It was the Jackson twins’ christening. Kathy, and Shane a.k.a. Ice, couldn’t hold it in their small apartment, so Patrick and Sarah Frost, together with their three youngsters, volunteered to host the event at their house.
It was a glorious morning and Zach Buchanan basked in the sunshine. He’d spent the best part of the last hour getting to know Cheyenne, a former college chum of Liz and Kathy’s, who was visiting from Louisiana.
Cheyenne tilted her head toward Havoc and Hawk who were sitting at the outdoor table talking to Liz Ellis. “You guys are as an unlikely a bunch as any to be found at a christening.”
As he turned in that direction, Sarah and Frosty joined the trio.
“So what’s the catch?” Cheyenne asked.
He cast a critical eye over the ex-Navy SEALs. Yeah, they were a motley crew, but they were a tight unit, and not one among them would have missed today’s gathering for love or money. “We’re family, what can I say.”
And it was true. Besides Loretta, they were the only family he had. He focused on his buddies and grinned. What a bunch of characters. First there was Lucas Kincaid, an Australian and a gentle giant, but a deadly adversary better known as Havoc, who, for reasons only he could explain, had grown his hair and wore it fastened back in a ponytail. He was wearing his trademark Akubra and lolling back in a chair, legs outstretched, ankles crossed, fingers locked at his nape, and shooting the breeze with Sarah. Frosty had wandered off with Sarah’s mom. They were both avid gardeners and were now inspecting the roses.
B. Michael Brannigan, nicknamed Hawk and the youngest member of their group, was chatting to Liz, Kathy’s lawyer friend. Zach couldn’t decide if he was really quizzing her for free legal advice, or if he was hitting on the leggy redhead.
“Kathy tells me they call you Wolf,” Cheyenne said, bringing his attention back to the pretty blonde beside him.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he replied and added a warm smile.
“So, are you the big bad kind?”
“Well, I guess that depends on your perspective.”
“Got any plans for later?” Cheyenne asked, but there was nothing shy about her. She had on a short, tight skirt over a well-rounded ass and a low-cut top covering her boobs. At the bare minimum she’d have to be a double D cup, and the girls were on parade.
He flashed his teeth and stepped closer. “What did you have in mind?” he said, bringing an arm over her shoulder and placing his palm against the tree, a hairsbreadth now separating them. She didn’t answer right away but made a pretense of raising her eyes skyward while tapping an index finger against her cheek. It was a calculated move, and he raised a hand and pushed a stray curl from her forehead while he waited for the reply.
“I know, we could play fairytales,” she said, blue eyes twinkling like stars in the sky.
He knitted his brows and narrowed his gaze, not catching her meaning. “You’ve got me at a loss.”
“You’re Wolf, so I get to be Red Riding Hood.” Two of her fingers walked his forearm.
“I don’t get it.”
“Oh, it’s pretty simple. We go back to my hotel room and you, being the big bad kind, get to gobble me up. Then it’s my turn.” Her lips parted, and her tongue licked over them in a circular motion.
“Baby, that sounds like my kind of game.” It was a novel approach, and he quirked his mouth into a spontaneous grin just as a phone started playing Bohemian Rhapsody. He patted his pockets and then remembered he’d left it on the table earlier when he’d tried to call Loretta.
“Yo, Wolf, that’s your cell,” Hawk called from across the lawn.
“Get it for me, will you, buddy?”
“I’m not your damn secretary.”
“Just get it, and unless it’s to do with a job, take a message.”
Hawk grumbled but answered the call. Wolf turned back to Cheyenne and ran a finger along her collarbone to the hollow of her throat. “Now, you were saying?”
“How soon can we leave?”
“Hey, loverboy, some chick called Beth wants to talk to you, she says it’s urgent.”
“I don’t know a Beth, take a message,” he called not taking his eyes off Cheyenne.
“She said to tell you it’s Babycakes.”
Zach froze. The breath jammed in his throat and he struggled to breathe. It was like he’d been sucker punched in the solar plexus. He hadn’t heard that name in years. And just like that, time was stripped back. Fuck. His heart jackknifed and his stomach balled into a tight wad. That was a double-edged memory that caused him both grief and joy.
“Yo, Wolf, do you want to talk to this babe or not?”
“Yeah, ah sure, of course.” He charged up the yard and grabbed the phone from Hawk, who handed it over with a wry grin.
“Babycakes, this is unexpected.” As he spoke, a familiar prickling sensation ran up his spine that he’d learned not to ignore.
“Zach, I…where to begin?” Her breathy, disjointed voice crackled in his ear. The connection wasn’t great, so he moved farther up the garden hoping for better reception.
“Is everything okay?” Her call was out of left field, and he couldn’t get a handle on it, but the line was not clear.
“No, we’re in so much trou…Bogotá…been abduc…”
“Slow down, Babycakes. I can’t understand you.”
His pals standing nearby ceased their chatter. Hawk mouthed something to Havoc, who replied with a shoulder shrug, and both continued to eavesdrop on his conversation without shame. He flipped them the bird and gave the call his undivided attention.
“I’m in Bogotá. Loretta’s been abduc…held for ransom.”
A muscle worked in his jaw as her words registered. His anger meter ratcheted, and he erupted like Vesuvius. “You’re fucking joking, right? Tell me you’re joking.”
