Christmas Captive. Liz Johnson

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СКАЧАТЬ intimidate her. No, they made her feel...

      Well, it was better not to think about how they made her feel.

      After more than sixteen years of daydreaming about how he made her feel, she’d realized just how wrong she’d been.

      It was better for her—better for everyone—if she just moved on.

      Only she couldn’t deny that, in this moment, he made her feel safe. And she’d never been more grateful.

      The big guy in the black suit groaned again, his head lolling to the side as the officer cuffed him. It took both Jordan and the comparatively puny guard to drag the man upright. And it seemed to take hours to make it across the ship and down three levels to the security office. They’d gotten a few strange looks, but most of the ship’s guests were too wrapped up in their own vacation to give more than a passing glance to a man leaning on a security guard and another man, who could have been his friend.

      When they finally arrived, Amy sank into a chair, Elaina by her side. As she wrapped an arm around her niece, she whispered to a nearby security guard, “Can you get her father down here? He was in the captain’s office not too long ago.”

      The guard nodded, and Amy squeezed her hands together in her lap to keep them from trembling.

      * * *

      His hands were still shaking.

      Jordan tried to hold them still, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop the adrenaline charging through him. What kept him on his feet during a confrontation always left him feeling a little out of sorts when the conflict was resolved.

      But as he stared through the window into the makeshift cell at the unconscious man, and then looked back at Amy, he could do little more than thank God that he’d heard Elaina’s screams and gone to investigate. There was no telling what the man would have done when he’d caught them. But while Jordan was glad he’d been able to protect Amy and Elaina, he needed more information if he was going to be able to continue keeping them safe. Question number one: Why had the man been chasing them?

      And as much as he wanted to beg for answers, Elaina’s stricken face left him mute. She’d have to rehash the whole ordeal when the captain arrived, so he’d patiently wait for that.

      Well, patiently was a subjective word.

      He paced the confines of the little room. The security guard manning the office, who had identified himself as Paul Cortero, had called Michael Torres and then leaned back in his big black chair, his hands resting over his stomach. He didn’t look terribly disturbed or concerned that a man carrying a heavy-duty handgun with a silencer had just attacked a woman and an eight-year-old girl. In fact, his eyes were closed as he rocked in his seat.

      Incompetent fool.

      Those were the kindest words Jordan had for a man like Cortero, who showed so little concern for the people whose safety was in his care.

      But calling him every name in the book wasn’t going to locate the other man Amy had mentioned or resolve this issue.

      So he kept on marching because movement helped him think.

      Suddenly the metal door flew open, and a short, thin man barreled into the room, followed by a much larger shadow of a guard. Michael Torres usually had a big, commanding presence, despite being several inches shy of six feet. But right now his eyes were filled with panic as he surveyed the room.

      Elaina jumped from her chair and flung herself into her father’s arms. “I was so scared, Daddy. He was chasing us, and he said he had to find me.” The words were muffled, but the terror in them was real.

      “It’s okay, honey. It’s going to be okay.”

      Except a gnawing feeling in his stomach told Jordan that they couldn’t be so sure of that. This situation wasn’t something they could control. At least not yet. Not with at least one more man out there.

      When Elaina pulled back with tearstained cheeks, she grasped for Amy’s arm. “Aunt Amy was so great. She saved me.”

      Torres hugged his sister-in-law and mouthed a thank-you.

      She nodded, but there was no accompanying smile. And a tick at the corner of her eye suggested that she had news. News that no one was going to want to hear.

      And Jordan was entirely sure it had to do with what Elaina had just said. The man chasing them had been after the little girl.

      His stomach took a nosedive, but before he could analyze the situation further, Torres turned toward him.

      “Somerton.” He gave a curt nod, his eyebrows pulled together. “How did you get involved in this?”

      Jordan cringed, wishing he’d had a second to remind Torres that, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, they’d had no reason to ever meet.

      Amy cut in, “Wait. How do you know each other?”

      Torres turned back to Amy but was spared finding an explanation when the door to the office opened again and the captain marched in. His white jacket shone under the sterile lights as he reached to shake the ambassador’s hand.

      “I wasn’t expecting to see you again tonight.”

      “I wasn’t, either.” Torres’s face was pinched as he looked down at Elaina, her arms still wrapped around his waist. “It seems my daughter and her aunt ran into some trouble outside our cabin tonight.”

      The captain motioned toward the chairs to indicate they should sit down while Cortero scrambled to give his seat to the ship’s senior officer.

      As the captain introduced himself, Jordan forced himself to stop pacing and slid into the chair beside Amy, who shot him a look that said she wasn’t going to let her question drop.

      “I’m Captain Robertson.” He directed his introduction to Elaina, who was perched on her father’s leg. He barely looked at Jordan and Amy and ignored Torres’s bodyguard standing in the corner. “I heard you had quite an evening. Can you tell me about it?”

      Elaina nodded, her dark hair slipping over her shoulders. “I was with Aunt Amy. We were at the party for Neesha.”

      “And then what happened?”

      She looked at Amy, who gave her a gentle smile, before continuing. “We were almost to my room, and then we heard some men. They were talking. About me. Said they had to find me. Aunt Amy and I tried to get away but one of them followed us. He yelled for us to stop, but we didn’t. Then there was a high-pitched whistling sound. It was weird, but we got to the stairs.”

      Even though he’d seen the gun, Jordan cringed as Elaina gave her trembling account of being shot at. It didn’t sound like she even knew what that whistle had been, but he did. And it was enough to make him sick.

      Two thugs looking for a little girl when her father and his bodyguard were away from the room. Armed and dangerous and willing to use violence to get their way.

      That wasn’t coincidence.

      “How do you know they were looking for you specifically?” Robertson asked.

      Amy СКАЧАТЬ