USA Today Bestselling Author
Heather Slade
A man of strength
A man of danger.
Cayman will destroy anyone threatening his world.
I take my job seriously. I’m strong. Hard as nails. Nothing hurts me, and I refuse to let anyone hurt those I love.
As the new commander of the UK Task Force on Human Trafficking, I have important work to do, and innocent lives to protect. There’s no time for mistakes or distractions.
But when I encounter the beautiful and damaged Bexli, I’ll move mountains to keep her safe. After the hell she’s endured, she needs my strong exterior more than anything. For the first time, my hard shell just may soften with her touch.
NOTE: Review may contain spoilers
The opening of this book introduces us to Bexli and her plight. She’s a captive of the human trafficker known as Mithras. She was planning her escape and she’d only get one chance at it.
In the UK, Winston ‘Cayman’ Trace is about to greet the French ambassador to the UN and leader of the UN’s Coalition Against Human Trafficking along with his boss Z Alexander. There are a couple of promotions coming down one of which is Margeaux “Nemesis” Jordan being named the head of the UN Coalition, and Cayman her replacement as Commanding Officer of the UK Task Force. As he reflects on this promotion, he wants to share it with someone he considers the most important person in his life, Bexli. They’ve been friends since he was eight years old and he’s shared all his accomplishments with her. Unfortunately, calling her would have to wait as there is more business to take care of.
Once he is able to call, it goes to voice mail, and he pulls up the last photo she sent him, one of the mysterious Lorenzo Moretti. He’s wondering if she’s in a relationship with him since he’s the one who offered her this chance to model in Milan, where she’s been since September. It’s then he notices it’s been six weeks since he’s heard from her. No other replies to his texts or messages. He texts her a brief message he has news and for her to call him before he gets called away.
Nemesis received a brief from Marchand and it has pertinent information. With everyone gathered, Cayman lowers a viewing screen as Nem hooks up her laptop, the screen fills with a photo of Mithras. Cayman couldn’t breathe, he started sweating and couldn’t say a word as Poseiden gripped his shoulders. He swiped at his phone and handed it to Poseiden, it was him. Lorenzo Moretti is Mithras.
With the return of his phone he runs outside, the panic he feels is overwhelming thought. He knows now that Mithras has Bexli and he can’t think straight.
Ares, Poseiden and Nemesis are all trying to calm him. The brief from Oleander suggests an auction on the dark web, and Zeppelin and Magnet are checking the site for Bexli, then they can plan. With Bexli’s image found they are waiting for Wren and Wilder to trace the IP address when an update hits with the notification the auction will open in 24 hours. The clock is ticking.
With the location found, they successfully take it down, rescuing the women they found there. The problem is Bexli wasn’t there. She had managed to somehow escape and they have to find her. They do manage to track her movements and enter a restaurant to have drinks where they believe she is.
This is a favorite scene.
We’d been at the restaurant a few minutes and, so far, hadn’t seen anyone matching the description the guard gave of the nurse. An older woman was going in and out of what I assumed was the kitchen while a younger man took our order. Both stole surreptitious glances at the four of us. We’d arrived shortly after it opened. Poseidon and Delfino played the role of one couple, while Oleander and I played another.
“According to the Dopler device, there are two people above us but in different rooms,” O whispered, looking at the unit she held beneath the table.
The man returned and delivered our drinks.
“Perhaps we could get a recommendation for a place to have dinner later,” I said, looking between Poseidon and Delfino.
When she looked up at him and, I assumed, reiterated what I’d just said, he responded in Maltese. Once he left the dining area, though, Oleander said she was certain he’d understood me. She took another look at the radar device. “It appears someone is headed up a staircase near the rear of the building.” She waited for a couple of seconds. There are now three people gathered together directly above us.”
“I cannot wait another minute. I know Bexli is here. I can’t explain why. I just do.” I pushed the chair back and stood. “Cover us,” I said to Oleander and Delfino when Poseidon stood as well.
I burst through the door we’d seen the two people go in and out of, confirming it led to a kitchen. The only person immediately visible was the woman. When I drew my gun and pointed it at her, she dropped the spoon she held and raised her hands.
