Liaising Kai

Chapter 8

Davis rummaged aroundinside the boat but didn’t find what he was looking for, namely Eduardo’s phone. But he did find something that seemed out of place on a fishing boat. Rose petals, different colored ones. Had the man been romancing another fisherman? That also seemed odd. Out at sea?

He looked up to see Sargeant Dario Loor approaching on foot, and Davis frowned. What was he doing here? “Guys, we have company,” Davis said to Kelly and Shaw. They glanced in Dario’s direction but continued to search, unconcerned about the police officer.

“We got a tip that you found Eduardo’s boat. I thought after everything that happened with Roberto and Cesar I could help in some way.” He dropped his gaze, looking quite contrite.

“I think we’ve got it covered,” Davis said, wondering where Kai had gone. He suddenly realized she wasn’t on the boat. He looked toward the foliage, then back at Dario.

“Are you sure?” Dario approached the boat and something about the man’s casual demeanor and his sudden appearance without advance notice made Davis wary. His hand gravitated toward his gun, but his intuition was just a tad too slow. Dario pulled his gun and shot Kelly and Shaw. His contrite expression turned smug.

“You son-of-a-bitch.” It had been Dario all along who had been corrupted. “You killed Roberto and framed Cesar for his death. Cesar was onto you, wasn’t he?”

“He was a wily bastard, one good cop, but I found that being a good cop wasn’t enough. I have other ambitions. Drop the guns over the side.”

Davis pulled his weapon, then gathered up Shaw and Kelly’s, then released all three weapons into the water.

He waved the gun toward the brush. “Off the boat.” He roughly zip-tied Davis’s hands behind his back. Then he looked around. “Where’s the lovely Kai?”

Paralyzed by the sickening sensation sweeping through him, he calculated the odds of grabbing the man’s gun, his heart pounding from adrenaline and his fear for Kai. “She’s back at the hotel,” he lied easily, his voice flat. He stared at Dario for a second longer, disgusted with his inability to see through the man’s innocent mask.

Dario scoffed. “Sure. The way you look at her, the way she takes charge. Uh-huh. Not buying it. That’s not the kind of woman you leave behind. She’s here.” He shoved Davis forward on the path. “Supervisory Special Agent Talbot!” Dario shouted. “If I don’t see you in the next minute, with your hands up, your boyfriend is going to meet up with a bullet.”

“Kai, run!” Davis shouted. Hoping at least she would be spared being murdered in the middle of nowhere. Dario hit Davis in the back of the head and for a moment, he saw stars as the blow sent him stumbling forward, but he remained upright. That’s when he spied the bright red shirt and Eduardo’s corpse. This is what caught her attention, and why she wasn’t on the boat. He held out hope that she was long gone. Running for safety. There was nothing she could do for him. He was a dead man. Nothing but silence met Dario’s ultimatum.

“I guess she doesn’t care for you as much as you think she does.” He shouted again, “One more chance, agent.”

“Okay,” Kai said from his right, and his head whipped around to her, his stomach knotting in dread.

“Kai—”

“Thank you for joining us,” Dario said coldly. “Take out your weapon and throw it to me.” She kept her eyes on him, pulled out her Glock, and tossed the gun to him. He kicked it away. “Now, come here. Both of you on your knees.” Davis shot him a hard look, his eyes narrowed, and Dario took a step back, swallowing hard. He pointed the gun at Kai. “I said get to your knees!” His tone was all bravado now. He knew if Davis got one chance, Dario was a dead man.

Davis lifted his chin, but by this time, Kai was close to him. She set her hand on his arm. “Do as he says, Davis. He’s not here to kill us. Are you, Dario?”

“No, that’s not my job. I was sent to detain you.” He stared at Kai. “I tried to warn you to back off, that you were getting in too deep. These guys don’t play games.”

“Los Esmeraldas?”

“That’s right.”

