Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Beckett turned onto the street that would take him to Evie. He was crawling out of his skin with anticipation of seeing the tantalizing brunette once again. Lucky for him, he only had a little ways left to go, and then she would be…

Mine.

Music blared from the car’s speakers, the off-key lyrics blasting from Beckett’s overworked lungs. The song was a ballad sung by his favorite eighties big-hair band, its lyrics telling the story of an unbreakable bond shared by two people in love.

That’s right. I’m a softy at heart. And I’m man enough to fuckin’ admit it.

A break in the chorus gave way to the same wide, toothy grin he’d worn on the entire flight home from Rahal’s private island. All he could think about was getting back home to Evie.

The flight home, the ride from the airport back to the office, and any downtime during the team’s video conference debriefing with the heads of Homeland Security and the DOJ. His thoughts were consumed by the image of her welcoming him back with open arms.

Just a few more blocks…

Beckett’s smile grew impossibly bigger as he imagined Evie’s face when she’d received the NDA. The text she’d sent him shortly after Ashley—Tac-Ops’ young but impressively efficient manager—had delivered his surprise told him his plan had gone off without a hitch…

I can’t believe you did that for me. I’ll never, ever forget it.

He pressed down on his brake as he approached the next stop sign before flipping his turn signal and taking a right. Beckett’s chest filled with joy, knowing his gift had brought her so much happiness, something he realized was now his new life goal...

To make Evie happy.

That, more than anything else in the world, had become his number one priority. To make her smile and laugh. To be the one—the only one—to bring her so much pleasure she cries out his name.

To keep her safe.

Okay, so he had two new goals. Making her happy and making sure no one ever fucking hurt her again. And the second she opened that door, Beckett was going to rush inside, pick her up, kiss her senseless, and then…

And then I’m going to tell her exactly how I feel.

Nerves sparked to life throughout his system, but he ignored them and kept on driving. He’d come within centimeters of dying just a few hours before, so his nerves could fuck the hell off.

This was right. They were right. Beckett believed that with every fiber of his being. And as the palm of his hand smacked the steering wheel in time with the beat of the band’s drums, he belted the song loud and proud, as if he were singing every precious word to Evie.

Beckett was so lost in his thoughts of love and happily ever after it took him far longer than it should have to notice the drove of flashing blue and red lights up ahead.

What the…

His spine stiffened as his foot automatically lifted from the accelerator. Reaching up, he turned off the radio completely, transitioning seamlessly from a man in love to an operator assessing a scene.

Four cop cars, three news vans, and an ambulance were all parked half-a-block away. Neighbors on both sides of the street were outside standing around, staring at the comings and goings of the law enforcement and first responders.

Crime scene tape had been stretched across the road several yards from where the unmanned police cruisers remained in place. And when Beckett got closer to the makeshift barrier, he realized the condo the police officers were walking in and out of this very minute was the one that belonged to Evie’s friend, Lo.

Oh, god! Evie!

Fear and panic enveloped him as he did put the accelerator to the floor. A few seconds later, Beckett slammed on the brakes, jumping out of the car while the damn thing was still rocking.

“Sir, this is an active crime scene.” A uniformed officer hurried toward him. Palm up out in front of him, the young man looked as green as a Leprechaun at a St. Patty’s Day parade. “You’ll have to turn back around and go?—”

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.” Beckett scanned the entire scene, his heart racing with his desperate search for Evie.

“Sir, I’m not going to ask you again.”

“Fine.” Beckett started to reach back for his wallet but froze when the cop’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. “Easy,” he crooned to keep the other man from drawing his service weapon. “Just getting my wallet so I can show you my I.D.”

“No sudden movements.” The young but well-trained officer rested his hand on the butt of his holstered gun.

It wasn’t lost on Beckett that the guy had just unsnapped the small leather strap holding the weapon in place. Not that he blamed him. If the roles were reversed, and Beckett was the cop, he would’ve drawn his weapon the second the kid put his hand behind his back.

“Here.” He pulled his official Tac-Ops ID from his wallet and held it out for the officer to see.

The kid’s eyes widened a second time as he went from being suspicious to being in awe. “You’re with Tac-Ops?” The young officer’s blue gaze locked with Beckett’s. “Dude, I’ve heard all about you guys.”

“Then you know what I’m capable of.” He took the ID back from the kid’s outstretched hand, not feeling the least bit bad about the look of fear in the kid’s eyes. “The woman I love has been housesitting in that condo, so I’m going to go in there so I can make sure she’s okay.”

“There was a home invasion,” the officer shared. “Two victims, both female. One was knocked unconscious, and she’s being treated in the ambulance now. And the other?—”

“Victims?” Beckett stumbled back a step, his lungs suddenly struggling to pull in a full breath. “W-what are you…?”

