Blind Ambition (8 page)

Dan silently cheered her on.

Troy paled and took a step back. “No, no, I didn’t mean it was okay. I’m sorry. I was just trying to ease your concern.”

She must not have told him she was trying to adopt the girl or he would have known better.

She snorted. “Have you forgotten that Flore needs Albuterol?” Her hands clenched. “Do you really think those gun-toting assholes are taking care of her or the others?” She took a deep shuddering breath.

“I…I’m sorry,” Troy said. The man practically wilted under her disapproval. “I wasn’t thinking.”

Alexa’s expression made it clear she agreed with him, but she visibly calmed herself before speaking again. “You have no idea where the children are being held?”

He shook his head. “They could be anywhere. We reported their abduction to the police, but you know half of those guys are on the SIR payroll. I doubt they’ll make much headway on the case.”

So much for wanting to alleviate Alexa’s fears.

She met Dan’s gaze, her eyes tight with worry. “Flore’s asthma has been acting up. If they take her inhaler and she has an attack…” She covered her stomach.

He nodded, perfectly aware of the dangers.

“Troy,” Alexa said. “Do you know anything useful?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’ll stay in touch with the police and keep you informed.” The guy looked at Dan and then back at her. “I assume you’re planning to go home. You should take a break after your ordeal, but you know you’re welcome at my next assignment.”

Alexa frowned. “I can’t leave yet. I need to find the children.” She turned to Dan. “Will you help me? I already gave you my offer.”

Fuck no, he didn’t want her money, though technically, it was Kurt’s job to negotiate payments. If Dan decided to stay and help her for free, he’d have to take personal leave and do it on his own time.

Troy put his hands on his hips. “Alyssa, do you even know this guy? No offense…” He glanced at Dan. “But I don’t think it’s safe to go—”

“Dan rescued me. And actually,” she said, “I
do
know him. Quite well, in fact. I’m sure that’s why my dad chose him for the job.”

“Oh.” Heat crept up the man’s neck and his eyes darted between the two of them.

Dan could practically see him wondering exactly what “quite well” meant. His gaze clashed with Troy’s.
Exactly what you think it means.

“Dan?” she prompted him. “Will you help me?”

He shouldn’t. He needed to tell her “Hell no,” find a way back to the yacht, get to St. Lucia, and arrive home for a few days’ rest before the wedding.

He needed to put as much distance between himself and Alexa as possible.

Instead, he nodded and said, “Let me call my boss.”

“I’M GOING NEXT DOOR TO see if Jamila needs help cleaning up,” Troy said. He took one last look at Alexa and left the clinic.

She nearly sagged with relief. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, but she didn’t like him trying to step into the protector role. And he was clueless about her fears and frustrations where the children were concerned.

Through the doorway, she could see Dan standing near the front of the clinic, peering out the lone window that overlooked the street. His shoulders were tense and his posture stiff as he spoke on the cell phone Troy had grudgingly loaned him. The rebels had taken hers from her room.

She’d call her dad when he was done, but she had to mentally prep for their talk first.

“I’ll be back by Friday, latest,” Dan said. “See what you can dig up for me.” He listened to the tinny voice she could barely discern from across the room. “Roger that.”

He ended the call and faced her. He wasn’t exceptionally tall—at five-ten he only had a few inches on her—but he seemed to fill the entire space with his masculine presence. She was aware of him on every level. If she looked away from his handsome face, she could still smell his earthy scent, still hear the rustle of his clothing and the thunk of his boots when he moved through the room.
 

“What did Kurt say?” she asked.

“He’s going to research where the rebels might be holding the children. We’ll take it from there.”

“Thank you.” A sliver of hope entered her heart. Maybe with his resources they could actually find the kids. “And the money?”

Dan frowned. “He’ll bill you. Our obligation to your dad ended when I got you back here, though he really wanted you home in Seattle. Even offered a hefty bonus if I could convince you.” His hazel eyes met hers. “Guess he knew something I didn’t.”

“What’s that?” But she knew.

“That you didn’t want to go home.” He studied her face. “Does he know why?”

Which part? “You mean Flore?” At his nod, she said, “No. Not yet.”

