Hunt for Evil (ICE Book 1)

by Amy Jarecki

  Before Logan stopped her, Olivia spun, her leg hissing through the air as she landed a bone-crunching roundhouse across Uddin’s face.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Olivia burst through the door of the flat with Logan on her heels. “He’s building a goddamned harem.”

  “I don’t even want to think about what al-Umari is doing with the girls after they’ve served their purpose.”

  Olivia shuddered. The criminal gloated about broadcasting beheadings on the internet. He was capable of anything. “We need to get inside. To-freaking-day!”

  As if on cue, both their phones vibrated—Garth of course.

  “I’ll log in.” Logan typed his password on his laptop keyboard.

  In no time, the CO regarded them with a hawkish gaze from beneath his thick eyebrows. “Holy hell.” He’d been watching from the webcam.

  Olivia shouldered in beside Logan. “I have to be their next victim.”

  “What?” Logan looked at her like she’d grown two heads. “You’re too old.” His eyes dropped to her crotch. “And you’re not—”

  She thwacked his shoulder. “I can look like a teenager, especially if Dr. R can give me a filler here and there.”

  Logan didn’t let up. “You’ve got to be out of your mind.”

  “It makes sense,” said Garth.

  Logan threw up his hands. “I beg your pardon, sir, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for Commander Hamilton to infiltrate a harem so soon after the Khalil op.”

  Olivia could have decked him. “What the f—?”

  Logan clicked the mute icon and pulled her away from the computer’s camera lens. “Dammit, I’ve kept my mouth shut about your PTSD because teammates don’t rat on each other, but you’re not offering to join a freaking pleasure cruise on the Mediterranean this time.”

  “Don’t you think I know that? Those girls have to be scared shitless—if they’re alive.”

  “You said it. Those girls are being used like whores by a mob of homicidal maniacs that make serial killers look like saints.”

  She landed a punch in his shoulder. “That. Is. Exactly. Why I have to go in!” She stomped to the computer and turned the sound back on. “Sorry, sir.”

  Garth’s eyes grew wide. “Is there something I need to know about, Commander?”

  Logan shook his finger at the screen. “I think Olivia’s being too hasty h—”

  Olivia stamped her foot. “No, sir! I’m ready. I’ve bloody well been waiting for my chance to go in deep, and the Boy Scout here is afraid I might get hurt.”

  Logan gave her a heated stare. Olivia matched his fire. If he dared utter one word to Garth about her slip ups, she’d lay him flat. She never caved when she was deep inside an op. She only broke down when she was not in the midst of DEFCON 1.

  “It’s not going to be easy. Hakim will be suspicious after the disappearance of Maulama Uddin.” Muhammed had made arrangements for Interpol to pick him up. Uddin would spend the next several years behind bars.

  “Can you deliver his guns on time?” asked Logan.

  “The shipment’s already on the way.” Garth pointed. “Rodgers, you need to stay close to Hakim. Keep your finger on the pulse.”

  “Then I’ll have to pose as the next kidnapper. If Olivia is going in, I damned well better have her back.”

  “Do you think you can make Hakim trust you enough to let you in that deep?”

  Logan’s jaw tensed. “I’ll make sure he does.”

  On the screen, Garth gave a pointed stare. “Without compromising the mission?”

  “I won’t,” Logan said. “Once the gun delivery goes off, I’ll ask for more. He’s already told me I might have to get my hands dirty to earn his trust.”

  Garth nodded. “We have two days to formulate an iron-clad plan. I want you both back at ICE in the morning. Over and out.”

  Logan clicked off, then gave her a dead-eyed stare while they stood and scowled at each other. “Let’s just assume Dr. R can make you look seventeen and turn you back into a virgin. Before you say another word, please explain exactly how you’re planning to go into al-Umari’s harem and not freak out the first time someone lays a hand on you.”

  “Back up, asshole. For your information, there is such a thing as hymen restoration, and if I put my hair up, I can practically pass for a teenager.”

