Code Name: Kayla's Fire (40 page)

“Appreciate that, but my team’s all she needs.”

When they reached the SEAL boathouse, Team Three Delta squad was
unpacking from an exercise. Their gear lay out, drying off. Air tanks and the
rumpled skins of the wetsuits looking like shriveled men lay on the ground.

“We should bring them in,” Mace suggested.

He parked the car. “All right,” he nodded, “give ’em a quick debrief.”
He walked to the front of the boathouse, and gazed toward the Harbor Patrol
boat. He prayed to God she was on that boat. If she was, Themes was pinned like
a rat, and extraction was something they knew well. Fox appeared by his side. “Master
Chief.”

“Everyone’s ready, sir.”

“Fox, watch the boat. Any movement—”

“Yes, sir.”

He walked into the weathered boathouse and saw the concerned but
prepared expressions on the men’s faces. Mace had already retrieved the fifty
cal sniper rifle from the arms locker. A rabbit didn’t stand a chance at five
hundred meters if Mace took aim. He was the best shot they’d seen in years, and
no one could touch his precision. The snap of the magazine bounced off the
walls.

“Men, Captain Themes is the Blood Shark, and he’s got….” He paused,
clenching his jaw. “He’s got the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with
down in that boat. I want her back, whole and alive.” Team Three, who had watched
over Kayla while they’d deployed, nodded their understanding.

Lieutenant Law spoke out. “We’ve kinda gotten used to that voice from
Base Command. We won’t let ya down, Captain. You want him dark?”

There was no question in that. He wasn’t going to take the chance
Themes would ever see another sunrise or allow Kayla to live under the fear of
him being free one day. “Like fucking night,” he swore.

A few long strides brought him to his locker, and he quickly changed
into a pair of camo pants and a T-shirt, about to close the thin metal door,
his gaze stalled on something. He snatched it from the shelf, and hooked it on
his belt.

Five minutes later the team had situated themselves around the dock.
Mace took his first position. Themes couldn’t be taken out, not until he had
Kayla in his arms.

As always, the most dangerous time for the prisoner was when they
boarded. That’s when things could go wrong. Although on alert, Themes wouldn’t
expect them, thinking he’d gotten away unseen. Extraction was a skill all SEALs
were trained in, but Cobbs, Law, Tinman and Ross were the best. They weren’t
busting in hot. First, they had to be sure she was separated from Themes. It
seemed easy, but he knew fate could throw a wrench into any mission, and this
one was too important to him for any screw-ups.

A group of BUD/S recruits milled on the dock, preparing for a night exercise.
They were used to the team’s comings and goings, and barely gave them notice.
Law was already in the water, making his way to the patrol vessel. Cobbs closed
in from the south, and he made his way from the west finger, keeping a sharp
look out on the boat for any movement. “All comms operational?” Everyone
checked in.

The vessel’s diesels rumbled to life. He darted across the pier, and took
cover behind a piling. Themes appeared on deck.

“Captain, I’ve got a kill shot,” Mace advised.

“Negative.” He squinted. Themes carried something in his hand. He let
go the lines, and then hurried back into the wheelhouse. This was how he’d done
it. The vessel was the kill site, and Themes had been able to remove the
evidence at sea. His presence was as routine as eating lunch. He’d walked among
them as a trusted member. Themes, like his father, had been a Marine.

“I don’t see Kayla,” Mace reported. “Lower deck?”

He’d hide her better than that. He watched as the vessel came off the
dock, and his eyes settled on the bow. “Chain locker,” he said quietly to the
rest of the team. Ross took cover across from him. “Ross.”

“Go ahead, Captain.”

“I want you in that locker.”

“Roger that,” Ross acknowledged. He waited until Themes cranked his
head, and swift as wind, Ross ran, grabbed the towline dangling from the bow,
and shimmied up.

Thane slid down the hull of the vessel tied astern of the Patrol Boat.
Tinman was flat out on his belly behind the winch. When he came abreast of
Tinman, he saw him shake his head.

