Hers To Take

by Karen Anders

  “Why does the D.A. want Knight to walk?”

  “He won’t say. Won’t even tell me who’s putting pressure on him.”

  “The D.A. is willing to let a murderer go.”

  “From what I could tell, he wasn’t willingly doing anything. I asked his secretary if he’d had any visitors lately and she told me that two suits had been in his office earlier that day.”

  “Suits? As in FBI?” Her sixth sense started tingling all over again. First she gets the runaround by the FBI; now they seemed to be directly meddling in her case.

  “That would be my guess. What case are you working right now?”

  “Knight failed to yield to an emergency vehicle. When he was stopped, a sharp-eyed officer saw a military weapon in plain sight in his car. Not one easily purchased at a gun store. One thing led to another and now I’m officially working with a navy liaison to track down a military policeman who might be involved in the theft of hundreds of weapons.”

  “How does Taylor fit into your investigation?”

  “Knight said that the MP was working for Taylor and the shipment is his.”

  “Lots of connections to Taylor.”

  “Right, and I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  “Do you have anything you can hold Knight on?”

  “No.”

  Jericho sighed. “We’ll have to console ourselves with Rojas for now. Hopefully we’ll be able to pick up Knight again.”

  A.J. WASN’T THERE. When she sat down, she found a message on her desk. It was from the cyber forensics office.

  Walking through the door, she immediately headed for Gary Mancuso who was fiddling around with his keyboard. “What do you have for me?”

  Gary smiled at her from behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “That was one toasted hard drive,” he said as he moved from the computer he was working on to another model. “I managed to get a few files out. Some of it is routine stuff.”

  “So it’s a dead end?”

  “Not exactly.” He smiled even wider. “I was able to recover this Excel file intact.”

  “What does that tell us?”

  “Look for yourself.”

  Sienna bent over his shoulder and gazed at the screen and her heart sank as she read the contents.

  A.J. DROVE TO the warehouse where Taylor had his business. In minutes he was moving silently across the asphalt-topped roof of the warehouse and knelt to remove the access panel. Silently, he dropped into the opening.

  On silent feet he made his way to the warehouse office. There were several sentries, but A.J. eluded them with ease. When he got to the glass-enclosed office, he knelt down so as not to be seen by the obviously angry man inside. He was throwing things. A.J. heard them cracking off the Plexiglas.

  “Of all the incompetence. Listen to me and listen to me good. I want those guns.”

  “But I don’t know where he is,” the voice came over the speakerphone. “I tracked him to Mexico, but he changed license plates on the U-Haul to throw me off.”

  “I don’t care—”

  A.J. heard the line beep. “Wait, Ray, I have someone on the other line.”

  A.J. heard the voice change.

  “Mr. Taylor?”

  “Yes.”

  “Jimmy Lee Moran in Tahoe. I wanted to check with you. There’s some guy here who claims to be selling a shipment of guns for you. Since you didn’t contact me about the shipment, I wanted to make sure it was legit.”

  “What’s the guy’s name.”

  “Buckner.”

  “This is too rich. When did Buckner contact you?”

  “Just five minutes ago.”

  “That’s great. When did he say he could give you delivery?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Take him out for me and you can name your price for the guns.”

  “That’s a deal I’ll take.”

  “Keep me posted,” Taylor said as he switched back to the other line.

  “Listen, Ray. Jimmy just called. The bastard is in Tahoe trying to unload my guns to my clients. I want you to meet my man at the airport and fly out there.”

  “What for?”

  “To take care of him.”

  “Why can’t Jimmy do it?”

  “This is extra insurance. And you’re the one who hired the bastard. I want you to take care of it. No little nobody military punk is going to make me a laughingstock,” Taylor said.

  A.J. silently made his way out of the warehouse. An unsettled feeling twisted his gut. They were going to kill his brother.

  WHEN A.J. WALKED into the division, Sienna rose from her desk. “Where have you been? We caught a break—”

  “I know where David is. We’ve got to go.”

  “Where?”

  “Tahoe.”

  “How did you find out he went there?”

  “Taylor”

  “Taylor?” She sighed deeply and grabbed a handful of his shirtfront. “I asked you not to do that.” Her voice was so quiet, but deadly.

  She paced away from him and came back. “Don’t regs mean anything to you? You’re in the navy. I can’t believe this.”

  He grabbed her upper arms and halted her words. “I don’t have time for this. They’re going to kill David.”

  “Who?”

  “Either the two guys Taylor sent to Tahoe or a client named Jimmy Lee Moran who knows that David has double-crossed Taylor. When David rendezvouses with them, they’re going to kill him and take the guns.”

  “How long do we have?”

  “Until tomorrow.”

  “Sienna?”

  The sound of Michelle’s voice drew Sienna’s attention away from A.J. “Michelle? What are you doing here?”

  “You had a fitting thirty minutes ago.”

  “Oh, God, Michelle. I’m sorry.”

  “If we go right now, the fitter said she could work you in.”

  “I can’t go now.”

