Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines) (32 page)

Where the pier met the beach, there
was a small boathouse that had been renovated into a guardhouse. Two armed men
stepped out and frisked him, then searched his backpack. Failing to find the Ka-Bar
inside his boot, they escorted him up the path to the house.

The big turn-of-the-century house had
been completely remodeled. Yancy lived very well for a bar owner, but then Nick
had been in the house before and already knew how the dealer lived. Only a
crooked sheriff and police chief would fail to question where a man such as
Yancy Masters got the money to live so lavishly. It sickened Nick that the
community he had grown up in was run by such men. But he meant to change that
soon. As far as he was concerned, tonight was the first step in making that
change.

The two guards, one behind Nick and
one in front of him, walked him through the house, to a room at the back. Big
double doors opened into a richly appointed office. Yancy sat behind a large
oak desk in an Italian leather swivel chair. He didn’t bother to greet Nick
when he entered. He just motioned him to a chair in front of the desk.

The guards stepped back to stand
behind him, one on either side of the double doors. Having them at his back
made Nick uneasy. He angled his chair so he could keep the men in his
peripheral vision.

“Let’s see what you brought me,” Yancy
prompted.

Nick took the two tubes out of his
backpack and set them on the desk in front of him. He watched Yancy rise out of
his chair to unscrew the lids on the tubes and pull out the plastic bags
inside.

“This isn’t all of it, Kelly! What
kind of game are you playing?”

Nick lifted an eyebrow at the display
of temper. “One that guarantees my health until I get what I came for. This
is
a trade, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.” In a mercurial change
of mood, Yancy laughed and sat back down. “Damn, too bad you’re a straight
arrow, Colonel. I’d rather do business with you than that slant-eyed Chinaman.”
He gathered the bags and tubes close to him, then looked over his desk at his
guest. “So when do I get the rest?”

“It’s already here. I’ll tell you
where once you tell me where to find my brother.”

“Been out here before, have you?”
Yancy commented, chuckling. When Nick only stared at him, he added, “We found
all the little bugs you planted.” Opening his desk drawer, he pulled out a
plastic bag of small electronic devices. “What I want to know is who you shared
all this information with that you collected? That pretty little doctor you been
hanging around with? The feds?”

“Is this part of the trade?”

“Not really.” Yancy moved his big
shoulders in a shrug. “I’ve decided I’m not doing business here anymore. My
partners have turned uncooperative and unappreciative. Time to move on— with a
twenty million dollar start. And I figure you don’t want the feds involved in
this until you get your brother back. By then, I’ll be long gone.”

“You figured right,” Nick concurred
dryly. “So, do you know where my brother is?”

“I think so.” Yancy got up and walked
to a cabinet behind his desk. After unlocking it, he returned with a map of
Vancouver Island, which he laid out on his desktop. “I don’t like what Chen is
doing with Lance anyhow. It mucked up the whole operation, and Lance didn’t
need to be involved in this. If Li has a beef with you, he should take it up
with you, the way I see it.”

Nick didn’t respond to the man’s
opinion on the matter. He rose from his chair, went around the desk to stand
beside Yancy, and leaned over the map he had spread out. Yancy directed his
attention to a particular spot on the map, pointing to it with his
diamond-ringed forefinger.

“Chen’s got a compound at the northern
end of Vancouver Island, on the western side, below Cape Scott Provincial
Park,” he stated. “Here, five miles beyond the fishing village of Stormy
Harbour. I’ve been there once. I was taken in by helicopter. There’s a private
landing strip on the property. The house sits on a bluff overlooking this
finger shaped inlet, at the mouth of Quatsino Sound. The only way to reach the
compound is by boat, airplane, or on foot.”

“That’s pretty damn remote country,”
Nick commented, surprised that Li Chen had chosen such a place to do business
from. “Why is he operating out of somewhere like that?”

“His freighters can bring their loads
over from the Triangle, sail up this little sheltered inlet,” he indicated,
moving his finger on the map, “anchor in the bay below his house, then be
unloaded by his men. The remoteness of the region suits Chen. He’s well hidden,
and he can fly his refined product out when it’s ready for distribution in
Vancouver, or he can send it back out on the freighter to us. It’s a perfect
location really. He’s got a big house up there, quarters for his men, a lab and
processing plant, an airport— like I said, a compound.”

“How many men?”

Yancy shrugged. “I don’t know— maybe a
couple dozen and the workers at the lab.”

