by KaLyn Cooper
Well, hell. Where to begin with that revelation?
Nowhere. There was no time. Lilly looked up and they were at the ship’s dockside entrance, the captain’s hand extended to her, hopeful smile plastered on his attractive face.
The minute they entered the ship, their party was joined by Yitzak “Zak” Reisman, director of ship’s security. He shook Lilly’s hand, and held it far too long. It wasn’t her dark brown eyes that held his attention, either. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her well-covered breasts. Lilly understood Jessica’s discomfort.
They began their tour in the windowless crew areas with bedrooms so small a large man would have difficulty getting dressed without banging a wall or permanent fixture. They moved on to the large empty staff dining room after passing through a narrow hallway.
Zak’s gaze followed every dark-haired, brown-skinned woman. Yet he paid little attention to the curvy blonde who stopped when Jessica called to her with a smile, “Stacie, you’re not on an excursion today?”
“No, Miss Evans.” The well-toned woman was about Jack’s age. “I’m actually off today.”
“Stacie, have you met the Girards? They are the new owners of this ship.”
“Hello, I’m Stacie McCoy, the ship’s excursion director.” She started with their mother and the normal pleasantries.
“It’s most certainly a pleasure to meet you.” Levi shook her hand, then captured it as he lay his other hand over the top of hers. “I look forward to working with you.”
Stacie’s eyes met his, but Lilly read the not-gonna-happen look there. Internally chuckling at her big brother’s attempt, she gave the young woman kudos for the way she handled him.
“It’ll be my pleasure to work for American Caribbean Cruise Lines.” She deftly slid her hand out of his hold and without another glance his way, she stepped to Lilly.
“Lilly Girard. I’m the corporate attorney and working with the Caribbean Excursion Consortium as well. Do you currently make suggestions to the owners about excursions?”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s part of my job. If there’s anything I can do for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I’m sure we’ll be talking.” Lilly liked this woman.
Stacie stepped in front of Jack and it was as though an entire conversation passed between them before she said, “Jack, good to see you again. I’d never put the last name together with Girard International. So your family is buying the ship?” Concern washed over her pretty face before she schooled her features.
“Yes. And I’m also involved in the new CEC, so I’ll be working closely with you again.” With a furtive glance toward Levi, he added, “We’ll need to get together and talk about the excursions on all the islands. Are you free later today?”
“I’m sorry. It’s my one day off this week, and I promised to meet a friend.” She glanced at the exit then back at Jack. “I don’t think I’ll get back until the ship is ready to leave.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jack’s smile was one of understanding. “We’ll catch up next week.” He thought for a second. “No, that won’t work. I’ll be on my honeymoon.”
“Congratulations.” Her enthusiasm gleamed from her eyes.
“Thanks.” His rote response was followed with, “We’ll get together when I get back.”
“Perfect.” Stacie moved toward the exit. “I need to run. I’m late to meet my...friend.”
Four hours later Lilly sincerely regretted choosing the red heels. Her family had seen everything on the ship from the engine room to the spacious president’s suite with massive balcony. She was sure she’d climbed enough steps equivalent to any Chicago skyscraper, including the family's own. Maybe when she got back home she’d increase her cardio work out. Maybe. At the moment, her thighs and calves screamed at her to rest. Sitting didn’t even appeal because even her butt hurt. And every step she’d taken, the obnoxious Zak was right behind her. She swore she could feel his eyes on her derriere the entire time. Creepy was nowhere near the right word she would use to describe the director of security.
After she and her family said their goodbyes to the captain and his entourage, no one said a word as they walked down the long concrete dock toward their new offices.
Once they cleared the ship’s bow, Jack spoke for the first time in hours. “Jessica, I know what you mean. I don’t trust him.”
“I wonder if Yitzak Reisman is even his real name. He didn’t respond to it when I called him Mr. Riesman,” Jessica noted.
“Shit sack is more appropriate. He’s hiding something, and it isn’t his infatuation with tropical women.” Jack threw a glance at his sister. “I’m surprised you didn’t turn and deck the bastard when he kept helping you step over or around things in the engine room.”
“Every time he touched me I cringed,” Lilly admitted. “Right now I’d love to take a long hot shower and scrub off an entire layer of cells. I feel...dirty.”
“Can we all agree that slime ball has got to go?” All eyes turned to Mother Girard at her proclamation.
“Mom?” Levi raised his eyebrows.
Their mother shivered openly. “He gave me the heebie jeebies. I want him gone. Can we fire him right now?” She looked at Lilly and Jessica.
“No. We don’t own the ship yet,” Jessica pointed out. “I’ll start immediately looking for someone to take over his position.”
“I’d like to hire someone I trust.” Jack dug his phone from his cargo pants and scanned his contact list. “Phoenix is here for the wedding and a little vacation before he accepts a job with a security company in Norfolk. I’ll call him and see if he’s interested.”
He placed the call. A second later, he said, “Hey, Phoenix, give me a call. You said you didn’t want to drive little boats around the channel and work for me but I may have something bigger to offer.” Chuckling, he slid his phone away.
“Is Phoenix his last name?” Jessica asked.
