Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Muted lighting cast a low amber haze over his study. Monitors added to the glow, their light framing Sable in a misleading halo. She’d never been an angel. After seven years of silence, who would trust her now?
Then she did that thing.
The curve of her mouth. The barest flick of her tongue across her lower lip. It shouldn’t affect him, yet it did. He’d have to be carved from stone not to react to a woman he’d taken to battle and bed.
He had to remind himself that she was a stranger to him now. As such, she would be judged on merit, not memory.
Time had been kind to Sable, at least in looks. Her inner radiance remained. Was the quicksilver mind intact? His best guess was yes. Her fierce spirit shone in her eyes. “Don’t make me regret this meeting.”
“You won’t,” she promised, gaze steady.
“Coffee?”
“Please.”
He filled two mugs. Sable was careful not to brush his hand as she took hers. Good. Being close enough to catch her scent was dangerous.
Her manner was unmarked by the years that had gouged wounds in him. Trust was something he rarely gave, and he’d made an exception for Sable. One he had lived to regret. “Are you using me?” he asked as they sipped.
“In some ways, yes,” she admitted, nursing her mug. “I didn’t know what else to do—whom else to turn to.”
“You’re asking me to risk my team on the word of someone I no longer trust.”
“You can trust me,” she protested.
“Can I? Where did you go? Why did you leave? Why couldn’t you speak to me first?” He cut her off as she began to answer. “Spare me excuses. Just tell me what you need.”
She took a flash drive from her pocket. “This explains most things.”
Once again, she was careful not to touch him as she handed it over. “Well?” she pressed. “Don’t you want to review it?”
“I’ll take a look.”
The images on screen confirmed the atrocities Sable had hinted at. He could no longer remain impartial. Humanity, or the mockery of it, always found new ways to degrade itself.
“Sick, yes?” she said, briefly turning to face him.
He couldn’t speak for a moment as the foulest form of child exploitation was revealed.
There were other images: women working beyond endurance until their hands bled, young men who must dearly wish to be old and ugly rather than young and beautiful.
As often as he saw proof of man’s inhumanity to man, he never lost the will to act.
The only time he hit a wall was with his own feelings.
“You okay?” Sable asked, shooting him a concerned glance. “This is a lot.”
“I need air.” Gripping the back of his neck, he walked out on deck. Slavers were an infestation that was impossible to wipe out, but that was no reason not to try.
Sable followed and came to stand silently at his side. The repeated slap of water against the hull only fueled his impatience to free the people he’d seen on the screen. Every second wasted was a second lost to the victims.
“Do you think we’ll be in time?”
She must have read his thoughts. “Coordinates?” She gave them, and he called the bridge.
“Elijah?” Her voice was softer than he’d ever heard it, yet her jaw was set iron strong.
The steel in her soul had always impressed him. “This mission has just become vital to both of us.”
“Black Meridian is expanding fast. Malta, Libya, Odessa, Eastern Europe—they’re everywhere. It’s a very efficient supply chain.”
“I don’t care what they are, what they have. We’ll deal with them.”
“We?” she repeated.
“The team,” he made clear before she could get any ideas.
There was a pause, and then she said, “There’s more.”
Their stares locked. “Oh?”
“They know about you—the Seraphim, your jet, the helicopters, and the forces you command. They’ve marked you for elimination.”
He gave a dry snort. “I’d be insulted if they ignored me.”
“That means you’re in?”
“Didn’t I just say that? Tell me why you chose me when there are other mercenary groups you could have picked.”
“You’re the best, and I trust you. And you know one of the captives on the auction list.”
“Who?” he demanded.
“A woman called Mara.”
Ice gripped his spine. “You know this how?”
“I hacked an encrypted auction site. No names. Just images of the upcoming lots. I recognized Mara from that picture you carry, the one with two kids on a riverbank. Taken maybe fifteen years ago? Mara was a pretty child, but now she’s a beautiful woman.”
He remembered the day the shot was taken by neighbors who took pity on the foster children next door.
He’d been holding up a fish he and Mara had caught with a hair clip and a piece of twine.
They’d wanted to pay the neighbors back for their kindness.
Desperation and hunger forced them to try anything, and on that day, they’d caught a fish.
Their so-called parents at the time ran their “happy” home like a business, taking in as many children as they could to make a profit. And now Mara was in danger, close enough to rescue. “You sure about this?”
“I’m positive,” Sable said firmly.
Anger boiled inside him. “Where is this auction?”
“A small island off Malta. Remote. Cameras everywhere. Security will be tight.”
“I like a challenge.”
“Don’t you mean you thrive on the impossible?”
“I partnered up with you.”
“True,” she conceded wryly.
“What’s this island called?”
“It doesn’t have a name. It’s barely big enough to be more than a rock.”
He called the bridge. “Hold our position offshore when we arrive. Engage dynamic positioning.” He turned to Sable. “That will keep the Seraphim fixed at one GPS location without anchoring.”
“Fast getaway?” she suggested.
“Correct. If you want to leave, you’d better go now.”
“Jump overboard?” she suggested.
His crew was a well-oiled machine. The Seraphim was already underway.
“Like a ghost slipping away in the night,” Sable murmured, staring over the side as they headed for the open sea.
“Like you?” he suggested.
“Harder to vanish at sea—unless you throw me overboard.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
The tension had eased a little between them. Whatever Sable’s past actions, ensuring the success of a mission would always come first. And she was good. Better than good, she could be a game changer in a situation where she knew more than most.
Learning that Mara was involved added urgency to the plan developing in his mind. “I’ll have a steward show you to your quarters.”
“Thank you.”
He’d already turned away, job done. It was only when she left that he realized Sable’s energy had gone with her. The room felt bigger, emptier, and colder.
It was hard to say what pissed him off more—wanting her or shutting her out.