Craving Cecilia Read online

  I let myself fall down that rabbit hole, planning long-term instead of thinking about the fact that we were stuck in a closet, and I had no idea when help would come or if they’d be there before we were found. Dying inside that closet was not an option. I wouldn’t even let myself think about it.

  Eventually, my mind traveled back to what I’d need to do if someone came in that door looking for us. My .38 had six rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber. Assuming that I hit what I was aiming at, I’d have a good chance if there were less than four men in the house. Ideally, I could take another weapon off of someone, but I couldn’t count on that. I’d be working one-handed, because there was no way I could leave the baby behind.

  My plans were interrupted when a small, hungry mouth started rooting around against my neck. She’d held out longer than I’d thought she would, but she was impatient as hell as I tried to get us situated. Making shushing noises, I bounced her as I searched the bag for supplies. If she started screaming, we were fucked.

  Just as she started to eat, I heard a sound in the bedroom outside the closet. I strained, trying to figure out what it was as I slid my hand into my purse and grabbed my pistol.

  By the time the closet door opened and the light came on, I was ready. Through the small gap in the coats, I stared at the spot in front of us, lifted the .38, and waited.

  Chapter 2

  Mark

  I didn’t sleep well. Years in the military and working as a private contractor afterward meant I’d seen more than my fair share of shit that liked to replay behind my eyelids when I closed them. I’d gotten used to it for the most part, figured out ways to shut my mind down enough that I could get the rest I needed. On the worst nights, I found myself replaying memories of long blonde hair, tanned limbs, breathy sighs and hoarse groans, using good memories to replace the bad. Most of the time, I didn’t even feel guilty about it. I hadn’t been able to use any of my tricks when I’d climbed into bed that night, though, so I’d gotten dressed and headed out to the garage. Something was churning in my gut and I had no idea why, but I’d learned not to ignore the feeling, not even for fantasies of a lover I hadn’t seen in nearly a decade.

  I set my phone face up next to me on the bench as I got to work polishing an old bike frame. I’d probably sell this particular piece, since I had no interest in completely rebuilding the bike, but I still got satisfaction out of restoring it. Working with my hands centered me and cleared my head in a way nothing else did. I just wished I had more time for it.

  When my phone finally rang, I wasn’t even surprised. What did surprise me was the unknown number that scrolled across the screen. Normally, I wouldn’t have answered it, telemarketers irritated the hell out of me, but there was no way I was going to miss that call.

  “Eastwood,” I answered, tucking the phone between my shoulder and face so I could wipe off my hands.

  “Woody,” the caller replied. It had been a long fucking time since I’d heard that familiar rasp.

  I hadn’t left Oregon on good terms with Casper’s family, especially his older daughter Cecilia, but we’d crossed paths a few times when I’d been out to visit. It was impossible to avoid each other at the clubhouse, and while I’d left that life behind, I hadn’t lost the respect I had for the men who’d stepped in and helped raise me after my father died. Whenever I was in Oregon, I tried to stop by and say hello. They deserved that much. I hadn’t actually spoken to Casper in years, though, and as soon as I heard his voice, I knew there was only one reason he’d be calling.

  “Is she okay?” I asked, getting up from the bench. Ignoring the frame I’d been working on, I went straight to the house, locking the garage behind me as he started to speak.

  “Won’t ask how you know I’m calling about Cecilia,” he replied drolly. “She called me a couple hours ago, said she’s hidin’ in a house that just got shot up. Doesn’t know how many men are there, doesn’t know if they’ve left, doesn’t know shit, just that she’s in a fuckin’ closet scared outta her mind.”

  “She told you she was scared?” I asked as nausea burned in my stomach.

  “Hell, no,” he said grimly. “But I know my kid. We’re on our way down—”

  “Everyone?” I asked as I jogged down the hallway to my bedroom, where I kept the gun safe.

