Navy SEAL Survival (5 page)

Butterflies fluttered against the lining of her belly. Duff was a temptation she could ill afford.

Turning the warm water to cold, she forced back the desire stirring inside and concentrated on her next steps.

Natalie climbed into the luxurious bed and laid her head on the pillow, wondering where Melody was sleeping. With her sister missing, Natalie didn't expect to sleep at all. But once she closed her eyes, the exhaustion of worry dragged her into a deep, dream-filled sleep.

Throughout the night she suffered through nightmares of bad guys taking girls from their beds and herding them through the jungle. She also dreamed of Duff lying on the sand beside her, leaning up on one elbow to stare down at her. Then he was kissing her, nudging her legs apart with his knee. He lowered himself over her and thrust deep inside her.

Natalie woke with a start to the sound of her phone's alarm ringing in her ear. What she thought would be a sleepless night had passed and another day had begun.

She had to find Melody. She rose with renewed purpose, slipping into a bright pink bikini, sure to draw attention to her and her near-naked body. Hopefully the attention of whoever had targeted Melody. Setting herself up as bait seemed to be the only way she could lure Melody's captors out into the open.

A small group of young men and women gathered in the hotel lobby, wearing swimsuits and carrying bags with towels and sunscreen.

A young woman with brown hair and brown eyes waved a clipboard above her head. “All those going on the Scuba Cancun dive excursion, if you've already checked in with me, please make your way to the bus outside. We leave in two minutes.”

Natalie gave the woman her name.

“You're good to go. Find a seat on the bus.”

With a quick glance around the lobby, Natalie hurried outside to the waiting bus. Once seated, she leaned forward, pretending to dig in her bag. She tapped the earbud in her ear. “Going silent as soon as we board the boat,” she whispered.

“Roger,” Lance responded. “Sure you don't want me out there as backup?”

“No. I can handle this.”

“I have you on my GPS tracking screen. Be careful out there.”

“Will do.”

“Is this seat taken?” a deep, sexy voice asked.

Natalie jerked her head up and crashed into a strong, hard chin. “Oh!”

Duff Calloway clapped a hand to his jaw. “Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.”

“I'm the one who's sorry.” She scooted over, allowing him to take the seat beside her. “I hope I didn't break anything. I've been known to be hardheaded.”

Duff slid onto the seat, his thigh bumping against hers. “I've been hit harder in a barroom fight.” He worked his jaw back and forth and then grinned. “I didn't expect to see you on this dive.”

She shrugged. “Seemed like the thing to do in Cancun. My coworkers back home recommended the diving here.”

“Have you dived before or is this your first time?”

“I have a couple of times,” Natalie responded.

“Sounds like you and this guy have met before,” Lance said softly into Natalie's ear. “If you want me to run a more thorough check on him, I can.”

With one man in her ear and the other pressing against her leg, Natalie predicted this situation could get out of hand quickly. “So,” she said. “What does Duff stand for?”

The man beside her smiled. “Dutton Calloway. Duff is the nickname my team calls me.”

Lance chuckled in her ear. “I'll dig a little deeper into his background.”

“Team?” Natalie turned toward him. “What kind of team?”

He glanced away. “Just the guys I work with.”

Interesting. Natalie narrowed her eyes. “What kind of work do you and your team do?”

“We're kind of a search-and-rescue crew.”

Natalie's eyes widened. “Like in the case of natural disasters?”

He shrugged. “Something like that.”

“I bet it can be dangerous.”

“You have no idea.”

The bus lurched forward on its way to the dock and the boat waiting to take them out to the dive location.

“What about you?” Duff started. “You mentioned your coworkers. What do you do for a living?”

She smiled and glanced out the window. “I freelance as a journalist.”

“Interesting.” He tapped a finger to his chin. “What do you write about?”

She grinned. “Travel, people and places.”

“I imagine you've been to more exotic places than Cancun?”

She nodded. “On occasion.”

“Do you do much diving off the coast of Britain?” he asked.

“Not so much. The water is cooler and pretty choppy. I prefer to dive in warmer climates.”

“You are an intriguing woman.” Duff said. “And here we are.”

All too soon the bus pulled to a stop at the marina where they boarded the boat that would take them to the reefs.

“Everybody choose a dive buddy,” the excursion leader announced. “And remember, this person will remain with you at all times. If anything goes wrong during the dive, your buddy is there to ensure you get out of the water safely.”

Duff grabbed Natalie's hand. “Got mine!” he said out loud, raising Natalie's hand into the air.

