Читать книгу Christmas Captive - Liz Johnson - Страница 12

TWO

Amy held Elaina’s hand so tightly that their fingers shook. Or maybe that was the rest of them. Still, she pulled the girl in her wake, keeping her steps as silent and swift as possible. The halls were nearly deserted, most guests enjoying the entertainment on deck.

Her rough breathing echoed so loudly in her own head that she couldn’t hear if either of the men had spotted them. And if they did, would they recognize Elaina as their mark?

“Hey!” The booming voice behind them seemed to rattle the cabin doors. “Stop!”

They’d been spotted. And apparently recognized.

Elaina slowed down, trying to look over her shoulder, pulling on Amy’s arm.

“Keep running,” Amy ordered. “Stay with me. Don’t look back.”

The little girl nodded, but her shorter legs stumbled as she tried to keep up.

There wasn’t time to stop and boost Elaina onto her back, but neither could the girl’s smaller feet keep up on her own. Amy pulled her close and swung her into her arms, the additional weight making every step twice as hard.

Another hallway crossed in front of them. One that would lead to the stairwell that would take them back to the deck. Then they’d be in the open. And maybe near security.

Please, God, let there be a security guard on the deck.

Feet slapping the carpet, she held every muscle in check as they approached the turn, leaning to counterbalance the weight in her arms.

“Stop right there!”

She hunched her shoulders against the anticipated gunshot, then remembered she was on a cruise ship, not in the field. She expected the possibility of being shot at on a DEA assignment. She wanted to believe that she wouldn’t have to deal with that here, on the ship where no one was legally permitted to carry weapons, but she couldn’t be sure.

The problem was that she didn’t know what to expect here. She hadn’t gotten a good look at the men talking about Elaina. There was no intel to identify their motive, their usual methods of attack or a list of their weapons.

If she’d been in the field, alone or with her partner, she’d have looked for a strategic place to make a stand. She’d have turned and fought. She’d have disarmed first and asked questions later.

But right now there was no place to stash Elaina where she would be safe. And the girl’s protection was all that mattered for the moment. Making a stand would put the girl at risk, so it wasn’t an option.

As they rounded the corner, Amy caught sight of the man chasing them. She couldn’t make out his features at this speed, but his wide shoulders stretched out the same black suit she’d only glimpsed before. And he charged after them, his big feet eating up the passageway as if he were an angry bull. There was something in his hand, something big and deadly stretched out in their direction.

He did have a gun.

Speed was still crucial, but she also concentrated on remembering to dodge and weave. She swooped to the left then returned to hugging the wall.

Anything to keep him off center and ensure that if he shot, his bullet would miss.

Dodge and weave.

Her mantra matched the speed of her footsteps as she flew down the hall.

They just had to keep running faster than the man behind them until they lost him. Or found someone who could help.

But the corridor seemed to be deserted, every cabin door shut tight.

Suddenly Elaina’s whole body jerked, her grip around Amy’s shoulders nearly breaking as she cried loudly. Amy swallowed the scream that rose in her throat as the shift in balance nearly tripped her, forcing her to come to a momentary stop. Tears filled Elaina’s eyes, and between trembling gasps she said, “My hand slipped. Sorry.”

Amy dismissed the apology with a wave, hoisting the girl higher on her hip and holding on tighter. But in the moments it took to get moving again, Amy glanced back at their pursuer. He’d stopped, planting his feet shoulder-width apart and raising his gun at arm’s length.

Her heart leaped to her throat, and she stumbled as she flew toward the end of the hall and a glowing red exit sign, always keeping herself between Elaina and the gun.

Please. Please. If they could just make it through that door, they might find help.

Amy crashed against the metal handle, shoving it open and tumbling against Elaina as the telltale whistle of a bullet fired through a silencer zipped toward her back.

“Go. Go. Go.” She cheered herself on, forcing herself to watch her feet and cling to the banister with her free hand.

Her shoes clanged loudly down the metal stairs. But there was no time to worry about silencing them.

That man was willing to take a shot when one of the cabin doors might have opened up at any moment. He either knew something she didn’t that made him believe he wouldn’t get caught, or he had nothing to lose.

Or both.

Probably both.

Her head spun as they sailed around a turn and another set of clanging footsteps joined hers.

He was gaining on them. He’d reach them long before she could get Elaina to safety.

Dear God, help us. It was the only prayer she could manage as her heart kept up a steady tattoo. Go. Go. Go.

