SEALs of Honor: Mason (17 page)

Mason turned to look at Swede. “A yacht?”

“Not a big luxury schooner we might associate with the name, but a small tight ship that had been rented for a week. They brought it back last night and handed it over. But then this morning it was gone from its mooring.”

“The same people?” he asked, frowning. Wondering why they’d have taken a boat out. Unless it was because no one could hear her scream. The thought made his stomach heave. The lake was huge. And the weather rough and wild and erratic. He had no idea if this missing boat had anything to do with Tesla or not, but they had little to go on. However, it was a short hop over the back wall to the neighboring town and down to the dock. He slowly stiffened and walked back outside. Swede at his side. They both studied the back wall.

“It would be easy,” Swede said. “Carry her over the wall and to the neighbors.”

“Who happen to be gone for a week.” Mason frowned. “But why take Hawk?”

“To leave nothing behind.”

Mason nodded. There could be other reasons, but that made the most sense. If he had the manpower. And if Hawk wasn’t dead. “He’s still alive. He has to be. Otherwise they’d have left him in place.”

“I have a better idea why they took Hawk.”

Mason turned to look at Shadow. His smile was harshly thin. “To force Tesla to give them what they want.” He paused. “She’s proven a little too stubborn for their liking at this point and having someone else to beat up would make her more cooperative.”

“Ha,” Mason snapped. “Not even that will help.”

“But they don’t know that,” Shadow said with the merest of a smile.

A call came from the hall. It was Dane. “The two men stationed outside have been found. Dead.”

“That’s how they got inside then. And likely out. Okay. Tear the two houses apart looking for answers.”

“Not sure we need to. The owner of the second house owns a boat. The same one that went missing off the marina this morning.”

“And the owner?”

“We’re trying to contact him. He’s somewhere in Ireland on a hike I understand. So far, no luck in finding just where.”

“Find him. And we’re after the boat.” He looked over at Swede. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 24

T
ESLA WAITED FOR
Hawk to peer out the door. She worried about his head. He looked dangerous as hell and as mean as a rattlesnake. She loved it. He shoved her behind him. He was awfully arrogant though. Although Mason was worse. Hawk opened the door wider and stepped out. She caught her breath. If she could see easier she wouldn’t be so panicked. Actually, yeah she would.

He held out a hand. She grabbed it and slipped out into the tiny hallway. The boat was listing to the side now. He raced along the hallway to the small door up ahead. He tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. It was locked. She groaned, but he did something she couldn’t see and the door popped open.

With care, he opened it wide enough for her to see a set of stairs in front of them. And something else.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed, then pointed to the floor.

Water was seeping in.

He nodded. Leading her up the four stairs he lifted his head to the boat deck and peered around.

“Is anyone there?” she whispered.

He held his hand up to stop her from talking then motioned for her to stay there. She nodded. Where the hell could she go? She looked around. They were on a boat somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. She spun around, just her head visible but could see nothing geographical around them but water. Including rising up her feet.

He raced back to her. “Come on. It’s empty and sinking fast.”

She swallowed hard. “They were going to kill us this time, weren’t they?”

He nodded. “If you hadn’t woken me when you did, I’d be gone already.”

She looked back and realized the water was up the second stair. They had minutes only. “Is there a dinghy, a rowboat, something to help?”

“No.” In a sudden movement, he asked, “Can you swim?”

“Yes,” she said hesitantly. “But not that well.” She stared out at the water and the foggy conditions. They were miles from land. “Do we stay with the boat?”

“For as long as she’s above water, but we need to find something that floats to help support us.”

“Right.”

But she hadn’t even digested his comment before he was stripping off the large cushions from the driver and passenger seats. Straps he cut from somewhere had the two floats tied together. She felt better when she saw that. The last thing she wanted was to get separated from him.

“Are they watching us?”

“Not likely. They’ve gone.” He stopped what he was doing. “Did they get it?”

She stared at him. Her hand went to the cross on her necklace and gripped it tight. “They might have taken the hard drive and the rest of my computer equipment, but they didn’t get the program.”

