Tennessee
Caleb hurried to the door with his sister in tow. They’d had a delay in their flight and now would be the last ones to arrive. His whole family had been invited to a party at the Strong household. Lane had just released another album and so they were going to celebrate. Personally, he hoped to see Kami. He and Lalia walked right in the house and were swamped by laughter and music.
He greeted people he’d not seen in a while, other children he’d grown up with, his smile fixed. Even so, he knew before he’d made his rounds that Kami wasn’t there. A frown crossed his face before he could stop it. He didn’t think she’d ever missed a gathering like this.
“Maybe she’s off with her fiancé,” Lalia chimed in after all but the families of the four women had left.
His fingers tightened around the glass he held, the condensation slick against his skin. Not anything, he wanted to know about much less think on. He arched a brow and held his sister’s gaze. Her black eyes sparkled with impishness.
“Maybe,” he said as blandly as he could manage.
“You know you should tell her how you—”
“Leave it alone, Lalia,” he warned.
She didn’t appear threatened in the slightest. Instead, she wrinkled up her nose and scampered off. He stood there and watched her leave with the other ones he’d grown up with. So then, he was the only child left there. He had just walked by the front door when the bell sounded.
“Got it!” he hollered. He pulled it open. “Yes?”
A deliveryman stood there with a small package in hand. He glanced at it and back up. “I have a delivery for Kenya Strong.”
“She’s right inside; I can take it to her.”
“Sorry. I’m only supposed to release it to her. She needs to sign for it.”
He shrugged. “Okay. Hang on. One moment.”
Closing the door, he hurried through to the kitchen where he faced the four women, he grew up around. His mom, Jacey and three of her best friends. Women he called aunt. Serenity, Sanura, and Kenya, the mother of his Kami.
Kami, she’s not yours. How can she be, one who’s engaged to another man, his brain taunted.
“Aunt Kenya,” he said. He still called her that even after all these years.
She glanced up from the fruit platter she currently picked from.
“What is it, Caleb? And why didn’t you leave with the others?”
He waved off her question knowing full well, if he opened his mouth to do so something to the effect of Kami wasn’t there would slip out. He swallowed and said, “There’s a package for you, the guy says you have to sign for it.”
Kenya popped the strawberry in her mouth, wiped her hands off and smiled. “Guess I should go sign for it then.” She winked as she passed him.
He crossed into the kitchen to kiss his mom and the other women before grabbing a slice of pineapple. The food never made it to his mouth for a piercing scream filled the air.
“Cam!”
Everyone converged into the foyer and saw Kenya standing there, pale as if she’d seen a ghost. Her husband, Cam, Lane to everyone else, had his arms around her in a second and led her to a couch.
“What happened, Kenya?” Cam asked reaching for the package.
Caleb slipped back to the kitchen to get her a glass of water and when he returned everyone had the same look of shock and disbelief on their face. What the hell happened in the thirty seconds I was gone? He placed the glass down and moved to his father’s side. The women all held hands and Cam looked positively sick. Not that anyone else seemed any better.
“Dad?”
“It’s Kamden.”
All senses were immediately alert. “What about her?” The seriousness of the room didn’t indicate good news. He turned to his mom. “Mama?”
She didn’t answer, just lifted something in her hand. He went to her side and took it. His heart stopped. It was a bracelet with a four-colored square on it. He knew the bracelet and the story associated with it. All four women had one; they used it to let the others know they were in danger. And had passed them on to their own daughters. Kami had been wearing it in Miami.
So if he now held it in his hand that meant one thing and one thing only.
Kami was in serious trouble.
His heart seized at the implication. A low rumble of rage filled him and a red haze covered his eyes. He squeezed the bracelet until the edges cut into his flesh. A cold settled around him and he knew what he had to do.
“I’ll bring her home.” His voice grated so low it even sounded foreign to him.
Eight sets of eyes moved to him. A range of emotions in them. He stared at his mom, dad, then Lane, and continued on to his Aunt Kenya.
“I will find her and bring her home. I swear it.”
Such hope lingered in the depths of Kenya’s eyes. He wouldn’t fail her. He couldn’t. Executing a military spin, he headed for the door. A hand on his arm stopped him before he opened it.
His parents were there. Derek embraced him first. “Come home safe.”
