Her Relentless SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 10)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “But I don’t know anything, that’s the problem,” the man screeched.

  “Calm down. Start from the beginning. Tell me why you’re in Turkey. Tell me about your assignment.”

  “I don’t know where the girl is. Jim’s furious.”

  “Don’t babble. Take a breath and tell me why you’re here. What was your job?” Aiden waited for the man to get himself together.

  “Meet with a man named Tanis, and make sure that the money was deposited into RLI’s account. When we got half, then we show them the passports, and I was supposed to wait until the rest was deposited and hand over the passports.”

  “Okay, so what went wrong?”

  His eyes shot sideways.

  “Tell me.”

  “I should have already had the passports because I had fifty thousand USD to pay a bookseller for some rare books. He didn’t know he was smuggling passports from Baghdad. But I’d lost half the money in a dice game.”

  Idiot!

  “So that’s when you contacted Jim?”

  “He was my Hail Mary. I couldn’t believe he was actually in Greece. God was smiling down on me. But when we had the money, we couldn’t find the bookseller. He’d left the country. That was a week ago.”

  “How did Evie get involved?”

  “She was never meant to. Tanis and his guys must have been following Jim and me when we went to the bank, and then followed him back to his hotel. When I didn’t deliver the passports, they nabbed Evie.”

  “What have they threatened?”

  His eyes slid sideways again. Aiden held up the knife.

  “There were videos. They beat the hell out of her. We have two more days, and if we don’t deliver the passports, they’ll start cutting her up. They said she would only last two days after that started.”

  Aiden closed his eyes.

  “Where are Jim and Blake?”

  “They’ll be back tonight. They went to Istanbul, the bookdealer has another store there.”

  “Are you still contacting the terrorists with the email address?” Aiden asked.

  “How do you know that?” Nathan wanted to know.

  “We know everything.”

  “Who are you?” Nathan finally thought to ask.

  “I’m a friend of Evie’s. Now, where is the cash to pay for the passports? You only had a few Turkish Lira on you.”

  “Jim has it. He didn’t trust me with it.”

  “At last, he shows some sense.”

  “I’m sorry about the girl. I really am. You have to know, I want this deal to go through as much as you do. I don’t want her hurt, I swear I don’t. But if this goes sideways, these guys will come after me next. And if they don’t get me, then my friends in Africa will kill me for fucking it up. I’ll do anything to make this right.”

  Aiden looked at the loser in front of him and realized he was telling the truth.

  “I’m a good man to have in a fight,” he wheedled.

  “You’re a screw-up.”

  “But you need as many people working on this as possible.”

  What he needed was this guy to stay out of his way, and not cause any problems while Aiden made his play.

  Aiden put down the dull knife and picked up the sharp one, and watched as the guy’s eyes widened. “I don’t think you really understand where the true danger lies. If you want to stay alive, you stay out of this. You let me handle it. You get the hell out of Turkey today. If I ever see you again after you leave this room, you’re a dead man.”

  Nathan swallowed. “But-”

  Aiden clapped his hand over Nathan’s mouth and then made a quick cut across his nipple.

  “If you do anything to trip me up, I will cut you, just like they plan to cut Evie. And I will enjoy it. Are we clear?”

  Aiden didn’t need to wait for his answer, it was written all over Nathan’s face. He took his palm off of Nathan’s mouth, and turned for the door.

  “Aren’t you going to untie me?”

  “No. You’re an Army Ranger, you’ll figure it out.”

  Chapter Eight

  When he got out to the street, he flagged down a taxi. He got in and listened to his message from Dex. There were texts going back and forth from the burner phones, and it confirmed that Jim and Blake were due back tonight. It also said where they were staying. Dex also said that Gray had already landed in Antakya. After everything he had learned, he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he was happy that his friend would be there to help.

  He called Dexter.

  “When was the last video sent?” he asked without preamble.

  “Yesterday local time to you,” Dex answered.

