Page 59 of SEAL's Paradise
Chapter 26
––––––––
RILEY LOOKED AT HERphone, reading the address in the intercepted text sent by her DOD contact.Everything was happening at a rapid-fire pace.The messages.The false information.The real text that DOD had intercepted from the buyer.Sawyer was beside her on his cell phone, calling his commander, and Riley saw they were only twenty minutes away from where the real exchange was occurring.
A few fat raindrops began to fall from the sky, and she swiped them off her face, cursing.
“They’re delivering the missile now,” she said urgently.“We’re wasting too much time here.They’re loading it into a cargo van and taking it along a deserted road to where they’ve hidden a missile launch site.”
Sawyer looked stressed, listening to his commander over the phone and also eyeing her.“Okay, okay.We’ll head there right now.Tell me the address so the team can meet us,” he told Riley.
She rambled it off and could tell that Sawyer committed it to memory before repeating it to his commanding officer.His blue eyes swept toward hers.“Commander Madden wants us to stand down.He’ll assemble the team so we can move in together.”
“What?I don’t take orders from him.Meet me there!”she yelled, already running toward her convertible.
“Riley, no!”Sawyer called, suddenly sounding frantic.
He was still on the phone with Commander Madden but jogged after her.Riley knew he’d be pissed she was rushing there before him, but she didn’t have a choice in the matter.Riley was the one who’d been hired to stop the traitors from selling military weapons, and that was damn well what she was about to do.
She started the engine as Sawyer reached for the door and then gunned it, listening to his shouts as she pulled away.He’d turned and was running to his truck, but she had a head start, and her tires squealed as she peeled out onto the highway.
Riley sped the entire way to the address, pulling into a large warehouse complex.Nerves skittered through her.She had her gun.Her phone.She probably should’ve waited for backup, but they were out of time.When it came right down to it, Sawyer hadn’t wanted to defy orders.He’d done so, though, following after her in his truck when she’d given him no choice.He’d picked her safety over his commander’s orders.Sawyer had called her twice, and she’d told him to meet here there.End of story.
She parked on the outskirts of the warehouse complex, checking the address again before climbing out of her car.The building was the next one over, but she could creep around it, sneaking down the narrow alley between them.A van was parked near it, and she pulled out her phone, snapping a picture.
The rain started to fall more heavily now, and her damp clothes clung to her skin.
No matter.Nothing was stopping her at this point.
No one was at the van, but Riley heard a voice, a man talking on a cell phone.Her heart caught as she saw the flash of a tiger tattoo on the man’s bicep.Kurt Bengal.He was as big and mean-looking as she remembered, and she found herself wishing she wasn’t here alone.Riley had always trusted her instincts, and everything in her screamed to get away.
Bengal ended the call, sliding his phone into his pocket, and pulling out a set of keys.He closed the back doors of the van, securing the lock, and her heart stopped.They’d already loaded the missile inside.He was about to get away.He opened the driver’s side door and climbed into the vehicle, putting the keys in the ignition.Cursing, he climbed back out, returning to the warehouse and disappearing from sight.
Had he left the keys inside the van?
Riley ran toward it without thought, knowing she had to get to the van in time.If she commandeered the vehicle, she could stop this.End him.
She’d almost reached the van when Kurt Bengal came out a different door to the warehouse, sneering.She almost smacked right into him, turning away at the last second.He was too fast though, yanking her to him as he shoved her against the side of the van.“You’ve been following me.”
Riley fought against him, but he was bigger than her.Stronger.His gaze raked over her, lewd and leering.“I knew you weren’t just a damn waitress.I don’t have time to fuck you right now, but I could use a good bitch to bang.There’s nothing I like more than fresh pussy.”
“Fuck you!”she shouted, still struggling.
He chuckled, his eyes glazed with lust.“I will be fucking you, princess.Count on it.As soon as I offload my delivery, you’ll be mine.”
