Chasing Fortune (Stealth Ops Book 8)

by Brittney Sahin

  “I think it’s best if we stay here.” There, she said it. She turned and set a palm to his face and let go of a deep, shaky breath. “I trust him, well, I’m trying to, which I know sounds strange. But I think we’ve been brought here together for a reason, and so, we should stay together.”

  Chris squeezed the back of his neck, moving out of her reach, and she allowed her hand to fall to her side. “He’s going to want to use you as bait. Correction, he’s going to want to use you as bait again.”

  “And he could have let the Trott brothers pass us off to The Italian, but he decided to rescue us instead. Not take the chance.” Her stomach twisted, nerves starting to get the best of her. “I don’t deserve your trust in my choices given we’re in this mess because I didn’t open up to you sooner, but I’m going to ask for it anyway.”

  Chris studied her for a few seconds. Brows drawn. Conflict in his blue eyes. Then his shoulders sloped the tiniest of a fraction, and he stepped back and turned away. “Carter,” he called out.

  Carter headed toward Chris, two of his men cautiously following behind.

  “Rory wants to give this a chance, but it’ll be up to my team whether they’re joining us or not,” Chris said, his tone rough and gritty. And it must have taken all of his strength to say those words.

  Joining us? So, Chris was with her regardless . . .

  Carter peered at Rory, and she saw the look of thanks in his dark eyes. “Good.” He pointed in the direction of the dining area where they’d sat last night. “My staff will serve breakfast. You all eat while I make a few calls. We’ll meet afterward, and then we’ll talk.”

  “My people will be present at our meeting,” Luke said, coming up next to Chris, standing tall, a dominating force.

  “Fine. We’ll be sure to grab extra chairs.” Carter’s tone was casual, almost joking, which took Rory by surprise. Humor and this man would be a good combo if he tried it a bit more often.

  “We don’t want to eat your breakfast,” Finn remarked, and Rory turned to see him coming up alongside Luke. “I’d prefer not to get poisoned.”

  “It’s safe,” Rory said softly. Well, it had been last night.

  “Eat. Don’t eat. I don’t care.” Carter turned, then tossed a look back over his shoulder toward where they stood. “Was it your men?”

  “Our men?” Chris asked.

  Carter offered his profile and tucked his hands into his sweatpants pockets. He was also shirtless like Chris, his ink on display. “Was it your men who retrieved Alvin Santiago in El Salvador, the man who Rory offered up to the CIA?”

  Luke stepped forward, a hand in the air. “How the hell—”

  “Santiago. He told me the men who took him weren’t CIA or typical military. I was just curious.” Carter shrugged.

  “You know,” Rory began, turning into Chris’s arms once Carter had left, “part of me wishes we could go back to telling lies like we did this morning in bed,” she whispered, the weight of the world and their problems feeling a bit too heavy right now.

  Chris gently held her biceps. “We’ll get through this, and we’ll get a million more moments after this to share, and none of them will have to be lies.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Rory knelt on the gray stone pavers and wrapped her arms around Bear. She’d grown attached to him after their week together. When she leaned back to find Bear’s eyes, he ran his tongue up her cheek, leaving a trail of slobber behind.

  “Got her nice and good, didn’t ya, boy?” Chris crouched and scratched Bear behind the ears, and Bear loved every second of the attention.

  Jessica had arrived with Bear only a minute or two ago. Once the decision was made that it was safe, her husband had picked her up where she’d been waiting a mile away.

  “Still can’t believe they all showed up.” Rory peeked at Chris as they both rose. He’d changed into a new pair of darker denim jeans and a black, short-sleeved shirt he’d grabbed from the original guest room he’d been locked up in. And he had on his Red Sox ball cap A.J. had given him, the bill facing backward.

  A.J. said he’d grabbed it from Chris’s house in case Bear would need to try and track Chris’s scent.

  “Of course, we all came,” A.J. said, catching her by surprise since she hadn’t realized he was behind her. “We weren’t about to lose anyone else.”

