Copyright © 2012 Shunta Montgomery
All Rights Reserved
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Publisher’s Note:
Sworn to Secrecy is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, event or locales is entirely coincidental.
Capri Montgomery books are legally available on Amazon, All Romance E-books, Barnes and Noble, and Lulu only. If you have received this book at another site, or from any other source, it is not a legal copy and you are aiding in breaking copyright laws. Please support the author, not the pirates. Please purchase and read legal copies only.
Special Thanks
Thank you, Barb, for catching the mistakes I missed. Your assist with editing has been wonderful.
A special thanks to Nancy, Maurice, Pam, and Curly for helping spread the news about my books.
Thanks to all of my readers for showing your support for my work by buying and reading my books.
Books by Capri Montgomery
Deliverance
Hydra
Explosive: Deadly Connections
Shadow Hills (January – June series)
Betrayal of the Dove
Pirate’s Treasure
Love’s Last Hope
Fahrenheit
Secrets and Lies
Returning Sheba
Saints and Sinners
The McGregor Affair
Dream Walker
The Geneva Project
The Admiral’s Daughter
Dangerous Obsessions
Watch Over Me
Maid for Hire & Educating Australia
And Many Others…
Coming in October ~ Redemption from the Men of Action series.
Prologue
It was hot; he was tired and after a long night and day of travel, getting to the package seemed like a glorious relief of pressure. Alex wasn’t complaining—much. He was used to hard missions in inhospitable conditions, but there was a sudden sense of urgency in this mission. No demands had been sent yet. No contact had been officially made and that told him that the package could soon be dead or moved to another location.
He saw which hut the package was being held in so he knew he could get to her, but he also knew he had to play this smart. Just walking into the village wasn’t going to get him what he needed. It might get him killed though. He needed to enter covertly, that was the plan, but apparently they were having some kind of party that night because the fire was burning, the food was cooking and the people were festive. He didn’t see her until she came out the hut, accompanied by several women and one man. She was adamantly refusing something; he didn’t know what but the look on her face and the tension in her body caused him to speculate. Given the people clearly watching her moves, he would guess she wasn’t getting much alone time. He wasn’t worried; he knew he could find his way in. He would retrieve the package and back to Austin they would go. He could sit out on his porch and do some stargazing. Watching the stars happened to be one of his favorite past times and from what he had been tracking before he left he knew the sky was going to be lit up with a meteor shower in just a few days. He wanted to be back in time to catch the show.
It would be nice to have somebody to watch it with, but since his last relationship ended he hadn’t jumped into another. He was too busy dealing with work and balancing his family—or more like surviving his family. Kevin had inked yet another endorsement deal and his parents just had to throw a few parties they required him attend. He couldn’t even use the excuse of work because at the time of the parties he wasn’t on a rescue mission. Maybe he didn’t care as much about the parties. He was rather used to the “Kevin is a god and you’re a nobody” treatment he received, but what he couldn’t adjust to was seeing his brother dating one of his ex-girlfriends. It wasn’t the last woman he had been with; that relationship had ended and that was his choice since she had cheated on him. But Kevin had taken interest in Krystal Diggs, the first woman he thought he might just be in love with. When she moved to California it had been hard for both of them, but they were going to make it work. At least she said they were. He understood long distance relationships. He was in the military; he knew what it was like to be thousands of miles away from each other. He thought they were okay until he got the email that she had met somebody else. Apparently absence did not make the heart grow fonder.
Now she was back in Texas. She was moving to Dallas to be with Kevin. Krystal had moved away for a job when they were together, but she was willing to give that same job up just to be with his brother. He found out about their relationship at one of the parties his parents had decided to host. Nobody would ever mistake his family for the Waltons, that was for sure.
He put his mind back on the mission and took it off of his family problems. It wasn’t as if his family was going to change. He couldn’t do anything about that, but he could do something about this situation. He was going to retrieve the package. The package, Carissa Jones, was going home and then he was getting back to his favorite nightly relaxation routine of watching the stars above him.
Chapter One
“You know what this means don’t you?” Dallas Ferguson looked at his watch. They had to fix the problem and fix it soon or years of solid work would be broken, stolen from them because of one dumb daddy’s girl. He wished he had killed her when he saw her, but he couldn’t. He had things he had to take care of and killing her would have brought suspicion—plus he wasn’t sure just how much she knew. He knew she had something. He knew she was working with the special federal task force, but what he needed to know was how much she had already gathered, how much she had already given them.
“We know where she is.”