“Do you know for a fact that Lance is
being held here?” Nick lifted his narrowed eyes to Yancy.

“I haven’t seen him, but Chen says
he’s with him, and that’s where Chen is all the time.”

“He doesn’t operate out of Vancouver
at all?”

“Not personally. That’s why he never
gets caught. He isn’t where the stuff is distributed.”

Nick remembered a similar operation in
Thailand two years ago. “Just where the stuff is manufactured,” he commented
more to himself than the man across from him.

Yancy nodded and sat back down.
“That’s right.” He gave Nick a long considering look. “You know, Colonel, your
chances of getting your brother out of that place are slim to none.”

Nick stared back at him and sent him a
quick mirthless grin. “We’ll see.”

“Well, strange as it sounds, I wish
you luck. Chen is a nasty arrogant bastard. I’d like to see you take him down
for good.” Yancy stood up and walked around his desk. “Now where can I find the
rest of my product, Colonel?”

Nick rose. The meeting was obviously
over, as far as Yancy was concerned. “Your men gonna let me leave here in one
piece?”

“You have my word on it.”

Nick nodded. “The remainder of the
heroin is in your maintenance shed out back, the one with the double lock on
it. There are two bags in the empty redwood barrel.”

Yancy exploded with laughter and
slapped Nick on the shoulder. “I suppose you didn’t have any trouble gettin’
past those locks, did you?”

“Not too much.”

The two men at the double doors,
stepped aside as Yancy ushered Nick out. “Well, damn, Colonel! Hope you get
Lance back safe and sound. But that’s something I’ll probably never know since
I’ll be long gone by the time you leave for Vancouver Island.”

The four men walked to the front door
together, then separated. Yancy and his men went around to the back of the
house, while Nick retraced his steps to the pier and his Zodiac, surprised that
he didn’t see any of Yancy’s guards along the way.

HANNA WAS SITTING AT THE KITCHEN TABLE
with Nick’s mother when he came through the back door at one o’clock in the
morning. He smiled when he saw them.

“This is getting to be a nice habit—
the two of you two waiting up for me. Better be careful. I might get used to
it.”

Hanna’s smile was warm and tender and
relieved. His mother’s was anxious.

“What did Yancy tell you, son?”

Nick took a seat between the two
women. “He thinks Chen is holding Lance on Vancouver Island. He showed me the
compound on the map.”

“Do you think the information is
accurate?” Jessie asked worriedly.

“From all he told me— yes, I do. It
would be the ideal location to hold someone without anyone finding out.”

“Do you want a cup of coffee?” Hanna
checked. When he shook his head no, she asked, “So, exactly where on Vancouver
Island is Chen keeping Lance?”

Nick raked a hand through his short
hair tiredly. “At a compound he owns at the northwestern end, just below Cape
Scott. It’s above a little fishing village called Stormy Harbour. Have you ever
been there?”

“I don’t think so. If it’s where I
think, I’ve probably sailed by it, though.”

“Just north and east of the mouth of
Quatsino Sound,” Nick clarified. “There’s a finger shaped inlet that hooks
around and above Stormy Harbour.”

Hanna’s brows were furrowed in
thought. “I’ve sailed into Quatsino Sound and south to Port Alice. It’s
gorgeous country, but very rugged and remote. The weather’s really
unpredictable, too, although less so in the summer. Lots of rain and wind.”

“We used to dive with Sean off the
northern end of Cape Scott— where all those old sunken ships are, off Shipwreck
Point, remember?” Nick asked.

“Yeah. I’ve dived there with Lance. He
likes to salvage in that area.”

Nick stared at her for a long moment.
There it was again. Another reference to what she and his younger brother did
together. He didn’t remember her ever mentioning so many shared activities with
Lance in her letters.

Sighing, Jessie rose slowly and
stiffly from her chair. “Well, I’m going to bed, you two,” she informed them.
“Let me know when you’ll be leaving to get your brother, son.”

“Uncle Nick?” Christopher’s sleepy
little voice came from entryway into the dark living room. “Did the bad men
tell you where to find Daddy?” The little boy rubbed his eyes and climbed up onto
his uncle’s lap, looking trustingly up into his face.

Nick smiled at him and enclosed his
thin flannel-clad frame in his arms. “Yes, they did. Now I’m going to go to get
him and bring him home, sport.”

