Ivy's Search

by Kate Cambridge

  He’d dated in high school and college, but the women always seemed shallow, and the attraction was only physical. He’d started to wonder if he was incapable of love, and then as a SEAL, he’d found the perfect environment for him. It was always changing, exciting, challenging, and took he and his team to locations all across the world. It fit him perfectly, he thrived on it, and what woman would want that? That was, until his last tour. They’d lost three men, three incredible soldiers, good men with families—and that was when he realized that he was done. The missions no longer excited him, and he lost his edge, became hyper-focused on keeping the guys healthy, and the stress started to eat him alive.

  It was Ted McKnight, a SEAL, and one of his best friends, who finally told him it was time to get out before it ate him alive. Ted had accepted a position with a private security firm in the US, and once this tour ended, he was out. He’d tried to get Daxon to join him, but he’d known he just needed to take a break. Take a break from medicine, from the SEALS, and maybe live a simple life traveling the US in anonymity.

  That was his plan—and starting his new adventures visiting Blake and Aqua in Burnt River seemed like the perfect beginning—until he overheard Blake and Aqua talking about her friend Kirsten one night, and now the rest was history.

  Grandma Eloise had been right—he had fallen in love at first sight, with a woman he hadn’t yet met, a woman being pursued by some very dangerous and determined men, and he had a feeling he was in for one of the most important missions of his life.

  He felt Ivy snuggle closer and wrap her arm a little tighter around his waist. He placed his left hand over hers and held it tightly against his belly. He would protect her, no matter what it took.

  Chapter 13

  “What was your favorite part of the day?” Aqua asked as Ivy grabbed the marinated chicken from the refrigerator and placed it on a plate.

  “That’s a tough one. The entire day was amazing, from the sunrise, to fishing on Burnt River, to visiting Boone at Triple M Ranch. Boone let us saddle up and ride out to see some of the horses. It’s impossible to choose a favorite – they were all wonderful,” Ivy couldn’t keep the wistful longing from her voice. What would it be like to have more than just one wonderful, normal day in her life?

  “Better days are coming, Ivy, they are. Keep the faith.” But Aqua could tell that Ivy didn’t believe, it, at least not today. She worried at the fear she still glimpsed in her friend’s eyes, and wondered if there were details she wasn’t telling them. She hoped not, because they all knew if she were, it could prove deadly.

  They had a lot to talk about tonight, but for now they would enjoy dinner, wine, and simple conversation about their day.

  Aqua heard the garage door just as Daxon entered the room. “Daxon, can you fire up the grill for me? And Ivy, if you can take the chicken and vegetables out to him, they should require just about the same amount of cooking time.”

  Ivy grabbed the grill baskets filled with veggies, and Daxon took the platter of chicken, opened the slider doors, and they walked through the doors to the deck. It had taken a few days, but there was comfortableness between them now, camaraderie. It was more than Aqua had hoped for, and critical to making this plan work.

  Blake interrupted her thoughts, dropped his medical bag in the entry and swooped Aqua into his arms. She laughed, keeping her wet and dishwater hands open to the sides. “Mmm. He nuzzled into her neck and she giggled as his kisses moved down her neck, his hands at her sides, his thumbs…

  “Blake—Daxon and Ivy are just outside. Behave yourself,” she scolded, her eyes narrowed, but instead of moving away she pushed her hips into his. He pulled her tighter, his eyes darkened, and his hands began to roam. She looked with disdain at the water dripping off her hands, and he growled. “Hmm. We should try this tonight, your hands otherwise occupied while I do a little exploration.”

  A sigh escaped her lips, and then footsteps sounded on the deck. Aqua whirled back toward the sink, and Blake’s hands followed, hugging her waist.

  “Oops, sorry!” Ivy’s eyes widened as she took in Aqua’s flushed face and the smug satisfaction on Blake’s. “Umm, the chicken will be done in about 10. I’ll leave you two alone.”

