Page 9 of Cheating the Devil

A short curse from the front seat preceded the driver slamming on the brakes. Tires screeched as Avery and Lori, unrestrained, were thrown against the backs of the front seats. Avery’s head and shoulder exploded with pain as the vehicle spun around, sending her crashing against the door and smashing the window into tiny pieces. She had no clue what had caused the driver to lose control, she just hoped they survived the accident. Lori screamed in pain as the two were tossed around the back seat. The taxi went off the road, coming to an abrupt stop when it collided with a tree.

The loud chaos ebbed until a quiet stillness took over. Avery’s head spun. Every inch of her body was in pain, but, as she’d learned long ago, that was good because it meant she was still alive. She slowly pushed herself upright. Lori was wedged between the bench seat and the back of the driver’s seat, her shoulder at an unnatural angle. Blood flowed from a cut along her hairline, but she was conscious and groaning. Their driver, however, was not. The man was slumped over the steering wheel. Avery reached over to help Lori, but suddenly hands were grabbing her and pulling her out the destroyed window. Her gold necklace got caught on something and snapped from her neck. She struggled, but the trauma her body had endured had sapped her strength. Her stomach threatened to revolt as her head swam, darkness trying to overtake her. She was being carried with no care for her injuries. She heard a sliding door and was dropped unceremoniously into the rear of a van. A pain-filled cry escaped her. Seconds later, Lori was thrown in beside her, along with all their shopping bags. The door slammed shut, and the van started rolling, then accelerated to a high rate ofspeed. Avery fought unconsciousness, but the bastard won as her world went black.

CHAPTER 8

Brad couldn’t believehe was smiling as he and Cameron strode down the dock. It’d actually been a good day hanging out and fishing with his daughter’s boyfriend. Maybe it was because Brad had been so relaxed after the night he’d spent making love to Avery. Admitting you were in love with a woman, really in love, made for some amazing sex—not that they’d had any trouble in that department before.

“That was a helluva fish you brought up, Brad,” Cameron said. “Damn thing put up a good fight.”

“Not bad for an old man, right?”

The younger man’s mouth flapped a few times. “Th-That’s not what I meant, sir.”

Brad raised an eyebrow at him. “What? The Marines didn’t teach you how to take a joke?” The relief that crossed Cameron’s face was enough to make Brad laugh.

“Ha! All right, you got me.”

Reaching the end of the dock, they turned right to head back to the resort, which was only a short distance away. Brad stuck his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts. The 9mm subcompact, with the filed off serial number, in the back of his waistband felt reassuring despite it being illegal. Like most menand women in the military and law enforcement, he felt naked when not armed. “So ... what made you choose the Marines?”

Cameron glanced at him as if the question had caught him off guard. They’d met three middle-aged men from Florida on board the boat and had spent most of the trip conversing with them, in between catching a bunch of fish, so Brad hadn’t asked Cameron many personal questions. But sometime during the trip he’d found himself joking and laughing with the young Marine—and liking him. It was as if once his daughter had been removed from the equation, the two men had ended up on equal footing, even with an almost-thirty-year gap between them.

Brad wasn’t thrilled the guy was sleeping with Lori—well, he didn’t know that for sure, but Avery was probably right, and they were consenting adults—but his daughter could’ve done far worse when choosing a boyfriend. Cameron reminded Brad of the Deltas under his command, after they’d finished their special-ops training and joined the ranks of an elite brotherhood of men who’d lay down their lives for each other and innocent people they’d never met. He was pretty sure Cameron would survive the intense MARSOC course and become a Marine Raider. At least the kid would never be under Brad’s command, so he guessed it was a good thing they were in different branches of the military.

“My dad was a Marine. He was KIA in Desert Storm while my mom was pregnant with me.”

Brad’s mouth flattened. “Sorry to hear that, son. I lost quite a few friends over there myself.” He’d been several ranks lower during the Gulf War and a green Delta, fresh out of the intensive, six-month OTC—Operator Training Course. His first mission overseas had earned him his first Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Several other members of his team had earned them as well. The mission hadn’t been pretty, but they’d all survived. He couldn’t say the same for several missions that’d followed.