“I don’t like the looks of this, Captain,” Tinman said. “He’s not
going to wait, he’s going to kill her now.”

“Explain,” he ordered, crouching down.

“I don’t know. He appears too relaxed.”

“It’s because he thinks he’s in the clear.”

Ross lay low, hiding behind a deck locker near the hatch closest to
Kayla, if she was in there. “Stand by, Ross.”

“Roger.”

“Cobbs, I need Themes looking south.”

“Roger, Ghost.” A dark shadow in a wetsuit slid onto the dock and
merged with the milling recruits.

Seconds later the group of BUD/S recruits on the dock began shouting as
if a fight had broken out, and then an illumination flare shot into the air,
followed by two others. Themes whirled around. “Go, Ross.”

The patrol vessel’s prop churned water as she picked up speed departing.
He ran down the dock headed for the rubber boats near the recruits.

“Mace, Tinman, Mark Five. Keep his eyes on you. He’ll think it’s an
exercise.”

As he vaulted into the rubber boat, the recruits watched with widening
eyes. “Is that the SEAL they call the Ghost?” one of them said.

“Shit, that guy is deadly,” another young man holding flippers in
hand, said. “What’s going down?”

Lieutenant Kemp, one of their training officers, stood front and center
of the kid. “That’s Captain Austen, Tolston, you haven’t earned the right to
call him Ghost.”

Mace and Tinman thundered down the dock, and from six feet away,
jumped over the edge and landed in the Mark Five.

He needed low visibility to approach the patrol vessel, and get
onboard before Themes knew what was going on.

With a quarter moon, there wasn’t much light.

Ross reported in. “Captain?”

His heart thudded in his throat while he waited to let Mace and Tinman
get out ahead of him. “Is she there?”

“Captain, I’m in. Kayla’s attached to the anchor chain, if it lets go
she’ll…”

“Get the fucking thing off her,” Mace cut in.

“She’s handcuffed to it.”

“Mace, fast tac in front of the patrol vessel, keep his eyes on you.”

The sound of other craft behind him made him sweep around in his seat
to see at least ten other craft coming at high speed. “What the hell?”

Cobbs’ voice came back in his ear. “No SEAL fights alone. We’ll keep
his eyes front, Ghost.”

Thane watched as the boats filled with recruits, Law’s squad, Cobbs, and
Kemp shot past him arrowing out and around the patrol vessel, as if using her in
an exercise.

It was working, Themes didn’t know where to look, but he maintained
his course out of the bay. While Thane swung wide approaching from port, Tinman
and Mace came in at high speed from starboard. Mace jumped, clung to the stern,
and heaved himself over the edge in one smooth movement. He’d recovered well
from his injuries.

Not more than a minute later, Kayla called Mace’s name when she saw
him.

“It’s okay, Snow White,” Mace assured her.

“She’s free,” Ross piped out.

“Good job,” Mace said, the sound of him moving toward them in the
locker clear in Thane’s earpiece.

“Themes attached something to me. Mace, I think it’s an explosive.”

His blood chilled. Is that what Themes had in his hand, a remote to
set it off?

“Kayla, it’s gonna be all right. We’re gonna get this off you. Captain,
it’s a vest.”

“No, Mace,” her voice cracked with fear. “Get out.”

“You know better than that.” Thane heard the sound of Mace giving her what
sounded like a big kiss. “You need to keep still for me…Kayla…Kayla. Shit, no,
no, no. Kayla!” he said harshly.

“What’s wrong with her?” Ross said.

“Report?” He didn’t need to ask. Kayla was falling into an episode. No
time left. He steered a course straight for the patrol vessel, Themes
concentration centered on the rest of the team as they took turns aiming
straight at him and veering at the last second. He hoped like hell someone
lured Themes into the notion they were exercising on the radio.

Almost there, he cut close to the stern and jumped. He hit the deck
hard, and rolled behind the life raft.

