SEALs of Honor: Mason (11 page)

Swede waited for him.

“How is she?”

“Holding. I took her out in the garden for a bit of fresh air.”

Swede nodded. “She’d have liked that.”

“She did. But…” he stopped and looked at Swede. “Did you know what she was doing when she was kidnapped?”

“No. I don’t think we were ever told?”

Mason explained.

Swede’s face darkened. “Now that would be an interesting chain to yank.”

“It would, but we’re on our way to go after the men who kidnapped her.”

“And the person who set her up?”

Mason’s gaze narrowed. “That’s the trick, isn’t it – he’s still at large.”

“And still available to go after Tesla.”

Chapter 15

A week later

T
HE DAYS PASSED
slowly. She’d told the authorities everything she could remember. And they’d come back day after day and asked her more questions.

She had nothing more to add. She had a small condo for her use close by, and she was mobile now but definitely not back to normal. So her life was all about getting back to work and healing. Walking was much easier, although running was still out of the question.

She walked out to the small patio that was part of her new home. It was tiny, brick and quaint. But it was hers for the moment, and she felt safe here. Surrounded by other military families. For the millionth time she wondered where Mason was. What he and the rest of the team were doing. And how successful was their trip. Had they caught the guys that were after her? Was she safe? Or were the men still at large?

Mason was always on her mind. Yet he wasn’t hers. But he could be. If she wanted, he could be. Maybe.

Did she want that? He was a hero. His career was dangerous. Like Harry’s. He could die like Harry had died.

Tears came to her eyes.

She swiped at them impatiently. She’d rather have loved and lost Harry than not have had him in her life at all. Love was like that. And she’d go through the loss all over again if it meant having the joyful memories of being with him in the first place. She’d take as many of those years as she could have. And the same for Mason. She’d still hold close any memories she had. The choices weren’t great but to have spent time with him, loving him… well that was special. Sure it would be nice if he were in a nice safe job like a computer programmer but then he would be Mason…

There were no guarantees in life. Look at the nightmare she’d been through already this last week. If Mason’s team hadn’t saved her…

Now it seemed like all she did was wait for Mason to show up again.

At least her work was going well. She was almost done with the last set of tweaks. Was all set to give her demonstration tomorrow. Combine that to almost being healed, then life was good.

Her phone rang. But of course she’d left it on the computer table. She walked back inside. She checked the number but didn’t recognize it. She knew better than to respond to any unusual calls. Although her phone was being monitored while here, and security was constantly on the prowl. At night time they were outside her house. In the day time they were around, she just never knew who they were.

And that meant there was no point in looking but of course she couldn’t stop herself. She’d wondered if the gardener that seemed to do daily rounds was one of them. He’d done her yard and her neighbors then a day later she’d seen him on the side of the road.

It did make her feel better knowing someone was out there.

She returned to her work. The presentation needed a little tweaking then she should be good there too. Her staff were more keyed up over this than she was. Of course she’d promised them a bonus if she managed to pull it off.

The government had a lot of money for her type of software. She’d love to be financially stable, to be able to give it to them free, but no such luck so she was looking for a fair price. Lower than market value as the value had gone up. Her manager had been contacted any number of times in the last few days about her program. All calls had been forwarded to the government.

There was no way in hell she’d sell out her government. It wasn’t possible for her to do that to her brother. Mason. The others.

Too bad she was so damn tired. Another cup of coffee then she’d be done.

After pouring the coffee into the cup, she walked back to the computer. There were several chat messages from one of her staff. She started answering.

By the time she was done, her coffee was almost cold. She stood up and walked back to the kitchen. The pot was empty. Damn.

She rinsed out her cup and took a sip of water instead. As she stared out the window, she caught sight of the freshly mowed lawn. Good. She loved sitting out there in the evenings.

Turning around she gasped. Shrieked. And dropped her cup.

Two men dressed in black jumped her. She fought like a wildcat until the sting of a needle filled her veins with an icy liquid.

She collapsed unconscious into their arms.

*

“
H
EY,
M
ASON, HOW’D
the mission go?”

The black look on Mason’s face should have given the young man the answer. In fact, it should have sent the man running in the opposite direction. Instead the man stood, ready to ask more questions.

He muttered to Swede, “I must be losing my edge.”

“You’re in love, it’s allowed.”

Without missing a stride he reached out and punched Swede in his rock hard gut.

Swede gave a snort. “Damn mosquitos.”

A soldier raced toward them. “Mason.”

Mason groaned. “Damn it. I wanted a shower, was that too much to ask?”

The soldier reached them. “The commander is looking for you.” He lowered his voice. “Now, I’m not supposed to say anything, but it’s to do with that lady you rescued.”

Mason froze. Then he was sprinting to the commander’s office. He burst through the door completely ignoring protocol. “Tell me Tesla’s okay.”

The commander glared at him. “She’s missing. Gear up.”

Swede stood behind him. “We’re ready.”

“How the hell…” Mason was at a loss for words. How could they lose this woman again?

“We think two men posing as her company employees walked into the house and left about an hour later.”

“With her?”

The commander rubbed the back of his head. “She was under surveillance. Both men were knocked out cold, and as we can’t find her, we’re assuming yes.”

“The cameras?”

“At the garage, yes,” he nodded.

“A large SUV. Yes, we’ve checked the plates. They are ours.” He stood up and glared at them. “She was due at a reception tonight and her presentation was the main event. Then she was going to be doing a demonstration tomorrow morning.”

“Her house?” Mason barked.

“Searched and clean.”

“No one knows anything?” Mason was beside himself. They had to know what direction she’d gone. They needed information. And they needed it now.