“You should call him. He’s been hounding Kurt for news.”

More likely his investigator had been hounding Kurt. Nerves stirred her gut.

“I’ll wait outside,” Dan said, handing her the phone before he stepped to the door. “But be quick. We shouldn’t stay here long.”

As soon as he was gone, she dialed her father’s private line. When he answered, she said, “Dad, it’s me.”

“Good, you’re safe. Are you well enough to travel?”

The lack of emotion in her father’s voice made her eyes burn. “I’m fine. Just bruised and fatigued.”

“Okay. When will you be home?”

She stifled a sigh. And there it was. Not an unreasonable request by normal standards, but one that twisted her up inside, nonetheless. There would be no happy reunion, no loving hugs.

Her brother was hardly around, and her dad had been cold toward her even before her sister’s suicide. Probably since the day her mother died giving birth to her and Despina. Alexa couldn’t imagine how frigid he’d be if he knew the role she’d played in Despina’s depression. This whole rescue was probably nothing more than his way of making sure Palaimon Merchant Lines was never connected to bad news. Shareholder confidence was essential.

“I can’t leave yet.”

“Of course you can.” He sounded impatient. “It’s not safe for you there, Alexa. The rebels know who you are now.”

“I have something I need to do first,” she said. “Then we’ll see.”

“What could be more important than your life?” His voice was strong and hard-edged. “Have you no care for me and Thad? For how much strain we’ve been under the last few days?” He grunted. “Hell, try years. We’ve been worrying about you since you hooked up with that traveling aid group.” He made it sound like she’d joined the circus.

Yeah, worrying that she’d cause a scandal or cost them money.

“Dad—” Her stomach knotted.
Stay strong.
“I will leave St. Isidore, but not yet.” She focused on taking long, deep breaths to ease the tightness building in her shoulders. “There’s a little girl under my care who was kidnapped on Sunday too. I need to find her.”

Her dad sighed. “You can’t save the whole world, Alexa. Leave it for the police and come home.” A static-filled pause followed.

She bit back a retort. He would never understand. “I’ll call you soon,” she said. Then before she could change her mind, she hung up.

For several minutes, she stood in the center of the room, gathering the tattered shreds of her composure. Finally, she opened the door and waved Dan inside.

His eyebrows drew together as he closed the door behind him. “How’d he take it?”

She rubbed her face and took a deep breath. “Not well.” Understatement of the year.

“Did you tell him about Flore?”

“Only that she was missing.” She turned away from his intense look and scanned the room. The rebels had left behind nothing but file cabinets full of charts and the sink attached to the wall. “I’m not ready to tell anyone about the adoption.”

He crossed his arms and held her gaze. “I understand that you want to keep this to yourself, especially now, but I think if you told your dad at least, he might be more understanding about your need to stay.”

“Maybe, but I’m not sure he’d support my bid for Flore, and I don’t want him to interfere with it in any way.”

He cocked his head. “Why would he—”

She waved off his question. “Does it matter? I think we should spend our time figuring out how to find Flore, not bickering over how to handle my father.”

Right before her eyes, his face turned to stone, instantly devoid of all expression. “You’re right,” he said, his voice flat. “I didn’t mean to pry. It’s not my place to tell you how to deal with your family.”

Her chest tightened. She hadn’t meant to be so harsh. “Dan—”

“It’s fine.” He strode back to the window and kept watch. “Until Kurt calls, we don’t have much to go on,” he said, all business now. “But we need to get moving as soon as possible. Frederick’s men could return any time.”

Clearly he was ready to change the subject. She sighed. Her brain was buzzing, trying to figure out where the rebels would take the children.

Dan reached into his bag and crouched to spread a map on the floor. “Do you know anything about black market adoption in St. Isidore?”

“No. I thought after what happened in Haiti, the local government was trying to lock things down. Of course, SIR owns half the government, right?” She thought again of her determination to go through proper channels with Flore. “I was so naive…”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. There’s nothing wrong with trying to do the right thing,” Dan said. “You have to live with your choices at the end of the day.” He stared at a point on the floor beyond the map, his thumb tapping the paper. Was he thinking of his own poor choices, or trying to get in a dig about hers? If it was the latter, he didn’t know the half of it.

