SEAL INVESTIGATIONS: A 5-Books SEAL Romance Series

by Lola Silverman

  Bones clenched his teeth to keep himself from responding. It wouldn’t do any good. He had to keep telling himself that. In fact, it would only make their situation worse if Bones baited Whiteside any further.

  The two guards didn’t seem bothered by their macabre cargo. They each grabbed a woman’s corpse and slung it over a shoulder. Bones felt his gorge rise as it occurred to him that these women had been dead for so long that rigor mortis had come and gone. He took small comfort in knowing that he had snapped photos of their faces so that they could be identified. His team would be able to give their families closure. Not so for the other two women, the ones whom Whiteside had summarily executed this morning. If their corpses had already been burned, their identities would remain a mystery. It was a chilling thought. Whiteside needed to pay for the lives he had destroyed, and Bones wasn’t going to let this go until it happened.

  MARINA FORCED HERSELF to take deep, even breaths, though the odor of this place was killing her. She kept her gaze downcast as Whiteside and his goons loaded up their human cargo and exited the room. The lock clicked again, and she waited to the count of ten before she allowed herself the luxury of pushing open her cell.

  She turned to her unwilling companion. “You have to stay here for now. Do you understand?”

  “What?” The yelp was shrill, and Marina slapped her hand over the woman’s mouth to silence any further protests.

  “I’m going to go let him out.” Marina jerked her head to indicate Bones. “If you leave this place, you’re going to get it just like the other two. Do you understand?”

  The woman nodded, Marina’s hand still in place over her lips.

  “All right. I’m going to let go. If you make a sound, I swear I’ll knock your ass out. Understand?”

  Another nod. This time Marina removed her hand. The woman stayed quiet and sank down into a crouch inside the cell. Marina left the door open and ran to unlock Bones’s door. Her hands were shaking, but she managed to get it open.

  He stepped out into the dirty mess of straw and refuse. “We have to go take care of Whiteside,” Bones told her. “He knows you. He knows me. He knows too much.”

  “What are you going to do?” She swallowed, feeling in her heart that Bones was not a cold-blooded killer. Not even when it would have been the easier route.

  He pressed his lips together into a tight line. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  “What about me?” Her stomach dropped as she asked the question. She knew what needed to happen, but she didn’t want to leave him.

  “Take that woman and get her the hell out of here. Go to the hospital. Then I want you to call my man Yates and tell him what’s going on. He and Tasha need to start digging around up here.”

  “Don’t.” Marina felt the pressure of tears. She could not cry. Not now! “Don’t make it sound like you’re not coming back.”

  He touched her face. “I’m just covering my bases.”

  Marina couldn’t help herself. She flung her arms around Bones’s neck and squeezed him tight. She pressed her face to his chest and inhaled the warm man scent of him. It drowned out everything else in the room and made her forget for just a moment that they were in some serious shit here.

  He slipped his arms around her and squeezed her back. She felt him brush his cheek over her hair. Then he affectionately tugged the end of her braid. “You’re one hell of a woman, Marina Reyes. And never let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  “Bones,” she began.

  Then he pressed his fingertips to her mouth. “Don’t, sweetheart. Not right now.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to argue, but he was right. Now wasn’t the time. Marina forced herself to turn away from his familiar bulk as she strode back toward the remaining captive. Marina had been the one to demand they come in here and rescue anyone who had been left behind. Now she would finish what she had started.

  Marina grabbed the woman’s hand and dragged her out. “Let’s go.”

  BONES WATCHED MARINA easily unlock the main door. She looked right and then left before she and her companion left on silent feet. Now Bones was on his own to deal with Whiteside. It was as it should have been all that time ago. Perhaps if Bones and his men had dealt with this arrogant piece of shit when he’d first become a problem in the UAE, they wouldn’t be cleaning up his mess now.

  The warehouse was eerily quiet. The hum of machinery from the pharmaceutical operation in front provided the background noise. Bones kept his focus on the area to the left of the doorway. There was a light back there. It led, presumably, to another area of the warehouse, where the incinerator was and where other waste disposal was taken care of.

