Navy SEALs Complete Series: 3 Books + 3 Novellas (Tempting Navy SEALs) (32 page)

He reached out with his other hand to caress her cheek. “I have considered this.” He smiled, the false gentleness in the curve of his lips assuring her that death would not come easy. If it came. The maniacal genius Carmelita had been successful in harnessing burned in his gaze now. Sometimes death didn’t come. Diego understood that often death wasn’t the greatest punishment.

“Diego, I did as you ordered,” Trina whispered, hating the possible reprisals that came to mind as he towered over her.

“I have considered this as well.” He released her slowly as he lifted his hand, a beckoning gesture of his fingers toward his men causing her to glance across the room.

The guards stepped from the doorway, allowing several other men to enter. Trina fought to control her breathing, her fear.

“Diego . . . please. I did as you ordered.”

“You did not do it well enough, and now you must be punished.” He stepped from her as the three men advanced. “Carmelita loved you, Trina; for this I will not kill you. But she also told me once how much you hated to be raped. To be held down, to be forced.”

She stood to her feet, staring back at him in horror.

“I did as you ordered,” she cried out furiously. “There’s no reason to punish me.”

There was no escape. Her eyes went around the room frantically, noticing the placement of his men, the lust glittering in their eyes.

“You failed me. Failure is not forgiven easily,” he murmured as the men advanced on her. “Take your punishment, so that I may forgive you. Then we will see if you can redeem yourself in my eyes.”

She jumped to avoid the hands reaching out for her, scrambling to keep them from touching her, to keep them from hurting her. Nightmares of the past rose before her eyes, the soldiers who’d held her down, grunting, sweating over her as they raped her.

God, death would have been better.

She screamed as she was tossed to the bed, hard hands tearing her clothes from her body, touching her, laughter echoing around her.

She heard herself begging. Crying. She felt the horror that took her mind as her legs were jerked apart, restrained, and her punishment began.

Was it worth McIntyre’s life, she wondered hazily, this punishment? Was it worth giving the fragile emotion she saw in his gaze when he watched Morganna a chance to grow? Was it worth allowing him what she would never know?

Loyalty was earned. Mclntyre had earned her loyalty. But with this act, even death would not ease her plans to see Diego fall. By her hand.

Her mind drifted, darkened. Unable to accept or to deal with the pain, the horror, of what was happening to her body. She escaped the only way she knew how, within plans for vengeance. Diego would fall by her hand.

“We have some serious intel moving across the Net,” Mace informed Clint as he stepped into the basement fortress, his hands loaded with shopping bags Jayne Smith had arranged to have waiting for him hours before.

If Morganna was going to pull this off, then she was going to need clothes. Slipping into her house to get her clothes wasn’t going to work, so Jayne had gone shopping for her. Clint worried about that one. To be honest, the two women seemed way too alike in temperament; he didn’t need Morganna getting any clothing or personality tips from the other woman. Morganna was too hard to handle as it was.

“What have you found?” He set the bags on the couch, glancing toward the still-closed bedroom door.

“Don’t worry; she’s sleeping like an angel,” Mace grunted. “I haven’t heard a peep out of her.”

She was exhausted. The weariness that had lined her face as she slept earlier had worried Clint. He hadn’t allowed her much sleep during their stay in the hotel room, and last night hadn’t exactly been relaxing.

“Intel’s coming in from several sources. Trina Blake called in her personal doctor a few hours ago. One of her maids is a pretty little spy for the Feds. Seems Diego made a visit. He messed her up pretty bad.”

“Shit.” Clint pushed his fingers through his hair, a scowl tightening his face. “What happened?”

“Five of his men raped her.” Mace’s voice was tight with fury. “Diego was pissed off when you got away from his men. He made her pay for it. The maid reported extensive damage, though her physician is treating her from home rather than a hospital.”

Clint prowled around the room, his muscles tight, fighting the urge to go hunting. If he did, Diego would merely go to ground; they had learned that over the years. That was why the strike against his compound had been made, to take him and his wife out together, without warning.

It was one of the reasons Trina had become so important as an informer two years before. If it hadn’t been for her information, the team would have never located the senators’ daughters last year and rescued them before they were brutalized.

“Any reports on Diego?”

