Shadows and Silk Page 12

  Her mood turned black the more she thought of it, and she kept as much distance between them as possible as he led her back down the multitude of stairs to the base of the temple and back into the jungle.

  The sun had almost completely set, so once they were in the dense cover of the trees, it was almost black and Darcy could barely see the hand in front of her face. That didn’t keep Brant from pushing her along and helping her to avoid fallen limbs or vines she might trip over.

  Two long whistles sounded to her left and then two answering whistles sounded to her right. Her clothes were damp from perspiration, but a decided chill had settled once the sun set, and now she was shivering with the cold. She could feel Brant’s seed still wet between her thighs, and she was grateful for the darkness so the others couldn’t see how disheveled she looked.

  Smith and Huxley were standing outside the Jeep, a small green glow stick in each of their hands to provide a little light. Darcy’s heart pounded as Brant helped her in the back seat. Smith navigated the Jeep through the jungle and back to the main road without headlights, and she had a fleeting thought that that might be a helpful skill to acquire at some point. All three of the men in the car seemed to have eyes like cats, while she was fumbling around like an idiot.

  “We received the all clear from Declan a few minutes before you guys came back down,” Huxley said to Darcy. “He and Max didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but he wants you to call him and give him an update.”

  Brant dialed in the number on the sat phone and passed it to her. The shivers were starting to become uncontrollable—a combination of the cooler temperatures and fading adrenaline—and she huddled in the corner of the backseat even though Brant had tried to pull her closer to share his body heat.

  She realized someone was speaking to her through the phone, and she shook herself out of the fog.

  “Darcy?” Dec asked. “Darcy, answer me.”

  “I’m here,” she said, softly.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, perceptive as ever at reading emotions.

  She didn’t answer him, but instead went into what she’d discovered from the glyphs at the temple. “You need to start searching the area where those girls were taken. The glyphs are like a scavenger hunt. It’s a game to them,” she said, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat and refused to look at Brant.

  “What do you mean?” Dec asked.

  “I found the pattern once I started connecting the glyphs on the map. They leave a new set of glyphs after each drug drop for the next team of Ramos’s men to find.”

  She noticed Smith and Huxley become very alert at the mention of the pattern, and Huxley turned in his seat so he could listen more closely.

  “Damn, how did we miss that?”

  “When Donovan Jax was still alive he was messing up the game because he was feeding you information, and the drops weren’t being made like they were supposed to. After he was killed, that’s when the pattern becomes more noticeable. If you go back and look, every time glyphs were found, there was eventually a body found in the corresponding place. I didn’t always understand the clues, and your guys didn’t always find glyphs at the drop locations, but they were there somewhere. We just missed them, and we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for.”

  “And now you do?” he asked.

  “Yes. Wherever those girls were taken from will have the next set of glyphs. They’re not always going to be easy to find, so we’ll need to look in obscure places at times. The sooner we find those glyphs, the sooner I can decipher them and we can get to those girls.”

  “Good work, Darce. Put Brant on the phone.”

  She handed the phone over to Brant, but still refused to look at him. If she was honest with herself, she was embarrassed because he’d made her lose her control, and not once had he ever shown that she had the same effect on him.

  Brant took the phone, and she could feel his eyes on her as he answered her brother in monosyllabic tones. He hung up and handed the phone to Huxley in the front seat.

  “Dec says it’s time for you to relocate for the night,” Brant told the two men. “We’ve got a sneak and peek at 0 dark 30.”

  They nodded, but no one bothered to interpret for her. Exhaustion seemed to come from nowhere, and she slumped down in her seat, knowing she needed to be alert when they went to look for the glyphs.

  Her eyes drifted closed, and she must have dozed because she woke in Brant’s arms. She stiffened against him and looked around, recognizing the path that led to their villa. She’d slept for longer than she’d thought if they were already back at the resort.

  “I can walk it,” she said, her voice husky with sleep. The moon was bright and full in the sky—a cloudless clear night that smelled of salt and sea.

  “I know, but I’d rather carry you.”

  She could tell he was on alert, constantly searching for someone who might be lurking, and he didn’t relax until they were inside. He laid her down on the bed and then went into the bathroom to turn on the shower.

  He came back out to get fresh clothes, but didn’t do more than glance over at her as he said, “You should go ahead and get some sleep. It’s been a long day, and you’re exhausted.”

  The fact that he thought she’d go to sleep in sweaty clothes with the sex still drying on her body alerted her that something was up. He’d been quiet ever since he’d talked to Declan, and she pushed off the bed and went to her suitcase to grab clean underwear and something to sleep in. She should probably unpack at some point, but Brant hadn’t exactly given her time.

  The bathroom was luxurious, and the shower was big enough for multiple people and surrounded by frosted glass that went from floor to ceiling on three sides. Steam billowed behind the glass, and she could barely see Brant’s outline. She tossed down her clothes on the counter and stripped out of the ones she’d worn to the temple, and then she opened the shower door and watched as he looked up at her in surprise.

  Her curiosity at his sudden odd behavior was stronger than the embarrassment she felt for making a fool out of herself earlier.

