by Taylor Hart
Get You Back
Book 3 The Real Thing
Taylor Hart
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Books by Taylor Hart
A Note to Readers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Other Works by Taylor Hart
Copyright
Copyright Information
All rights reserved.
© 2015 ArchStone Ink
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form whether electronic, mechanical or other means, known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written consent of the publisher and/or author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This edition is published by ArchStone Ink LLC.
First eBook Edition: 2015
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the creation of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
The only way I have finished this is with God’s love and grace. I have to dedicate all my writing to Him.
Books by Taylor Hart
Series
The Real Thing
Book 1 On the Run
Book 2 Going Rogue
Book 3 Get You Back
Hidden Falls
Book 1 Happily Ever After
Last Play
Book 1 Last Play
Book 2 The Rookie
Stand Alone Books
A Girl Named Grace
The Secret
Prom Diaries
Part of Boxed Sets
A Christmas in Snow Valley: The Christmas Eve Kiss
Summer in Snow Valley: First Kiss
A Note to Readers
I hope you enjoyed Get You Back. If you would like to receive a book FREE, The Christmas Eve Kiss, ($3.99 value), sign up for my newsletter HERE. Another benefit of receiving my newsletter (which I send out about once a month) is that you will be notified of the 24 hour discounts on new releases that only newsletter subscribers receive.
Chapter 1
Sam watched the water. Calm, serene, smooth as silk. Alexa lounged against the yacht in her swimsuit. She looked…perfect. To an outsider, the whole scene would look simple, even happy. Rich American tourists celebrating their honeymoon.
He played the role of the eccentric billionaire who wanted to snorkel and dive the coastal shores of Colombia. The FBI had staged them this way to make it easier to get into the country. Actually, Alexa had done most of their cover work. She’d been amazing at getting together everything they’d needed to pull it off. Honestly, he had to admit she was better at the job than most cover specialists, which had been unexpected. But, he’d reasoned, she was a PR pro.
They needed to stay off the radar and meet up with the official team the FBI was sending by airplane. Going in covertly gave them a better chance of doing things the ‘unofficial’ way and getting out quickly. At least, that was the plan.
Sam thought about whom they were up against. Victor Santiago was the leader of one of the most powerful cartels in Colombia. The cartel had been hard to track and even tougher to infiltrate beyond a superficial level. Sam’s team had been trying to get a chance to go deep for the last five years, ever since he and his brother Dave had taken on this operation. Unfortunately, there’d had been so many dead ends. So many times they’d thought they’d come up with something, and it had landed them nowhere.
Then Marco Hernandez’s file had come across their desk. They knew he was a rising star. According to their sources, Victor Santiago had organized several meetings between Marco’s people and his own, forging alliances and focusing on pushing the drugs from Colombia up through central Mexico and over the border into California. It wasn’t a new path. It wasn’t anything new, but when Sam had seen that file and realized a known associate of Marco’s was Alexa Fulbright, he’d known that destiny had brought him back to her.
She was the woman—the one that got away. The only woman he’d ever loved. She was the one he had asked to marry him and who had haunted his dreams after breaking the engagement and leaving him.
He had planned to pursue Marco, flip him, convince him to take a plea, and follow him straight to Victor Santiago. The big fish.
That’s what he and his brother would have done.
Until it had all changed.
He stared at Alexa and thought of walking into her office in San Francisco less than two months ago. It felt like a dream now. Having Alexa in the middle of all this made it muddled and sticky. He’d found himself compelled to get her away from Marco, to expose Marco for what he was. He’d lost his focus on the case and focused, instead, on Alexa’s safety. Now her father was gone. Captured by the very men they’d both been trying to protect Alexa from.
A light hand touched his shoulder.
He jerked.
“It’s okay.” Alexa sat next to him and stared at the lush coastline. “I didn’t know what to expect, but this is beautiful.”
Sam put his hand over hers, loving the way her skin felt warm and soft against his. They both stared at the deep sea green water. He felt the gaudy diamond on her finger. Of course the ring was huge but not real. The FBI had provided it as part of their cover. He fingered it, wishing this cover were a reality. “I don’t like having you here.”
The way she pinched her lips and then relaxed her grip on his hand told him she didn’t want to fight about it anymore.
He gently squeezed her hand. “I need you safe, Lex.” Slowly, he pulled the back of her hand to his lips and gave it a small kiss.
Tugging it away, she rolled her eyes. “I’m getting my dad back at all costs, Sam.”
Since her father had been taken and the decision made that they would go in together, it had been a whirlwind—prepping them for this mission, putting together the right covers, getting the contacts in place in Colombia.
The mission was to get her father back. The pit of his stomach clenched just thinking about it.
“Sam?”