She put pressure on Davis’s arm, and he sank down to the ground with her. “You know this isn’t over, Dario. They killed a US attorney, federal agents. It may be NCIS right now, but it will be black ops and CIA later. They will not rest until whoever is responsible for those deaths pays…and now, that includes you.” She took a hard breath. “Blood, the blood of innocent children…all of that blood is also on your hands. You can change that right now. Let us go.”

“Shut up!” he shouted, his face twisting, sweat pouring off him, running down his face. He pulled a radio off his belt and said, “I have them.”

The trees around them were so thick they swallowed up the sunlight. There was something unnerving about the silence and shadows, something that told him predators roamed this area, even the animals knew it.

Four men materialized from the trees dressed innocuously in T-shirts and jeans, but there was nothing innocuous about the machetes at their waists and the automatic weapons slung over their shoulders.

Los Esmeraldas. At least they had partial answers.

Dario went to greet them. They only had moments. He turned to Kai. “You should have run, babe. There’s no need for both of us to die.”

She cupped his face in her hands, staring into his eyes, her heart right there for him to see. “If you thought I was going to leave you behind like that…no freaking way. Never.”

“I wish?—”

She covered his mouth. “I know. Trust me. We’re in this together.” She glanced back toward the trees.

He frowned, and the look in her eyes gave him hope. “Always,” he said.

After a few words with Dario, he headed back toward the boat. They swaggered toward them like they owned the world. Kai had been right. Whatever happened to them here, the US wouldn’t rest until they had rooted out and either eliminated or arrested everyone who was involved. That gave him some form of peace for what may come. He’d only wished he’d had time with Kai, time to be with her in every sense of the word.

“Los Esmeraldas, I presume,” Kai said, her voice calm and cool. “Apparently, you know who I am, but you’ve got me at a disadvantage. I’d like to know who I’m talking to.”

The man in the middle with long hair and cold, empty eyes sized Kai up, his gaze glancing at Davis briefly, then returned back to him. The challenge was in his eyes like he’d discovered a fellow predator. Davis might be ruthless when it came to doing his job, but he was nothing like this animal.

“Jonny Z,” he said. “I run the Los Esmeraldas.”

“So you’re the ones who killed an old woman and an innocent family with two small children.”

“The price of doing business.”

“What you do isn’t business. It’s criminal.”

“You won’t have to concern yourself with us any longer.” He said in a chilling, empty tone.

“Why did you kill Eduardo, his daughter, and wage war on the US government?”

Jonny Z laughed, but the humor never reached those dark orbs. “You think this is an interrogation, bitch?”

“I think you want to know what we know, and if that is the case, what do you have to lose? We’re helpless. We’re not walking away. Think of it as my last request. I’m not really up for torture.”

He smirked. One of the men pulled the machete off his belt and circled behind them.

Kai ignored him, but Davis could almost feel that blade biting into his neck.

“Well, don’t you have some big cojones, chica.” He was clearly the leader of this little band of cartel watchdogs. He didn’t say anything for a moment. Kai’s offer was unexpected, but it saved these guys some time. “Eduardo made a mistake, and we don’t tolerate mistakes. He endangered our business in Colombia, and our big fish network in the United States. He paid the price.”

“But why his daughter?”

He shrugged. “She was collateral damage, as were the rest of the deaths.”

“By your organization’s affiliation in San Diego? Ordered by your cartel?”

“We are everywhere, gringa.”

“So you are. What cartel are you working for?”

“Where is Eduardo’s ex-wife? Do you have her stashed away somewhere? If so, tell me, and I’ll make your deaths as painless as possible.”

“Eduardo’s ex-wife? What do you want with her?”

“Let’s say Eduardo’s mistake was twofold.” He leaned in and grabbed her chin, and it took every ounce of Davis’s control not to ram into the guy for touching Kai. “Answer the question, or I’ll gutshot your friend here and leave him to bleed out slowly.” He pressed the barrel of his pistol into Davis’s abs hard enough to make his breath rush out with a grunt of pain.

Kai yanked her chin out of his grasp, her eyes as cold as his. “No, we don’t have her. We don’t know where she is. She doesn’t even know her daughter and ex-husband are dead.”

He growled and paced away, swearing softly.