  “How many hours ago. I want a countdown. We have forty-eight hours from the time it was sent.”

  Dex didn’t ask for what. “That leaves us with thirty hours.” Aiden checked his watch. It was Tuesday at six pm. He had until Wednesday at midnight, if they stuck to their schedule, which he couldn’t trust.

  “I’ll have Gray filled in by the time you hit the hotel. Hopefully, he’ll be there by the time you arrive. His ETA is about the same as yours.”

  “Why am I not surprised?”

  “I’m still trying to hack into the local carrier so that I can track down the bookseller.” Dexter hung up. Despite the breakneck speed of the taxi, Aiden still wished he would speed up. It seemed like the second hand was spinning around on his watch dial.

  They came to an abrupt halt two blocks from the hotel when there was a traffic jam.

  “Let me out here, I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

  The driver looked at him in confusion. Aiden repeated himself in Arabic. He still didn’t understand. Finally, Aiden just threw some bills at him and got out of the cab. He jogged to the hotel. Gray was waiting in the lobby.

  “Tell me. Why the timeline?” were the first words out of his Lieutenants mouth.

  The two tall, fair Americans were garnering attention. “Let’s go to my room,” Aiden said. They headed toward the elevator. Once inside, Gray looked Aiden over. He knew that he was not as composed as he normally was.

  As soon as the hotel room door closed, Gray turned on him. “Spit it out.”

  “They’re going to start cutting on her in thirty hours.” Aiden looked at his watch. “Twenty-nine and a half hours now. We have to meet with them, but I don’t know if they’ll have her with them, and if we go in without the passports, I think they’ll just call whoever has her, and she’s dead. But she could end up dead even if we deliver. Our only call is to rescue her.”

  “Agreed. What has Dexter found?”

  “We need to get them to send another message from Evie’s cell phone and then pinpoint that location, but that just means she’s going to be hurt some more.” For once Aiden’s anguish bled through.

  “Better now than at the deadline,” Gray consoled. Aiden wanted to hit him. “Another request for proof of life?” Gray asked, reading Aiden’s mind.

  “Yeah.” Aiden turned to the bed and emptied his jacket pockets. “I only have a pistol and two knives.”

  “I have a former Air Force buddy who was stationed at Incirlik meeting me at the Antakya bazaar in an hour. We’ll be covered.”

  “Shit, he’s really taking a risk.”

  “He knows what’s at stake. Do we wait for those friends of Evie’s? What are their names?”

  “Blake and Jim. They will be here after we get the firepower. My gut says yes. They’re just as invested in getting her back. I’ll deal with them after she’s safe.”

  Gray nodded.

  “I brought something to darken our hair.”

  Aiden was used to that, he just hadn’t had time to pick up the supplies when he’d left the states. Gray with his light hair that was going silver needed the hair color as much as he did.

  They applied the color, then Gray left to meet his buddy. Meanwhile, Aiden checked in with Dexter. This time he got a conference call with Dex, Clint, and Lydia.

  “How’s Karen?” he
asked.

  “She’s doing fine, so is the baby. They’re keeping her overnight. I think Drake is doing worse than she is. I highly doubt she’ll be allowed to walk for the duration of her pregnancy if Drake has anything to say about it.” Lydia laughed.

  Aiden shook his head. Only a woman would be able to laugh at something that had been so dire just hours ago.

  “Seriously, though,” Clint jumped in. “They say with the right care their little girl will go full term.”

  “That’s really good news,” Aiden said sincerely.

  “What’s going on with Evie?” Lydia asked.

  Aiden balked at the idea of telling a non-military person, and a woman, what was going on. Lydia must have sensed it.

  “Aiden, I’m a big girl, who has been held and tortured by drug dealers. I’m already imagining the worst. Tell me.”

  “We have less than twenty-eight hours before they say they’ll begin cutting her to prove they’re serious. We have to pinpoint her location and go in. I don’t believe that they’ll release her even if we find and turn over the passports.”

