Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) Read online

  “Yes,” she said in a choked whisper. “I worry for my brothers and sister.”

  “Sawyer didn’t say much about them. He’s very protective of all of you. He’s a good man,” Clint said. Rylie bit her lip. How dare he refer to her baby brother as a man!

  “Yes, he’s a good boy.”

  Clint looked at her. He understood, damn him. He understood, and he disagreed. These Navy SEALs were too damn smart.

  “I have to go get ready, I have a plane to catch.”

  “Trust Dare. Out of all of us, he has the background to blend in the best. He’s going to be a real asset to you.” She nodded and ended the Skype session.

  “I am a man, you know.”

  “A young man. You’re a young man,” Rylie said looking over her shoulder at Sawyer. She’d heard him come out a minute ago. It had been after they had finished talking about Uncle Liu.

  “You’re right, I’m young. But hell, Rylie, you know my background. It wasn’t nearly as harsh as yours, and that’s because of you. I thank God for you every day. Did you know I say prayers too? Don’t tell Char. Anyway, I haven’t been young for years, and you know it.”

  He pulled the laptop out of her hands and held out his other to help her to her feet.

  “Can’t I pretend you’re still that nine-year-old boy?”

  “Nope. They’re right, you need backup. I can’t go with you, so I’m your backup here at home.” He grinned. His one tooth was just the tiniest bit crooked, it made him even more handsome as far as she was concerned, but she still wished she could have afforded braces.

  “Stop staring at my tooth.”

  “How many girls have thrown themselves at you?” she asked suddenly. He’d had sex. Oh my God, he’d had sex, and she’d been totally oblivious!

  “We’re not going to talk about my love life.”

  “Sawyer Jones!”

  “Rylie Jones,” he chided. “You need food, and I need to drive you to the Will Rogers airport. It’s a hike and a half.”

  “Condoms, Sawyer. Just remember condoms.”

  Chapter Four

  It was cold, and Darius was thankful for it. The biting chill helped him brace for the upcoming reunion. Rylie Jones. Just her name had become a talisman, and he was going to see her.

  Snap out of it, Stanton.

  He needed to focus. They were headed into a snake pit, and he needed to be at the top of his game, not mooning over a woman he had met only once. But he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to stop himself. Everything he had gathered about her made her more enticing. Especially the latest pieces to the puzzle.

  He replayed the last thirty-six hours.

  ***

  “Get over here now.”

  “Huh?” Darius put down the fruit and protein smoothie he had just blended.

  “We found Rylie. You need to get your ass over here now.”

  He let out a whoop.

  “Ouch! Dammit Dare, dial it down,” Clint yelled.

  “Where is she?” Darius demanded. “Is she in Oklahoma? Is she alright? How did you find her?”

  “Yes. Yes. Her brother contacted us. Now before you ask another stupid-ass question, get your ass over here. She’s alright for the moment, but she’s in the middle of another clusterfuck, and we’ve got to help her. We think we should send Drake in to help her.”

  “What the fuck?!” Darius roared.

  “Clint, that’s just mean.” Lydia laughed. It was obvious she had been listening to the conversation. “Dare, just come on over to our place. Of course, you’re going to help her out,” Lydia said soothingly.

  “I’ll be there in a half hour.”

  “Make it twenty.”

  “I stink. I just got done with a run.”

  “Make it twenty,” Clint insisted.

  “Make it forty. I hate stinky men,” Lydia said.

  “I’ll be there in thirty.” Darius ended the call, downed the smoothie and practically ran to his shower. It was about time that little wenchette showed herself.

  He got to Clint and Lydia’s condo in twenty-five minutes.

  “Thank God, you smell good,” Lydia said after she was done hugging him.

  “Quit sniffing other men.” Clint hauled Lydia close and eyed Darius. “You doing okay?”

  “I’ll be doing better after you explain everything you’ve found out.” Darius stalked over to the corner of the living room where an entire wall of computer screens and computer stations were set up.