“Some wingman,” Sawyer groused and glanced around for a dive buddy.

Natalie leaned closer to Duff. “What if I didn't want to be your dive buddy?”

“But you do, don't you?” He winked. “I promise not to make any moves on you while we're under water.”

Natalie laughed. “I'm betting you have moves under water as well on dry land.”

He tilted his head. “Guilty. I like to think variety is the spice of life, and live accordingly.”

“You're hopeless.”

The captain guided the boat out of the slip and into open water. Natalie excused herself, claiming she needed to stow her bag. Once separated from Duff, she made her way around the boat, identifying the two dive masters, the first mate and the captain. All were Latino men under the age of thirty, except the captain, who appeared to be an American ex-patriot in his late forties. Nothing in their faces indicated they were involved in a human trafficking operation. Hell, what did a human trafficker look like, anyway? But that didn't take them off Natalie's suspect list. She'd keep a close eye on them.

Duff had joined his friends at the front of the craft, staring out to sea, talking and laughing.

The crew was too busy opening boxes of equipment and checking the tanks and regulators to answer questions. The best Natalie could do was to introduce herself, which forced them to supply their names. She'd repeat them so that Lance would hear them clearly over the roar of the engine.

Using her cell, she snapped pictures of the boat, the passengers and the crew under the pretext of being an excited tourist on a fun excursion. When she had the pictures she needed, she shot them to Lance back at the hotel. He'd run them through facial recognition scans. Maybe he'd find someone with a record for abducting women.

By the time she was satisfied with her covert observations, she ditched the earbud into her bag, joined the guests on the deck and found her dive buddy.

While the dive master instructed the less proficient members of the excursion, Natalie grabbed a buoyancy control device—BCD—and a regulator and tank, slipping the straps over her shoulder. Then she selected a mask, snorkel and fins and sat on a bench to slip her feet into the fins.

Duff had his equipment on and tested well before Natalie. He held his fins in his hands and stood beside the men she'd seen him with the night before.

“Hey, Duff.” The man with the black hair and brown eyes backhanded Duff in the belly. “You gonna introduce us to your dive partner?”

“Why would I do that?” Duff stepped between him and Natalie. “You'll just try to convince her to trade.”

“Got that right. She'd be trading up.” The man stepped around Duff and held out his hand. “Name's Sawyer. And you are?”

Before Natalie could reply, another man as tall as Duff with brown hair and green eyes shoved Sawyer aside. “You are beautiful. I'm Ben Raines, but you can call me Montana.”

Once again, before she could reach out to take the man's hand, yet another man with black hair and blue eyes stepped in front of Montana. “Quentin Lovett at your service. Let's say you and me ditch these morons and team up.”

Natalie laughed, her gaze searching for and finding Duff's.

His brows were angled toward his nose as he pushed through the hulking men. “Natalia and I are dive buddies. I suggest you find one of your own.”

Natalie smiled at the men. “You're very flattering and it's nice to meet you, but Duff's right—we're dive partners.”

“Lucky dog.” Quentin groused good-naturedly. “If she'd met me first, she'd know the difference between bottom skimming and quality.”

The boat slowed to a stop and Guillermo, the dive master, directed their attention to the safety briefing. Once they had all been checked, one of the crew members went in first. The remaining passengers could either roll or step off the platform at the rear of the boat.

Natalie waddled to the edge, shoved her regulator into her mouth and breathed in. Good so far.

Duff stepped up beside her, took her hand and nodded. “On three.” He put his regulator in his mouth, then raised one finger at time.

Natalie counted. “One...two...three.”

Together they stepped off the platform and sank into the crystal-clear water.

The initial shock of breathing under water passed quickly and she settled into an easy breathing rhythm.

Duff fluttered his fins, pushing away from the boat.

Natalie followed to allow the others the space to enter without hitting them.

The dive master was the last into the water. He swam to the front of the group and led the pairs of divers, pointing out a sea turtle or an array of different kinds of coral clinging to rocks and crevices. The group stretched out along a rocky outcropping, following the master, moving slowly and scattering wide to see everything the ocean floor had to offer in the way of sea flora and fauna.

Natalie let the others pass her, stopping to admire a blue starfish clinging to the rocky ocean floor.

Duff swam ahead of her, glancing back every once in a while, giving her the hand signal for everything is okay. She nodded and returned the same.

The rest of the group had disappeared around the side of an underwater cliff. Natalie eased along the rocky outcropping, admiring the colorful coral while searching for places a person could hide, jump out, drag a woman into a cave or crevice and effectively remove her without being seen by other divers or the crew in the boat above.