  Rory reached for a mug on the table in the outdoor dining area, the very spot where she’d learned Jolie was Rebecca, and poured herself a cup of java, not sharing their concerns about poison.

  A.J. scrutinized her coffee with narrowed eyes as if toying with the idea of stealing her cup and tossing it or possibly drinking it himself. “How’d you sleep?”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but then realized the question was for Roman, who was now at her six.

  “Harper wouldn’t let me sleep on the floor, so I slept horribly.” Yeah, Roman’s words made absolutely no sense unless . . .

  Ohhhh. Was sleeping next to Harper hard because she made him hard? And did she really just think those thoughts? Rory took a big gulp of coffee, desperate for her brain to wake up. She’d taken a five-minute shower and changed into jeans and a white, short-sleeved tee before joining everyone for a breakfast no one had any intention of eating.

  Chris had stolen a few minutes of that shower to “relax” her, which had resulted in her brain becoming mush. And maybe she’d purposefully stripped out of her clothes and let her hips sway with extra emphasis while padding to the shower in front of him.

  She’d looked over her shoulder to find him tossing his clothes like they were on fire, then heading for her with decisive steps. He’d dropped to his knees on the tiled floor in front of her, parted her thighs with his strong hands, and then proceeded to relax her with his tongue.

  Her shower had been mostly spent having an incredible orgasm while bucking wildly against his mouth beneath the spray.

  She owed him some relaxation time later, too.

  Maybe they were insane for having those kinds of moments given everything that had gone down, or maybe they were the perfect amount of crazy for each other.

  They both loved thrills and action. And shouldn’t intense, dramatic moments in life be interspersed with love and passion?

  Chills raced over her skin and made her shiver as she remembered watching the water sluice down his muscular frame while his tongue slid up and down her seam this morning. Chris must’ve read her thoughts because when she looked his way, the smirk on his face said it all. Dirty, dirty boy. “We need to focus,” she mouthed to him, assuming his thoughts were where hers had gone.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Chris mouthed right back, then wet his lips, making her body flare with desire once again.

  What you deserve is payback. At some point, when she finally got her mouth around him, she’d be merciless.

  Chris maneuvered his way between where Roman and A.J. stood and poured himself a cup of coffee. Rory chuckled as the rest of the team fell in line, obviously deciding their need for coffee was worth taking the chance of being poisoned.

  Chris stood off to the side of the table near Rory and set a hand to the small of her back, his large palm dangerously close to curving over her ass. “Bad guys. How can I think of bad guys when all I can think about is kissing your sweet—”

  “We’re crazy,” she whispered, cutting him off.

  “For each other, yeah.” He peeked at her and smiled. “Too cheesy?”

  “Maybe a little bit.” But if he was cheesy, so was she because she’d thought the same thing seconds ago.

  Rory pulled her focus from Chris when Finn approached them. “This home is a little too ‘say hello to my little friend,’ don’t you think?” he asked in an accent, making a laughable impression of Al Pacino.

  Rory viewed the three-story home, where two armed guards looked down at them from a second-floor balcony. The main difference between this home and the one in the movie was the pool was on the other side of the house instead of directly below
the balcony. “Yeah, total Scarface vibe, for sure.”

  Finn grinned and looked to Chris. “She’s a keeper. And speaking of houses, what gives? Didn’t Carter leave the Agency? How is he pulling this off?” he asked, sweeping his hand toward the estate.

  “Well, first of all, it’s probably rented,” Rory answered for Chris. “But according to Harper, he and his wife inherited money, and they’re ‘Kennedy rich,’ which would make this just another Tuesday for him,” she said, using her fingers for the air quotes.

  Finn scratched the back of his head as if a stretch of unease had suddenly filled him, a contrast to the playful moment just before. “I’m, uh, really sorry it took us so long to get to you.” Humor to concern in a blink of an eye. These guys had switches they were able to flip so quickly. She supposed she could relate given her line of work before she’d changed gears to train canines.