The smile that lit up the
ten-year-old’s face was luminous. “I know you’d do it!” He threw his skinny
arms around his uncle’s neck and gave him a big bear hug. “When Daddy be home?”

“A couple of days.” Nick stood up with
him and hoisted him onto his shoulders, making Christopher squeal with delight.
“Now you need to get back in bed. It’s way past your bedtime.”

“I sleeping with grandma,” the boy
informed him. “Read me a story.”

Jessie reached out and rubbed her
grandson’s leg as it dangled over Nick’s broad shoulder. “I’ll read you one,
honey. Nick is tired.”

“No,” the little boy insisted, angling
his brown-haired head down and to look upside down into his beloved uncle’s
face. “I want Uncle Nick to read to me.”

“It’s okay, Mom. It won’t take long.
He looks pretty sleepy.” Nick turned to Hanna, who was still seated at the
table, smiling up at the three of them. “Wait for me, and I’ll walk you home.”

“I can walk home by myself, for
goodness sakes.”

“Wait for me,” he insisted, every bit
as stubborn as his nephew.

“Okay,” she conceded as she pushed her
dark-rimmed glasses up onto her nose. “I’ll wait.”

“Thank you.” He winked at her, then
left with his mom and Christopher, bending at his knees into a squat, duck-walking,
to get through the doorway with the little boy on his shoulders. Hanna’s gaze
followed them until they disappeared into the darkness.

Nick’s relationship with Lance’s son
was so very touching that it made her eyes water. Christopher trusted his uncle
to rescue his dad and bring him home safe and sound. For that matter, they all
had been doing that from the day Nick had arrived home.

These were such dangerous men that had
entered their lives. And their leader had a personal vendetta against Nick. She
didn’t want anything to happen to either of the Kelly brothers. She loved both
of them, though one differently from the other. And Lord help her! Now that she
and Nick had become lovers, she would never be able to bear losing him.

CHAPTER
21

HER GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE was completely
dark as she and Nick entered through the back door and strode quietly upstairs.

Hanna looked back at Nick over her
shoulder and barely suppressed a giggle. “I feel like a teenager sneaking a boy
into her room.”

Nick caught her around the waist and
brought her to a halt at the top of the stairs. “You never did that, did you?”

“What do you think?” She made a face
at him over her shoulder. “Of course not. I didn’t have any boyfriends in high
school, remember? No one wanted to go out with a brainy underage geek, like
me.”

Nick whirled her around to face him.
“I did!” Even in the dark, she could see the adamant, half-angry look on his
face. “I admit you were too young to get serious about, but that doesn’t mean I
didn’t consider it.”

She stared up at him in wonder and
disbelief. “You had so many girlfriends all through high school,” she reminded
him, remembering how each new one had hurt.

“Yeah, but after taking you to our
prom, things were different, at least, for me. That summer after graduation....”
With a slight shake of his head, he gazed down at her. “Remember how much time
we spent together all that summer? Camping, sailing, and diving? Hanging out
together?”

“Dylan and Lance were there, too,” she
reminded him. “They went everywhere we did.”

“You were too young to be alone with
me.” His eyes became very intense, and his voice dropped lower. “I had the
experience to know what could happen. You didn’t. Geez, Hanna, you were barely
fifteen!”

She was speechless. What a revelation!
He’d been attracted to her way back then? She’d had no idea.

They were at her bedroom door when
Christine emerged from her room across the hall. There was an empty baby bottle
in her hand. She looked over at them and grinned.

Hanna was grateful for the darkness.
She could feel herself blushing all the way to her toes. It was obvious Nick
was intending to stay the night. He had his shaving kit in one hand and a
change of clothes in the other. He’d asked her to spend the night at his
mother’s, but Hanna didn’t think that was a good idea because of Christopher.

“The baby still wakes up once in the
while, hungry in the middle of the night,” Christine explained with an astute
grin. “Don’t let me disturb you. Colleen went to bed a couple of hours ago.”

“Good night, Christine,” Nick replied
as he opened the door for Hanna. “Give Katie a good night kiss for me.”

“See you in the morning,” she
finished. “Stay for breakfast.”

Hanna took that to mean that neither
Colleen nor Christine would be shocked if Nick spent the night. She whispered
good night to her sister-in-law then went into her room.

Nick shut the door behind them, then
dropped his things in a nearby chair and swung around to catch her in his arms.
“I need a kiss,” he murmured as she struggled to suppress another giggle. “No―
more than just a kiss, pretty doctor.”

