Sins of the Titanic (A James Acton Thriller, #13) (21 page)

She
climbed out of the water first, turning to watch as he reached the shore,
stepping out after her. She looked down at his crotch and giggled.

Damn.

He
pulled off his mask and held it at waist level as she grabbed his hand,
dragging him toward the hotel parking lot. There were a few snickers, mostly
from young guys who he was sure were secretly envious, Leiko a vision with a
brain, her day job a marine biologist. He had to admit he had learned more over
the past week about what they were seeing under the water than he had in a
lifetime. A learning vacation.

Never
thought I’d enjoy that.

But if
he had teachers half as gorgeous as Leiko in high school, he probably wouldn’t
have needed Chris Leroux to tutor him so much.

His
watch shocked him again.

Yeah,
yeah, I’ll get to you.

They
were at the hotel in minutes and he excused himself, locking the bathroom door
and relieving himself as he entered the coded sequence, the watch immediately
displaying an alert that one of his private messaging servers, one he kept
secret even from the CIA, had received an urgent message.

And
there was barely a handful of people who it could be from.

All of
whom were more important to him than a roll in the hay.

He
stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed his cellphone. “I just need to check my
messages.”

Leiko popped
her bikini top off.

Something
else popped.

You’re
killing me!

He
pulled up the secure app and logged in with a thumb scan, the message
appearing.

Uh
oh.

It was
his old professor, a man he had reestablished contact with only recently,
Professor James Acton and his new wife magnets for trouble, he having to get
involved on more than a few occasions to help them out. But they were good
people, and as he read the message, his chest started to tighten slightly.

This
could be serious.

And he
couldn’t help in person, he leaving for an op in less than 24 hours. But he
knew people who could.

“I’m
sorry, beautiful, but I just got an urgent message from work. I have to deal
with something, something confidential—you know the insurance business. Can we
meet in say an hour, then I’m all yours?”

Leiko’s
pout would be genuinely heartbreaking if it weren’t for the fact she followed
it up with a grin. “No problem, sweet cheeks,” she said, picking up her bra
then smacking his ass. “I’ll be in my room. Call me when you’re done.”

He
stepped closer, pulling her half-naked body against his. “I’ll make it up to
you.”

She
reached down and squeezed. “You bet you will. My vacation ends tomorrow too. I
am
not
going to have my last night ruined by some insurance
investigation.”

Kane
kissed her, hard, his free hand gripping the back of her head, pulling it
tightly against him as he leaned her back slightly.

Then he
broke it off, leaving her gasping, her eyes wide.

“Take
that to your room,” he said with a wink. “We’ll be down soon.”

“We?”
She looked down and giggled. “Oh,
we.
” She grinned. “
We
will be
anxiously awaiting your arrival.”

She put
her bikini back on then glided from the room, leaving Kane momentarily
distracted.

She’s
incredible.

He shook
his head, trying to rid himself of the image, then dialed.

Operations Center Charlie
The Unit, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

“This is Bravo Zero-One, I need to talk to Control-Actual.”

Master
Sergeant Mike “Red” Belme jacked in, his eyes narrowed slightly at his best
friend’s unexpected call. Dawson’s team was supposed to be off duty, the Secret
Service taking control of the op until morning, but Colonel Clancy had ordered
a minimal staffing of the Op Center just in case something went wrong.

Things
rarely did, yet no one wanted to be caught with their pants down on an op with
an unmanned Op Center.

“Go
ahead, Zero-One, this is Control-Actual.”

“We’ve
got a situation here.”

“Explain.”

“Our
primary has been kidnapped by at least six hostiles.”

Red
snapped his fingers, everyone suddenly alert. He hit the mute on his mike.
“Make your calls, I want us fully staffed immediately.” The two others in the
room with him leapt into action as he removed his finger from the mute button.
“Any demands?” he asked.

“Negative,
except a note was left behind saying they’d kill him if we told anyone.”

“Status
on the security detail?”

“All
were taken out by what appear to be tranquilizer darts. They were dragged into
Mr. Jones’ room then bound and gagged.”

“Is he
the only person missing?”

“Negative.
The person he was meeting with isn’t here either. A Mr. Peter Quaid. He wasn’t
on our list to vet so I’ll need you to check him out. He’s apparently the
moneyman for the campaign.”

Red
pointed at one of his team who nodded, already running the name. “Local law
enforcement?”

“Negative,
we managed to contain the situation for now. Nobody knows he’s missing except
us.”

“What do
you need from us?”

“Tap the
surveillance video, try to find out what happened, see if you can trace where
they went.”

“Roger
that, we’re on it. I’ll get back to you in fifteen mikes with an update.”

“Roger
that.”

The call
ended and Red picked up the phone. “Time to wake the Colonel.”

“Sergeant,
we’re going to have a problem.”

“Why’s
that?” asked Red, pressing down on the switchhook.

“DC has
this operation wrapped up tight. Everything we do is routed through the Secret
Service op center, even when we’re in control. Some new civilian oversight protocol
when operating on home soil after what happened during the coup attempt. If we
do anything, they’re going to know, and they’re going to want to know why. And
if there’s a leak, the hostiles might hear about it.”