  “Just me, Farrah and Cam,” Casper replied. “CeeCee didn’t want everyone knowin’, so we’ve kept it between us. We need the boys, I’ll let them know. Far as I can tell, any of the heavy liftin’ will have to be done by someone else because we won’t get there until tomorrow.” He didn’t sound happy about that fact, and I couldn’t blame him. Urgency thrummed under my skin and she wasn’t my kid.

  “That’s where I come in,” I said as I started pulling gear out of the safe.

  “That’s where you come in,” he confirmed. “You in town?”

  “Just got in two days ago,” I replied. “Good timing.”

  “Yeah, no shit,” he said with a huff. “And thank fuck for that. I tried my other contacts—one’s in the wind and the other is vacationing in fuckin’ Tahoe.”

  “I got this,” I muttered. “Where’s she at?”

  “She dropped a fuckin’ dot on her phone. You know what that means?”

  “A pin?” I asked, surprised that I could feel amused and fucking frantic at the same time.

  “Yeah. That. Sent it to Cam’s phone. He’ll send it to you.”

  “That works,” I said as I stripped out of my jeans and flannel.

  “You got back up?” he asked. “If you don’t, I can probably scramble some boys—just none that I’d be willing to lead the pack, if you know what I mean.”

  I knew exactly what he meant, and I had no interest in having shitbird dumbfucks at my back.

  “I’ve got a team,” I replied.

  “Figures.”

  “Anything else I should know?”

  “She’s gonna be trigger-happy and ridin’ the edge,” he warned. “I let her know someone’s on the way, but you better fuckin’ announce yourself so she doesn’t shoot you.” He paused before muttering, “No promises that she doesn’t shoot anyway.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” I replied, silently acknowledging the truth in his words. “I’ll let you know when we’re headed that way. Should take less than an hour.”

  “Hurry, but don’t hurry so much that you’re stupid,” he said.

  “You forget what I do for a living?” I asked, pausing in annoyance with my pants half-buttoned.

  “Didn’t forget, that’s why I called you,” he replied. “But I also know how different shit is when it’s someone you care about.”

  “I’m good,” I lied. “I’ll text you when it’s done. Send that pin.”

  “It’s already sent,” he said before hanging up.

  I checked my messages and found the pin that Cam sent, cursing when I realized it would take forty minutes to get there. San Diego County was fucking huge and the traffic sucked.

  Scrolling through my contacts, I found the number I was looking for and pressed send.

  “Just cause you don’t sleep, doesn’t mean I don’t,” Forrest answered groggily.

  “Need your help,” I replied grimly.

  His voice was immediately alert when he spoke again. “Talk to me.”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, I’d reached out to each member of my team and Forrest was knocking on my front door.

  “Josiah and Ephraim just pulled up behind me,” he said as he strode in the front door.

  “Wilson and Eli should be here shortly,” I replied as I repacked the duffle bag on my kitchen table. “Lu said she was going to run over, should be walking in—”

  I didn’t finish my sentence before the only woman on our team, Lu, was opening the sliding glass door that led to my back yard.

  “Decided to just jump the fences,” she said, swinging her backpack off her shoulder. “Boys almost here?”

  “Yep,” Forrest confirmed.
<
br />   Within minutes, our entire team was crowded around my kitchen table, a seven-person unit that worked like a well-oiled machine.

  “I don’t know much,” I said as I looked around the group. “Old friend called me tonight and said that his daughter is in trouble. She heard gunshots and hid in a closet of some house in La Jolla. Fair warning, I have no fucking clue what we’re walking into.”

  “How old is this daughter?” Wilson asked.

  “My age,” I replied, meeting his eyes.

  “And you know her in the biblical sense?” he asked, his head tilting a little to the side. He must have read something in my tone or body language, but I couldn’t take the time to figure out what my tell had been.

  “When we were teenagers,” I said with a short nod.

  “I’m takin’ point,” Forrest said firmly.

  I opened my mouth to argue then closed it again. He was right. It galled me to realize that I was too close to the situation to be objective.

  “Vests, paint, and night vision,” Eli ordered. “Masks at the ready for when we get close enough for the cameras.”

  “You know for sure if they have eyes?” Siah asked.

