SEAL's RESOLVE - Rebecca Deel Page 0,34
back to awareness. Sometime during the past few minutes, his hands slid under her shirt to settle at her waist. His lack of control startled him. Time to dial it back before he moved them too far too fast.
Rafe broke the kiss and discovered he wasn’t ready to step back. He blew out a breath and rested his forehead against hers. “Give me a minute.”
“Fair warning. If you turn me loose, I’ll drop to the floor.” She smiled. “My legs are weak. You have serious kissing skills.”
He chuckled, her humor giving him a chance to wrench himself back under control. “I’m not steady myself, lady.”
At that moment, Rafe’s phone signaled an incoming text. He slid the phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen. “Duty calls.” He dropped a quick kiss on Kristi’s lips and eased away from her. “After you put on the jewelry, we’ll join the rest of Wolf Pack in the conference room.”
“Did Jon and Eli learn something?”
“They did. Let’s find out what they discovered.” Hopefully, the information was substantial enough to give them a suspect to pursue. Rafe wanted Kristi safe. He didn’t intend to lose another woman he cared about to murder.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
With Kristi’s hand clasped in his, Rafe entered the conference room where his teammates waited. He ignored Wolf Pack’s questioning glances when they noticed him holding Kristi’s hand. He seated her, then joined Kristi at the table. “Tell me you have something good, Jon.”
“Josh will arrive soon. Zane hacked the Gatlinburg police’s computer system and found information on some of the kidnappers. Eli and I uncovered preliminary information about Ward.”
Jon’s information about Ward must warrant diving deeper into the man’s background. Although Ward being a suspect didn’t hurt Rafe’s feelings, he didn’t want Kristi hurt by a friend’s betrayal.
The door opened, and Josh strode inside. Fatigue lined the Delta soldier’s face.
Rafe had been there. That kind of fatigue wasn’t simply physical. The mental strain of dealing with the dregs of society weighed you down. Josh needed downtime with his wife and daughters.
“Coffee?” Cal asked.
“I need a tanker truck full of coffee,” Josh said as he dropped into a chair across from Rafe and Kristi.
“I’ll bring the largest cup Nate has,” he promised and left.
“How are you, Kristi?” Josh asked.
“Sore,” she admitted. “Lingering headache along with a reminder of bruised ribs every time I breathe, and grateful to be alive.”
A grim expression settled on Jon’s face. “You have reason to be grateful. The identified kidnappers had records. Their arrests run the gamut from breaking and entering all the way to rape and murder.”
Josh slanted him a hard look. “Do I want to know where you got your information?”
“A smart man wouldn’t ask.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Who is the fake orderly?” Rafe asked Josh.
“Victor Harmon, and he has a rap sheet a mile long. He’s been in and out of jail since he was eighteen years old.”
“Juvie record?”
A nod. “Sealed.”
“Want to look at it?” Jon asked.
Josh glared. “I didn’t hear that.”
“Hear what?”
Cal returned and set a large to-go cup in front of Josh. “What did I miss?”
“The fake orderly’s name is Victor Harmon. Long acquaintance with the law in your neck of the woods.”
The former homicide cop frowned. “I recognize the name. Assaults, drunk-and-disorderly, armed robbery, attempted rape?”
“That’s the one.”
“Last I heard, Harmon was in jail.”
“Paroled. Kristi’s kidnapping was his first foray into that area.”
“Lucky me,” she muttered.
“Do you have enough to hold him?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah. Multiple parole violations. Two of Cal’s buddies from the Metro Nashville PD will escort Harmon back to Nashville tomorrow. He won’t bother Kristi again for a long time.”
“I want to talk to him.”
“Forget it, Torres.”
“Why?”
Josh leveled a pointed look at him. “Circumstances have changed.”
While Rafe couldn’t deny that truth, he didn’t like having access to Harmon denied. “Would you back off if you were in my shoes?”
A snort. “Ethan wouldn’t let me anywhere near Harmon if that criminal threatened my wife or daughters. He knows I’d kill him at the first opportunity.”
Rafe’s lips curved. Ethan Blackhawk, Josh’s brother-in-law, was also Otter Creek’s police chief and an Army Ranger with serious tracking skills. Rafe would have to set aside his plan to talk to the kidnapper. He doubted Harmon knew much anyway.
Josh sipped his coffee and turned to Jon. “I assume your hacking has been lucrative.”
“Would I do that?’
He snorted. “You live to thwart law and order, frog boy.”
The sniper chuckled. “I looked into Hugh Ward’s background. If you’re commenting on my computer skills as a Fortress operative, you know