  The temperature began to slowly rise the closer he got to the door. The shelves around him were filled with cleaning products and janitorial supplies instead of pallets of product. He was certainly going in the right direction.

  “Hey!”

  Bones froze when he heard Whiteside’s voice. Slipping back deeper into the shadows, Bones tried to decipher from the voices where everyone was.

  “Yeah, you!” Whiteside snarled. “I told you to just leave them be until we have the whole batch down here.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  “Fucking idiots.” Whiteside’s voice was headed Bones’s way. “If they put those bodies in the incinerator, that place is going to reek! That smell never comes out of your clothes. Never!”

  The man was muttering to himself as he strode quickly toward the holding area where he had left Bones and Marina. Bones let him pass. This was not the place for a confrontation. Whiteside would be back soon enough anyway. Bones needed to take out his flunkies first. That would spook him and hopefully give Bones the upper hand.

  As soon as Whiteside swept by, Bones slunk through the shadows in the direction his nemesis had come from. He peered into the incinerator room. There was a set of steps leading down to a lower floor. The room was hot as hell. There was a pile of four bodies in a corner, and several stacks of trash. The two burly henchmen were shoveling trash into the machine just as quickly as they could.

  Bones slipped into the room and launched himself over the railing. He landed in a crouch. The roar of the machinery covered any noise. He approached the other two men from behind. This was going to have to be perfectly timed. They were good-sized men who had probably had at least some combat training.

  “Hey!”

  Bones had been spotted. He launched straight into action. He put his foot in the taller one’s gut. The guy doubled over. While he was occupied, Bones grabbed the shorter one by the neck. He wrenched his arms sideways. He would have preferred to use a nonlethal method, but that ship had sailed. These guys were out for blood, and therefore he had to be as well.

  The short one hit the ground, eyes open and unseeing. The second one growled something unintelligible and then came right at Bones. They grappled, both trying to get the upper hand, but well matched in size and strength. This was not going to be easy.

  MARINA COULD SEE light ahead. The air was fresher, and she thought she recognized some of the pallets sitting near the exit. They were only seconds away from escape.

  Until right now Marina had been dragging the other woman behind her. A hint of freedom, and the tables turned around. Now Marina was getting dragged as the woman made a bid for freedom. She started to whimper and moan as she limped faster and faster toward the exit.

  “Hey, what are you guys doing back here?”

  There was a security guard blocking their exit. Marina drew back, but then she realized that he was one of the weaponless Hansen Pharmaceutical flunkies. She pointed at him and then at the door.

  “Let us by! I have to get her out of here. You have no idea. Please, just call 911, okay?” Marina hoped she looked nonthreatening enough that the guy wouldn’t think she was a criminal of some kind.

  The guard looked doubtful, until he got a good look at the other woman. “What the hell happened to her?”

  “Don’t be stupid,
” Marina told him. “Just call 911 and tell them you need an ambulance.” Then Marina thought of Whiteside and his cronies. “No. Do you have a car?”

  “My security vehicle is right there.” He pointed to a compact car with a company logo on it.

  “Take this woman to the emergency room. Right now! Do you understand me?” Marina grabbed his arm and shook it. “It’s so important. Go now!”

  “All right!” The guard started to take the other woman’s hand, but she burst into sobs. He put an arm around her, completely preoccupied with getting her to his vehicle. “You’re safe now. You’ll be all right.” Then he looked up at Marina. “Emergency room?”

  “As fast as you can!” Marina urged.

  She waited until the guard had piled the other woman into his vehicle. He got behind the wheel and tore off out of the alley. It made Marina feel slightly better to think that if the people who worked in this building had just known what was going on, someone would have helped her.