“There is one thing,” the commander said. “When they were searching her house her laptop was gone, but her coworkers had an instant messaging system on her tablet. She answered the chat the last time just over an hour ago.”

“Were they talking to her since?”

“Yes, but she didn’t respond.” He looked down at the papers on his desk. “We’re presuming she couldn’t.”

“We need to know what direction they’ve taken.”

“We’re tracking the SUV now. It’s heading south out of the city. We’re on it.”

“Any cameras confirm she’s inside as it could be a decoy.”

“We can’t confirm that at this time.”

Mason nodded, his fists clenching and releasing. “I need to see her place.”

The commander said, “They are waiting for you. You know how much we need this software. And given the type of software, we can’t let it get into enemy hands.”

Mason glared at him. “Tesla is not expendable.”

He turned on his heel and raced out. Swede behind him. The others were waiting outside. While Swede filled them in, Mason found a truck. They had to find Tesla. And fast.

Chapter 16

T
HE VEHICLE DROVE
steadily, the rhythmic movement keeping her in a half hypnotic trance. She’d woken in a stupor with her mind struggling to make sense of what happened. When she figured it out, her body was too paralyzed to do anything about it.

“How is our guest?” someone asked up front. “Is she still asleep?”

“She’s asleep.”

“Good. We can’t lose her.”

“Maybe not, but she needs to pay for what she did to my brother.”

“That’s not for us to do.” The first man snapped. “We hand her and her computer over and we get paid. It’s simple.”

“For you, it’s simple. You don’t care that they caught you and left you behind.”

The first man sniggered. “That’s funny.”

“There’s nothing funny about it. Besides, I didn’t stay caught. Sometimes you need to play possum to come out the winner.”

“Ha, you weren’t playing possum. You’re just damn lucky we found you in time. You were grandstanding. Playing the big ego role. He was your friend and you beat him. Only you didn’t. He turned the tables and caught you.”

“And like the game it is, I turned the tables yet again and escaped.”

Finally, Tesla understood. One of the men was Daniel. The man who’d held her captive in the cabin. The man Mason had said he’d taken care of, but when the others went to pick him up, he’d disappeared. Daniel had been behind everything. She didn’t know who or why this man was here. She’d understood he was doing this for a paycheck, a point she really hated him for, but she wasn’t surprised. There were many other men like him out there.

It was who was paying him that she wanted caught. Daniel was just a soldier.

It had occurred to her that there were few people who could know where she was now. Less than the fingers on her right hand. Making them all suspects now that she’d been kidnapped yet again.

God, that just pissed her off.

How could she have been so stupid? Or how could her guards be so stupid. Hell, maybe the lawn mower guy did just mow lawns. Did anyone know she was missing yet?

Her staff would know. How long before they raised the alarm? She often power napped on them when they were pulling late nights. Her computer would shut down within minutes of her last stroke on the keyboard. A security precaution. And nothing was held in any one place on purpose. The program couldn’t be stolen that way.

But her computer lay in the footwell beside her. These men were serious and she was in deep trouble.

That same anger at being stupid enough to get kidnapped was firing again. This time at Mason.

He just had to go away and leave her alone.

Now look what had happened?

The vehicle slowed and turned off the main highway. She closed her eyes and started calling mentally to Mason.
Where are you Mason? I need you. Please. Please find me.

“Hey look, she’s awake.”

“Not good. We’re pulling in for gas. Make sure she doesn’t create a disturbance.”

“Oh, she’s not going to say anything, are you, darling?”

She opened her eyes. And the biggest ugliest man in the world stared down at her, just hoping she’d make a wrong move. She shook her head.

Hell no, she wasn’t going to go up against this stranger.

But she knew Mason would.

Just as soon as he got here.

*

M
ASON DROVE THE
SUV. The vehicle that supposedly held Tesla had been spotted heading south. That didn’t mean they didn’t have plans to go to a different destination, but they had a direction to start.

They also had no proof that Tesla was in that vehicle. She could be anywhere by now. Why now? Because of her presentation tonight? If she gave it, everyone would know what the program could do. And that was something they didn’t want advertised. Then again, she’d be under tight security while there. She should have been under the best freakin’ security while he was gone. She should have had someone living in the damn house with her.

He understood there were men outside watching, but somehow she’d been taken anyway. So how did that help?

He wandered through her small house. He could so see her sitting there at her computer and working away. Intent on saving the world one soldier at a time. But that didn’t mean there weren’t clues here.

She was back on her feet and mobile, if a bit slow.

Slow was good. She’d take better care if she was slow. He saw her socks off to one side. And one slipper off to the other. Was she barefoot again? That wouldn’t be good.

“She’d have left a message if she could,” Swede remarked. “She’s resilient. She’ll make it through this.”

Mason nodded. She would. He’d see to it. He walked over to the office. The techs were working on her desk, but her laptop was missing. The enemy had it.

After all, they were hoping for the program. “Where is the program she was working on?” he asked the techs suddenly.

The man shrugged. “I have no idea. Above my pay grade.”

“Right.” Likely above everyone’s in the room.

So who would know and who had access to it? If it was Tesla alone, then they were in trouble. If it was Tesla and someone else’s then that person needed help to access it. And if it was both of them together then the enemy would need both to get access. How smart was Tesla? Had she managed to hide the system from everyone else but herself? Leaving her in the ultimate position and therefore the easiest torture to get what they wanted? Or was she one of many working on small pieces of the program that would come together at the end.

And it could still be broken in less than two hours.

She’d seemed pretty sure that no one could get it from her. So she must have something up her sleeve.

However, what about the others who worked for her?

Did they have access? And if they did, were they being protected?

“We need to find the rest of her staff,” he said to Swede. “Pick them up before anyone else does.”

“You think they need to be present for the enemy to gain access to the program?”