He grinned. “Excellent.”

“But they could have whatever Robert had at his place.”

Hawk froze. “And what did he have?”

“Parts of it,” she admitted. “Early prototype.”

“Is it enough?”

“No.”

“Good enough.”

“Do we know what happened to him?”

“Not yet.”

*

H
AWK REFRAINED FROM
telling her that there was no way the kidnappers would let Robert live. If he’d betrayed her, he was dead because they couldn’t trust him. If he hadn’t betrayed her, he was dead because he wouldn’t give them what they wanted. And if he hadn’t given it over right away then he’d be so badly injured, he’d be dead anyway.

She was smart enough to figure it out on her own.

He knew the team would be here soon. They’d have tracked them down by now. What she hadn’t figured out was that with cracked ribs, swimming was going to be a bitch. He needed to get her to safety fast. Under the back seat he found a set of oars. He grinned. Now they were talking.

There were minutes left before the boat sunk fully. Precious minutes he needed.

Then the time was gone and they were in the water. Tesla on the float and holding on, fear on her face. He wasn’t afraid of the water. This was his domain. His preferred medium for any warfare. They wanted to come. Let them. He’d give them a surprise.

As if his thoughts had conjured them up, he heard sounds of a boat motoring toward them. He could hope it was a rescue, but…

A piece of pipe was strung through his belt loop, his ankle knife was in his hand, and he slipped into the cold water.

Frigid water. And he realized they had a bigger enemy now. The temperature was deadly. They had maybe forty minutes before she’d be numb. He yelled at her. “Climb on fully. The temperature is too cold for us to last very long.”

She gazed at him in surprise then understanding. With effort she climbed, and he could see the moment the ribs screamed as she pulled herself on top. Then she reached out a hand to help him.

He stared at it.

He was a SEAL, this was his domain, and she, injured and hurting, was trying to help him get out of the cold water.

She was something.

Chapter 25

“H
ELP!” SHE CRIED
out to the approaching vessel. “Help.”

No response.

Shit. It was a power boat. Large with someone dressed in black. And she knew this rescue wasn’t going to go well. Damn it. She shifted higher so Hawk was hidden from sight.

“Help!”

Still no response. There wasn’t much left of the boat they originally woke up on. In fact, just a few bits of loose debris floated beside her. She grabbed a water bottle that floated by. She’d take that.

The boat came alongside. The man in black walked to the side closest to her. And held out a hand.

She didn’t recognize him.

But she had limited choices. She reached up and caught his hand. He gave a rough tug and pulled her aboard. She groaned as her ribs took more abuse. Then he helped her to sit down. So maybe a rescuer? But she didn’t believe in fairy tales anymore.

“Thank you,” she said, her breath coming out in short gasps. The slide over the side of the boat hadn’t done anything good for her ribs. She closed her eyes for a long moment, trying to regain her balance.

When she opened her swollen eyes it was to find him standing in front of her. A short snub looking handgun pointing at her.

“It’s just not my day, is it?” she muttered, glaring at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“You’re luckier than you know,” he snapped. “I work with Daniel. And the assholes who kidnapped you weren’t supposed to leave you on the ship to die. But that’s all right, the asshole that did is paying for his error right now.”

“I don’t know anything,” she whispered, wondering if she could make it over the railing. She’d rather take her chance with the water than be back in the hands of these assholes. “Or I’d have told them.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You’re too damn noble. And for what?”

She straightened. If she had to do this one more time, then well, she would. Inside she was afraid. What if she couldn’t hold out again? What if she gave in? No. She couldn’t give in.

And yet…she eyed the gun.

“Are you the one paying them to do this to me? Where’s Daniel?”

“Daniel got called away. The presentation you did last night caused the buyers some angst. Daniel is trying to keep things on an even keel. Now the men downstairs? One is punishing the other for sinking the boat with you. You weren’t supposed to die.”

“Why did you kill the other man with me?” she whispered, pretending Hawk was dead. “He didn’t do anything to you.”