Delfino approached her, putting her finger in front of her mouth, indicating the woman should remain silent.
Poseidon pointed to the back door I’d already spotted. We rounded a corner, found the stairs leading to the second floor, and crept up them.
Once we reached the top, I rounded another corner and nearly sobbed with joy when I came face-to-face with Bexli.
“Release her, or I’ll shoot!” I shouted at the man who’d taken our order and now had his arm around her waist.
“Cayman!” Bexli gasped. “Don’t shoot! It’s okay.” She looked over her shoulder. “Xavier, let me go.”
When the man hesitated, I retrained my eye on him via the sights. “Let her go!” I shouted.
Poseidon took a step around me; his gun was aimed at the woman who stood slightly behind the man. “Step around. Keep your hands where I can see them. Raise them high in the air and walk toward me.” When her eyes scrunched, he spoke to her in Maltese. This time she did as he demanded.
The man, however, still had his arm around Bexli’s waist.
“Who are these men?” I heard him ask her.
“It’s Cayman. It’s who I wanted to call earlier. Remember? I asked if I could make a call?”
His eyes bored into mine, and he nodded once. “You are certain?”
“Yes, Xavier. Let me go before either of us gets hurt.”
He released his hold and raised his hands in the air. I lowered my gun as Bexli ran into my arms.
“You found me!” she cried as we embraced.
“Get her out of here,” said Oleander, walking up behind us with her gun trained on the woman. Poseidon had moved to the man and was restraining him.
“Wait!” said Bexli as I led her to the stairs. She looked over her shoulder at him. “Thank you, Xavier.”
Like before, he nodded once but didn’t speak.
When we reached the bottom, Delfino was standing next to the old woman but hadn’t restrained her.
“Nonna,” Bexli said, twisting out of my arms and rushing over to her.
“Thank you,” she cried, embracing her. I watched the woman cup Bex’s cheek with her palm.
“She said you’ll be safe now,” Delfino told her when Bexli’s head cocked at the woman’s foreign words.
“Thank you,” she repeated, kissing the woman’s cheek before turning back to me.
“Transport has arrived,” said Delfino, motioning to the back door.
I looked down at Bexli’s feet. While she wore socks, she had no shoes. Rather than waste precious time asking her about them, I put one arm behind her knees and gathered her into my arms. She rested her head against my chest, and I carried her outside. Z got out of the vehicle and opened the back passenger door. I set Bexli on the seat and was about to go around to the other side when she grabbed my arm. She shifted to the center, and I climbed in next to her.
I put my arm around her shoulders and drew her close to me.
“How did you find me?”
I rested my head against hers. “There’s time for us to talk about all of that later. For now, let me hold you.”
“Of course.” She stiffened, and I eased my grip but didn’t let go.
“We received intelligence that a man we’ve been looking for was believed to be holding an auction. I recognized him as the one in the photo you sent to me. From there, we traced the dark web site to Gozo.”
“An auction?” she whispered in a ragged voice.
“Shh, my darling,” I soothed.
“What kind of auction?”
“Bex…”
She tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let her.
“What kind of auction, Cay?” she demanded.
“We discovered the man who lured you to Milan is a known human trafficker.” Did I really need to say the rest? It was horrific enough to think it. I didn’t want to utter the words I knew would only terrify her more.
“I was to be a s-slave?”
I raised my other hand and cupped her cheek, similar to the way the old woman had. “You’re safe now. That’s all that matters.”
“What about Moretti?” “We’re tracking him.” It was as close to the truth as I could get.
She turned her face toward me. “I should’ve killed him. He… he…”
“Shh,” I soothed again.
“Where are we going?” she asked when Z, who’d remained silent during the drive, pulled through the gates of the compound.
“We brought a team to the island. This has served as our base of operation.”
When she nodded, the coarseness of her hair abraded my cheek.
“Cay—”
The dampness from her tears mixed with my own. I couldn’t speak, even to comfort her.
Z pulled up to the portico of the compound’s main house. I gathered Bexli in my arms, then approached the front door, where Delfino was waiting for us.
