In it, Alexis sounded fine. Flirty even. She’d given him her hotel and room number and then hinted that if he could get away, she would be waiting there for him.

  That had been over half an hour ago yet she didn’t answer when he called. At first he’d thought she might be in the shower. Then he’d reasoned maybe her ringer was turned off and she didn’t see the calls.

  Three texts and two voicemails later, he was done guessing and waiting.

  There were all sorts of protocols about leaving the Olympic bubble once admitted, but he didn’t care. He was leaving. He needed to check on Alexis at the hotel.

  The performance was done. They were all just killing time waiting for the bus back to Henan the following morning. His brothers were enjoying their final hours in Beijing, trying to catch what Olympic events they could.

  As long as he was back in time to catch the bus, no one would miss him. Lamenting that he didn’t have something else to wear, he tossed his meager belongings into a canvas sack and headed out, staunchly ignoring the warning signs at the exit about re-admittance.

  The hotel was close enough he wouldn’t mind the walk. Although as agitated as he was to make sure Alexis was all right, he set a brisk pace and covered the mile fast.

  He got a few sideways glances in the upscale hotel lobby and saw one tourist raise a cell phone to take his picture as he headed directly for the bank of elevators. He ignored everyone in his single-minded focus to get to Alexis.

  Her accommodations were on an upper floor where the doors were set so far apart the rooms—or more likely suites—must be huge inside.

  Alexis was going to be spoiled after all these posh places she’d stayed. He hoped she was ready for a rude awakening when she returned to New York because rooms there equivalent to where she’d been staying here cost a month’s salary.

  He located the room number she’d texted and knocked hard on the door. When she didn’t answer right away, he pounded with one fist and called, “Alexis, it’s me.”

  Seconds and then a minute ticked by. He heard no sound from inside. What he did hear was his pulse pounding in his ear as he began to really worry.

  He glanced at the locking mechanism. A keyhole he could pick. He’d had enough experience and training he would have had no trouble getting inside. But the lock was electronic. Set up for a keycard with a chip to be tapped against the pad.

  Without the good tech toys he’d had in the SEALs, he couldn’t get in.

  He’d have to work the problem another way. He spun and evaluated the situation.

  There were no security cameras in the hallway that he could see. That was good. He wouldn’t be observed but he was still too conspicuously dressed as he was.

  There was a bag hanging on the doorknob of one of the rooms a few doors down. Kane took a chance and grabbed it. It looked like clothes put out for the laundry service. Apparently clothes that had been worn, but men’s clothes at least.

  Beggars could not be choosers. He carried the bag to the stairwell, checked again to make sure there wasn’t a camera in view, and then pawed through the offering.

  A white button-down shirt. That would work. He pulled off his tunic top, stuffed it into his canvas bag and pulled on the plain shirt he’d stolen.

  The sleeves were a bit short, so he rolled them to hide that fact. He pulled out the pants and found them short too.

  That was okay. His Wushu pants were plain enough that with the white shirt untucked, no one would look twice at him.

  Looking less like a monk and less likely an object of tourists’ photos, he slipped the bag of remaining laundry back onto the doorknob and headed down the hallway.

  This time of day there should be housekeeping actively cleaning rooms. Taking the stairs, he stopped at each floor and looked down the hall for a cart.

  Finally, he saw one, parked outside an open doorway. He walked by and glanced inside, seeing the housekeeper busy changing the sheets on the bed.

  A closer glance at the cart showed she’d left her master keycard hanging from a lanyard attached to the cart. He grabbed it and padded as silently and as quickly as he could back to the stairway.

  He was back outside Alexis’s door a minute later, his heart pounding as much from the sprint up the stairs as from anticipation and fear the card might not work.

  When the light turned green and he heard the locks disengage, he let out a breath of relief and pushed inside.

  An initial visual sweep showed the computers were there. So was what remained of what looked like room service breakfast. But Alexis was nowhere.

  Not finding her in the bedroom or bathroom, he moved back to the living area and looked more closely. Taking in every tiny detail in hopes something would provide a clue as to where she was.

  He had an idea and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped to call her cell and a few seconds later heard the ringtone.

  Shit. Her burner phone was still here. She wouldn’t leave the room without her phone.

  If her cell was here, she didn’t leave this room willingly. His spine crawled at that realization.

  He followed the sound and found the phone under a table near the door. As if she’d dropped it when she’d been dragged out.

  Holy shit. This was bad.

  What should he do? He was alone here. No back up. No team. No tech support. No weapons. No authority. No money.

  He stared at his cell and then hers. Charley?

  No. Something about her—about all of this—felt off. He didn’t trust her. Or the men she employed.

  He was on his own here. He’d just have to work with what he had. And maybe he had more than he realized.

  Kane began to search her room in earnest. Maybe Charley supplied Alexis with something else useful. A weapon would be nice.

  He glanced at the cell again as he made his way to the bedroom to search her luggage and the drawers.

