Shelter in the Tropics

by Cara Lockwood

  “At some point, you’re going to have to let someone in,” Carol said.

  “I’ve got you. And Mark. Avery and Grace.”

  “Someone besides us. We can’t be all of what you need.” Carol let her hands drop from Cate’s shoulders. Part of her knew her friend was right, and yet the other part was scared blind. How could she trust a near stranger with that secret? How could she trust anyone?

  “You know Rick has that reward. How can I...I mean, how could anyone turn that down?” The last Cate had heard, Rick offered a ten-million-dollar reward for anyone who could find her. One million for a simple lead on her whereabouts. In a world where money talked, Rick shouted. Loudly. Who could keep a secret when there was that kind of money at stake?

  “Money isn’t everything.” Carol patted Cate’s arm. “And don’t worry about Avery. He’s fast asleep on my sofa. Mark or I will get him to school in the morning.” She yawned. “Probably Mark! I’m going to go to bed. I’m glad you had fun.” She grinned.

  “I didn’t say I had fun.” Cate crossed her arms.

  Carol just chuckled. “You didn’t have to.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CATE WOKE UP feeling a little like the whole evening might have been a dream. Had she really let Tack touch her...everywhere? She got up, threw on a sundress and was thankful that Carol had gotten Avery off to preschool that morning, wondering whether she’d see Tack that morning, wondering if it would be awkward... After all, maybe he’d taken one look at her old stretch marks on her lower abdomen and thought, No, thank you! Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to...get naked with her? She loved what he did to her, and yet she wondered why he wasn’t taking any pleasure for himself? Tack puzzled her.

  And part of her wondered what he’d thought when he’d gone back to his room and found it empty. Was he disappointed? Relieved? Did she want to know if it was the latter? She couldn’t concentrate on anything all morning, her focus worse than a toddler’s as she headed down to the front desk to relieve Mark from night-desk duty.

  “About time,” he grumbled when Cate arrived at five past nine. “Carol’s already called three times, just so you know.”

  “Did she tell you about...” Cate suddenly felt so incredibly embarrassed. Having Carol celebrating her reentry into the world of sex-having adults wasn’t exactly the kind of thing she’d like to share with Mark.

  “Yes, she did.” Mark eyed Cate with some degree of judgment.

  “Well, I...”

  Mark held up a hand like a crossing guard. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me details. Carol told me enough.” He rolled his eyes and made a sour face as if reliving an unpleasant moment. “I don’t want to know any more.”

  Cate blushed pink. “I...I...” She took her seat, arranging her long skirt around her and studying it a bit too long to avoid eye contact with Mark.

  “You’re a grown woman. It’s none of my business. Of our business, and that’s what I told Carol.” Mark picked up his clipboard. “Just be careful, okay?”

  Cate nodded. “I’m trying to be.”

  Mark stopped at the edge of the check-in desk and leaned one elbow on the counter. “What do we know about this guy?” Mark sounded protective and territorial, like a dad.

  Cate shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Mark grimaced. “I need to run that check like I promised. I’ll have some of my people check into him, okay? I’ll get the scoop for you. He might be a felon. You never know.”

  “That would be just my luck.” Cate sighed.

  “I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, we need another one of those parties like last night’s. We brought in more than enough to pay the mortgage this month.”

  “Seriously?”

  Cate rolled her eyes. She didn’t want a repeat of last night.

  “Seriously. Better get the mai tais ready for the next one.”

  “Ugh,” Cate groaned, but Mark just laughed as he made his way to the elevators. Cate glanced out the window to the pool and saw Paulo, their best maintenance worker, cleaning up the broken chairs and the mess the college kids left. He had two enormous trash cans full of beer bottles and was working on filling a third. Bottles didn’t lie; the kids did turn out their pockets the night before. And would probably do so again the next weekend, and as long as the steady stream of spring breakers came through. Was this their answer for saving the resort?

  Cate shuddered at the thought.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Tack had somehow managed to sneak up on her, and she whirled around, shocked to find the six-foot-four marine hovering near her shoulder. How did he move so quietly? Like a damn panther.

  “Where’d you come from?” she squealed in surprise.

  “Iowa, originally,” he answered, and grinned. “By the way, I believe you left this in my room last night?” He held up her missing left flip-flop, and Cate felt her cheeks turn a shade redder than a tomato.

  “Oh, uh... Yes.” She grabbed the shoe from his hand and stashed it on her lap.

  “I found it in the bed, under the covers.” He grinned that beautiful, sexy smile, and Cate felt her insides turning to melted goo. Why’d he have to be so damn gorgeous? It would be easier to tell the man no if he had some hideous flaw. But he had none. He leaned closer to her, dipping his head so it was close to her ear. “I wish you had stayed in my bed last night.”

  His words sent a shiver of delight down her spine. She wished that, too. God, did she!

  “You disappeared.” She couldn’t quite keep the accusation out of her voice. After all, she had woken up to an empty room.

  “I went in search of a late-night snack. Thought you might be hungry, too, after all that...work.” He let the word linger between them, his meaning clear. He smiled once more, and she thought it was the most enjoyable “work” she’d had in quite a long time. “Then, imagine my surprise when I come back and find you’ve made a run for it.”

