Rescuing Gracelynn (Special Forces: Operation Alpha) (Bravo Series Book 1)

by Anna Blakely

  “Carter? Do you copy?”

  Nate blinked and looked again. Of course, Gracie wasn’t there, and now the other woman who had been smiling at him wore a wary expression.

  She said something to her friend and both women left the area as if they couldn’t get away fast enough.

  Jesus, man. Get your fucking head in the game.

  Rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, Nate shook off the disturbing illusion and tried to find Karas again. With the women gone, he now had a clear view of the man they needed to talk to.

  “Affirmative, Boss. I have Karas in my sights.”

  “Good. Keep him there. King, I want you to slowly make your way over to that area. Get as close to him as possible without making it obvious. When he leaves, we’ll follow him out and box him in.”

  Two bands later, Karas finally stood and began to make his way to the top of the amphitheater. One by one, the members of Bravo began to follow.

  It was a game they’d played often. And they always won.

  When they were in the grass and away from the thick crowd, Nate and the others pulled back a bit to avoid detection. Now on a sidewalk near the edge of the park, he watched as Karas veered off toward a small, brown car.

  The older, beat up vehicle fit the description they’d been given, and was exactly the kind of car someone would drive if they didn’t want to stand out.

  “He’s about to his car, Boss. I’m only a few yards behind him. Should I approach?”

  “If you can. Be careful not to spook him.”

  “Roger that.”

  Picking up his step, Nate made it to the car just as Karas was about to start the ignition.

  “Excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you, but would you happen to have a light?”

  Appearing alarmed, Karas simply stared up at Nate as though he didn’t understand him. Pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, Nate showed Karas what he was referring to.

  Speaking extra loudly and slowly, as a clueless tourist would, he asked the man again. “A light?” Gesturing with his thumb, Nate mimicked the action one would make while trying to ignite a lighter. “Do you have a light?”

  Nate and the others already knew Karas smoked, which was why Gabe had bought each of them a pack to carry around. Depending on the situation, any one of the five men could’ve been the first to make contact with their mark.

  Nate just happened to be the lucky winner.

  “Oh,” Karas nodded. “Yes. I have light.” His accent was thick, and his English broken, but Nate understood what he’d said.

  “Thanks, man. I’ve been jonesin’ for a smoke all night.”

  Nate continued to ramble on while he waited for Karas to dig the lighter out of his pocket, which got caught inside his pants. When Karas looked down as he tried to pull it free, Nate used the opportunity to glance across the top of the car and check on the others’ progress.

  They were headed his way, but not fast enough. Nate needed to come up with a way to distract Karas before he spotted them and took off.

  Karas held the lighter out for him. Thinking on his feet, Nate accidentally knocked it out of his hand and onto the floorboard.

  “Oh, shit, man. I’m sorry.”

  Muttering what sounded like a curse, Karas bent over and tried to reach it. Knowing this was his chance, Nate pulled his pistol from beneath his loose button-up and pressed the barrel against the back of the other man’s head.

  “Very slowly, I want you to move your hands onto the steering wheel and sit up.”

  “I-I…I no…speak…”

  “Cut the bullshit, Barry. I know who you are, and I know you can speak near-perfect English.”

  “No. You have…wrong…man,” he continued the farce. “I not Barry. Name is…”

  Nate rolled his eyes and sighed. “Look, Bare. It’s been a long fuckin’ week, and I’m sweatin’ my ass off out here. In fact, my hand is getting pretty slick. I’d sure hate to accidentally shoot you while trying to keep a tight grip on my gun.”

  Resigned, Barry nodded shakily. “Okay, okay. You win. What is it you want?”

  The accent was still there, but the man’s words had suddenly become a flowing array of beautiful English.

  Nate exhaled loudly. “Thank Christ.”

  As Barry was sitting up, Nate told him, “I need to know where I can find Achim Akmar.”

  Hearing the other man’s name, Barry shot straight up and started to reach for the ignition. Fortunately, Nate had bought the rest of Bravo enough time to make their presence known.

  “Touch that key and you’ll be pulling back a bloody stump.”

  Through the passenger window, Nate smiled at Kole who was currently pointing his own gun at Barry’s frozen right hand.

  “Hey, man,” Nate greeted his teammate. “Nice of you to join us.” To Karas, he said, “Dude, if I were you, I’d listen to the guy. I once saw him shoot a man center mass from over a hundred yards away. With a paintball gun.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you?” Kole looked across at Nate. “It was my sniper rifle, asshole. I just adjusted a few things on her.”

  “Yeah, but you should have seen this shot, Barry. It truly was a thing of beauty.”

  More confused than scared, the man looked from Nate to Kole, then back again. “I-I cannot give you Achim. He has eyes everywhere.”

  “Yet, you came to a crowded concert in the middle of the day. In the open.” Nate pretended to think a minute. “Yeah, I’m not buying it, Barry.”

  “I tell you the truth! I do not work with Achim Akmar. I never have. He is a monster.”

