Escape To Sunset - Sharon Hamilton Page 0,64

a hat and black leather gloves. He tipped his hat and reached down to take her bags.

“No thanks, I’m good.”

The door was opened. She ducked to step inside the darkened interior. Before her eyes could adjust to the darkness someone had a hand over her mouth, and she smelled some sort of pine tar substance, which made her dizzy. Her legs and arms stiffened, and she collapsed on her knees inside the cab, falling on her computer bag.

No one helped her up. The door was closed behind her.

And then she passed out as the car motor revved up.

Chapter 19

The U.S.S. St. Louis was a fast ship, especially for its size, spanning over the length of a football field. It was outfitted with new equipment being used by the Navy for the first time, enabling them to track and monitor shipping lanes increasingly at risk in the Mediterranean and the north coast of Africa. The Team Guys were fascinated with the grand tour they received. But one of the things the St. Louis could not do was show up at the harbor in Las Palmas, since there was no agreement between the Navy and the local autonomous government on Gran Canaria.

The incident with the Dutch ship had already created a stir. Kyle was told all would be arrested if it returned to port, so the Vanderdam Orca was already headed back to a friendly port at Gibraltar. This meant the SEAL Team was to be transported by a small fleet of fishing boats conscripted for the mission, where they could be dropped off at various locations on the island, regrouping later.

Jason couldn’t wait to let Kiley know he would be home sooner than originally thought. He was still shaking his head how quickly the mission came to a conclusion. They’d rescued thirty-seven women, most of them from Eastern Europe and Africa. They’d seized a cruise ship worth more than the entire GDP of the Canary Islands. It would be converted to conservation and humanitarian aid, possibly returned as a desperately needed hospital ship. But the whole incident would be years in the paperwork filing alone, not to mention the diplomatic issues it raised.

But Vandershoot would serve time, either in Spain or the United States, because of the flagrant nature of his offenses and government agreements to cooperate in ending human trafficking. At least, it was a start. All the men on the team were pleased, nearly celebratory.

Kyle, Coop, Tucker, Trace and several others were eating dinner with Jason and Damon, when Kyle got a call from Washington, relaying a message from Christy. He was given permission to speak with her privately.

When he returned to the group, he was silent. He didn’t even laugh when Damon and Fredo imitated one of Jason’s Maori chants. He’d promised to add some of his routine to their exercise program.

But when their eyes met, Jason knew something was wrong.

“You have news?” Jason started softly, fear curling up from his belly.

“I do. You want to do this here, or you want to do it private, Jason?” was Kyle’s response.

It wasn’t a hard decision. These were his brothers, as dear to him as Thomas had been. He also trusted Kyle wouldn’t offer him the choice if it was really bad, so he agreed.

“Kiley’s been kidnapped, Jason.”

This was not expected. “This happened in Florida? How are Aimee and Andy?”

“What about Martel?” asked Damon.

“Everyone in Florida is fine at the moment,” said Kyle. “She went back to Portland, and they took her from the airport.”

“But how could that be? She told me she was waiting to go back. I’m practically back home now. What happened?”

“There have been some murders in Portland, related to the stories she was following for the paper. I guess she got threatened by the police, and they were preparing to arrest her and bring her back anyway.” Kyle leaned forward. “I’m not real happy about this, but apparently our friend Andy got in touch with someone you know very well, Kelly. Your father-in-law.”

“Oh shit. He didn’t,” she said.

“He’d sent a car over to pick her up, but someone got to her beforehand and she never showed.”

Jason had never felt so helpless. He couldn’t believe she would actually be so careless with her personal safety. “I don’t even know where to start, Kyle. Are the police on it? Does anyone really know anything or are we guessing here?”

“Riley’s on it. He’s got a former cop working on it too, to be a liaison.”

“That would be Bryce,” mumbled