“Maybe not, but he would have.” The man shrugged. “He’s a SEAL. He wouldn’t be able to help himself.”

“Damn it.” She reached up and rubbed her eyes. Everything hurt. The world was in a dismal state if people like this had nothing better to do but screw around with others and hurt people for fun.

“The money for you is better than most contracts.” He snorted. “But you are only valuable if your damn software comes with it.”

Ah. So that was what was wrong. “And he figured that as I didn’t have it that I was useless and best to let me die.”

“Exactly. Then again, getting good help these days is a bitch.” He smiled. “But it all worked out in the end.”

She nodded as if she understood when in truth she didn’t understand anything.

“Now that we have you again, we’ll toss you to the buyer. Along with the electronics we recovered from your employee.”

“Is Robert dead?” She glared at him. She might just kill him herself if he was.

“Nah, not yet. But he’s going to wish he was. He promised the goods and he didn’t deliver.”

She closed her eyes. Damn it. Maybe Mason had been right. Had Robert been after a bigger payday?

“This has been a shitty job from start to finish.” The gunman growled, “What’s with you damn people.”

“So finish it now,” she snapped.

The gun spun around and faced her again.

“I’d be happy to, but I want my fucking paycheck.”

Her chest seized. She gasped for breath, struggling to get the air locked inside back out. But it wasn’t happening. She made a harsh wheezing sound and watched as the boat swam before her panicked eyes.

“Fuck.” A harsh pound on her back had the old air gushing out and new air rushing in. She collapsed to the deck in pain…but alive.

“Enough of that shit.”

He turned around again and walked up to the pilot house. And fired up the engines again. She briefly wondered about throwing herself over the side of the boat again, but the floatation seat cushions were nowhere in sight. And neither was Hawk.

*

H
AWK CROUCHED BEHIND
the cabin, dripping water over the side of the boat. He watched as Tesla collapsed to the ground wheezing, but at least she was breathing again. He’d only seen the one man. There had to be more.

He slipped down the stairs and into the stateroom. At the bedroom he studied the room through the small panes of glass. Two men, one dead or dying and one stretched out on the bed, his arms crossed under his head. His damn phone resting on his chest.

The sleeping man appeared to be the guy who had taken Tesla to the airstrip with Daniel. He gave a brief look to the other man but didn’t recognize him. Someone who screwed up and was paying for it. He gripped the piece of pipe in his hand and went in high and strong and aiming for the asshole’s knees. This guy wasn’t going to walk away again.

Instinct had the man waking just at Hawk’s pipe came down – to the bed – the empty space where the man’s legs had been.

Hawk launched himself at the bed, adjusting his position at the last minute, and plowed his fist into the asshole’s face. Then a quick slam of his pipe. Damn, it was off target. The other man roared and tackled him to the ground. Jammed between the bed and the built in cabinets, the fight was fast and fierce.

But Hawk had the upper hand.

And he was fighting for Tesla.

Hawk was broadside a few moments later. And the second fight was on, this time with the man who’d brought Tesla onboard. Only Hawk found himself flat on his back before he knew what had happened and the asshole had his big thick hands wrapped around his neck. Hawk gasped and struggled to flip him over his back when suddenly he was free and the enemy was fighting for his own life. Tesla had launched herself on the behemoth’s back, and with some kind of strap she’d wrapped the man’s neck and twisted tight, strangling him.

The man jerked back, trying to free himself, but Hawk tripped him up and knocked him down. Tesla went flying and Hawk brought the pipe down on the man’s head. And again.

He didn’t move again.

Crying and laughing, Tesla launched herself at him. “Oh my God, you’re alive. I was so worried.”

Hawk was damn near insulted. “I’m fine,” he said. “Are you?”

“I’m great.” She laughed, then gasped, her hand going to her side. “Okay, so maybe not so great.” She pointed toward the stairs. “I think there are other men below.”

“No,” Hawk said in a hard voice. “There
were
men below.”

“Oh.” In a small voice she asked, “Did you kill them?”