“What big fish network?” she asked.

The guy to his right said, “Your government officials are as easy to corrupt as ours are.” That admission made Davis’s gut clench. He had often speculated about how they knew where the OCDETF Task Force was meeting. He assumed they followed Curran, but what if they were tipped off to the location by one of their own? Fury burned through him. It was enough to contend with the enemy, now some greedy bastard on their own soil sold out a federal task force.

The leader went ballistic and pistol-whipped the guy to his knees. “Don’t talk,” he said, then turned back to them. “What else do you know?”

“Just that you’re all a bunch of monsters, and I’m going to see you all either dead or locked up. So, I guess we’re done.”

Jonny Z raised his arm, and everything slowed down, the barrel of the pistol a black maw of death pointed at him. In this, perhaps his last moments on earth, he couldn’t help thinking that he’d fucked up royally with Kai. He’d turned his frustrated desires to other women who couldn’t fulfill the kind of relationship he was ultimately looking for, but instead of pushing for change or confronting Kai and causing conflict with her, he’d stepped back. What he wanted with her was connection and intimacy, and his fear of losing control of his relationship with her kept him from acting on his desires.

He’d always lived his life from a place of strength, something his dad taught him through his own sacrifices, working hard to support him and his mom. He’d had the best childhood a guy could ask for, and the kind of father every son dreams of, but Kai was his one weakness. As long as he could think there was a chance for them, it was enough. He saw his avoidance of sliding into bed with her was not only to spare her but to protect him, his heart.

But death was coming to claim him, and he’d never get a chance to tell her how he felt about her, and that was the biggest tragedy of all.

Barlow Finch,one of two illustrious and privileged senators from the great state of California, watched his grandchildren play in the pool, smiling at their antics. He’d built a great life, a satisfying life, but his appetites and his ambitions had gotten the best of him in the last three years.

His aspiration was to be president one day, and this last Senate race was going to catapult him into the Oval Office. It was going to be a particularly tough one with a charismatic and young upstart stealing his limelight and voters. He needed the money to campaign, and that’s where his nefarious contacts had been tantamount to his success.

It was regrettable that he’d had to sell a piece of his soul to the devil to accomplish what he wanted. But he was entitled to his dreams just the same, and he deemed that piece the price he had to pay.

He wouldn’t admit to himself the fear that lived inside him ever since the deaths of the OCDETF Task Force. He’d had no idea the information he’d given to his partners was going to result in so many deaths. He’d been incensed and adamant that none of this could blow back at him. Caught between a rock and a hard place, he had no choice but to continue on the path he’d chosen. He jumped when his cell rang. The number was one he recognized. He must answer. There was no choice.

“Hello, Finchy.” He stiffened and looked toward his wife, grown children and grandchildren. He rose, smiling at his wife’s frown. Family time wasn’t to be interrupted. He knew that, and he was most likely going to hear about it.

“I’ll just be a minute, sweetheart,” he promised, covering the receiver. He slipped into the house, his heart pounding, but his groin also responding to the sultry voice at the other end of the line. He knew it had been reckless getting involved with the kind of woman Freddy was, but he couldn’t help himself. “I told you never to call at this time. I’m with my family.”

“Of course,” she purred, “but I had important information that I needed to tell you.”

“I sure as hell hope it’s not the murder of more federal government employees,” he hissed. Looking over his shoulder to make sure he was alone.

“Well, maybe a few more. The situation in Ecuador is being handled as we speak.”

“How many?” he demanded.

“Four, including two more NCIS agents who were more resourceful than we expected.”

A chill went down his spine. Four more? God, when was this going to end? “Freddy, this is getting way out of hand. I cannot have this blowing back at me!”

“Cleaning up a mess is messy, Finchy. You’re going to have to accept the consequences of being our partner. If you’re in for the money, then you’re in for everything else. So don’t get cold feet or think about going to the authorities. That sweet and loving little family you have would pay the price.”

“Don’t you threaten my family like I’m a nobody from the street. I’m a US Senator.”

