Lucky SEAL (Lucky Devil #2) Page 15

  Luc recalled Rourke’s attention. “That’s the problem. I need you to remain calm here, Rourke. Don’t go all fucking Rambo on me, okay? We need to handle this situation with care if we’re all going to come away from it unscathed. Do you understand me? We must let calmer heads prevail here.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Rourke was out of his chair.

  A group of Luc’s security staff entered the room. Luc spoke to them instead of answering Rourke.

  “Good, we’re all here. I only want to explain this once.” Luc pointed toward Rourke. “Don’t let him leave the room until he cools down. Be careful, though, Rourke is a SEAL. He will hurt you.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Rourke bellowed. “Nobody better touch me,” he glared at the security team, “if they like all of their limbs attached and in working fucking order.”

  “Rourke, please sit down so we talk.” Luc was trying and failing to bring order. “Pastor Davis called.”

  “He called me, too.” Rourke pulled out his phone as he spoke. There were two missed calls from the pastor and two from Luc. “But I was on the way in to see you. I have information to share. I found Jennifer. I need to know what you learned about her. This situation is bigger than I imagined. She was abducted by Evan MacGraff. He’s the fucker I need to get my hands on. Jennifer says you know him.”

  Luc’s jaw tightened. His hands were fisted on the desk, and his nostrils flared as he drew a deep breath. Rourke recognized the signs. Luc was trying to contain his own anger. Rourke new whatever Luc was going to say would piss him off.

  “Evan MacGraff is a local crime boss. He isn’t the top of the food chain, but he’s close. I knew I made an enemy of him when I tossed him out of Hell. He started a fight with one my customers who had borrowed a substantial amount of money from Evan. After the altercation, I confronted my customer. He admitted that he’s been, essentially, living in Hell. It was the only place he thought Evan couldn’t get to him.” Luc gave his staff a good glare.

  “Somehow, Evan breached security and get beyond the main floor, which is the only place his membership gives him access to because I know he’s a drug runner and a loan shark. I don’t want that shit in my back rooms. If anyone is going to fleece the wealthy out of their money around here, it will be me.” He shouted that last bit.

  “Jennifer was with him that night. She told me all about her time with Evan and his business dealing as far as she knew them. Have you learned anything new?” Rourke didn’t have time to listen to Luc reprimand his staff.

  Luc returned his attention to Rourke, “I put feelers out looking for information about a wealthy lady serving at our church with her first name and a full description. She’s a distinctively lovely woman. So I was sure it wouldn’t take long to turn up something about her. I was expecting to find that she was a bored housewife doing good deeds.”

  Rourke growled at that. “Pastor Davis said . . .”

  “I know he told me she was a single woman, but that just didn’t add up. I know that’s what the pastor believed, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. People lie, even to the clergy, Rourke. Especially to the clergy. Something about Jennifer niggled in the back of my mind. As I told you before, she was somehow familiar. This morning, I was reviewing footage of a particular member of the security staff. I like to have irrefutable evidence on hand when I fire an employee.”

  “I ran across the footage from when Evan was admitted beyond his clearance level.” Luc looked pointed toward the security team again. “It was then that I remembered Jennifer. She was the beautiful blonde with Evan when I had him permanently ejected.”

  “Yes, I know. She told me she was here with him.” Rourke nodded. Where was Luc going with this? He needed to get the fucking point.

  “After seeing her with Evan on the footage, I sent out another round of inquiry about Evan’s girlfriend, Jennifer, who does charity at the church in North Vegas.” Luc’s face flushed with an uncharacteristic rush of red.

  “Fuck.” Rourke was heading for the door. Had Luc unknowingly exposed Jennifer’s hiding place? Rourke had to get to her now. Jennifer didn’t have a phone. She wouldn’t answer the phone in the church office, even if she happened to be standing there when it rang. The group of security staff reluctantly followed orders and blocked the door. Luc stepped between his employees and Rourke.

