SEALs of Honor: Dane Read online

  “What search?” she asked when on one else did.

  “I’m tracking the money the men were paid for kidnapping you.”

  Just as Shadow reached for food, there was a subtle knock on the door.

  Everyone froze.

  Then it was like an elastic had been sprung and they all moved. She’d never seen anyone move so fast. Or so quietly.

  Mason slipped to the door and opened it a crack. Dane stood in front of her, blocking anyone at the door from seeing her. Shadow was at the window, peering out. Swede, well he had a gun half hidden behind his back.

  It was that gun that brought it all home for her. Someone had tried to kidnap her, and if that hadn’t worked, they would have cheerfully killed her.

  Since waking, that had a distant feel to it. As if it were all happening to someone else. Only it was here in her life.

  She waited, her breath caught in her throat. Mason slid outside to speak with the person and the others relaxed slightly. She reached up and slipped her hand over Dane’s massive arm. When he turned to look down at her, she whispered, “Has anyone checked on my mother? On my lab?”

  “Your lab?” Shadow asked. “Where is your lab and what do you have there?”

  She winced. “A lot of my work. I’m a grad student, so there’s only so much of my work I can do outside of a professional setting.”

  “Name?” He parked his laptop back on his lap.

  “I do much of my work at Tenesco, out of San Diego.”

  Getting more anxious based on his reaction, she bit her lip and waited. “I also have some work at the university.” She shrugged at his hard gaze. “Not much of it, but my grad committee are all privy to what I do and where.”

  “So if someone wanted information, these would be the people who had it?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Anyone else?”

  Everyone stared at her. She shrugged. “I don’t think so. Coworkers at Tenesco but they don’t exactly think I’m doing anything of value. They’ve been there for decades, have multiple degrees apiece and don’t really have much patience for those up and coming.”

  Dane grinned. “We’ve seen one or two like that.”

  Mason walked in just then. His gaze immediately went to Marielle. “How are you feeling?”

  She shrugged. “Better.”

  “Ready to fly again?”

  She brightened. “Can we go home now?”

  “The plane is ready, the pilot is onboard. They are waiting for us.”

  That galvanized them all into action.

  *

  DANE KEPT A hand on Marielle’s back as they approached the plane. The door was open and two men were on the ground checking it over. Both US Military men. According to their uniforms. But given the circumstances, Mason walked over and double-checked they were who they were supposed to be. Dane could hear the questions and answers as he walked up the small set of stairs behind Marielle. She’d been in good spirits once she realized they were on their way stateside again. She’d been professing she felt fine the whole time, and he wanted to believe her but wasn’t sure. She expected a lot out of herself for repeated head injuries. He knew her recovery would be days yet. Still, she’d recover better at home and that was where they were going.

  He was hoping to go see her to make sure she was healing but couldn’t be sure that was a good thing. He had days off coming. And he lived in San Diego too.

  He’d like to see her. If she was interested. He glanced over at her, wondering. And caught her staring back at him.

  “Problems?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, just wondering who was going to look after you when you got home.”

  “No one. I’m the caregiver, remember?” She glanced down at her cat carrier in her lap. Dane grinned, remembering how Masters hadn’t appreciated another trip in the cage so soon. But this might be the last one for a long time. It had taken Shadow to get him in it. It was almost as if he’d explained the problem to Masters. At least after that, Masters had walked in on his own accord to the surprise of everyone around. Swede was good with animals too, but Shadow had hidden depths.

  Now Masters was adjusted and complaining in his cage. He was fine as long as he was on someone’s lap and not relegated to the floor. That was no place for him apparently. At least his howls had seemed to indicate that was not his position in life.

  To keep the peace, they had been passing him around every hour or so.

  Now in the air, Marielle appeared to have relaxed as well. She lay with Masters’ cage in her arms, her head back. And appeared to be asleep.

  Shadow came over, assessed the level of sleep she was in and motioned at Dane to come to the other side. Dane got up carefully but both were sleeping soundly.

  “What’s up?”

  “One of the members on her grad committee was found beaten up on a campus path.”

  “Shit.”

  Shadow nodded. “The woman is alive but in a coma. That was followed by a break-in at the Tenesco labs. However, that was interrupted before anyone could complete the job.”

  “So grabbed the woman, beat the information from her, then tried to grab the research.”

  Dane stared out the small window in irritation. “She’s not going to be safe at home, is she?”

  “No.”

  “Then we need to keep her safe.”

  “We can arrange for her to go to a safe house until we figure what this is all about.”

  Dane considered that but realized she wasn’t going to think very much about it. “Any other options?”

  “We have to keep her safe so either in her space or in our space.”

  “Right. You know she’s going to want that to be in her space?”

  “She might. That doesn’t mean she gets a choice.”

  Chapter 14

  SHE DIDN’T GET a choice. Something she was still adjusting to when she was dropped off at a brownstone style townhome in an outlying suburban neighborhood in San Diego she had never been to and told to stay there.