  And wow, her transition to training had resulted in her being with one of the men who helped take down Alvin Santiago. What would have happened had she not said yes to training Bear? Would the bad guys have found her in New Orleans? She would have been all alone in this, and as bad as she felt for getting Chris and the others involved, it appeared they were together for a reason, and somehow, Elaina had known that needed to happen.

  “It’s only Monday, and we’re a long way from D.C. I’d say you found us incredibly fast,” Rory exclaimed when Chris had yet to speak. He was probably beating himself up that they were grabbed twice that weekend. Technically three times if she included Carter. But it was insane for Chris to berate himself for any of it.

  “And this genius, well, she’s the reason we found you,” Finn said after clearing his throat, pointing to Jessica heading their way.

  Jessica smiled and pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, her blonde hair framing her face. She looked part CIA, part mom of twins, standing in jeans and a long-sleeved, white shirt. A faded stain on her shirt pocket as if spit-up had been strategically placed by her twins in the spot one too many times. “There are some surveillance photos I’d like to show you two before Carter comes out here.”

  “Of course,” Rory replied and followed Jessica away from the dining area.

  “These are from the hotel security cams.” Jessica handed her phone to Rory. “Recognize anyone?”

  Chris looked on as Rory slowly swiped through the images.

  “She looks familiar.” Rory paused on a brunette and showed the photo to Jessica.

  “She led us to the island, actually,” Jessica replied.

  “There weren’t any women on the yacht, though,” Chris noted. “But I remember that woman having a word with Cutter while we were talking to him at the gala.”

  “She was also seen in the driver’s seat of an ambulance, the one that the three fake firefighters loaded you all into Friday night,” Jessica explained. So, Harper’s theory had been correct. “Then, with my facial recognition software, I located her here yesterday on the island, and we hopped the first flight down once we made sure our families were protected. That woman and two men chartered a boat yesterday afternoon. But then we overheard an interesting conversation from a fisherman at the port about two ‘hot women’ and two ‘studs’ that had been shipwrecked, who his boss sold for a fortune.”

  Yeah, that wasn’t a real fisherman.

  “We pushed for information,” Jessica went on, “and we got Carter’s name as the buyer. After, we did some digging and finally found your location early this morning.”

  Impressive. “And more proof Andrew’s involved.”

  “Cutter’s on a salvage vessel thirty minutes from the coast searching for some new treasure find,” Jessica said. “He also arrived yesterday. We haven’t made contact because we learned of your whereabouts, and you guys were the priority.”

  Andrew’s that close? She swiped through a few more photos before landing on the guy with the green mamba neck tattoo and a scar resembling a seven near his eye. “That’s Jensen Fitzpatrick.” She showed Jessica the image. “He was on the yacht, and now he’s dead. But his cousin, Danny, we need to find him.” She quickly explained Danny’s involvement, along with Jensen’s, while she checked the rest of Jessica’s photos.

  “I’ll see what I can pull up on him. Thankfully, we’re not in a Mission Impossible film where people can just buy themselves a whole new face. Plastic surgery might fool some facial recognition software programs, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Jessica said with a grin. “Carter was probably working with old tech from the Agency when he ran Danny’s face.”

  Rory was relieved to hear that, but why would a private security company have better software than the CIA? She opted not to push that topic right now, especially since it sounded as though Jessica might be close to finding the answers they needed. “Carter has people looking for the crew originally set to pick us up from the Trott brothers last night. He thinks his people will find them today. I assume that’s the crew who chartered a boat yesterday and led you down here.”

  “We can have our guys help,” Chris noted, probably not trusting Carter to handle it alone.

  Rory turned to see Carter striding toward them down the stone path from the house. His dog, Dallas, trotted at his side. Carter was in a different look today. Khaki linen pants and a blue linen button-down shirt. Brown loafers for shoes. Maybe his mood would also be a reflection of his casual, beachy outfit.