She passed a small cave, stopped and turned around. Was it just a cave or did it go all the way through the rocks to an opening on the other side? Natalie looked over her shoulder for Duff.

She could see the tips of his fins as he rounded the corner of the outcropping, swimming away from her.

If the cave was a tunnel, this would be a good place to snatch a woman and pull her away from the others, especially if she was lagging behind her partner.

Natalie's pulse quickened and she fluttered her fins, sending her toward the cave. She hadn't gone two feet into it before she could see it was a dead end.

A moray eel poked his head out of a hole, seeming to glare at her.

She swam out of his home and caught up with Duff around the outcropping only to find another shallow cave. After exploring it and finding it to be another dead end with a resident octopus, she began to despair. Where along this tour had her sister disappeared?

Ahead, the group passed through a narrow gap between two stony projections. By the time Duff and Natalie caught up, they'd move through what appeared to be a labyrinth of huge rocks and boulders. If the person in the rear didn't stay right with the ones in front, he could easily lose his way.

Natalie's gut clenched. This could be it. Her sister could have gotten lost in the maze of rocks on the ocean floor. Perhaps the authorities were correct in assuming she had drowned. She could have gone into a cave, gotten caught in the rocks and couldn't get out. If her partner had lost track of her, she wouldn't have known where to look.

Her heart sinking, Natalie didn't see the cave to her right until something snagged her regulator hose and yanked hard. The regulator popped out of her mouth, leaving her without the air she needed to breathe.

Panic threatened to set in. Natalie forced herself to be calm and reached over her shoulder, sweeping her arm to catch the hose and bring the regulator back to her mouth. Only the hose wasn't within reach. An arm slipped around her and unbuckled the straps holding her BCD and tank and yanked them from her shoulders.

That panic she'd held at bay set in.

Chapter Five

Duff stayed close to Natalia, keeping her in his peripheral vision up until that last huge boulder. When she didn't follow right behind him, he waited a second, then turned and retraced his path looking for her.

At first he didn't see any sign of Natalia or her equipment. Had she gotten lost in the maze in such a short amount of time? He'd seen her maybe fifteen seconds ago. She couldn't have gotten too far. Staying close to the last place he'd seen her, he checked behind one rock after another. Then he saw it lying half-buried in the sand. A single black fin.

His heart raced and he spun, searching all directions. A group of fish shot out of a large crevice in the rocks and skimmed past him as if hurrying away from a predator.

Surely, Natalia hadn't gone into the narrow gap between the rocks without her partner. She or her apparatus could get hung up. Without the assistance of a dive buddy, she could be stuck there until found or—

Duff kicked hard, sending his body flying through the water toward the crevice. At the entrance he pulled a knife from a scabbard on his leg, carved an X into the rock and then swam through. Once past the entrance, the gaps between the rocks widened, making it easier to maneuver.

He slashed an X on the rocks as he passed, marking his way back.

Something smooth and shiny caught his attention. As he neared, he could make out the metal around a regulator gauge and the bulk of a BCD and tank resting on the ocean floor.

He looked up, hoping to see Natalia at the surface, thirty feet above. She wasn't there. His heart racing, Duff hurried through the rocks. Where the hell was she?

Movement ahead made him kick harder. As he neared a large boulder, he saw fins kicking and flailing, the smooth, pale legs attached could be none other than Natalia's.

When he was close enough he could see that a man had hold of her around the neck and was feeding her a regulator. He had her arms wrapped in what appeared to be weight belts, her wrists secured behind her.

Anger spiked, sending a surge of adrenaline through Duff. He raced for the attacker, holding his knife in front of him. He'd kill the bastard if he hurt one hair on Natalia's head.

Natalia's attacker must have seen Duff. He shoved Natalia toward him and kicked away from them.

Duff wanted to chase after the man, but Natalia was without air and, carrying the weight of the belts, wouldn't be able to surface easily. Duff couldn't abandon her, nor did he want to.

She struggled, kicking her feet, trying to turn her body toward the surface. Without her arms to balance, she spun in a circle, sinking toward the ocean floor.

Duff grabbed her from behind and held her against him. She fought, twisting her body in a frantic attempt to get free.

Finally, Duff spun her to face him, pulled the regulator from his mouth and shoved it toward hers.

She stopped struggling and opened her mouth, accepted the regulator, blew out the water and sucked in a deep breath.

Duff turned her, slipped his knife between her wrists and sliced through the heavy weaving of the weight belt material, taking several passes before he freed her hands.

