Harlequin Intrigue June 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: To Honor and To ProtectCorneredUntraceable

by Debra

  A knock on the door interrupted them. Christopher walked in.

  “Ah, son, I’m glad you’re here. We’re just about to finish the transaction. Mrs. Sinclair is validating the codes.”

  Christopher nodded and remained standing just inside the door.

  “Is it okay for me to call our client? I’m assuming you’ve lifted the signal that’s been blocking cell phones since we left port?”

  “An important security measure,” Vince told them. “But, yes, you are free to make your call now.”

  Juliet brought out her cell phone and dialed a number. She knew every word she said would be overheard both by Vince right now and probably someone else on his security force monitoring all cell phone traffic coming into or leaving the yacht.

  “Do you mind putting your call on speaker, Mrs. Sinclair?”

  Juliet didn’t even hesitate. “Sure.” She pressed a button and set the phone on the table in front of her.

  Although Cady was all smiles, and even the sullen Christopher looked neutral, Evan knew this was yet another test. One wrong word from Juliet or anyone on the other end and everything they’d worked for would be blown to bits.

  As soon as someone answered, Juliet began speaking. “This is Lisa Sinclair calling on an unsecure line for Mr. X.”

  There was a moment of silence. “Yes, please hold.”

  Christopher Cady’s lips pressed into a white slash. Obviously, he had hoped to get a least a name out of the conversation. Juliet noticed his annoyed look. “Sorry, we have security measures of our own.”

  Vince still appeared relaxed as they waited for “Mr. X” to pick up. Evan prayed it was someone from Omega intimately detailed with the case. He imagined the scramble going on at Omega headquarters as they attempted to determine the best person to talk to Juliet.

  As the silence dragged out, Christopher spoke. “It sounds like Mr. X doesn’t have time for you.”

  “Mr. X is an important man. If it is taking him a while to get to the phone, I’m sure he has his reasons.”

  Such as tracking this call, Evan knew. Omega would have started running the trace as soon as the call came in.

  “Perhaps we need to just give the drone codes to the next highest bidder, Father. Since the Sinclairs can’t seem to get in touch with their buyers.”

  Juliet tried her charm on the younger Cady also. “Christopher, I assure you, Mr. X will be on the line momentarily. We’ve been out of touch for a couple of days, so he wasn’t expecting my call just now. Give it a few more moments.”

  Christopher didn’t look convinced, but didn’t say anything further.

  Finally a voice came on the line. “Lisa. You’ve been out of touch for some time now. I was beginning to get a little frantic.”

  It was Juliet’s brother Cameron.

  “My apologies, Mr. X. There was a change in plans, although I must admit I ended up on a lovely yacht. As a matter of fact, I’m sitting right here with the yacht’s owner.”

  Evan knew Cameron would take the hint.

  “I see. And with Bob, too, I hope. Or have you thrown him overboard?”

  “No, I’m still here, Mr. X. Enjoying my time with my lovely wife,” Evan responded.

  “And were you able to secure the items we discussed, in the midst of what seems like a mini-vacation?”

  “Yes, sir,” Juliet said. “Even came in under budget. I have the first of the codes to be authenticated. Once that is done—and I’m sure there won’t be any problem—the money can be transferred. Is Dr. Fuller nearby, sir?”

  Why did she want Sawyer’s fiancée to be there?

  “I’m sure she’s around here.”

  “You’ll need her to access the code. She’s the one able to do what needs to be done, in terms of authentication. She’ll know what to do with the code. I’ll be sending it to you, and the account number to route the money, right after our conversation.”

  “Well, good job, as always, Lisa. And you, too, Bob. When can I expect to see you again?”

  “Soon, sir. We’ve enjoyed the boat. Water is turning a bit choppy, but nothing too rough.”

  “Do I need to send a lifeboat to rescue you?” Cameron asked.

  Evan and Juliet both laughed lightly, but they knew what Cameron was really asking. Were they in trouble? They weren’t. But getting these codes into safekeeping would definitely be a good idea.

