K9 handler Arin Siri doesn't like taking orders, and she works best when it's just her and her dog, King, out in the field. But when she discovers a wounded soldier of fortune during a search-and-protect mission, she has no choice but to get him to safety. The last time she and the roguish, sexy Jason Landon tangled, they were on opposite sides of the conflict, but this time, he's claiming to need her help.
When Jason wakes up in a hospital on Hawaii's Big Island, he's shocked to discover Arin guarding him. She's the last person he expected to see, but she's also the only person who can help him bring down a kidnapping ring. As they draw closer to danger — and to each other — they must race against the clock to discover who the kidnappers are working for or risk becoming collateral damage themselves.
Release date:
February 26, 2019
Publisher:
Grand Central Publishing
Print pages:
304
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Arin grabbed the satellite phone and called her team lead.
“This is Alpha.” Zu came across curt, his tone sharp. That was a bad sign.
She tightened her stomach, bracing for an impact even if this one wasn’t going to be physical. “Alpha, this is Charlie.”
“Go ahead.”
“Our guest is awake. We’ve got a problem.” In the aftermath of the plantation incursion over six months ago, a brave young woman had given her testimony and intel on the human trafficking ring. In return, Arin had made a promise to look for a specific person on this mission. Among the captives, there was a boy. Lost. Now he might be gone forever and Arin would have to kill the hope in his older sister’s eyes. “Our target’s management may have decided to liquidate our objective. We need to find these people and get them out.”
From his seat on the bed, her guest extended his hand to catch her attention. When she made eye contact with him, he mouthed the words, “South Quadrant. There’s a set of sheds hidden in the tree line.”
She relayed the information. Damn it. South was part of the sector she and King had been searching. She and her canine partner might’ve found them by now if they hadn’t stumbled across this man and had to leave off their original objective.
Frustration and anger smoldered in her chest and she breathed in slowly through her nose to get a leash on her temper. She didn’t let the anger go, though. She’d make use of it later.
“Those sheds might be housing a lot of people.” She hoped not, but humans forced into manual labor weren’t provided much in the way of shelter. They were given the bare minimum to keep them alive and able to work, which kept them too weak to rise up against their captors or run away.
“Copy and confirmed.” Zu paused. “His intel is accurate. We came across the structures.”
She waited. Zu wasn’t a man for many words to begin with and when he was angry, he took his time to get his temper under control, too.
After a moment, Zu continued. “They’re not housing anymore. They’ve become a mass graveyard. The dogs hit the scent trails a few minutes before you called. The teams are looking for survivors. We need to know what other intelligence he can provide.”
Ah, shit. She clenched her teeth against a wave of guilt. Too late. Would she and King have found those poor people in time? Was the boy, Huy, among the dead?
She turned and studied the man sitting up on the hospital bed. Zu’s last statement had layered meaning. There was a distinct possibility the man she had in custody could’ve done it all before he’d been taken out by one of his own teammates. He could be a trap all on his own. “Understood. This location might not remain secure.”
“Can you move him?” The question came across sharp. “We’ve got our hands full here but we need answers. You got this on your own?”
“King and I have this.” Yes, she worked as part of Zu’s coordinated team but she needed little oversight and could work as a solo unit if needed. Her independence was part of the reason Zu had brought her in first when he’d started building Search and Protect. They were a small organization, designed for maximum flexibility based on the needs of the contracts they accepted. Zu had intended for them to take mostly international black ops, specializing in locating missing high-value VIPs and extracting such hostages. If taking this stranger off the grid could help their investigation, then she could separate from the team for a short time.
There was a lot she could learn just by spending time with a person. And if he wasn’t forthcoming, then she could employ a number of techniques to find out what he knew even if he didn’t intend to give it up.
“Check in.” Zu didn’t say when or how often. It was understood that she would when she could. He ended the call without further instruction.
She lowered the satellite phone, acknowledging the man who was about to be her mission for the near future. However long it took to get the answers she needed from him. “I’ll take you to a secure location if you tell me what happened back at that farm.”