  “You’re too pretty to be seventeen.”

  “I beg your pardon? Most models are still in their teens.”

  “They’re not as pretty as you.”

  She threw up her hands. “You just don’t think I can handle it.”

  “That’s right I don’t. And you didn’t answer my question. How the hell are you going to control yourself from snapping and laying someone flat?”

  “It’s different when I’m on an op.”

  “How so?”

  “I can detach.”

  “And you couldn’t in the alleyway?”

  “I can control that, too.”

  “Too? And what about what happened with me? It’s a fucking harem. You’ll be going in as a sex toy.”

  Olivia stood her ground, clenching her fists. “I said I can detach.”

  “Just not with me.”

  “Right.”

  Logan slammed his fist into the couch. “Fuck!”

  “That’s why I told you the first day it wasn’t wise for us to get too close.”

  “Why?” Growing red in the face, his eyes bulged. “Because you can’t detach when you’re with me? You are one messed up filly.” He punched the couch again. “What do you think you’ll accomplish by going in? You’ll probably get yourself killed—or worse, they’ll torture you beyond all horrific imagination and they won’t let you die. They’ll keep you alive for their thrills.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She shoved him in the shoulder. “Don’t you see? There are young girls being held in some godforsaken place and they’re scared out of their minds. They’ve been taken from their homes and deposited into the worst hell on earth…all because they made friends with some jerk on Facebook.”

  He grabbed her by the arms and held firm. “You’d better be damned sure what you’re doing.”

  “I work best alone and undercover.”

  “Yeah? Well I’ve spent enough time in the Middle East to know you won’t get out of this one without a crap-ton of help. You’ll be guarded by al-Umari’s goons twenty-four-seven and, this time, you won’t be sailing on a luxury yacht.”

  Olivia gave a single nod while her throat burned. She hated the feelings swelling in her chest. What the hell was that about? Logan couldn’t mean more to her than anyone else in ICE. She couldn’t let him make her feel.

  Until he crushed his lips to hers.

  Olivia’s knees turned to butter as she shoved her fists between them.

  But those big arms surrounded her. “I’m going to make you realize that someone cares for you so deeply, he’d take a bullet for you.”

  Melting a little more, she slipped her hands to his waist. “You do?”

  “Damn straight I do. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you going in. It tears me apart to think of another man touching you, and you’d better believe it; if anyone hurts you I’ll hunt them down and make them wish they’d never been born.”

  Her heart swelled as she watched him speak with conviction in his voice, determination written across his rugged features. Awestruck, she drew up a hand and cupped his cheek. Emotion spilled through her soul as he lowered his lips and kissed her again. Not a gentle peck, but an intense claiming of her mouth, so fervent, his lips rendered Olivia powerless to pull away.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Unbelievable. As soon as Logan had Olivia stripped down to her bra, Garth texted with instructions to meet a private jet in an hour. Then the only R & R they got was on the plane. After landing on the ICE airstrip, they proceeded directly to the sit room where Garth was waiting for a briefing.

  Regardless of whether or not Logan liked using O
livia as a way to uncover the location of the harem, he’d do everything in his power to insure the success of the mission. It didn’t matter if he was angry. Or if he thought she was being reckless. Dammit, he’d come to like her…a little too much. The “too much” didn’t matter either. He’d have to block that part from his mind. And he’d have his partner’s back no matter what.

  For hours, the team hashed through the details to pull a plan together, providing Logan could find a way to volunteer to be the next ISIS kidnapper. But he had a few ideas up his sleeve and after working well into the night, planning and moving assets around the black-lit map on the conference table, things were ready to roll.

  Except Logan was going on thirty-six hours without sleep. To him, the best thing about being back at ICE was a bed where he could stretch out his legs. When the meeting broke, Logan headed for his bunk, stripped down to his boxers and dropped to the mattress flat on his back. If he never had to spend another night on the couch in Lyon, he’d be a happy man.

  He closed his eyes and let his exhaustion seep in.

