Dangerous in Love (Aegis Group Alpha Team, #1) Read online

  Dangerous in Love

  Aegis Group Alpha Team #1

  Sidney Bristol

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  Inked Press

  Dangerous in Love

  Aegis Group Alpha Team #1

  He follows orders.

  A good SEAL, Shane York values chain of command. Following the rules means staying alive. All of that is wrecked when his team is sent to Jamaica on a hostage rescue. She’s not the mission, but they leave no one behind.

  She breaks the rules.

  Travel blogger Lacey Miles lives for today. Thanks to her unexpected rescue from certain death, she has a shot at tomorrow. She wants her mercenary captors to pay, and she has the evidence to ensure it—if she lives long enough to deliver it.

  Opposites spark an unlikely romance in the heat of danger.

  Delivering the intel and keeping the hostages alive becomes priority one for the Aegis Group Alpha Team. The last thing Shane and Lacey have time for is love. As the team races home and bullets fly, rules fall by the wayside and lines begin to blur. With a traitor in their midst, will love be a distraction or a strength?

  To all the friends we made in Jamaica. Thank you for sharing your beautiful home with us.

  No matter how chaotic it is, wildflowers will still print up in the middle of nowhere.

  ―SHERYL CROW

  Table of Contents

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  18.

  Epilogue.

  1.

  Wednesday. Seattle.

  Shane York would make death pay for thinking it could come knocking at his team’s door. He stared across the briefing table at the empty seat that had been Cisco’s. Before Shane fucked up. He curled his hand into a fist under the table and stared at the wood grain of the conference table.

  “Everyone?” Kyle Martin, their team leader, rapped his knuckles on the table. “You all know Felix Larson? He’s been promoted to fill Cisco’s spot.”

  Shane’s mouth went dry and his stomach knotted up.

  Fill Cisco’s spot.

  No one could replace Cisco.

  Shane watched Felix survey the room and nod at them. He wasn’t new to Aegis, just their team, so none of them were strangers. In theory, that would help them adjust better and faster. It didn’t make the guilt stop gnawing at Shane.

  “Felix, take a seat?”

  The blond Viking of a man nodded at Kyle. He snagged the closest chair at the end of the table and perched on the edge, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

  The room seemed to exhale, as if something as simple as a seat choice could change things. The other two members of the team at the table shifted and Kyle took a long drink from his water bottle.

  Promoted.

  That was the word Kyle had used.

  That one word meant that Cisco was gone. For good. Maybe not officially yet, but he was out and Felix was in. Simple as that.

  Shane had suspected as much. No one took a slug to the chest, nicked their blood pumper and bounced back to do it all again. At least not someone who had a wife and kids to think about. Cisco deserved retirement. He was one of the older crowd. At most, Shane figured the guy had a handful of years before he’d hang up his boots to play dad, and soon enough, grandpa, permanently. But not like this.

  “Zain’s going to come brief us about our mission in a moment.” Kyle glanced around the room. “I talked to Cisco this morning, and it’ll be official by the time we get back. He’s retiring. Now, his wife will be reaching out to everyone about a party for when he gets to come home from the hospital. We will all be there. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” the room said in unison.

  “Good.” Kyle tapped his knuckles on the table again. “We can’t send a man home to a house full of girls, without some show of support.”

  Shane didn’t know how he’d face Cisco, much less his family. Cisco’s youngest was a particularly hot-headed young woman. Shane reckoned if they were ever in the same room she’d throw something at him, and she’d be in the right. Shane had made a mistake. It should have been him who got shot. But Cisco...

  “Morning, everyone. I hope you all brought your gear.” Zain Lloyd strode into the room.

  It was still odd seeing Zain out from behind the computers and leading briefings, but it was a good fit.

  “Meet our assets, Dev and Aanya Basu. Newlyweds who have dual American-Indian citizenship, who should be enjoying their honeymoon on Grand Cayman. Dev is the future owner of a large pharmaceutical company from India that does extensive business in America.” Zain activated the projector and using his tablet, shared a wedding photograph of two young, attractive people. “Dev and Aanya were supposed to be on a three-day, private yacht trip around the island. Best we can figure out, a few miles off the island, they were boarded and the newlyweds were taken hostage. Whoever did this damaged the yacht’s engine and communication system to give them time to get away. The crew was found five days later. Family were notified the next day, once the dehydrated crew was coherent.”

  “How is this not a job for Lepta?” Shane frowned. Their sister team handled situations that involved executives kidnapped and ransoms demanded from their companies.

  “Good question.” Zain gestured at the projector. “On the surface this seems like an in and out deal, but there’s more going on here. Dev’s family isn’t cooperating and Aanya’s are desperate, which is why they hired us.”

  “How much?” Kyle drawled.

  “More than the bride’s family can pay.” Zain shrugged. “They aren’t sharing all that they know with us, that much I’m certain of. Your job is simple. Get them home, and let them sort out the personal bullshit on their own.”

  “The assets have been missing—eight days?” Shane frowned. That was a long time to hold the hostages.

  “Correct,” Zain replied.

  Fuck.