  “Rourke, this is bigger than we initially believed. If Jennifer is Evan’s woman, I couldn’t let you continue your search for her. We needed to know the whole story. Evan MacGraff is a murdering prick who has eluded the law for years. He would kill you, and I’d never find your body. I know you’re a SEAL, but you aren’t invincible. You’re one man against a small army of criminals.”

  “Jennifer isn’t Evan’s woman. She never was. Jennifer went on a few dates with him. When he got tired of waiting for her to accept him completely, he made her his prisoner. Evan abused her physically and mentally. He starved her and made her watch while he spilled blood so she would be too afraid to run. That’s why she was hiding, Luc.”

  Luc’s complexion turned gray. “I had no idea. I was only trying to protect you.” Luc's eyes lit with a rage born of the knowledge that his own mother had been abducted and made the temporary property of a man who used her body and discarded her. The experience had damaged Luc’s mother deeply. She died in childbirth after living on the streets for the whole of her pregnancy. It was a miracle that Luc survived.

  “What happened?” The missed calls from the pastor came to mind. Rourke was a half a second from a nuclear fucking meltdown. Luc hadn’t yet told him the worst yet.

  “I’m sorry.” Luc looked deeply into Rourke’s eyes. This wasn’t the hardened businessman of recent years speaking to Rourke. It was Rourke’s childhood friend. The man Rourke loved like a brother, and there was real regret in Luc’s midnight eyes.

  “What happened?” Rourke bellowed the question. His stomach was in a knot because he already knew what happened. The only reason Rourke hadn’t already barreled through the flimsy wall of security before him to get to Jennifer was that down deep, he knew the damage was already done.

  “The pastor was working late tonight doing paperwork in his office. He heard a commotion. They’ve been robbed before, so he called the police before investigating. In the kitchen, he found evidence of a struggle. The rear door was kicked in. He ran to the door and saw Jennifer being stuffed into the back of a black sedan.

  “He then tried to call you before calling me. I told him not to report Jennifer’s abduction. I knew we would be able to get to her faster without the cops under our feet. If we can’t find Jennifer ourselves, we’ll report the crime some other way that won’t involve further endangering the pastor or the church. The police told the Pastor several churches were raided, but nothing was stolen. They must have gone from church to church until they found her. I fucked up and made it known where she might be hiding. I’m truly sorry, Rourke. This is my fuck up.”

  Rourke’s heart froze in his chest. The man who loved Jennifer stepped to the back of his consciousness to allow Rourke the operator to take over. An emotional reaction would be a mistake. Death was now stalking Evan MacGraff. That bastard had his Jennifer. His tiny dancer. Rourke had let her down. He broke a promise to the woman he loved. Rourke told Jennifer that Luc would never hurt her. He’d also told her he would protect her and never let that fucker touch her again. When Rourke got Jennifer back, and he had every intention of getting her back, he had to pray that she would forgive him. Would she ever trust his word again? Rourke was a man of honor. His word was his bond, and he’d broken that bond with Jennifer. His only love. Jennifer was terrified of Evan, and she was back in his clutches.

  Rourke let the cold that was now rooted in his chest spread to the rest of his body. Luc was right. It was too late to run off in a rage through the streets of Vegas. That would only get Jennifer hurt and Rourke arrested. Rourke had to believe Jennifer would keep herself alive until he was able to find h
er. She had survived by using her brain before. She would do it again.

  “What do you know so far? Anything?” Rourke asked Luc who appeared to be waiting for an explosion.

  “I contacted a friend in the force. He’s accessing the traffic camera feeds to tell me where the fucker took her. We know where they started and which direction they drove, thanks to the pastor. I’m just waiting for the call with more information.” Luc checked his phone to be sure he hadn’t missed anything.

  “Good, that’s good. I’m going to get ready. Call me as soon as you hear from your friend.” Rourke tried to walk around Luc, but he held out his hands as if calming a wild animal. The security force behind Luc bravely tightened the ranks to keep Rourke contained. The idiots.

  “Luc, move and get your people out of my way. I love you like a brother, but that woman is going to be my wife. I’m going after her.”

  Luc’s astonished eyes widened with sudden understanding. Rourke would not be stopped.