  “How many computers do two people need? My God, how many more have you collected since Beth’s kidnapping?”

  “Just two. How many surfboards does Mason have?” Lydia asked.

  “Not the same thing, a surfboard doesn’t cost the same as a computer,” Darius countered.

  “Are you insane? I can get three laptops for the price of the last board Mason bought.” Clint snorted. “Now do you want to know about Rylie or not?”

  “Shit yeah.” Darius still stared at the plethora of electronics in awe. Then four screens lit up, and his stomach plunged. “My God, what in the hell is she into now?”

  “That’s Albert Liu,” Lydia said pointing to a well-dressed Chinese man. “Remember when we shut down the distribution of sex slaves in Mexico, well he was the one providing them from Asia and Eastern Europe.”

  “God dammit, Clint. If you refer to them as sex slaves one more time, you will be sleeping on the couch for a fucking month. Those are men and women who have been the victims of human trafficking.” Lydia stood next to her fiancé with her fists clenched, and her eyes glossy with tears.

  “Please, baby. I’m sorry. Forgive me. I just get caught up in this. You’re right. It was the pictures.”

  “What pictures,” Darius demanded.

  Lydia stepped forward and pressed a couple of keys on the keyboard and a site similar to a dating site popped up. But when Darius looked closer, he realized he was seeing women who were for sale. “Jesus.”

  “Rylie created this particular site,” Lydia said.

  “No way,” Darius denied vehemently. “She wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “She would as Sylvia Hessman,” Lydia corrected. “She is stalling for time to set up a face-to-face auction where she can take down Liu and as many buyers as possible. “The auction is going to take place six days from now.”

  Clint pointed to a map of Vancouver, British Columbia, that included the San Juan Islands.

  “Do you see this tiny island?” he asked. “It’s called Taskalish Island, and he has a huge estate on it. It’s only accessible by boat. This is where the auction is going to take place. He wants Sylvia there. Rylie aka Sylvia is leaving for Vancouver day after tomorrow. He’s invited her family. You’re going to be her family.”

  “How do you know all of this? Did she finally come to us for help?”

  “Are you kidding?” Lydia looked at him in disbelief. “We got an SOS from two high school boys, one of whom is her kid foster brother. They hacked into her system while she was out of the house and contacted us. Her brother, Sawyer, was majorly twisted up by everything he found on her computer.”

  “How old is the kid?”

  “Seventeen. But he found the stuff from Veracruz. He saw the video of the man where he was beheaded. Stuff no adult should be subjected to let alone a kid.”

  “So he’s a hacker too?”

  “Nope, he had a friend do the sleuthing. We got notified two hours ago. Trey downloaded Rylie’s entire hard-drive to us after Sawyer basically questioned us within an inch of our lives. It was interesting, the entire time we were doing searches on them, this Trey kid was pulling up info on us. I think they got everything but the classified stuff.”

  Darius grinned. “So she has a foster brother?”

  “She has two foster brothers and a foster sister. Seventeen, fifteen and seven. The seven-year-old boy is autistic. She has convinced Oklahoma DHCS she is their older sister. She was in the same orphanage as Sawyer and Charlotte before she
was sent to a foster home. The one that burned down. The little boy, Georgie, is the biological brother of Charlotte.”

  The entire time Clint was giving him a rundown of the Jones family, he was displaying pictures of the group. God, they all seemed so young. And blonde. They were all so young and blonde. And happy. Someone had taken pictures of them in front of a tiny little house with a tire swing in the front. Rylie was holding a boy who was almost as big as she was. She was grinning into the camera. He was staring off into the distance. The young man and teenage girl were both taller than Rylie. They even kind of looked like her, and not just because they were blonde. They all had Scandinavian genes.