He sidestepped the officer, ignoring the other man’s hollered requests for him to wait as he ducked under the thin yellow tape. The ambulance was parked in the middle of the street with its back doors sitting wide open.

Due to its slightly cockeyed position, he couldn’t see fully inside. But as his booted feet carried him mere feet from the emergency vehicle’s back bumper, the patient being treated finally came into full view.

Tall. Thin. Disheveled blonde hair. Pretty blue eyes that were red and swollen from her tears.

An oxygen mask had been placed over the woman’s nose and mouth, but Beckett recognized her instantly.

“Lauren!” He hollered loud enough for her to hear him over the paramedic administering care.

Evie’s best friend turned and looked at him, surprise widening her eyes, their recognition taking him a bit off guard.

“Beckett?”

Gut tight, he stopped just shy of climbing inside. “You know who I am?”

“Evie showed me your picture.”

“Where is she?” The breath in his lungs froze as he waited for her response.

“He took her.” Tears poured down Lo’s flushed and splotchy cheeks as she grew more and more agitated with each new word she spoke. “One m-minute, w-we were sitting on the couch t-talking…” Lo’s tortured gaze met his. “I-I signed the p-papers so she could t-tell me about A-Afghanistan. I can’t believe…after everything she’s already b-been through. Overseas…and her dickhead f-father…n-now this…”

He took her.

Evie’s friend continued on with her shock-ridden rambling, but Beckett had lost her the second he’d heard those three terrifying words…

He took her.

He took her.

He took her.

The silent taunt played over and over again in his head as he fought the losing battle to understand. Someone had broken into Lo’s home in the middle of the day and taken Evie? But they left Lo alive and seemingly unharmed?

Who the fuck would do that…and why?

“Beckett?”

“Who took her?” he demanded.

I want a fucking name.

“I don’t know.” Lo began to cry again.

Motherf—

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning. Tell me everything that happened.”

With a jerky nod, Evie’s best friend shared all she knew…

“I came home a day early to surprise her, and we were talking about…everything. I was in the living room, and she’d just gone into the kitchen to get stuff for mimosas.” Her watery blue gaze softened as it became fixed with his. “We were going to sip on them while she told me all about you.”

Ah, Christ.

“I got up to get something out of one of my bags,” Lo continued. “That’s when the man grabbed me from behind. I tried fighting him off, but he injected something in my neck that knocked me completely out. The next thing I knew, I was waking up on my living room floor, surrounded by EMS and police, and Evie was…gone.”

“I love her,” Beckett blurted it right out there for the world to hear.

He hated telling Lo how he felt before getting the chance to tell Evie first. But he needed her friend to know. Lo had to understand.

“You…what?”

“I’m in love with Evie,” he repeated the clarification. “I’d planned to tell her when I saw her today, but now….” His voice cracked, forcing him to clear the emotion from his throat. “I’m only telling you this, so you’ll know.”

“Know what?”

Beckett met Lo’s beseeching gaze, praying she could see the truth in his eyes when he promised her, “I’ll go to the ends of the fucking earth if that’s what it takes, but I will find her. And I will goddamn bring her home.”

A slow smile lifted the corners of the woman’s weary lips as she carefully lowered herself back down onto the cot. “You really are the badass she said you were.”

No, he wasn’t. He was just a man willing to do whatever it took to save the woman he loved.

“I’m sorry, sir, but we need to get her to the hospital to get checked out.” A second paramedic appeared at Beckett’s left.

He took a step back to make room for the man to work, but before the medic could close the doors completely, they heard Lo’s elevated voice call out?—

“Wait!” Evie’s friend shot up from the cot, her moves desperate to the point of near panic. “She told me all about you and your team. The kinds of things you guys do. Please, Beckett. You have to find her. You have to!”

The doors slammed shut before Beckett could even respond.

“Sorry, man.” The other medic rounded the bumper on his way to the driver’s side door. “But we’ve gotta roll.” Climbing behind the wheel, the man drove off, leaving Beckett standing alone in the middle of the street.

He turned and looked at the condo, struck by an onslaught of memories he and Evie had already made. The terror building up from deep inside grew larger and larger with every stuttered breath of his lungs.

Evie was gone. She’d been taken against her will again, and she was fucking gone .

Ah, Christ.

Beckett bent at the waist, gripping his knees with the palms of his hands to keep from falling. Jesus, he felt sick to his very soul. What the hell was he going to do?

You’re going to get your shit together and call up the team. That’s what the fuck you’re going to do, because that’s what Evie needs.

The voice in his head was right. Evie needed him to be at his very best now, more than ever before. And standing in the middle of the street, fighting the urge to vomit, wasn’t it.

Beckett pushed himself back up and drew in a long, deep, cleansing breath. Exhaling slowly, he repeated the move twice more. After that, he gave the condo one last glimpse before turning away and walking back the same way he’d come.

