Lock and Load (SEAL EXtreme Team) (15 page)

Her eyes flashed, but she recovered. She shrugged. “Something like that.”

He jumped off the bed. “Dammit, Amber. Why’d you go out with that French sonofabitch? You should have trusted me! I waited for you at the
Take-down in Tangi Valley.
You never went in.
”

“How’d you know that?” She sat up. “Oh that’s right. You’re a SEAL with mad communication skills. I thought you were a regular gamer, Charlie. I didn’t know you at all.”

“You knew me.” He paced, running his hand through his short hair. “I never hid my real self from you. I told you things I never told anyone. You knew I’d never
trick
you into becoming a traitor to our country.”

Her cheeks flushed. She blinked hard and lowered her voice. “Are you going to help me or not? I need to get to Mong Kok, Charlie.”

“No.” He strode toward the door. “I’m not helping you leave this
junk
.”

“What are you saying?” She crossed her arms. “I’m your prisoner, is that it? Like in the
Celtic Champion
game?“

Wistfully, he remembered the online game. He’d gotten the upper hand on Hot Girl for once and took her prisoner. It had been a very hot game.

“I’ll give you a few minutes to think about it. We need those contacts, Amber. It may be the only way to save your pretty ass.”

She lifted her chin. Defiant. “And if I say again that I don’t
know
any of Jacques’s contacts you’ll, what? Try to kiss it out of me?”

With his hand on the doorknob, he turned. “Hell, yeah. Every chance I get.”

He closed the door but couldn’t block out the foul language spewing from the sweetest lips he’d ever tasted.

Charlie took the stairs to the deck. Ty and Tavon were off scouting the waters by boat, but the others were up top huddled around the LSAT to monitor hostile activity. Heads lifted when he stepped on deck.

"What did the admiral say? Did we take out the Frenchman?" He asked Mack.

"Admiral Collins didn't send a SEAL team. Jacques could have been on another team's radar, though. Black ops? CIA?" Mack shrugged. "The admiral is investigating on the DL. He knows were in the middle of this mess and doesn't want to tip anyone off. We're sitting ducks out here with the girl and the data in our possession.” He spread his hands. “On a damned wooden boat."

Charlie wasn't going to let anything happen to the girl. He slammed his first on the table. "Who’s handling this in Intelligence? Give me a name."

"Chill, bro." Willy threw a balled up napkin at him. "It's Matt Preston. He's the best."

Charlie nodded. Preston was good and he'd keep his mouth shut.

“What’d you find out?” Mack asked him.

“Nothing. She says she doesn’t know anything. The Frenchman didn’t share his contacts before he kicked the bucket.”

He sat next to Mack, feeling the man’s steely gaze locked onto his face like a missile.

“Do you believe her?”

“I want to.”

“Sure you do,” Willy’s long arm reached around Mack and poked him in the tricep. “Don’t let pheromones cloud your judgment.”

“Wow, big word, William. You sure you know what it means?” Charlie reached around to return the poke.

“Stop using me as cover. Do I have to separate you kids?” Mack complained.

“I said I
want
to believe her, not that I
do
,” Charlie said.

Jenna arrived with water bottles for everyone. “Why not believe her? I’ve known Amber since she was a teenager. She’s always had a wild streak, but she has a big heart. You guys should give her a chance.”

Mack wrapped his arm around Jenna. “We can’t, babe. Time is of the essence. Her contacts could slime their way out of China and we’ll never find them.”

“We may have an in. Amber wants to go back to Mong Kok to retrieve a music box her mom gave her,” Charlie said.

“Oh, wow. Her mom died when Amber was eleven. They were close and Amber sort of imploded for a while after that. Duncan told me that’s where the wild streak comes from, as if she always feels the need to test the boundaries, write her own rules. I get that. I really do.” Jenna rubbed Mack’s cheek. “If she left something from her mother behind, we need to get it for her.”

“It’s not, Jenna. It’s the memory card, I’m sure of it. She’s got a liar’s tell.” Charlie surprised himself by the anger in his voice. Why wouldn’t she trust him with the truth? He wanted to help her.

“How do you want to play this?” Mack asked him.

“Ten more minutes to let her think about it.” Charlie’s gaze scanned the faces around him. “And then we get tough.”

“Want me to do it?” Mack asked.

“I’ll handle the interrogation. I’m good with the ladies.” Willy wiggled his eyebrows. “They tell me all sorts of shit I never want to hear. I’ll get the truth out of our hacker.”

Charlie shook his head. “I’ve got this.”

Willy rose and Charlie was suddenly in a choke-hold. “There you go again, little man. But I don’t think you do. You’re out of your league, by about a mile. That woman will eat you for snack.”