He was brought back to her tropical scent and her flowing blonde hair that hung straight down her back.
She looked wary, but she softly touched the side of his face. “You don’t need to worry about me. I can protect myself. We just have to focus on getting my father.”
He pulled her against him tighter, wishing he could protect her from this mission and knowing that there was no way Alexa would allow herself to be protected. “I’m always going to worry, Lex.” His voice sounded more severe and desperate than he would have liked.
She tugged off her sunglasses and leaned forward to gently kiss the side of his cheek. His body responded to hers, pulling her to him and kissing her longer and deeper. He needed her to be okay. He needed to get them through this. But, more than anything, he needed to get her back home safely. He pulled back unable to shake a niggling feeling that something wasn’t right. “Let’s turn the boat back and take you back home,” he said s
oftly, trailing his hand from the top of her head down the mane of her hair.
She jerked back. “Don’t do this, Sam.”
Pulling her closer, he tried to keep calm. “It’s not safe for you.” He nodded to the fast approaching shoreline. “I know you think we can waltz in there and find him, but you don’t understand what we’re up against.”
Her eyes hardened. “Don’t lecture me about safety.”
His wild, reckless, and fiercely protective FBI self kicked in. “I’ll lecture you as many times as it takes.”
But she shut him down with anger to match his. “It’s my father, Sam. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
He held her against him, their breath mixing and a desperate anger at his inability to change her mind raged inside of him.
After a moment, her eyes shined with emotion, and then she sucked in a ragged breath. “Sam, please…”
The strange thing about Alexa was that she could break him with one word. No one else had ever had this effect on him. All his anger evaporated back into worry for her safety. He relaxed his hold on her, kissing the top of her head. “Shh, it’ll be okay.”
Alexa leaned back, searching his face. “Sam, I want to make something clear. I need you and your expertise, but more than anything, I need you to get me my father back.” He felt her tremble. “And get justice for what Marco has done.”
The very basest part of him couldn’t deny that he enjoyed seeing the hate Alexa felt for Marco. The worst part of him relished this because he had wondered for so long how she could have ever loved Marco. The better part of him hated that she had to be part of this ugliness at all. As they held each other’s gaze, all of Sam’s instincts told him to get her away from this. Finally, he relented. “You’ll get my expertise, and Marco and the Santiago’s will get justice, but I want to be clear—your protection is my priority.”
The tension on her face eased, and she leaned into him, melding with him this time instead of fighting him. “Justice isn’t always black and white Sam.” Gently, she laid her head on his shoulder.
A small shiver went through him. He thought of Marco taking her and chaining her in that basement and injecting her with drugs. Thoughts of the past few weeks and all that she’d come back from physically and mentally made him worry. Fear burned into his gut, and he refused to think of all the awful things that could still be done to her.
The fact that Alexa had been so strong the past few days—not breaking down about her father, staying alert and focused on the next thing that had to be prepared, and training to play her part. All of that had impressed him. He tried to force himself to make his body relax. “Your father’s too ornery to be dead.” He didn’t say it as a joke. It was just the plain truth.
A sniff and light laugh came out of her. “That’s what I’m hoping.” She reached for his hand. “When this is all over, do you think we still have a chance?”
He tugged her chin up, so her eyes had to meet his. “Do you want a chance?”
Her eyes glistened with emotion, and she blinked furiously. “FBI Agent Sam Dubois retires and turns into a simple husband?”
“I have to admit I like the word husband…but retire?” The word lingered in the air creating an awkward feeling.
She shook her head. “Never mind.”
“Nope.” He squeezed her hand. “Do you want me to retire?”
Without answering, she blinked furiously and wiped beneath her eyes. “Let’s not do this right now.”
Sam hesitated, not liking that she didn’t give him a direct answer. He let go of her hand and stood, focusing instead on Gary who was captaining the ship at the moment.
When Frank had been taken, Gary was ticked. He told Sam he looked at the whole thing as a personal attack on his command and insisted he step down in his role as head of the department and come on this mission. Sam had been extremely grateful. They needed his help to succeed. He moved next to him. “How long now?”
Gary looked down at his watch for only a second and then put his hands back on the wheel. “Maybe twenty minutes.” He pointed to the shore. “We’ll park her over there, and our contact Rico should be finding us shortly. From there, we’ll meet up with the rest of the team.” His gaze shifted between him and Alexa. “Don’t worry, guys. We’ll get Frank back…and then we’ll make Marco pay.”
Chapter 2
As Gary lined the ship up with the dock and carefully parked, Alexa changed into a summer dress and a pair of gold, strappy high-heeled shoes. If she were travelling as Greg Ander’s wife Lisa, the very chic, very sophisticated debutante wife of a billionaire, she had to look the part. She fixed a sun hat in place and smoothed on another layer of red lipstick. Her hand trembled slightly, and she sucked in a breath, reminding herself she needed oxygen. She felt as though she’d been holding her breath the whole trip here. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just take in a special agent’s team and find her father and get him out. To her, it was simple, but to the U.S. government, things like extractions from drug cartels were not so simple.