And then another whistle, so high-pitched that she felt rather than heard it, sailed past. The shot splintered the corner of the door frame as they barreled through it. Elaina screamed.

Good. She could scream all she wanted now. Anything to gain some attention.

But the deck was empty, and the sound was lost on the wind as they rushed into the open.

Where was everyone? Had the entire ship migrated to the lido deck for more fun with Neesha and Rodney?

She whipped around to see how close their pursuer was. The clanging of his feet against the metal steps gave him away. He wasn’t visible yet, but he was closing in. And she couldn’t risk leading him to the party. There were too many innocent lives there. People she loved. But she and Elaina were sitting ducks out here.

Where to go? Where would they be safe?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the closed door of what looked like a small storage closet. But as she turned toward it, she ran directly into an unmoving chest.

Large hands clamped on both of her shoulders, surrounding Elaina and stopping her midstep. “Amy? Are you all right? I thought I heard someone screaming.”

She had to peer all the way up into his face to get a good look at Jordan, but even then her eyes wouldn’t quite focus on him. Her shoulders twitched as she tried to check behind her.

“Amy.” His tone was clipped, his eyes darting from her to Elaina and back. “What’s wrong?”

Everything in her melted. She hadn’t even known she’d wanted his help, but now that he was here, she recognized him as exactly what they needed. “Someone’s chasing us. Shot at us.” Her words came out on a pant, but she flung her finger out behind her and met his gaze for a brief second.

If he needed to think through his actions, it took him only a fragment of a second. He grabbed them both, shifting them out of the line of view of the stairwell. “Stay right here. Don’t move.”

And then he ran toward the doorway. But instead of going into the stairwell, he slipped to the side, his back against the white outer wall, his ear pressed in.

She took a step to follow him, but stopped as Elaina let out a small sob. “It’s okay, honey,” she said, cuddling her niece close. Everything inside her cried out to help Jordan take care of this guy, but she couldn’t possibly carry Elaina into that kind of situation, and leaving her behind was equally impossible, so she held her position with watchful eyes.

Their pursuer had reached the bottom of the stairs, and the pace of his clanging steps had slowed.

But it didn’t calm the tantrum of her heart. Or loosen the way Elaina’s skinny arms squeezed around her neck. Pressing Elaina’s face against her shoulder, Amy tried to hold her tight enough to keep both of them from falling apart.

But she couldn’t look away from Jordan, whose shoulders rose and fell in a steady rhythm. His face was a mask of calm, and he closed his eyes for a long second.

She wanted to scream at him, to tell him to pay attention. He was going to miss it all, and she and Elaina would be easy pickings for their pursuer. But she bit her lips until they stung and she tasted the coppery tang of blood.

And suddenly the entire world seemed to explode. Everything happened at once. A wicked Glock 23—silencer attached—came through the entrance, their pursuer holding it straight out and ready to fire. But before the rest of him could make it through the doorway, Jordan squeezed his hands together, raised them over his head and brought both of his arms down on top of the other man’s. There was a sickening crack, and the gun flew across the deck as the man groaned and swore. But before he could do anything more, Jordan landed an elbow to his sternum.

The man in black crumpled to the floor.

Years of training told Amy to secure the weapon, but when she tried to put Elaina down so she could grab the gun, Elaina whimpered and refused to let go. So she took her with, racing for the gun, scooping it up and pointing it at the still man on the ground.

“Are you all right?” Jordan asked, his hands swiftly moving up and down the beefy arms and legs of their pursuer, searching for additional weapons. Suddenly he stopped and stared hard at her. The gentleness he’d displayed with his cousin earlier in the evening was gone. Replaced by something that could only be called his mission face. It was all hard angles and firm planes. The teasing smile that he so often used had disappeared. Even the little cleft in his chin seemed especially dark.

And she was so busy studying his face that she nearly missed his repeated question. “Amy, are you all right? Were you hurt?”

“What? No. We’re fine. You’re fine, right Elaina?” The girl nodded despite the persistent trembling of her chin.

Amy’s own adrenaline was dropping fast and making her hands shake, but she held on to her niece and kept going. “A little shaken up, but we’re all right. Who is this guy?” Her words came out on a rush, but they seemed to be all Jordan needed before going back to work, confirming she had scooped up the only weapon.

When he was satisfied, Jordan pulled the man’s arms behind his back, which launched a loud groan.

