SEAL’s Love by Leslie North

18

“We’re in position,” Colin said, adjusting the earpiece in his ear.

“Roger that,” Greg replied. “Waiting for tour guide to start now.”

Logan shifted his weight beside Colin, leaning back against a large palm tree in the forest surrounding the compound. “Everything a go?”

“Yep,” Colin said, taking a deep breath. He wasn’t thrilled about sending Harper in with Greg as a decoy couple, but it made the most sense. She’d already established a persona as Harper Parks, an interested client for the center’s services. Colin had initially argued that he should be the one to go in with her, since they were already used to working together on reconnaissance, but Logan thought that separating Colin and Harper for now would help them both keep cooler heads. Colin might not like the decision, but he had to admit that Logan was probably correct.

“Stop worrying,” Logan said, shaking his head. “It’s going to be fine. Trust me.”

“Fine,” Colin snorted. “As if anything about this has been fine. If things were fine, Serenity wouldn’t have been taken in the first place.” He crouched down to view the compound below them on the hillside through his high-powered binoculars. It was even bigger in real-life than it looked in the website photos, so he was glad to have the guys there as backup. That two-hour time window they had for Sebastian to be gone felt way too short.

“Whatever happened with you and Harper anyway?” Logan asked. “You ever end up talking to her like I suggested?”

Okay, maybe there were some downsides to having the guys here. The extra manpower was appreciated. The nosiness about his personal life? Not so much.

Colin sighed and let his binoculars flop down onto his chest before sitting back on his butt on the hard ground. “We did, yeah. Sort of. It didn’t go well. Truth is, I ruined it.”

For a second, Logan looked like he was going to ask more, but Colin turned away fast, hopefully ending that line of conversation. He didn’t want to talk about it. It hurt too much. Especially after the other night when he’d realized that she did love him, in her own way. She’d proved that by calling in the guys to help. She was friends with Logan and Greg—good friends, to the point where they were almost like surrogate brothers to her. She wouldn’t have taken lightly the idea of getting them involved, especially when this could result in arrest records for them if things went south. And yet she’d called them in anyway, so that they could watch his back. Keeping him safe had been the only thing that mattered to her. That’s when he knew. Because she’d acted the same way about protecting her sister. And while Harper might not want to call it love, that’s exactly what it was. But because he’d pushed her away by asking for too much, by making her feel trapped when she was already stressed about her sister and skittish about the future and long-term commitments. By rushing her, he’d lost her forever.

“I’m sorry, man. I was hoping you two would be able to work it out. But hey,” Logan said. “I guess at least this way you can find someone who will want to get married like you.”

Colin scowled down the hillside. Fuck that. Honestly, if Harper ever gave him another chance, he’d be more than willing to slow down, give up all the outer trappings of “forever” that society said they needed, if that’s what Harper wanted. Because he’d rather spend the rest of his life with her, together, with no ring or marriage license than be married to anyone else.

He was about to tell Logan that when his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a message from Harper.

Back gate unlocked.

Showtime.

A familiar rush of adrenaline, the same as he always got back in the SEALs right before they went in on a mission, flooded his system. Colin pushed to his feet and looked back at Logan. “We’re in.”

Greg kept up a whispered running commentary in their earpieces as they slowly descended the hillside toward the wall surrounding the compound, keeping a watchful eye for security cameras and booby traps. “Lobby clear. Pool area clear. Massage room one clear.”

Good to know where Serenity wasn’t, so they could search where she might still be.

Once they reached the back gate, Colin and Logan split up, using a series of hand signals they were both familiar with to maintain radio silence while they sorted out who would go where. Logan skirted the wall, heading for the large, two-story, hacienda-style administrative building on the left, while Colin moved toward the equally spacious and similarly styled guest quarters on the right. They planned to meet up after their searches to make their way farther down toward the beach at the bottom of the hill, stopping to search the many smaller buildings on the way.

It was early afternoon, a time when the website noted that the entire compound met in a large room in the healing center a bit farther down the way to mediate, so there weren’t many people around. Made it easier and quicker to assess whether Serenity was being kept in a particular location or not. While Greg and Harper continued on with their tour, Colin reached his building and slipped inside, keeping to the shadows to avoid detection as he went room by room, searching for Harper’s sister.

Game room empty. Business center empty. Café empty except for a staff person totally engrossed in reading a beat-up paperback.

A few hallways down, he stopped near a space with a few fancy vending machines in it and an ice maker. There was a door toward the back and he checked the handle. Locked. Pressed his ear to the cool gray metal and nothing. Right.

Moving on, he started out of the room, only to stop at the muffled sound of something hitting the door. Scowling, he went back and pressed his ear to it again. “Serenity, are you in there?”

Thump.

His pulse tripped.

Thump, thump, thump.

“Shit.” He reached into one of the pockets of his camo cargo pants and pulled out his lock pick kit. He knelt down and started to work, because yeah. The skills a SEAL needs aren’t always the ones you’d expect. Sweat prickled the back of his neck as he listened for the tiny click of the tumblers in the lock with one ear, while keeping his other ear tuned to the hallway behind him. He wasn’t too worried about the staff person noticing him—the woman had seemed seriously into that book—but he had no idea how long meditation would last, and he sure as hell didn’t want to get caught here.

Finally, the lock eased open and Colin straightened, slowly opening the door to find a bound and gagged Serenity huddled in the corner of what appeared to be a supply closet. He squeezed past a bucket and mop and some assorted jugs of chemicals to cut through the zip ties binding her wrists and ankles, then eased down the rag covering her mouth.

“Are you all right?” Colin asked.

Serenity nodded, her eyes wide in the darkness. “I found out what really happened,” she said, her voice rough and hurried. “Sebastian accidentally killed someone, because of his policies here at the compound. Now he’s scared of being charged with murder, and he’ll do anything to cover it up.”

“Okay.” Colin helped her to her feet, supporting her with an arm around her waist as her knees threatened to give out. Hell only knew how long she’d been stuck in that closet, but the more seconds ticked by, the more angry Colin became on her behalf. Once he got her out of the room and safely hidden outside the building, he crouched beside Serenity behind a large plumeria bush and said into his earpiece, “Target acquired. Repeat. Target acquired. Heading back to rendezvous point now.”

“Roger that,” Logan said.

“Roger,” Greg repeated.

“Come on,” Colin said, looping his arm around Serenity’s waist again. “Can you walk?”

“I think so.” She nodded. “Thanks for finding me.”

“Anytime.” He smiled, then started back toward the gate where he and Logan had entered, praying that meditation lasted a little longer because the going was slow. He considered just hauling her onto his back and making a run for it, but that would definitely draw attention if anyone spotted them. It wasn’t worth the risk. Eventually, they made it through the gate and back out into the forest, down a path and past a grove of palm trees to the spot where he and guys had designated to meet up after the mission. Except no one was there. Which was troubling since he’d had to move slower with Serenity, so he’d expected at least Logan to beat him to the rendezvous point.

He got Serenity settled on the ground in the shade, then took a few steps away to say into his earpiece, “Status.”

Colin had a bad feeling in his gut about this.

No answer.

That bad feeling got worse.

He tried again. “Status—report.”

Nothing.

Fuck.

The first rule of a mission was to stick to the plan and wait for further orders. But the longer he stood there waiting for the others, the more he knew that sticking to protocol right now would be a mistake. If Harper was there, Colin knew she’d say he needed to trust his instincts.

Right, then. Time to act.

“Here.” He turned and handed Serenity his best combat knife. “Stay here and stay hidden. I’m going back in.”