Free Jax: A Navy SEAL Romantic Suspense by Autumn Gunn Page A

area?”
     
    “Nothing.  Quiet as usual.”
     
    That would partially explain why he was about to fall asleep in his chair.  It didn’t explain where Kate went.
     
    I hit one on my speed dial.  It immediately went to voice mail.  Where was she?  What had happened in the last three and a half minutes?
     
    “Thanks for your help.”
     
    “Don’t mention it.”  Believe me, I considered it.  How could this guy be so asleep at the wheel?  I went outside and stood on the front curb.  Everything looked fine.  People coming and going.  Nothing unusual.  Now all I had was Kate’s last call and Kong’s texts to go on.  Which should I believe, if any?  Neither seem to make sense.  At this point it doesn’t matter.  A child and possibly a woman are in danger.  It’s not about being a SEAL.  It’s not about being a good Samaritan.  It’s about being a man.  And being in love, and protecting those that are closest to you and those that are closest to them.  It was time to act.

 
     
     
    Chapter 14
     
    I touched down early on the red eye and went straight to the rental cars.  Before I even hit the kiosk I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
     
    Hope you got rest on flight.
     
    It’s you who I’m going to put to sleep.
     
    Had your chance.   Blew it, froggy.
     
    I went through a mental checklist of that night.  Everything had went as planned.  The U.S. military men in South Korea were becoming a little too fond of the red light district.  We had solid intel that one of the top Kkangpae was planning on kidnapping a whole nightclub full of our guys.  It’s not like it would be difficult.  Some of their gentleman’s clubs, and I still never understood why they call them that, held up to a few hundred occupants.  If a guy was separating or switching duty stations it was almost a given that the night would start at a restaurant, turn into a drunk fest, and then finish in the red light district.  If the guy was popular, or in one of the larger units, there could be enough guys with him to fill the entire club.
     
    Taking a couple hundred U.S. service men hostage would be a PR nightmare for the government, and the Kkangpae bosses knew that.  They’d surely be able to quickly negotiate a huge ransom so the U.S. would avoid international humiliation.
     
    The guy we had our eyes on was Kwang-jo Kong.  While most Korean mafia focused on extortion and loan sharking, Kwang-jo preferred people.  Specifically underprivileged people he could sell.  He was the most despicable of human beings.  I wouldn’t even call him human.  He was the underworld prostitution boss in Korea.  Running everything from simple strip clubs close to military bases targeting G.I.s to high-end escort services offering private jets for weekend visits by Chinese billionaires.  He had the market cornered from all sides, and now he was going for his biggest play.  He wanted to flex his muscles and show how powerful he really was.  Show off to all the other seedy characters, not only in Asia, but across the world.  Even if the U.S. avoided public humiliation and paid a hefty ransom, Kong would secure his status forever amongst the scum of society.  He would instill fear in smaller bosses and quickly expand his territory and easily recruit other bosses’ key henchmen in the process.  From there he could secure arms distribution and a whole host of other illegal activities and money laundering activities operations such as construction and waste disposal.  He would surely become the biggest, and most powerful, mafia boss the world has ever seen.  The U.S. government, with the help of a few Navy SEALs, wasn’t going to let that happen.  Our intel discovered he often had a helicopter drop him at Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff after the park closed so he could practice his Taekwondo forms on the ledge.  We had surveillance pictures.  They were stunning and would have made the best martial arts magazine cover ever.