  “No need, Ivy, you’re f—“

  Blake gently placed one hand over his wife’s mouth, his other staying firmly around her waist. “Sounds good, Ivy, thanks.” He dismissed.

  Ivy gave her friend a ‘good luck with that’ grin, and wheeled back through the sliders, closing them behind her.

  Aqua stomped on Blake’s foot. “Ouch! What was that for?”

  “Don’t you dare embarrass me in front of my friend, Blake Stone,” her eyes narrowed. “Do you hear me?”

  His ear-to-ear grin only served to anger her more. “Oh I love the fire in your eyes, Mrs. Stone, you’re just so sexy when you’re mad. Do you think your friend needs a lesson and the birds and the bees? I highly doubt it,” he said beginning to nibble on her ear. But she refused to give in.

  “Go get washed up for dinner. I have to finish this, and we’ll eat in five.” She pushed him away playfully and turned to pull dishes from the cabinet, setting the table for four.

  * * *

  “Why is it the most simple meals are the best? That was yummy, Aqua, thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me, you and Daxon grilled. Blake, can you and Daxon clean up? I want a few minutes with Ivy.”

  Ivy’s eyes jolted to Aqua’s trying to read what was coming next. Daxon gave a questioning look to Blake, who shrugged his shoulders.

  “You’re sure? I thought we agreed there would be no private conversations and everything would be open.”

  Aqua hesitated. They had agreed to that, but she wasn’t sure Ivy was ready to handle what she had found out today in front of the group.

  “We did agree to that, Aqua, and I’m fine with it. Let’s all clean up; many hands make light work, my mother always said.”

  They resumed their cleanup roles in silence, the usual post-dinner banter missing. After the last dish had been placed in the dishwasher, Ivy grabbed four bottles of water and joined the others in the living room. Their conversation stopped when she entered.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  “Of course not. Come sit and join us.”

  The only seat available was next to Daxon, Ivy had a feeling that was intentional. She looked expectantly at Aqua, but it was Daxon who led, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, that ever-present intensity focused on her.

  “Ivy, Aqua got a call from Chase a few days ago.”

  “You remember him from our Agency days, don’t you, Ivy?”

  “Yes, I remember that you worked closely with him on several of your missions.” She hesitated. “What does Chase have to do with this?” she directed her question to Aqua.

  “He’s working on a case that involves the Russian mafia”, she hesitated, and Ivy jolted upright. “Somehow his contact referenced Sergei Timhailov, and Chase remembered that name from our conversations around your identity.”

  “Please tell me he didn’t mention my name to him.”

  “Of course not, Ivy, Chase is a seasoned operative and would never divulge any information. He did, however, find a way to glean as much information from his contact as possible without raising any flags.”

  “What did he find out? Why am I just hearing about this right now?”

  “We wanted to determine what the risk was before involving you…”

  “So let me get this straight,” she stood and paced, like a caged tiger, “we have agreed that everything is open between us—or maybe that only applies to me? And despite that, the three of you have had this information for days and waited to tell me until now because—“

  It was Daxon’s turn to speak. “Because we have reliable intel that we think we can use, but we can’t determine that, or if our plan will even work without your inside knowledge. Ivy, please, come sit.”

  Her body felt numb, and her breathing s
hallow. She felt like the room was closing in, and then she felt Daxon’s strong arms around her, guiding her back to the couch. She didn’t resist.

  “Here, drink,” he insisted, as he handed her a water bottle. Her hands shook, but she took the bottle and sipped.

  Worry filled Aqua’s eyes, and the three exchanged a glance before Daxon continued. He moved ever so close to Ivy, just enough so she could feel his presence without crowding her. He felt her relax.

  “Ivy,” he sought her eyes and she granted them, “Sergei and three of his men are in the U.S.” Fear blazed through them and he grasped her hands. “They have no way of knowing where you are, from what we can tell, but I do need to ask you a few questions.”

  She nodded.