  “Why is it always the same old answer with you? Your job. It always comes first. Don’t bother to get fitted. Don’t bother to come at all.”

  “Michelle…”

  Sienna ran her hands through her hair as Michelle turned on her heel and walked away.

  “Sienna, I’m sorry,” A.J. offered.

  Sienna couldn’t acknowledge the pain she was feeling. A man’s life was hanging in the balance; she couldn’t worry about her sister. “I’ll get in contact with the Tahoe police.”

  “No.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We have to go.”

  “To Tahoe?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t have jurisdiction in Tahoe.”

  “Don’t get the police involved, Sienna. Let me talk to him. I know I can get him to surrender.”

  “It’s not correct procedure, A.J.”

  “Damn the procedure, this is David’s life I’m talking about. He’ll fight. Please, Sienna. I’m begging you.”

  “The captain won’t approve it.”

  “We won’t know that until we ask him.”

  In ten minutes they were in the captain’s office, but as soon as Sienna made her request, Raoul shook his head.

  “But it’s a credible tip, Captain, that David Buckner’s in Lake Tahoe,” Sienna said.

  “I don’t doubt that. That’s not the issue. We don’t have jurisdiction in Tahoe. Call the police force there and let them pick him up.”

  “I’m going, Captain, with or without Sienna.”

  “It’ll be without,” the captain said firmly.

  “I’M COMING with you.”

  “Captain change his mind?” A.J. jeered as he jerked open the car door and got into the driver’s seat. Sienna slid into the seat next to him. He pulled his cell phone from his coat pocket and dialed a number. It didn’t take him long to get the plane he needed from one of his teammates.

  “Sienna—”

  “I know what you’re going to say. This could cost me my job.” She turned to him. “But what will it cost y
ou? I have evidence David took those weapons. He’s been working for Taylor for a year.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “We recovered an Excel file from his computer. It has details of everything. The cargo, the drop dates, the money. Everything.”

  A.J. closed his eyes, still holding out hope that his brother was innocent of the charges against him. How could David have changed so much and how could it have happened right under A.J.’s nose? It seemed that he didn’t know his brother at all. It made him question the time he spent away from home. Question his dedication to a navy that had somehow robbed him of his brother.

  “Get out.”

  “No, A.J. I’m coming with you. You need me. I can get information you can’t.”

  “Sienna—”

  “Just drive.”

  11

  SMALL PLANES were not her thing. As the Cessna dipped and bumped, Sienna tightened her hands around the seat rests.

  “Afraid of flying?”

  “No, not on bigger airplanes. This one on the other hand makes me extremely nervous.”

  “Don’t worry. It won’t take us long to get there.”

  Sienna watched the land grow smaller as they lifted up into the stark blue sky. Looking at the ground wasn’t helping and looking at the instruments in front of her only made her edgy. She hated being thousands of feet in the air in a vehicle that she could neither understand nor control.

  “Is Sandoval going to have your butt for this?”

  “Hopefully, he’ll just chew on it for a while.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “I don’t know…could it be that I care what happens to your brother?”

  He gave her a disbelieving look. “All right. I put myself in your place and I couldn’t turn my back on you, okay!” God, was she going soft in the head as well as the heart over this man? “Besides, I couldn’t let you go alone. We’re in this together,” she groused.

  The engines buzzed in her ears. “Why would he go all the way to Tahoe to sell the guns?” she asked.

  “I think David’s desperate to unload those weapons.” A.J.’s mouth tightened as they left San Diego behind.

  “And a desperate man makes mistakes?”

  He shrugged. “Usually.”

  There was snow on the peaks to the north, and there were broad, flat valleys between the ridges. They were cruising low enough that she could make out cars along the highway, communities that were little huddles of houses, and the deep, thick green of the forest to the west.

  Sienna tried to relax. “I’m sorry about what this is going to do to your family.”

  “It’s going to kill my dad.”

  “He must have been so proud of your brother. It said in his jacket that he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving all those people in Angola.”

  “I still can’t believe this.” A.J’s voice cracked and he kept his eyes straight ahead.

  She reached out, her heart aching for him. Touching his tense forearm, she squeezed, feeling some of the tension release in him. “I know. It must seem so surreal to you.”

  After a moment of silence, she said. “I noticed that you call your stepfather Dad.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why? He’s my dad.”

  “Not technically.”

  “You mean biologically?”

  “Yes.”

  “There’s more to being a father than genetic material. I call him Dad because he was there for me and he never wavered, not even through the nasty teenage years. He gave me discipline, morals and a backhand or two when I needed it.”

  “I call my foster father by his given name.”

  “Why?”

  “My first foster father I called Dad, and the second. I guess by the time I got to Scott, I just thought, what was the point?”

  “Was he there for you?”

  “Yes. All the time.”

  “Sienna, 99.9 percent of being a father is showing up.”

  His words struck home and Sienna realized how true they were. All of them, Lynne, Scott and Michelle, had always stood by her through thick and thin. A memory came to her, one that she had buried. The day she had told them she would enter the police academy was one of the hardest days of her life. They hadn’t wanted her to. They were worried about her safety, but in the end, they had never belittled her choice. Her whole family had shown up for her graduation, beaming with pride.