“Yes sir.” He faced his mom after hugging his father.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.
“M…m…more than anything.” He frowned over the stutter in his voice. It had been a long while since he’d done that.
He could tell his mom wanted to say something but instead she drew him in close for a breath-robbing hug.
“I love you, Marine.”
Words she’d told him when he was a young boy, each time before she left. “Love you, too, Mama.”
She stepped back and cupped the side of his face. Nothing else was said. There was no need. He could see it in her eyes. Her wish for him to be safe. However, she was a former Marine. Both his parents were. And they loved Kami as well.
Bending down, he brushed his lips along her cheek. Then walked out without another word. He knew where to start. Taiwan. He knew the location of the movie shoot and would go from there.
“So that just leaves one problem,” he muttered as he headed to the airport. “How I’m pulling this off without getting my ass into too much trouble.”
He had forty-eight hours leave. He’d be well into being UA, unauthorized absence, before this was over. It didn’t matter. Only one thing did now. Kami. Finding her. Moreover, bringing her back home, where she belonged.
αβ
Taiwan
The air was thick and muggy as he disembarked from the airplane. Sliding his sunglasses on his face, he walked across the tarmac. Waves of heat rose from the pavement and he took a deep breath, as the sweat began to run in rivulets down the back of his neck. He hoisted his backpack to a more comfortable position.
A white truck zoomed in and squealed to a stop just shy of him. He slowed when the door opened allowing a man wearing a horrendous pink and light blue Hawaiian silk shirt along with white shorts stepped from behind the wheel. Sun bleached curly brown hair and tanned skin, he was unfamiliar to Caleb. A close cut moustache covered the man’s upper lip.
“Caleb Moser?” the man asked, stepping around the front of the truck and offering his hand. The Australian accent made him asses the man a bit more thoroughly.
There was no reason to lie. He was booked on the flight. “That’s me.” The handshake was brief, but he could feel the strength in and calluses on the man’s grip.
“Names Deek. Let’s go, we can talk in the truck. This all you brought? Ah well, let’s go, mate.”
Caleb hesitated slightly but continued to the passenger door. “Should I know you?” he asked, pausing at the door.
“Not here, mate.”
Caleb was a Marine who’d survived many situations by trusting his gut. It told him to go with this guy, so he entered the dented, dusty truck. Despite the rough exterior, the engine turned over cleanly and they soon headed out of the small airport.
The vehicle bounced and jolted over the rough, narrow road. Dirt flew up from the tires as Deek pushed it to its limit. Only his apparent experience of handling the truck stopped Caleb from telling him to slow down. Even so, he braced hard, just in case.
Deek slowed on the outskirts of a small town. Children ran in the streets along with dogs, chickens, and other farm animals. His driver merely laid on the horn and waded through them. At the other end, before a quaint house, Deek pulled up to the door then killed the engine.
Silent and alert, Caleb got out and followed him up to the front, where he cleared a suspiciously rotten looking step. Once inside, he slid a hand around his pack strap and stared at the man who’d brought him here.
“What’s going on? Who are you?”
“Done told you that, mate. Names, Deek. We don’t go by much else here.”
“Okay, Deek, how’d you know I was coming and what do you want?” He remained calm despite his awareness of everything around him increasing.
“I’m here at the request of a mutual friend.”
He ran his mind over the contacts he’d made over the years and came up empty for any in Taiwan. “Who’s the mutual friend?”
“I believe you know him as Uncle Nik.”
He experienced a burst of hope. Uncle Nik. Nikolas Andreyevich. A Russian with more money than Midas as far as he was concerned. Nik’s wife, Cleo, was another close friend to Kenya, Kami’s mom. It didn’t surprise him to discover they’d been apprised of the situation. Nor that Nik would offer help. Nik was a man who took very good care of those he cared about and those his wife cared about. Plus they were her godparents.
“He said to give you this.” Deek handed him a briefcase. “And to give you access to my weapons.”
Briefcase on a table, he clicked the snaps open and found more than enough money, a number, and a satellite phone. “Have a bag?”
“Here.” Deek tossed him a worn leather satchel.
“Thanks.” He made short work of transferring the funds to the duffel. Zipping it he said, “You mentioned something about weapons?”
“Follow me.”