  “Good, don’t trust the motherfuckers,” Lydia said vehemently. “How will you find her?”

  “You’re my ace in the hole. I need to get them to turn on Evie’s phone again, and you need to trace it fast. Then Gray, Blake, Jim, and I are going to go in and take her back.”

  “How are you going to get them to turn on the phone?” Clint asked.

  “We’ve got to convince them to send another video before they get to the torture part.”

  “Do you have an idea?” Dexter asked.

  “Yeah. Can any of you plant a story that there was a Caucasian woman found dead? That will allow us to demand proof of life.”

  Aiden listened as the three of them discussed ideas on how to upload stories onto the internet. It got gruesome as Clint searched for pictures that they could use. Lydia found a friend that was able to get the story translated into Turkish.

  “Give us two hours, and it will be all over Turkey,” Clint promised.

  “Perfect.”

  “Then I’ll send an email from Nathan’s phone demanding proof of life.” Aiden prayed they wouldn’t hurt Evie in the process.

  “Expect a call from Drake,” Lydia warned.

  Aiden called Jim on his burner phone.

  “Where are you?”

  “Who is this?”

  “This is Aiden O’Malley. I’m in Antakya, at the Anemon Hotel. How far away are you?” He heard some muffled talking, then Blake was on the line.

  “We’ll be there in an hour and a half.”

  “Make it an hour.” Aiden hung up.

  He looked down at his watch. At his calculations, the men should show up about the same time Gray returned to the room, which would dovetail with the techie’s story plant.

  He picked up his own cell phone that had vibrated when he had called Jim. He saw Drake’s name and called him back.

  “Why the fuck didn’t you answer?” Drake immediately demanded.

  “I was talking to Jim.”

  “You mean he finally deigned to pick up his phone? How fucking nice of him. You’re going to kill the motherfucker, aren’t you?”

  Aiden tamped down the fury he’d been feeling as he’d talked to Jim Sellers. There was no point in letting Drake reignite it, he needed to stay focus and use all available resources to rescue Evie.

  “I’m going to take care of that problem after we rescue your sister.”

  “Clint told me about your plan. It sounds slicker than snot,” Drake praised.

  Please, Jesus, let it work.

  “I hope so. How is Karen? The baby?”

  “They’re fine. You call me the second you have Evie. The second! You don’t fuck this up.”

  “I won’t.”

  The line went dead.

  Aiden grinned wryly.

  Now was one of the hardest parts of any mission...the waiting.

  Aiden sat down in the chair next to the window and peered out, but he found himself reliving his time with Evie. God, she was amazing. Breathtaking. A pain in the ass. He smiled as got lost in his thoughts.

  ***

  Flashback, Tennessee, Three Months Ago

  The room smelled fresh and clean from the fabric softener, but Evie’s alluring scent permeated the air as well.

  “Need help?” Aiden asked.

  “Are you offering to fold clothes?” she asked. Her surprise was obvious.

  He picked up the top sheet and handed her a corner. He grinned at her. “Trenda told me that you were down here.”

  “I’m more than capable of doing the laundry by myself.”

  “Never thought you couldn’t, Kitten.”

  “Then why are you here?” She snagged his corner and continued to fold the pale green sheet.

  “Just here to help and keep you company. Maybe get a couple of answers.”

  “Shouldn’t you be monitoring the alarm system or something?”

  He fished a remote out of his pocket. “I’ve got everything I need right here. Now, why are you so prickly about letting somebody help you?”

  “It’s not the help, it’s the questions.”

  He bent and picked up the basket of clean clothes and put it on the dryer. “Here, I’ll fold these clothes, that should make the questions painless.”

  “Stop! Those are the unmentionables.”

  Aiden laughed and watched Evie blush. “Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say unmentionables outside of a movie. That’s adorable.”

  She shoved the rest of the sheets at him. “Here, fold these. I’ll fold the underwear. Now, what are your questions?”

  He paused.

  “Just spit it out already. I’m not going to bite,” she growled at him.