He could lose his shit later, if the need arose. But until such time, he needed to be one hundred percent focused on the mission at hand. It was, after all, the most important mission of his life.

Beckett pulled his phone from his back pocket and made a call. Digger answered on the second ring.

“Yeah?”

“Get the team to the office, ASAP. I’m already on my way.”

He ended the call, not wanting to waste time explaining what he’d end up going back over in a few minutes, anyway. The planning would start the second he and his team were together, but right now…

Right now, I need a minute to think.

But the longer he drove, the harder it was to keep himself in check. But he had to. For Evie. Whether she knew it or not, the woman was his life. No, she was his everything .

And he wouldn’t stop until she was safe, and the son of a bitch who took her was dead.

Evie was awakened to near consciousness by a strange sensation. One that was familiar yet somehow out of place.

It was as if she were floating on top of the water, yet her skin and clothes felt perfectly dry.

Wait, that’s not right. There’s no water next to Lo’s place.

She tried opening her eyes, but her lids felt weighted down. Why did they feel so heavy? Why did everything feel so incredibly heavy?

Have I been sick?

The only time she ever woke up feeling this way was after she’d downed a full dose of that nasty cherry-flavored nighttime cold medicine she always kept in her closet. But she didn’t recall being sick.

In fact, the last thing Evie remembered was…

Crap. What is the last thing I remember?

Eyes closed, she lay still, trying hard to pull up her most recent memory. As she did, Evie could hear what sounded like the water’s edge slapping against her bed.

Though it had to be a dream, she could almost feel her body swaying back and forth to the soft waves’ gentle rhythm. The imagined scene gave way to an idea. A wonderful, glorious idea.

Beckett and I should go away together.

She smiled to herself at the oh-so-tempting thought. A whole weekend—or heck, maybe even an entire week away with nothing to worry about but sipping Mai Tais on the beach during the day and making mad, passionate love at night.

Actually, Mimosas sounded better than Mai Tais. She should totally switch it to?—

Mimosas.

Evie frowned as another memory filtered in. She was in Lo’s kitchen getting all the supplies to make mimosas. But not just for her.

I was making them for me and Lo. She got home early, and I told her all about what happened overseas. We were going to drink mimosas while I told her all about Beckett, but Lo…

No!

Lo was on the ground. She wasn’t moving. The man on the phone said help was on its way, but then…

Evie’s eyes flew open as memories of her attack came back with a terrifying vengeance. On reflex, she shot straight up from where she’d been lying, but something wrapped around her wrists brought her forward motion to a sudden and painful stop.

“Ah!” She winced as she turned her head to see what held her back. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she realized why she was unable to move.

She was lying on a bed with her arms stretched high above her head. Both wrists were being held in place by a pair of white plastic ties. The bindings had been secured to two shiny, stainless steel screw eyes that had been purposely inserted into the wooden wall serving as the bed’s pseudo headboard.

Ohmygod!

Real panic set in, sparking a primal, desperate need to escape. Tears fell freely from Evie’s eyes as she pulled and tugged and yanked with all her might in a failing effort to break free.

Trickles of bright red blood marred the stark white plastic as it cut into her delicate skin, but she continued to fight against the unforgiving restraints. She couldn’t go through this again. Not. Freaking. Again!

Yet, here she was, having been taken against her will a second time. And she had no idea by whom…or why.

What happened to her and the girls in Afghanistan was horrific. But despite the terror those men had instilled in her and her young students, their heinous acts were, in a strange sense of the word, understandable.

Kidnapping for ransom wasn’t a new concept to the Taliban. Especially when it came to Americans helping those affected by the terrorist organization’s violent ways. But to come into a nice American neighborhood in broad daylight, and kidnap her a second time…

That doesn’t seem like the Taliban’s style.

Nor did holding her captive on a boat. Which, as Evie had finally figured out, was exactly where she was.

She was being held against her will in the cabin of a boat she didn’t recognize. Correction, not just a boat…

King-sized bed. Pristine white walls with dark, varnished wood trim. Twin nightstands with matching lamps.

Looking up, Evie could barely make out the bottoms of several small, rectangular windows lining the top section of the wall behind her. Sunlight filtered through them from the outside, its deep amber glow hinting the fiery orb was quickly approaching the horizon.

Her eyes fell closed, and she breathed slowly through her nose. Doing her best to ignore the nausea threatening to make itself known, she repeated the move a few more times before lifting her lids and looking around the room.

Evie decided to do what she’d done when she and the girls had first been taken, and focus on learning as much as she could about her present situation…

She looked down toward her feet to the wall facing the bed. A massive flatscreen TV stared back at her from its powerless screen, and though her current vantage point prevented her from seeing it fully, Evie was certain the frosted door to her left led to the cabin’s en suite bathroom.