“Nothing conclusive. There are some rumors of several of the large gangs within the South American community being pulled in to work together. I’d hazard a guess that’s Fuentes getting his spy network in gear. Your and Morganna’s picture is being flashed a lot, but no one is one hundred percent certain where you’re hiding.” Mace flashed him a triumphant grin. “Those boys just don’t know how it’s done; that’s all I can say.” Mace could find a needle in a haystack a continent away.

“You’re so modest, Mace,” Clint snorted. “What else have you found?”

“There’s a rumor you have Morganna stashed in Diva’s basement suite.” Mace cast him a leer. “Now that sounds like fun. Can I come play, too?”

“Did you forget Morganna’s trigger-happy knee?” Clint asked him carefully.

“Not likely,” he growled, scowling. “I didn’t mean with her. Jeez, Clint, not all of us have lost our minds like you have.”

Boy, that one was the truth.

“Any leaks on Diego’s whereabouts?”

“Nothing yet. He’s staying hid real good. But we do have good ole Roberto Manuelo. He’s Diego’s right hand since Carmelita died. From everything I have coming in, it’s ole Manuelo that has the hard-on for you.” Mace stood from his
chair, stretching the kinks out of his body before glancing back down at the computer. “I have some feelers out on his whereabouts. Kell and Ian are also on their way here. They’ll be able to cover your and Morganna’s asses after you leave here.”

“Have you briefed them on the situation?” The message was clear. If anything happened to Morganna, Clint was going hunting. Everyone responsible would pay.

“It’s been done.” Mace nodded firmly. “I also have the info on Manuelo and several of Fuentes’ current head men. Those boys need to watch their asses better. My sources have been spilling info since last night.”

“Pull it up.” Clint walked over to the computers. “Once we make our appearance at Diva’s, then he’ll make his hit. If he goes true to form, he’ll not come himself, though. He’ll send his best men, so we can at least slow him down for a while and hopefully get the location of the lab they’re using for that drug. And Nathan’s whereabouts.”

Macey stilled. “Nathan wouldn’t willingly give info,” he said.

“And his training to resist the drugs came second only to Kell’s,” Clint reminded him. “He’s the only one that could have given the names of the teams that took him out.”

“Damn,” Macey sighed wearily before turning back to the plan they were working up. “What’s the chance of pedestrian casualties in this thing?”

Mace’s fingers were moving over the computer keyboard as he began to pull in information.

“Almost zero,” Clint sighed. “Diego doesn’t hit en masse. He likes to think he’s subtle. He likes to prove he’s the better gamesman. He’ll want to take us out personally. My guess is since I was the commander of one of the teams that struck him, he wants to make an example of me and Morganna. He can’t do that if he does a wipe on the club.”

Clint ran over the information that popped up beneath Mace’s talented fingers. There were four listed as Fuentes’
generals, Manuelo among them. There was Diego’s bastard uncle Jose and his nephew Santiago as well as a smaller player from a year ago.

“When Kell and Ian get here, I’ll apprise Morganna of the plan we have in place.” Clint rubbed at his jaw as he read the data on the screen. “We’ll get moving this evening.”

“She’s going to be jumping out of her skin to get started,” Mace grunted. “That woman is an adrenaline junkie, Clint. Maybe even as bad as you are. She’ll be raring to go.”

That was what he knew, and it terrified the hell out of him.

“Kell and Ian are itching to get started as well. They’ll be here soon.”

“How many know about this place?” Clint frowned.

“Just the right people,” Mace assured him. “Men who know to keep their damned mouths shut, that’s for sure. Did you think you were my only leak? I love ya, man, but you’re a rare visitor and I get lonely.” He waggled his brows and pursed his lips in a comic display of utterly false affection.

“Let me have your keyboard.” Clint waved Mace away from the computer. “I need to run a few checks of my own on some of the regulars I recognized at Diva’s.”

“Spoilsport.” Mace lumbered from the chair. “You can play with my toys, but yours racks me. That’s just so not right, man.”

Clint’s snort of laughter was followed by the sound of a door slamming. He turned, eyes narrowing, as he watched Morganna smile benignly at both of them.

