SocialPreyAllRomance (21 page)

Kiley shook her head. “I doubt it. They’ll be here.”

They were silent—waiting, listening. Footsteps moved down the hall and all three of
them tensed as they came to a stop just outside the door.

“Kiley?” Keith said as he rapped softly at the door. “It’s Keith, open up.”

Kiley’s shoulders sagged in relief. She jumped up and rushed over to open the door.
The second her brother walked in he glanced briefly at Kiley before turning his concerned
gaze to Paula.

“It’s over,” he said. “The men are in the custody of the D.E.A. They would like to
speak to Lisa for a few minutes, but then we can go home. Kiley, if you’ll run Lisa
downstairs and meet up with Scott? The agents are with him.”

With a nod, Kiley waved her hand for Lisa to follow her and they headed quickly downstairs.

Keith watched Paula draw in a deep breath, then let it out slow. “Is it really over?”
she asked.

“You didn’t get them all.”

Keith shut the door and moved to sit next to her on the bed. “We got two of the big
players as well as enough drugs to send them away for a very long time. Now, we just
have to get them to talk to get the others.”

“What do you think are the odds of that?”

Keith snorted. “Limited at best. But we’ve probably stopped this operation, at least.
The ones that are left will move and start trafficking through another location. Unfortunately,
it’s hard to wipe them out completely. Especially when they’re this big.”

He took her cold fingers in his and gave them a squeeze. Staring into her eyes, he
lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of her fingers. The move was meant
to reassure her but the spark of heat that appeared briefly in her eyes made his cock
tighten.

“We should probably head back to the plane,” she whispered.

Keith nodded in agreement. At least she was keeping a cool head. Right now all he
could think about was making use of the bed they were currently sitting on.

Her eyes lowered, and she stared somewhat sadly toward the floor. He let go of her
hand and brushed her hair back off her face. Putting his finger under her chin, he
lifted it, forcing her to meet his gaze. “You okay?”

“I’m okay. Just…disappointed, I think. I was hoping to get more of them.”

He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “It’s not over. We may yet.”

“Do you think the ones that are left will retaliate?”

“No, too dangerous for them. They’ll regroup, but retaliation means leaving their
home base.”

He smiled and chucked her under the chin. “Come on, beautiful. It’s time to enjoy
that celebration you wanted.”

Paula smiled and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He wanted so badly to kiss her
but also knew if he did, he wouldn’t stop with just a kiss. There was something about
her that made him crazy—made him think of things he’d thought were out of his reach
as a mercenary. Would she be okay with his job? Would she accept what he did? Or would
she start making demands and insisting he quit the one thing he loved doing?

“What was that frown for?” she asked.

“I was just thinking,” he murmured.

She tilted her head and studied him with that adorably inquisitive way she had. “About
what?”

Keith opened his mouth to tell her what he was thinking, that he wanted to explore
a possible future with her, but gunfire made both him and Paula stiffen.

“Was that gunshots?” Paula asked with alarm.

His radio beeped, then John’s voice boomed through, “Keith!”

He quickly pulled it from the clip on his belt and hit the talk button. “Please tell
me that’s not coming from our group.”

“We have a problem.”

* * * *

Kiley strolled out the front door with Lisa, leading her quickly to where Scott stood
with two other D.E.A. Agents. Scott was dressed in gray camo-pants and a gray t-shirt.
The bottom of his pants were tucked into black boots and around his shoulder was a
harness for his pistol.

The pants outlined his firm, rounded ass making Kiley’s heart flutter as she moved
closer. Even the way his t-shirt clung to his wide shoulders made her heart do little
flip-flops of excitement.

She didn’t see him dressed like that often, but when he did, it never failed to make
her whole body tingle.

As they approached, Scott turned to face her and smiled. “Hey, baby.”

Kiley smiled in returned and pulled Lisa up to stand next to her.

“Lisa,” Scott began. “This is agents Baron and Perez. They’re going to take you back
to the states with them so you can answer some questions.”

Lisa nodded warily.

Agent Baron walked up and extended his hand. “Hi, Lisa. You can call me Shawn.”