“Correction,” Dallas snapped, his silver fox hair glistened in the light of the sinking sun. “We knew where she was at. In case you didn’t notice our men are in body bags right now. Fix this, or I’ll fix you.” And with those words he was done. There were no other words to say because he had made his promise and everybody knew once Dallas Ferguson spoke their fate was already sealed. He didn’t have time for screw ups. They had something big coming up and that little tart was going to have to be eliminated.
Ronald Jones walked into the Squadron with cash on hand. He couldn’t risk a paper trail. When Devon Richards had suggested this group of men he hadn’t thought twice about cost. He needed to find her and bring her home. These men, Devon had told him, were the best of the best.
“How long has she been missing?” Preston had asked him. Ronald felt as if he were sitting at a round table being judged. The four men looking at him had him pinned in their death stare as if they were judging his honesty.
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “She went for a little fun, a break you know. Her business is booming and she just needed some time to get herself together. She went missing about a week ago I think. I was waiting on an email from her, one that never came and that’s how I knew something was wrong. I contacted some friends and they recommended some people so I paid good money for a search team to go after her, but the team…well, they ended up dead. I know she’s in trouble. I know the last coordinates they gave me put her about here,” he pulled out an aerial photograph with a circle around the river bank she had last been seen at. “That’s my little girl out the
re. That’s my baby, my only child, and I need her brought home. I’ll pay whatever your fee is. I brought cash with me.” He put the brief case on the table and Preston held up his hand.
“We have to discuss it first. If you’ll wait out in the reception area Natalia can make sure you have what you need while we talk.”
He nodded and picked up his briefcase, leaving the conference room behind him and going out into the reception area. He smiled at the woman sitting behind the desk.
“Would you like something to drink, Mr. Jones?”
“Ronald, please;” he gave a half hearted smile. “And no. I’m fine, thank you.”
She smiled at him. “Don’t worry. They’re the best. If they take on the case they’ll find her.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. What if they don’t take on the case?” He looked back to the conference room, watching the men through the floor to ceiling glass divider. He couldn’t hear what they were saying and they were sitting in a way where he couldn’t see their lips moving. Not that he was able to read lips anyway, but he thought he would be able to pick out a yes or no answer. They passed around the photos he brought. He noticed the one they called Alex took more time with the photos. Would he be the one going in after her? If they said yes that is. He looked young. Was he really capable?
“Mr. Jones you can come back in.” Jet held the door open as Ronald carried his case into the office. That decision making process hadn’t taken long. Was that a good sign or a bad sign?
Preston sat the file folder back on the table and leaned forward. “We’ll take your case. Alex will go over, find the package retrieve the package and bring the package home.”
The package? Right that’s what they called people. He could guess keeping the personal out of it made the job easier, but she was more than a package; she was his little girl.
“Here’s your fee as we discussed, but if the price has gone up just let me know and I’ll pay whatever it is.” He opened the case and handed them the specified amount.
He watched as Preston handed the money to Micah and Micah scanned the bills. Ronald could only assume he was checking for the legitimacy of the currency. Ronald didn’t take offense. One could never be too sure about these things, and if they hadn’t checked that would have bothered him more than the fact that they had.
“The price is set, Mr. Jones. We don’t swindle people here. What you were quoted is what you pay.”
He nodded. “So you’re going to be okay going in there by yourself?” He looked to Alex who still seemed to be studying the photographs.
“I’m skilled and trained Mr. Jones. I can bring her home.”
He nodded. “It’s just…you’re so young.”
Preston looked at him earnestly. “He’s skilled. He’ll bring her home. He’s pulled missions on his own before. This isn’t his first one.”
Ronald nodded. “Thank you. I can’t thank you enough.” He shook their hands and left their office. He had what he needed now. They were going to find Carissa, and that was all he needed right now. The fee would be worth it if they could just find her.
“So?” Natalia looked to all of them. Micah laughed and Alex couldn’t help notice the love the two of them had for each other. They gave him hope that somebody might be out there for him someday. He wasn’t looking for that to happen today, but one day…maybe it would be nice.
“We’re taking it, as I’m sure you are aware since we took the money.” Preston told her.
“I saw Micah scanning it to make sure it was all real. I figured you would take it. So who’s going in?”
“Alex.”
“Solo or joint?”
“Solo,” Alex said.