Jack smiled. “No, his name is Davin Westin. Phoenix is his handle.”
Lilly couldn’t stop herself. “’Fess up. How’d he get that name?”
Jack chuckled. “He killed himself and came back to life.”
“What?” Their mother stopped and stared up at Jack.
“In BUD/S”—he glanced at Jessica to explain—“that’s SEAL training, we had to do exercise where we tied knots underwater, holding our breath. Even if they were perfect, the instructors often made us do it again. And again.”
“That’s just stupid,” his mother commented. “If you tied it correctly that should have been good enough.”
“It wasn’t about the knots, Mom,” Jack explained, “It was about how far you’d push yourself to get the job done. The longer you hold your breath, the slower your mind works so it takes more time to compete the tasks. They kept sending Phoenix back down and the last time, he didn’t resurface. They had to drag him up and give him CPR.”
Oh, my God. Lilly lifted her brow. “He actually died?”
“Yes. He’s been Phoenix ever since that day.”
“Miss Lilly,” the deep, accented voice of a man called from two feet behind their tight-knit group. Her whole body quaked at the familiarity of his tone.
Oh, shit. How long had he been following them? Had he heard them talking about him?
She pasted on a smile and turned, “Yes, Zak. What can I do for you?” Her whole family stopped and stood at her back.
“The captain asked me to deliver these for your young boys.”
How the hell did he know about her children? Then she remembered their conversation about the safety of passengers while in port, she’d mentioned that her young son had an unfortunate encounter with the gang the day before. She and the captain had gotten into a conversation about children and how he missed his two boys. In retrospect, she’d no doubt given too much information.
Zak held out two stuffed dolphins. His large hands nearly dwarfed their size. She gingerly took them from his grasp, making sure she didn’t touch
the man.
“Please thank the captain for me.” It took everything within her to smile at the man.
He turned his head to face Jessica. “Just to let you know, my deputy director will be taking over as head of security for a week on the Breeze. The director of security on the Caribbean Dream has had to take emergency leave because his wife was in a severe accident.” He shook his head but his facial expression seemed contrived rather than truly concerned. “It doesn’t look good for her.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jessica said.
“I’ll take care of everything for the Breeze until it deports,” Zak explained. “Then I’ll be staying here in Cozumel tonight. The Dream will be in port tomorrow. I’ll leave with them.”
“Thank you for telling me.” Jessica turned to the Girards. “I’ll send flowers.”
You don’t need to do that,” Zak quickly interjected. “I guarantee you FTD doesn’t deliver to where he lives in the Philippines.”
Lilly caught Jack staring warily at the man. She didn’t believe the guy either.
Chapter 15
Josh sipped the last of his warm cola and watched throngs of tourists saunter into the small town of Cozumel and catch taxis into the city of San Miguel. The remains of his fruit-glazed chicken, Spanish rice, and black beans were nearly nonexistent. Only crumbs remained of Stacie Vandercoy’s fish tacos. He had to remind himself her name was Stacie McCoy for this op.
Jeff “Rock Star” Lennon had called that morning to tell him he’d meet up with the two of them after he finished captaining for Jack’s catamaran company for the day. Josh hated deceiving his friend, especially since he was staying in his home, but it was an excellent cover for Rock Star who had been key in this operation.
“So, Jeff and I are to continue to follow the human traffickers until they move the terrorists,” Stacie reiterated in a low voice, even though they were the only ones in the restaurant’s outdoor dining area. It was late for lunch and early for supper but most cruise line guests ate on the ships since meals were included in the price of their voyage.
“You’re positive your ship is the only one they’re using to transport illegal aliens into the States?” Josh found it hard to believe but there must be a reason only the Caribbean Breeze was being used. Usually, if a methodology worked in one place, they’d repeat the success on other ships.
“Yes.” Stacie’s answer was firm. “A few weeks ago I stayed here. Jeff and I checked the movement from every safe house the Los Zetas coyotes use. They receive the merchandise...” She huffed. “I just hate calling these poor people merchandise. They’re human beings who scrimped and saved enough money to pay off these damned traffickers to take them to the United States. They just want a better life than the one they had in some God-forsaken third world country. Most of them don’t even know better than to pay these monsters to sneak them into the States. They have no idea about our immigration laws, or even that we have them.”
Josh simply nodded. Although he worked for Border Patrol Division of Homeland Security, his focus was terrorists. When he’d spoken with his command center that morning, intel had the terrorists in a safe house in the Cancun area. It made sense that they’d be closer to the ships so he was in Cozumel.
He ignored Stacie’s rant. “How long do they usually hold them before they move them onto the ship?”
“From what I saw, the people arrive in Cozumel on the weekend.” Stacie sipped her lemonade. “They move them a few times during that week to different safe houses, then onto the ship. The Breeze is scheduled in here every Tuesday.”
“Do you have any idea why some are moved onto the ships and others overland?” Josh had wondered this from the beginning.
“I’ve talked to a few of the women, who are all gorgeous by the way, and they said their coyote had selected them specifically. They acted as though it was an honor.” She looked away. “They had all been raped. Several times by the bastard handlers. They called it their training. The better the women were in bed, the more food they got to feed the rest of their family.” She turned back his way. “Most considered the sex as payment for passage.”