They walked to the bedroom through to a small closet, where Deek uncovered a numbered panel and typed in a code. The wall slid back and all Caleb could do was stare. Whatever Deek was in, it wasn’t legal. Made him wonder about Uncle Nik. For about one second.
Fuck it. I don’t give a shit if he’s in league with the devil, I’ll do whatever it takes to get Kami back.
He whistled low and took in the impressive array.
“Help yourself, mate.”
Caleb grinned. Like a kid in a candy store, he did just that. Grabbing a large black canvas duffel, he began loading it. In went semtex, grenades, ammunition magazines, a few guns, head mounting NVG, first aid kits, blankets, netting, and rain gear. He held up some MRE’s. “Mind?”
“Not a’tall. Anything for Nik and his family.”
He tossed in the packets of meals ready-to-eat and briefly, thought about asking how Deek had met Nik then decided to just tend to his own affairs. On occasion he hefted the bag to check weight, it wouldn’t do him any good to have all this stuff if it slowed him down too much. When it had what he considered being basic necessities, he grabbed the black tab and slowly closed the canvas flight bag.
The flight bag was like the issued duffle he’d received upon enlisting, made of thick canvas, but this one opened like a regular duffle bag as opposed to securing on one end.
Hang on, Kami. Just hang in there, baby. I’m coming.
He sighed, gripped the heavy strap and lifted. “I need a vehicle.”
Deek smoothed finger and thumb over his moustache. “You want to drive? What, right up to their front door? No one sees these guys until they want to be seen. And a vehicle on their mountain will have you under surveillance before you can zip up your britches from taking a piss.”
“What are you proposing?” Caleb asked with cautious interest.
Deek’s smile, if that’s what it was, showed more than a bit of a man who lived hard, played harder, and did it all on the edge of reason. Not to mention the law. The clothing definitely didn’t make the man, for he was no tourist.
“Something much faster.”
The man walked closer, grabbed and lobbed a bound item in one flowing moment. Caleb’s arm tensed under the weight and he nodded his approval at the parachute in his hand. “You’re a pilot?”
“I’m a man of many talents, mate. The bed may be small, but the sheets are clean. Enjoy them for it’ll be your last for a while.”
Just like that, Caleb found himself alone in the impressive weapons cache. Bag slung behind, he strode to the twin bed and dropped it. A groan left him as he sunk to the thin mattress. He was amazed to see the panel had closed, leaving him staring at the small closet and a few older centerfold images.
A sharp chuckle escaped before he reclined back, hands laced behind his head, and with a deep breath, one that filled him with the heavy air, he closed his eyes and accepted the sleep that he’d been holding at bay. Even so, he never fully went out, his preservation instinct alive and kicking. Therefore, when Deek stepped into the room, Caleb was immediately fully aware of his every movement.
“Got some food for you. Then we’ll go.”
“Be right there,” he said, opening his eyes. He rolled to his feet and gathered his bags. Deek had a simple and hearty meal on the table where they ate in silence.
“Do you have any clippers?” Caleb asked once the meal was over.
“Knocking off the fuzz?” He nodded and ran a hand over his head. “Hang on.” Deek left and came back with one in his hands. “Sit here, kid. I’ll get you right.”
Listening, he moved and held still while this virtual stranger took down his hair. When it was over, he ran a hand along his nearly shorn scalp.
“Thanks.”
“Need a mirror?”
“Nope. Feels fine, skin on sides and back, and real short on top.” He shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Let’s go then. Leave the dishes, I’ll get them later.”
Without argument, he hoisted his bags and dropped them in the truck at his feet. The ride back to the airport even more harrowing than the first time because it was dark and yet people still walked the road. There was lots of fishtailing, cursing, and rut jumping before they slid to a stop near a plane that looked like a relic.
“Let’s go.”
Caleb grabbed his gear and moved closer to the rust bucket. Great, I’ll probably die before we get off the ground. Does thing even fly?
A light shone down, and he glanced up to see Deek staring at him.
“Don’t let her looks fool you. This broad’s the best. We’ll get you up there in no time.”
Tossing his bags in, Caleb kept his suspicion to himself. He was surprised—pleasantly so—when the plane started without a hitch. A short roll before they coasted down the runway and took to the moonless night sky.