  “It’s a house in La Jolla,” Eli replied. “They’ve definitely got cameras. We’ll avoid them if we can, but if we miss one, I don’t want any of our mugs on the six o’clock news.”

  We geared up and climbed into Forrest’s black SUV and Ephraim’s Jeep. As soon as I was sitting, anxiety hit me so hard and fast that my knee started to bounce up and down. I didn’t even recognize the emotion for a second, because it had been so long since I’d felt it. I got nervous, sure. I felt fear. You didn’t put yourself into high risk situations and never feel those things—those instincts kept you alive. But I hadn’t felt this pure, helpless fear in years, not since I was seventeen years old, beat to shit, and laying on my back in the shade of an old white house while gunfire erupted all around me.

  “You good?” Lu asked, reaching forward from the back seat to pat my shoulders.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Hate not knowing what we’re walking into.”

  “We’re in the US of A,” she said, slapping me once more on my shoulder. “This is gonna be a piece of cake compared to anywhere we’ve been overseas.”

  “Gonna be nice drivin’ away without havin’ to watch for shit in the road,” Forrest said, thumping his hand against the steering wheel.

  “Exactly,” Lu said, leaning back in her seat with a sigh. “No IED’s, no ambushes, just a quick snatch and grab and then we’re gone. Poof.”

  I didn’t vocalize the crap swirling around in my head. I knew they were trying to downplay it all, even if they were telling the truth, but that didn’t mean shit, not really. Because if we didn’t reach her in time, I wouldn’t give a fuck how easy it was to get out of there. My only concern was getting to her, making sure she was safe, and extracting her from the house. Getting away clean was the least of my worries.

  It took less time than I’d planned for to get to the end of the long, gated driveway, which was a plus, but the gate was locked up tight, which meant we were going to have to get to the house on foot. We drove a quarter of a mile past the gate and spun around before parking further down the hill on the side of the road. Thankfully, both the rigs were dark, because parked cars were definitely out of the ordinary on that stretch of road. They’d be noticed, but hopefully, the color would make it harder for any other drivers to remember them later.

  “We’ll hop the fence down here,” Forrest said. “Looks like the owners like trees, thank fuck, so we should have some cover until we get closer to the house. Assume that there’s an alarm system and move forward accordingly.”

  “Got it,” Wilson said. “Should take me about forty seconds to disable it once I’m within ten feet of the house.”

  “Me, Eli and Lu will stick to the front with Wilson,” Forrest said. “Eph, Siah and Chief around the back. Don’t breach until you get my say-so.” He locked eyes with me. “Everyone’s comms working?”

  “Yep.”

  “Yep.”

  “Mine’s good.”

  “Ay-oh.”

  “Yep.”

  “All good,” I replied with a nod.

  “Let’s—” Forrest paused. “Christ. What’s her name, man? We show up in there, we’re going to scare the hell out of her.”

  “Cecilia,” I replied. I shook my head. Fuck, I needed to get my shit together. “And she’s armed.”

  Eli jerked his head forward in surprise and widened his eyes at me. “Probably a good thing to know,” he spat.

  “And this is why I took point,” Forrest muttered. “Try not to get yourselves shot.”

  I didn’t bother to apologize, because I already looked like a fucking moron. Jesus Christ, I was always on top of my shit. We had to grab a couple of preschoolers out of a house somewhere on the other side of the world? I was the one who had candy in my pocket for the inevitable freak out. Stuck inside a busted-up school with no conceivable way out? Hey, I’d packed fucking water for this eventuality, it looked like we wouldn’t die of dehydration before we could get extracted. You’re welcome.

  “Cecilia,” Wilson mused over the comm. “Now, where have I seen that name before?”

  Lu chuckled.

  “Was it a tattoo, maybe?” Ephraim joked. “I swear I’ve seen a bad tattoo of that name.”

  “Enough,” Forrest snapped quietly.

  “Don’t make me take you down,” Siah said to me as we cleared the fence and moved swiftly through the trees. “You start bein’ stupid and I’ll drop your ass.”