  Shane ran a hand through his hair. Keeping hostages for that long made no sense. Which reinforced Zain’s theory that someone wasn’t sharing all the information, or there was more going on. As the team’s tactical officer, it was Shane’s responsibility to look at patterns and take into consideration their needs and the opposition. He hated unknowns.

  “Are the cops involved? Do they have any idea who is behind it?” Felix asked.

  “That’s not our job. Find them, bring them home, and let law enforcement sort out the rest.” Kyle shook his head.

  “We have contacted the officials in Grand Cayman and sent an introduction to the cops working with the families, so we are all on the same page.” Zain gestured to the wall and flipped to a new image. “That said, our job is to bring these two back to American soil. We are not cops. We’ll leave the criminal investigation up to those in law enforcement and help them however necessary. Got it?”

  And therein lay Aegis Group’s part in this. People were kidnapped and held hostage every day. Not all of them got attention from their government’s state department or were rescued by a SEAL team in the dead of night. For those who could afford it, there was Aegis Group. The company boasted four specialized units for hostage recovery, one of which was theirs: Alpha Team.

  “We know this is a for-hire job. Someone wanted these newlyweds kidnapped and hired a team to do it. Why? We don’t know. And that’s not our job.” Zain grimaced. “The assets were tak
en by a team of mercenaries working out of the Caribbean. Our surveillance was able to track them to the St. Ann’s province of Jamaica, somewhere in Ochi Rios. We do not have an idea of who it is yet. There are too many groups operating out of the islands to know for sure until we have eyes on them. Hope you guys packed your bug spray.”

  “How many people we thinking?” Shane asked.

  “This is the structure we believe they are holding the assets in.” Zain gestured at the wall. “It appears they have used it before. It might be something of a home base for them. Best we can tell, there might be half a dozen, to a dozen men on site at any period. I would not be surprised if there are multiple hostages on location. Your goal is to bring back our clients, but we look after anyone in need. If you run into other hostages, do what you can. Understood?”

  “If you guys have any other questions, we can go over them during the flight.” Kyle peered at his watch. “We need to be airborne soon.”

  “You heard your team leader.” Zain nodded at the others. “Keep this as by-the-book as you can. We cannot force all involved parties to share information. Work with what we know. Get in and get out fast. Your only complication might be a weather front moving toward the islands. Some reports indicate it will be tropical storm level by the time it reaches Jamaica. If you don’t run into any problems, you should be home by late tomorrow.”

  “Get your stuff and meet at load-out in an hour,” Kyle said. “Felix, Shane, hang back one tick.”

  Shane remained seated, staring at the island. There were too many unknowns for this to be an easy gig. Shit was bound to hit the fan.

  Tuesday. Jamaica.

  Lacey Miles stroked the woman’s shoulder, whose body shook as she sobbed.

  She knew how the woman felt. Lacey had been doing the exact same thing the day she was dumped in this Godforsaken hole in the wall. But at some point, Lacey had picked herself up and realized her tears did nothing but aggravate Marcos. Nothing good came from irritating that man.

  “Aanya, please eat something?” Lacey nudged the bowl of banana porridge at the woman and glanced at Aanya’s husband.

  Dev blinked at her with his one good eye and shrugged.

  “They’re going to kill us.” Aanya’s voice hitched and broke. She sobbed into her palms, tears streaking her face.

  “No, they aren’t. Listen to me.” Lacey took Aanya’s hands and ducked her head until the dark-haired beauty had no other choice but to look at her. “I’ve been here six weeks. You know how many people I’ve seen come and go in six weeks?”

  “Six weeks?” Aanya’s tanned skin went ashen.

  Yeah, six weeks catering to Marcos and his buddies wasn’t fun, but Lacey had lived through worse. Least that’s what she told herself every morning she woke up. She needed Aanya to focus, not on Lacey’s tenure, but her own fate.

  “You know how many people they’ve brought through here?” Lacey asked again.

  “N-no...”

  “Not counting you guys? Three. One was a family. Parents, kids. They’ve all gone home—safe, sound, and unhurt. Understand?”

  “Then...why are you still here?” Aanya frowned.

  That was what the hysterical woman would focus on, wasn’t it?

  Lacey squeezed Aanya’s hands.

  “There’s no one to pay a ransom for me. But you have family that loves you, who are going to do everything they can to get you back. That’s why, if Marcos or any of the others gives you a phone, you ask your family to just—pay them. Pay them, and you go home, first class, and this whole thing was just a bad dream.”

  “We don’t know that,” Aanya whispered, her gaze haunted. “Men like this? They lie.”

  “Aanya’s aunt was kidnapped, ransomed, and killed,” Dev said.

  Well, fuck.

  “That’s not going to happen here, okay? Try to eat something.” Lacey nudged the bowl toward Aanya and stood. She needed to eat or she’d get weak. Weak people got sick, they didn’t have the energy to fight back, run away, or even walk toward freedom.

  Lacey had said it all, but Aanya was terrified to the point nothing else registered. There was nothing more for Lacey to do. She’d done her part and now she wanted to get the hell away from the couple. She might not cry herself to sleep anymore, but she wasn’t happy to be here. For these wealthy newlyweds, one way or another, this would all end. They would go home. This would become a nightmare they didn’t speak of. Whereas Lacey was facing the reality that she might never get away from Marcos. Ever.