  Turning back around, she began the trek into the shadows that would take her back to Whiteside. She couldn’t leave Bones to face that bastard alone. It was something they needed to do together.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Bones shifted his weight from his right foot to his left and finally managed to pull the heavy guard over his shoulder. The big man hit the ground with a dull thud. Dropping to one knee, Bones smashed the guy in the throat with the flat of his hand and then delivered a neat upper cut that put the man out of commission for the foreseeable future.

  “God, you’re predictable.”

  Bones gained his feet and spun around. Whiteside had entered the room while Bones had been occupied with the guards. The disgraced lieutenant now held a 9mm semiautomatic pistol pointed right at Bones. Lifting his hands, Bones tried to gauge just how close to pulling the trigger Whiteside might be.

  “You’re all alone, Whiteside,” Bones said mockingly. “That’s just not your style. Do you want me to just hang out while you go find some more flunkies?”

  Whiteside’s eyes glittered with rage. Bones knew it wasn’t necessarily a good idea to bait the bear, but he was so damn tired of playing these games and getting nowhere. If he goaded Whiteside into a rash action he might be able to get the upper hand and end it.

  “I’m going to enjoy shoving your body into that incinerator,” Whiteside informed him. He waved the muzzle of his weapon toward the metal door that accessed the unit. “You’ll go up in smoke just like anyone else. There’s nothing special about you or the rest of your team. You’re all just blood and bone like a regular Joe.”

  “Is that what bothers you?” Bones cocked his head and began shifting toward a stack of refuse. He could see a broken pallet propped against the randomly stacked pile. The jagged edge promised a weapon of sorts, if Bones could keep Whiteside occupied. “Did you put your name in for SEAL training and get rejected? Is that why you feel so much animosity toward my team? You’re jealous?”

  Whiteside started forward, his expression filled with hostility. “I’m not jealous! They rejected me without even reading my file! I know it! I would have been perfect for SEAL training. I’m the best of you all, and those bastards refused to see it.”

  The rant reeked of narcissism. Bones began to have a sneaking suspicion that Whiteside had failed the psych evaluation. “Yeah?” Bones was intentionally dismissive. “Well, not everyone is cut out for SEAL training. It’s rigorous. And since you can’t bribe, buy, or cheat your way through, it would have been a real killer for you.”

  “You arrogant piece of shit!” Whiteside shrieked. He was pointing his weapon so emphatically that he was practically stabbing the air. “How dare you?”

  Bones felt behind him and wrapped one palm around the broken slat of the pallet. The piece gave way with a little tug, and Bones found himself holding a weapon. Now all that remained was to take the leap and use it.

  It happened in a split second. Bones barely had time to register Whiteside’s intentions before the man rushed him. In his arrogant desire to prove himself the better man, Whiteside actually threw away his weapon. It clattered to the ground seconds before Bones managed to lift his weapon and swing.

  The wood connected with Whiteside’s left side as he charged. The lieutenant fell back a step, but his momentum continued to carry him forward. He tackled Bones, and both men went down. It was like grappling with a rabid lunatic. There was no rhythm or technique in Whiteside’s attempt to overpower Bones. He was just throwing punches and kicking like a child lashing out at an oppressor.

  Bones’s weapon was useless in such close quarters. He struggled to block punches as they fell to the cement floor. It was no use. Whiteside was snarling like an animal. Bones finally gave up and settled for wrapping his entire body around Whiteside’s. He grabbed hold of whatever limbs he could catch. Whiteside’s head flew forward and smacked Bones right in the mouth. He tasted blood and growled in irritation.

  Bones could end it. He felt Whiteside’s body begin to give beneath the superior strength of Bones’s grip. He squeezed as hard as he could. He wrapped his legs around each of Whiteside’s, as though he were trying to put him in a stranglehold. The other man continued to struggle, but his movements were unstudied and crude. Bones wrapped his arms underneath Whiteside’s and drew his hands back up over the other man’s shoulders. The position left Whiteside utterly helpless.

  “Are you through?” Bones gritted out between clenched teeth. “Say the word and I’ll snap your puny neck. Or shut up and live.”

  Whiteside gave one last valiant struggle to get loose and failed. “No!”