“You’re a man who sold out his country for ambition and money. I believe they call that a traitor,” she said, her voice cold as the Arctic. Nevertheless. You will be fine if you keep to the plan. Same time this week? You’d better bring me diamonds.”

“Yes,” he growled, his blood heating.

“Good. We’ll be in touch.”

A shot rang out,the sound of it exploding in Kai’s brain. For a moment she was frozen, then she looked over to find Davis…alive. It was the leader who was on the ground writhing in pain. She reacted. Setting her hands on the ground, she twisted, pivoting to knock the legs out from under the Los Esmeraldas with the machete. He went down hard on his back, the wind knocked out of him. One of the two women who had materialized out of the trees covering him. The other woman strode forward, keeping her eyes on the two men still standing. One went to pull his weapon, and she shot him cleanly through the head.

“Want to go two for two?” she said to the other man. He shook his head and started to strip off his weapons, dropping them to the ground.

She looked at Kai. “Are you all right?” Her eyes flickered to Davis who was looking at the woman and back to Kai with a bemused look on his face.

“You knew they were there.” He looked at Kai, while the two women zip-tied the four men. Apparently, their leader was also still alive.

She nodded. “This is Strekoza. It means dragonfly in Russian.” She introduced the tall, willowy brunette with sharp features, then turned around to the petite blonde, who didn’t look old enough to be out of high school. “And this is Hummingbird. CIA Shadowguard.”

“We were sent to shadow you once Mrs. Cordero was murdered. Homeland is pissed, and Justice is pissed. That anger and outrage goes all the way to the White House. They weren’t going to take any more chances.”

“You couldn’t let us know that?”

“No, not our policy to do that. Once you know someone is backing you up, you tend to act differently and try and discover who it is. It’s a cop thing,” she said with a smile.

He turned his head at the sound of the chopper in the distance. “There are two DEA agents on the boat. I think they’re still alive. They were breathing when I left them.”

The blonde nodded and jogged toward the boat.

The brunette headed toward the chopper that was landing in a clearing.

Still on their knees, she looked at him. “Sorry, there wasn’t much time to talk. I had something else to say.” His features softened, and he looked away, gouging at his eyes, and blinking furiously.

She understood that relief, the knowledge that he could have died today. She’d experienced that in the woods when she’d seen them shoot the DEA agents and take Davis hostage. He turned back to her and held her gaze, his hair shining black in the sunlight, his high cheekbones accentuating the lines of strain around his mouth. He looked dark, dangerous, and complicated, and the look in his eyes made her heart pound and her knees go weak. She took his hand, her grip urgent and tense, almost desperate, swallowing hard. There was a flare of emotion in his eyes, and he tightened his grip on her hand and slowly, so slowly, stroked the palm with his thumb. It was too much, that look that said so much, that slow, sensual touch putting her in such sensory overload that the brightness from the light made her skin feel too tight. He laced his fingers through hers, and the only thing that kept her together was the tight grip Davis had on her hand.

And he kept that grip on her hand during all the activity around them, getting the Los Esmeraldas in the chopper, loading up the two wounded DEA agents, and finally them. Flying back to Guayaquil, checking into a hotel the Shadowguards’ said was safe.

He finally let go when they were led to their respective rooms. Inside, she found her belongings, everything she needed. She gathered up her toiletries and went into the bathroom, showered the sweat and blood off her, then slathered on lotion, and finally dried her hair, leaving it loose.

She came out of the bathroom in a gauzy wrap that left nothing to the imagination and found Davis was standing with his back to her at the balcony door in nothing but a towel. His bare back gleamed in the dim light, draping him in liquid silver. In the faint light, she couldn’t miss the awful tension in him.

Her vision blurring with the enormity of her feelings, Kai said his name and crossed the room.

Davis went still and she was sure she could feel the tension leaping between them. She didn’t have a plan, she hadn’t thought it out, she just had to get to him. Davis shifted and she got a good look at his face. Seeing the agony in his eyes, she simply reacted.

Her voice catching on a sob, she said his name softly, then rammed into him, as his arms came around her, his agony becoming hers.