Red
pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. They needed to be able to access
satellite and hotel footage, and probably traffic cameras. On any other given
day it wouldn’t be a problem, but with the op actually being on American soil,
the rules were different. He didn’t have a problem with that, it his duty to
follow orders, and civilian oversight a good thing.

But not
today, not when that very oversight might get their man killed.

Then a
thought popped in his head and he smiled.

“Get us
our friend at Langley.”

Chris Leroux and Sherrie White Residence
Fairfax Towers, Falls Church, Virginia

“You’re bad.”

“I know.
And you like it.”

Chris
Leroux grinned, eyeing the naked form of his girlfriend as she paraded back and
forth in front of the television. Yet she wasn’t completely naked. She
was
wearing a hat.

“You
like?”

Leroux
nodded emphatically. “Me like.”

“But
you’re not even looking at the hat,” pouted Sherrie.

“You’ve
got a hat on?”

She
pulled it off and whipped it at him like a Frisbee. “You’re so mean to me!”

He
laughed, tossing it back to her, his throw short, it falling on the floor.

I was
never good at Frisbee.

Or any
sport for that matter. Leroux considered himself a geek. An introvert for the
most part, women something he only fantasized about until he had met Sherrie.
They had fallen in love quickly, shoved together by his best friend, Special
Agent Dylan Kane, a high school buddy he had tutored for several years. Kane
was the jock, the popular kid, but had struggled in high school. Not because he
was stupid, but because he had spent too much time enjoying himself rather than
applying himself and had fallen behind.

Leroux
had been on the list of math tutors in the guidance counsellor’s office, Kane
picking him for a reason that actually had made Leroux almost cry when it had
been confessed to him much later.

“I knew
you had no friends so you wouldn’t have anyone to tell that I was stupid.”

At that
point they had become friends, and it had made it sting even more. Their
friendship through high school had thrived, though it was mostly a secret, Kane
coming over to get tutored several nights a week, the two rarely doing anything
outside. It wasn’t until Kane showed up for his tutoring lesson one night that
things changed completely. A particularly nasty bully named Darcy had
humiliated Leroux in class, yanking down his pants and boxers in front of the
entire English class. In his panic he had tried to run rather than pull them
up, causing him to trip over his pants and fall flat on the floor, naked from
the ass down.

The
laughing and taunting had been merciless.

He had
struggled to his feet and pulled his pants up, tears running down his face as
he shuffled out of the class, running home and locking himself in his room,
swearing to never come out again.

He could
hear Kane and his mother talking through the open window but he wasn’t sure
what was said. Moments later there was a gentle knock on the door. “Hey buddy,
can I come in?”

“Go
away!”

“Come
on, let me in. Tell me what happened.”

Leroux
reluctantly got up and unlocked the door, leaving it closed. He returned to his
bed, shoving himself into the corner, his knees drawn up to his chest as he
hugged them.

The door
opened and Kane stepped inside, closing it behind him. He grabbed the small
office chair from the computer desk and wheeled it to the bed, taking a seat.
“Tell me what happened.”

Leroux
said nothing, instead burying his head deeper behind his knees.

“Listen
buddy, I’m your friend. Tell me so I can help you.”

Leroux
felt a desperate rage grow inside him, finally erupting with a horrible tirade
against his one and only friend. “It’s people like you who are always picking
on me! You jocks think you’re so cool, you think you can pick on people like me
and it’s funny. Well it’s not! We have feelings too, you know! Just because
we’re not popular doesn’t mean you get to pick on us all the time. I hate all
you jocks! I hate you!”

He had
immediately regretted those last few words, the hurt look on Kane’s face
causing him to nearly vomit. Kane had never made fun of him, never picked on
him, even before they had met. In fact, though Kane was a jock, one of the most
popular kids in school, he was nice to everyone, including the dorks, geeks,
nerds and spazzes.

“I’m
sorry, Dylan, I didn’t mean it.”

Kane had
smiled at him, covering up his hurt quickly. “I know you didn’t, buddy. Why
don’t you tell me what happened?”

He did
and the rage he saw in his friend was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
He rose from his chair, cursing Darcy, swearing he’d get even with him.

And he
did.

The next
day before school started Leroux arrived to find Darcy duct taped to the flagpole,
naked, one of the teachers trying desperately to free him as the entire student
body looked on, laughing, Darcy himself in tears.

Darcy
had switched schools, and Kane made it crystal clear to everyone that messing
with Leroux meant messing with him.

Leroux
was never touched again. It didn’t mean he suddenly had friends, it simply
meant he was no longer terrified of school.

They had
drifted apart after high school, Kane ahead of him by a couple of years. Kane
went to college then joined the Army after 9/11, Leroux going to college as
well then recruited into the CIA as an analyst. He didn’t know that Kane had
been recruited out of the Delta Force and was essentially a spy for the CIA
until a chance encounter in the cafeteria. Their friendship had been renewed, though
with Kane’s lifestyle, it meant they rarely saw each other.