13
HURRY. HURRY. HURRY.
No. Turn the emotions off, let the training take over. Mason couldn't afford to miss anything, and rushing could be fatal. Never mind that the moment the Black Hawk touched down on the naval aircraft carrier cruising Belizean waters, he was itching to move. Swimming to shore seemed like the better option, but he'd wait for the Zodiac like a good little SEAL.
"Gave Ashley a heads-up." Gray prowled toward the railing that Mason was haunting. "She's armed." A statement of fact. "If Santiago did come back here and somehow beat us, Ashley's got your girl's back."
There was no point in pretending protecting Maddie wasn't personal, so Mason nodded sharply. "I hear you."
"Since there's a credible threat, we'll take her to a military base until we've found Santiago. We've got leads on the man. Cell phone and email chatter. That kind of stuff."
"Santiago's mine." He'd enjoy taking the drug trafficker apart piece by piece. Those photos of Maddie had been creepy as hell, and the man needed to go down, fast and hard. No way Mason allowed the other man to get anywhere near Maddie.
Gray gave him a hard look. "We've got other orders. We pack up here; we ship out. Do not go vigilante on me."
"Copy that," he agreed, but they both knew he'd do whatever it took to keep Maddie safe. Gray would have felt the same way if it had been his woman in danger. No one hurt Laney on Gray's watch.
Ten minutes later, they were in the Zodiac and gunning for Fantasy Island. As the sailor brought them in, focusing with laser-like precision on the small break in the reef, Mason kept his own eyes trained on the shore. If Santiago had made it here first, he could be laid up in the jungle, waiting to open fire, or he could be making his way to Maddie's place. The island seemed as serene as ever, although a boatload of armed SEALs wasn't going to help the look any. Mason had to hope no one was watching, or they'd attribute an inflatable full of armed men to the Belizean navy, but waiting until dark wasn't an option.
As soon as the Zodiac hit the beach, he vaulted over the side, boots hitting the water hard. He'd get under cover. Fan out and head straight for Maddie. Gray's hand on his arm pulled him to a halt. Not good.
"Get Maddie and bring her back down to the beach. We roll in an hour."
"On it." There must have been something in his eyes-something he didn't want to examine too closely himself-because Gray nodded and let him go. Mason didn't waste time, either, heading straight for Maddie's villa at a dead run. Ashley would be undercover, eyes on Maddie, so Mason went around back. If Santiago showed up, she'd trigger the alarm.
Breaking in through the bathroom was too easy. The villa had one of those exotic outdoor bathrooms, and it took mere seconds to hoist himself over the wall and drop down into her shower. The damned door didn't even lock-he just eased it to the side and he was in.
The bathroom looked as if it had been hit by a Category Three storm. Lingerie, dresses, flip-flops and a million teeny bottles of stuff were scattered everywhere. He paused. Listened. Clear. Cracking the door, he swept the room visually.
Maddie was asleep on the bed. Probably not on purpose, since she still had her laptop with its hot pink cover parked on her lap. Her head had fallen back, red hair fanning out over her pillow, a little whuff that was an almost snore escaping her. The sound would have been cute as hell if he hadn't been scanning the room for possible intruders.
Holding the gun down at his side, he moved swiftly to the bed. Sleeping Beauty needed to wake up and get with the let's-get-rescued program. Gently but firmly he covered her mouth with his hand, leaning down to whisper against her ear.
"Wake up, sweetheart."
* * *
THE HAND OVER her mouth woke Maddie up, the unexpected contact followed by the shock of a body pressed against her startling her when she'd gone to bed alone. She lived through a moment of sickening, adrenaline-laced panic before she realized who exactly was holding her.
"It's Mason," he growled unnecessarily. "No noise, okay? Nod your head for me if you understand."
Something wasn't right. That was what she understood, but she nodded, because, hello? The whole hand-over-the-mouth thing wasn't her kind of kink. And if it wasn't kink, she had a bigger problem. Besides, while it was clearly Mason looming over her, Mason who'd come uninvited into her room, he wasn't her Mason. He looked different, harder, and it wasn't just the black and green paint streaking his face.
"Is this some kind of game?" She tossed her laptop to the side, rolling instinctively away from him. "Because I think we already said everything we needed to say."
"We have to go," he whispered, not looking at her. Instead, he scanned the corners of her villa as if he expected something. "We need to get you off the island."
"I believe I said, ‘Let's have a future together!' And you said, ‘Over my dead body!' Or something way too close to that. You may have dressed it up with the ‘it's not you, it's me' and the ‘I'm not looking for a relationship right now' speeches, but that's what I heard."
"Look at me," he demanded, his harsh gaze swinging back to her face.
Oh, she was looking, all right-and nothing added up. This wasn't paintball attire, and something was seriously wrong. A noise outside the villa interrupted her crazy thoughts. She wasn't sure what it was-housekeeping cart, falling coconut, demented parrot-but Mason pulled some ninja stealth move, rolling her off the bed and beneath him. His hand came back over her mouth, his body tensing as he raised his weapon at her door. His weapon. Holy shit. He had a gun. He braced his free hand above her head, his fingers curled around the stock, where she could see dirt and a smear of something red. Blood?
"Mason-" She jumped, suddenly afraid, her lungs closing up. Who was he?
"Shh," he whispered roughly against her hair. "Breathe for me. Let's see if we've got company."
She hadn't thought her heart could beat triple time, unless she was in heart-attack territory, but the sensation of his large, familiar-and-yet-not body pressing her down into the floor had her all but hyperventilating.
Dark brown eyes stared intently into hers. "Can you stay put for me? Do you need your inhaler?"
He had a gun. She'd agree to anything. When she nodded, he rolled off her and headed for the front of the villa. That worked for her. She lunged for the bedside phone. He froze, head swinging toward her, but the business end of the gun didn't budge from her front door.
"Don't," he warned, as if he was used to giving orders and being obeyed. Too bad for him that requests from madmen didn't count. Lifting the receiver off the base, she punched the button for security. Nothing. Nada. Not a dial tone, not a friendly voice.
He strode toward her, his face hard and closed off as he took in her panic and her finger banging away on the button for security. "Grab your purse. Your passport. Anything critical that you need that fits in a small bag."
Hell. No.
"Who are you?" she asked in a strangled voice. Did the bathroom door have a lock? Could she beat him there? "And don't give me the line about the chef again. If you're a chef, you're bat-shit crazy."
"I'm a US Navy SEAL," he growled. "Cut me some slack here. I can't go into details, but I'm here on an op and there's a credible threat against you. We need to move you somewhere safe."
"If you're going to sell me a bridge next, I'm not buying."
Naturally, he advanced. Back down wasn't part of Mason Whoever-He-Was's vocabulary, any more than concede was in hers. She flung up a hand.
"Stop right there," she ordered.
He laughed. A harsh, guttural, grunting sound, but the bastard laughed at her.
* * *
"MADDIE-"
She snarled at him and he actually backed up a step. "Yesterday I apparently proposed marriage to a total stranger. I'd like to recover from my humiliation alone, please."
"I'm not the guy for you, and we don't have time for this."
She met his gaze head-on. That was his Maddie. Leap first, look later and live large. "Believe me, we're in complete agreement there."
"I had a job to do," he stressed. "A covert job. I'm under orders not to tell anyone why I'm here."
"Uh-huh." She gestured toward him. "Let's say I agree to believe you about the whole secret-SEAL-mission thing, since your show-and-tell exhibit is fairly convincing. Does that mean you were under orders to sleep with me, too? As part of the whole ‘undercover' deal?"