  “Want me to scrub your back, sugar?” he asked, giving her the grin that had made her heart melt as a teenager.

  She stepped beneath the spray and let the hot water rain down on her—her muscles welcoming the heat, and the stickiness from her body washing away.

  “You can do my front too,” she said, answering his grin with one of her own.

  His eyes widened and his grin turned sensual. His cock bobbed against her hip, and she raised a brow in question, as if to say again?

  “Always with you,” he said softly. “But I have to say I’m much more interested in your back for the time being. I haven’t been paying it near enough attention.”

  His hand slid around her hip and squeezed her ass, and she gasped as his finger ran down the crevice and slid into her pussy from behind. Her nipples grazed his chest, and she held completely still as he worked two fingers inside.

  “I haven’t taken you from behind,” he said, kissing her temple and trailing down to her cheek. “I dream of bending you over and holding on to that fine ass as I slide inside of you.”

  She shuddered against him, but felt like she should be remembering something—focusing on something important—but he stole her senses.

  “And what about here?” he asked, removing his fingers from her pussy and back to the puckered star of her anus. “Have you ever been taken here?”

  A gasp escaped as he circled the hole once before pushing the tip of his finger inside.

  “Mmm,” he said. “I don’t think you have. I like that I’ll be the first, and that sweet ass will belong only to me.”

  He removed his fingers completely and reached for the soap, squirting some into the rag he pulled from the towel bar. Darcy was surprised as he began washing her as if he hadn’t been teasing her for the last few minutes.

  “Change your mind?” she asked.

  “When I take you like that it wo
n’t be in a shower. I’ll need to prepare you first.”

  “Hmm,” she said, her mind working over the way he was acting. Almost as if he were in a hurry. “So what’s a sneak and peek? And when’s 0 dark 30? I’m assuming this is something to do with looking for the glyphs.”

  He finished scrubbing her and then started on his own body while she washed her hair. “A sneak and peek is just a term for a recon mission. 0 dark 30 is any time after dark. Not such a puzzle,” he said.

  “So when are we leaving?”

  “I’m going in with Shane’s SEAL team. They’ll be here in another half hour. It’ll take some time to get there and be briefed before we get into position.” He paused as he rinsed the soap from his body. “Jade’s going to be here to stay with you, and SEAL team 2 is still keeping watch from the water. You’ll be safe until I get back.”

  Darcy finally realized what he’d been trying to keep from her until the last minute, and she shook her head in denial, turning off the water with a flick of her wrist.

  “You can’t leave me here. I need to go with you so I can decipher the glyphs, and you know it. I’m going.”

  He sighed and opened the shower door, and the steam billowed out into the air conditioned room. He handed her a towel and then grabbed one for himself.

  “It’s too dangerous. We don’t know what we’re going into, and it’s best to use precaution.”

  “You’re going in with the SEALs. What about your safety?”

  “I used to be a SEAL. I know what the hell I’m doing.”

  “And are you willing to take the chance that something could happen to those girls because I wasn’t there to decipher the glyphs immediately?”

  He wrapped the towel around his waist and gave her a look she couldn’t interpret. “Your brother and I agreed, and it’s not up for discussion. You’re staying here until we know what we’re dealing with. We might not even find the glyphs, but there’s sure as hell the possibility that Ramos still has men watching the area. We don’t want one of them to see you.”

  “So you and my brother make all the decisions, and I’m just the puppet you pull out whenever you think I might be useful.”

  “It’s not like that, Darcy.” He dropped the towel and went to his suitcase, where he pulled out a black Speedo bathing suit and a neoprene dive suit.

  “It certainly feels like that. What am I supposed to do if something happens to those girls when I know a matter of hours could mean their life or death? How can I live with that? How can you live with that?”

  “In this business you have to learn to live with a lot of things,” he said, the tone of his voice telling her he’d had more than his fair share. “And in the end you just have to make the best choice and move on. We need you alive and viable for the whole mission, not just part of it, and our goal is to take down Ramos and destroy his lab. We can’t do that without you.”

  “I wish I could discard human lives as easily as you and my brothers seem to,” she spat out. The words were meant to cut, and she immediately felt shame for even saying it aloud.

  “Never easily,” he finally said. “But sometimes necessary.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, biting her lip. “I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean it.” Brant and her brothers were heroes. She knew they did what they did because they loved their country and they wanted nothing more than to protect the innocent.

  “It doesn’t matter, Darcy. Just leave it alone.” He used powder to pull on his wet suit, and then he packed a change of black clothing in his waterproof duffle. Guns and ammo went in the bag, and he strapped on his Ka-Bar around his ankle.

  “I just think you’re making a mistake,” she said after a while. “I know how to protect myself, and I can keep up with you. Please, let me help.”

  Brant had his gun in his hand and pointed at the sliding glass doors of their villa without answering her. The glass door slid open, and the woman she’d seen at the bar when she’d first arrived at the resort slipped inside.

  The woman had her own gun in her hand and a rifle slung over her shoulder, and she was dressed in black from head to toe.

  “It’s all clear,” she said, her green eyes taking in the tension between Brant and Darcy with one look.

  Brant nodded and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Darcy, this is Jade.”