  “Like hell,” she yelled at Dane’s back as he left her inside the house and got into the big SUV. “Never,” she muttered uselessly from the living room window.

  She wandered the mostly empty place. There was a woman in plainclothes at the residence, likely there to keep an eye on her. She hadn’t held back her opinion of what was happening to her. The woman just smiled. But she got to go home at the end of her shift. Marielle wanted to go home too. To her home. Not some cold safe house. Hell, she’d be no safer there than she would anywhere else.

  Angry and tired, she plunked down on the couch and turned on the television. And bolted upright.

  “Tenesco has reported a second break-in in as many days this morning. The labs have been the focus of the attacks. Tenesco, a big chemical research facility, says there is always a certain danger with these types of disturbances but that two in a row is a rarity, and they can’t explain what the intruders were after.”

  “Well, no one asked me,” Marielle snarled to the empty room. “I could tell you a thing or two.”

  She dropped her head back. She had no computer with her. She had thought in her stupidity that a holiday meant a holiday and didn’t bring it with her. She needed a way out of here. Right, a cab. She bolted upright, checked out where the woman was and snuck into the kitchen to call a cab. When they asked where to pick her up, she floundered for an answer. “Just a moment,” and she walked to the front door and opened it. There was a set of brass numbers on the side. “Number 664,” she said, studying the block outside. “I’m struggling to find the street name.”

  “When you find it, please feel free to call us back.” And the operator hung up.

  Pissed, Marielle turned to find the policewoman standing and watching her. She glared at her. “What street are we on?”

  “Why?”

  “I want to order Chinese food,” she blurted without thinking then realized she could really use some food.

&nbs
p; “Then I’ll order some for you.” The woman, her gaze narrow, said, “Please come back inside before you’re spotted.”

  “Who’s going to spot me,” Marielle cried as she turned and went back inside. “No one even knows I’ve arrived back in the country.”

  “And that’s a good thing.” The woman closed the door and locked it. “Don’t go back outside again, please.”

  “Am I a prisoner,” she asked incredulously. “Surely not.”

  “For the moment you are not allowed to leave the safe house,” she said. “I have my orders too.”

  Glaring at the woman for a moment and realizing she was acting like a two-year-old, Marielle turned and raced up the stairs to the room where her very much worse for wear bag and purse had been placed. And Masters.

  She ran to him, listening to his plaintive cry when he saw her, and let him out of the cage. He wandered the bedroom as if looking for something until she realized he needed to go outside or to a litter box. She picked him up and carried him downstairs to the backdoor. There was a fully fenced yard so she let him go to do his business.

  He stood and sniffed the air several times then walked forward several steps as if testing the ground.

  She smiled.

  “I asked you to stay inside,” the policewoman snapped behind her.

  “Masters needs a litter box for that to happen. As he didn’t have that, I brought him out here. As soon as he’s done, I’ll take him back inside.”

  “I’ll order one for him. Please come back in, I’ll stand out here with the cat.”

  Marielle threw up her hands and stomped back inside. The women stood with the cat, her gaze constantly on the move. As Marielle watched her, she realized how childish she was still being. She could get through this if she had to and apparently she had to. It was to save her life.

  If she were honest, the real issue wasn’t that she was here but that she’d had no choice in the matter. She wanted to see her mother. She wanted to be home in her own space and she wanted to have her computer, her work. She missed it. She loved doing what she did and now felt cut off from her life. It sucked.

  She also missed Dane and the others. They’d been there every moment of the last few days and now she was bereft. She liked all of them. They were good men. But she really liked Dane. Even if he was arrogant and high handed. That part sucked but was kinda expected in a warrior. Unfortunately.

  Masters finally appeared to be ready to walk back inside. He didn’t wait for the other woman but ran lightly up the steps. Marielle opened the door for him and he came inside on his own. And meowed.

  “Right. One need taken care of so now the next one, huh?” She filled a bowl with water and placed it down on the floor for him then ran upstairs to her bag where the cans of cat food were and brought them down. “We’re going to have to go shopping and get you some more of these.” She kept up a steady stream of conversation with the cat, happy to have him still with her. When she’d fed him and cleaned up the little mess and after finding coffee in one of the cupboards, proceeded to make a pot. She might as well be comfortable.

  “I’ll need my laptop if I have to stay here,” she called out.

  “Dane has gone to pick it up.”

  Marielle froze. Then a slow smile formed on her lips. He hadn’t told her. But he was coming back. The smile widened into a big grin. “Oh, well I hope he grabs some clothes for me while he’s there.”

  “I believe that was the plan.”

  The other woman was back on her laptop, but knowing Dane and likely the other men were returning made her much less hostile to the woman. She opened the fridge and rummaged around for food. But there wasn’t much there. And no cream for her coffee either. Still, she’d been drinking it black since arriving in Germany, and she wasn’t about to miss out on a cup of coffee because the amenities were lacking. While working she often drank it black.

  When she was tired and stressed she preferred it with cream.

  She wasn’t sure what stage she was at right now.