  “When you were captured them, do you remember if you ever lost consciousness?”

  “I—I did.”

  Aqua’s quick intake of breath brought a look of warning from Daxon, and Blake took her hand and squeezed it. Aqua opened her mouth to say something, but a second look of warning from Daxon stopped her.

  “Tell me about it.” He encouraged.

  She clasped her hands tightly together, and he gently held them, lightly rubbing the area between her thumb and forefinger. She glanced up at him, her eyes filled with sadness, but he didn’t react, he waited expectantly, steady. She took a deep breath and began.

  “When they first abducted me, I felt a stab in the neck and then everything went black. When I woke, I was in a dark room. There were no windows—there was nothing—and I was tied to wall and propped up in the corner. The walls were cold, I think they were concrete. I was there for what felt like days, but I think it was more like hours. It’s—it’s hard to know for sure because I was groggy for a time, and it took several minutes before I remembered what had happened. When I heard a key in the door, I panicked. I didn’t know whether to pretend to be asleep or stay awake, but in the end I decided it wouldn’t take long for them to determine I was faking it so I went with being awake.” She licked her lips and then continued. “The light from the hall blinded me at first, but I could tell there were three men standing there. Then I heard his voice, and I vomited. I turned my head as far away from my body as I could, but my hands and feet were shackled together. He simple said, “Clean it up” and then he left. They sent a woman in, and she cleaned up my vomit. I tried to talk to her in English, then Russian, but she was scared and ignored me. When she left the room, the door was locked, and I think I dozed in and out at that point. For how long, I’m not sure.”

  “Go on,” Daxon prodded.

  Ivy looked away, toward the window, remembering. “When I woke, there was a dish of food beside me, and water. I didn’t dare to drink or eat; I was worried that they had drugged it. Within minutes, I heard a key in the lock, and this time light flooded the room. I shut my eyes, it was excruciating after being in total darkness, but he demanded that I open them and look at him, or threatened that I would lose them. I—I forced them to open. Water steamed from my eyes from the effort, but I kept them open, damn it. He circled the room, paced, as though trying to figure out what to do with me, and then he said, ‘You know why you’re here,’ it was a statement, not a question. I replied with, ‘You’re Sergei Timhailov’ in Russian. I could tell that it surprised him that I knew his language, and then I realized I had probably made a mistake.

  He knelt down in front of me and squeezed my face, hard. His eyes were filled with anger—with evil. I think I felt more afraid in that moment than I had at any other point in my life. I had heard stories about him, about the people he tortured, and I knew in that instant that I would be next.”

  Daxon felt his hands flex, if he ever got his hands on Timhailov, it would be the last time Sergei TImhailov would utter a breath, let alone hurt someone, but he forced those thoughts away to focus on Ivy. “You’re doing great, Ivy. Keep going.”

  She closed her eyes, rolled her neck, and pushed through, biting her upper lip before continuing. “I kept his gaze, I didn’t want him to know how scared I was, and in an odd way, that seemed to impact him. He released my face, told the men to remove my shackles and put me in the chair. That was when I realized there was a wooden chair in the center of the room. God, I wanted to struggle, to somehow escape, but it was useless. Even with my Tai Chi training, it wouldn’t be possible to overpower three massive gorillas. At first he just questioned me—the same questions over and over again. He wanted to know what the CIA knew about his operations, the names of the agents assigned to his case—you know the usual stuff the Agency does their best to prepare you for—when in reality it never can. I’ll fast forward to the day I escaped.”

  “We need to hear all of it, Ivy, you may not realize it, but there have to be details there that can help us understand how they seem to be tracking you, wherever you are in the world—“ and then it dawned on him. “Ivy, do you remember having a wound or even a small incision after they took you hostage?”

  “I can’t really say that I do, Daxon. Honestly, when I wasn’t be—questioned—my hands and feet were in shackles. I remember that my shoulder was sore—“

  “Which one?” Blake interrupted.