He moved to the back and got his gear ready, the smaller bag in the larger one, and his chute secure. Then he sat down and waited. The only light came from the console and in the almost total pitch-blackness; he reached in a pocket of his BDU’s and ran his fingers along the bracelet Kami had sent.
Thoughts of what she could be going through sent bolts of rage through him with the speed of an anti-aircraft gun. His grip tightened around the pendant.
Be smart, Kami. Be alive. Just stay alive.
If there was one thing that didn’t mesh well with Kami, it was being bossed around. She was a headstrong woman who never faced an argument she didn’t meet head-on, or a dare she didn’t think she could best. But to get in her face was a sure way to get her temper—courtesy of her father—up and fully engaged.
It worried him to think what would happen when—not if—she back talked her captors. There was also Missy to consider and how the hell they’d get out of the country. One hurdle at a time. Find her first. Take the rest as it comes.
His thoughts drifted back to Kami. Moreover, the night she offered herself to him.
“Can I have a word, Caleb?” she’d asked.
With a smile which promised later to the woman he was with he nodded. “Sure.” They walked off to the side and he spent the time desperately trying to get rid of the steel rod he seemed to sport whenever Kami came around.
It angered him, being unable to control his body around her. He ground his jaw and looked at the woman Kamden Strong had become. A young doctor and a true beauty. He continued to call her Kami, partly to get her riled just to see the fireworks in her big dark brown eyes, and partly to try to convince himself she was the little kid from days past.
She stood beside him, clad in an emerald green, one shoulder, and asymmetrical hem dress. Her hair, black with red highlights, had been swept up in some elegant coif. One he wanted to undo so her hair could flow around and over his skin as he pounded into her heat. Her slick, wet heat.
“What?” he barked, unable to quash the edginess in his tone.
“I just wanted to tell you…that…if you wanted to sleep with me, I wouldn’t mind.”
She floored him just as sure as if she’d smacked him with a tire iron. She’s offering herself to me? Despite the question, he knew he shouldn’t be surprised; Kami had always been direct and to the point.
“What?” His question had been more of a babble.
“You heard me. Take me instead of her.”
Her usual smile sat upon her face and her tone stayed low enough to be solely between the two of them. A light touch from her had his smaller head ready to declare mutiny on him and accept her offer.
“Heard yes, but having a hard time believing I heard it.” Hard to think of her even saying such things. His slacks became uncomfortably tight. He noticed both his dad and hers cast a glance in their direction. He wanted her, yes. Nevertheless, he also knew she looked for something long term. He wasn’t in a place to offer that.
“Thanks for the offer, Kami, but I like my women with a bit more experience.”
Pain then fury before nothing flashed through her eyes.
“I didn’t know you were so keen on paying for a woman.” Her words were icy daggers, but the smile on her beautiful face never wavered.
Nip it in the bud. “Get what you pay for,” he drawled.
Deep in her eyes he saw a light go out and he knew he’d hurt her with that.
“So you do.” She paused when the redhead he was with approached. “Good night, Caleb.” With a twirl, she headed off and left him alone staring at her retreating figure. His eyes glued to the gentle sway of her hips, the lingering scent of her tantalizing his nose, and his entire body ready to rip the dress off her and worship her in reality as he’d done so many times in his dreams. The redhead on his arm a sorry replacement.
I’m an idiot.
“Hey, snap out of it, mate!” Deek’s baritone brought him back to the present and the task at hand.
The bracelet secure back in the pocket, he pushed to his feet. “We there?”
“Yes. I’m going to make one more pass. Dropping you fifteen klicks from where they were spotted last. Wish it could be more accurate, but hell, for all I know you could be landing in the middle of the bastard’s camp.”
He patted the M4 strapped across his chest. “It’d save me the trouble of finding them,” he remarked drolly.
“Sure would. Here we go. Best of luck, mate.”
Caleb slid open the door before moving back toward Deek. “Thanks! If this doesn’t work out, can you tell my uncle I said thanks for everything?” he hollered over the rush of wind.
“Sure thing, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather you tell him.”
“Me too.”
Snapping his NVG’s into place, he waited. Below he could see the tree line flying by below him.
“Go. Go. Go!” Deek yelled.
One final deep breath and he pushed out from the plane to begin the hurdle towards earth.