“I bet Clint isn’t rude enough to get inside and play with your hard drive, either, Mace.” She arched a brow mockingly as she padded across the room.

Mace shifted nervously, rubbing his hand over his chin as he flashed her a bright smile.

“Sunshine. I hope you slept well?” Amusement laced his voice as he steered carefully clear of her.

Her lips twitched as her gaze flicked from Mace to meet
Clint’s. Laughter lurked in the gray depths and tugged at her lips. With her hair falling in disarray around her face, the loose T-shirt and pajamas, and her bare feet, she reminded him of the precocious teenager she used to be.

“I got cold.” Her gaze was warm, heating him in ways he knew he should be terrified of.

Instead, he swiveled around until he faced her fully and patted his knee in invitation. She fitted against him perfectly as her arms looped around his neck and she perched on his lap.

“He has work to do,” Mace grumbled. “You should fix more pancakes.”

“Give me a reason to cook, Mace,” she drawled mockingly. “I do my best work after seeing grown men twitching in pain.”

“Then beat up on him,” he grunted, pointing to Clint. “Instead of cuddling against him like a damned kitten. Some things just ain’t right.”

Clint smoothed his cheek over Morganna’s hair, watching Mace scowl at both of them.

“Do your thing on my computer, Mac, and get it over with. Then you can explain this harebrained scheme you’ve set up with Drage Masters and that balls-busting woman of his. Smith and Morganna here ought to get along just fine.”

There was a triumphant glitter in Mace’s eyes as he spoke, a smirk on his lips as he met Clint’s gaze. Clint sighed, shaking his head as he felt Morganna tense in his arms.

“What is he talking about?” She tilted her head back to stare at him, putting his lips much too close to hers.

He couldn’t help dipping his head that last inch for a kiss. She was sleep-tousled, soft in his arms, and what he was about to do was clenching his guts with dread.

When he lifted his head, bittersweet satisfaction raged through him at the misty emotion in her eyes and the flush to her cheeks.

“He’s talking about taking out Fuentes.” Clint grimaced, pushing her up from his lap before patting her rear and allowing his hand to linger, to enjoy the soft curve and warm flesh beneath the cotton.

“I thought that was the object all along.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. Breasts tipped with pebble-hard nipples despite the frown on her face.

Clint stared back at her, steeling himself against the decision he had made, praying to God for a miracle.

“You have your wish,” he told her. “We’re going to Diva’s tonight. We’ll be staying in a suite in the lower level, and working with Drage Masters and his head of security, Jayne Smith. We’re going to draw Fuentes’ men out and see how many we can take down. Manuelo will know where the lab is; we suspect he’s the head of that little operation.”

“What about the mole on Joe’s team?” Clint watched her eyes sharpen, watched the sense of excitement that filled her eyes even as calculated intelligence began to gleam in the stormy depths of her gaze. Damn, she could be scary sometimes.

“We’re after him, too. Joe’s only in so far as using his team to watch and provide backup. He’s unaware we’re also working to uncover the mole he doesn’t want to admit he has. We’re in a dual operation here, Morganna. It’s not going to be easy—”

“Bullshit!” She waved the warning away. “If we’re working together we can do it, Clint. I saw Masters’ computer setup; his system is state-of-the-art.”

“It was compromised, though.” Clint explained the drugging of the girl the night before and the bastard’s awareness of the cameras in place. “He’s changed his camera angles and added a few, but Joe doesn’t know this. He’s also added a secondary surveillance point to the computers. Those in his office won’t display the two additional cameras. Those will be in another room. Joe’s group will be given a quick explanation of the setup and then we’ll see what happens.”

Morganna watched Clint closely. He was in SEAL mode now, hard-eyed, his voice firm as he laid out the operation and answered her questions. He was talking to her. He wasn’t ordering her. He wasn’t treating her like an extra he had to deal with. He was working with her. And the plan he and Drage had come up with was a damned good one.

“I’m pulling in two of my men on this as well.” Clint turned to the computer, motioning her over as he pulled up their information. “They’re regulars at Merlin’s. Know them?”

She stared at the screen. “Kell and Ian. I don’t know their last names. They pretty much stay to themselves, other than whatever women they have on their arms. They like to watch us dance.” She waggled her brows mockingly. “They like that a lot.”