His warm brown eyes seemed to put Lisa at ease, and she reached out to take his hand.
“Hi, Shawn,” she replied softly.

“We’ve already gotten all your things from your room, so if you’ll just come with
us, we can head home.”

Lisa nodded and started to walk away, but turned to quickly engulf Kiley in a hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Pulling away, she smiled shyly. “I know I didn’t quite
believe you at first, but I’m glad you stuck to your guns and kept at me. If you hadn’t,
I probably wouldn’t be as lucky as your friend, Paula.”

Kiley patted her upper arms. “I’m just glad we were able to get you in time. You still
have my contact information, right?”

Lisa nodded.

“Good. If you need me for anything, just call. Okay?”

“I will.”

Kiley waved to them as they climbed into the oversized sedan and headed out of the
parking lot of the hotel.

“You think she’ll be okay?” Kiley asked.

“Oh, yeah. She’ll be fine,” Scott replied. He grinned and pointed over his shoulder.
“There’s a coffee shop just next door. Want any?”

“Seriously?” She put her hand over her heart. “If you get me a cup I would love you
forever.”

Scott chuckled as he walked backward toward the coffee shop. “I would hope you would
love me forever anyway, but it’s nice to know you’re such an easy bribe.”

Kiley giggled as she watched him turn his back and head quickly toward the coffee
shop. She waited for a couple of minutes, watching the way the shirt clung to his
back, the way the sun highlighted the hint of gray in his hair. She was so lucky.

That was her last thought before someone grabbed her roughly from behind and clamped
their hand down hard over her mouth. Squealing behind the hold, Kiley began to kick
and stomp, anything and everything to try and break the hold. Unfortunately, whoever
held her had too tight a grip.

Scott turned to look back at Kiley. His eyes widened and he reached for his gun. “Kiley!”
he shouted.

Before he could get his gun up, three shots rang out from behind her. It looked as
though two hit him. He fell back on the concrete, motionless. Vomit rolled through
her stomach as she watched the love of her life fall to the ground, lifeless.

Turning her head, she finally broke free of the hand over her mouth. “No! Scott!”
She screamed.

The man behind her shoved her roughly into the back of a black SUV just as gunfire
rang out around them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw John and Mike firing back.
Two of the men kidnapping her were hit. The one outside fell to the ground, blood
pooling around his head.

The man behind her was hit as well. He grunted in pain as he slumped slightly against
her. She sobbed as she shoved at his heavy body.

The SUV moved quickly forward, its tires squealing as it sped down the road. The man
to her left reached over her and grabbed the door, pulling it closed.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Shut up,” he snarled.

Reaching into her back pocket, he grabbed her phone. “Where were you hit, Carl?” the
man asked.

The one who had shoved her into the car, Carl, sat up slowly. “The side,” he snarled.
“Juan dead?”

“Most likely.”

Kiley struggled to keep the tears at bay as she watched the man who’d kidnapped her
scroll through the numbers on her phone. He was looking for something. Or someone.

How could she get out of here? Did she even stand a chance? And if Scott was dead,
did she even care?

A single tear slipped down her cheek.

“Awe, don’t cry, little one,” the man said as he wiped the tear from her cheek.

She jerked her face away in disgust. He gripped her chin harshly, forcing her to look
at him.

“An eye for an eye,” he snarled. “He took my men, my drugs. Now, I take you.”

* * * *

Keith met John and Mike in the lobby. Scott sagged between them, blood covering his
left side and shoulder. His heart stopped as he glanced around the lobby for Kiley.

“What the hell happened?” he asked. “Where’s my sister?”

“Let’s get him up to the room so I can see the damage,” John replied.

Keith ground his teeth as he followed them into the elevator. “Where the hell is Kiley?”

“They got her,” Scott snarled.

“What?” Keith bellowed.

“My guess is we’ll be getting a call shortly,” John said, his tone dark and angry.

Did she have her phone with her? Had she been hurt? Would her mouth get her killed?

Please, Kiley. Keep that smart mouth of yours shut.

They stepped off the elevator and into the room where Paula waited. She turned from
her pacing, her eyes wide as they landed on Scott.