“Well be careful out there,” she gave him a sweet smile. She was definitely his favorite in the office. He loved the guys too. They were like the brother’s he always wanted, but never had. His brother, the biological one, wasn’t much of a brother at all. These guys were all he had. But still, Natalia was a breath of fresh air in the office. Something about her just drew him in from day one. She made him feel comfortable. She made him feel like family and he loved her for that. He wouldn’t say he thought of her as the sister he never had, because he certainly didn’t look at Natalia in the brotherly, sisterly, kind of way. Had she not been so in love with Micah when he first came on board Alex would have tried to sweep her off her feet. But she was in love with Micah and he knew that was a kind of love that she wasn’t going to just be able to forget about. He had watched her for years; the love, the admiration, even the sadness that she had in her eyes each time Micah started dating yet another woman. He felt for her, maybe his heart broke for her, because he couldn’t imagine how she held it together when one of Micah’s women would show up to take him to lunch. Each time he wanted to knock some sense into Micah’s head. He had a good woman right in front of him and yet he couldn’t even see it.
Things had clearly changed. Natalia being taken, becoming one of their rescue missions, and almost being dead to them was enough to change anybody. She had gone to Australia to help her best friend move there. They had taken a run of the mill tourist excursion when everything went south and they came upon a drug exchange. With her friend getting killed, her getting taken to Columbia with one seriously bad drug lord, and the danger she remained in even when they returned, it was enough to finally open Micah’s eyes to the feelings he didn’t even realize he harbored for her. Alex silently laughed at the thought. He had helped speed things along at least a little by giving Micah the impression that he just might have a thing for Natalia. It wasn’t hard to fake. If her heart had been free he would have had a thing for her.
Right now she was one of his best friends and he loved her—like a friend.
“So are we going in with the private plane or should I book a commercial flight?” Natalia swiveled her chair to check an alert that had popped up on her computer screen. She hit one button, looked at the message and then closed it out. “All is fine with the checking account by the way,” she said to them. She had set up alerts to let her know when money went in or out. They had finally gotten the reimbursement from their last search and rescue mission. They had taken on a high security clearance government employee, which wasn’t something they liked to do too often, but work was work. The difference was, the government gigs, while they paid, they paid slowly. Preston still owed a favor to one of his friends so he took it without the cash up front because the payment was going to be too slow to come through. That was the third government gig they had and they all agreed that they should refrain from taking another if possible. Of course an assignment was an assignment and as long as the person hiring them was honest and they got paid for their work they would all agree that it didn’t matter if it was government or private sector doing the hiring. They preferred private sector, but keeping influential government men in their contact list was a good thing too. They never knew when they might have to call in a favor or two either to get into a country they shouldn’t be in or to get past some of the travel embargo mandates on the way back into the country. Not everybody they rescued had the brains to stay out of places that weren’t either safe to be in, or legal to be in. The government gig before the last had fallen into the illegal travel sector. Thanks to the senator’s son thinking he could break all the rules and do whatever he wanted Jet had spent a great deal of time trying to get the idiot out of Iran. His father was wealthy, too bad money couldn’t buy his kid a brain and common sense to use it.
“We’ll use the plane. Julian’s on leave right now. He’ll be willing to fly for us. I’ll set it up,” Preston told her. He always set up the transport when it involved Julian.
“Anything you need from me, Alex?” She asked him so sweetly. The thing that warmed his heart the most was that she was genuine in her offer to help and in her concern.
“Nah, I’m good to go. I just need to pack some things and I’ll be ready to leave as soon as Preston secures passage.”
“All righ
t then. But if you need me you know where to find me.”
“Always,” he winked at her. He knew exactly what he needed and where he was headed. He could do this with his hands tied behind his back...although he wouldn’t want to. He wanted to get the package back home safely. She was attractive, that was for sure, but a job was a job. His only priority was getting the package. The security she would need after that wasn’t his responsibility. It wasn’t the responsibility of the team. They were search and rescue. So that’s what he was going to do. He was going to search, find her and then rescue her. Getting her home was where his job ended. If there was somebody looking for money from her father by taking her then her father would have to be the one to hire a bodyguard for her. His team did not provide those services to their clients.
He would leave once the plane was ready to depart and Preston had said that wouldn’t be before morning. Julian was on leave, but he still had to get clearance just in case he was needed for a military assignment. Preston would be the one contacting the right people to get the ball rolling for their departure. Of course he wouldn’t tell them what the assignment was or where Julian would be going. That was part of the deal he had worked out with the connections he had. They didn’t get much by way of location, mission or length of time needed, but that freedom and willingness to cooperate came with a price. Alex had simply shaken his head at their predicament. Maybe they were ending up with more government contracts lately because they needed special clearance for so many assignments.
Sworn to Secrecy (Special Ops) Page 1