  It didn’t matter as there was no cream either.

  She found a pack of cookies on the counter. She took one warily. It was a standard chocolate chip variety, but she wondered how old it was. How often was the safe house used? She could really use the sugar hit.

  After the first bite she realized it was relatively fresh and scarfed the rest. When she poured the cup of coffee, she decided she should be nicer and poured two. Then she grabbed up four cookies and delivered half the hoard to the other woman. “What’s your name?” she asked, sitting down at the same table.

  “Nancy.”

  “I’m Marielle.” She munched on her cookie. “Are you going to be staying here with me the whole time?”

  Nancy shook her head. “I’m off shift in another hour.”

  “Right.” This was a job. She got to go home. On that note Marielle picked up her coffee. “I’m going to check what’s on TV.”

  And she left Nancy to her work.

  *

  DANE WALKED THROUGH Marielle’s classy apartment with Mason at his side. They were after her computer and any essentials she might need.

  “Did you ask what she wanted from here?”

  “Nope.” Dane grinned at the surprised look on Mason’s face. “She has no idea we’re here. She wasn’t going to take being shoved into a safe house alone lightly, so I figured it would be a nice surprise when I got there with her stuff.”

  “Ha,” Mason said with a laugh. “She’s going to make you pay for that.”

  The apartment was full of photos of days gone by and the furniture for the most part was antiques. Likely from her mother’s place before she had to go into care. “Where’s her mother now?”

  “She’s at the apartment next door with her caregiver. Shadow has gone over there.”

  “Right.” Was that a good idea? Shadow had a way with people when he chose to apply it. Still, if he could reassure the two women that Marielle was okay and would be back in a couple of days, then it would make her feel better. She didn’t want to lose time with her mother but neither did she want her mother worried. This was the best they could do.

  He walked into her bedroom and stopped. His lady was a romantic. Long dreamy white curtains drifted from the window opened just a hair. A huge bed, he approved of that part, covered with a fluffy down comforter in a soft lemon had a half dozen pillows at the top. There was minimal furniture throughout, but what was there was good quality. He found a small suitcase in the closet and did not know what she’d want but suspected from what he’d seen her wearing she preferred comfort over fashion. He opened drawers and pulled jeans, t-shirts, a couple of long sleeved tees, and a sweater. He opened her underwear drawer and hesitated. She was a sexy romantic. Bras and silky panties lay in matched sets across the drawer bottom. He swallowed and snatched up the first five he could find. If she needed more, she’d have to do laundry like the rest of them.

  He walked to her night table and opened it. There was no book or anything else special that he could see. The box of condoms in the back made his heart race and he’d have loved to toss it in the suitcase but figured that wouldn’t be well received.

  In the small bathroom were some toiletries. She had those that she’d travelled with, but he’d already noted she had no hairbrush so he packed one of those. He didn’t know what else she might want but figured if she hadn’t taken them to Europe she likely didn’t need them now either.

  As he walked out of the room, he found a big thick housecoat and slippers at the back of the door. He grabbed both up and threw them in. Out in the living room, he took a close look to see if there was a book she was reading or a second laptop, the first was already packed, or anything else she might want. In the kitchen he did the same perfunctory check, but there was nothing. It helped that she’d cleaned up for her trip already. Outside the apartment, he found Shadow leaving the two women next door. He had the mail keys and had collected the mail for both apartments. Dane shoved Marielle’s in
to her bag, smiled at the two women, one who was the spitting image of Marielle if a little unfocused in her gaze, nodded to the guard standing to the one side, and with Mason and Shadow at his side, walked out.

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 15

  AFTER THE COFFEE was gone, and the television failed to keep her attention, she started to pace. And pace. And pace. Then she dropped to the living room floor and started in on crunches. When fifty of those did little to stem the nervous energy flowing through her, she decided to try a different tack and set out to revitalize her body and mind with yoga. She was a little rusty, but her body thrived on the positions. When she finally settled into a final resting pose, her mind was calm and her body at peace.

  Until she looked up and saw Dane in the doorway.

  Her heart exploded as she raced toward him. She never thought twice about throwing herself into his arms, and as his opened and closed tightly around her, she figured it was the right thing to do. He twirled her around then set her on her feet to eye her critically.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You look great,” he admitted with a big grin. “Nice to see. No headache? No lingering pain?”

  “No. I’ve been hyper and having trouble settling but the yoga helped.”

  Then she spied her suitcase. “You brought my clothes.” She laughed and grabbed the bag to lug upstairs, but he grabbed it out of her hand.

  “I’d say hi,” Mason called from behind her, “but apparently the suitcase has more importance than the other people in your life.”

  She gasped, spun and launched herself into his arms.

  He chuckled and gave her a big hug.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so happy to see you. Of course if you’d been here earlier I might have been more likely to have slugged you instead.” She grinned. “But time and distance and understanding…”

  “And a suitcase?” He smirked.

  Swede’s head popped up behind Mason. “Geesh and I thought I’d get a little appreciation for bringing your laptop.”