Code Name: Luminous (28 page)

Barry nodded.

“Where?”
Mace asked.

“San Francisco and Crescent City.”

They all shook their heads. No matter what they did, people
would become infected either from the first or second virus. People were going
to die and infect more of the population before the CDC gained control of the virus.

The satellite feed blacked out and a new image filled the
screen. In the right hand corner Tony saw his name and a blinking green light.
He couldn’t breathe. “Is that her?” He leaned even closer, pushing Kayla forward,
squishing her against the tabletop. “Sorry,” he said backing off.

Kayla typed more info on the keyboard and the image zoomed
in. She looked up and he looked down, meeting her gaze. “The signal is
intermittent, but your jacket is traveling at eighty kilometers per hour along
the I-5 toward Los Angeles.”

“Yes, it’s her!” He whipped the chair around and planted a
huge kiss on Kayla’s cheek. “I love you, woman.” He grabbed Mace by the
shoulder and practically dragged him toward the door. “Let’s go get her. Kayla,
keep me advised.”

Mace blew her a kiss and Fox winked at her. Kayla leaned
back in the chair with a worried expression. “Should I call Manchester and
advise him?”

He held the door open, letting Mace and Fox pass him. “No,
I’m going in to get her. If we need help, I’ll
advise
.”

Kayla gave him a salute.

Mace and Fox followed him outside. “I’m going to the
Loadout
Room first.”

“Right behind you,” Fox said, keeping pace.

Tony was punching the code into the door when it swung open.
Lieutenant Lewis glanced up then stopped short. “Petty Officer Bale.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“Sir.”
He went to walk past him and Lewis gripped his
shoulder.

“I want to talk to you now, Bale.”

Mace and Fox slid by. “Sir, we’re on Dafoe’s tail. I don’t
have time to talk.” He said it respectfully, at least as much as he could
muster for the bigoted jerk.

Lewis slammed the door shut, leaving them on the outside.
“You set me up.
Made me look like a shit in front of Admiral
Austen.”

“I’m not the one with racial issues. Unless I go in there,
you’ll have double the trouble. You’re already in neck-deep with the Admiral.
You’ll never dig your way out.”

“I can draft just about any complaint I want, and it will
have to be investigated. In fact, I could call the Men-at-Arms right now and
have you detained.”

Tony debated giving him a basis for his complaint and laying
him out flat on the cement. “You want to come after me,
then
do it once we’ve neutralized the threat.”

“I’m riding along with you on this. To keep an eye on you
and regain some lost ground with the Admiral.”

“Like fuck you are, sir.” Tony watched as Lewis pulled his
phone. He stopped him. “There’s more at risk than just the virus being released
by Dafoe.”

“As in?” he asked, eyeing him.

“Dafoe has my fiancée.” Was it his imagination or did a look
of ill-disguised satisfaction sprint past his eyes?

“If we find her, we find Dafoe.” Lewis contemplated for a
moment. “Do you know where she is?”

The door sprang open and Mace leaned out. “You getting in
the saddle or hiding behind a desk? Because it’s time to gear up,” he said.

Lewis gave him a nod and followed Mace into the
Loadout
Room. Hindrance or help, either way, Tony would not
let Lewis stop him from saving Lumin.

Chapter Twenty-One

Five o’clock L.A. traffic jammed seven lanes to the hilt.
Even the HOV
High-occupancy vehicle
lane
crawled. Mace drove, and Tony wanted to wrench the wheel and take the emergency
lane. “We
gotta
get off this.” He pulled his phone.

“Base Command Coronado,” Nina answered.

“Ninja Girl, we’re running
slow
in
traffic. Find us a way around it.”

“You’re on the I-5?”

“Affirmative.”

“I was just going to call you. The vehicle Kayla is tracking
just stopped.”

“Where?”
Tony took note of the next
exit.

“It took Highway 133 toward Laguna Beach.”

“We just passed San Clemente. They had a few hours lead on
us. What do you think the delay was?”