  She closed her eyes, “My left shoulder. I was right handed, and it was my left shoulder and—I think my hip, too. At the time I thought it was from sitting on a concrete floor day after day, but what are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking that they inserted a tracking chip into you. The technology has changed dramatically since you were captured more than a year ago, but back then it was possible to put a GPS tracking chip inside the human body that could pinpoint a general location with enough accuracy to get a tracker to the general location, at which point they can then track reliably within hundreds of feet.”

  “But the Agency checked for trackers once I escaped. They didn’t find anything in standard x-rays.”

  Daxon considered that. “Okay, I need to make a call to a friend in a private security firm. They utilize the best and newest technology in their everyday operations, he may have some ideas—for now, keep going, Ivy. Tell us about your escape, and then we all need to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.”

  Chapter 14

  Blake and Daxon burned the midnight oil while the women slept. Daxon stayed with Ivy until her breathing evened, and then joined Blake in Aqua’s office. Chase had supplied Aqua with Sergei’s position as of yesterday, and after a phone call to Daxon’s contacts and former SEAL buddies at BRG Securities, they felt certain they had a plan that could work.

  It was risky, but with the support of his former teammates, John Hopkins, Ted McKnight and Cox Lynch, he felt better about their chances than he had last night. The final piece would be Ivy—would she be able to find the strength to pull this off? He knew she was strong, but she had been through a lot, and the strain was telling.

  The first order of business would be using BRG’s technology to determine if Ivy had a tracking device inside her that had eluded the best at the Agency. The thought that the Russians could have technology more superior to the US was the least of their worries.

  Within two hours, Daxon received a call from Ted letting him know that the Russian mobster had fallen out of graces with the Russian government, and it appeared that making him disappear on US soil would be something the Russian’s would consider to be a favor—at least they wouldn’t be causing an International incident.

  By 7 am, Daxon got the call that three of his SEAL buddies, all employed by RBG, had landed at a small private airport outside of Burnt River, along with one of their chief communications officers, Wren Kelley. Wren was chosen once they realized she had lived in Burnt River for two years during high school, and knew the area well. It was a small world, after all.

  After the call, Daxon quietly opened the door to their room, and watched Ivy toss and turn, clearly haunted by her dreams. She bolted upright as he walked through the door, and she leapt out of the bed.

  “Whoa, babe, it’s okay,” Daxon reac
hed out to comfort her, but she turned away from him, her arms hugging her body and said just two words.

  “He’s near.”

  Daxon absorbed that fact, and crossed the distance between them in two steps. He drew her close and enveloped her in his arms. “Then we’ll be ready.” He kissed the top of her head. “Get dressed, there’s someone I want you to meet. I’ll wait here for you.”

  There was no way he was gong to leave her alone—she had been alone for far too long. He knew now, that until or unless she asked him to leave, he would spend his life by her side.

  She smiled her thanks, completely unaware of the thoughts scrolling through his head, and made haste for the bathroom. He didn’t need to tell her that there was no time to waste.

  * * *

  “Ivy, it’s great to meet you,” John Hopkins, head of BRG Security acknowledged for his team, and then they got down to business.

  “Cox Lynch is our CIO, and the best there is at technology. He has the device that will help us determine if you have a tracking device on you, and that happens now. Cox, Daxon, take her to the office.” John was all business and no nonsense, exactly what they needed at this point. Ivy followed Cox and Daxon to the office.

  “What do you need me to do?”

  “Not a thing, Ivy. This machine will detect a chip, if there is one, through your clothing. Daxon set up this table for us, and if you’ll lie down on it, we’ll begin.”

  Ivy complied, her breathing shallow as Lynch took a small hand-held wand and moved it to her left shoulder, an inch from her body. Within two seconds it gave off a beep and green light.

  “I can’t believe it. No wonder they’ve been able to find me regardless of where I was. How quickly can we get this out of me?” she addressed Daxon.