Chapter 13
Rex jerked awake from a wild dream and opened his eyes to shadows and starlight streaming in through a window. For a moment, he couldn’t remember where he was. All he knew was that this wasn’t his apartment.
Then memories flooded in. The yacht. Holte. Vaughan. His father.
Kimo standing naked in front of him, her long dark hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back.
He reached over to pull her close but found the space beside him empty, the pillow cool.
Kimo was gone.
Rex sat up, flung the sheet aside and rolled out of the bed onto his bare feet. The bedroom door stood open; more inky blue light shone through from the living area beyond.
His heart racing, every bad scenario running through his mind, Rex hurried in search of the woman who’d awakened in him desire and longing he’d never expected to find in any one woman.
His gaze desperately swept the room, praying she hadn’t been taken away in the night.
Then he found her.
Her naked body was silhouetted in the starlight as she sat with her knees curled up on a window seat, staring out at what was left of the night.
He moved up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Couldn’t sleep?”
She shook her head, her long, wavy hair brushing against his belly. “I feel guilty.”
“Guilty?” he asked. “Why?”
She leaned her head back against him and raised a hand to cover the one resting on her shoulder.
“Being with you, experiencing all the joy of being young, alive and free… It doesn’t feel right when Alana is being held hostage.
She’s alone scared and—God forbid—maybe abused or tortured.
I don’t deserve to be happy when it’s my fault she’s not. ”
“It’s not your fault,” he assured her. “But I can’t tell you how to feel when I’ve been there.
I’ve lost buddies in battle and have spent years second-guessing my moves, knowing that if I had been the one on point that day, my buddy would’ve been alive today.
Or if I’d only seen the enemy hiding in the shadows, I could’ve taken him out before he made a kill shot, taking out my friend.
I blamed myself. In the back of my mind, I still do. ”
She turned, wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her warm cheek against his torso. “I shouldn’t have gone out that day,” she whispered. “I should’ve been the one they took. Not Alana. I would gladly exchange my life for hers.”
Her words hit Rex square in the gut. He drew her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.
“I can’t let that happen.” He laid his cheek against her hair, inhaling the scent of plumeria shampoo in her hair.
“This fight isn’t over. Alana is alive, and we have the chance to keep her that way. You have to believe that.”
“What if we don’t find my camera?” Kimo asked.
“We will,” Rex said. “It’s out there. We’ll find it.”
“We need to be there at first light.” Kimo tipped her head back. “The storm comes tonight. The seas will get rougher the closer it gets.”
Rex cupped her cheeks and bent to brush his lips across hers. “Then we’ll have to find the camera early and make the trade before the storm hits.”
Kimo curled her hands around the back of Rex’s neck. “I have a feeling this isn’t going to end easily.”
Rex had that same feeling. It sat like a heavy rock in his gut. Once they had the camera, he’d work with Hawk and their entire team to ensure Kimo’s safety and bring Alana back alive. Then they’d work on exposing and bringing down the network of human traffickers.
He kissed Kimo and held her close, enjoying a few more seconds with her body pressed to his. “I could hold you like this twenty-four seven and still not get enough.”
“Same,” she said with a sigh. “Dawn won’t be for another hour...”
Rex didn’t need any more encouragement than that.
He swept Kimo up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom, where he made sweet love to her, bringing her to her own release before slaking his own desire.
They showered together, exploring more of each other’s bodies and then dressed for the dive ahead.
Thankfully, Rex had a spare swimsuit in the cottage for the days he worked there and then went out to cool off in the ocean.
Once again, Kimo wore the red bikini Rex had grown to love. Shrugging into the beachy coverup, she slipped her feet into flipflops and hooked her arm through his. “Ready?” she said with a determined tilt of her chin.
“I am,” he responded, planting a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Let’s find that camera.”
On the way out the door of the cottage, Rex spotted the little sports camera he’d bought for when he went snorkeling off the beach in front of the cottage.
He snagged the little camera and tucked it into the pocket of his swim trunks, thinking it might be a good idea to record their dive this time.
If other divers attacked them, recording them might help to identify them.