“Yes, but in this case, Flore is the one who suffers if I choose wrong.”

He conceded her point with a tip of his head, a frown marring his chiseled features. “Let’s think this through,” he said. “Since St. Isidore’s borders are essentially closed, I assume the prospective parents don’t come here.”

“They probably fly into St. Lucia like you did.”

“Right. Then the children are taken over either by boat or small plane.” He looked at her with his eyebrows raised. “I’m thinking about the airfield we passed. There are several more scattered around the island. I wonder how many of them have security like that, though.”

“You think they’re hiding illegal activity? But wouldn’t that mean the NGOs are in on it?” she asked.

“Not necessarily. The security contractors could be taking money from the NGOs
and
the smugglers.” He rubbed his chin before continuing. “They might not be smuggling kids, but I’d bet they’re up to something there.”

So they had to look for private runways that could be used to smuggle children out on small aircraft. “But if they go by boat, they could come and go from almost anywhere. The more remote, the better.”

He frowned. “Yeah. Pretty much impossible to figure out without a lot of manpower that we don’t have.”

Her sense of optimism deflated. What were they doing? She had no clue where to begin trying to find Flore and the others. Looking for those children on this island would be like trying to find grains of salt among the sand.

Hopeless.

Dan stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t reach for Alexa’s hand when her shoulders sagged. He could sense the despair settling over her like a fog. “Hey, we’ll figure something out.”

She released a long sigh and nodded, her eyes downcast.

Fuck it.
He pulled her into his arms and held her. There was only so much a person could take. Despite the way she’d hurt him, she didn’t deserve this. No one did.

She relaxed into his embrace, her trembling easing, even as he kept himself alert. He stifled a groan as she clung to him and his body warmed.

Reluctantly, he put gentle pressure on her shoulders and she straightened, looking up at him. Her sea-blue eyes held him hostage as desire speared through him. If he closed the gap a few inches, he could taste her sweet lips again…

Idiot.
He released her and stepped back so fast she nearly lost her balance. “We should…”

“Yeah.” She blinked and then nodded, straightening her shirt.

Crouching, he eyeballed the map for the locations he’d choose if he were planning to smuggle people or things off the island. And then, thank you Jesus, the borrowed cell phone rang. “Hey, Man of Steele, whatcha got for me?”

Kurt ignored the nickname they’d been using for him since long before he had bionic legs. “I tracked down some detail on the runways,” he said. “The one the NGOs use near Terre Verte is owned by Vent et Mer Enterprises. They rent out use of the airstrip and provide the security. The one down south is owned by actor Brandon Marlowe, strictly private, though not monitored as far as I can tell. The airfield a couple miles northeast of you is part of the Bent Palms Resort. The company that used to own it went belly up, so it belongs to a bank in the Bahamas right now.”

But if they planned to smuggle the kids out by boat, he and Alexa were screwed. A boat could leave from just about anywhere on the island, especially if it were headed for a yacht anchored offshore the way Dan’s was right now. At least he hoped it was still there and hadn’t been stolen by pirates or rebels.

Luxury vessels weren’t common around the island. Anyone with money had gotten the hell out of Dodge before the hurricane hit. They needed to focus on fishing boats. Nobody would think twice about seeing a trawler leave port.

The five main fishing villages that still had working boats were up north on the Caribbean side—the western coast—like Terre Verte. That part of the island had been the least damaged by the storm, but it was also where the majority of the population lived. Flatter terrain meant more plantations, resorts, and cities, which meant more jobs.

Dan circled the villages on his map. “Any word on the history of black market adoption here?”

“So far nothing.” Kurt sighed. “There are no registered adoptions from St. Isidore by Americans in the last year. The children could have been listed as coming from St. Lucia or Barbados or even Haiti, though. The adopting couples might not realize it’s a scam if they’re getting babies or young children who don’t speak much yet. My contact at Immigration hasn’t heard about any problems in St. Iz. I also talked to a guy at the embassy in Barbados and he said the same thing.”