Hungrily, he took her mouth in a
bone-melting kiss that rendered her weak in the knees. His lips moved over
hers, along her arched neck, back and forth between her collarbone and earlobe,
his teeth taking little nibbles along the way.

Her body bent backwards as her arms
wound around his neck, her fingers splaying into his short hair. She pushed her
fingers upwards, to where his hair was longer, to the back and top of his
well-shaped skull. She luxuriated in the soft silky warm feel of his hair.

Her caresses brought his head closer.
His kiss intensified, if that was possible. Her lips parted once again in
invitation, and his tongue thrust into her mouth. It mated with hers, coaxing
and cajoling. She felt the burn all the way to her toes. It was such a fierce
kiss that she uttered a hungry, shameless groan.

With an answering growl, Nick swung
her off her feet and carried her to her bed, where he fell backwards onto the
mattress with her still wrapped tight in his arms. Their kiss continued even as
they twisted sideways to face one another. It was ravenous, unending, defying
them to breathe, to separate.

Nick pushed his hands into her hair,
turning her head this way and that for the deepest access he could find. While
he was rapidly sending her into oblivion, she struggled to lower the zipper on
his jeans.

She had to wedge her knee between his
to gain purchase, then because she just had to feel even more of him, she
pushed her knee higher to rub back and forth against his groin. He shuddered
when she came into contact with his swollen shaft.

Understanding her message of need, he
pushed her onto her back, finally broke his contact with her mouth, and began
to unbutton her blouse. He disposed of all the buttons and stripped it from her
with amazing speed, then began working on the zipper to her jeans. Hanna kicked
off her sandals and nudged Nick’s sneakers off his feet.

She was surprisingly good at getting
them off, considering how tangled their bodies were. By that point, he had her
jeans around her ankles, so she wiggled out of them. Twisting against each
other, they both managed to get him out of his jeans. Then Nick rose above her
to tear his polo shirt off over his head and toss it backward carelessly, onto
the floor.

A squeaky laugh of delight escaped her
as he emerged from his shirt, bare-chested and nearly naked. She actually had
on more than he did. She was wearing the stretchy lace bikini panties and
demi-bra Christine had given her, and discovered the true value of such
seductive attire when she saw Nick notice them and suck in a quick breath.

His dark eyes filled with heat as he
slowly scanned her figure. Sending her pulse racing, he bent his dark head to
the pale thrust of her breasts that rose above the delicate lace. His tongue
sketched their full sloping shape. Through the sheer lace, his lips closed over
a nipple. Hanna arched, moaning, against the erotic pull of his teeth and lips.

One hand slipped beneath the satin and
lace of her matching panties. His fingers found her unerringly. She writhed and
twisted beneath his fondling caresses, his name breathlessly falling from her
lips with each assault he made on her senses.

Her climax spiraled to the surface.
Her world spun dizzily. Her body bowed upwards, nails dug into the sheets. To
silence her cry of ecstasy, Nick pulled his mouth from her breast to cover her
lips.

Before she had time to float back
down, he stripped her of her underwear, then his own, and entered her with the
same surety his fingers had. Hanna loved that moment when he first entered her.
All her empty places were filled with him. He became so much a part of her, she
wondered how they could return to two separate beings. For her, the fusion of
their bodies was a fusion of their souls, of their essences.

Clutching him to her, she felt the
hard flex of the muscles in his back. Her fingers slid across his shoulder
blades and along his spine. They molded the smooth hard curve of his waistline,
sculpted the round firm shape of his buttocks. With her nails digging into warm
skin, she grasped him tight as he rocked forcefully in and out of her. Because
she knew he loved it, she wrapped her long legs tight around his waist. It
locked her hips to his. His pace quickened. Sweat slicked his chest, his arms,
his entire body.

His stamina was wondrous. Hanna
reveled in it, glad she was in good enough shape to enjoy it. As far as she was
concerned, he could love her all night like this. She rotated her hips against
his, making the circular motion she had discovered drove him wild, savoring the
feel of his pelvic hair against hers and the deep groans that rumbled in his
chest.

Her tongue came out to lick the sweat
from his arched neck, his collarbone, his Adam’s apple. He tasted salty.
Inhaling his gloriously masculine scent, she nuzzled her nose in the light
dusting of dark soft hair on his broad chest and breathed deeply. Her lips
found his male nipple, then her teeth, gently biting him. His thrusts became
urgent, hard, and fast.