It would help if he had the face of an angel. Then she wouldn’t trust him at all. But no, he was all hard lines and sharp features. Devastatingly striking. He had an even, medium skin tone that would’ve allowed him to pass for any number of ethnicities. If he was any kind of actor, and she’d bet he was excellent, then he’d be an asset to someone. She’d worked for a few private contractors in the past that’d snap him up in a hot second. His only limitation would’ve been the fact that he wasn’t the type to blend into a crowd. He was an obvious predator and he stood out among the sheep.
Sadness flashed in his eyes. “I’ll tell you everything I know, right up until I went unconscious.”
Maybe he was a good liar, too. But he hadn’t promised her anything and she took note, because a promise was a specific kind of thing to her. It was good that he hadn’t tried to make one.
“Fine. We’re leaving.” She approached him warily and unlocked the handcuff tethering him to the hospital bed. It wasn’t as if she’d expected it to hold him anyway. If she’d wanted to secure him, she’d have used zip ties. A lot of them. No, it’d been more to warn the nursing staff that he was a suspect, not a target for flirting.
Tossing him a plastic bag containing his shirt, pants, and whatever he’d had in his pockets, she moved to the door out to the hall and closed it. “King, volg.”
Her partner moved silently to her left and came to a heel. He sat and looked up at her, ready for her next command. She kept watch on the approach from the garden through the lanai.
At the edge of her peripheral vision, the man swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed and stood cautiously. Good. He wasn’t stupid enough to push a concussion. Rushing when your head wasn’t right could result in a face plant on the floor. It was better to keep moving, even if it was a little slower, than end up unconscious and possibly dead.
He began dressing. “Surprised the nurses didn’t cut my clothes off me. My name is Jason, by the way. Jason Landon.”
While he had his hands occupied with clothing, she reached for her rifle and slung it over her shoulder. Normally, she’d have put it in its soft case to avoid freaking out non-combatants in the hospital. But the man was tense despite his bantering tone, and he was dressing as fast as he could. He wanted out of here with a real sense of urgency.
“You probably know mine.” The question was, how much intel had he managed to gather about her and her team?
He chuckled. “Yeah, but reading it isn’t the same as hearing it and I’d like to try pronouncing it the way you do.”
Point to him. People tended to apply the pronunciation they were used to based on their native language, wherever they were from in the world. Her name was Thai and she noticed when it was pronounced incorrectly.
“Arin Siri. The doctor declared it unnecessary to slice your clothes since you were just dirty and not covered in blood. The nurses giggled unbuttoning your shirt and pants, but kept it professional.” She reopened the door to the hallway and stepped to one side to see far down the end in one direction, then shifted her position to see toward the entrance to the emergency room. King rose to stand on all four paws but otherwise maintained his heel position at her left. At the entrance, the local policeman was still at his post, relaxed and leaning against the wall. “Clear to head out.”
“Thank you, Arin.” Jason had come around to sit in the chair she’d been occupying to get his boots on. He said her first name slowly, taking care to pronounce it as ah-Rin with the soft ah in the first syllable and the accent on the second rather than turning it into Erin or Aaron the way many tried to. Once his boots were on, he looked up with a grin. “So? You’re not going to tell me to come with you if I want to—”
“No.” She cut him short. Added point to him for doing a decent job on her name but it wasn’t going to get him far. She also docked him a point for the over-used movie reference. “You can stay, and if you’re telling the truth, you can die. I also don’t do celebrity accents.”
He stood and held up his hands in surrender but amusement sparkled in his eyes. “Lead the way.”
Great, she had a joker. This was going to be irritating as hell.
Still, the way he looked at her was different, like he was enjoying her company. He didn’t seem put off at all. Normally if she cut off a guy trying to joke around or make a pass, the rebuffed man turned sour at best, or called her a bitch for the rest of the mission. She didn’t care as long as the job got done. But this was confusing and she couldn’t afford it because she needed to get into his head.
As quickly as possible.