“No idea. Maybe they were waiting for someone. Here’s the
neighborhood and address. It’s a residence.”

Tony pulled open his glove box and grabbed a gas receipt and
a pen, writing down the address she gave him. “Did you give the Admiral a
SITREP?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve got one more on this mission,” he said, adding the
address into the GPS.

“Who?
Wait.
Standby.”
Nina took a departure report from one of the base vessels then came back on the
line. “Who’s with you besides Ed, Fox, and Mace?”

“Lieutenant Abraham Lewis.”

“That’s Alpha Squad’s new lieutenant, right?”

“Roger that.”

“I heard he’s an asshole.”

“Worse. I’ll call you on arrival.”

“Good luck, T-man.”

Lewis hadn’t said much for the last two hours, then again,
none of them had. “Was that the Admiral’s wife?” he asked.

Every head in the car turned. If Lewis was about to say
something racist, Tony was pretty sure he’d be rolling behind the car’s dust
somewhere on the off ramp Mace had taken to get out of the traffic. “No, it was
Nina,” Tony said, keeping his eyes ahead.

“Guess I owe the Admiral an apology sometime soon.”

“Why don’t you meet Kayla first before you judge?” Tony
suggested.

Lewis cranked his head and stared out the side window. “I’ll
make a point of it, but I doubt my opinion will alter much.”

Tony and Mace exchanged a glance. He hadn’t shared Lewis’
misguided opinion of ethnicity with his best friend. Both he and Mace had grown
up in San Diego where many different races converged. Mace’s mother was
Mexican, but his father’s European roots worked to remove most of his Spanish
features. If the lieutenant made a slur now, Mace would probably let him have
it with both barrels. Tony wanted to avoid that from happening.

“What opinion?” Mace asked, before Tony could change the
subject.

“One I’ll keep to myself,” Lewis said.

The guy wasn’t as dumb as he thought. Tony eyed the mileage
meter that kept reducing on the GPS, but it wasn’t dropping fast enough. Mace
took feeder routes running along the I-5. It meant more stop lights, but the
traffic was lighter. After fifty minutes, Mace was heading south on 133 toward
the Coast Highway, taking Cliff Drive where the car had taken Lumin.

“You’re not wrong,” Mace said, slowing down.

His swim buddy read his mind. What if she wasn’t here?
They’d just wasted precious time following a lead, and he could be getting
farther away from her rather than closer. Mace drove past the address. Most of
the homes on the seaward side had street level entries. The car wasn’t visible,
more than likely inside the three car garage. Palm trees and lush foliage
obscured their view. The homes took advantage of the real estate they were
perched on with the windows looking out over the Pacific.

Mace drove another quarter mile and parked in a grocery
store parking lot. When Tony turned in his seat, Lewis said, “Callahan, you and
Bale wait here. I’ll take Fox and Ed in to find Dafoe.”

“I want Lumin clear first,” Tony warned.

Lewis settled a hard look on him. “I told you we do this by
the book. Dafoe is the target, your fiancée is secondary.”

“Bullshit.”

“T-man,” Fox gripped his wrist, and gave him a silent
message. “Wait here.”

Ed remained silent, but while Lewis watched him and Fox, Ed
gave him a slight nod. “Everyone
test
their
comms
,” Fox ordered.

They each confirmed, and the guys slid out.
“Lieutenant.”
Lewis’ feet had just hit the ground. “If Lumin
dies because of your decisions, the Admiral is the least of your worries.”

“Don’t threaten me, Bale. We’ll have time to do that later.
As you pointed out, our country is in jeopardy and the man responsible is in
that residence. He’s the priority.”

Lewis slammed the door, and Tony watched him saunter to
catch up with Fox and Ed. “As soon as they’ve rounded the corner, we’re gone,”
Mace said.

Tony didn’t take his eyes off the figures as they walked
through the parking lot at a leisurely stroll, but he lifted his fisted hand
and Mace thumped it.