“Fuckers.” Josh hated the destiny of those women, but human trafficking wasn’t his job. Besides, if his team took the traffickers down before they moved the terrorists, the targets might find another way into the United States before Josh could stop them.
“Yeah. They indicated they had good jobs waiting for them, and they had to get there quickly. They were also being taught a little English but it was mostly sex talk. They sounded like hookers.” She shook her head. “I wish I could do more for them, but I was afraid they’d bust my cover as it was. They weren’t supposed to talk with anyone, just do their jobs. They’d never tell me who their handler was on that part of the journey. Zak, the head of security, seemed to keep a close eye on them though. I don’t know if it’s because they were new, or if he’s involved, or if he simply likes women with black hair, dark eyes, and brown skin. The whole thing makes me sick.”
Josh could understand Stacie’s passion for catching the men who sold women and children into the sex trade, but that was a different division. He had to focus on the five–maybe more–Muslim men who were determined to reach the United States and target several cities at the same time. He had to stop them. He hated that meant allowing the human traffickers to move more people through the Underground Railroad, but his priority was the safety of everyone who lived in the U.S.A.
He stared into her zealous brown eyes. “Do you want to transfer to the human trafficking division when this is over?” He couldn’t miss the flash of hope that crossed her face.
“You know I love working for you, Madman,” Stacie grinned, “but if you’d allow me to transfer there, temporarily only, I’d appreciate it.”
“I will.” He liked Stacie and would miss her caring personality as well as her skills. She was brilliant. A graduate of the Naval Academy, she’d been tapped by the Office of Naval Intelligence when they realized her natural proclivity with languages. She’d worked with some of his SEALs undercover in HUMINT, gathering human intelligence, in Afghanistan. She and Rock Star had lived as a married couple, imbedded in a city in Iraq, for nearly six months before their cover had been blown, and Jack’s team had to extract them. It was no wonder the two of them worked this op so well together.
Josh had been concerned about teaming her again with the good-looking former SEAL but both had passed the psych evals with flying colors. They held to their story that they’d never been intimate the whole six months. He looked at the pretty woman, currently a blonde, and wondered if Rock Star was a saint or stupid. Or just that focused on the mission. Sleeping beside a beautiful woman like her every night, yet not fucking her, was a test no man should have to endure. But fraternization was one of the biggest no-no’s in intelligence. It would have gotten both Jeff and Stacie thrown out of the program.
Maybe she wasn’t his type.
Although beautiful and intelligent, two requirements Josh had for his dates, Stacie wasn’t his type either. They were both deep in the same business and he needed a break from the underbelly of the world when he sought the company of a woman. He wanted to talk about normal life problems over a meal, not speculation on what the bad guys were going to do next and how to take them down. He preferred conversations like he’d had around the Girard table the past few days. Like he’d had with Lilly.
“Ready to go see the safe houses?” Stacie asked, forcing him off that train of thought. She downed the last of her lemonade, folded her cloth napkin, and placed it beside the empty plate before standing.
No, Stacie wasn’t his type at all, but Lilly sure was.
Josh stood and grabbed the paid receipt from the table, pocketing it for his expense account. He followed her to the crowded street where he’d parked the company car Stacie and Rock Star always used on the island. It was left at a Border Patrol safe house a few blocks from the walk-on ferry dock. Looking like every other white seda
n driven by locals so it could be used for surveillance, it had a customized engine enhanced for high speed chases and bullet-resistant windows with a steel-reinforced exterior. All standard for Josh’s teams.
Stacie stopped suddenly and turned toward him. “Sorry, I hate to do this but kiss me.”
“What?” Before Josh could ask why, Stacie grabbed his face in both her hands and laid her lips on his.
When he didn’t respond, she lifted her lips a fraction. “The director of ship’s security is watching me, and I need him to think we’re meeting for other reasons than chasing bad guys.”
Josh slipped his hands around Stacie and pulled her to him. This time he made the kiss look as though they were lovers. He moved her slightly so he could see where she’d been looking.
When he lifted his lips, he hugged her and whispered in her ear while scanning the area, “Where is he?”
“Fifteen feet down the sidewalk.” As though it just dawned on Stacie, she added, “He’s talking with Jack Girard and his family.”
Josh’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach.
“Fuck!” At least Lilly had her back to him. Hopefully she hadn’t seen that kiss. But Jack and the security man were staring at him. “Give me a few minutes.” He released her and started toward the Girards, then turned and said loud enough for everyone to hear, “Let me ask Jack if he can arrange that. Why don’t you go ahead and shop? Buy something special to wear tonight.” He hoped that would send the right message to the security guy yet keep it casual looking for the Girard family.
Stacie pasted on a sultry smile. “I’m looking forward to it, Josh.”
At his name, Lilly turned around. Her bright smile fell into pain as she focused on Stacie and Josh. He needed damage control and right now. First things first. “Jack, can I have a minute?”
“Sure.” The two men stepped a few feet to the side.
Before Jack could say a word, Josh went on the offense, “Is your family buying the Caribbean Breeze?”