“Might have cracked a bone there,” Jordan said. As apologies went, it wasn’t much. But somehow she didn’t think he spent much time telling bad guys he was sorry.

And that was just fine with her.

“Go find an officer or security guard and bring them back here.”

“But there was another man, too. He went the other way, but they were talking. What if he comes to see what’s keeping his friend?”

He looked into the silent stairwell, but shook his head. “If he shows up, I’ll handle it. The two of you go now.”

His blunt orders made her hackles stand on end, but she fought the urge to tell him she could take care of it. She could. Usually. In any other circumstance.

But she was responsible for Elaina. And she’d rather die than leave the girl open and vulnerable to another attack.

Jordan was skilled and experienced. And no matter how much she hated admitting it—especially to herself—there were few people she trusted to handle an unexpected threat more.

When she found a security officer, it took a bit of convincing to get him to follow her back to the scene. But the gun in her hand, which she’d emptied of bullets, piqued his curiosity.

“Guns aren’t allowed on the ship.” He looked equal parts confused and angry, his pasty cheeks going red and splotchy.

“I know.” She’d left hers at home, locked in her gun safe. And it was a fair guess that Jordan had done the same. Amy felt a little bare without her weapon, and she wondered if Jordan felt the same way. Either he felt as unprotected as the day he was born or he didn’t even notice because he was fully equipped to use his hands to neutralize any threat.

Downed man in a black suit was exhibit A.

For the moment, they had no idea how the man had gotten a gun on board. But that would have to wait. “We need to see the captain.”

The guard agreed, and followed her and Elaina back to Jordan, who stood over their pursuer like a hunter showing off his haul.

As the trio approached, the guard let out an audible gasp, and she tried to look at Jordan through his eyes, to consider what it would be like to see him for the first time. He’d been a part of her life for almost as long as she’d been friends with Neesha—more than twenty years. So the big shoulders and towering height didn’t frighten her. The size of his biceps and strength in his grip didn’t intimidate her. No, they made her feel...

Well, it was better not to think about how they made her feel.

After more than sixteen years of daydreaming about how he made her feel, she’d realized just how wrong she’d been.

It was better for her—better for everyone—if she just moved on.

Only she couldn’t deny that, in this moment, he made her feel safe. And she’d never been more grateful.

The big guy in the black suit groaned again, his head lolling to the side as the officer cuffed him. It took both Jordan and the comparatively puny guard to drag the man upright. And it seemed to take hours to make it across the ship and down three levels to the security office. They’d gotten a few strange looks, but most of the ship’s guests were too wrapped up in their own vacation to give more than a passing glance to a man leaning on a security guard and another man, who could have been his friend.

When they finally arrived, Amy sank into a chair, Elaina by her side. As she wrapped an arm around her niece, she whispered to a nearby security guard, “Can you get her father down here? He was in the captain’s office not too long ago.”

The guard nodded, and Amy squeezed her hands together in her lap to keep them from trembling.

* * *

His hands were still shaking.

Jordan tried to hold them still, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop the adrenaline charging through him. What kept him on his feet during a confrontation always left him feeling a little out of sorts when the conflict was resolved.

But as he stared through the window into the makeshift cell at the unconscious man, and then looked back at Amy, he could do little more than thank God that he’d heard Elaina’s screams and gone to investigate. There was no telling what the man would have done when he’d caught them. But while Jordan was glad he’d been able to protect Amy and Elaina, he needed more information if he was going to be able to continue keeping them safe. Question number one: Why had the man been chasing them?

And as much as he wanted to beg for answers, Elaina’s stricken face left him mute. She’d have to rehash the whole ordeal when the captain arrived, so he’d patiently wait for that.

Well, patiently was a subjective word.

He paced the confines of the little room. The security guard manning the office, who had identified himself as Paul Cortero, had called Michael Torres and then leaned back in his big black chair, his hands resting over his stomach. He didn’t look terribly disturbed or concerned that a man carrying a heavy-duty handgun with a silencer had just attacked a woman and an eight-year-old girl. In fact, his eyes were closed as he rocked in his seat.

Incompetent fool.

Those were the kindest words Jordan had for a man like Cortero, who showed so little concern for the people whose safety was in his care.

But calling him every name in the book wasn’t going to locate the other man Amy had mentioned or resolve this issue.

So he kept on marching because movement helped him think.