* * * *

Lumin pressed her ear to the locked bedroom door. She heard
the men’s low rumble as they spoke. Dafoe’s men had abruptly woken her from her
sleep and dragged her out the window. She hurt one of the kidnappers when she
grasped a piece of broken pottery from the lamp and cut him. She gently touched
the back of her head and winced. He hit her with something and she’d passed
out. Swallowing down the nausea, she pressed her ear tightly against the door
once more,
then
gave up.

She’d woken up in the car. While she’d been passed out,
Dafoe had joined them. They wouldn’t talk to her or answer any questions. It
was as if she were invisible. She wrapped Tony’s jacket around her and padded
with bare feet to the window. They’d locked it from the outside. It was the first
thing she’d tried when they’d pushed her into this room. The ocean cast itself
against the rocks below, and she closed her eyes and buried her nose in Tony’s
jacket. His lingering scent gave her a little comfort, but no hope of him ever
finding her unless she could get a message to someone.

The door opened, and she pushed herself into the corner of
the room. “Go away,” she said, seeing Dafoe step inside and close the door
behind him.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Lumin, even though you’ve caused
me nothing but grief. I just need something from you.”

She shook her head. “I have nothing you want.”

“You do,” he said slyly as he approached her. He was a
daunting figure. His dark features and sharp eyes focused on her as if she were
some kind of lab rat. “You’re going to make a donation.”

“For what?”
She slid along the
wall, her escape thwarted by the bed.

“Your blood.
It holds the
antibodies to the virus, and I need them.”

“So you can live? People are sick and you deserve the same
end for the damage you’ve done”

“Not near enough, but soon it will be in the millions.
That’s when I will be satisfied.”

A deep baritone bell reverberated throughout the house,
signaling a visitor.

“See, Lumin, even the door-to-door salesmen aren’t smart
enough to find a safe place to hide. Americans exist believing no one can cause
them harm, but I’m going to give them a great cause to learn they are not
invincible.”

He clenched her arm and thrust her ahead of him. They
reached the entryway as one of Dafoe’s men was closing the front door. “Help
me. Please send help, I’m—” Dafoe’s fingers clamped over her mouth and he
twisted her arm behind her, his hand muffling her scream of pain.

“Not a wise thing to do. You just ended that man’s life.”

He jerked his head at his security man, and the guy pulled a
weapon from his waistband and hurriedly opened the door chasing after whoever
had knocked on it. She twisted a look over her shoulder to see a tall, broad,
blond-haired man halfway down the front path. She knew that gait. Her fear was
short circuiting her brain and giving her a flicker of hope with an illusion.
Dafoe aimed her toward a stairway leading to the lower floor.

The sound of shattering glass made her jump. The house alarm
blared. Dafoe released her and pulled a weapon from beneath his blazer. Instead
of running away from the confusion, she ran toward it. The wood floor was
covered with splinters of glass from the broken patio doors, and she leaped
onto the couch as she crossed paths with a man in fatigues. She didn’t
recognize him, but she didn’t care. A man in uniform meant salvation. Someone
behind her snatched a handful of her hair and jerked her back. Grabbing above
his hand, she wrenched her head away leaving a fistful of her strands with him.
The warrior tackled Dafoe’s security guard and she scrambled to the other end
of the couch. From there she jumped to a sturdy dining table. She snapped the
latch on the window and swung it open. One long step and she was balancing on
the window ledge. The front door opened with a crash and she saw Fox and Ed. It
had been him.

“Run, Lumin,” Ed yelled at her.

She didn’t wait for a second order and jumped to the
balcony. One look over the edge of the railing gave her a clear view of the
cliff they were perched on. It wasn’t a sheer drop, but almost. The
crunch
of glass behind her made her
pause. Dafoe! He held his weapon steadily aimed at her.

“Don’t do it, Lumin.”

