Some kind of commotion echoed from behind the steel door. Ramon turned to look that way. Knowing it was her only chance, Avery grasped the back of the metal chair nearby, lifted it over her head, and swung as hard as she could.
A grunt sounded through the room. She didn’t wait to see if Ramon responded. She swung out and back again, nailing him on the side of the head. He went down with a thunk. Heart thundering, Avery dropped the chair, jumped over him, and reached for the door.
Don’t be locked, don’t be locked…
Her hand closed around the handle, and she pulled. The door gave with a hiss and pulled inward. She stumbled out into the small hallway. Footsteps pounded to her right. Fear clawed its way up her throat. She turned and ran. A hand closed over her arm and yanked her back.
“No!” she screamed.
“Ava, it’s me. Ava!”
Strong arms pulled her in. Avery took one whiff of that familiar scent and fell into Cade’s chest.
“I’ve got you.” His voice shook. One hand closed over the back of her head, holding her close. “I’ve got you.”
Footsteps pounded. From above, Avery heard him say, “Through there.”
She pulled back and looked up. “Cade—”
He gripped her face in both hands, his worried gaze searching her face. “Are you okay? Did they—”
“I’m okay. They didn’t hurt me.” Three people raced by them in the hallway, all decked out in dark blue clothing with white letters she couldn’t make out. “H-how did you find me?”
A relieved smile spread across his familiar face, and he trailed one finger down to the pendant hanging from her neck. “Tracking device.”
The necklace. The one he’d told her to wear on the plane. She sank into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”
“Yeah, I do.” His voice hitched, and he held her tight against him again. “You scared the crap out of me, princess. When I couldn’t find you, I thought…”
Princess. The word warmed her from the inside out. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I—”
She pushed back quickly and looked up. “Melody. Oh my God, Cade, she’s here. There are others—”
“Shh…” He smoothed the hair back from her temple. “I know. We found them. DEA already has them out.”
“DEA?”
“They were at the resort undercover, about to take down Luis’s contact. They were more than happy to step in and help out with this.”
Two DEA agents hauled Ramon out to her right. She looked their way, then buried her face in Cade’s chest again, not wanting to think about…to see…what could have happened in that room.
Cade mumbled something she couldn’t make out and held her close. Footsteps faded. After several moments, he whispered, “You saved those women’s lives, you know. Especially Melody’s.”
She thought back to Melody’s vacant eyes, and her heart hurt for her friend. “I just wish we’d found them sooner.”
“You can’t think like that. You have to think about the positive.”
She eased back and looked up at him. “It was Patrice. She was the one who checked us in at the resort. I saw her—”
A woman’s voice screeched, “Don’t touch me!” and Cade stiffened, dragging Avery closer to the wall. His jaw clenched. She turned to look over her shoulder. Two more DEA agents had Patrice handcuffed and were leading her toward the stairs. She glared their way, then hollered, “I want my lawyer. You can’t prove anything!”
The DEA agent on her right muttered something that sounded like, “You bet your ass we can,” but Avery couldn’t be sure.
Their footsteps pounded up the metal steps, then disappeared as they went topside. When they were gone, Cade tipped Avery’s chin his way. “It wasn’t just her. She had the local District Constable under her thumb, fudging missing persons reports, along with two other guys who worked at various other resorts. They were looking for tourists who wouldn’t be missed. They chose poorly when they picked your friend Melody.”
“Melody’s boyfriend went after her when he realized what was going on. She doesn’t know what happened to him.”
“The federal authorities will find him. We’ll make sure.”
Avery closed her eyes on a wave of despair.
He rubbed a finger across her cheek. “You saved my life too, you know. If something had happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to go on. Look at me, Ava.”
Slowly, she opened her eyes and caught her breath at the emotions she saw brewing in his dark irises. “I love you, Avery Scott. I’ve loved you since I was eighteen. I’ve loved every stupid movie you’ve ever made, and I hate every single guy you’ve kissed on-screen and off.”
She laughed. She wasn’t sure why. A combination of relief and disbelief and, yes, love. The same love he was suddenly talking about.
“I’ve made so many mistakes,” he went on, “but on the way out here to find you, I promised myself I wasn’t going to make them again. And I plan on spending the rest of my life fixing everything I’ve broken. If you’ll let me.”
“Cade.” Her heart swelled, and she reached up to brush her fingers over the edge of his scar near his jaw. A jaw she’d kissed and licked only hours ago. A jaw she wanted to explore all over again as soon as they were alone. “We’ve both made mistakes. I don’t blame you for any of them.”
“Are you sure? You walked away from me pretty easy.”
“I was…confused. I’ve spent a long time blaming you for things you didn’t deserve. I wasn’t running. I was just trying to make sense of them in my head.”
“Do they? Make sense?”
“No,” she huffed “Nothing with you has ever made sense.” Sobering, she looked deep into his eyes, and in the silence, her heart felt like it kick-started to life. She lifted her hand to brush her fingers against his stubbly jaw. “But nothing has ever felt as right either.”
He closed his eyes and pulled her in for a tight hug, as if he never wanted to release her, and she found her arms winding around his shoulders, her heart beating fast and strong next to his.