  Not more than five minutes later, a soft knock came at the door. At least, it sounded like it could be a knock. Logan opened one eye and decided it was a better idea to pretend he hadn’t heard anything.

  Then his watch buzzed with a text from Olivia:

  You can’t possibly be asleep yet. Open the damned door.

  Nothing like a love note from his work-spouse. Voice to text was too easy. Groaning, he rolled off the bed and cracked open the door.

  Olivia’s lips parted and her tongue tapped the corner of her mouth while her gaze raked down his body.

  “Miss my abs did you?” he asked with a cocky grin.

  “Hmm.” Her gaze slipped back up and met his eyes while she raised a six pack of bottles. “Your favorite.” Fancy that, she wasn’t wearing a negligee. But the tank top and bike shorts hugging her curves gave him the same ball-buster reaction.

  He stood back and ushered her in. “Since when did you start thinking about what I like?” As soon as the words slipped through his lips, he regretted them. She hadn’t been appointed to be his partner to make him happy.

  “I think about what you like all the time.” She stopped in the middle of the room, her gaze again drifting down to his abs and then his boxers. With a quick inhale her lips parted as if she liked what she saw.

  Logan combed his fingers through his hair. Being work-married had its issues. “Sorry. I’m tired.” He led her to the couch, casting aside his thoughts of slipping into a comatose and dreamless sleep.

  Twisting off the tops, she opened two beers and handed one to him. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

  He took the bottle. “Thanks. So, after ten minutes you missed me?”

  “It was more like twenty.” He gave her a look and she shrugged. “I had to heist a six pack from the pub.”

  Chuckling, he put his feet up on the coffee table and leaned back. He took a long drink. “Mm. That goes down good.”

  She cozied up beside him like they’d been married for years. “Icelanders know how to brew.”

  God, she looked like a million bucks. Clearing his throat, he tried for serious ground, “Are you ready for tomorrow’s surgery?”

  “It’s nothing major. Dr. R said I’d only need a little local anesthetic.”

  “And then back to Lyon?”

  “As soon as he’s done.”

  He wanted to shake her and insist she change her mind, but that would only cause more tension between them. “I still think you’re nuts.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What can I do to talk you out of it?”

  “Nothing.” Her gaze trailed aside. “Those girls…”

  “Yeah, and you’ve got to save the world.”

  “Who else will?” She sat a bit taller. “It’s what I’ve trained to do all my life.”

  Trying to forget, he lowered his feet and chugged his beer.

  “Um…” She set her bottle on the table and stood, taking his hand. “There’s one thing I want to do before I…you know.”

  He shifted his gaze to her face. Her pupils were so dilated, her eyes were almost black. Then her tongue slipped to the corner of her mouth. A surge of molten fire shot through his cock. God save him, she was sexy.

  His eyebrow arched. “What’s on your mind?” He didn’t want to assume anything—not with Olivia.

  A tempting pink tongue slipped across her bottom lip as she pulled him to his feet. He’d seen that look on her face before and he couldn’t resist it, no matter the consequences. Raw passion oozed from her pores as she tightened her grip and backed him into the bedroom.

  Logan wanted to make love to her more than he’d wanted to do anything in his life, but what if she freaked out? It could destroy her confidence. Hanging on to a shred of sanity, he stopped moving his feet. “Ah… Commander, isn’t there a reg against this? Especially at ICE?”

  “Probably. But I’ve never been one to completely follow the rules.”

  On the other hand, it might give her a boatload of confidence if…

  The back of his knees hit the mattress. With his next blink, she yanked down his boxers, then shoved him to his ass. He looked up, dying to put his hands on her, but ever so aware that anything he did might make her snap.

  She glanced to his erection, but only for a second before she pointed. “On your stomach, Commander. I’m going to give you a massage.”

  He spread his palms. “It’s really not—”

  “Roll over!” she demanded indignantly with another sharp point of her fine-boned finger.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He climbed up the bed and crunched a pillow under his chest.