  Finally, there was one picture without Rylie, it showed a woman who held the little boy’s hand, and this time he was very animated, as he looked into the camera. Darius could tell he was eagerly looking at Rylie, who must be taking the picture. He wanted his Rylie. Who could blame him? Yep, Rylie was obviously the sun that this family revolved around. Damn her for putting herself in danger!

  “Dare, are you listening?”

  “What?”

  “Rylie’s leaving for Vancouver tomorrow. We have to get you suited up, literally, for this venture.”

  There was a knock on the door. Clint let Jack Preston and Lydia’s sister, Beth Hidalgo into the duplex.

  “I hear you need some new clothes,” Jack said.

  “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

  “You are the sophisticated lover of Sylvia Hessman. This means a top of the line wardrobe that includes a tuxedo. Do you have that hanging in your closet?” Clint asked snidely. Darius shrugged.

  “I have swim trunks, jogging shorts, and jeans. What more could a guy in California need? Oh yeah, combat fatigues and dress whites.”

  “Yep, you were right to call,” Jack drawled in his Texas accent. He might have been born in poverty, but he ended up being raised in wealth and had money coming out the wazoo, not that he ever flaunted it. “We’re headed to the Galleria. They can get you outfitted and tailored within the day.”

  “I’ve never done anything mean to you, Preston. What the hell? What’s more, one day you’re going to need patching up on a mission, and I can make sure you don’t get morphine.” Darius gave him a hard glare. Jack just smiled mildly.

  “Give it up. You’d do anything to help Rylie, including go to the mall and shop.” Lydia bumped his shoulder.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Beth asked.

  “Why don’t you stay here with Lydia? We’re not going to be too long, and you two haven’t had a chance to visit for a while.” Jack stroked his fiancé’s hair.

  Beth gave him a relieved smile. What the hell? How did Jack luck out with a woman who didn’t want to go to the mall?

  ***

  Darius felt like he had competed in a triathlon.

  “Dude, this was like BUD/S.”

  “Sir, can you lie back?” Darius looked up into the sultry eyes of the shampoo girl and grimaced. He wanted to bitch at Jack some more. How had the man actually gotten them to find him a beer in this place?

  “Dare, seriously, you need to learn to relax. This was nothing. We’ve only been at this for four hours.”

  “Really?” It had seemed like a lifetime. Of course, Jack hadn’t spent most of the time in a dressing room trying on clothes and then impersonating a pin cushion as they pinned everything so they could have them tailored for the end of the day.

  “Really, it’s been just four hours, and you cried like a baby the entire time.”

  “You do seem awfully tense, sir,” the girl flirted. She started to rub circles on his temples with her thumbs. Instead of helping him to relax, it tightened him up even more.

  “I think I’m ready to have my hair cut now.”

  “If you’re sure,” she said.

  “I’m sure.” She tipped the chair upright, and briskly dried his hair with a towel. “Can I get you a beer like your friend?”

  “God, yes.”

  A beer magically appeared in his hand as he was ushered over to another station to have his hair cut. He looked at Jack out of the corner of his eye.

  “So how do you know those clothes are going to be the right ones for Vancouver? Shouldn’t we have brought Beth to help?”

  “Are you kidding? Beth would have had a heart attack at the amount of money we dropped today.”

  “She couldn’t have felt worse than I did. How am I ever going to pay you back?”

  “Dare, this isn’t about you paying me back. This is about all of us pitching in to take down that bastard who is buying and selling people. I donate to charity all of the time, this is the same difference.” Darius thought about what Jack had said, and it made sense.

  “You still haven’t explained how you were so sure we bought the right clothes.”

  “I have a system. It works every damn time.”

  “What is it?”

  “Make sure I have a few women help me. We had three women helping us, and all three were sighing as you came out of the dressing room. Trust me, you are going to nail this.” Again Darius considered what Jack had to say.

  “You know, for someone who talks with a drawl, you’re pretty damn smart.”

  “Talking slow is our way of suckering y’all at poker.” Jack chuckled.

