Vortex (Cutter Cay) (25 page)

“We brought four guys back with us,” Jed told him. “We’ll have a dozen more in about an hour.”

“Any excitement while we were gone?” Wes asked, reaching over to pour himself a cup of coffee and grab a sweet roll from the platter in the center of the table.

Daniela’s sparkling eyes met Logan’s, and she hid her smile behind her cup, murmuring, “Nothing worth mentioning.”

Logan choked on a mouthful of coffee, gave her a look, and said, “I’ve contacted Nick as well.” Nick had some very interesting friends. His younger brother assured him his friends would mobilize and be there ASAP. Logan didn’t ask questions. If Nick said they could take on Stamps, he believed it. “And anyone on board who wants to be armed,
is
armed.”

Logan had gathered everyone on board at first light, explained the bones of the situation, and offered them an out if they wanted to get off the ship. None had.

Jed shot a look at Daniela with a raised brow.

“Yes, she’s armed, too,” Logan told him flatly. “Because this dick wants her. And she has to know that every precaution is being taken all the way down the line to ensure that will not happen.”

Jed put up his hands. “Hey, far be it from me to complain. I think a woman packing is hot.”

“Then it’ll make your day to go warn
Sea Witch
that hanging around here could get seriously dangerous. Tell her to bug off, and go follow Zane or Nick for a while.”

Jed grinned. “She’ll be touched you care.”

“I don’t give a damn. But I don’t want anyone around who doesn’t need to be around to muddy the waters. It’ll be business as usual. Get rid of the redhead, and the rest of the audience out there, and get your ass back. We have a treasure to find.” Logan met Jed’s eyes.
And a ship to secure.

Jed pushed away from the table. “Excuse me, I have to see a lady about an eviction notice.” He started to whistle as he strolled off, then stopped dead in his tracks, shading his eyes as he looked over the starboard rail. “Wolf—”

“Yeah. I see it,” Logan responded to Jed’s sharp observation. Even from this distance, the whop-whop-whop of the rotors sounded powerful, and he’d heard the sound ten minutes before. “Wes, grab a couple of security guys, take Daniela to my cabin, and stay with her. I’ll be right there.”

Glock in hand, he walked to the rail. “Stamps has brass balls doing this in broad daylight.” The large, black military-style helicopter was visible for miles as it approached.

“We’ll show him just how fucking wrong he is.” Jed joined him to stand at his shoulder.

“Hang on,” Logan touched the earpiece as it beeped. “Yeah, Piet?”

“The Huey is friendly,” his captain said evenly. “They just made radio contact. Nick’s counterterrorist friends. They claim your brother requested their assistance on your behalf.”

“Yeah, he mentioned it.” Logan had no idea his brother’s friends were
this
responsive to his call. He was impressed. “How—they’ll figure out how to get on board, I’m sure.”
Sea Wolf
wasn’t equipped to handle a helicopter of that size.

“I’ll alert our people to stay at the ready, but to stand down. For now.”

“Leaning more toward stay at the ready.”

“I hear you.” Piet clicked off.

Logan indicated the chopper with his gun. “Nick’s buddies. I’ll be appreciative
after
I’ve seen the whites of their eyes.” He didn’t trust anyone. For all he knew, these were Stamps’s people. How they knew about Nick and his connections was immaterial. Logan wasn’t taking a chance on a single hair on Daniela’s head.

He glanced back at the table, and raised a brow to see her still seated there, her steaming mug cradled between her palms and supported by her updrawn knees. She gave him a steady, unsmiling look. “You aren’t the boss of me,
Wolf.
And those are your brother’s friends, not my enemies.”

“So they say; we’ll see. Come with me,” he ordered Jed, and to Wes, “Get six guys out here now. I’m going topside.” Within minutes, the helicopter was overhead, casting a giant shadow and frothing up the water around the ship as the noise of the rotors blocked out any other sounds. Almost immediately ropes were dropped, and men started rappelling down like black dew on a half a dozen spiderwebs.

The first man down looked straight at Logan, and approached, hand extended. “Derek Wright,” he yelled. “T-FLAC.”