“They want half a million dollars, they…if I call the authorities…kill her.”
He did a fast pace up the yard and barked, “Just what the hell have you got her into this time?”
Fear twisted in his gut like a knife. Loretta meant the world to him, and she was in mortal danger if Babycakes could be believed. He was used to risking his own neck. Hell, it had been part of his job as a SEAL, but he was tough and could handle himself. Loretta was just a slip of a girl, young and vulnerable.
“I’m s…ry, I…know what to do.”
The catch in her voice centered him. This was bad, but abusing her over the phone was wasting time. Now, he needed details. Later, he’d wring her neck.
“Okay, okay, stop crying and tell me where you’re staying,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke. She named the hotel and he committed it to memory.
“I’m so scared Zach…tell me what to do.”
He raked his hair with his fingers. “Stay put and don’t do a damn thing. I’ll be on a plane before lunch, just try and stay the hell out of trouble until I get there.” He ended the call and shoved the phone into his pocket.
“What’s up, bro?”
Hawk was on his feet, seemingly aware something momentous was going down. Zach frowned but he didn’t respond, couldn’t respond, his throat had thickened and he needed a moment.
His hesitance prompted Sarah’s reassurance. “We’re family, Wolf. You don’t have to say a thing, but if we can help in any way, you need only say the word.”
Her words hit home. He took another second to swallow the lump in his throat. “It’s Loretta, you know, my kid sister,” he explained, directing his gaze from one to the other. “She’s being held for ransom in Columbia.”
“Oh my God.” Sarah’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. “Wolf, I’m so sorry.”
“That was Babycakes, Loretta’s friend. I warned Loretta that girl would get her into some serious shit one day, but then the trouble stopped and I was happily proved wrong. Or that’s what I thought. Seems bad habits are hard to break.”
Havoc checked his watch. “Ice can hold down the fort here.”
“We’re swamped with work.” Zach cast a worried look over his friends, knowing where this was headed.
“This takes precedence.” Frosty’s tone was authoritative. “I’ll meet you guys on the tarmac, fueled and ready to go in an hour.”
“Hooyah.” Havoc and Hawk consented with the old familiar battle cry.
“I’ll clue Ice in and make preparations.” Frosty turned and left to get on with it.
“Stay cool, buddy, we’re right there with you. We’ll get her back.” Hawk’s confidence was reassuring.
“Guess this means you don’t get to play fairytales.” Havoc clapped him on the shoulder as they walked back down the yard.
“I thought I was discreet?”
“Nope, not with Flappers here.”
“Hey, I told you that in confidence. If I had known I was talking to the mouth from the South, I wouldn’t have filled you in,” Hawk blustered.
Zach knew they weren’t being dismissive or making light of Loretta’s predicament, it was just their way of dealing with it.
“I swear, Hawk, with supersonic hearing like yours the government could use those flappers as a secret weapon.” It was said tongue-in-cheek, knowing Hawk was supersensitive about his ears.
“Yeah, well, I don’t have to stick around listening to your shit. I’ve got packing to do.”
“Right behind you, kid.”
Havoc and Hawk took off while he marched over to Cheyenne who was standing right where he’d left her, legs up to her armpits and boobalicious. “Sorry, sugar, but something’s come up and I’ve got to split.”
“Yeah, I heard. I’m sorry, Wolf, about your sister, I mean.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“How about a rain check for next time I’m in town?”
“Sure, why not, but now, I’ve really got to go.” He gave her a wink and then turned on his heel and hurried down the drive to where his Ferrari was parked.
He opened the door and slid behind the steering wheel, making calculations as he gunned the engine. There’d be close to half a mil in the home safe, so that part was covered. His arsenal was huge, but this mission called for selective ordinance, so he’d have to be choosy. As he tallied a mental list, he groaned. Fuck, Babycakes, of all places why Columbia? One consolation, the guys were professionals and they would do whatever it took to rescue his sister. No questions asked.
For years the five of them had been a SEAL team, but they’d opted out of the Navy when Ice had been medically discharged and Frosty had resigned. With both of them gone, Zach approached Havoc and Hawk, and the vote was unanimous. Keep the team together. So they threw in their lot and started a new venture and hadn’t looked back since.
* * * *
Beth was numb when she ended the call. Zach was hostile. Whether it was all over Loretta’s abduction, or whether he still harbored some anger over the past, she couldn’t say. All she knew for certain was she’d spent her life wishing she was older, wishing she was thinner, wishing she was taller, all in the vain hope Zach Buchanan would notice her. And now, he had—but for the worst possible reason.
Zach blamed her for every misdemeanor, but when Loretta and she cooled it, he’d treated her nicely, almost like another kid sister. And that was the problem.
She’d only ever witnessed a hungry look in his eyes like he was a starving man and she a juicy steak once. That night in the games room was branded on her memory forever. She’d thought at last he was seeing her for the woman she’d become and not the bothersome brat he’d branded her. But she’d been wrong. She’d waited for him upstairs in her room but he never showed up. He couldn’t get away fast enough. From then on, whenever Loretta mentioned he was coming home, she’d made it her business to stay away. Now, the choice had been snatched from her. Tomorrow she’d have to face her nemesis.