  “Well, if you happen to have a lifeboat nearby, that would be great. Otherwise I guess Lisa and I will just suffer through the gourmet food and fine company a couple more days,” Evan interjected.

  Cameron pretended to laugh, too. “I’ll see what I can do. But it looks like you’re being well taken care of.”

  “We’re just glad to have the codes for you, sir. Getting them to you is the most important thing.” Juliet was on the same page as Evan. If they could get those codes off the ship tonight, that would be the best thing for everyone.

  “I’ll have Dr. Fuller authenticate, then we’ll transfer the money. Tell your seller to expect it within the hour.”

  “Thanks, sir. Transferring the data now. See you soon.”

  Juliet disconnected the call. “I’ll just email this code and your account number in an encrypted file. Like Mr. X said, it shouldn’t take long.”

  She sat down with her phone and began sending the information.

  “Lisa’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?” Evan told the other men. Vince smiled, but Christopher just glared at him.

  Vince was right, his son definitely did not have much going for him when it came to the ladies. That was okay; soon he’d be rotting away in prison with his father. His lack of game wouldn’t matter then.

  “Okay, finished.” Juliet turned to Evan and nodded. He wasn’t sure exactly what she’d just sent to Cameron, and wished he could get her out of this room so they could discuss it. But he didn’t want to leave without the rest of the codes.

  “Great.” He held out a hand to her as she stood. The ship was beginning to take on more movement now from the waves outside. Juliet was looking a little green from the rocking. Evan knew his own coloring probably wasn’t much better. They walked over to the balcony so they could get some air. Ominous clouds hung low in the sky. The sun was going down, although finding it was nearly impossible given the cloud cover. It wasn’t raining yet, but would be soon.

  “You doing okay?” Evan asked her. Vince and Christopher could hear them, so there was no opportunity to talk about important stuff yet.

  “I’ll be better after we get the confirmation we need.”

  It didn’t take long, thank goodness. The Cadys were already antsy enough, especially Christopher. Juliet received the text.

  “Okay, your money is in your account. You can check it,” she announced.

  Christopher sat at the laptop at the table. A few moments later he confirmed it. “It’s there, Father. Everything looks good.” He stood back up.

  Evan took Juliet’s arm. “Okay then.” He grabbed the briefcase with the codes. “We’re going back to the upper floors, where maybe this rocking isn’t so bad. It’s been a pleasure doing business, Vince.”

  He turned with Juliet to leave, and for a moment thought Christopher was going to stop them, but the younger man just looked at her before stepping aside.

  Juliet clung to Evan’s arm as they walked down the hallway.

  “I sent our coordinates to Cameron. Megan should be able to decipher them amid the numbers, especially if she knows she’s looking for something,” Juliet told him.

  That’s why she had asked if Dr. Fuller was around. Juliet had wanted to make sure someone would recognize the coordinates. Sawyer’s fiancée would be sure to spot them.

  “Good. Hopefully, they’ll come tonight, so we can at least offload the codes. We should get those into safe hands as soon as possible.” They couldn’t take a chance on them being intercepted during an electronic submission. The codes needed to be handed off person to person.

  Evan grabbed a railing
to help with balance. This storm was turning nasty. Rain and nightfall made getting around even more difficult.

  “Let’s just head back to the room. There’s no point staying out here,” he muttered.

  Juliet nodded. “Okay. We have until 3:00 a.m. before whoever Omega is sending will be here. They’ll be at the back of the ship.”

  “How do you know that?”

  She held up her cell phone. “Message from Cameron or Megan or whoever from Omega ended up sending it. It says ‘Code received and verified. Money deposited in given account. Further contact can be made through Mr. Stern, extension 0300.’”

  Evan smiled. “Stern of the boat, zero three hundred hours. Very clever.”

  “I know.” Juliet grinned at him. “I’d forgotten how much I like this part. The thinking on my feet, figuring out ways around barriers.”

  Evan brushed a strand of her now very wet hair behind her ear. “You’ve definitely got a natural talent. I hope you’ll think about that for cases in the future.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. I know I’m doing better. I’ll think about it, that’s all I can promise.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me. Now let’s get back to our cabin. I think a hot shower would be in order to warm us up after all this rain.”

