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her brother, a cop, and knows Atlanta inside and out. It makes the

most sense.”

The twitch over Nate’s eye increased. “Except he doesn’t even

think she’s there, so he can just sit this one out.”

“You’re on tap to act as undercover security for one of the next

Rixitron rotations. This is an important operation. We can find out

what they’re up to, it took a lot of maneuvering to arrange this.”

Noah sounded every inch the commander.

“You can fix it, put Cyrus in for me. I’m doing this Noah.” He

disconnected the call and stood in the middle of the causeway.

Dammit, he wanted her back in the apartments, safe and sound, not

out where people would be trying to capture and hurt her. He shoved

his hands in his pocket, knowing worrying wouldn’t help anything,

he needed to focus on the present and what he could accomplish.

First things first, he needed a clear head. He hadn’t eaten in damn

near fourteen hours, a lifetime for him. He headed to the Mexican

restaurant up ahead. At least there was a decent one in this airport,

with good beer and good fajitas. The food would soothe him as he

concentrated on the next steps.

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Nate was tired and not paying attention as he made his way to

his seat on the plane. He followed a mother holdinga small child,

who must have been about three years old. The boy started to cry as

he stared at Nate, and Nate cursed himself and immediately smiled.

He knew better than this. At six foot six, and a face like a block of

granite he could easily scare small children. It never bothered him to

scare the enemy, now
that
he enjoyed. But he should have realized

there was a kid in front of him and been smiling. He could always get

a kid to smile back at him when he worked at it. The little boy

stopped crying and gave a shy wave.

Nate got into the aisle seat, thankful he would be able to stretch

out his legs for portions of the flight. He closed his eyes and

attempted to get some sleep, but found it useless. Instead he kept

thinking about the last assignment in Mexico where they had to

rescue the American factory owner who had been kidnapped.

Thank God the kidnappers had wanted such an outrageous

amount of money that it had given them more time than normal to

find their location. It was when the kidnappers wanted smaller sums

the length of time was shorter and the odds of finding them in time

was reduced. Another thing in their favor was the family called the

embassy as soon as they received the internet feed showing the

victim being held with the ticking clock and a knife to his throat.

They had five days to get twenty million dollars in diamonds. It had

been close, but they had managed to get to him in time.

Nate and his team had been on their way stateside after a month

in Afghanistan rescuing three journalists when they had gotten the

assignment in Mexico. He’d wanted to get back stateside. He wanted

to start working with others on his team whose job it was to protect

the
found.

That had been his plan. He had worked one mission in Florida

with the team, but mostly he had been overseas, and was tired of it.

He worked with some of his teammates when he was overseas, but

these days the majority of his friends were stateside, and he missed

them. He missed Sarah, he missed her too much. And if the way he

just lost his shit on Kota was any indication, obviously he had pretty

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deep feelings for the woman, so why the hell hadn’t he been pursuing

her?
Because you’re a dumbass.
Well that was about to change, just

as soon as he got her safely back to California, he was going to start

by asking her out on a date. God that sounded lame, but he had to

start somewhere.

He was going to have to talk to Admiral Sakuro about having his

orders changed so that the majority of his time was spent in

California. He would still be part of the elite naval unit, just focused

on the enemies of the
found
, not on the hostage and rescue they had

been doing for the last few years. With that decided Nate was finally

able to get some sleep.

When he landed in Atlanta, Sierra had him booked into the

Westin hotel at the airport. Pulling out his laptop to view the security

tapes she’d forwarded, he got an incoming Skype from her and

Cyrus.

“She didn’t get off the plane. She must have given us the slip in

Orange County.” Cyrus looked haggard.

“How do you think she managed that? We saw them take her

ticket, and watched her go through the doorway onto the plane

ramp.” It took everything Nate had to keep his tone reasonable.

Cyrus and Sierra were talking bullshit.

“Maybe she let everybody else pass by and just before they

closed the doors she came back out?” Sierra suggested tentatively.

“Really? Didn’t you check the tapes? How long did you watch?

Did you ever see her come back out of the jet way?”

“I watched the tapes for two hours and no she didn’t come out.

But she could have gone out with the employees near the end of the

ramp.”

Nate just lifted his eyebrows.

“Yeah, it smelled bad to us too.” Nate could clearly see their

frustration.

“Cyrus, send me the tape of the departing passengers in Atlanta.”

“We went over the tapes four times. She didn’t get off the

plane.” Then he paused and looked directly at Nate. “But I’d love it if

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Lori King

you found something I missed.” It was obvious how much he cared

for his baby sister.

“Send them to me.” He shut down the Skype session. He didn’t

have long to wait, Sierra had the tapes to him in record time. Since

they had been so sure she hadn’t deplaned, he was surprised how fast

he recognized her. She was the thirty-first passenger off the plane.

She’d cut her hair short, wore a mini-skirt and held hands with a

young black man, while concentrating on her phone. Damn. She

knew exactly how to avoid the security cameras. And who the fuck

was the guy? He was a pretty boy. Nate hated him.

Nate watched the man pull her close and kiss her temple as they

passed the airline desk. No wonder Cyrus and Sierra had been fooled.

Who was he? They were far too comfortable together. Damn she

looked good. He’d never seen her legs showcased like that before.