  “The only other women I would lay my life down for are my mom and Dolce. I don’t want to hurt you or your employees, and will try not to kill them, but I will take each and every one of you apart to get to Jennifer. I need to go get my guns and vest. I need to change into night gear. I need to be ready to go when that call comes in, because one way or another, I am going to get Jennifer back tonight. Do. You. Understand. Me?”

  Rourke never thought he’d see the day he would be willing to hurt Luc in any way, but he would incapacitate the man for a short time if forced to act.

  “I do,” Luc agreed, but he didn’t move. “Let’s work out a plan before you run off half-cocked. Let me and the boys help you.” Luc tried to reason with Rourke.

  “You want to help? Get in touch with those friends in the force. Evan has friends so deep he can shoot people in his building, and they brush it off. He can have a shootout in his warehouse, and nobody notices. Evan can abduct a woman off the street, and nobody is looking for her. That’s what he did, Luc. That’s the kind of man we’re dealing with. He is Jennifer’s own personal demon, and he’s trying to make her vanish again. Now get out of my way before I do something I will regret, eventually.”

  TEN

  Jennifer had the best dream. She was warm and safe, snuggled up in bed, but it wasn’t her little bed behind the kitchen. She was sleeping in the giant bed that took up most Rourke’s bedroom in his apartment. Rourke had taken her back to his place, where he insisted she stay with him forever. Dream Jennifer wasn’t at all worried about Rourke’s safety. Dream Jennifer was sure he could handle any situation that came their way. She was blissfully carefree for the first time in a long time and enjoying Rourke, who was in that big bed with her and was doing his best to wake her up using just his mouth.

  A loud crash ripped Jennifer unceremoniously from her pleasant dream. Startled, she rolled out of the bed. Thankfully, the bed’s unfolding legs had given under the strain of Rourke and her bouncing on it earlier, so Jennifer didn’t have far to fall.

  Another commotion echoed around the kitchen, and Jennifer was on her feet. That sounded like someone had knocked over the cylindrical container where the cooking utensils were stored by the stove and sent the stainless steel implements clattering across the tile floor.

  Jennifer looked around the dark room. It was late, and Rourke was no longer in bed with her. She vaguely remembered Rourke kissing her before he left to go meet with Luc. He promised to return for her as quickly as possible. How long ago had that been? Rourke must be back and stumbling around out there in the dark. She must have been sleeping hard. It was wonderful not to have her rest disturbed by the nightmare of reliving her time with Evan that woke her every night.

  She picked herself up off the floor and pulled on her underwear and the men’s jersey she’d worn as part of her disguise earlier that day. With her most vital bits covered, Jennifer crept out into the storage room and padded on bare feet to the kitchen door to rescue her SEAL. She was imagining Rourke feeling around in the dark to pick up the scattered spoons and spatulas when a voice came out of the darkness to drag Jennifer back into her nightmares.

  “I think someone is fucking with us. We’ve searched every church in the area. We’ve gone through this entire place. She isn’t here,” Tommy insisted.

  “She’s got to be here,” Craggy-face snarled. “We haven’t searched this whole place yet. Only the kitchen. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you don’t want to find the little bitch. Either way, if we return without her again, Mr. MacGraff is going to have our heads. Considering you’re the one who let her get away in the first place, I’d be more eager to find her if I were you, boy.”

  “I did not let her escape,” Tommy argued. “If you recall, I saved the boss’s ass and yours when I took out those two-faced fuckers who thought they could let us do the dirty work and steal all the fucking profits.”

  “Yeah, and that’s the only reason he didn’t kill you when he realized his pretty piece of ass got away.” There was another crash. “Where the fuck is the light switch!” Craggy cursed.

  “Here it is,” Tommy said, and the overhead florescent lights buzzed as they came to life.

  “Finally. I’ll check through here?” Craggy was walking away to look around the dining area now that he could see.

  Jennifer was frozen mid-step just inside the storage room. The light from the kitchen poured into the open doorway. The light fell over Jennifer, and Tommy looked right at her.

