UndercoverSurrender by Angela Claire Page B

he could use the
multipurpose “or else”. Instead he settled on the truth. “Or you might just get
yourself killed.”
    She harrumphed.
    “Are we clear on this?”
    At her sullen nod, he leaned off her and moved a little to
the side so that she didn’t bear the full brunt of his weight. He noticed
uncomfortably that she took a deep breath. He still held her hands over her
head, though.
    “What’s your name anyway?”
    He almost thought she wouldn’t tell him, but then she said,
“Samantha.”
    “Samantha, eh? The Samantha? You have a whole luxury
yacht named after you? Your father must love you a lot.”
    She said nothing.
    “Well, Samantha, I’m Vik. And what you need to do, what we
both need to do right now, is chill out. Okay?”
    For all that this girl had been in the middle of a cruise in
the South Seas, her skin was creamy and white, with hardly a tan at all, just a
flush of pink along her high cheekbones. Lovely.
    He cleared his throat and rolled off her completely on to
his side, letting go of her hands. “So what’s your last name?”
    She took in another audible breath, as if each move he took
away from her allowed her to breathe a little more. “Reynolds. My father is
Damien Reynolds.”
    Oh shit.
    Could this day get any worse?
    “ The Damien Reynolds? As in Reynolds Industries? As
in former ambassador to—”
    “Yes. That’s my father,” she said, almost belligerently.
    Fabulous. Now he knew he was probably screwed. Damien
Reynolds would undoubtedly board The Victory any time now, and then use
his considerable influence to get a team of Navy SEALs out here to nab back his
daughter. And blow Vik’s cover in the process. And that would be the end of
trying to find the source of this whole sex trafficking operation. They’d
arrest everybody on the boat and he would never find out who was really behind
all this. Who that bastard Gunderson’s boss had been. A year down the drain.
    “My father’s probably out there right now mustering the
troops to rescue me. I mean, assuming he’s been picked up by now.”
    If he hadn’t been picked up by now, he would be soon all
right. Vik was sure of it.
    “You should tell your friends they picked the wrong girl to
kidnap.”
    About to tell her to shut the fuck up, he heard the little
hiccup at just the last minute. She was showing more bravado than she felt. She
was probably still scared to death.
    “I think you may be right about that.” He punched the
super-soft pillow.
    All he could do now was just wait to see how this all turned
out. And try to keep her safe in the meantime. He could do that at least. Even
if it meant that thousands of young girls just like her, only too poor to have
Daddies who could save them, would continue to be sold into the kind of sexual
slavery he was trying to keep her safe from.
    “Anyway, we can’t leave the cabin for at least an hour or so
since we’re supposed to be, ah, otherwise occupied. Then, when we do leave the
cabin, we’ll take a turn around the boat just to further emphasize you’re mine.
Eventually, you may be able to go around on your own, but not for now. For now,
you don’t leave this locked cabin unless I’m at your side. Got it?”
    The girl—Samantha, he reminded himself—watched him
wordlessly. “ Eventually ,” she finally said.
    “Until I can figure out what to do with you.”
    “I thought you were going to ransom me. Isn’t that what you
said?”
    “Yeah, that’s what I said. But it’s not high on my radar
right now. I do want to get you off this boat and back to safety as soon as I
can, though. I can’t have you in the middle of all this.”
     
    Samantha’s natural curiosity got the best of her. Or maybe
she merely wanted to keep him talking so that the position they were in, lying
side by side on a bed, didn’t get his full attention. “In the middle of what?
Who are you people? What are you doing?”
    “We’re pirates, I guess you’d say. This crew