A SEAL's Surrender (Alpha SEALs Book 3) (15 page)

“What time did she call?” Christopher asked, his eyes narrowing.  Hell, this woman was another clue in the trail of where Lexi had been all evening, and Mike had practically frightened her to death.  The woman hastily explained her phone call with Lexi earlier.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even introduce myself.  I’m Christopher; this is my teammate, Mike.”

“You’re him,” she finally said, eyes flicking up and down his frame.

“Him?” Christopher questioned.

“Her guy.  The SEAL from Coronado.”

“She told you about me?”  He didn’t know what to make of that.  Had Lexi told her she’d run into him again this week?  Or had she told her him in the context of her asshole of an ex-boyfriend?  He had little to say to this woman in defense of how he’d acted all those years ago.  But he’d fucking make up for it now.  He wouldn’t rest until Lexi was back in his arms.  And if any harm came to her, he’d dig the graves of her kidnappers himself.

“Only a million times.”

Christopher’s chest filled with warmth, immediately followed by pain.  Hell, his heart actually hurt thinking about her.  Lexi certainly wouldn’t have talked about him that much if she didn’t still feel something over all their years apart.  Maybe a reference or two in passing, but if Lexi’s friends knew about him, a man from her past, apparently he wasn’t out of her mind as much as Lexi had led him to believe.

“I’m Kenley,” she finally said, holding out a small hand.  He shook it, squeezing gently as if to reassure her.  Or maybe it was himself he was trying to reassure.  She glanced at Mike warily but didn’t offer a handshake to him.  Fucking idiot—pinning a defenseless woman against the wall.  He was easily twice her size.  He could have restrained her without going ape shit.

Christopher filled her in on the broken glass found in the parking lot.  They looked around the condo but didn’t see anything else amiss.  If Lexi had been here, it hadn’t been for long.  But why had she come?

“Are you planning to stay here?” Christopher asked.  “How can we get a hold of you?”

Kenley said she’d stay until Lexi was found, offering to help in any way that she could.  They exchanged contact information, with Christopher promising to call as soon as they knew anything.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Mike said, his voice low.

“What’s not?” Christopher asked.

“Her staying her alone.”

Kenly glared at him, placing her hands on her hips.  “I’m pretty certain the only person I have to worry about here is
you
.”

Mike stiffened, and Christopher tugged him to the door. 
Jesus. 
They had to get a move on, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stand around keeping these two from tearing each other’s throats out.  He needed to call his CO, see if the police had any leads on the SUV in the garage.  If they didn’t have anything by now, he’d hack into the damn traffic cams himself.  Lexi was out there, alone.  And nothing was going to stop him from finding her.  This ended tonight.

Lexi pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache forming.  The combination of whatever they’d drugged her with, the lack of food and water, and the deep sleep she’d been in earlier was wearing her down.  How many hours had passed since she’d been kidnapped?  She wasn’t even sure what day it was.  Her stomach rumbled, but she felt too queasy to eat.  Not that they’d offered her anything.

The sun dipped lower in the sky, nighttime approaching.  But what night it was, she couldn’t even venture.  No one had come back.  She was alone in the room with only the photos that made her ill and grungy blanket and pillow.  She gathered up the pictures that lay scattered across the ground and arranged them into a pile, facedown.  She couldn’t even look at them.  It sickened her to know someone had been watching her and Christopher on the beach.  That moment had been special, sacred—between only the two of them.

The slimy man from earlier would come back for her—that wasn’t a question.  Maybe other men would be with him.  And they needed her cooperation.  She needed to buy time.  Maybe even offer to work with them.  Pretend she’d steal the information they needed.  Find out if they were working in conjunction with Edwards.  They wouldn’t kill her if she could be an asset to them.

A chill snaked down her spine as she remembered the man’s words from earlier:
You’re mine tonight.
  No way in hell was she going down without a fight.  But how much fight did she have in her?  She was exhausted, dehydrated, sick to her stomach.  Could she really fight off a man twice her size in this condition?

A single tear slid down her cheek.

Where was Christopher?

***

The six men on Christopher’s SEAL team gathered in the CO’s office on base, looking down at the paper Brent tossed onto the table.

“You’re sure this is it,” Christopher demanded, looking at the numbers and letters in front of him.

“That’s the plate,” Brent said, “as well as the make and model of SUV.  The police pulled it off the surveillance footage from the garage.  They’re coordinating an effort to pull up images from all the traffic cams in the area and surrounding businesses.”

“Fuck no,” Christopher said.

The eyes of every man on his SEAL team slid to him.  His CO crossed his arms, waiting for an explanation.  Patrick raised his eyebrows.