Could she let go of the past? Yeah, she already had. The moment she’d told him about their daughter. Closure, Melody had called it, and this time Avery wasn’t acting. The question was, could she open that door and take a chance on the future with him all over again?
She drew in a deep whiff of his scent and knew this was right. Everything else—the past, the hurt, all those years apart—they didn’t matter. All that mattered was the two of them, together the way they should have been so long ago.
“Hollywood’s a crappy place to raise a child, you know.”
He stilled against her. “It is?”
Easing back, she nodded. Hope bloomed across his rugged features. A hope that gave her strength. “And since I’m not taking that part, I’m thinking a nice long break from Hollywood is in order.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “What do you have in mind?”
She fingered the edge of his collar. “I hear Kentucky’s pretty. Rolling hills, good weather, kids.” Her gaze lifted to his. “Zach, right?”
He nodded slowly. A nervous incline of his head that warmed her heart even more.
“He’s a part of you, and that makes him special to me. I can’t wait to meet him. If, that is, you’ll let me.”
He framed her face, lowered his head, and took her lips in a soft, sweet kiss that melted every muscle in her body. “I love you,” he whispered. “I love you more than you will ever know.”
“I love you too.” She gripped his shoulders and kissed him back. Gave him everything he was giving her and more.
She pulled back. “One thing, though.”
His brow lifted.
“No more swingers resorts. It sets a bad example.”
He laughed and closed his arms around her again. “Anything you want, Mrs. Black.”
She held him close and sighed, loving the sound of that. “It’s Blackwell.
And I could get used to hearing that.”
“You will. I promise, princess, you will.”
Thank you for reading FIRST EXPOSURE.
I hope you enjoyed Cade and Avery’s story! If you’d like to get a sneak peak at the first full-length novel about the Aegis Security team, EXTREME MEASURES coming in 2014, turn the page! And if you’d like to read the story that launched the series, look for my novella, ACAPULCO HEAT, in the BODYGUARDS IN BED Anthology.
If you would like to know when my next book is available, you can sign up for my new release email list at ElisabethNaughton.com. Follow me on Twitter (ElisNaughton), or like my Facebook page
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To see a list of my other books and to read exclusive excerpts, visit ElisabethNaughton.com.
BOOKS BY ELISABETH NAUGHTON
Stolen Series
(Romantic Suspense)
STOLEN CHANCES
STOLEN SEDUCTION
STOLEN HEAT
STOLEN FURY
STOLEN SERIES BOXED SET
Aegis Security Series
(Romantic Suspense)
FIRST EXPOSURE
EXTREME MEASURES (Coming 2013)
Eternal Guardians Series
(Paranormal romance)
BOUND
ENSLAVED
ENRAPTURED
TEMPTED
ENTWINED
MARKED
Firebrand Series
(Paranormal romance)
POSSESSED BY DESIRE
SLAVE TO PASSION
BOUND TO SEDUCTION
FIREBRAND BOX SET
Against All Odds Series
(Contemporary Romance)
WAIT FOR ME
HOLD ON TO ME (Coming 2013)
Anthologies
WICKED FIRSTS
(with Cynthia Eden, Alexandra Ivy, Joan Swan, Laura Wright and Katie Reus)
DARK NIGHTS DANGEROUS MEN
(with Cynthia Eden, Alexandra Ivy, Joan Swan, Laura Wright and Katie Reus)
BODYGUARDS IN BED
(with Lucy Monroe and Jamie Denton)
EXTREME MEASURES
Read on for a sneak peak at the
first full-length novel in the Aegis Security Series.
Coming 2014
CHAPTER ONE
Guatemala
ETA to extraction: Twelve minutes and counting.
Zane Archer scanned the darkened compound from the trees just beyond the perimeter wall and tried to ignore the sweltering jungle heat.
Too bad it didn’t work.
Sweat gathered under his fatigues and beneath his helmet, but he knew soon the temperature would be the least of his worries. Wiping a hand over the moisture dripping into his eyes, he looked through the scope. At this hour—nearly three A.M.—the only lights flickering were in two windows on the second floor of the Mediterranean-style mansion. A guard roamed the portico outside the first floor, and other than a few howler monkeys chirping in the jungle canopy nearby, no other sound besides leaves and palm fronds rustling met his ears.
He glanced at his watch again. ETA to extraction: Eleven minutes, Twenty-five seconds.
Nerves fluttered in his belly, but he ignored those too. Keeping the M4 carbine rifle trained on the guard, he tipped his head toward the com unit near his shoulder. “Look alive, boys. We’re coming up on go time.”
In his earpiece, the radio squawked. “You’re sure he’s in there?”
Jake Ryder’s skepticism was nothing new. But on this, Zane was confident. “Carter’s intel is sound.”
“It’d better be,” Jake muttered. “Our balls are dangling out here in the breeze, Archer.”
Zane bit back the smartass comment because Jake had let him take the lead on this one and looked through his scope again, scanning the perimeter once more.