Yeah, her earlier assessment was in definite need of a slight adjustment. Because this wasn’t just any plain Jane boat. This was a freaking yacht.

Who the hell would kidnap me and bring me to a yacht? And why?

The door to the cabin flew open, and Evie thought for a moment she was about to get her answer. But when she got her first look at the man who’d just entered the room, Evie realized…

I have no idea who this man is.

The guy was tall and incredibly muscular, like one of those professional wrestlers, she’d seen on TV. Evie’s pulse raced, her stomach clenching with fear as he walked toward her with a plate of food and glass of something that looked like water in his hands.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

The man said nothing as he set the food and drink down on the nightstand to her left.

“Please,” she shamelessly begged. “There’s been some sort of mistake. I-I’m not supposed to be here.”

The obvious statement nearly had Evie’s own eyes rolling. Of course , she wasn’t supposed to be here.

She watched and waited, and still, the man said nothing. Instead, he picked up one-half of what appeared to be a ham sandwich with all the fixings and brought it closer, as if he intended to personally feed her.

Evie’s stomach growled with a hunger she hadn’t noticed until now. But as much as her tastebuds begged for even the tiniest morsel, she couldn’t help but wonder what else the bastard had included in the offered food…and what it would do once it hit her system.

“You really think I’m going to eat anything you bring in here after you’ve already drugged me once?” She stared up at the unattractive beast.

Because something else Evie had concluded over the last few seconds…this was definitely the man who’d attacked her and Lo.

She hadn’t gotten a good look at him back at Lo’s condo, but the nauseating scent of his musky cologne was instantly recognizable. And somewhere in the back of her mind, Evie had the passing thought that at least this kidnapper cared about personal hygiene.

Focus, dammit! You’re in serious trouble here!

The man pushed the sandwich back in her face, but she turned her head to avoid the unwanted food.

“Eat,” the man ordered. His voice was baritone deep and without so much as a hint of patience.

Though it was risky to say the least, Evie stood her ground and kept her mouth clamped shut. A low, inaudible curse was her only warning before the man grabbed her jaw hard with his free hand and forced her to look back at him.

Tears formed in her eyes, and her vision blurred as he increased the pressure in his already painful grip. Evie couldn’t hold back the whimper when his meaty fingers dug into her skin, and she was almost certain her jawbone would shatter when he forced her mouth open and shoved one corner of the sandwich inside.

Evie struggled to get free of his excruciating grasp. But the man was far too strong, and without the use of her hands…

He pulled the food away, leaving a chunk of the meat, bread, and cheese still in her mouth in the process. Then the son of a bitch stared down at her and waited, the smug look on his face pissing her off almost as much as his attempt to forcefully shove food down her throat.

“Chew.”

Following the command, she chewed slowly as her eyes remained locked with his. But rather than swallow it down, like a dutiful hostage, Evie waited until he came closer as if to prepare to offer another bite and then?—

She spit it all right into his face.

Probably not the most brilliant move, pissing off a man who could snap her like a twig. But she’d already lost her freedom, and unless another miracle happened and she somehow managed to escape, the only thing Evie had left was her dignity.

I’ll be damned if this man—or anyone else, for that matter—takes that away from me, too.

Fury filled the muscled bastard’s deadly gaze as he slowly wiped a palm across his soiled face. Less than a second later, that same hand flew toward her so fast that Evie didn’t have time to even try to avoid the blow.

The back of his hand slammed against her left cheek. She cried out, a blast of pain radiating from the point of impact as dozens of tiny black dots filled her watery vision.

Tears fell from the corners of Evie’s eyes as she lay helpless at the mercy of a man she didn’t even know, and all she could think about was how badly she wished Beckett were here.

If he were, this man would already be dead.

Everything around her became blurred with a fresh onslaught of self-pitying tears. Beckett had to know she was missing by now. And poor Lo…

God, please let Lo be okay!

The man reached down and grabbed her jaw again. His immovable grip hurt even more this time around, and his hot breath struck with a rancid wave as he leaned in with an ominous warning.

“Eat. Don’t eat. I don’t give a fuck what you do. But you spit in my face again, I’ll fucking kill you myself.”

He released her with a rough, angry shove before turning around and walking away. Evie’s throbbing face crumbled as she realized whatever this was…it wasn’t like the last time.

The terrorists who’d kidnapped her made their cause clear from nearly the moment she and the girls were taken. But this man…Evie had no idea what he planned to do with her.

One thing was certain, however. If she didn’t find a way out of this room and off this yacht soon, she was as good as dead. And for the first time in her seemingly privileged life, she had something she wasn’t willing to lose.

Beckett.

They’d only just found each other, but she loved him with all her heart. So, as hard as it was, Evie forced the rest of her tears away and began devising a plan.

Because the next time that muscle-bound asshole returned…

I’m damn well going to be ready.