When she was free, she grabbed hold of his BCD and anchored herself with him. Natalia took another deep breath and handed the regulator to him.

They buddy-breathed for a couple more minutes until she was once again calm.

Duff pointed to her apparatus and they swam together toward the pile of equipment resting on the sandy bottom. Together, they managed to get her back into her gear, tested the regulator and checked the gauges.

When he was certain she was okay, he pointed back the way they'd come, indicating she should go first.

Natalia swam ahead, looking back every few seconds as if she was afraid he'd disappear.

Following the marks on the rocks, he got her back through the maze. Sawyer, Quentin and Montana were swimming in a circle, looking for him. Soon the dive master and the rest of the group filled the narrow clearing.

Guillermo motioned for all to follow and they fell into a tighter string, moving through the rocks and out into the open. A shadow floated over them, indicating the location of the boat. One by one, they surfaced and waited their turn to climb aboard the boat.

Duff surfaced a second before Natalia.

When she came up, she spit her regulator out of her mouth and gulped in fresh air. She glared across at him. “Why the hell did you do that?”

He frowned. “What do you mean? I saved your life.”

“I wasn't dying.”

“If that man had his way, he'd have killed you.”

“What's going on?” Sawyer swam up to them. “Why were you two so far back?”

“Someone attacked Natalia.” Duff shook his head. “And for some insane reason, she didn't want to be rescued.” He glared back at her. “Maybe you can explain.”

“I didn't want you to rescue me. He was keeping me alive. I wanted him to
take
me.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Duff bellowed.

“Shh.” Natalie pressed a finger to her lips and glanced around. “I don't want everyone under the sun hearing you.”

“What's wrong?” Montana swam up to them.

“Yeah.” Quentin joined them, treading water. “What's with the pissing contest? They're waiting for us to get in the boat.”

Natalia locked gazes with Duff. “Please, just keep this to yourself.”

“Keep what?” Quentin asked.

Montana frowned. “Do you mind giving us a clue?”

Duff held up a hand. “All right. We'll save the question-and-answer session for later. After we get to shore.”

“Okay.” Natalia chewed her lip. “How do I know I can trust you and your friends?”

His lips twitched. “You don't.”

“Hey.” Montana splashed water at Duff. “We're the good guys.”

Without releasing the lock on their gazes, Duff responded, “Just hold your thoughts until we get back.”

Sawyer nodded. “You got it, Duff.” He turned and headed toward the dive boat, followed by Montana and Quentin.

“When we get back—”

“I know. I owe you an explanation. It'll have to wait until we're on land.” Natalia kicked her feet, aiming for the boat.

Duff fluttered his fins, sending him cleaving through the water, catching up to her quickly. While she climbed out of the water, he held her fins. She reached for them and took his, too.

Once on the boat, Duff helped Natalia out of her apparatus and set it aside. He wanted to get to the bottom of whatever craziness she had in mind.

The ride back stretched for what seemed like an hour when in fact it was fewer than thirty minutes. The passengers compared experiences of what they'd seen or encountered on the reef tour. All except Natalia.

She stood alone at the rear of the boat, staring back at where they'd been retrieved. She'd slipped a cotton sundress over her swimsuit, but the breeze from the moving craft plastered it against her curves, outlining her incredible form beneath. Her brows pinched in the middle, a faraway, melancholy look made her appear even more distant. She ignored the lively chatter of the other divers, her back to them, cut off from the normal excitement of having been on some of the most incredible reefs off the coast of Mexico.

After a few minutes the rest of the passengers grew quiet, their sunburned faces staring out over the water.

No matter how hard Duff tried, he couldn't make sense of Natalia's desire to be captured by a stranger and her refusal to bring the attack to the attention of the crew.

Duff paced the length of the boat until they pulled up to the dock and off-loaded passengers. He refused to let Natalia get away without cluing him in on her unbelievable statement.

* * *

N
ATALIE
SPENT
THE
remainder of the excursion staring out at the ocean, wondering if what had almost happened to her was the exact scenario Melody had been subjected to. If so, she would have been just as helpless to free herself from her captor. Thirty feet beneath the surface, without air, she would have been forced to rely on her captor's regulator until they surfaced. But where?

Her gaze took in the shoreline, memorizing every detail she could. As soon as she could, she'd rent a boat and return. Perhaps she'd find the spot the attackers had been waiting. Maybe finding the location would shed light on who they were and ultimately lead her to her sister.

One thing the attack had proved was that her gut had been right. Melody was alive. She hadn't been swept away by a current and lost at sea. Someone had taken her, most likely from the same location.

