Page 29 of Casey's Hero

“Yeah. With my woman.” He puffed out his chest and looked down at the man standing in his path. “You got a problem with that?”

“I don’t, butmi amigomight,” he lifted his chin toward the man standing by Casey’s window.

The other men closed in on Jacob.

Casey shifted into park and started to get out of the vehicle.

“Stay in the car,” Jacob said without looking her direction, his tone brooking no argument.

Casey automatically sat back in her seat, her pulse racing.Four against one.

Jacob shoved the sleeves of his shirt up his arms. “I don’t have a lot of time, so I won’t be able to go easy on you.” He clapped his hands together. “Who’s first? Come on. I’ve had Hell Week instructors who scared me more than the lot of you.”

The men exchanged glances at the mention of Hell Week. Anyone who lived in San Diego or Coronado knew what Hell Week was—one of the most grueling weeks of Navy SEAL BUD/S training. But these guys weren’t necessarily from San Diego.

The man who’d stood beside Casey’s vehicle door snorted. “You gonna let one pussy scare you?”

The others looked from their apparent leader to Jacob and back.

Casey prayed they’d back down and let Jacob go without throwing any punches.

The three men stood silent.

Their leader snorted again and approached Jacob. “Come on. Just because you sound tough doesn’t mean you can fight.” He kept coming, cocking an arm as he closed the distance between him and Jacob.

As the man swung, Jacob ducked, drove his fist into the man’s gut and shoved him hard, making him fall backward, landing hard on his back.

“Next.” Jacob brought his hands up and curled his fingers in a come-hither motion.

The man closest to him held up his hands. “The girl ain’t worth the trouble.” He bent, pulled his leader to his feet and shoved him toward the other side of the road. “Let’s go.”

The others followed, leaving Jacob standing in front of Casey’s SUV.

He waited until they were far enough away that he’d have time to react if they changed their minds. Then he rounded the vehicle.

Casey hit the unlock button as he reached for the door handle.

Once Jacob was inside the SUV, she locked the doors, shoved the shift into drive and hit the accelerator. She ran through the stop sign at the end of the street and left the neighborhood behind.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you exposed to those jokers,” Jacob said, rubbing his fist.

Casey wanted to rail at him for putting himself in danger. Instead, she tamped down her adrenaline-pumped anger and asked, “Did you find anything?”

“I jumped over the fence around Jimenez’s place and got into his house.”

“That’s breaking and entering,” Casey said. “It’s a crime.”

“And kidnapping is a crime.” He shrugged. “I was able to get a piece of his mail with an address from what appears to be a relative on Kauai.” He pulled the envelope from his pocket and held it up. “And I know that’s stealing. I figure we don’t have time to play by all the rules. So, I bent a few of them. If they’ve taken Hawk off the island, this address might help us find him.”

Casey drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I can’t fault you there. I’m sure we’ll be breaking a few more before the day’s out.”

“I hope not,” Jacob said. “But, if it means getting Hawk back, I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Though she balked at breaking laws, Casey was glad she had Jacob helping her recover the missing groom. The SEALs were a tight-knit band of brothers. They had each other’s backs.

If anything ever happened to her, she’d be out of luck. Casey had no doubt that Kalea would turn over every stone in the world to find her but to have an entire Navy SEAL team at your back…well, that was pretty powerful. She hoped it would be enough to bring Hawk back alive, and more…in time for his wedding.

CHAPTER 7

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