Caribbean Heat (7 page)

How could he have not noticed they had the same backpack? Because it wasn’t a local school he didn’t think there could be two backpacks with the same North Dakota logo on the boat. Jack had been too busy trying to get his dick wet to see things clearly, to get the whole picture. It wasn’t Sierra that was transporting drugs. It was Crystal. That fact made him so damn happy, and pissed off at his own stupidity at the same time.

“Let’s see if we can join her for lunch.” Jack was more aggressive with his approach than he intended, but he still had a job to do. Crystal was involved in some serious drug running and more than likely had ties to the men near the top of the organization. This had the potential to be a big deal in the war against drugs and a big deal for Blake.

“Sure.” Sierra smiled and waved down Crystal. “Mind if we join you for lunch?” She had quickly gone from suspect to part of the sting and didn’t have a clue.

Jack felt a little bit guilty keeping her in the dark but he had to act fast and he didn’t know the extent of their relationship, didn’t know if Sierra would tip off her friend if she knew Jack was doing surveillance on Crystal. Probably not, but he didn’t have the time for explanations right now anyway. He didn’t have the luxury to take that risk.

“Yeah. That’s fine.” Crystal looked apprehensive about them joining her. It was a definite sign of guilt.

Jack’s blood pumped a little faster. He knew he was onto something now. He could feel it.

They walked down the beach for almost a mile when they came upon a run-down bar called The Island. This was The Island? Blake and his team thought it was an actual piece of land, a secret island surrounded by water for protection. He’d had Jack searching for an island somewhere near here and all the time it was a bar right under his nose.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or be pissed about all the wasted time and energy.

Crystal set her bag on the floor at the end of the bar and slid onto the barstool closest to it. “Have either of you been to this place?” Crystal asked in a casual voice, but Jack wasn’t falling for it. She wasn’t even close to a good actress.

“No. What’s good here?” He played along with her scheme anyway. He didn’t want her to chicken out and run out of the bar before the pickup was made.

“The Caribbean jerk chicken is excellent.” Crystal leafed through the menu nervously.

They all three ordered the chicken and Jack ordered a beer, but sipped on it slowly. Right now wasn’t the time to have his senses dulled. He had a job to do and Sierra’s name to clear.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw one of the waiters reach down and grab the backpack on his way into the kitchen. A few minutes later the boy returned it, stuffed full and zipped up tight.

Jack had seen all he needed to. He could pick out the waiter involved for Blake and was damn happy to have proof that it was Crystal doing the running and not Sierra. She seemed pretty much oblivious to the whole situation and a surge of relief flooded through him. He could still have her and without the guilt. Without most of the guilt anyway. He definitely had a few things to clear up with her.

They finished up their food and drinks and Crystal hefted the now very full pack onto her back before they started back to the yacht.

Jack didn’t say anything about the obvious changes in the backpack and Crystal pretended there was nothing wrong. He saw Sierra look strangely at her friend once but she didn’t say anything either.

They walked about fifty yards down the sand of the desolate beach when out of nowhere, four masked men with guns rushed out of the trees. They were on them before Jack had the chance to react. His body was stiff, ready to fight, his heart pounded hard.

Jack had a gun but it was in the bottom of his bag because he thought he had to keep it hidden from Sierra and there was no place on his body that was safe. He didn’t think he needed to prepare for anything like this, let his guard down. Shit.

“No,” Crystal half screamed, half sobbed.

She had to know her backpack was the reason these men were here. Jack knew it too. They were heavily armed and on a mission.

“What the hell?” Sierra didn’t scream but the terror was obvious on her face. Her eyes were huge as she stared at the men and then back at Jack.

One of the men cupped his hand around Crystal’s mouth to keep her from screaming again and dragged her away from the beach. She didn’t fight as he pulled her into the seclusion of overgrown brush and trees. He stopped in an unmaintained yard where a lonely, run-down house sat just off the sand. It was probably better that she didn’t fight. She didn’t have a chance against the man.

“Go, go, go.” The other three men aimed their guns at Jack and Sierra and herded them in the same direction.