Who the hell was the man with her? He watched the tape two more

times, and on the third run through he pulled his attention away from

Sarah and concentrated on the man.

Whoever the guy was, he definitely took note of his

surroundings. While he paid attention to Sarah. He was also aware of

his surroundings, like he had special training. Nothing escaped his

notice. Nate went back to the original boarding tapes. Sarah boarded

with a shopping bag and a purse. The man boarded with a duffel bag

and a backpack.

Now Nate watched for it, he saw they knew one another before

they boarded, it was subtle, but they acknowledged one another. This

was no chance meeting on the plane. Going back to tapes of the

plane’s arrival in Atlanta, he watched as Sarah departed with a

backpack, no purse, no shopping bag. The male carried only his

duffel. Dammit, she called in an accomplice to help her.

Nate pressed his hand against his forehead trying to stop the

annoying twitch. Then he placed a video call to his teammates. It was

no damn hardship to hide out in a brand new apartment complex in

Newport Beach, California, but it still chafed the
found
members, and

apparently Sarah had reached her limit.

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Sierra popped up on the first ring, she looked anxious. “Hey,

Sierra, get Cyrus.”

“He’s here. We got tapes of the outside area of the airport in

Orange County. Sarah didn’t leave through the employee exit.”

“I know, she deplaned in Atlanta. Pull up the tape, she was

passenger number thirty-one, she was with a black male. Cyrus, can

you identify him?”

He did his best to wait patiently, zooming in on the picture of

Sarah. She was smart—no face shot. She kept her head down the

entire time. But he’d know her anywhere. Those hands, the arch of

her neck, okay maybe the legs threw him for a loop. He’d never seen

her in a short skirt before. God, he wanted to see those long mocha

colored legs in person, preferably while wrapped around his waist.

Fuck, he needed to dial it back. First he needed to get to know her,

hell they’d never been on a damn date.

“Fuck, how did I miss her?” Cyrus snapped. “She’s my little

sister.” Nate wanted to know the same damn thing, but he kept his

mouth shut.

“Who’s the guy?” Sierra asked.

“Never saw him before.” Cyrus sounded frustrated.

“Maybe she picked him up on the plane,” Sierra said. Nate

snorted, and then explained what he had discovered.

“Cyrus, can you get his photo in front of your brothers? See if

anyone knows this creep?”

“On it.”

“He doesn’t look like a creep.” Nate recognized the tone from

Sierra, she used it occasionally when she was trying to soothe one of

her naval teammates. Right now it was fucking irritating and he told

her so.

“Look Goodman, going off half-cocked isn’t going to help

things.” Sierra said using her smack down voice. “Obviously

something was pretty damned important to Sarah. She’s smart,

smarter than the two of us put together. She knows her life is in

danger. If she thought something was worth this level of risk, then it

is.”

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Lori King

Nate stared at the computer screen unable to believe the shit

coming out of Sierra’s mouth.

“I can hear you growling.”

“I am not growling,” he said between clenched teeth.

“You are so growling you fucking Neanderthal. You better be

thinking with the big head and not the little head. Sarah might have

given us the slip, but she needs protection, and you’re it big guy.”

Sierra pointed at him for emphasis.

“Bullshit, my family will be right by the big guy’s side.”

Shoving his face into the screen.

Nate didn’t doubt it in the slightest. He had met Cyrus’s

brothers. They lived in Atlanta, and he knew as soon as he pointed

out Sarah in the video Cyrus had sent texts to his family.

“When can I expect to see the hoard?” Nate tried not to shudder

thinking of all the Johnson brothers.

“As soon as you get your ass over to my parent’s house.”

“You told your mom and dad?” Nate asked incredulously.

“Of course. My mother would have torn a strip off me if I kept

this from her.”

Nate flashed back to the nice woman who arranged the prayer

circle for Kali when she had been kidnapped, it didn’t jive.

“Why would you worry your mother?”

“Are you saying because she’s a woman, she’s weak and needs

to be protected?” Sierra demanded.

“Can it Sierra. You know I don’t feel like that. Hell, how many

times have I depended on you to pull my ass out of the fire when

we’ve been on missions together? But this is Mrs. Johnson’s little girl

we’re talking about. I didn’t think she needed this worry.”

Nate watched as Cyrus threw his head back and laughed.

“Let me tell you something about Lila Johnson. She’s the

fiercest member of the Johnson clan when it comes to her children.

Don’t be messing with her babies. She might be all choir singing,

church going, Sunday dinner making mama, but she’s a lion wrapped

in sheep’s clothing. I’m scared of my Mama, and I’m damn near

forty years old.” Cyrus laughed outright.

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“I didn’t mean to cast aspersions on your mother. However, I

will now be casting aspersions on your manhood on a regular basis. I

just didn’t want her worried. I’d hoped we could find Sarah before

she knew she was even gone.” Nate rubbed the back of his neck, but

nothing was going to work out the kinks.

“You’re still not getting it. Mom will be able to help the most.

Nobody knows Sarah better than she does. I was kind of yanking

your chain, but seriously, my mother has every right to know what’s

going on, and she’ll be a big help. So get your ass over to my

parent’s house. They’re expecting you. You did good recognizing my

sister, don’t blow it now by being a horse’s ass.”