  “I didn’t run.” She did, actually.

  Tack just shook his head. Then his attention seemed to focus on a couple walking down by the pool. He studied them a moment before turning back to her.

  “Well, maybe next time I’ll have to make sure to keep my eyes on you.” The way he was looking at her made Cate want that very much.

  She was about to tell him they ought to skip the formalities and just go to his room right now, but the phone she carried in her back pocket rang. She pulled it out and checked the number.

  Avery’s preschool.

  “I’ve got to take this,” she told Tack. She pressed the phone against her ear. “Hello?”

  “Hi. Ms. Dalton?” a worried-sounding voice said from the other end.

  “Yes.” Cate swallowed the fear that suddenly threatened to close her throat. “Is Avery okay?”

  “He’s...” The woman paused. “He’s...uh...missing.”

  “What do you mean he’s missing?” Cate’s voice went up an octave. Tack, now fully invested in the conversation, stepped closer to her.

  “We believe he took an unsanctioned walk away from the playground, and we currently have several teachers looking for him.”

  “When did he go missing?”

  “About a half hour ago.”

  “A half hour?” Cate spat, her insides suddenly turning to ice. Thirty minutes was an eternity. She knew Avery liked to play spontaneous games of hide-and-seek, just like on the hotel grounds the other day, but for thirty minutes? She glanced at Tack, whose face looked solemn. “Did you check any trees on the property? He likes to hide in trees.”

  “We’ll do that, yes, and maybe you should...”

  Cate didn’t want to let her finish her sentence. “I’m coming. I’m coming right now.” She clicked off her phone and glanced at Tack.

  “I’m driving,” he said in a voice that left n
o room for argument.

  * * *

  TACK GRIPPED THE steering wheel of one of the hotel’s vans and glanced at Cate, who looked pale and uneasy, in the passenger seat. Anxiously, she nibbled at the end of her index finger, a jittery habit he thought she probably wasn’t even aware she did. All he could think of was how royally he’d screwed up. What if Mr. Allen’s new man took Avery? What if he was too late?

  He’d spent most of the night trying to figure out whether any planes had landed on the island, and the rest of it watching the hotel lobby for any signs of strangers. He’d been so certain Cate was the target, he hadn’t even thought the boy would be in danger. Besides, his employer never made a move without thinking about a hundred steps in advance, so Tack just didn’t think a snatch and grab would be on the menu.

  “The preschool is right downtown, not too far from the grocery store. Do you know that street?” Cate asked. “If you go left here...”

  He turned, even though he already knew where to head. The island was small; he’d remembered passing the grocery store on the way in.

  “Between the tiki bar and the grocery, right?” he asked and she nodded. “I think I know it.”

  Tack’s mind spun as he drove, trying to figure out all the angles. He wasn’t sure he could. Maybe he ought to tell her the truth now. Lay it all out there, let the chips fall where they may. Then she’d have all the information. She’d hate him, but she’d have the information she needed to make the decision about next steps.

  If they found the boy safely, then Tack had no doubt Cate would run. If she knew her ex was this close to finding her, she’d run. What choice did she have?

  “You think he’s okay?” Her voice broke his concentration on the road. He glanced over at her, managing to notice that she looked stunning in that sundress she wore, a faded gray that somehow made her eyes look even greener. She swiped a bit of hair from her face, and he noticed how perfect her skin was without makeup, even in this light. He felt guilty for noticing that at a time like this, but then again, he was just a man. And she was a damn fine woman. He couldn’t help but notice.

  “I hope so,” he said noncommittally, wishing he could provide more comfort. But he’d lied to her enough. He thought a few white lies now just added insult to injury.

  Cate reached out and touched Tack’s forearm. He nearly jumped from the contact.

  “Thank you,” she said, her eyes moist and her voice trembling a little with emotion. “I...I just appreciate you coming. You didn’t have to, but it means a lot to me.”

  Tack felt a sharp prick of guilt, like a sour taste in his mouth. Of course I had to. I might be the one who caused this.

  But he couldn’t say that, could he? Not now. Not when they didn’t know if Allen had a hand in this.

  “Avery likes to wander off,” Cate said, almost as if trying to convince herself there was no foul play. “But he’s never left preschool before.”

  “Why weren’t they watching him?”

  Cate shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  They arrived at the small school, driving through the parking lot of the aquarium next door. The palm trees provided ample shade as they dipped into an empty parking spot. Cate sprang from the van, hardly waiting for Tack to turn off the ignition. She was through the glass double doors as Tack trotted to catch up with her. An iguana scurried out of his path as he strode through the doors. Tack wondered if being here at the school was a waste of time. Maybe he ought to take that van and head straight to the airport. If this was a kidnapping, if Mr. Allen intended to swipe his son, that’s where they would be.

  Cate was already talking to the distraught teacher who’d lost Avery. She was a plump woman with silver-gray hair woven into a French braid. She twisted her hands and looked visibly upset.

