Air Bound (Sea Haven/Sisters of the Heart 3)

Maxim nodded his head slowly. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Saeed's been a problem for everyone, and unfortunately he has enough money to buy several countries as well as just about anything else he wants. There's always going to be someone willing to get children for him as long as he pays what they want."

"That's sick."

"Yes, but men like Saeed find places like this ship and men like the owner who provide for him."

"How does he know you?"

"I'm an arms dealer and he buys weapons and ammunition from me."

She rolled her eyes. "I see."

"There are very few things our countries are in agreement on, and Saeed as well as those providing for his proclivities is one of them. We sent the U.S. information in the hopes that they could shut down this operation, but sadly it failed."

Airiana was certain she knew why. Elle Drake had gone undercover in an effort to find out just who was behind the human trafficking ring, and she'd been taken prisoner. Elle's family and fiance had rescued her, but Stavros Gratsos had wanted her back.

Maxim's brother had also been working undercover as well, as a bodyguard to Stavros. He had been unable to keep Elle from being taken the first time. Eventually the yacht he was on with Stavros had sunk off the northern California coast.

Maxim was no arms dealer. Well, he might be. But if so, his reason was not money.

She scooted across the bed to lean her back against the wall, drawing her knees up tight. Her heart still pounded a little too fast. Her breath still burned in her lungs. She had to struggle to stay cool. No one had ever kissed her in her life. She didn't have boyfriends. She didn't date. Did everyone react to kisses the way she'd wanted to?

She didn't want to think about how she forgot, just for a moment, that his kisses were fake and that he might be an enemy. She was ashamed of herself, but still, fake or not, it was her first kiss. She couldn't imagine what he thought. She was totally inexperienced and probably had been awful, while he'd been . . . enough to sweep her away from this horrible ship and the circumstances she faced.

She took a deep breath and lifted her head to look at him again. She was beginning to trust him and that might be the biggest mistake of her life. Still, he was all that she had. "When you get me off this ship, is there a way to get the other women and children off as well?"

Maxim couldn't look into those blue eyes and lie. Or maybe he didn't want to. "No. It would be impossible. I will, however, do my best to have someone standing by to rescue them."

"How can we just leave them here?"

At least she'd said "we," not "you," and he was grateful she was identifying with him. "It's called not having a choice. My first priority has to be you."

He had plans. Saeed had been a target for a long time. Twice he'd met with the man in the hopes of creating an opportunity to kill him, but Saeed surrounded himself with too many bodyguards to make a clean exit possible.

Saeed's presence aboard ship was unexpected and Maxim was not going to pass up the opportunity to execute him, especially after seeing the young girl dead in his room. No doubt he already had another one. The thought was sickening.

"The way we're leaving the ship it would be impossible to take anyone else with us. We're diving and meeting a small sub."

Her head jerked up. Both hands went to her hair, shoving it from her face, horror in her eyes. She began to shake her head. "No. No way. I can't dive. I don't know how to dive. Rikki dives. I just sit and admire the ocean from shore. Water is not my friend."

He found himself smiling again at the absolute resolution in her voice. "Water is not your friend? Did you just say that?"

"I really don't swim." She shook her head adamantly. "I'm afraid of the water."

He could tell the confession was difficult for her. The words sounded strangled and she blushed admitting it to him.

"I never learned," she added. "I was in a boarding school and they didn't have luxuries like swimming pools. We certainly never had one at home. My mother didn't swim. She was afraid I'd drown."

"You won't drown. You'll be with me."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Do you have any idea how arrogant you sound? Of course I'll drown. What part of 'I can't swim' don't you get?"

He shrugged. "I'll tuck you under one arm and do the swimming."

"Do you expect me to use a tank to breathe?"

"We could do mouth-to-mouth if you prefer."

She glared at him and then reluctantly began to smile. "You're really impossible to argue with. You have an answer for everything."

"That's our only exit. We have no choice. When you have no choice and it's life or death, you do it," he pointed out.

"I suppose so." She was silent a moment, rubbing her chin back and forth on top of her knees. "Do you know who tortured and killed my mother?" She looked up, her gaze colliding with his.

He shouldn't have been surprised that she would just come out and ask, but he was. Solovyov had quietly investigated Marinochka's murder. Solovyov had confided in Gavriil that he had his suspicions that it had been his wife, Elena, who had tipped off the U.S. government that Marina Ridell was not who she claimed, and then when the young woman hadn't been arrested, Elena had arranged for her murder. Solovyov wanted proof before he confronted Elena. No proof had ever been established, but Elena had betrayed her husband and arranged for him to be murdered as well and his work stolen. Fortunately, Gavriil had saved Theodotus's life, but Gavriil had nearly died. Stefan, another Prakenskii brother, had found Elena. There was no asking her questions now.

"There was no proof, but your father's wife was suspected. She sewed a microchip containing his work into his coat and then arranged for him to be ambushed."

"Did anyone question her about this?"

"She's dead."

Airiana twisted her fingers in one of the many holes in her jeans while she thought that over. "Why didn't he contact me after his wife died? Why wait until now?"

Of course she would ask the pertinent questions--she was too intelligent not to, but she was very nervous. She had to have a lot of questions running through her mind, and he doubted if he could answer most of them.

"He was tipped off that you were in danger and he asked me to come and get you." He watched her face carefully. Her fingers continued to pluck nervously at the white strings around the holes in her jeans.

"I want to go home."

He nodded. "That's understandable."

"But you won't take me there."

"I promised your father I'd take you to him first. He wants to meet with you."

She brought the pad of her thumb to her mouth and bit down with her small white teeth. He wished he could read her mind. The middle of his palm itched and he rubbed his hand down his thigh to rid himself of the persistent and very annoying irritation.

"So my father--and you--believe my mother was tortured and killed because my father's wife was jealous?" A storm gathered in her sky blue eyes. "That's what the two of you want me to believe."

Damn. Why did she have to be a smart woman? He shrugged, keeping his features expressionless. "As I said, there was no proof, but certainly Elena was capable of such a thing. Theodotus was devastated both for himself and for you." Everything he said was absolutely the truth. He used a low voice filled with conviction.

"You said Theodotus Solovyov was a physicist?"

Solovyov's career was public knowledge. Maxim didn't have to make up anything at all. Now he felt he was walking on eggshells with her. He nodded his head slowly, trying to figure out where she was going with her questions. "Yes, he's a very brilliant physicist."

"He wasn't, by any chance, developing a brand-new defense system, was he?" Her voice was innocent. Too innocent. "Was that on the microchip? The stolen one? The one that ended up with Jean Claude La Roux?"

His heart jerked in his chest. "How the hell would you know something like that?" He stepped closer to her, feigning anger. He knew exactly how she had gotten that information. Stefan had sen

t the chip back to his handlers before he disappeared, and had become Thomas Vincent, the art dealer. Stefan was married to one of the women on the farm. Information like that could get her killed.

Her lashes fluttered. She shrugged. "This man, Solovyov, he kept no other records, did he? He wiped out everything to protect his work. It was too important. And now it's gone."

"What are you implying?"

"You know exactly what I'm implying. This whole thing is an elaborate setup. Do you really think I'm so stupid I'd buy into it all? My father suddenly surfaces after all these years and sends you to protect me. Wow. His jealous wife, after waiting sixteen years, hunts down my mother and murders her. Why wait all that time? She woke up one morning and decided, hey, today might be a good day to murder my cheating husband's mistress from sixteen years ago even though she's in America and hasn't seen my husband in all those years. How very neat and tidy for you and dear old dad."

She had a sharp tongue on her, but he still couldn't help but admire her. "It didn't happen quite like that."