Page 30 of Casey's Hero

Jacob sat backin his seat, staring at the document in his hands. The address on it was from a place on Kauai. It appeared to be a personal letter from a loved one. It could be a starting point for their search for Hawk across the border. “Let’s go back to the Big Wave. I need my truck.”

“Your truck…or your gun?” Casey asked, shooting a glance in his direction.

He looked up at her. “Both.”

Her fingers gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. “You think they’ve taken him to another island?”

“At this point, we don’t have enough information to know what’s happened to Hawk. If Camila is involved, that would be my guess. She’d want to get him away from Honolulu, maybe even off the island altogether, to make it harder to find him. I doubt they could get him on a flight back to California or Mexico. Either way, I’d like to have my truck and what’s inside it in case I need to get somewhere quickly.”

Casey nodded. “We’re going to find him.”

“Yes, we are,” Jacob said. “Sooner rather than later.” He looked out the side window. “I’m wracking my brain for any other reason someone would want to kidnap Hawk. I’m comingup withnada. It might be time to get Kalea in on this search. If Camila isn’t the one who had him kidnapped, Kalea might have an idea of who else might be after him. Kalea ran into some trouble recently that Hawk helped her resolve. They might have left some loose ends lying around that have come back to haunt them.”

Casey sighed. “I think you’re right.” She glanced at her watch. “Kalea’s at the spa right now. They should be finishing up her nails and facial. After we get your truck, we could run by there and bring her up to speed.” She shook her head. “She’s going to freak out.”

“Can’t be helped,” Jacob said.

“I know. And she’d want to know.” Casey grimaced. “She’s going to be mad that I didn’t tell her sooner. Hell, if it were my fiancé, I would be livid.” She shot a glance toward Jacob.

He met her gaze. If someone had taken Casey…if she were his fiancée… He shook his head. The woman was practically a stranger. One night of fabulous sex wasn’t a commitment. Nor had she intended it to be. He was an active-duty Navy SEAL. Casey knew what that meant. An absentee boyfriend, lover or husband. No. Just no. He couldn’t do that to her. He shook his head to clear his thoughts of that dangerous path he didn’t want to go down. Dating was one thing. Anything deeper was off-limits until he was off the SEAL team.

“Well, it can’t be helped now,” he said. “You have to tell her. We need any information she might have that could assist us in finding him.”

“I know.” Casey came to a halt in the parking lot at the Big Wave and started to get out.

Jacob placed a hand on her arm. “You might want to stay with your vehicle.”

“Where you go, I go.” Casey frowned. “We’re in this together. We both need to get Hawk back. If we hadn’t been?—”

Jacob placed a finger on her lips, loving how soft they were to his touch. “Like you said. We don’t know that for sure. I could’ve slept right through it all. I mean, who would’ve predicted that our groom would be a target for kidnapping?” He cupped her cheek in his palm. “Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

She leaned into his palm, breathed in a deep breath and met his gaze. “What if they hurt him?” Casey’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t think I could forgive myself.”

Her tears made his heart contract. “You have done nothing to be forgiven for.”

“I talked Kalea into this wedding taking place here. They might not even have come to Honolulu to make it happen. Her father wanted her to have it on Parkman Ranch, where she’d be safe. Where Hawk would be safe.”

Jacob gave her a crooked grin. “Hawk was excited to share his bride with his teammates. We were coming no matter where the wedding took place.”

Casey sighed. “Kalea wanted her wedding to be a more intimate event, not something for all the Parkman Ranch employees and the surrounding area to witness. I talked her out of going to the courthouse. I told her she needed a real wedding and memories to last a lifetime.” She laughed. “I guarantee she won’t forget losing her groom the day before the wedding.”

“She’s a badass from what Hawk’s told me. She will handle it,” Jacob said. “Hawk couldn’t wait for me to meet her. I would have come to meet the woman who captured his heart, wedding or not.”

Her lips lifted tremulously. “I’m glad you did.”

“Me, too.” Jacob pushed open his door. “I’ll follow you to the spa. Then we can swing by your apartment. Hopefully, with what we know so far and anything Kalea might recall, Hank and Swede can use the information to dig up more leads on where we can find our groom.”

Casey stayed in her SUV as Jacob climbed into the driver’s side of the black, four-wheel-drive pickup he’d rented for his time in Hawaii. He checked under the seat for the nine-millimeter Glock pistol he’d almost left behind in San Diego, packing it in his checked luggage at the last minute. It was there with a magazine full of bullets Hawk had supplied him with. Reassured by the solid feel of the weapon in his hand, he shoved it back in the compartment, started the engine and followed Casey to the spa and Kalea.

Casey parked, got out and waited for Jacob.

He joined her, and they walked into the spa together.

The white columns and lush greenery on the outside were nothing compared to the extravagance of the marble floors and soothing water features on the inside.

They had just stepped up to the reception desk when a door opened and Kalea emerged, her face clean of makeup, her hair piled high on her head in a loose bun. She smiled when she saw Casey. “That massage and facial was amazing. And look…” She held up her hands to display her fingernails.

Jacob wasn’t sure what she was showing them that was any different than what he’d consider normal.

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