Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #2 (42 page)

Lexie willed herself to step closer. There was writing on the bottom of the photo, which she didn't recall seeing before. “Shaun?” The effort to raise her voice above a whisper was too much, and the bruises along her throat began to throb from shock. Almost every time Lexie had seen Maria, the young woman had worn her hair in a beautiful long braid. This had to be hers. Someone had cut her hair. But
why
?

Shaun turned her to face him, forcing her attentions away from the photo and threatening knife. To her surprise, Shaun had a hint of a smile on his face. “Breathe, Lexie. I know this is beyond scary, but it's not as bad as it seems.”

Fury rose in her gut. “Not as bad as it seems? What's wrong with you? I'm trying to find a girl who has either run away from home or had something horrible happen to her and now there's a lock of her
hair
on my bedspread—”

Shaun placed gentle hands on her cheeks, commanding focus. “Yes, it's terrible. But think about it this way. If that's Maria's hair? That means she's
on board this ship
.”

Lexie felt the blood drain from her face. She blinked against light-headedness, willing herself to focus on the man in front of her. “That means I can find her.”

“
We
can find her,” Shaun said, emphasizing the first word. “But there are a few things we need to talk about first. I'm going to call security and get them up here to secure the room.”

She nodded, but her attention was drawn back to the photo. With her tears under control, she could now read what had been written at the bottom, in thick red paint. No, not paint. Lexie swallowed against the rising contents of her stomach as she read the two words smeared there: STOP SEARCHING.

“Or what?” Lexie whispered, glancing back at Shaun. “Do you think they'll hurt Maria?”

Shaun's shoulders drooped as he looked from the photo to Lexie. He scratched his chin and sighed in resignation. “No, Lexie. Think about it. Their target is
you
.”

FOUR

L
exie sank into the closest chair, Shaun's deduction ringing in her ears. None of this made sense. Why target
her
? Sure, Lexie had her suspicions about Maria's disappearance, but she'd honestly thought that her parents would have received a ransom note or message by now. The lack of communication from an abductor or kidnapper had only reinforced Maria's parents' belief that their daughter had run away, and Lexie had had to follow clues and an anonymous tip that led her on this trip. But with Lexie's folder disappearing, the email hack and now the lopped-off braid and warning message, the whole thing spoke of something bigger going on. Had there been truth to Shaun's warning, after all?

He'd brought a gun on board, of that much she was certain, but it didn't explain his involvement or the reason why someone would try to scare her off what should be an innocuous retrieval of a mildly rebellious young woman. Or even if it did turn out to be kidnapping, why hadn't anyone asked for money? Lexie swallowed the urge to demand an explanation from Shaun. She'd get answers from him once the security team examined the strange mess on her bunk.

“I think,” she began, striving to keep from staring at either the bunk or where she suspected the gun was tucked on Shaun's belt, “that you have some explaining to do.” Before she could finish her thoughts, heat rushed from her belly to her forehead. A ringing in her ears drowned out Shaun's response. Her lungs seemed to decide that breathing was optional, and beads of sweat broke out along her forehead.

Shaun gripped her shoulders, his face blurry in her compromised vision. “Lexie? Stay with me, Lexie. What's wrong? Are you ill?”

Barely lucid, Lexie waved a limp arm toward the bathroom, hoping Shaun would get the message. He disappeared and returned with a plastic cup of water, which he tilted up to her lips. She drank, grateful for the cooling effect of the liquid, but beyond mortified that she'd lost the strength to hold the cup herself. She squeezed her eyes shut and let the panic attack run its course.

After a few minutes of labored breathing and intense internal waves of heat, Lexie felt well enough to open her eyes again. Shaun knelt in front of her chair, concern etched across his features. “What happened? Should I call a nurse?”

Lexie shook her head and downed the rest of the water. “Panic attack. I'm okay, I'll just feel a little dizzy for a few hours.”

“You're sure you don't need medical attention? I can have one of the nurses down here in minutes.”

Under different circumstances, Lexie might have laughed and explained the details of what a panic attack entailed, but right now she felt more annoyed with her body's bad timing and unpredictable response to stress than anything else. “No nurse needed, all right? This happens once in a while. It's not a condition I can control. It feels like I'm dying for about ten to fifteen minutes and then I'm fine.”

Lexie wished her cabin had an extra room she could disappear into for a few minutes, not only to give her body a break from trying to process the stresses of the day, but also to get away from the clear worry on Shaun's face. His concern made her stomach queasy, mostly because it didn't make sense. How could someone who'd so callously shattered her sister's heart act with such tenderness?