  Behind him, clothing rustled. He took a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. Off came the bike shorts, the lace panties, the tank and bra.

  Perfection.

  God, he was toast.

  He’d been without a woman for so long, all she had to do was take a longer look at his cock and he’d explode. Come to think of it, right now all he needed was a couple of hip thrusts into the mattress and he’d come. He’d been on the brink of coming ever since they’d shacked up in Lyon. Now it was pure torture to have her completely naked and straddling his back.

  Logan’s tension let up a smidge as soon as Olivia sank her lithe fingers into his shoulders. “Lordy, that feels like heaven,” he sighed in a low, satisfied growl. Logan’s eyes rolled to the back of his head while she took her time working out every kink. It was torture and ecstasy at the same time. Skillfully, with a great deal of strength in her fingers, she worked her way down to the tight bands of muscle over his kidneys.

  Had he died and gone to heaven? “You could lull a grizzly with those fingers.”

  “I’ve never heard that one before, cowboy,” she purred, sounding like sin.

  Logan’s eyes opened wide when the heels of her hands kneaded into his glutes, making his erection stretch like a steel rod. He was so hard, it hurt. Should he stop her? Would she be able to go through with it? And what about the regs? He glanced over his shoulder. “Maybe you shouldn’t…you know.”

  She narrowed her blue-eyed stare, grazing her teeth over her bottom lip. “I call the shots.”

  His heartbeat sped. Screw the regs.

  “Ah…yeah. That’s what I said, you’re in charge.” Did he have a chance? Christ, she was already straddling him. If he rolled over, all she’d have to do was raise up a smidge and he could slip inside.

  He nearly lost it when she moved her fingers between his legs and tickled his balls. “Me on top?” she whispered.

  “That would work,” he said hoarsely. Jesus, if she kept that up, he’d detonate.

  But just like Olivia, she tortured him with those delicate fingers. “I need to be in control with you—because it’s not…ah…it’s not an act.”

  Logan’s heart could have stopped beating and he wouldn’t have noticed. His mouth went completely dry. He couldn’t allow himself to think about the future, a
bout what might happen tomorrow. He couldn’t allow himself to think about anything but having the sexiest blonde in his bed and sinking inside her, joining with her, soaring to the stars with her.

  Now.

  Her lips parted as she tugged on his shoulder and encouraged him to roll to his back. Then his entire body shuddered as she took him in her hands and stroked. “You’re so hot,” she said, her voice low and barely audible.

  His gaze meandered to her breasts, to her sculpted waist, then fine pubic hair and the slender legs straddling him just below his cock. He swirled his hips and arched his back, giving her an eyeful of his hard-on. “Hot doesn’t come close,” he growled. Careful to be gentle, he ran his hands up and down her arms. “Do you want me?”

  She nodded.

  His breathing grew a little faster as he watched her eyes and slowly slid his finger inside her and stroked. “God, you’re wet.”

  Gasping, she threw her head back and moved with the rhythm of his hand, the motion of her hips mesmerizing. He found her clit and used her slick moisture to take her higher. Take her to the place of no return. To give her what she wanted, what she needed. She was gorgeous, her breasts full and round, her hair clinging to a soft sheen of perspiration, her lips red and parted, her eyes dark and filled with desire. He watched, completely enchanted until she stilled his hand with a sharp inhale.

  Saying nothing, the seductive expression on her face made it near impossible to lie still while she grasped his hips and rocked her wet core along his shaft. Their gazes connected and held as if their souls had bonded. Yet, he didn’t push. He let her take charge, afraid to do anything that might trigger another panic attack. All the while, he watched her grow more and more impassioned while she had her way with him in the most erotic experience of his life.

  Rising to her knees, she shifted his cock to her entrance. A blast of warm heat made him groan. A grin curled on her lips as he watched her slowly slide down his length, taking him inside her. Awash with hot, slick, ribbed, mind-blowing woman, Logan forced himself to obey the command of her tempo.