“Hello, Bexli. My name is Kima,” she said after stepping aside so we could enter and I set Bex on her feet. “Like Cayman, I am here to help in any way you need.”
“A shower?”
“Of course, if you’ll come with me—”
“No!” Bexli’s jagged fingernails dug into the skin on my forearm when I released it from her shoulders. “I need you with me,” she whispered.
“I’ll take it from here,” I said to Delfino. “Where is the clothing you mentioned?”
“With your things.”
I nodded and thanked her. I knew from her dossier that Delfino had extensive training in victim advocacy and trauma counseling. I should’ve considered that and asked her to return to the compound in the SUV with us. However, I was grateful she’d somehow managed to arrive before we did.
I led Bexli up the staircase and down the hallway. The room I’d been assigned was one of the larger ones and had a rather luxurious en suite bath. As promised, several articles of clothing were laid out on the bed. Bex was so distressingly thin that I had no doubt even the smallest sizes would hang on her. However, not likely as much as the flannels she had on now.
She held onto me as I walked to the shower area. When I reached in to turn it on and adjust the water’s temperature, I noticed her gaze longingly at the oversized tub.
“Would you prefer a bath?” I asked.
“May I?”
I shut the water off in the shower. “As Kima said, we’ll do everything in our power to give you whatever you need or want, Bex.”
“I need you with me, Cay.”
“Of course.”
Even when I moved to run water in the tub, Bexli kept her hands on me. It was a perplexing contrast to how she’d behaved at the restaurant. There, she’d seemed more confident, more self-assured. Was it because of the man who’d kept her from immediately coming to me? Was he holding her in his arms more than captive? And in the kitchen, she’d immediately raced over to the old woman and embraced her. I stopped myself from asking her about either of them or how she came to shelter with the family of someone Mithras employed. There would be ample time for questions later. I’d not allow myself or anyone else to make Bexli feel as though she was being interrogated.
“How can I assist?” I asked after adjusting the water’s temperature as I had with the shower.
“Stay with me.”
I turned her in my arms and guided her to the tub’s edge. When she sat, I knelt before her and removed each of her socks. Bandages, which I gently peeled off, covered the soles of both her feet. While the water may sting the cuts initially, it was necessary to keep the wounds clean.
She sat with her arms at her sides like I imagined a child might with a parent who was helping them disrobe. “Do you need help with the rest?” I asked.
When she nodded, I lifted the shirt slowly, waiting for her to take over. When she made no move to do so, I raised it over her head and tossed it to the floor. “Stand for me, my darling.” I lowered the flannel pants, biting my tongue to keep myself from gasping at how emaciated she was.
I looked up as I felt her body shudder and wrapped my arms around her when I saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’m…” Her voice cracked, and her quiet cry turned into sobbing.
I used the pad of my thumb to wipe her cheeks. “You’re safe, Bexli, and I’ll not allow anyone to hurt you ever again.”
Heather Slade. Code Name Cayman – Heather Slade (Kindle Locations 1068-1150). Kindle Edition.
All this is just the beginning as they still need to take down Mithras, but he is only one of the big players.
There’s also Bexli and the way she feels unworthy of Cayman’s affections. Her family and background embarrass her although it doesn’t matter to Cayman or his parents. This leads to some interesting accomplishments on Bexli’s part as well as ups and downs in her relationship with Cayman.
There is plenty of intrigue and action in this one as we follow the steps in this investigation.
I really can’t wait to see what’s next in this series.
5 Contented Purrs for Heather!
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Heather Slade
USA Today and Amazon Top 15 Bestselling Author Heather Slade writes shamelessly sexy, edge-of-your seat romantic suspense.
She gave herself the gift of writing a book for her own birthday one year. Forty-plus books later (and counting), she’s having the time of her life. The women Slade writes are self-confident, strong, with wills of their own, and hearts as big as the Colorado sky. The men are sublimely sexy, seductive alphas who rise to the challenge of capturing the sweet soul of a woman whose heart they’ll hold in the palm of their hand forever. Add in a couple of neck-snapping twists and turns, a page-turning mystery, and a swoon-worthy HEA, and you’ll be holding one of her books in your hands.
Carol Kittie Reviews 