  “Kitten, I wouldn’t object if you did,” he said with a slow grin.

  Evie’s blush deepened, and Aiden grinned wider. He loved how her porcelain skin gave her away.

  “I don’t know any more about why Dad’s after Piper than what we discussed at dinner last night.”

  “I’m not asking about that.”

  “You want to know about Drake? Hell, big brother has been out of my life for years. Since you and he work on the SEAL teams together, you know more about him than I do.”

  “Don’t want to know anything more about your brother.”

  He watched as she shuffled her lavender bikini panties to the bottom of the basket. He raised his eyebrow, to show that he had caught her.

  “Dammit, you weren’t supposed to see that,” she huffed.

  “Is lavender your favorite color? I would think so, since it’s your middle name.”

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  “Language. You don’t want to end up owing Bella more money,” Aiden admonished.

  “Just tell me what you want to know.”

  She was so tiny, so beautiful, so fierce. “How long have you been the family guardian?”

  Evie hesitated mid-fold. Then she let her dark curls fall over her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she mumbled.

  He tucked her hair behind her ear, then lifted her chin so that they were looking at one another.

  “I want to know how long you’ve been looking out for every one of your sisters.”

  “Seriously. I don’t,” she protested.

  “I call bullshit. Piper told me how you’re just like Drake, funneling money to everyone. That’s why you live at the hotel and are basically working sixty hours a week, and taking on as many side jobs as possible. She also explained that when Maddie’s boyfriend wouldn’t leave her alone, you went up to school and had words with him, and suddenly he stopped bothering her.”

  “Piper sure does talk a lot.”

  “So, tell me how long you’ve been the family protector.”

  “Seriously, I just help out occasionally. Mostly I mind my own business.”

  “I’ve known you for three days, and I know that to be the biggest lie
I’ve heard in two years. You never stay out of anybody’s business. You are what my grandmother O’Malley would have called a buttinsky.”

  “Well, thank you for nothing!” Evie wrenched her chin away from his grip.

  Aiden’s arms came around her in a soft hug.

  “I meant that as a compliment.”

  “Sure didn’t sound like one.”

  He considered her, part of him wanted to pick her up and put her on the dryer so that they would be eye to eye, but he didn’t want to use his strength when sparring with her. No, he would continue to pit his will against hers.

  He dipped his forehead against hers and their breath mingled. “It was a compliment, Kitten. Your loyalty is a turn on. It’s scary as hell. How did you get Maddie’s boyfriend to back off?”

  Her eyes skidded away from his.

  “Eyes, Baby.”

  She looked back at him. “A bat,” she said softly.

  It took him a moment to process what she’d said.

  “Dammit, you used a bat to threaten the bastard?”

  “I didn’t threaten him. I hit him with it. I broke his wrist.”

  “Dammit, Eva, that’s assault, you could have ended up in jail.”

  “Maddie had a black eye! I told him next time I would break both his knees. The motherfucker believed me.”

  “Jesus. You’re not even five feet tall.”

  “I’m five foot one!”

  “You could have been hurt. Hell, he’d already hit Maddie.”

  “I took him by surprise, and I had a bat. I also took pepper spray with me. I was covered.”

  Aiden shuddered. The woman had no fear. He still remembered how she came at him with nothing but a mop.

  “Don’t ever do something like that again.”

  “Who died and made you the boss of me?” Evie demanded as she struggled to get out of his arms.

  All of Aiden’s good intentions went out the window. He held her in place and slanted his mouth over hers.

  Fire ignited.

  Evie gripped the front of his shirt, and he clasped the back of her delicate neck, massaging her straining muscles as she arched closer. Her lips parted. Their kiss turned wet and wild.

  Aiden felt pinpricks in his scalp at the same time Evie nipped at his tongue. His eyes slammed open, and he saw her flushed face. In no way was she fighting, no, his hellcat was as turned on as he was. He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. No woman had ever caught fire like Eva Avery.