Logan shook hands. “Logan Cutter.” But somehow this guy had already known who he was. There was no point attempting a conversation since he couldn’t hear himself think.

He stood beside Wright as half a dozen black-garbed men, armed to the teeth, dropped lightly onto the deck.

As soon as the last man’s booted feet touched down, the ropes started receding and the helicopter flew off.

“We’ve been given a brief overview of the situation,” Wright told him. He removed a picture from his pack. “This is the latest image we have of Senator Stamps, taken yesterday. He’s campaigning in Arizona, but paid a visit to Los Chaves, New Mexico. Anything you want to add?”

Los Chaves was where Daniela’s parents lived. Logan told him what he knew of Stamps, and added the visit by Daniela’s cousins. “I have security people on board. These are all men I’ve used before to guard valuable salvage. They’re adept at discouraging pirates. But this is a whole different ball game.”

“No problem. We brought our own jerseys.” Wright’s smile was sharklike as he jerked his head toward the others. “I’ll take over security and we can brief all the men at the same time. You got a problem with that?”

Hell, yeah. Logan didn’t relinquish control to anyone. But once he knocked his ego down, he acknowledged that Wright and his men were professionals. It wouldn’t even be a fair pissing contest. The T-FLAC guys pissed harder and farther.

“I’m in charge of the ship, you’ve got the guns. I want Daniela protected at all costs.”

“Roger that. Let me get the men squared away, then I want to meet with you and your lady.”

*   *   *

“Wright’s reconnoitering the ship with his men, and assigning posts to our guys,” Logan told Jed. They’d moved inside while the men in black swarmed all over the ship. There was no mistaking who the counterterrorist operatives were. And it had nothing to do with their all-black outfits, reminiscent of wet suits, or the fact that they were all heavily armed. Logan’s brother’s friends were taciturn, steely-eyed, and the only instructions they needed were the basics.

Protect her at all costs.

Seeing so many trained people surrounding her, with the express purpose of keeping Victor away, brought home to Daniela just how powerful Logan and the others thought Victor was. They were absolutely right not to underestimate him.

Victor had a snake-oil salesman’s charm, the wiles of a fox, and sick Machiavellian proclivities. There was a very good chance that if the authorities didn’t put an end to him one way or the other, Victor Stamps could be the United States of America’s next president. The thought brought acid to the back of her throat.

“All set.” The tall, dark-haired guy Logan had spoken to outside earlier stepped into the common room. He was ridiculously good-looking, with serious dark blue eyes and a confident attitude. Daniela was more impressed that he wore a big black gun in a shoulder holster, and a lethal-looking knife stuck into a sheath above his ankle.

“Derek Wright,” he shook her hand briefly. “The senator is in New Mexico making inquiries about your parents.”

The very thought of Victor being anywhere near her parents’ home chilled Daniela to the marrow. Logan stepped up behind her, wrapping the warmth and strength of his arms around her.

“They’re on a Mediterranean cruise,” she said, leaning against Logan’s hard chest, and wrapping her hands around his muscled forearms. “Special Agent Price gave us all fake IDs … They’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”

“Then they’re safe where they are. You’re our priority, Miss Rosado. I’d suggest you continue on as normal, and pretend we aren’t here.”

Daniela had to smile at that. “I think everyone on board will notice all of you—everywhere.”

“You’d be surprised how well we can disappear.” He addressed Logan. “If you give me your comm, I’ll program in the channel we’re all on.”

Logan unhooked his headset from behind his ear and handed it over, then returned his arm to hug her close.

“If I need you fast,” Wright said, handing it back to him, “I’ll beep once. I don’t expect them to hit in broad daylight, and don’t expect them to show up tonight. We have a location for them, but we want them here so we have more control over the situation. They saw what kind of firepower you had last night, and they’ll expect you to be ready should they strike again. They’ll wait a day or two and hope the element of surprise is on their side.”

“It’ll be a pleasure to turn the tables. I have some work to do in my office. We’ll be there if you need us.” Logan slid his hand around hers and Daniela accompanied him upstairs.