  “I won’t,” I said through my teeth. Fuck, we were so close. I was hyper focused as the house came into view, the driveway and front porch lit up like a fucking Christmas tree.

  There was a car out front, and everyone dropped to the ground as a man came out the front door, closing it behind him. He didn’t rush as he walked to the car and put a box of shit on the front seat. My head jerked in surprise when I realized he was whistling as he rounded the hood and climbed inside.

  “It can’t be that fuckin’ easy,” Forrest breathed into the mic. “Once he’s out the gate, move in. Slowly.”

  It felt like it took an hour for the car to drive off the property, but it had to be only minutes. Then we were on the move. Slow and steady, watching for any movement, keeping out of camera range, pausing as Wilson checked for an alarm system and then muttered that it wasn’t armed. Breaching the back door quietly with Siah’s unparalleled lockpicking skill. Moving into the mud room, then the kitchen, then the hallway. Meeting up with the rest of the team in the foyer, ignoring the opulence of the house as the sight of a woman’s bare feet came into view from a room opposite the stairs. Forrest and Wilson checked on the woman as the rest of us cleared the bottom floor of the house. The place was empty.

  We moved up the stairs slowly, waiting and watching.

  “Cameras are down,” Wilson said into the comm. “Got two cold ones down here. Man and a woman.”

  We moved faster once we didn’t have to be careful of the cameras, but the house was fucking enormous. I had no idea what people did with so much space. All the rooms were furnished and came with a walk-in closet and private bathroom, and we cleared every single one. Each time I opened the door to a closet, I braced myself, but most of them were empty. The few that held anything were still so bare that no one could hide in them.

  The master bedroom took the longest to search because it had so much shit in it. This was the bedroom that was actually lived in. Instead of a perfectly made bed and tastefully arranged furniture, there were clothes thrown over a chair back and shoes nearly covering the floor of the closet. Books were stacked on one nightstand and a laptop on the other. The bed was sloppily made, as if they’d just thrown the comforter over everything and called it good. Apparently, these people didn’t have a live-in maid, because the living spaces hadn’t been straightened up for a few days. At least we knew that there wasn’t some ot
her innocent hiding or dead somewhere in the house.

  My patience grew thin as we went through the room, because I knew she wasn’t in there. If she had been, she would’ve identified it to Casper so we’d know where to look. Still, we had to make sure that the house was empty, every inch of it.

  When we hit the fifth bedroom, the one directly next to the master, something clicked into place. It was a nursery, painted a pale yellow, and like the rest of the guest bedrooms, it looked unused, but something niggled at the back of my mind. Something was off. I held up my hand to stop the men behind me, and looked over the room. A crib was in the corner with a blanket tastefully thrown over the edge. On the opposite wall was a changing table, diapers and wipes and bath supplies perfectly aligned on the shelves, like they hadn’t been used yet. A rocking chair sat in the middle of a fuzzy area rug. Next to that was a baby swing that hadn’t even been plugged in.

  My gaze snapped back to the rocking chair. Something—yeah, someone had been sitting on the cushions of that chair. The rest of the room looked untouched, but that chair had been used. There was a slight depression in the light gray cushion, not where their ass had been, but oddly, where they’d rested their head.

  “She’s in here,” I said, inaudible beyond the comm in my ear.

  I checked the bathroom first, just to be sure, but I knew it would be empty. Then, as if they knew to wait and let me go in first, I met Josiah and Ephraim at the door to the closet.

  Taking a deep breath, I swung open the door and reached for the switch. The closet was full of shit, racks and racks of women’s clothes from one end of the space to the other. A damn near perfect place to hide. I stepped forward, but instinct made me pause and pull the mask up to the top of my head. Holding my weapon at the ready, I turned my gaze toward the side that was thickest with coats.

  “Cec?”

  I barely breathed as a long fur coat twitched and then was slowly pushed to the side.

  Then there she was, blinking against the bright lights of the closet, pointing a .38 directly at my crotch, with a baby nursing at her breast.