Adrenaline surged through Christopher.  For the first time all evening they had a solid lead.  A fucking chance.  Hope bloomed in his chest, almost greater than the fear that had sat heavily there all afternoon.  “That model SUV has built-in GPS navigation.  We don’t need traffic cams, we need access to the automaker’s system.  We can track the vehicle anywhere.”

“For real?” Matthew asked, looking impressed.

“Hell yeah.  That’s why I was so angry earlier that they ditched Lexi’s phone.  We could’ve tracked her using that.”

“What about her electronics?” Patrick asked.  “Wasn’t her computer stolen from her vehicle?”

“Already checked earlier.  It’s turned off.  It’s highly unlikely they’d bother shutting off the GPS in their vehicle though.  Even if they weren’t using it at the moment, it was running in the background.  As soon as I find it in the system, we can follow every movement of the SUV, including where it is now.”

“And it’ll lead us straight to Lexi,” Patrick finished.

Christopher looked at him, eyes grim.  Patrick’s cool blue eyes met his, and he nodded.  Patrick knew what it was like to live in fear that the woman you loved might be harmed.

“She better be there.  Because I’ll kill those mother-fuckers myself.”

The CO’s eyes scanned over the SEAL team.  “This is off the books.  We have no legal authority to be doing the job of the police, running after Christopher’s girl. If something goes wrong, I won’t be able to help any of you.  A move like this could be career-ending.”

“The entire Atlantic fleet couldn’t stop me,” Christopher ground out.

“We’ll handle this as a team,” Patrick agreed, eyes blazing.  “Lexi is one of ours now.”

The other men all nodded and grunted in agreement.

“How long will it take to trace the vehicle?” Brent asked.  His eyes blazed in anger.

“Minutes.  Those systems are easy to hack into—minimal security compared to government databases like ours.”  He chuffed out a laugh, his first all day.  Could it really be that damn easy to find her?  He could only hope.

A few quick keystrokes, and he’d easily accessed the system.  The movements of the SUV followed Lexi’s exact path that afternoon.  They’d been parked near base, followed her to the condo.  Presumably they were the one’s who’d broken the window on Lexi’s vehicle.  And when they hadn’t found what they needed, they’d nabbed her.

“The vehicle’s been in the same spot for two hours,” Christopher said, his heart racing.

“That’s where Lexi is,” Patrick ascertained.

“We’ve fucking got ‘em,” Christopher confirmed.

The entire team moved instantly, rushing to gather their supplies.  Ten minutes later the team was on the move.  They exited base and minutes later flew over the bridge heading toward Norfolk.  Christopher’s gut clenched as he white-knuckled the steering wheel, his mind racing.  Lexi was there—she had to be.  But had she been harmed?  Was she still alive?  The alternative was unthinkable.

***

Lexi scrambled to her feet as she heard shouts.  The overhead lights flickered several times, and then the room went black.  Silence.  The very last rays of the evening sun came in through the window, providing a dim glow in one small area of the confined room.  In a few minutes, she’d be here in total darkness.  Alone.  Vulnerable.

Heavy footsteps resounded in the hall.  She scrambled off to the corner of the room, trembling.  Were the men fighting over what to do with her?  Had something else happened?  The doorknob jiggled and then she heard someone fumbling with the lock.  Muffled voices.  She raced over to the door, pressing herself flat against the wall beside it.  The world seemed to sway.  She shouldn’t have moved so fast.  The effects of the drugs they’d given her were slowly wearing off, but rushed movements made her dizzy.

If she could hide behind the large door when it swung open, maybe she could make a run for it.  She’d only have a second, but in the dim light, she might just have a chance.  They’d look first to the blanket and pillow.  When they stepped into the room, she’d hurry out.  How fast or how far she could go was uncertain.

A click, and then the heavy door swung open.  She tensed, expecting the man from earlier.  Several large men charged in, and she froze in fright.  Was that…were those…?

She wanted to run but couldn’t make herself move.  Dizziness overtook her, and she started to stumble to the side.  A large man ran to her, dressed in black, a mask covering his face.  He hauled her up into his arms.  “It’s okay darlin’.”

She’d heard that voice before.

Commotion ensued as someone else entered the room.  The lights suddenly came back on, and Lexi squeezed her eyes shut.  She heard a
thump
and saw a man on the ground, blood spilling from his chest.  Lexi hadn’t even heard a gunshot.

The man holding her yelled at the others.

“Tell Christopher we found her,” one of them barked.  “She needs medical attention.”

The world faded to black.

***

“We found her,” Brent’s voice came through Christopher’s ear bud.  “Repeat, we found her.”  Christopher paused, mid-sweep of one of the upstairs bedrooms.  His eyes continued a quick scan of the room, but he was literally frozen in place.  “Mike’s attending to her now, but she needs medical attention.”

Fucking hell.

That spurred him back to life.  “Where are you?” Christopher demanded.