  Bear spotted Dallas, and he started for him with excitement, but Dallas deferred to his master for orders. I need more time with Bear, so it would seem. He didn’t check with Chris or me. They were a far cry away from the months of training it’d typically take to turn him into a military working dog, but he was a talented and intelligent animal.

  Carter issued a command, surprisingly giving Dallas permission to run off and play with Bear.

  The two dogs jumped toward each other in excitement as if they knew each other all of their lives, and one of Carter’s men followed them and tossed a ball into the air out in the grassy open space beyond the dining area.

  Asher strode toward Jessica and set a hand to her back. “We’re going to sweep the property.” His gaze went to Carter, his jaw noticeably clenching. “You can fill us in after.” Asher corralled a few of the guys: Liam, Owen, Knox, and Finn, and they all fanned out.

  Rory needed to chat with Liam later to check on Elaina. She assumed he’d called her to let her know everyone was safe, though. A.J. had called Jesse for her since she wasn’t ready to fess up to her brother about the truth yet.

  Carter stopped a few feet away from Rory and motioned them toward the dining area. “Shall we?”

  Rory hesitantly nodded and headed for the table. She sat between A.J. and Chris, opposite of Harper, Roman, and Jessica. Wyatt and Luke remained standing a few feet away from the head of the table, where Carter took a seat like last night.

  “Where would you like me to begin?” Carter asked, sending the question Luke’s way as if realizing he was the man in charge.

  Luke folded his muscular arms across his chest. “From the beginning.”

  Carter poured himself a cup of coffee, his eyes moving to Rory, which she interpreted as a request she start.

  Gee, thanks. She looked toward Luke and slowly peeled back the story, layer by layer. Carter added a few details here and there, but he must have assumed there’d be a better chance that Luke would sign on to help if their account of what happened came mostly from her.

  “You put Rory’s life on the line. My people’s lives,” Luke said when Rory and Carter finished sharing. “How do I know you won’t do it again? How can I trust you?”

  Carter stood and faced Luke. “Do you have a wife?”

  Rory checked Luke’s hands. He must have taken off his ring for operations, which was smart. Luke didn’t respond, which didn’t surprise her.

  “Assuming you’re married,” Carter began with a lift of his chin, “don’t tell me you wouldn’t do anything and everything in your power to bring her killers t
o justice.”

  “I don’t put innocent lives in danger,” Luke seethed, his blue eyes focused intently on Carter. “I’d cross most any line to save her, but if she were already gone, I wouldn’t do the same merely for the sake of revenge.”

  “You say that now, but I hope to hell you never have to find out that you may be lying to yourself.” Carter angled his head, waiting for Luke to challenge his words, but Luke took two steps back as if he didn’t trust himself not to reach out and strangle the guy.

  There was a power play going on between the two men, and Rory could feel it. She’d wager a guess everyone at the table felt it.

  “If my team agrees, we play by our rules, not yours,” Luke said after meeting Chris’s eyes for a brief moment. “Understood?”

  “Fine.” Carter gripped the back of his chair and peered at Jessica, then Harper.

  “If anyone can find The Italian’s whereabouts, and figure out who he is, it’s these ladies,” A.J. joined the conversation, speaking for the first time.

  Maybe A.J. was right. If Rory had Jessica and Harper’s help, along with whatever information Carter had on The Italian, they could finally take the bastard down. And she could stop looking over her shoulder and live her life. The new life she now realized she desperately wanted with Chris.

  “We’ll center our focus on your wife,” Jessica began. “And, Rory, if you could provide us with everything you have on The Italian, and give us that list of twenty-five, that would be helpful.”

  “Of course.” Rory thought back to her conversation with A.J. last week in Virginia. That open door A.J. had said she needed to shut hadn’t been about Cutter at all, had it? It was about The Italian—she just didn’t know it at the time.

  “My men should find the second crew sent after Rory soon,” Carter spoke up. “I doubt they’ll know The Italian’s identity, though.”

  “And Andrew Cutter, are we picking him up as well?” Jessica asked.