  “Yes!” Bones increased the pressure at the back of Whiteside’s neck, and the man squeaked in pain. “You have lost. Accept it.”

  Across the room, Bones could see one of Whiteside’s goons beginning to stir. Shit. That was the last thing he needed. He had to subdue the lieutenant, and quickly, before any other flunkies appeared on the scene to help him.

  “Rafe!” Whiteside said in a garbled, choked-sounding tone. “Get your useless ass off the floor! Rafe!”

  The goon flopped onto his back, obviously still dazed. Bones gave a heave with his body and stretched Whiteside out so harshly that he actually heard the other man’s spine pop. The lieutenant made an agonized noise and finally shut up, but it was too late. Rafe the half-senseless goon started to rise.

  Then someone else appeared on the scene. Marina leaped to the floor from the direction of the steps. She picked up Bones’s lost piece of jagged wood and approached Rafe. “You need to stay down, asswipe.”

  With one powerful swing, she smacked the goon across the face so hard that he flipped from his right side to his left. Rafe didn’t stir again.

  MARINA CAREFULLY PICKED up all the weapons she could find. There were three in the room. All were 9mm semiautomatics. She popped the clips out of two of them and then pointed the third one at Whiteside.

  “Okay,” she told Bones. “I’ve got him. You can let go.”

  Bones had Whiteside spread-eagled against his body in the most uncomfortable-looking position. Marina’s own spine ached with sympathy, but if anyone deserved the treatment it was this asshole.

  With one last hard squeeze, Bones made himself unequivocally clear. “Don’t try a damn thing. You do and she’ll shoot. And I promise that she not only has the balls to do it, but that you’ve provided her with ample reason.”

  Marina felt her heartbeat speed up as she watched Bones carefully let go of the lieutenant. There was a part of her that wanted him to make a move. She wanted to put a bullet in his brain and have all of this be over. Except it wouldn’t be over. Whiteside was just a pawn in a game of princes, and Marina wanted the big players to go down. That meant Whiteside needed to remain alive.

  “Please give me a reason,” she muttered at him. “I would love any excuse to shoot you right in the balls.”

  “Crazy bitch!” Whiteside gasped as he flopped from his back onto his belly. He attempted to gain his feet.
After several tries he managed it. By then Bones was vertical and ready for him. Whiteside curled his lip at them. “This is all pointless anyway. Even if they arrest me I’ll be out in twenty-four hours. They can’t hold me. I have connections!”

  The way Bones gazed at Whiteside sent a chill down Marina’s spine. The SEAL’s grin was twisted and cruel. “You’re making the assumption that we’re going to turn you over to the civilian authorities.”

  “What else would you do?” Whiteside scoffed. “I told you. I have connections.”

  “But not diplomatic immunity,” Marina reminded him. “You’re going to go down, and your little princes aren’t going to lift a finger to stop it from happening.”

  “If I were you,” Bones said offhandedly, “I’d be worrying that Jabar and Hasim will decide you’re better off dead.”

  Whiteside’s face paled. It was as if all of the blood drained from his cheeks and left him pale and frightened-looking. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Wouldn’t what?” Marina snorted. “You obviously have.”

  She wasn’t even sure what that meant. But as she looked at the stack of women’s bodies in the corner, she felt sick to her stomach with the knowledge that four more families were going to be getting very bad news today. At least it would be closure of a sort.

  “Where is the other woman?” Bones asked suddenly. “I thought you were going to get her out.”

  Marina smiled. She could now hear the blessed sound of sirens wailing as the police came to the scene. “I sent her with a real security guard to the emergency room. As I expected, it resulted in a little bit of a law enforcement frenzy.”

  It took almost no time before they heard boots pounding the pavement of the warehouse floor above them. Whiteside began to whimper pathetically. The door was flung open, and policemen spilled into the incinerator room. Marina held up her weapon to show she wasn’t a threat. “I’m dropping it! I promise!”

  “Hands in the air!” an officer shouted.