  “We normally do a head count twice, and I don’t know how we missed him on the way in,” she said. “Well, I do think I know what happened. The children were lined up, but we were missing one. Avery’s friend, Pete. He went to look for him, I think, but I didn’t realize he had gone. And now, with Pete back in line...” The teacher bit her lip. “I didn’t count again. That was my fault.”

  “Are you sure that’s the last place you saw him? In the playground?” Cate asked.

  “Yes. He was on the swings.”

  Tack glanced at the swing set, which happened to be near the small wooden fence that surrounded the little play area. A sidewalk lay on the other side, and lush, pink tropical flowers bloomed there. The fence was low enough that an adult could’ve reached over and helped little Avery over it.

  “Did you see any strangers near the playground? Any adults?” Tack launched the question, wanting to get to the heart of the matter as fast as he could. His gut told him this woman probably had no idea what had happened or any clues that could help them.

  Cate, however, looked stricken at the very mention of a stranger, her thoughts obviously going to the darkest places imaginable. Tack hated to scare her, but he needed information. A description of the stranger. A car. He just didn’t believe that this time Avery had wandered off. He knew he was jumping to conclusions without a lot of evidence, but he had a very strong feeling he was right. It was too much of a coincidence that Mr. Allen undermined him by sending a second detective and that Avery went missing the same day the scout was supposed to arrive.

  “I don’t think so,” the teacher said, frowning. “But... Wait... There was a delivery truck parked near there. A brown one.”

  “Did you see the delivery driver? Was he in uniform?”

  “I don’t remember seeing him,” the teacher said. “Just the truck.”

  Tack was almost positive somehow that the delivery truck was the key. He needed to get to the airport. To the cargo section. He had a hunch the boy would be there.

  “Can we help you look?” Cate asked, biting her fingernail and looking as if she was going to have a nervous breakdown. Her concern for Avery was written all over her face. Tack hated that he’d likely caused that worry. Why hadn’t he stayed at the airport last night? He should have. He thought monitoring the resort would’ve been enough. But he hadn’t counted on Avery being a target. The old Tack would have. He was losing his edge.

  “Absolutely,” the teacher said. “Let me just call the other aides that are out looking and see where we should focus our attention.” The teacher ducked back into her office.

  Tack knew he needed to act. Time was running out.

  “Cate, I’ll be back,” Tack said, knowing he had to get to the airport, and he had to do it now.

  Cate whirled. “Where are you going?”

  Tack opened his mouth to lie. He wanted to keep Cate out of it. He did. But he also knew it wasn’t fair to her to keep her in the dark. Not about this.

  “I’m going to the airport,” he said.

  “You think...Avery was taken?” Cate looked inconsolable now, all her worst fears playing out in the panic he saw in her eyes.

  Please don’t ask me how I know this. Tack wasn’t sure he’d be able to lie. Not now.

  “I think that’s where we need to look,” he said, turning to leave, keys in hand. “You stay here. I’ll go.”

  “Absolutely not,” she said, grabbing his elbow. “You’re not going without me.”

  “Cate...” He wanted to tell her to stay. Her coming would just make things worse, would play right into Rick Allen’s hands. She’d be walking into more trouble than she knew. “You shouldn’t go. It’s a long shot. I just want to—”

  “You think my son’s been kidnapped and you want me to stay here?” Cate tightened her grip on his elbow. “I’m his mother.”

  “Okay,” Tack said, wondering when the next question would come, when she’d ask him why he suspected her boy might be at the airport. He knew he should tell her. In that moment, he knew it was the time to le
t her know. And yet fear strangled him. Once she knows, she’ll hate me forever. Any chance I’d have with her will be gone.

  So, he let the moment pass. Either way, he knew he’d regret it. Telling her or not telling her, he couldn’t win.

  “Let’s go then,” he said as they both darted to the van. “Can you look up flights to the mainland? I’ll drive.”

  Cate pulled out her phone and anxiously fiddled with her skirt as Tack fired up the engine. “Looks like the next flight out is in an hour. There was one before that, but it was at six in the morning. No private planes that I know of.”

  Tack knew that six would’ve been too early. Avery had been missing only thirty minutes, anyhow, at least that the teachers knew.

  “Thank God for this being a small island,” he said. Small airport, fewer flights. “We have a chance, then, to catch them.”

  Tack turned onto the narrow, two-lane costal highway and quickly passed a slow-moving truck filled with bananas.

  “Tack,” she began, voice anxious. “There’s something you should know.”

  Tack glanced at Cate. Did she know already? Had she guessed his secret?

  “What is it?”

  “I’m...I’m not who you think I am.” Cate bit her bottom lip.

  Neither am I, he wanted to shout. But now was not the time. How could he admit the truth to her now? That he might have upended her whole life? Put her boy in danger?

  He shook his head. No, now was not the time to confess his sins. Or to make his conscience feel better. Now was the time to get Avery back.

  An old hatchback cut out from a driveway in front of them, causing Tack to slam on the brakes and honk. He swerved around the vehicle and hit the gas. He needed to get to the airport.

  “Cate, I know you,” he said. He thought about the kindness he’d seen the last few days, the way she opened herself up to him when she laid in his bed. No, he knew her, probably better than she knew herself.

  “But I haven’t told you the whole truth. About me.”