  The cell had no passcode. It also had no information inside except for his number and Charley’s. Both of which he already had. Neither of which he needed. He tossed the burner phone into his bag to free up both hands for his search.

  By the end of the search he was in slightly better shape. He found her purse and a wad of cash which he took without remorse since he might need money if he was going to find her.

  He also found her personal cell phone.

  Unlike the other one, this one did have a passcode. He sat with it in his hand and began trying numerical combinations. He knew her well enough, he just might be able to guess it.

  He tried her birthday, which thankfully he remembered from back when he was dating her sister because it was Valentine’s Day.

  No good.

  In a Hail, Mary effort, he tried Brittany’s birthday too, but that didn’t work. He tried spelling out the name of their dog from ten years ago, but no go.

  Finally, out of options, he tried his own birthday.

  The cell unlocked and the home screen appeared.

  Holy hell. He stared at the screen and tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. Had she changed her code to be his birthday after they’d had sex?

  He’d thought they were on the same page. He’d told her he was too messed up for a relationship. That what they had could be nothing more. She’d agreed.

  Saying goodbye to her was going to suck, but it was obviously what he had to do. She was already too attached. And that was his fault for letting it happen.

  Alexis was not a woman he would be able to put out of his mind easily. No doubt he’d miss her and her visits for a while. But he had nothing left of himself to give.

  This was all shit he’d have to think about later. Priority one was finding her. He swiped through the phone and found a good picture of her. A selfie she’d taken in one of her Charley outfits.

  Perfect.

  He’d need a photo of her because he intended to ask every store owner, street vendor, hotel employee and tourist in the vicinity if they’d seen her.

  He might not be able to have her, but he was not going to lose her like this.

  His search for her proved to be more difficult than he’d imagined.

  Even with him questioning nearby shopkeepers in the local language, he didn’t get any answers.

  He couldn’t be sure whether they didn’t know anything—hadn’t seen anything—or they’d pegged him as an outsider and didn’t dare share what they knew. In a country like this, it was smartest to keep one’s mouth shut.

  They certainly weren’t going to let him look at their security camera footage to see if it had captured her in the street.

  An hour later he was no closer to finding Alexis and was going out of his mind.

  Gone was his cool, calm SEAL get shit done demeanor. It seemed that attitude had abandoned him along with the Navy he’d served for over a decade.

  With no resources to find her—no team behind him for back up, no tech to provide information, no weapons locker to draw from—he was left running around blindly with nothing but the photo of her on the cell phone.

  He was getting nowhere and the more time that passed the lower his chances of finding her.

  He needed help. But he’d be damned if he’d use the Charley phone and be monitored for this call. He pulled Alexis’s cell phone out of his bag. He could use it to call one of his old teammates.

  Not everyone had cut him off completely like the Navy had. But not many had any power to do anything to help him. One did, though. A friend of a friend he’d been on an op with about five years ago had opened a private security company staffed by all former SEALs. But unlike Charley’s organization, this one was actually legit. Not shady.

  He was moving into an alleyway to get out of the flow of tourists and be able to make the call in private when he sensed motion behind him.

  Too late.

  Someone grabbed him from behind. Two guys, maybe more. There seemed to be more hands than he could count, but they only held his arms.

  Lucky from him, his arms weren’t necessary right now.

  Close enough to the wall of the building, Kane leaned into the men gripping him from behind, using them as leverage to run up the wall and do a backflip that broke their hold on him.

  When he landed with both feet on the sidewalk, he was in a better position. This time he was behind them.

  The matching expression of shock on the two guys would have been laughable if he wasn’t too busy fighting the two other guys who rushed him.

  Four men were here for him. Had whoever taken Alexis come for him too?

  A small part of his brain that wasn’t fighting for his life considered that this was a good thing. That he’d most likely be taken to the same place Alexis had been. That didn’t stop him from battling his enemies with everything in him.

  But this wasn’t a choreographed fight like at the performance today. It wasn’t a Jackie Chan movie where the good guy always won, no matter how many men opposed him.

  He couldn’t fight four guys—all armed, all skilled—and win.

  When he finally accepted that realization he went limp and let them grab him. Let them think he was cooperating. Then, when their guard was down, that’s when he’d strike.

  Hooded in the back of the black town car that they’d shoved him inside he considered who might be responsible. Whoever was behind Wei was one option. The mining company or the government or whoever Alexis’s puppet master was.

  He didn’t love that idea. Because if it was the Chinese government or a corporation sanctioned by them, they could be about to stash him in a deep dark hole for the rest of his life—or just kill him. He wasn't sure which of the two options was worse.

  Of course, there was another possibility of who was behind his being taken. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this option either.

  Charley.

  Chapter Twenty

  “So, Charley is not so much a name. It’s a position?” Alexis asked, trying to wrap her head around the conversation she and Charley had been having.

  “Yes.”

  “So you’re like a handler for the men you recruit,” Alexis said.

  “Men and women,” Charley stressed the last word pointedly.

  “And women,” Alexis repeated.

  That had been evidenced by the fact that this kidnapping was Charley’s idea of recruitment or a job interview.