Jack couldn’t get to his own gun without risking getting them all shot. He had to wait for the right opportunity, the right moment to strike back, and hope like hell that that moment presented itself soon. He couldn’t let Sierra get hurt. Not after he had led her into this. It was all his fault. He’d tried to be the hero and instead he’d put the girl he had fallen in love with in danger. Love. Hell it was true, had to be the reason behind his dumb-ass decisions lately.

And this was one shitty time to realize it.

Chapter Seven

“Which girl is it, man?” One of the bandana-wearing, gun-wielding bad guys yelled at the others in a heavy island accent as he pressed his gun into Sierra’s back.

Holy shit. Was this really happening? Adrenaline coursed through her veins. It was the only thing that kept her knees from shaking, kept her from going into a full-blown panic attack.

Crystal’s muffled cries caused another shiver of fear to run down Sierra’s spine.

The men wore black bandanas over their faces and looked pretty damn scary with scraggly dark hair, dark skin, and serious eyes. The guns they pointed at them made it obvious they meant business.

Were they here to kidnap them, hold them for ransom? She knew that foreign travel had its dangers but the reality of it was a hell of a lot scarier than seeing reports on the news.

Sierra held her breath, too afraid to move, hoping Jack would find a way out of this for them. If she had to be caught in this situation with anyone, she couldn’t do any better than a Navy SEAL. But there were four of them against one and they were all heavily armed. She was pretty sure he didn’t have a weapon.

“I don’t know. Search them both.” The man moved his gun from Sierra’s back, grabbed her backpack and started digging through it.

“It’s not in this—”

The guy’s voice was cut off as Jack’s fist lashed out and connected with the back of the man’s head. Jack grabbed the gun and shot the other three, two shots in rapid succession into each of the men. Blood spurted everywhere and the bodies slumped to the ground.

The revolver clicked empty as he aimed it at its owner's face, so Jack swung it like a hammer, connecting with a sickening thud against the guy’s cheekbone. Bandana man stumbled to the ground, but quickly regained his footing. He came up swinging wildly with huge, mallet-sized hands.

Oh God. Sierra flinched as the man connected a fist to Jack’s gut. Her own stomach tied itself into one big damn knot.

A massive fist smashed into Jack's nose, spraying blood onto the powdery white sand. Jack blocked a follow-up punch with his left hand and smoked the guy hard in the gut. As he doubled over in pain Jack brought his knee up, connecting with a sharp crack against the man’s forehead. The thug stumbled backward and tripped over one of his dead friends. Jack started after him but stopped cold as he saw the man grab one of his dead buddies’ pistols and aim it right at Jack.

Holy shit. Sierra held her breath. This couldn’t really be happening. Crystal sat in the sand a few feet away from Sierra, frozen, sobbing quietly.

Jack put his hands in the air.

“Why you gotta be a hero, man?” the guy gasped as he tried to regain his wind from the fight. “Now you gonna
die.”

No! No! No!
Sierra wanted to scream. Something kicked in—a survival instinct that made her move, forced her to do something. She bent down to grab one of the other guns that had landed near her feet, keeping her eyes on the man as she moved slowly. Luckily his back was to her and he didn’t notice. All his focus was on Jack.

Sierra sure as hell wasn’t going to let this man kill Jack. Not without a fight. She grasped the cold steel, swung it toward the islander’s back, and held the pistol steady.

Sierra pulled the trigger and the boom from the shot rang in her ears. She fired again, not letting herself even blink until she saw that the threat was over. Bandana man looked over at her with a shocked expression as he fell onto the sand. She could see in his huge eyes that he knew he was dying. It was the creepiest thing she had ever seen, ever felt.

Jack moved over to kick the gun away from the man’s hand and stared at Sierra. He nodded, sending her the signal that what she did was right. It didn’t feel right. Not even a little bit.

Her knees started to shake and tears threatened.
Oh God. What had she just done?
Sierra shook her head and dropped the gun onto the sand, not wanting to believe the past few minutes really just happened. But the proof was right there. She’d shot a man, killed him. There wasn’t much choice in the matter, it was either kill or be killed. But knowing that didn’t make it feel much better. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see through the tears in her eyes.