Heat rose in her cheeks as she realized she'd been staring at him. He stared back, refusing to break eye contact. A gasp rose in her throat and she swallowed it down, looking away with effort. No, no, no. Shaun was all wrong for her.

She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the present. Someone had left her a warning, and she needed to know why. “The only reason I can think of for that message,” she said, working it out as she spoke, “would be if Maria isn't simply missing, as her parents believe. Whoever did this means business. They have to know I'm looking for her, which only confirms the worst-case scenario. Shaun, Maria left her prom dress behind. It doesn't make sense.”

“You're suggesting she might have been taken?” Weariness betrayed Shaun's otherwise confident demeanor. “Because you're on the right track, in that case.”

Lexie shot him a sharp look. “You know about this? Let me guess—I should stay out of it and let you handle things.”

Shaun ran his fingers through his hair and leaned against the desk. “I think we're beyond that. In brief, kidnapping isn't far off. The correct term here is likely trafficking, though I don't want to jump the gun just yet.”

Lexie cringed at his choice of words. “Because anything to do with a handgun on Canadian soil would be problematic.”

Shaun squinted at her. “Right.”

Since he didn't rise to the bait, she pounced on the rest of his know-it-all commentary. “And I don't see how trafficking fits into this. We're on a ferry to Newfoundland. Last time I heard about trafficking, it involved moving drugs or weapons across the Pacific.”

“Exactly. Which would make the Atlantic an ideal route for a savvy trafficker with connections and the know-how to get their cargo from point A to B.”

“Cargo? Their drugs?”

Shaun shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “I'm afraid not. It's far worse than that. There are groups around the world who traffic people, Lexie. They kidnap young women and sell them to the highest bidder for work in factories or as domestic help to people who have more money than brains or morals. These girls don't know what they're getting into, and are usually enticed by the promise of a great job in a flashy foreign country. They're offered high salaries and plenty of additional perks, but by the time the girls realize they've been duped, it's far too late.”

Lexie's stomach churned as she tucked her knees up to her chin, wrapping her arms around her legs. “I thought that kind of thing only happened overseas, not here. I've wondered why the girls don't just run away, but I know it's much more complicated than that. It's hard to believe this goes on without the whole world freaking out about it.”

Shaun sighed. “It's a harder problem to solve than it sounds. These people operate covertly, and yes, even here in North America. They're smart. And it's not unusual to drug these young women en route. By the time the girls get to the factory or new home, they're either threatened with bodily harm or their captors threaten to hurt the girls' families if they don't cooperate. So they go along with it, working themselves to the bone, while the factory owners reap excess profits from their cheaply made products.”

It sounded insane, and yet...what other explanation could there be? The world made less sense by the minute. “How do you know all this?” she asked, peering up at him. He looked far too relaxed if what he'd just told her was true.

He pushed away from the desk and crossed the cabin to the emergency phone. “I'm going to call security, all right? They're going to want to deal with this before we make a mess of it.”

Lexie unfurled her legs and stretched, hoping to work out the crick in her lower back from the earlier events of the day. Once security completed their sweep of the room, she and Shaun were going to have a serious talk, whether he liked it or not. He knew far too much to be a simple passenger on board the ship—not to mention the gun she was sure he had hidden in his waistband.

Shaun Lane had a secret, and she intended to figure it out.

* * *

Shaun's heart thudded as he replaced the phone receiver. It had become quite apparent that he needed to bring Lexie in on his case. The woman had a good head on her shoulders, and she wouldn't accept his diversions for long. He had to call his case officer with an update sometime in the next few hours anyway, and he needed to clarify how much he could tell Lexie about his search for the Wolf without leading her into even more danger.

On the other side of the room, Lexie's stare bore holes into his skull. He admired her persistence—and understood her desire for answers perhaps more than anyone else aboard—but safety had to come first. Whoever left the braid and the message knew very well who she searched for, but likely hadn't yet figured out Shaun's purpose here. That put her in the line of fire and left him with the option of sticking by her side for the next twelve hours or so until they docked...not that he'd complain about spending more time around her, but with it came the possibility of being distracted for entirely the wrong reasons.

As he contemplated what to say to ease her raised hackles, crackling came through a speaker in the corner of the room.

“Ship-wide announcement?” Shaun watched as surprise flit across Lexie's visage. She already looked tired. Hopefully this announcement would bring some good news about the noises around the ship.