Jason checked the approach from the garden yet again. He didn’t just look out the lanai to the paths and walkways. He scrutinized the slightly overgrown hibiscus and other flowered shrubs, raised flowerbeds, anything in the courtyard that could create a dead space where an attacker could hide. He also checked what he could see of other rooms and windows, even the roof.
His former employer didn’t have a sniper on payroll as far as he knew, but he’d been gone a while. The roster could’ve been updated. With luck, they wouldn’t have hired on any new contractors yet, which meant he had a reasonable idea of what kind of people they’d send for him. All of those would choose a more direct type of confrontation.
His gaze fell on the woman at the door leading out to the hallway. Arin. She’d pronounced her name with a lilting, tonal quality to it. He wasn’t sure he’d reproduced it but he planned to get it right. He’d never mistake her name for “Erin,” having heard her say it. Her name was new to him, one he’d never heard before, and he thought it matched what he had seen of her so far. Unusual. Lovely.
She glanced back at him. “With me.”
She slipped out and he was right on her back, not close enough to trip her up but she would be able to reach back and touch him without looking if she needed to. Maybe he was closer than he needed to be, but he wanted to be ready to move with her if they had to dodge at any moment. Besides, he figured he might not get as good an excuse to be in her personal space later.
Despite their proximity to each other, they walked upright with normal posture and a seemingly unhurried but brisk pace. Arin crossed ground with a purposeful stride and a confidence he very much appreciated. One or two nurses saw them and opened their mouths to question them, but seemed to think better of it. He couldn’t see Arin’s expression but he guessed she looked no-nonsense and maybe a little scary.
He chuckled silently. There might’ve been a few sharp words exchanged while he’d been unconscious. Arin seemed to have the hospital staff downright intimidated.
As they approached the emergency room entrance, she slowed and nodded to a police officer. The officer straightened from his relaxed position against the wall and returned her nod. She didn’t say anything, only turned sharply to head down a different corridor.
“My vehicle is parked outside the emergency room,” she informed Jason in a low whisper. “Seems clear, but I want to get an alternate look at the area before we actually head to my car.”
Sniper.
She preferred long-range surveillance. She’d also be sensitive to the possibility someone else would be watching her, or more accurately, looking for him. He appreciated her forethought and didn’t comment, only stayed with her. The area between his shoulder blades itched and tension was building in his chest. He wanted out of here and the smartest option was to do things her way.
The hallway was windowed along one side, letting in natural light from the outer room and offering a view out to the emergency room waiting area. There were a few potential patients in the rows of seats and a single person sitting in triage off to one side. He spotted two men sitting in corner chairs, as far away from either the entrance or the doors leading farther into the hospital as possible.
“Two. On our left.” Jason murmured the warning to Arin. “I don’t know them well, but I recognize them. They’re former teammates. Nasty assholes.”
“Understood.” She didn’t change pace, but in one smooth motion she had her sidearm in her hands.
Jason judged the distance to the end of the windowed portion of the hallway and wondered if the glass was bullet resistant. It was fairly likely. Hospitals tended to install bullet-resistant glass around emergency rooms and nurse stations as a reasonable security measure that wouldn’t impede or degrade services.
The nearer man caught sight of them as Jason was finishing his thought. Arin had her sidearm pointed to the ground at her side and she didn’t change speed, but she turned her head to look directly at the man.
“Tweedle-One sees us.” Her tone was conversational, even mildly pleased. “Let’s see what they do. Oops, we’ve got Tweedle-Two’s attention, too.”
“We’re not going with the original characters?” Jason asked, amused. He liked the way she was handling the situation. She wasn’t just by-the-numbers and calculated. She had a sense of humor.
“Eh.” Arin continued to scan the hallway ahead of them and check on the two men now watching them through the glass. “There’s never just two and they always want a battle.”
“Ha.” Jason wished for a sidearm of his own as Tweedle-One and Two rose to their feet.
They started to raise weapons.
“Go.” Arin motioned ahead of her and pushed him into a run. “End of the hall and to the right.”