  ***

  Darius looked at his sleek new wristwatch and realized it was time to go in and wait for Rylie at baggage claim. He got to the right carousel and didn’t have long to wait. He meant to go up to her, but he was rooted to the floor, she looked tired and lovely. She scanned the area, and looked him up and down, and dismissed him with just the slightest bit of scorn. Apparently, she was as enamored with pretty boys as he was. She did another sweep of the room and paused to give him another once over, her eyes widened, then narrowed. She stalked over to him.

  “You know this is going to be a disaster, don’t you?” He loved the Oklahoma twang of her voice. She didn’t look tired anymore.

  “Do I know you? I’m looking for a woman named Sylvia Hessman.” She scowled at him.

  “You’re not funny.”

  “Lydia got our seats changed. We’re going to be in first class, and we have three hours before we’re supposed to board the plane, I figured we could leave the airport and get a steak, or barbeque and get to know one another.” He knew they both had to re-check in under their new identities. Her head whipped around, and she stomped towards the carousel. As she bent to pick up a bag that seemed to be as big as she was, he reached around her and lifted it up.

  “I can get my own suitcase.”

  “Everything can’t be an argument, we’re going to have to learn to be a couple, and I would naturally get this for you, Rylie.”

  “Call me, Sylvia. We can’t afford to screw this up.” She was right.

  “All right, honey.” He loved it when she glared at him.

  “What? Of course, I would use an endearment. You’re my lover.” Rylie scraped her blonde hair back from her face. Her hand trembled the slightest bit, if he hadn’t been watching her so closely, he would have missed it.

  “You could just stay close by you don’t have to come with me. You don’t have to actually be whoever it is you’re going to be.”

  “I’m going to be Darius Lawrence. That way only one of us has to remember a fake first name. I’m the CEO of a video game firm out of San Diego.” He watched her process the information, and finally...finally, she smiled.

  “That works. Sylvia would want someone like that beside her.”

  “That’s what Lydia thought. I have all the background behind me.”

  “But can you talk the talk?”

  “I can on the front end. I also have an old foster brother who runs marketing scams, so I know enough about marketing to talk that side of things to. I’m going to tell them that for the rest of the business I just brought in my friends.”

  “You guys really thought this through in just a day and a half.”

  “Rylie, you need to
remember, we go into dangerous situations all the time. It’s our job to adapt and succeed. I’m alive because of that ability.”

  “But this is James Bond kind of...sh...crap,” she corrected herself.

  “It’s still a dangerous environment that requires preparation and versatility. Let’s go grab a cab.”

  “I’ve rented a car. We need to grab the shuttle to the car rental hub.” She tipped her chin towards the exit.

  “Our plane leaves in three hours, why do we need a car?”

  “Ever since nine-eleven, they don’t allow lockers here at the airport, so I have all of my Sylvia Hessman gear in a storage rental facility ten minutes from the airport. I’m going to go get it and get changed, then come back here.”

  “Okay, you’re the boss, you lead, I’ll follow.”

  “That should last for about five minutes,” she muttered as they headed outside.

  ***

  They were back in the airport, seated at one of the little tables at Dickey’s Barbecue, and Rylie felt like a June bug under a microscope.

  “Stop it,” she hissed, as she wiped sauce from her lacquered fingers.

  “I can’t help it. I want the old Rylie back.”

  “Tough. And call me Sylvia.”

  “I didn’t call you Rylie, I said I wanted Rylie back...Sylvia.” He tore open a wet nap, and motioned for her to give him her hand, she did.

  “I noticed this charm bracelet before when we were in Houston six month ago. It has real diamonds and gold charms, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re wearing a thousand dollars’ worth of clothes, and from everything Lydia and Clint told me, you and your foster family are barely scraping by. I don’t understand.”

  “I’m telecommuting and working about twenty-five hours a week for my regular company, the shortened hours are the reason we’re only scraping by, if I could get back to working my normal forty to fifty hours, we’d be fine.”