  The sky, which had looked blue-gray when they had taken off, got grayer as they flew toward Nevada. The mountains loomed in the distance and Sienna wiped her slick hands on her slacks. She really didn’t like small planes.

  The plane dipped and the sky got darker and looked heavy with snow.

  The silence stretched out between them and after a few hours in the air, the fear she’d been holding inside dug at her like rending claws. One minute they were flying through a leaden sky, the next it was as if a white blanket had dropped over them. Ice pelted the windshield of the small plane and Sienna reached for A.J.’s arm.

  “This looks bad.”

  A.J. nodded his head. “It sure does. We’re not far from Tahoe,” he said through gritted teeth.

  While she tried to calm her fears, A.J. got on the radio and let the Tahoe airport know that he was coming in for a landing. He banked the plane and headed toward the airport.

  The ice storm continued to batter the plane and Sienna held on until they could see the blinking lights of a runway. Sienna turned to tell A.J., but he’d already seen them and was guiding the plane toward them.

  She watched him take on the storm; his calm eyes and easy movements reassured her. The sure way he flew made something in her change. Her stomach dropped, but it had nothing to do with their slow descent. He made her feel safe and with a wonder that grew and moved through her like a tidal wave, she realized that she trusted him. Trusted him to land the plane with the same calm he used while flying it.

  A strong wind buffeted the plane, the frigid air reaching her in the cockpit. A.J.’s hands were steady on the controls. She could see the sheet of ice that was the runway, realizing that the crew was having a hard time keeping up with the frigid conditions. They’d made it to this airfield just in time. Even fifteen minutes later might have spelled disaster. She held her breath as the small wheels contacted with the salted asphalt and fought for purchase. A.J. braked the plane and it skidded from side to side as he diminished the speed until they stopped.

  He turned to her, his eyes still the same steady electric blue. “Piece of cake,” he said.

  Sienna laughed, surprised at her response. The man was incorrigible.

  “Laughter in the face of danger. A woman after my own heart.”

  “I’m not after your heart.”

  “What if it’s already yours?”

  For a moment Sienna stilled even as A.J. looked down and undid his seat belt. She saw the flush of red across his cheekbones. The embarrassment on his face caused her heart to leap in her chest.

  “A.J.”

  “Right, I know, not the time nor the place.”

  It was painful to realize that she was half in love with him. Painful because she saw no future in a relationship with a SEAL. He would be gone too long to places unknown and into terrible danger. And she could lose him as quickly as she found him. Lose him like she lost her parents and all the other foster families that came after them. It would be like being in love with a ghost. No. There would be no safety in that. It wasn’t for her. She undid her belt and pushed open the door of the plane.

  Men were already there in heavy winter clothing, putting chocks under the wheels of the plane and escorting them to the small terminal.

  “You just barely made it,” a man shouted over the howl of the cold wind. “We were just about to close.”

  “How long do you think this will last?” Sienna shouted back.

  “No way to know. Most likely overnight. Freak ice storms in the mountains a
re not uncommon this time of year. Bottom line is you’re not going anywhere tonight, lady.”

  Sienna stopped walking, the howling wind clutching at her hair and whipping it around her chilled face.

  A.J. bumped into her and with the warmth of his body propelled her into the terminal.

  She rounded on him. “Did you hear that?”

  “What?”

  “We could be stuck here maybe into tomorrow.”

  “I know,” he said grimly.

  Just then a terminal employee approached them and Sienna had to stop the flow of anxious words that wanted to spew from her lips. She bit her tongue as A.J. negotiated for lodgings. They were able to get a cabin at a nearby ski resort.

  Sienna tried to use her cell phone in the airport to call Captain Sandoval, but she couldn’t get through. A Good Samaritan employee with a four-wheel drive drove them the three miles to the resort. The roads were treacherous and they almost skidded off the road three times.

  The guy got them settled, turning on the heat and electricity. Sienna used the phone in the lobby to call her Captain and he hollered at her for fifteen minutes before ordering her to give him updates.

  The small cabin was sumptuous with a huge field-stone fireplace, a large sunken tub and a loft bedroom.

  Once inside, Sienna noticed that A.J. was watching until the guy drove off. He put his hand on the knob.

  “Where are you going?”

  “There’s a four-wheel drive parked out front.”

  “Are you suggesting we steal a car?”

  “We’re not going to steal it. We’re just going to borrow it.”

  “That’s splitting hairs.”

  He whirled on her. “Do you think I give a damn about the law right now? I’ve got to find my brother.”

  He twisted the knob and pulled the door open.

  Refusing to give in, she slammed her hand against the door and braced her feet. “A.J., running off into the night isn’t going to help David.”

  “I can’t lose him, Sienna.”

  “I know. But you’ve got to give me time to find him. It’s too dangerous to go out there now. We could end up wrapped around a tree. Who will help David then?”

  He abandoned the door and paced into the foyer. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

  “Give it your best shot, buster.”