“Listen to me,” Mace pleaded. “You thrash around too much. You can’t
go there. Kayla.”

If Kayla started to thrash, she could set off the device. “Knock her
out, Mace.”

“What? No,” he stormed.

“Mace you can’t talk her out of it. Just get that vest off her.”

“Leave me, Mace. Both of you leave,” Kayla begged in a weak voice.

“Snow White, you’ve beaten this before. The Captain’s coming. I need
you here with us. He needs you, your—son—needs you.”

“My,” her voice stuttered weakly. “My son. His name’s Adam,” she
sounded like she was drifting.

Mace kept on. “You promised me I could be his godfather. You’re not
going to break that promise, are you?”

“Huh,” she said with a sweeping exhale. “Yes. Ohhh, God. No.”

Christ, he was doing it. “Keep talking to her, Mace.”

While Mace talked to her, he had no doubt Ross was trying to get the
device off her. He couldn’t go after Themes until he had. “Come on, Ross,” he
growled.

“Jesus Christ, sir, almost there. Fuck, I need more light, Mace?”

“Kayla, breathe. Damn, she’s strong. She’s almost breaking my
kneecap.”

“Sorry,” Kayla said weakly. “I’m okay.”

“That’s my girl. I don’t need an ass kickin’ from Nina.”

“Are you going to marry her, Mace?”

“Of course I am. She’s drives me as crazy as you do the Captain.”

A little chuckle erupted from her, and she let out a deep breath.

Tense seconds of silence. Too tense. Themes cut the engines. Why? The patrol
vessel began to drift on the swell of the other craft circling. Had he figured
it out?

“Got it, stand clear,” Ross said.

Feet crunched across anchor chain. Thane heard the
clank
of the forward hatch as Ross
scrambled out of it. The vest hit the water with a soft plop. Show time. “Get her
out of there, Mace.” Thane crouched, making his way toward the wheelhouse. “Captain
Themes.”

Themes whirled around, and then steadied himself, reaching for the black
box, clutching it in his right hand. The remote control had two small buttons
and a short antenna attached.

“Kind of late for a patrol.” He stepped through the hatch and stopped.
Themes edged toward the opening beside him.

“Captain Austen, evening, just finished some maintenance on the old
girl. Thought I’d take her for a test run.”

Thane plastered a placid grin on his face. “Think this old vessel will
last another couple of lifetimes the way you take care of her.” He was doing
his damnedest not to kill the guy, never mind keeping the emotion off his face.
“Hope you don’t mind, but we thought we’d take the opportunity to use you for
some training.”

“That’s what Lieutenant Cobbs advised. Don’t mind at all. Boys need
their training. Don’t have any illegals onboard this time,” Themes added with a
gruff laugh.

He turned as if he was going to leave, and then swiveled back. “By the
way, did you hear Ms. Banks disappeared? You remember her? She works in Base
Command. They think the Shark took her. Everyone’s keeping an eye out. You
haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary, have you?”

“That’s terrible news. The Shark never leaves anyone alive,” Themes
said, placing a false look of distress on his features.

“That’s our concern.”

Themes was about as cool as a madman could be. No angst. Void of
conscience. In his own self-inflated glory, he thought he had them fooled. “She
was a nice lady. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for her.”

Every muscle jerked in his body, wanting to lay Themes flat out. The
fucking asshole didn’t even realize what he’d said, but Kayla was not past
tense. “We’d appreciate that.” His heart began to beat hard. “If anything
happens to her, I’ll spend the rest of my days trackin’ him down.”

“Sounds like its more than just business to you,” Themes said,
animosity curling in his voice.

“You could say that, Captain. For her, and for the rest of the women
that psychotic fucking piece of shit murdered.” The sine wave of warning in his
tone hit a deadly resonance.

“Easy, Ghost,” Cobbs warned in his ear. Kayla appeared out of the
forward hatch, and he did his damnedest not to show his relief.

“You know the thing about guys like him—they can’t stop, not until
they come up against someone like me, someone who won’t stop either.”