It was a very, very long day for her. Interesting though, because she spent the entire day glued to Logan’s side. She and Dog accompanied him to his office where he spent several hours on the phone talking to various investors, two museums, one in Holland, and one in Germany, and at length to an insurance adjuster who, despite Logan’s assurances that his company did
not
have to pay for Nick’s ship, complained about his brother blowing up his own ship, and the value of the diamonds lost.

An interesting story, Daniela was sure, but Logan kept going. Dell brought them lunch, which Logan ate while he worked on his laptop, and Daniela, followed closely by Dog, wandered aimlessly around his office, pulling out books, reading a few pages and putting them back.

Logan glanced up and watched her padding around his office. “Bored out of your mind?” he asked politely.

“I hate people who claim boredom,” she admitted, curling both hands over the back of a leather visitor chair. “But I’m like a fish out of water here. I don’t have my own stuff—I don’t have anything to occupy myself, and that, coupled with waiting for the other shoe to drop, is frazzling my nerves. Sorry. I’ll find a book and stay out of your way.”

“Why don’t I take you to the storeroom? You can take a look at some of my artwork and artifacts, and see if there’s anything there you’d like to hang. Would that help?”

“God, yes!” She could’ve leapt across his desk and kissed him. In fact … Before she thought it through, Daniela planted her butt on the edge of his desk, swung her legs over to his side, scooted a bit, and slid into his lap.

She wasn’t sure who was most surprised as his eyes widened slightly, and his lips curved.

“Hi,” she said softly, wrapping her arms around his neck. She could tell how happy he was to have an armful of willing woman by the hard length of his instant erection pressing right where she needed it.

His mouth found hers and he kissed her as if they’d been apart for a year. He lifted his head and skimmed his hands under her T-shirt, pulling it up and over her head, then captured her mouth again.

Daniela reciprocated, feeling the heat of his satin smooth skin as she skimmed the fabric up, then feeling the tickle of his chest hair. She paused to bend her head and kiss a path between his nipples, then lingered to stroke her tongue over the small nub. Logan made an inarticulate growl and yanked his shirt off the rest of the way, tossing it somewhere on the floor.

Somehow her bra disappeared, leaving them bare from the waist up.

“You know we have on far too many clothes?”

“It’s certainly a conundrum.” She smiled against his mouth, feeling as light as if she was filled with helium.

He put his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the edge of his desk, her bare legs dangling beside his hips. She propped her feet on his chair. “And this helps … How?”

“Move your—Thanks.” He pulled open a small drawer, and took out a pair of scissors, then proceeded to cut off her shorts and pink lace thong. Daniela combed his hair back with her fingers as he worked industriously cutting her clothes away.

“You know, a simple ‘would you mind standing here and stripping’ would have worked just as well.”

Glancing up, his eyes met hers, as he took his time sliding the strips of fabric between her legs, and then tossing them to the floor. His smile was wicked, and caused her blood to race. “But not nearly as much fun.”

“Can I take the scissors to your clothes too?” The glossy wood of the desk felt cool under her bare bottom as she reached for the scissors.

With a laugh and a shake of his head he got to his feet, and pulled off his shorts. Standing between her spread knees, Logan grasped her hips in his broad palms and slid her to the edge of his desk. There was no preliminary exploration; he surged inside her like a heat-seeking missile, hot and hard and powered by need.

Daniela gripped his shoulders and wrapped her ankles around his waist as his hips pistoned as he pounded inside her.

The gathering orgasm rolled through her, driving her along.

Limp and replete, she dropped her head to his chest as they both fought for their next breath. “My first ever desk sex. I think we need a plaque.”

He smiled. “I’m impressed, not even a pen flung to the floor. You didn’t disturb anything on the desk. Except me,” he said, laughing as he glanced over her shoulder. “Did you by any chance lock the—”

The door burst open, and Wes walked in all smiles and excitement. “Hey. You
gotta
come and see what Cooper and Jed just fou—Oh my God!” Red-faced, he backed out. The door slammed shut.

Her own face flaming, Daniela rested her forehead on Logan’s broad chest. “Dear God,” she said half amused, half mortified. “He’ll be scarred for life.
I’ll
be scarred for life.”

“All he saw was you sitting on the desk,” Logan pointed out reasonably.

“Hello?
Naked
.”

Fourteen