  “Absolutely.” Juliet grabbed his arm. “And we definitely should take one together. I’d hate to be wasteful.”

  Evan loved the heat building in Juliet’s eyes, but also the smile he saw in them. He picked up speed, leading them to their cabin. “Yes, let’s go do our part in saving the planet.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Juliet awoke to find someone’s hand over her mouth. Terror flooded her. Her eyes instantly flew open, but she couldn’t make out much in the dark room. One thing she knew for sure, Evan wasn’t in the bed next to her.

  She immediately began fighting, grasping her assailant’s wrist and attempting to pull him closer so she could hit him. But she couldn’t get a good angle to strike, so began to claw at his face. Juliet heard a foul curse as her fingernails found skin.

  It was so similar to her attack by the Avilo brothers. Juliet still couldn’t see who was in the room. Was it Heath Morel?

  No matter who it was, she wasn’t going to allow it to happen again.

  Juliet struggled against the hand that held her head pinned to the mattress. She attempted to pull her legs around to gain a better position.

  And where was Evan? He’d been in bed with her when they’d gone to sleep a few hours ago. He wouldn’t have left without telling her.

  Juliet scratched at the face again. The hand was removed for just a moment, but before she could make any sound, a fist crashed into her cheek. Blood filled her mouth.

  Juliet fought to hold on to consciousness while the world spun and weaved. From across the room she heard a muffled ruckus, but couldn’t see what was going on. Was it Evan?

  A crash and then silence. Had Evan been hurt? Juliet renewed her efforts against her attacker. She rolled quickly off the side of the bed, landing on her feet. She was able to get off two sharp kicks to the attacker’s midriff, but then the boat lurched and she lost her balance. Her opponent took advantage and Juliet received another blow to the jaw.

  This time she couldn’t hang on to consciousness. She moaned as blackness closed in around her.

  When she awoke she was being tied to a chair. They weren’t in the cabin any longer; it looked as if they were in the ship’s galley. Evan was tied to another chair, unconscious, still in his sweatpants and shirt, his head bleeding from a nasty gash near his temple.

  And it wasn’t Heath Morel who had done this. It was the Ukrainians. One was tying Juliet, the other keeping watch at the galley door.

  “Vince Cady isn’t going to stand for this, you know. His men will be here any second to break up this little party.” Juliet tried to make the words as clear as possible, but it was difficult with her swelling jaw.

  “I don’t think Mr. Cady is going to know about this at all. At least not until it is too late.” The man’s accent was thick.

  “Our room was bugged. Cady’s men are probably on their way right now.”

  “You mean bugged with these?” He held out two transmitting devices in his hand. “I’m sure Mr. Cady’s security team will figure out there is a problem, but will most likely blame it on the storm.”

  Juliet was afraid they were right.

  “We want the drone codes,” the man said.

  “Look, maybe we can talk about a sale. But Bob and I spent our buyer’s money to get the codes. We can’t just give them to you. Our reputation would be shot.” Juliet knew she needed to stall. To come up with a plan.

  “More than just your reputation will be shot if you do not provide us with the codes. Or maybe not shot.” The man pulled out a knife, but instead of using it on Juliet, he walked over to Evan’s unconscious form. “Let’s see if we can get your husband to wake up.”

  He began poking his knife into Evan’s shoulder. Not deep, but enough to cause the wounds to bleed through his shirt. Evan moaned and began to awaken.

  “Look, fine, stop, okay?” Juliet struggled against the zip ties that held her to the chair, but there was no give. She saw Evan’s eyes open, glazed over in pain. The Ukrainian poked the knife into his shoulder again, twisting it. Evan’s lips clamped together and he sucked air through his nose.

  “Stop! Okay? Just stop,” Juliet pleaded. She couldn’t stand to see Evan in that much pain, but she knew she couldn’t give the codes to the Ukrainians. “You need the briefcase Cady gave us.”