Cracks radiated out from two points of impact in a web pattern as bullets struck and lost their momentum as their energy was absorbed by the layers of tempered glass and laminate.
Jason bolted, not because he was following her order but because it made sense. Arin stuck close at his side. She didn’t open fire and he approved. As long as the glass held out, the now-shattered portion provided a partially obscured line of sight. If she’d have fired, she would only have helped to take down the barrier between them. Better to move and get out of sight.
“Chances they have backup?” Arin asked. King kept pace beside them as they ran, unphased by shots fired. The dog acted like a MWD—military working dog—even if he was supposed to be search and rescue. Jason wondered how much additional training the Search and Protect Corporation had for its assets. Dogs suited for multi-discipline training were hard to come by.
He scowled. “Possibly two more. They’d be on the main exits.”
“Police will slow them down. There’s the one we passed and the one stationed just outside the ER entrance.” Her tone had turned grim. “We don’t need a body count today. How badly do they want you?”
“I’m not worth killing police.” At least he didn’t think so. He didn’t want officers down because of him.
They came to the end of the hallway. She slowed just enough to kick the emergency exit door open, setting off the alarm. Then she continued to the right as she’d directed. “That’ll bring police backup.”
He eyed the fire alarms at intervals down the hallway ahead of them. “Fire alarms will add to the first responders on their way, more confusion to cover us.”
“No.”
Seriously? He glared at her.
“Local law enforcement is on standby nearby so the security alarm on an emergency door will bring them. We don’t want other first responders in danger. The fire department would have to respond to a fire alarm and the hospital staff would have to follow procedure.” She pulled up short and opened an inner door, motioning him into a stairwell. “I don’t want to trigger an evacuation and have patients out there.”
Ah. He swallowed his initial irritation. He’d thought only about the benefit for him and her. He hadn’t considered the well-being of innocent bystanders. Fuck. He was used to assuming that that was someone else’s priority. As long as he’d been careful never to directly hurt an innocent, he’d considered himself a good man. She was showing him how to think above and beyond the current objective, even in a tight situation where fast thinking was paramount.
He’d made some choices to help people and that was why he was in this situation at all. Was he doing this for just the one effort or was he going to adjust the way he did everything moving forward?
Food for thought. Later.
They reached the top of the stairwell and she paused at the door, crouching low as she motioned him to the side. He’d already positioned himself where she needed him to be, but he liked that she’d made no assumptions. Quick, efficient, clear in her communication. All that and she had a very nice behind, too. He did as she asked while she cautiously opened the door. King was crouched at her side, ears forward and nose twitching as he eagerly scented the air coming in through the crack.
She studied the outside and glanced at her dog several times. “Clear.”
Jason wondered how much she relied on her dog to tell her if people were in the vicinity. At least, that was what he assumed had transpired. He’d never worked with dogs in his previous jobs. This one seemed to be in telepathic communication with her the way they moved so closely together.
They moved out onto the roof, sticking close to the outside wall of the roof access at first. There was little cover but it was easy to see no one else was up here. Wherever the other potential threats were, they hadn’t chosen the higher vantage point and there were no trees near enough to hide shooters either. In the distance, sirens were growing louder and louder.
“Stay here.” She paused.
“Please.”
She shot him an irritated glance. “Excuse me?”
He was relatively certain they had the extra few seconds and if he let her continue giving him orders, they were going to have a misunderstanding. He wasn’t always going to just do what she said. If he followed instructions or orders, it was out of a mutual respect. They were still building that. “It’s a general courtesy. You’re not my commanding officer. So yeah, I’ll stay here and watch your six for you…if you say please.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Please.”
He nodded with a grin. Oh, he had no doubt he was going to pay for that. But it was important to establish this balance between them if they were going to get to know each other. And more than ever, he wanted to know Arin Siri.
She looked at her dog and gestured toward Jason. “Bewaken.”
The big dog sat and turned his full attention on Jason. Well, shit. He had a babysitter.
She didn’t wait to see how Jason took it. Instead, she moved toward the far end of the. . .
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