She backed up and didn’t give away the fact that another
SEAL crept over the far edge of the balcony, but men like Dafoe survived on a
sixth sense and he whirled. She knew the man under the helmet. Tony! Dafoe and
he faced
off,
their weapons couldn’t miss if they both
fired.

A slow smile crept over Dafoe’s expression as he turned the
weapon on her. “Go ahead, SEAL. I’ve got great aim.”

The weapon was pointed at her, but Dafoe’s attention was on
Tony. She quickly slid over the edge of the railing and found a foothold on the
rock below. With a quick prayer she released the balcony deck and gripped the
rock face. Just before disappearing she saw Tony’s gaze lock with hers and he
smiled.

“Thousands of people are going to die because of you,
Dafoe,” Tony accused. “Because of you, a great SEAL will never come home to his
wife and girls. Do you expect a fair trial?”

Lumin scrambled across the cliff’s outcroppings, making sure
every hand hold found solid rock. She could still hear Tony. Stopping for a
breath, she spared a look over her shoulder. Dafoe edged sideways and spotted
her. “You are going to drop your weapon, SEAL, and I am going to walk out of
here or you will watch her fall to her death.”

Tony’s head cocked a little. “Lay down your weapon, Dafoe,
or you won’t have a court date.”

Tony was stalling to give her time to make it to safety. Her
toes were bleeding, but she stuffed them into a crack and pulled with her arms
and thrust with her legs. Almost there, she winced and pushed herself to reach
the edge of the cliff. The rocks began to crumble in her hand. Near the top
there was too much sand mixed in. The spit of something ricocheting off a rock
splintered a piece and hurtled stone at her cheek. Another shot rang out, but
this time it didn’t come close. She held her breath and looked over her
shoulder. Her foot slipped, and she clutched a lump of grass. Tony was gone
from the balcony and Dafoe lay on his back.

Sweat rolled down her face and coated her skin. She balanced
on her left foot, the only solid surface holding her up. She rested her
forehead against the rough surface. A hand gripped her wrist and she screamed
before looking up.

“Come here, baby.”

Tony gripped both her wrists and pulled her over the edge.
They fell backwards with her landing on top of him. He didn’t hesitate, placing
his hands around her face, and kissed her.
A hard, desperate
kiss.
He sat up, bringing her with him perched on his lap, but he
wouldn’t stop kissing her. She pushed a little at his shoulders, and he finally
fell back. She slipped his helmet off and ran her hands through his hair,
stopping to embrace his neck. He fell back to the grass, keeping her clutched
tightly to him.

“Would you do
me
a favor and stop
getting kidnapped? I don’t think my heart can take it.” His thumb brushed her
cheek and followed her top lip with a gentle touch.

“How did you find me?”

“A SEAL can’t divulge his secrets,” he said, giving her a
wicked, lusty grin.

When her hero smiled, he was the most handsome man on the
planet. “Tell me,” she whispered. Being this close to him made her skin tingle
and it didn’t help that she could feel his arousal between her thighs.

“Maybe just this one secret,” he said and kissed her.

“What’s the secret?” She brushed her cheek against the
stubble on his face and nearly purred.

“You’re the woman I’m going to cherish for the rest of my
life, and that means you’re right here,” he said, touching his heart and then
hers. His gaze intensified, the smile gone replaced with a soul shaking
sincerity. “I won’t allow anyone to hurt you or take you from me. Marry me,
Lumin, and I promise to love you and never stop.”

* * * *

Tony carried Lumin back to the house, and gently set her on
her feet near the front door.

Lieutenant Lewis stepped forward. “Petty Officer Bale, I’ll
see that Lumin returns to San Diego and make the report we’ve located Dafoe.
Take these men back to the base with your team.”

Tony didn’t give a shit that Lewis wanted the glory. A real
SEAL didn’t strive for visibility, only success, but he wasn’t going to let
Lumin out of his sight. Not ever. “Is Dafoe dead?” he asked, not giving the
lieutenant a confirmation on his order.