“Oh my, God. What happened?” she asked as she moved out of John’s way.

John and Mike set Scott on the foot of the bed. “Paula, get me that bag over by the
chair,” John commanded.

Paula rushed to do his bidding. Someone knocked at the door and Keith turned to open
it.

Three of the D.E.A agents they’d worked with earlier stalked into the room.

“What the hell happened down there?” one of them demanded.

“That’s what I want to know,” Keith replied.

“It was my fault,” Scott said softly. “I was headed to the coffee shop. I shouldn’t
have left her there. I thought this was over.”

“Don’t do this,” John said as he helped Scott out of his shirt.

Scott winced at the bullet hole in his shoulder and the scrape along his ribs where
another bullet had just missed its mark.

“I saw them pull up from the lobby. They were lying in wait,” John said. “They must’ve
seen the whole thing earlier when Scott took the drug guys down to the waiting agents.”

“When they saw me talking with Kiley, they probably thought she was their chance at
an exchange.”

“Trade Kiley?” Paula shouted. “Was Kiley taken?”

“Hell no, we’re not trading,” one of the agents said.

Scott scowled angrily. “Fuck you!”

John pressed at his shoulder and collarbone. Scott cursed loudly at the obvious pain
the movement caused. Fresh blood oozed from the hole and down his chest.

“It went straight through. No broken bones,” John said. “We need to wrap it though
before you bleed all over the bed.”

Scott nodded, but his scowl of pain remained. “We need to get Kiley.”

“We need to wait for them to call,” one of the agents said.

Keith shook his head as he prepared to argue with the agent. He’d go against them
if he had to.

No way would he let them take control of this. Not when his sister was involved. She
was the only family he had left. He couldn’t lose her.

His phone beeped, and he pulled it from his pocket, anxiously. “Speaking of,” he said
as he hit the talk button and lifted the phone to his ear. Not waiting for them to
say something, he spoke first, “If you hurt my sister, I’ll cut your fucking head
off.”

The man chuckled. “Be hard to do when you can’t find me.”

“Wanna bet?” Keith growled.

“I want my men, American. I want my drugs. You will bring them to me if you want to
see your sister alive again. You have two hours. I’ll call again with the location.”

The man hung up quickly. It was possible he was expecting the call to be traced. Keith
didn’t have to trace it. The GPS embedded in Kiley’s phone would lead them right to
her.

Chapter Twenty-nine

“I’m going with you,” Scott growled as John wrapped his shoulder.

There was no way he was going to sit here while they rescued Kiley. If anything happened
to her, he would never forgive himself. He knew better than to let her come. They
never let her come on these missions. He’d let the fact he didn’t want to be away
from her rule his better judgment.

“No way in hell, Scott,” Keith snapped. “You’re injured.”

John secured the wrapping, and Keith stood up. Pain sliced through his torso, and
he wobbled slightly before righting himself and staring angrily at his friend. “I’m
going with you. You’re not leaving me here, Keith. No way.”

“I can give him just enough meds to knock the edge off,” John offered, then lowered
his voice as he continued. “You would do the same and you know it. We all would.”

Keith nodded in agreement. Scott turned to look at John. “Give me a shot and let’s
go.”

John shot the medicine in the upper part of his good arm. The sting was nothing compared
to the burning in his shoulder and side. Seconds later the pain ebbed, leaving him
just a bit foggy and more than a little drunk.

Damn.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to clear the fog from his mind. Opening them, he watched
as Keith walked over to Paula. He grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.

“I’ll get her back,” he said.

Paula nodded, but licked her lips nervously. It appeared as though she wanted to say
something, but the crowd in the room probably held her back.

“John, do we have a clean shirt handy?” Keith asked.

“Here,” Mike said as he removed his camouflage over shirt, leaving him in just his
black t-shirt.

Scott took the shirt and gingerly slid his arms through the sleeves. “Thanks, man.”

Mike nodded. “I’ll get Paula back to the plane and have her ready to go the second
you get back.”

“Good,” Keith replied. “I have a feeling we’re going to need a quick exit.”