She released a soft sound as Davis crushed her in a hard, fierce embrace, his hand roughly tangling in her loose hair.

Immobilized by the onslaught of need, Kai clung to him, certain she would collapse if he let her go. She had never experienced anything like him—the heavy, surging feeling of two halves coming together, the awesome power of two universes colliding, the stunning rush of wanting that never went away. It had only built and built into too much need, too much unsatisfied hunger, too much raw emotion.

Her breathing out of control, she locked her arms around him, pulling herself flush against him, needing him, needing it all.

Hoarsely whispering her name, Davis backed her into the shadows, her back hitting the wall, then spread his hand wide in her hair and turned her head. His heart pounding in tandem with hers, he brushed his mouth across hers, and the surge of raw sexual energy was like touching a live wire.

Her breathing paralyzed, she lifted herself higher and opened her mouth, needing the heat of him. Davis shuddered, grinding his mouth against hers as he crushed her even tighter. His hard heat against her yielding softness, her desire fired in reaction to his.

It was as if she’d died when Allison died and this was her resurrection, her second chance to live, to love, to find the power, not only in him, or them, but in herself as well. He incinerated her doubts and fears, turning her into ashes, until his hot, wet plundering kiss ignited her, and she rose from those ashes. Making a low sound of restraint, he tried to tear his mouth away, but she grasped his face, holding him to her, unable to bear a separation. She would splinter and break into jagged, frantic pieces if she didn’t have him.

Davis ripped his mouth away and clamped her head against his. “I fucking forgot about condoms,” he ground out, his voice so rough, it was as if he was speaking through some unmanageable pain.

“You don’t need them, Davis. I’m protected. I’m safe.”

He focused on her. “Are you sure?” he whispered brokenly, his breath hot against her ear. “I don’t want to take any risks with you.”

The hunger was centered in her and getting stronger. “Yes. It’s okay,” she pleaded with him, her voice breaking. “It’s okay. Please, Davis.”

He pressed into her, the length of his body so hard, delineated muscle over velvet skin, then bent his head and ravished her mouth with passion and heat, overwhelming her senses. His hands brushed away the gossamer cloth caught between them, his breathing raw and labored as he touched her nakedness beneath the garment.

His hands ran over her, up her ribcage, over the heavy swell of her breasts, his thumbs rubbing over her stiff nipples. Her breath was barely there—she had never known this fever of need, the raw, urgent hunger, and she arched her back and gave herself up to the frenzied sensations, knowing that Davis wouldn’t let her fall.

She could feel his gaze on her, absorbed in the sight of her naked body. Her nipples ached, thrust toward him in an invitation to take her, take everything. She moaned softly and sifted her hands through his wet hair, twisted the too-long strands around her fingers.

In a quick, driving move, he clamped his mouth over her, and she arched her back in ecstasy as he flicked the rigid tip with his tongue and sucked her hard and deep. With his hand, he squeezed and kneaded her other breast, traced uncontrolled circles around her areola with his thumb before lightly pinching and rolling the firm, aroused nipple between his fingers. She gave a helpless, impatient whimper.

She slipped her hand into the waistband of his towel and pulled, releasing the terry as it dropped to the floor.

“Kai, I want to fuck you so hard, so deep, all you’ll remember is me,” he panted, pressing his erection against her, the silky head moved over her belly. She reached down and caressed him, her thumb rubbing across his velvet head. He thrust into her hand with a short, hard cry. She caught his mouth, laying claim to him just as his whispered words shackled her with surrender. She took him, wanted all of him, wanting to take him into every part of her with a desperation that made her almost frantic. Somewhere in the recesses of what was left of her mind, she knew this need to take every last bit of him now, while she could, before anything could happen and she lost him, was a form of desperation. They were terrible thoughts, but nothing in the world was ever guaranteed.

There was another part, buried even deeper inside her, but becoming incessantly harder to ignore. Fear and realization. Fear that she was going to lose herself, and realization that it was because she was falling in love with him.

Madness.