“If that’s the case…” Charlie grinned, easily breaking free. “Her ten minutes are up.”

CHAPTER NINE

A
mber snuck around the cabin, looking for a sharp object, a tool, anything to use to break out of the hellhole she was trapped in. Weren’t porthole’s supposed to open? This thing was jammed shut. If she could find a tool to pry it open, maybe she could scream for help and get off the stinking boat.

In a desk drawer, she found a letter opener that just might do the trick. She began to pry away at the seal around the window. To her surprise, the seal gave way easily. She smiled. This was going to work. Tonka boats surrounded her. Surely, fishermen would come to investigate a woman screaming bloody murder. They’d storm the
junk
to save her and she’d be free.

And if triad members come running, what then, smarty pants?
The little voice in her head just had to chime in.
They’ll kill you and Charlie. You want that?

She chewed her lip. Jenna’s team would stop the triad and maybe in the process she’d get the chance to sneak away. Recovering the memory card and keeping it out of enemy hands was the only thing that mattered. More than her life. More than what was going on with Charlie. Whatever was going on with that hot SEAL.

Darn Charlie, anyway. Why didn’t he just take her to Mong Kok as she’d asked him to do? He had to go all he-man on her. Was that because she dated Jacques? It was a little bit crazy for him to think she’d be faithful to an avatar. So why’d she feel like she’d cheated on him? It wasn’t like she’d fallen in love Jacques. She hacked away at the window, determined to do this thing before she lost her nerve. Or completely lost her heart.

“You know that hole’s too small to fit through,” a deep voice said.

Her letter opener froze mid-hack.
Charlie
. Why did her pulse kick up a beat every time he spoke? She didn’t turn around, but continued digging into the seal. A few more minutes and she’d break the jam. “Are you saying I’m fat?”

“Hell, no. I’m saying I can give you a boost.” She was relieved to hear the humor in his voice. The angry edge was gone.

“Just like you did getting on the junk?” Unable to stop herself, she remembered how his hands felt on her ass. She smiled.

“I don’t know, Amber, that porthole looks dangerous. You’ll be in a precarious position while you try to shimmy through. I’d be compelled to hold on extra-long, extra-tight, to keep you safe. Hell, being the gentleman that I am, I might not be able to let you go.”

“Very chivalrous of you. But I’m fine, really. You can go back upstairs and do your SEAL thing.” She pulled on the window. It wiggled. A few more chops at the seal and it would…

“Amber.” Behind her, his deep voice sending shivers up her spine. She forgot what she was doing. Forgot to breathe.

“Amber.” He said again, his lips brushing her neck. “You want to get out of here?”

The letter opener slipped to the floor. Was he taking her to Mong Kok? “You know I do.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “You’ll have to trust me, then.”

Trust
. That was a tough word in her position. “I want to, Charlie.”

He kissed her gently on the cheek. “That’s good enough for me. Come on, let’s go. Tavon came back so we can take the
sampan
.”

Linking his fingers with hers, he pulled her away from the porthole. Her chance to scream out the window was gone, but if Charlie took her to Mr. Lee’s she wouldn’t need to.

She spun around in his arms to face him. “What made you change your mind? You said you weren’t going to help me leave this
junk.
”

“Jenna told us about your mother.”

The air in her lungs leaked out in a squeak. “She shouldn’t have.”

Pulling her hand away, she crossed her arms. Okay, maybe she was hugging herself, like her mother couldn’t do anymore. Would never do again. The pain, a poisonous black viper she carried inside her soul, coiled and struck. She was never quick enough to stomp it back down before it sank its fangs into her heart.

“I’m sorry.” Charlie tipped her chin up. “I get it. You don’t want to talk about it. I lost my dad when I was young, too. It sucks.” Pain flashed in his green eyes. “Grand larceny. Ten years in the pen.”

His face was a flood of emotions. The muscles in his jaw flexed. Hurt, ache, and sadness pooled in his eyes. Before she could stop herself, she was rubbing his cheek, smoothing out the frown lines, longing to bring back the dimples. “Do you see him often?”

“Hell, no. I haven’t spoken to him since I was thirteen. I don’t need to hear his sorry-assed reasons why he stole, I don’t care. He has no place in my life.”

Her heart broke. For him, for herself.

He leaned into her palm. “And that’s the last minute I’m going to waste talking about him. Come on, let’s leave this
junk
behind.”

Opening the door, he motioned for her to go first. A true gentleman pirate. Amber was thrilled to be leaving the cabin, but nerves pounded in her chest. What she had to do next would be a whole lot easier if Charlie had forgiven his father. She needed his help to go to Mr. Lee’s. But how would she retrieve the memory card with him by her side? Would he listen to her sorry-assed reasons for stealing national security?

Could he forgive her?