snapping to a screeching halt. He had never called her Rebecca. She didn’t think he even knew her first name. As strange as it was to hear him say it, it was the sudden change in his voice, the silky command in his tone that had the fine hairs at the base of her skull prickling against her neck.
What the hell?
A funny sort of tumble tickled her insides at the sound of her name being spoken with such intensity. They had exchanged more words in the last five minutes than they had the entire time she’d worked for him, and still, the familiarity in his voice felt… astonishingly intimate.

“Rebecca?”

Holy hell, he did it again.
This time she could hear a hint of laughter in his tone. A superior sort of chuckle that said he knew exactly what he was doing to her. She leaned against the front of the van, ignoring the flush of embarrassment that colored her face. “Uh, yes sir. I’m here.”

“I need you to trust me.” His whispered plea pulled at something buried deep inside her and shredded her will to argue, obliterating every cold, indifferent image she’d ever had of him.
Trust him?
It made no sense, but she wanted to believe him.

“
What about the—?”

“Rebecca, I don’t…I will not beg you
. Get back in the van and stay there. Am I clear?” To her frustration, her mouth snapped shut, another warm wave lapping at her frayed nerves, simultaneously calming and annoying the hell out of her.

“Yes, s
ir.” The line went silent before her reluctant capitulation had been completely ground out, her jaw aching with the effort it took not to scream the words at him.
Trust him?
She stomped to the side of the van, Larry’s cell phone clutched in her hand.
Rebecca.
Even through a haze of dissatisfaction with his request, she could still hear her name in that rich, commanding tone. How could one man,
that
man, forever change the sound of her name?

“
We have movement.”

Rebecca crashed into the bucket seat next to
Larry. He seemed to have survived Daniel’s wrath with his head still intact, but she could sense a tangible animosity rolling off him in waves. Believing it would be better for everyone if she ignored it for now, she slipped on a spare headset and plugged into the server, adjusting the mic as Larry pointed at something on the screen.

“
There! Movement on the rooftop of the building next to the secondary location.”

Rebecca
tapped the screen and zoomed it in on the dark figure crouched at the edge of the five story building. “That’s Grant Kendal. Diver, do you have a live link to him?”

“
I have a primary connection to a mobile he picked off one of Jauhar’s men, but I can’t run a direct patch to you and keep the secure link. You’re going to have to talk through me if you have intel, but I can’t guarantee he’ll respond. He’s not in a real chatty mood.”

“
We need to see what’s going on in that building.” There were no lights visible from any of the closed windows. Their intel said it was an apartment building, but she saw no sign of movement, inside or out. “Diver, has Jauhar’s signal moved since you ran the trace?”

“No,
but…give me just a second and I might be able to make all your wishes come true.” Unless he had Jauhar in cuffs and a cure for stupidity, she highly doubted it. A series of beeps sounded in the background. Without warning, a blood curdling scream exploded from the speakers, followed by a cocktail of evil male laughter. “I’ve got it! I’m inside the building.” Her head snapped up to see Daniel, his face completely void of blood as he crumbled to his knees.

“Jesus, what the hell are they doing to her?” Daniel covered his ears, his face twisting in
agonizing rage at the horrific sounds they had suddenly been patched into. Larry’s hands flew to the keyboard, his fingers frantically typing out a message to who she hoped was Director Keller. They had to go in. Now!

Rebecca reached up and flipped off the external speakers, the van going quiet except for the echo of more screams bleeding through the headsets.
“We don’t know if that’s her.”

Turning away, she focused on the monitors. She couldn’t let the sheer terror on Daniel’
s face distract her. “Diver, I need a visual!” She had to be able to see what the hell they were going into. Orders or no orders, there was no way in hell she was going to stand by and do nothing.

“I’m trying!”
By the frenzied tone in Diver’s voice, he was pushed to his limits. She would push him over the cliff if that’s what it took. “They’re using a femtocell to boost their signals. I’ve hacked into the booster to get audio from one of the cell phones inside, but I have to find the exact code to patch into the phone’s video application. Even then, it’s only for one cell phone. I’m only getting this because someone is accessing the signal. As soon as they hang up I’ll lose the feed until someone else dials out. It’s like playing cellphone roulette.”