  Juliet didn’t tell him that they’d already downloaded all the drone codes off the computer that was inside the briefcase and wiped the computer clean. She and Evan had put the codes on a hard drive in preparation to handing it off to Omega at 3:00 a.m. It now rested inside Juliet’s pillowcase.

  What time was it now? Maybe she wouldn’t have to rely on Cady’s security team to get their act together. Maybe the Omega agents would soon be on board. When Juliet and Evan didn’t meet them at the rear of the ship, the agents would come looking for them, right? That’s what Juliet’s brothers would do. Although she knew Omega wouldn’t be sending Sawyer or Cameron. The wounds they’d sustained recently would prevent them from scaling the side of the yacht.

  Juliet glanced at the clock on the galley stove. Only a couple minutes after two. Damn it, it was too early for the Omega team. The Ukrainians would have Evan chopped up into pieces by three.

  “This briefcase?” the man asked. He had it on one of the kitchen counters.

  Damn. They already had it here. This was going to play out quickly, not giving them the time Juliet had hoped for. She looked over at Evan. More blood oozed from his shirt at the shoulder.

  Think.

  Juliet watched as one of the Ukrainians opened the briefcase and booted the small computer. She knew it wouldn’t take him long to figure out there was nothing on it.

  Think!

  She racked her brain. Yelling wouldn’t help. They were in the galley, distant from the rest of the ship. Plus the storm was too loud for anyone to hear much. She was going to have to find a way of getting them out of this on her own. The first thing she needed them to do was untie her from this chair. Until then, she was useless.

  The man turned from the computer to glare at her, his lips pulled back, teeth bared. “It does not boot up. There is no information on here.”

  “Damn it.” Juliet did her best indignant impression. “Cady must have double-crossed me.”

  The Ukrainian stared at her in silence for a moment, then in one fluid motion took the two steps to her and backhanded her across the face.

  Juliet’s head jerked all the way to the side and blood flew from her mouth, spraying onto the floor. She could feel her eye already beginning to swell shut from the ring the man wore.

  “I will waste no more time with you!” In his anger, the accent became thicker.

  The man grabbed his knife from the table and walked
over to Evan. He took the wicked blade and jammed it into the front of Evan’s already injured shoulder, this time much deeper.

  Evan couldn’t control the groan that escaped him. Juliet watched as all color drained from his face and sweat began dripping down his brow.

  The Ukrainian turned back to her. “Again?” he asked. “Your husband is much tougher than I gave him credit for. I think he can take it.”

  “Lisa, no...” Evan could hardly get the words out.

  The Ukrainian pulled his knife out, causing Evan to give an agonizing gasp, and raised his arm again.

  “No!” Juliet screamed.

  “Then you will tell me where the codes are.”

  “Yes,” Juliet sobbed the word. “They’re in our cabin.”

  “Tell me where.”

  She knew if she told him, she and Evan would both be dead. Not to mention a known enemy of the United States would possess drone codes that could cost the lives of thousands of innocent people.

  “I have to show you. It’s a hidden safe and has biometric coding. Only Bob or I can open it.” The lies flew out of Juliet’s mouth, but at least it would get her out of this damn chair.

  “Fine.” The Ukrainian came and cut her loose. He turned to his partner and spoke in their native tongue. The other man nodded, grinning evilly.

  “I just told my partner that if we are not back with the codes in fifteen minutes, he is to kill your husband. By gutting him from top to bottom with his knife. Slowly.” Both men laughed. Juliet’s stomach turned. She nodded.

  The Ukrainian kept her close by his side as they left, knife poking into her ribs. He made sure she could feel the blade.

  Juliet had no idea what she was going to do. The chances of her being able to take down this hulking beast in fewer than fifteen minutes, and then defeat his partner, were remote. Both were armed and probably waiting for her to try something like that.

  They walked down the empty hallway in silence. Her captor led her to a service elevator at the rear of the ship. None of the guests would be out at this time of night, especially not in the middle of a storm.

  The elevator was empty, as expected, but Juliet could see some water pooling on the floor in one of the back corners. A wet person had been in this elevator recently. As inconspicuously as she could manage, she touched the wet wall and then brought her fingertips to her lips.