They stepped out of the cottage into darkness with stars still twinkling overhead and a slight wind stirring among the palms. They had just enough time to reach the Lahaina marina, load the gear and get out on the water by the time the sun rose above the horizon.
Rex handed Kimo up into the passenger seat and slid into the driver’s seat. He texted Devlin they were on their way. When he drove out onto the highway, Devlin’s SUV fell in behind him.
They made the drive in silence. Kimo braided her hair while Rex worked through scenarios in his thoughts, going over and over potential attacks, ways to search for the missing camera and how he would stay near Kimo no matter what.
The woman had started to mean more to him than just a client. It wasn’t about the sex, though that had been beyond anything he could have imagined.
He liked being with her.
Kimo wasn’t a silly woman, worried about makeup and fashion trends. Besides being an expert diver, she was a talented photographer who’d built a business on her own, with no help from family wealth or connections. Plus, she valued family and friendship above all.
His life in the Army had taught Rex the value of friends, and how good friends were family.
For the first time in his life, he could imagine having a family of his own.
With children. Maybe a little girl with light brown skin and dark eyes, running across the sand, her long, flowing dark hair streaming out behind her.
His breath seized in his lungs. Rex shot a glance toward Kimo, suddenly afraid of the task in front of them. Afraid of the thought of losing her when their relationship had barely gotten started.
She turned and gave him a tight smile. “I don’t think I could do any of this without you. Thanks for being here.”
He took her hand and held onto it. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Rex parked the truck in the parking lot near the marina and walked with Kimo to the Windsong Tours slip as the gray light of dawn crept over Lahaina.
Devlin followed.
Leilani, Angel and Teller were already aboard the tour boat, arranging tanks and BCDs.
“Run into any trouble last night?” Rex asked as he stepped onto the tour boat.
Teller shook his head. “None. It was a little unsettling.”
Angel looked up from where he was checking the gauge on a regulator after having hooked it to the tank. “I felt the same.”
Rex turned to offer a hand to Kimo as she stepped onto the boat.
“It was a strange night.” Kimo snorted softly. “Like the calm before the storm.” Her lips twisted into a grimace. “Pun intended.”
Leilani shook her head. “Needless to say, none of us got much sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Alana.”
“Me either.” Kimo crossed to where Angel was going over the gear and did a second pass.
“If everyone’s ready, let’s go.” Leilani nodded to where Devlin stood on the dock. “Let her loose.”
Devlin removed the line from the cleat, tossed it onto the boat then stepped across.
Once they were all inside, Leilani fired up the engine and drove the boat slowly out of the slip, through the no-wake zone and into the harbor.
Once they left the harbor, they encountered choppy seas. The swells and waves were bigger than the day before. Dark clouds hung over the sky to the west, harbingers of the storm moving ever closer to the islands.
No one on board attempted conversation. Wind and motor noise made it hard enough to communicate. They all seemed to focus on the task ahead as the divers dressed in wetsuits.
Teller and Osgood checked their rifles and handguns.
Rex had his dive knife and managed to hook the underwater sports camera to his BCD vest. He hoped the batteries were charged and ready. As soon as they hit the water, he’d turn it on.
As they neared the shipping container’s coordinates, Leilani slowed the tour boat, bringing it to a halt.
Rex helped Kimo into her BCD and buckled her straps.
Kimo returned the favor.
After she buckled his BCD in place and checked his gauges, he pulled her close and kissed her. “Be careful out there and stay with me.”
She gave him a tight smile. “You be careful, too. I kind of like having you around.”
Kimo turned to the divers. “I want to do this differently this time. I’ve been thinking about what happened and where we were when we were attacked. I’m going to try to recreate the directions we were heading to the best of my memory. Bear with me and follow.”
Leilani and Angel were first into the water.
Kimo and Rex followed, switching the little camera on as he submerged.
Kimo kept close to the surface and started out swimming at an angle away from the reef for several yards. She slowed, brought her head out of the water, glanced around and turned back toward the reef, again at an angle, not directly toward it.
Now, she was swimming directly for the reef, kicking harder and faster.
When she came within several feet of the dark mass of rocks, she slowed and motioned for Leilani and Angel to search to the right.
Kimo turned left and followed the line of rocks, moving slowly at first.