Jack pulled Sierra against him and squeezed her tight, giving her the strength she needed to not fall to the sand sobbing. “It’s okay. You did what you had to do. You saved my life. You saved all of our lives.”

Jack bent down and picked up the gun he had used and threw it into his beach bag. He motioned for Sierra to do the same. “Put that gun in my bag and let’s get the hell out of here.”

They started jogging down the sand, Jack’s strong arm wrapped around her waist, pulling Sierra along. He kept glancing backward to make sure Crystal didn’t freeze again, that she was following, getting away from the dead men, from the trouble. She couldn’t completely break down, not yet. They weren’t safe here.

“Shouldn’t we…shouldn’t we call the police or something?” Sierra asked.

“We’re in a country where the drug lords have more power than the police and most of the force is corrupt. Calling the cops is not a good idea if you value your freedom at all. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. We did what we had to do, acted in self-defense but a corrupt justice system might not see it that way. We sure wouldn’t be safe while we were here. Our best hope is to get on the boat, get the hell out of here and never come back again.”

It made sense and Jack would know more about the politics and dangers of this country than a girl who stepped out of her own country for the first time just a couple days ago. He knew the rules of war, the risks of battle, even a battle that was unplanned.

She, Crystal and Jack made their way down the beach, into the town and back onto the boat without raising any suspicion. A nervous knot sat in the pit of Sierra’s stomach the whole time. She hoped like hell Jack was right, they wouldn’t get caught and that friends of the dead men wouldn’t come after them.

The boat was scheduled to go back to Miami this afternoon. If good luck was on their side, the owners would come back early today. But good luck didn’t seem like a likely companion after what had happened so far.

They climbed onboard and only then did Sierra feel comfortable asking, “What do you think that was all about?” She wrung her hands together nervously.

“I’m not real sure,” Jack answered, but the way he said it made Sierra believe he knew more than he was letting on. Did it have something to do with the papers and maps in the control room? Was he running some sort of secret operation and not telling her? It wasn’t right, wasn’t fair of him to put her life in danger if that was the case.

“I see Doug and Alexis coming down the docks. You girls go get changed and ready for departure. We’ll talk about this and come up with a plan when we get back to Miami when everyone else is off the boat.” Jack’s voice was firm and she didn’t even consider going against it. He was the best person to make the decisions in this situation.

The girls disappeared below deck and Jack went to his room to wipe the blood off his face and change his shirt. He moved fast and went up top in time to greet the owners. More importantly he needed to get the boat ready for departure. Get the hell out of there before anything else happened.

“Welcome back.” Jack held the tension from his voice as he greeted Doug and Alexis and hoped like hell they wouldn’t throw any surprises into his plan.

“Thank you, Jack. We had a wonderful lunch with friends on the island.” Alexis wobbled a little as she made her way onto the boat. She stopped, looked at him funny, probably at the redness and swelling of his nose that he couldn’t hide. “Are you okay?” Alexis asked.

“I’m fine, just had a rope get away from me and smack me in the face. No serious damage. It will just be a couple minutes and we’ll be on our way back to Miami.” He held his breath, hoping they didn’t decide to change destinations or extend their stay here for any reason.

“Sounds good.”

Doug walked over to the bar as Sierra and Crystal came up from downstairs looking ready to serve in their navy blue shorts and white tank tops.

They were smiling and talking and pulling off the act that nothing had happened on the beach just a few minutes ago pretty damn well. And that’s the way it needed to stay until they got to Miami. Jack studied the crowds as the boys untied the boat. He’d put a holster and gun on to be prepared if anything did happen but nobody suspicious came their direction.

A few minutes later he let out a long breath of relief as he steered the yacht out into the safety of the open sea and away from this damn island of trouble.

As soon as he got the yacht set on a direct course to Miami, Jack grabbed his cell phone and called Blake. “We’ve run into some trouble. Someone tried to steal the drugs from Crystal. Probably a competing gang.”

“You mean tried to steal them from Sierra?” Blake corrected.