When she, Sam, and Gary exited the ship, they were greeted by a man wearing white slacks and a black t-shirt. He had dark hair, brown skin, and a smile that showed off commercial white teeth.
He reached his hand out congenially. “Mr. Anders, I am Rico Floren. I work for the Cartagena Embassy, and I am here to give you a tour of our lovely city.”
Sam shook his hand, and Alexa noticed that Sam was all flashy charm. He grinned and nodded. “Rico, yes, so humbled by your city’s invitation to give us a guided tour.”
Rico’s attention had already shifted to Alexa. He took her hand, gently lifted it to his lips, and hesitated over the back of it. Then, at the last second, he flipped it over and swiftly kissed the inside of her wrist.
It felt intimate, and something in Rico’s eyes put her on edge. Immediately, she pulled her hand away.
Rico tightened his grip for a second then let her hand go, winking at Sam. “Oh, I am sorry. I guess things are done so differently in our country.” Rico put his hands up, and Alexa saw a veiled threat in the way he cocked his head to the side and lifted his eyebrows. “It would do all of us well to remember that we need to work in the bounds of cultural customs.”
The tight way Sam’s jaw flexed told Alexa that Rico would be finding out real soon just how much his ‘customs’ weren’t going to fly.
Gary stepped between Sam and Rico. He shook his hand, introduced himself as the ship’s captain, and explained that he couldn’t wait to see the sights on the island.
At this point, Alexa wasn’t sure if this was the contact that was supposed to meet them and take them to meet up with the rest of the team or if it really was a representative from the government.
Either way, Alexa tried to play like she was only along for the ride, threading her arm through Sam’s and pointing at the various shipping areas and cruise ships.
Rico led them through the port and down into a sea of cars. He fell into step with her and explained about the rich history of Cartagena: from the many Spanish Conquistadors who had taken over the island, to the pirates that had plundered it, to the African slaves that had been left, and to the modern day exporters of emeralds and fresh cut flowers that were taken to the States. They stopped next to a limo, and Rico opened the door for her. “After I show you the beaches and the beautiful fields of flowers, you’ll definitely want to go into the old part of Cartagena to see the colorful buildings and get a feel for the local people.”
Alexa nodded and stepped into the limo, trying to act rich and energetic and excited to explore a new city. In reality, the only thing she cared about was finding her father.
Sam and Gary sat across from her in the limo, and Rico stayed next to her, closer than she would have liked. She didn’t know if it was a cultural thing to sit this close together, or if Rico was just being ‘friendly.’ He smoothly put his arm behind her on the seat and leisurely began talking to Sam and Gary, gently taking stray pieces of her hair a
nd running his fingers through it.
The limo started into traffic and quickly headed out of the city.
“So, as I was saying, the best part of Cartagena is that the city has restored itself within the last century.” He turned to her. “Mrs. Anders, as I’m sure you know your history, you must know that this port town has been raped and pillaged one too many times.”
Even though the lilt in his voice was casual and the hand touching her never stopped lightly lifting and lowering the edges of her hair, the word ‘rape’ injected a hint of violence into the conversation. Her heart rate increased, and she looked at Sam.
If she thought he might show some repulsion to Rico, she was wrong. He was the calm, cool FBI agent that she remembered from the day he’d walked into her office and agreed to go to lunch with Marco. He was playing the part perfectly, and she reminded herself that she needed to play her part, too.
Rico laughed. “I know it may be hard for you Americans to talk about such things.” He pulled his hand back and gestured to what looked like ruins. There were crumbling buildings and half-dressed children on the side of the road. There was a man selling something, a clothesline with laundry, and a pregnant woman standing next to both. They all stared at the limo. “You will see many fancy things in Cartagena, but the one thing that you must remember is that it was built on the drug trade. The poverty that plagues all of Colombia has been the result of the policies dictated by your country.”
Alexa was confused. “What are you talking about?”
Rico laughed, rich and deep. “The billionaire heiress wants to know what I’m talking about.” He shifted to her, leaning in closer, his brown eyes getting wider. “What I’m talking about are the policies put into place by your government to fight the ‘war on drugs’ and how your same country buys eighty-percent of the drugs manufactured in my country. Don’t you see the hypocrisy in this? The war that has ravaged my people, that continues to destroy so much of my family, is the direct result of a nation that abhors the same drugs that it consumes.” He paused, cocking an eyebrow. “It’s quite unfair, don’t you think?”