  “And you want me to come work for you as a Charley?” she continued.

  Charley wobbled her head. “Most likely you’d begin working in the information and technology area, given your skills. But when the right opportunity arose, you might be called upon to act as an operative liaison.”

  “Like I was with Kane.”

  “Exactly. Although the extent to which you embraced your role with Kane is not a requirement of the job.” Charley smirked.

  Alexis’s face heated. They knew she’d spent the night with Kane.

  He’d said there was no surveillance in the hotel. But she had turned on her cell phone. Maybe they could see and hear everything through that?

  Who knew what Charley and her organization was capable of? She supposed she would if she took this insane job offer.

  Before Alexis could recover from her embarrassment, or come up with a clever comeback, a woman entered the windowless room. She, like Alexis, was dressed much like Charley.

  Their matching appearance led Alexis to believe that this was the uniform for all the Charleys in the organization. Dressing them alike. Giving them all the same code name. It was a little creepy. Make that a lot creepy.

  The newcomer leaned low and whispered something Alexis couldn’t hear from where she sat.

  Seated in a chair behind the table, Charley glanced up at Alexis. “You’ll have to excuse me a moment.”

  “Sure. Take your time.” Alexis dismissed her concern with the flick of one wrist.

  It wasn’t like she was going anywhere. She didn’t know where she was or how to get out of what was most likely a black site.

  Was she even still in China? How long had she been unconscious? They could have transported her anywhere—by car, by air, even by boat—and she wouldn’t know.

  Her chest tightened at the thought of Kane alone, without backup. Without even her to call since her cell phone was MIA.

  She still hadn’t gotten an answer from Charley about how the Wei operation had gone. Any number of things could have gone wrong.

  The door opened, causing Alexis to jump from the sudden sound.

  As Charley walked in, she said, “We have a problem.”

  Alexis tried to read her expression. It was unreadable. Whatever this problem was, it wasn’t bad enough to rattle Charley. That had to be a good thing. Right?

  “All right.” She waited for Charley to elaborate, or not, since clearly she was the one in charge here and Alexis was just along for the ride.

  She had lost all power in this situation the moment she’d agreed to take this assignment. Maybe even before that, back when she’d first answered that phone call with the blocked caller ID.

  That would teach her. If she got out of this alive, she’d never answer any unknown call again. Hell, maybe she should give up cell phones altogether.

  “Kane has become a problem.” Those menacing words from Charley’s lips had Alexis thinking she might need to search for a trash can or something to vomit in.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, hoping problems in Charley’s eyes weren’t eliminated permanently.

  “Apparently, he’s reacted badly to your disappearance. His behavior is drawing too much attention to him and by association, possibly us.”

  “So—so what are you going to do?” Alexis stuttered.

  “He’s been dealt with.”

  “Oh my God.” Clutching her stomach she doubled over as the tears filled her eyes. “You killed him. You bitch—”

  Charley’s laugh had her head whipping up.

  Alexis wasn’t any martial arts expert but she could still do some damage. Scratching Charley’s eyes out would be a satisfying start before they dragged her away to kill her too.

  “Why would we kill him?” Charley asked, still looking amused.

  “You said he’s a problem.”

  “We encounter a lot of problems. If we killed them all we’d have even more problems to deal with. Trust me.”

  That was the problem. She didn’t trust Charley. But as her stomach twisted, she wanted so badly to trust her about this.

  “You’re not going to do anything to him?”

  Charley cocked up one perfectly shaped auburn brow. “As crazy as he’s acting, it seems you’ve already done that.”

  “So Kane is all right?” she asked, her heart thundering.

  “See for yourself.” Charley moved to the door, opened it and called, “Bring him in.” Standing in the open doorway, she glanced back. “And Alexis, sometimes being a bitch is necessary.”

  With that, she disappeared, closing the door behind her.

  Less than a minute later, a minute during which Alexis paced the room like a caged animal, the door opened again to reveal Kane.

  “Oh my God.” She rushed him, throwing herself against him in a full body hug right there in the doorway. “You’re alive.”

  Kane wrapped her in his strong arms, burying his face against the top of her head. “So are you. I was so worried about you.”

  “So was I about you.”

  “I’ll give you two some time. Then we’ve got work to do.” Charley’s voice coming from behind Kane interrupted the reunion.

  The door closed and Kane pulled back to glance down at Alexis. “Was that—”

  “Charley,” she supplied. Although she had to wonder what work Charley had been referring to.

  It didn’t matter. She didn’t care. Kane was here and safe. And he’d been crazy with worry about her. He cared. She squeezed him tighter, pressing her head against his chest.

  She realized the shirt beneath her cheek wasn’t his usual. She leaned away. “You changed.”

  “Yeah.” He glanced at the sofa. “Can we sit? I have questions.”

  So did she, although she’d rather just keep hugging him. “Sure.”

  She sat first. He sat next to her, but not close enough for her liking. She reached out and grabbed his hand. “What happened at the banquet?”