Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(54)

She just hoped like hell that she was long gone before it came to that.

CHAPTER 20

RIO was awakened from a deep sleep by the beeping of his secure phone. He rolled carefully away from Grace, who murmured a sleepy protest before snuggling right back into his side. He smiled and kissed the top of her head before turning and reaching for the phone on the nightstand.

“This better be good,” he growled into the phone.

“I have something that I believe belongs to your KGI.”

Rio went silent as shock gripped him. “Hancock? What the f**k are you calling me for?”

Titan’s leader, a man that Rio had trained himself, and who he’d thought had gone rogue, was not the type to call to ask about the weather. If he was calling Rio in the middle of the night, or calling him at all, it wasn’t to exchange pleasantries.

“Pretty young female doctor? Ring any bells?”

Rio sat up in bed. Grace woke up beside him and went quiet as she studied him in the dark.

“What kind of stunt are you trying to pull, Hancock? If you have Maren, I’ll have your balls on a platter.”

“If you want her back, you’ll pay attention. I’m sending an encrypted message outlining coordinates. Be at the assigned location two days from now at oh two hundred hours. Don’t be late or I can’t guarantee her safety. And Rio, I’m only handing her over to you. Anyone else shows and the deal is off. We clear?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Rio muttered.

The phone went silent in his ear and Rio lowered the phone. Son of a bitch. It shouldn’t surprise him that Hancock was involved. The man had his fingers in a lot of shady goings-on. It wasn’t clear who Hancock worked for exactly. Titan had started as a government covert black ops organization that didn’t officially exist. But then a few years ago it had ceased to unofficially exist either, and it had been disbanded. Only, Titan was still alive and operating. They’d brought down Gordon Farnsworth, the man responsible for Grace’s abduction, and as a result, Rio and Grace had adopted Elizabeth, Farnsworth’s orphaned daughter, a precious little girl whom Grace had healed at great risk to herself.

It would have suited Rio just fine never to have crossed paths with the man again. But apparently fate wasn’t that kind.

“Rio?”

He turned to see his wife’s worried face peering anxiously at him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

He cupped her cheek and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Not sure, baby. That was our old pal Hancock. Apparently he has Maren, or at least knows something about where she is.”

She sucked in her breath, her eyes growing wide with alarm. “Is she all right?”

“I don’t know yet. He’s sending encrypted information and says he’ll hand her over in two days’ time. I need to retrieve that information, and then I’ll need to call up Steele. He’s been turning the world over trying to find her.”

“Do you have to go?”

He grimaced. “Yeah, baby, I do. Sorry. Hancock says if I don’t show, the deal is off. I’ll take you and Elizabeth to see Shea. You can stay with her while I go with Steele.”

Her eyes brightened at the mention of her sister. Then she smiled. “I’ll let her know I’m coming.”

Rio rolled his eyes. “Cool your jets for just a second before you start the telepathy. If Shea finds out this quickly, then she’ll tell Nathan and then Nathan will tell Sam and the others and they’ll all know before I even know what the hell is going on.”

She smiled and threw back the covers. “I’ll wait until you tell me I can contact her. In the meantime, I’ll wake Elizabeth and we’ll pack a bag while you do your top secret super spy stuff.”

“Kiss me first,” he murmured.

She offered her sweet mouth and he took it hard, tasting her and letting her taste him. He never grew tired of her kisses, of her love. She was a goddamn miracle. His miracle. She’d saved his life and it had nearly killed her. He’d never forget that, nor would he ever let her put herself at risk like that again.

“I love you,” he murmured against her lips.

“Love you too,” she said with a breathy sigh.

“Go wake Elizabeth. We’ll need to pull out as soon as I download the information. I’ll put in a call to Steele to meet us at the KGI compound. He and his team are God only knows where at the moment. He’s taken this mission to find Maren very personally.”

Grace frowned a moment, her brow wrinkling. “Steele doesn’t take anything personally, does he? He’s more of a machine than a man. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him express any emotion.”

“I have no idea what’s under his skin on this, but he hasn’t rested a moment since Maren went missing. He laid down the law and told Sam this was his mission and to go f**k himself if he didn’t like it.”

Grace’s eyebrows went up. “Maybe Steele has a thing for Maren.”

Rio laughed. “I doubt it, honey. Steele is . . . well, he’s Steele. He lives for his team and not much else.”

“I bet that’s what they used to say about you too.”

Rio paused. “You got me there, love. When I met you, my priorities changed on a dime and I’ve never looked back. You and Elizabeth are everything to me. You know that, right?”