  “If you need anything I’ll be around, okay?” Lacey smiled.

  “How come you don’t just...run away?” Dev asked. It was the first time since Marcos decked him that Dev seemed to be coming around. Acknowledging his surroundings.

  Lacey gestured to the metal ring in the middle of the room.

  “They chained you to the floor. Me? They strapped explosives to my neck.” Lacey touched the bulky metal collar that dug into her shoulders and skin.

  Dev’s eyes went wide and Aanya hiccupped.

  “I leave, they blow me up.” Lacey grimaced. Before getting fitted with her new accessory, she’d have probably said she’d rather be dead than held captive like this. But that was before she realized how much she wanted to keep living.

  Lacey needed out of here.

  She turned and stepped into the hall, securing the door behind her.

  A man with rust-colored hair and a scraggly beard stood in the hall, arms crossed over a wide, muscular chest. Marcos Whatever-His-Name was not a man one would ever call handsome. He was a menacing asshole who liked money.

  “I talked to them,” Lacey said, pitching her voice low.

  “And?” Marcos turned, walking with her down the third-floor hall. Either end opened onto a balcony, which allowed cool air to gust through. Only a few of the rooms had an air conditioning unit.

  “Do you do any kind of research on people before you grab them?” Lacey grimaced.

  “What’s your point?” Marcos’ voice had an edge, one Lacey had learned to avoid.

  “Aanya’s aunt was kidnapped, ransomed, and killed. I don’t know the particulars, but she’s terrified. Makes sense she hasn’t stopped crying for a week.” Lacey was glad she’d been granted a second-floor room with a fan. The distance made it harder to hear the hostages.

  “Fuck,” Marcos muttered.

  He was angrier than usual this week. Ever since he’d gone to kidnap Aanya and Dev, he’d been on edge. Prone to snapping and angry outbursts. Lacey had met toddlers with better tempers.

  “Work on them, and get the team their breakfast.” Marcos preceded Lacey down the stairs.

  She slowed, allowing distance to grow between them.

  Was this what she’d become? A slave?

  She’d assumed, when Marcos snagged her, that his ransoms were a case of right time right place. He hadn’t had a plan, asking her who would pay more for her, her parents or her sponsors.

  The other families, they’d seemed intentional. Hired, even.

  She crossed the house on the second floor, where she was less likely to run into Marcos’ thugs. They tended to congregate in the communal rooms with air conditioning. Judging by the killer humidity, a front of epic proportions was blowing in.

  The wash. Crap. It was hanging on the lines. She’d need to get it in before the skies opened up, or she’d have to do it all again.

  Lacey paused at a window and peered out at the clouds.

  They didn’t look too bad, but the wind was gusting pretty hard and she had no way of telling what was coming, unless she wanted to brave the living room.

  Movement in the overgrown courtyard caught her attention.

  A man dressed in dark-green pants and long sleeves had his back pressed up against the gray, stone wall of the inner courtyard. Those weren’t the clothes that Marcos’s men wore. They favored black and dark gray. Whoever that man was, he wasn’t a friend of Marcos.

  Lacey gripped the edge of the open window, swaying toward
the man as though she were in his gravitational pull. If he wasn’t one of Marcos’—and judging by the rifle in his hands—a rescue was on hand. Not for her, but for Aanya and Dev.

  Her mouth dried.

  She had two options.

  One, protect herself. If someone attacked Marcos, if things went bad here, the explosives in her collar might detonate and she’d die.

  Two, she could help Aanya and Dev go home.

  Lacey’s knees shook. She knew what she had to do.

  The communal room was below her. If she could see the man, so could the others. Any moment now, someone would catch sight of the intruder and they’d kill him. If he had friends, they’d be next. The rescue would fail and there’d be more blood for Lacey to clean.

  She never wanted to clean up blood again.

  Lacey leaned out of the window and waved her arms, not daring to make a noise.

  Please, look this way.

  As if the man heard her, his head turned and his gaze slowly rose until their gazes latched. There was an intensity she recognized, even at this distance. Whoever he was, he was focused, dangerous, and prepared to do whatever was necessary to complete his job.

  She gestured below her and shook her head, then pointed at her eyes, doing her best to pantomime the warning.

  The man jerked his head and took three steps back.

  Lacey waved him back farther. Anyone sitting on the sectional would have a wide view of the courtyard.

  The other side of the house was mostly boarded up from some old storm that’d broken out the windows.

  The man ducked around the corner, disappearing from view.

  No one shouted. No shots rang out.

  Lacey turned. Her feet slid on the smooth tile before she caught traction and sprinted across to the staircase. The best, most direct way to enter the house would be the side-front stair—right outside of Marcos’ office.

  “We’ve got a friendly working with us from the inside. Blonde woman, Caucasian,” Shane whispered. “Be advised, the courtyard is potentially compromised. She tried to wave something to me, but I’m not sure what.”

  “Regroup with Felix. Follow us in,” Kyle said through the headset.