“No, I mean Crystal. They have matching bags. I don’t know how I missed it but it was Crystal all along.” Jack blew out a sharp breath, hating to have to admit his dumb ass mistake. “Anyway, we got attacked by four men. They’re all dead now. Meet us at the marina in Miami in a couple hours. I’ll keep the girls on the boat until you get here.”

“Sounds good. I’ll meet you there.”

Jack pressed the end button. Damn, he didn’t need this trouble. Hopefully it would all blow over, the authorities on the island would blame the deaths on gang wars or a drug cartel turf battle and no one would have any idea of their involvement. At least, he hadn’t seen any witnesses but that didn’t necessarily mean there weren’t any. He and Crystal and Sierra were not in the clear yet.

Two hours later, Jack pulled the yacht into its slip in the marina. He spotted Blake on the dock looking deceivingly nonchalant in worn-out jeans and a t-shirt. He leaned against a post, newspaper in hand as he watched and waited for Doug and Alexis to get off the boat.

As soon as they were out of sight and the cook and the dock boy disembarked, Jack signaled for Blake to come aboard.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Blake hugged Jack and patted him solidly on the back. “The girls are downstairs?”

“Yeah. Follow me.” Jack led him to the girls’ room. Sierra was packing clothes into a bag while Crystal sat staring out the window nervously. She had good reason for being nervous.

Both girls turned their heads toward the door when he and Blake walked in. “Crystal, Sierra, this is my friend Blake. He’s with the DEA.”

Sierra stopped folding clothes and spun around on one heel to fully face them. “DEA? What is this all about?”

He wasn’t sure of her complete innocence until this moment, but the look on her face, the shock when he mentioned the DEA made it perfectly clear that she had no idea what was going on.

“Sierra is the only one who doesn’t know, you can choose to let her in on the conversation or not, Crystal.” Jack knew he was going to have to give Sierra some sort of explanation if Crystal didn’t choose to tell her.

“She can stay and hear the story. She almost got killed today because of it.” Crystal swallowed hard and clasped her hands tightly in her lap. “She deserves to know what’s going on.” Crystal looked directly at Sierra. “I’m so sorry.”

Jack was glad to hear Crystal say it. He didn’t want to keep any more secrets from Sierra but he didn’t have the right to divulge Crystal’s entire story either.

“Go ahead and start from the beginning.” Blake stood, feet at shoulder width and hands on his hips, staring down at Crystal and looking damn intimidating as he prompted her confession.

“A few months ago my mom got sick and asked me to help her with her job. She needed to deliver a package to a restaurant in downtown Miami. I didn’t think much of it at the time but then she asked me to do it again for her the next day. A similar package to a different restaurant but this time I looked inside and saw it was a white powder, coke or crack—some drug. I didn’t know what to do, so I made the delivery. I just wanted to get rid of the stuff. Then I confronted my mom about it, said I wasn’t going to be doing any more of her deliveries.”

Crystal took a long breath, looked from person to person, everyone staring intently at her, waiting for the rest of the story.

“I grew up in a pretty shitty environment but I’m trying to live a respectable life. Anyway, I came back to her house the next night. A man had come over and beat the crap out of her because she hadn’t done her job. They threatened to kill her and from the look of things they were serious. So every couple days I picked up a package at her house and delivered it to wherever she told me because she was too sick to go out and do it herself.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police?” It was the obvious question in Jack’s mind. There was always a way out, always someone who could help a person to do the right thing.

“Ha.” She shook her head. “He was the police. The guy bringing the packages was the same guy my mom used to screw for drugs when I was a little girl. In the old days he’d give her stuff he confiscated in exchange for sex. And he wasn’t the only one. The men running the drug-running operation somehow found me a job on this boat so I could play a bigger part in the smuggling. I didn’t want to but he beat up my mom again and threw her in jail on some trumped-up charges. I had no choice but to do what they wanted, to go along with it until I found a way out.” She sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I know my mom isn’t the perfect citizen, she’s had a lot of trouble in her life but she raised me the best she knew how and I love her. I couldn’t let anything happen.”