  Darcy looked at the woman and nodded, but she didn’t have it in her to smile like she was glad to see her.

  “Jade,” Brant said. “Don’t be a bad influence. She doesn’t need any help in that area.”

  Jade smiled and set her rifle down where she could reach it easily. “Maybe I’ll teach her a couple of pressure points. You never know when you’re going to need to bring a man to his knees.”

  “Very funny,” he said, dryly. “I’ll be back.” He kissed Darcy once on the forehead and then slipped out the sliding door as silently as Jade had come in.

  Darcy couldn’t just sit there and not do anything. Jade did a quick walkthrough of the villa and then came back into the living area.

  “I don’t like those back windows being so open,” she said. Jade’s voice was as smooth as whiskey, and Darcy felt a quick dart of jealousy at the other woman—the woman the others treated as part of the team instead of an outsider.

  But then the woman in question turned to her and smiled and said, “So how about you crack open that bottle of wine and tell me what Brant did to piss you off?”

  “We don’t have that many hours to kill,” Darcy said. But the thought of getting a little drunk didn’t sound like such a bad idea at the moment, so she grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses from the bar.

  “Make him pay, love. Sometimes it’s the macho heroes that need a kick in the ass to make them remember that their relationship isn’t a mission where they get to give orders all the time.”

  “That about sums it up,” Darcy said, pouring the first glass to the rim.

  “None of that for me,” Jade said. “I wouldn’t do you much good if I was piss-faced now, would I.”

  Darcy grunted and went over to the sofa, propping her feet on the table. “Let me ask you something.” She didn’t wait for Jade to give her the go ahead. “Does it piss you off that they stuck you here on babysitting duty while they’re off doing the real work?”

  Jade’s brow raised, and her mouth quirked in a half smile. “Girl, this is a real job. I’m here because I’m a hell of a lot better shot than all of those muscle-men put together. And they know it. You’re in good hands. Now, tell aunty Jade what Brant did to hurt your feelings, and I’ll kick his ass for you.”

  “I can kick his ass myself,” Darcy said, draining the glass.

  “I think you probably can.”

  “The whole mess started four years ago—”

  Chapter Twelve

  The city of Chiapa de Corzo was silent as a tomb at just shy of four o’clock in the morning. It had been thirteen years since he’d been an active SEAL, but the moves and thoughts of working as a well-oiled machine came back as naturally as breathing.

  The five girls had been staying at the Palacio Concordia—a hotel reserved for dignitaries of state and other important guests. The security was top notch, and there never should have been any question of their safety. Which meant Ramos had the guards in his pocket. It was the only explanation.

  The hotel resembled the palace of its name and was surrounded by a twelve-foot stone fence. It wasn’t overly large, the hotel only having about a hundred rooms, but it had a large courtyard and two pool areas. According to Darcy, the men who’d kidnapped the girls would have left the new glyphs close to where they’d been taken—meaning somewhere inside the hotel or grounds itself.

  “DEA is in position,” Max’s voice came through the earpiece. “Waiting for signal to move.”

  “Two guards down and wrapped,” Dec said, meaning he’d immobilized the night guards and restrained them. “Cleanup can take them away for interrogation. We’re clear for entry.”

 
“That’s our signal, boys and girls,” Shane’s voice said in his ear. “On my count.”

  Brant felt the adrenaline rush through his body as Shane counted down. The feeling was almost as good as sex. Almost. Shane hit zero and Brant moved from his position at a low run, tossing his rope to the top of the stone fence and pulling it slowly so the metal spikes would catch against the rock. He tested his weight once and then started the climb. His feet touched the ground silently on the other side, and he looked around as the other SEALs landed at the same time, their move well choreographed.

  “Stick to the plan,” Shane called out. “Find those glyphs and be ghosts.”

  There were seven men on Shane’s team, eight counting Brant, and he’d paired each of them in groups of two to search different quadrants. They had a lot of ground to cover in very little time.

  “I’ve got a surprise package outside of the gates,” Dec said. “Keep your eyes open.”

  Brant and Shane shared a look of surprise, wondering if Ramos knew they were there, and they moved along the corridors, continuing their search for the glyphs. More than a half hour passed, and Brant knew they were getting near the end of their window of opportunity.

  “Bingo,” someone said in the earpiece. “I’ve got a target confirmation in quadrant four.”

  Brant didn’t recognize the first voice, but he recognized the second voice as belonging to his brother, Brady. “Repeat. We’ve got the glyphs. Getting a visual confirmation before evacuation. Two minutes.”

  “You heard them,” Shane said. “Two minutes. Evacuate.”

  Brant took out his earpiece and said to Shane, “I’m meeting up with Dec. I want to know what the surprise package is.”

  Shane took out his earpiece as well to answer. “I’m coming too. My brother always has the best secrets. And I’m curious to see what Ramos might have left for us.”

  They climbed their way back over the fence, and Shane gave his team further instruction to do a solo evacuation back to their base. Brant opened the tracker he had on Dec and followed the glowing red signal two blocks away into a deserted alley filled with dumpsters and boxes. He and Shane both had their weapons out as they approached the small enclave into the side of a building.