They walked in a heavy silence for a few moments before Cameron spoke again. “My mom wasn’t thrilled when I told her I wanted to enlist instead of going to college, but she understood I wanted to honor the man who gave me life and gave his own, so I could live free. My father had put in a request for Force Recon a month before he was killed. I wanted to do what he never had the chance to.” Many of the USMC Force Recon units had been integrated into MARSOC after it was formed in 2005.

“I’m sure he would have been proud of the man you’ve become.”

A sad smile spread appeared on Cameron’s face. “Thanks. I like to think so.”

Brad reached up and placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder, stopping him short. “And you’re the kind of man my daughter deserves. You have honor and integrity, and you make her happy. That’s all I want for her.”

His eyes grew wide. “Thank you, that means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome.” Brad started them walking again. “Just don’t fuck up and hurt her because they’ll never find your body.”

Cameron laughed as the melancholy mood that had settled around them lifted again. “Yes, sir. Understood.”

They reached the entrance to the resort, and Brad nodded at a man who exited and held the door open for them. “Thank you.” He then turned to Cameron. “C’mon. Let’s go find our women and a few beers.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Ten minutes later, the two ended up in the lobby again after failing to find the women in their rooms, out by the pool, or anywhere else in the resort. Brad pulled out his cell phone and called Avery, leaving a message when it went to voice mail. “Hi, baby. I know you’re not a big shopper so that means my daughter is doing some serious damage to her credit cards if you’re still at the market. Give me a call when you’re on your wayback. Cameron and I will be at the bar by the pool. Love you.” He disconnected the call and pointed at the younger man. “First beer’s on you.”

Striding back out to the bar that overlooked the pool and ocean, Brad’s eyes narrowed when he spotted a couple sitting at one of the tables. The dark-haired beauty was wearing sunglasses and a pink bikini that had the human dogs around her slobbering despite the man sitting next to her—a man they didn’t want to fuck with. He was tall, lean, and in peak physical condition, a fact that couldn’t be hidden by the T-shirt and cargo shorts he was wearing. His long, blond hair was pulled back and tied at his nape, and his eyes, which Brad knew were blue, were covered by dark sunglasses. What made him dangerous was the fact he probably knew well over two dozen ways to kill someone—so did his woman. Luckily for Brad, the two were on Uncle Sam’s side. T. Carter and Jordyn Alvarez were Deimos operatives. In other words, they were both spies and assassins for the US. Jordyn was good friends with Haven and Avery, and she and Carter had also been on the mission when Haven had been shot in the back, effectively ending her career as a field agent. The couple had stood by her during her long recovery, which is how Brad had met and gotten to know them. The question was, though, what were they doing at his resort in Aruba?

Smiling, Carter held up his beer to the newcomers as they approached. “Barton, my good man. Fancy running into you here. Pull up a chair. This must be your daughter’s boyfriend. The fact he hasn’t been dumped out in the middle of the ocean impresses me.”

Jordyn chuckled. “That’s a good thing, Cameron. It takes a lot to impress him, trust me.”

His eyebrows shot up at his name being spoken, and Brad was certain that wasn’t the only intel the woman had gotten fromHaven. She’d surely given all the information she’d gathered when Brad had asked her to do a background check on the younger man after finding out his last name. Brad could have gone through Ghost or one of his other operatives, but he preferred to keep his professional life separate from his personal one—at least, as best he could. While she hadn’t given him many details, Haven had assured him his daughter’s boyfriend appeared to be an upstanding guy, and Brad should just chill and get to know him the way most fathers would.

Cameron stared at Jordyn. “Well, since I don’t know you, it’s kind of hard for me to trust you at the moment.” His tone was polite despite his wariness. The man had good instincts and responses, which would serve him well in special ops. His gaze went to Brad. “Friends of yours?”

“You could say that.” He pulled out one of the empty chairs at the table and sat, indicating for the Marine to do the same. “T. Carter, Jordyn Alvarez, as you’ve obviously learned, this is Cameron McGee.” He gave the younger man a reassuring nod. “Avery mentioned you and Lori when she was talking to Haven last night on the phone. Carter and Jordyn work with Haven.” As far as Lori and Cameron knew, Avery was exactly as she appeared to be—a long-term-duty nurse, helping a US-government employee recover from a spinal injury. Haven, they’d been told, had been injured in a car accident while in China where she’d been working as a translator for the US embassy. Now, she lived in Texas while still translating documents and doing research for the government.

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