Suddenly the metal door flew open, and a short, thin man barreled into the room, followed by a much larger shadow of a guard. Michael Torres usually had a big, commanding presence, despite being several inches shy of six feet. But right now his eyes were filled with panic as he surveyed the room.

Elaina jumped from her chair and flung herself into her father’s arms. “I was so scared, Daddy. He was chasing us, and he said he had to find me.” The words were muffled, but the terror in them was real.

“It’s okay, honey. It’s going to be okay.”

Except a gnawing feeling in his stomach told Jordan that they couldn’t be so sure of that. This situation wasn’t something they could control. At least not yet. Not with at least one more man out there.

When Elaina pulled back with tearstained cheeks, she grasped for Amy’s arm. “Aunt Amy was so great. She saved me.”

Torres hugged his sister-in-law and mouthed a thank-you.

She nodded, but there was no accompanying smile. And a tick at the corner of her eye suggested that she had news. News that no one was going to want to hear.

And Jordan was entirely sure it had to do with what Elaina had just said. The man chasing them had been after the little girl.

His stomach took a nosedive, but before he could analyze the situation further, Torres turned toward him.

“Somerton.” He gave a curt nod, his eyebrows pulled together. “How did you get involved in this?”

Jordan cringed, wishing he’d had a second to remind Torres that, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, they’d had no reason to ever meet.

Amy cut in, “Wait. How do you know each other?”

Torres turned back to Amy but was spared finding an explanation when the door to the office opened again and the captain marched in. His white jacket shone under the sterile lights as he reached to shake the ambassador’s hand.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you again tonight.”

“I wasn’t, either.” Torres’s face was pinched as he looked down at Elaina, her arms still wrapped around his waist. “It seems my daughter and her aunt ran into some trouble outside our cabin tonight.”

The captain motioned toward the chairs to indicate they should sit down while Cortero scrambled to give his seat to the ship’s senior officer.

As the captain introduced himself, Jordan forced himself to stop pacing and slid into the chair beside Amy, who shot him a look that said she wasn’t going to let her question drop.

“I’m Captain Robertson.” He directed his introduction to Elaina, who was perched on her father’s leg. He barely looked at Jordan and Amy and ignored Torres’s bodyguard standing in the corner. “I heard you had quite an evening. Can you tell me about it?”

Elaina nodded, her dark hair slipping over her shoulders. “I was with Aunt Amy. We were at the party for Neesha.”

“And then what happened?”

She looked at Amy, who gave her a gentle smile, before continuing. “We were almost to my room, and then we heard some men. They were talking. About me. Said they had to find me. Aunt Amy and I tried to get away but one of them followed us. He yelled for us to stop, but we didn’t. Then there was a high-pitched whistling sound. It was weird, but we got to the stairs.”

Even though he’d seen the gun, Jordan cringed as Elaina gave her trembling account of being shot at. It didn’t sound like she even knew what that whistle had been, but he did. And it was enough to make him sick.

Two thugs looking for a little girl when her father and his bodyguard were away from the room. Armed and dangerous and willing to use violence to get their way.

That wasn’t coincidence.

“How do you know they were looking for you specifically?” Robertson asked.

Amy filled in the gaps Elaina had left. “The two men were talking loud enough that we could hear them from around the corner.” She met Jordan’s gaze and held it, the anxiety there present and accounted for. “One asked the other where ‘the girl’ was. They called her the ambassador’s daughter.” Amy nodded toward Torres. “When they didn’t find her, they radioed someone they called ‘the boss.’ Then they split up and one headed right for us, so we made a run for it.”

Leaning forward, Jordan tried to put the scene together in his mind’s eye. “Did they say anything else? Or indicate who was in charge?”

Amy chewed on her lower lip, turning it pink and plump. But it was Elaina who added, “The man said they had to have me before they arrive.”

Jordan sucked in a sharp breath but held it because he couldn’t risk cutting her off if there was more to the story.

Torres didn’t hesitate. “They? Who’s they?”

“He never said.” Amy wrapped her arms around her stomach, as though she could ward off the chill from this conversation.

But Jordan was lost somewhere in the simple words Elaina had repeated. Everyone else had focused on the who. But he was stumped on the how. His forehead puckering as he tried to work it out, he wondered if maybe the girl had simply gotten the words wrong. “Arrive? They said arrive?”

Amy’s deep brown doe eyes grew even larger, and he could tell the emphasis hadn’t been lost on her. “Yes. That’s exactly what he said.”

“How exactly does someone arrive on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean?”