The team had split up upon arriving at the house, with Christopher, Evan, and Patrick going one way, the rest of the team another.  Patrick appeared in the doorway and nodded at him as Brent gave their location down in the basement.  Christopher tore down the stairs from the top level of the home, taking several at a time.  Two men lay on the floor of living room, but he stepped over them, rushing to the second set of stairs.  Racing to get his girl.

Matthew appeared holding Lexi.  She was limp in his arms and so very pale.  His chest clenched.  What the hell had they done to her?

Brent appeared behind him, holding a stack of something in his hands.  He shoved them at Christopher, saying he would destroy the remaining copies.  Christopher didn’t even glance down at the pictures.  He took Lexi from Brent and rushed her outside as Mike called for an ambulance.

Her pulse was weak, and she was cold and pale, but he didn’t see any external injuries.  She was fully clothed, and Christopher nearly fell to his knees, grateful that she hadn’t been harmed.  He took her to his truck as sirens sounded in the distance.  She’d be okay.  They’d be okay.

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket.  His CO had texted the entire team:
Edwards is in custody.

Christopher breathed a sigh of relief.  Lexi mumbled something, and he swept his hand across her forehead, brushing her hair aside.

Violet eyes met his.

“Christopher,” she murmured.

“I’m here, honey.  Everything’s all right.”

Christopher carried Lexi down the hall to his apartment two days later, only setting her down to pull his keys from his pocket.  He was half tempted to kick the damn door down, he was so eager to get her alone.

Lexi gazed at him through lowered lashes as she stood at his side.  For just a moment, she was that shy, bashful girl again.  And he was a big, tough, Navy SEAL, ready to show her the time of her life.  Too bad one kiss from her a lifetime ago was all it had taken for him to fall head over heels.  He’d never meant for them to be together more than one night, but after that first kiss in Coronado?  He’d been hers.  And after nearly losing her this week?  He wasn’t ever letting her go.

“All my stuff is at the hotel,” she protested.

“Not exactly.  Remember when Kenley stopped by the hospital to visit you last night?”

“Yeah….”

“I convinced her to bring your things here.  She agreed it was for the best.”  He winked, knowing Lexi wouldn’t like them deciding what to do without her input.

“For the best, huh?  And how on Earth did you get her to agree to that?”

“She may have made me promise that I introduce her to some of the guys on my team,” Christopher chuckled.

“Sounds about right,” Lexi muttered.  “I can’t believe my best friend would betray me like that.”

Christopher chuffed out a laugh.  “I plan for us to spend all the time you’re getting off from work together.”

“Two weeks isn’t bad considering everything I dealt with.”

Christopher’s eyes narrowed.  Lexi had been joking about the situation, but it unnerved him.  He’d thought he’d lost her, and hearing her treat it lightly didn’t sit well.  He wanted to protect her and care for her.  Love her.

He unlocked the door, and they walked into his apartment together.  She’d barely set her purse down, before he pulled her into his arms.  She glanced up at him—so soft, so innocent, so damn perfect for him.  “Lexi.”

“Christopher.”

“I was scared out of my mind that I lost you.”

Her hands rose, and she cupped his face.  “I was scared, too.  But I’m okay, sweetie.”

Sweetie.

That one little word was enough to nearly make him come undone.

“I can’t stand the thought of not having you in my life, of spending another ten years, a lifetime, without you.”

“We’ll make it work,” she said.

Hope bloomed in his chest.  He was worried he’d have to convince her to give things a go.  He clasped her hands, lowering them between them, and brushed a soft kiss over her lips.

“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved.”

Shock filled her eyes.

“Honey, it was always you.  No one but you….”

***

Lexi froze, her heart palpitating.  Certainly he’d been with other women over the years.  But had he truly only ever loved her?  He bent and kissed her again, the rough stubble of his jaw chafing against her skin as his hot lips moved over her.

Christopher abruptly stopped and took a step back from her, reaching into his pocket.  “I want to do something I should’ve done years ago.”

Confusion flooded through her, and her heartbeat sped up.

In an instant, he was down on one knee before her.  Heat bloomed over her skin.  Love filled her heart.  “Marry me, Lexi,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.  “I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, making you the happiest woman in the world.”

“But…when did you get that?”

“I bought it for you a lifetime ago.  I was just a dumb kid, and I never should’ve let you walk out of my life.  Losing you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, and loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

Tears slid down her cheeks, and he took her trembling hand in his own larger one.

“I couldn’t get rid of it.  Maybe, in the back of my mind, I always knew I’d find you again.  That you were the only one for me.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Yes, you’ll marry me?”

She beamed, her face wet with her tears.  “Yes, I’ll marry you, Christopher.”

He slid the ring onto her finger, then rose, capturing her mouth in a kiss.  She’d always been his, even if she didn’t know it.  And now it was finally time to start their own happily-ever-after.