  She scurried backward into the shadows and slowly crept back toward her little room. Craggy hadn’t seen her, and Tommy was pretending he hadn’t either. Bless his heart. Tommy wasn’t really a bad person. He was just stuck in a bad situation. Finding her now would make Tommy’s life much easier, but he didn’t cry out when he saw Jennifer standing in plain sight. He was giving her another chance to escape.

  Jennifer had no idea how Evan’s men had found her. They’d almost caught her earlier at her apartment, but how could they have known to check all of the churches? She’d waited too long. She hadn’t left when her gut told it was time to go. Now it was too late. They’d found her, and the church would surely pay for it.

  “Let’s sweep the upper level. She has to be here somewhere. We’ve hit every church I can think of in this area,” Craggy grumbled.

  “I hope there aren’t any silent alarms in this one. We almost didn’t make it out of the last one,” Tommy complained. His voice was growing more distant. As if he was walking down the hall toward the stairs.

  Jennifer was almost to her hiding place. She was praying Pastor Davis wasn’t working tonight. He had a habit of coming back to the office when he couldn’t sleep at night. Jennifer would have to give herself up if the thugs found the pastor. She knew he’d never tell them where she was hiding. Jennifer wouldn’t allow the man of God who’d done so much for her to be harmed if she could prevent it.

  “I doubt it. I checked the door for sensors after kicking it in this time. We should be good,” Craggy replied.

  Jennifer took the last silent step toward safety and bumped into the door of her room. It creaked loudly on its ancient hinges. Her heart stuttered.

  “Did you hear that?” Craggy’s voice came closer.

  “I didn’t hear anything. Come on, man, let’s get this over with and get out of here,” Tommy complained.

  “I’m telling you, I heard something. Did you check that back room over there?”

  “Will you look at that, I didn’t even see that door,” Tommy lied.

  Jennifer quickly stepped around the damn creaky door she should have oiled and into the darkness of her room. She was holding her breath, hoping Craggy didn’t notice the door behind the pillar. The storage room light bussed to life. They were just outside her door. Jennifer grabbed the lamp from the corner and crept back to the door. She stood poised and ready to swing the solid pole at the first thing that came through the door. She just hoped it wouldn’t be Tommy.

  “I know I heard something in here,”
Craggy said from nearby Jennifer’s door. It was silent for several long heartbeats while Craggy listened. Jennifer was sure her heartbeat was loud enough to be heard from the sanctuary. She began to think that maybe the men had left the storage room.

  Suddenly a bright light poked around the corner to flood Jennifer’s vision, and she was blinded. She swung the lamp pole wildly toward the door, making contact with Craggy as he barreled into the small room, but it was only a glancing blow off his shoulder. The cellphone he’d used for the flashlight app to inspect the space went skittering across the floor to land face down, so they were left in darkness.

  “She’s in here! Don’t let her escape,” Craggy shouted to Tommy.

  “Fuck,” Tommy muttered.

  Jennifer swung her pole again and hit something solid. Craggy grunted. Jennifer lunged for the door hoping Tommy would let her pass. If she could just get upstairs to the church office, Jennifer would barricade the door and call the police. At least had a chance with the cops if she were lucky. She might get one of the officers who were in Evan’s pocket, but maybe she wouldn’t. They couldn’t all be bad cops, right? Rourke said Luc knew plenty of good cops. What other choice was there? Rourke wasn’t there, and she wouldn’t make it far on bare feet if she ran for the outside.

  Craggy tackled her to the ground just inside of the storage room. Her knees and arms took the brunt of the impact with the hard ground. Jennifer struggled to free herself from beneath his substantial weight. Craggy flipped Jenifer over on her back. She fought like a wild thing, kicking and punching with all of her might. She was a woman, but she wasn’t weak. Jennifer wouldn’t go down easily. She got in several good shots and avoided the massive mitts attempting to capture her hands.

  Craggy cursed, “You asked for it,” just before a solid blow caught Jennifer squarely on the jaw. Her head snapped back and struck the floor. Pain exploded through Jennifer’s senses. He’d rattled her brain with that hard blow.