His heart picked up speed, and adrenaline flooded his system. Ryder and Hedley should have their men in position on the far side of the compound by now. Though Zane was confident this extraction was going to go down without a hitch, he knew Jake Ryder—CEO of Aegis Security, the private company comprised of Zane and a handful of elite specialists from around the globe—wasn’t so sure. Jake didn’t know “Carter” from a fart in the wind. And though he was aware Zane and Carter had teamed together during Zane’s five years with the CIA, he still questioned the fact this whole op hinged on the intel Carter had passed along to Zane. Intel that said one Adam Humbolt, Ph.D. and specialist in chemical weaponry, was being held in this Guatemalan compound by a gang of thugs who worked for Central American drug lord Roberto Contosa.
“Humbolt’s in there,” he said into his com unit. “Trust me, Carter and the Company want this guy free as much as we do.”
Not as much. More. Humbolt “officially” didn’t work for the U.S. government, but word on the street was the scientist knew some super top secret shit the U.S. didn’t want shared with anyone, Central American drug lords included. And though logic said this extraction probably should have fallen to a SEAL or DELTA team, because the State Department didn’t want this op on record, the job had been handed off to Aegis with its superior track record. Their orders were simple: get the job done quietly and quickly and with no link back to the U.S. government whatsoever.
Ryder didn’t respond, and Zane knew his boss was thinking, we’ll see, but facts were facts. Sure, there were a whole lot of people who wanted the science percolating in Humbolt’s genius mind, another bunch who’d like to see him dead, but the ones who mattered just wanted him back in the States alive and in one piece.
Time ticked by slowly in the oppressive early morning heat. Zane could all but feel the adrenaline from his teammates stationed around the compound. And though he tried to stay focused as he waited, he couldn’t stop his mind from drifting back to the last time he’d worked with Carter. To being stuck in that run-down apartment in Beirut he’d shared with Carter and Juliet. To the months of running surveillance, blending in, fighting back the boredom. To the nights he’d been alone with Juliet when Carter had been out. To the laughs, the looks, the heated moments that never should have happened.
“Jesus,” he whispered. “You are such a fucking moron.”
“You say something?” Hedley piped in his ear.
Shit, he was talking to himself. He cleared his throat, peered through the scope again, and put all thoughts of Juliet out of his mind for good. “Remember, boys,” he said, drawing on his military training. “Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
“Ooh-rah,” Landon Miller murmured, the only communication the former Marine had uttered since they’d set up the perimeter.
As the team went black, Zane said a quick prayer they’d be in and out in seconds rather than minutes or hours. Said another that no one got dead.
He shifted his finger from guard to trigger. Lined up the compound sentry in his crosshairs. And just as the last second passed on his watch, he fired once, killing the south end sentry with a barely audible pop. On the north end, he was confident Ryder had just accomplished the same.
He was out of the tree and across the wall before the sentry’s body hit the ground, rappelling the cement structure as quickly as possible and bracing his rifle against his shoulder as he crossed the dew-covered grass. At the southwest corner of the compound, he caught up with Hedley’s group coming in from the side and pointed up, signaling the hostage room they’d identified earlier on the second floor.
Miller and Stone tossed ropes up and over the second story balcony, the grappling hooks catching the balustrade and securing tight. Zane followed Hedley to the second floor, waited in silence as the other two men climbed up and over the railing. As a silent unit, they made their way across the balcony and lined up outside the hostage room.
Hedley signaled with his finger, counted to three, then pulled an M84 flash grenade from his pack. When he got the nod from Hedley, Zane used his rifle to blow open the door of the compound. Hed
ley jerked the pin from his grenade and tossed it into the room.
A roar shook the building and echoed through the darkness, followed by a blinding flash of light, intended to disorient those inside.
Zane was the first through the door, sweeping the right side of the room with his gun. Hedley came in on his tail, scanning the left while Miller and Stone followed through the middle zone. Shouts echoed around them. Zane caught sight of two hostages, tied in chairs in the center of the room, then the tangos, two on the right, one on the left, all three scrambling for weapons in their confusion.
He fired two double-taps, shifted his weapon to the second target, and fired again. The shots hit dead center in the chest, dropping the captors with quick pops. “Clear right,” he said into his shoulder.
To his left, he heard two more pops and saw the last captor go down. “Clear left,” Hedley echoed in his earpiece.
“All clear,” Miller followed from the middle of the room.
“Who’s there?” The man in the chair turned his head from side to side, his vision obstructed by a black bandana tied at the back of his head
“The cavalry.” Zane yanked the blindfold from Humbolt’s head. The man blinked several times. He was thin from weeks in captivity, and he looked like he’d taken a major beating. Bruises and dried blood covered one whole side of his face.
In the chair beside him, the brunette vibrated with fear. Zane shot her a look and then refocused on the job at hand. “Mr. Humbolt, we’re here to get you out.”
“Thank God,” Humbolt breathed.
Hedley cut the hostages’ ties while Zane and the other two got them to their feet.
“How did you find us?” the woman asked in a shaky voice as Zane ushered her toward the door. She didn’t look much steadier on her feet than Humbolt, but at least she wasn’t black and blue.
Zane didn’t know who she was, but there’d be plenty of time for intros later. “We’ll fill you in once we’re secure. Right now just focus on keeping up.”