Another climax rose inside her, hotter
and more intense than before. She felt his building, and anticipated it as much
as her own. Shivers turned to deep shudders. They were slipping wetly against
one another. The telltale goose bumps rose on both their sweat-slick flesh.
Hanna’s long lithe body arched one final time, then dipped into the mattress
beneath the final fierce thrust of Nick’s. Their voices blended in a cry of
muffled pleasure. Consummation was so intense it rocked both of them.

Little quivers racked their limbs for long
moments afterwards. Nick reluctantly shifted his weight to her side. Not
wanting to be separated by even the merest inch, Hanna turned with him and
locked her arms around his waist to trap him as close as she could get him. He
found a similar hold on her. It seemed forever that they held each other that
way, Nick breathing heavily into her hair, Hanna doing the same into his chest.

At long last, their bodies cooled
enough to need the blankets pulled up. Beneath them, they rolled onto their
backs to stare at the ceiling silently for a moment. In the dark, their hands
found each other’s, fingers locked and intertwined.

She had no idea if making love was
this absolutely wonderful with any other man, but she knew it was beyond what
she had ever dreamed of with Nick. Either because she loved him so much or
because he was an amazingly skilled lover, or maybe both, having sex with him
was the closest to heaven she imagined she would get while she lived on this
earth.

Finally, he turned to her, rose up on
one elbow and caressed her cheek with his knuckles. “How am I ever going to do
without this? Without you?”

She frowned in a mixture of
consternation and joy. Was he preparing himself to leave her? Or was he telling
her that he couldn’t? “You don’t have to do without me,” she told him quietly.

“I don’t, huh?” He stared at her
thoughtfully, his mouth curved into one of those crooked grins she loved so
much. But there was also a slight frown wrinkling his forehead.

“Can you still retire?” she ventured.

“Yes, and I could do so with full
benefits.”

But she could hear the hesitancy in
his voice. “You don’t want to, though, do you?”

“Not really.” His head fell back onto
the pillow, and he stared at the ceiling once again. “The Corps is all I know.
It’s my life, my career, but I want things to change. I want there to be more
to my life than all these long overseas’ field deployments.”

It sounded to Hanna like he’d been
thinking about a new direction in his career. But it also sounded like he
hadn’t come to any decisions yet. She didn’t want to press him. She figured that
if he wanted her in his life on a regular basis, he’d have to come to that
realization in his own way and time. She’d waited twenty years for him. She
could wait a little longer. And even though he hadn’t told her he loved her, he’d
been telling her with his body how much she meant to him. She’d let that be
enough for now.

She finally scooted up to sit against
the pillows. When she was comfortable, she reached over to turn on her beside
lamp. Then she grabbed her glasses and a navigational map out of the night
stand drawer.

“So, show me where Lance is?”

She unfolded the map and smoothed it
over her quilt-covered lap. She was still wearing her bra. Either Nick had left
it on her on purpose, or he’d forgotten about it.

He plumped his pillows and sat up next
to her, letting the quilt fall around his waist as he checked his wristwatch.
“Feeling energized, are you?”

“I thought we’d make some plans so we
can get started on this rescue mission.” She saw his frown and knew what was
coming. “And don’t even think about telling me I’m not going along with you.”

“Hanna....”

“Colonel!” Her chin set stubbornly.

“These are dangerous men. They’d just
as soon shoot you as look at you. I have experience with situations like this.
I’m trained for this. You’re not. I can’t put you at risk by letting you come
on this mission with me.”

“You need help.”

“I plan on asking Kurt to go with me.”

“I’m a doctor. Lance may need me.”

That stopped him for a moment. Then he
shook his head in disagreement. “I have enough medical training to treat any
injuries temporarily.”

She didn’t have an argument for that
because she knew that he did have EMT training. “I can’t let you go without me.
There has to be something I could do for you. I’ve learned to operate all the
special equipment you’ve had me use. And I want to help bring Lance home.”

She looked so adorable sitting next to
him in her little lacy black bra and disheveled hair. As he stared at her
pleading expression, his heart twisted with love. Yeah, he loved her, he
finally admitted to himself. And not just as his best friend. This woman was
incredibly important to him. He was torn between giving her what she wanted and
deserved, and what he wanted, which was to keep her out of harm’s way. He knew that
she was smart and capable enough to be of assistance to him, but somehow he had
to keep her away from the real danger.