A pleasant, masculine voice with a heavy Newfoundland accent came over the speaker. “Good evening to all passengers of the
MV Providence
. This is your captain speaking, and on behalf of myself and the crew, we'd like to thank you for choosing Atlantic Voyages for your journey to Argentia this evening. No doubt you've heard quite the ruckus outside, and we'd like to ease your minds. Please rest assured, the ship is in no danger. It's quite natural for ice to form this time of year, though it's atypical for ice to reform this quickly and this thick after a warm spell. As you know, the weather this year has been a mite unpredictable. However, we are not, repeat
not
, going to sink.”

The captain paused, and Shaun regarded Lexie. She'd taken his place leaning against the desk, her arms folded and hands tucked against her sides. An urge to cross the room and rub her shoulders for reassurance tugged at his gut, but she appeared less than welcome to any sort of interfering comfort at the moment.

“What sometimes happens,” the captain continued, “is the ice thickens to the point where the ferry is unable to break through the ice on her own. We're also unable to turn around and return to harbor. But rest assured! An icebreaker from the Canadian Coast Guard is on its way.”

Lexie glanced his direction, met his eyes and looked quickly away. What was she thinking? He'd give more than a penny for her thoughts. He'd pay a whole dollar—what was it they called them in Canada? Loonies?

“So, please sit tight and enjoy the ship's amenities. A special, complimentary evening buffet will be provided by our kitchen staff in about a half hour's time, and we'll provide hot beverages for the remainder of the evening at no cost. Current estimates put us docking into Argentia late tomorrow evening—a slight delay from our original estimated arrival time. We will continue to provide updates as the situation develops.”

The speaker broadcast ended with a click. Shaun didn't even attempt to hide the sigh that welled up, releasing it in a long, drawn-out breath. Having the ferry trapped in ice presented an additional complication, namely that it meant more time in an enclosed vessel with someone who wanted to hurt Lexie. If his suspicions were correct, that someone also happened to be a notorious criminal who had eluded him for the past three years.

This left Shaun with just one option: Find the Wolf and take him into custody before he could hurt Lexie or anyone else. First things first, though. He had a question, the answer to which might provide some insight into the situation.

“The security team should be here in a minute,” he said. “But before they get here, I'm curious. What made you pick this ferry? Specifically, I mean.” He wasn't entirely sure where he was going with this, but his gut told him it might be important.

Lexie raised one eyebrow at him. “If you must know, though I don't think it's any of your business, we received an anonymous tip at Lead Me Home. The tipster saw Maria's photo on our website and called to tell us he saw someone matching her description at the last gas station on the highway before the ferry terminal. Logic followed that she might be headed to Newfoundland, as there isn't really anywhere else to go from here. And the small community of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, isn't the kind of place a person can run to in order to disappear. It's not unusual for us to get tips like this. Folks call in sightings of people we're searching for, or report whispers and rumors. Sometimes finding a person is as simple as a friend knowing where their buddy has gone for the weekend, or an employee at a rehab facility letting us know the person has checked in. This one came in about Maria, so I followed it. I didn't pick this ship for any particular purpose, just got on the road as soon as I could after the tip came in.”

Buzzers went off in Shaun's ears as he listened to Lexie's explanation. As a CIA operative, he relied on leads from anonymous sources on a regular basis, following up on promising tips and using the intel to assist sensitive investigations. The kicker here? He'd undertaken the voyage to Newfoundland for a similar reason, after receiving a tip that possible suspects with ties to the Wolf might be operating out of Argentia. It could be a coincidence, but in his experience, very few happenings in life could truly be chalked up to coincidence.

Had the same anonymous tipster provided intel to the CIA and to Lexie's missing-persons organization? It seemed unlikely and far-fetched, but then again, so did the fact that he'd bumped into Nicola's sister on a ferry to Newfoundland, far from both of their homes.

And even more bizarre? That Lexie might possibly be targeted by the same man he'd been trying to bring down for the past three years.

* * *

Although he stood on the other side of the room, Lexie felt keenly aware of Shaun's presence. His concern for her safety had softened the edges of her anger, though allowing herself to pursue any line of thought regarding why wouldn't serve any purpose. Better that they remained far from each other, especially after the embrace he'd given her when they found the braid and photo on the bunk. They'd fit together too well.

She had to stop thinking about him that way. She wouldn't be the second Reilly sister to have her heart broken and her life shattered by this man. Lexie squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger.