Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Us (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Magan Vernon Page B

of him. I’ve been looking for this damn thing for over thirty years and here it was on some bartender’s neck. I would’ve had it earlier, if that damn cripple didn’t get in the way, although I would’ve needed a seal to read it for me, so it worked out in the end.”
    I blinked slowly, staring at his eyes. Those dark blue eyes that hovered over me, as strong hands pulled at my necklace. I wasn’t going to dignify him with an answer, not when he spoke like that. If he needed answers, he wasn’t going to get them from me.
    The man grabbed the back of my head, yanking my hair so it felt like it was ripping from the roots. “Now, Maya, tell me what the damn map says and you won’t end up like your father.”
    He held the necklace up to the light and just like at the gem shop, the jumble of words surrounded the room.
    I still couldn’t read it. None of it made sense.
    “Please. I don’t know what it says. I don’t know anything about shifters,” I pleaded.
    “Liar!” He screamed into my ear.
    I whimpered, wishing I could be brave, but I’d never been so scared in my entire life.
    “I can’t. I’m sorry. Please just let me go,” I whispered, my bottom lip quivering.
    The man let go of my hair, ripping out a handful as he pulled away. He didn’t say a word, just grunted before he went back into the darkness and closed the door behind him.

Chapter 14
     
    Calder
     
    I woke up, reaching my hand automatically to the other side of the bed for Maya’s warmth, but came up empty. Opening my eyes, I sat up, looking toward the open door of the bathroom but still no Maya. I grabbed a pair of boxers and slid them on before fastening my legs. I went downstairs, thinking maybe she was making breakfast again, but no such luck. Okay. Maybe she was in the pool.
    Not in the pool.
    Okay, maybe she ran out to the lobby to get some brochures. Or at least that’s what I think she said in my half-asleep haze this morning. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt then slid on my shoes before grabbing the key card and headed out the front door. I made it to the front lobby which was full of people gathering around for a tour.
    But Maya wasn’t among them.
    I approached the concierge, trying not to panic. “Excuse me, sir, did a woman from Villa number four come in? Maybe ask about a tour? She was short, tan. Dark hair and very dark eyes.”
    The man in the suit thought for a moment then nodded. “Oh, yes, I remember her. I can’t forget those eyes. Black as night yet beautiful as the sky itself.”
    I let out the deep breath I didn’t know I was holding in. “Oh, good. Did she book a tour or something?”
    The man’s face fell. “No, I’m sorry, sir. She spent some time looking through the brochures then went back outside. I saw her briefly talking to a man with a map, but when I looked again, she was gone.”
    A man with a map.
    A SEAL team I was working with had gone on in Mexico a mission. There was a prostitution ring that was picking up young tourists by asking them for directions.
    “Thanks, sir,” I muttered before I turned, running outside.
    I scanned the parking lot. Then the thought hit me.
    The guy in the parking lot pulling at her necklace. Luz talking about poachers. Maybe this wasn’t a random kidnapping.
    Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I pulled up my contacts.
    “I was wondering when you were going to call me,” Tex’s southern drawl came through the speaker.
    Did he already know something was up? He’d talked about tracking devices he’d put on some of his SEAL friends and their wives but only with their permission. Maybe he wanted to track me after my little incident in the ocean.
    “Did I say I was going to call you and forget about it?”
    Tex laughed. “No, Benny told me you were hanging out with the new bartender at Ace’s. I figured you were calling to talk about dating advice.”
    I shook my head, even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “I wish that was what I was calling about.