As soon as the boat docked, Natalie was the first passenger off. She hurried down the wooden boardwalk, searching for a boat to rent. Where the excursion boats were moored, the vessels were large, designed to take numerous passengers to parasail, fish or dive. Farther along the marina area, Natalie spotted individual boats, smaller than the rest. She turned to the left and headed for them.

“Hey.” A hand clamped on her arm. “Not so fast.”

She stared down at the hand on her arm and then up into Duff's face. “Let go of me.”

His three friends stood behind him, all muscular, some tattooed, each ready to champion their friend's cause.

Duff's jaw tightened. “You owe us an explanation.”

“I told you. I didn't want your help.”

“Woman, you're not making sense.” Duff gripped both of her arms, frowning down at her, his brow furrowed. “A man tries to abduct you and, when I try to help, you tell me to butt out. I don't get it. Why would you want to be abducted?”

She glanced around, noting one of the deckhands from their dive boat holding a cell phone to his ear, staring at her.

Natalie grabbed Duff's arm and dragged him away from the boat and the prying eyes. His friends followed.

Once she had him out of earshot, she leaned close. “I wanted him to take me to where he hides the women.”

Duff shook his head. “What women?”

With a sigh, she stared into his eyes and dropped any hint of an English accent. “The women who've disappeared from this area over the past few days. One of them was my younger sister. Melody.”

Duff's eyes flared, his lips pressing into a thin line. “When?”

“Two days ago. She disappeared on the same dive boat. I'm betting in the same manner in which I would have disappeared if you hadn't been so heroic and saved me.” She squared her shoulders. “Now, if you'll let me by, I need to rent a boat.”

Duff shook his head, his body blocking her way. “Why are you renting a boat?”

“I have to go back to see if I can find where my attacker surfaced.”

Again the big man shook his head. “You can't. We were among huge rocks that protruded above the surface. A boat would be smashed against those rocks.”

“If they got in there, I can get in there,” she returned.

“You're not going alone.” Duff glanced over his shoulder at his buddies. “Right?”

“We're with you,” Sawyer said.

“Whatever it is you have in mind,” Quentin agreed.

Montana nodded.

“I can't go boating with four big guys. I came here hoping to put myself up as a target for whoever is abducting women. If I'm seen with four hulking men, they'll look for easier prey.” Natalie snorted. “Then again, after Duff rescued me on the dive, my gig might be up anyway.”

Duff chuckled. “And here I thought I was helping. You really think we're hulking?”

Natalia rolled her eyes. “That's all you got out of what I just told you?”

He held out his hand. “Let me make it up to you. We'll go out on a boat to see if we can find the pickup point.” He gave his friends a look. “Just the two of us.”

“Hey.” Sawyer frowned. “I was almost beginning to think this vacation was getting interesting.”

“You three can split up and follow the crew members of the boat.” Duff gave them a stern look. “And don't make it obvious. And, for the love of Mike, don't beat the crap out of one of them for the information.”

Quentin shook his head. “You're taking the fun out of it, dude.”

Duff grabbed her hand. “Come on, we'll make this look like a date. Just me and you.”

Natalie wasn't sure she liked the idea of being alone with the man. “How do I know you're not involved in this abduction operation?”

Sawyer barked out a laugh. “Duff doesn't need to abduct women, they usually come to him willingly.”

Quentin added, “In droves.”

Duff shrugged. “We weren't here two days ago. You can check our flight records. We arrived yesterday.”

“And before that?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Sorry, can't divulge that information. We were conducting black ops.”

Natalie's belly tightened. “What do you mean? Secret operations?”

Sawyer leaned close. “We're Navy SEALs. Our missions are classified.” He winked.

Duff shoved him away from Natalie. “You guys better go. Some of the crew members are leaving the boat now.”

Sawyer, Quentin and Montana spun and hurried away.

Natalie glanced up at Duff. “And I'm supposed to feel safe with you just because you say you're a Navy SEAL?” She tilted her head to the side, studying him. “You could be feeding me a line.”

“Take it or leave it.” He held out his hand. “Right now we need to secure a boat and get back out to where we were diving. Something else that might be of interest to you, but might mean nothing, is that I saw a fin in the maze of rocks. I thought it was yours, but you managed to come back with both of yours.”

Natalie's breath caught and held for a moment then she released it. “It could have been Melody's.” She took his hand. “Let's go.”

Farther along the marina they found a man willing to let them rent his small fishing boat for a crazy amount. Natalie didn't care. Melody was in danger. The sooner they found her the better.