  “You may not have worked with him,” Gabe spoke from behind Kole. “But you can help us find him.”

  Their team leader gave Nate a nod. He opened the driver’s door and pulled Karas from the car.

  “Come on, Barry. Let’s go have a chat, shall we?”

  After walking Karas to the van Ryker had arranged for them to use while in the country, Nate and the others drove him to one of Homeland’s secure locations. It was an abandoned apartment building slated for demolition in the next few weeks.

  Located on the outskirts of the city’s eastern border, there was nothing around but a few crumbling structures. A couple squatters had been using the place as their shelter, but they took one look at Gabe and ran off faster than a kitten in a dog pound.

  Having set up shop in one of the spaces on the top floor, Gabe had all but ensured no one would be able to hear Barry’s screams, in case it came to that.

  From the sounds Nate could hear coming from the other side of the closed door, it definitely had.

  His gut tightened. He understood the art of torture, and also knew there was a time and place for it. It was the means to a necessary end, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

  “How long is Gabe going to keep at it? If the guy hasn’t talked by now, I don’t think he’s going to.”

  Kole looked up from where he was cleaning his sniper rifle, just to have something to do. “You know how Gabe works. He does what it takes to get to the truth.”

  “Isn’t that what Akmar does?”

  “Seriously?” Turner stood from the box he’d been sitting on. “You’re really comparing Gabriel Dawson, a decorated SEAL and our team leader, to that murdering sonofabitch, Akmar?”

  “No. Of course not,” Nate backtracked. “Come on, Matt. You know what I mean. When do you decide enough is enough?”

  “Not my call. But what I do know is that Akmar tortured one of our own to death. He was a SEAL for fuck’s sake. And what about Gracie?”

  That had Nate standing from the metal folding chair he’d managed to find. “What about her?”

  “I saw the way you were with her at the office the other day. Don’t you want to be able to go home and tell her we found the man who murdered her friend? I bet that would make her like you even more than she already does.”

  “You know what? Fuck you. I’m so goddamn tired of everyone trying to get into my bus
iness.”

  Just then, the bedroom door creaked open and Gabe and Zade stepped out. Gabe was covered in sweat and the knuckles on both his hands were torn and bloody. A strong, unpleasant odor followed the two men through the dense air.

  “Ah, God. What is that stench?” Kole asked them.

  “Our friend Barry pissed and shit himself.” Gabe dug a few liras—the official Turkish currency—from his pocket and tossed them on the makeshift table Nate was standing near. “Go to town and buy him some clean clothes. Take Jameson with you.”

  Knowing when not to argue, Nate followed Gabe’s instructions and grabbed the money. “Got it, Boss. Come on, Kole.”

  “We’re heading out when you two get back.”

  “Heading out?” Zade asked their somber leader. “Where we going?”

  “Home.” The big guy glanced back toward the room Barry was in. “If Karas knows where Akmar is, he’d rather die than rat him out.”

  “You think he knows?” Matt asked their boss.

  “No.” Gabe’s answer was instant and unwavering. “I don’t.”

  “So, what are we going to do about him?” Zade asked. “Akmar, I mean.”

  “We’re going to go back home, regroup, and figure out our next move. We’ll find him,” Gabe assured the team. “Just not this trip.”

  Damn. Nate would never admit it, but Matt had been right. He did want to be there to see Gracie’s face when they told her they’d caught the bastard who killed Craig. However, what Gabe said was also true.

  They would eventually find Achim Akmar. And when they did, Nate prayed he was the one to put a bullet through the bastard’s brain.

  During the long plane ride home, his thoughts kept turning back to Gracie. As much as he hated to acknowledge it, Nate realized he’d actually missed seeing her these last few days. Which was ridiculous, given they’d only just met.

  Regardless, Nate did feel a connection with Gracie. One unlike any he’d never felt before. Shit, just the idea of talking to her again was exciting. A fact that left him wondering once again, what the hell was happening to him?

  You know exactly what’s happening.

  Ignoring the annoying inner voice, Nate put his headphones over his ears. He turned his classic eighties rock playlist up loud enough to drown everything else out. Then, reclining in his comfy, leather seat, he closed his eyes and compelled himself to think about anything other than Gracelynn McDaniels.

  By the time he woke up, the pilot was telling them to prepare to land. Feeling the effects of crossing several time zones, Nate wanted nothing more than to go home, shower, and fall back to sleep.

  With his bag in hand, he headed down the plane’s staircase. It wasn’t until he reached the asphalt below that he realized Jake was waiting at the edge of the tarmac for them. Standing next to their boss was Sarah, and she looked anything but happy.

  “Kole.”

  Kole had just cleared the plane’s steps when Nate said his name. The other man looked up and followed Nate’s gaze.

  “The fuck? Why is she here?”

  Nate knew Kole wasn’t upset at the idea of Sarah greeting them as they got off the plane. He was simply concerned, because this sort of thing had never happened before.

  As they got closer to their boss and Kole’s fiancée, Nate’s chest began to tighten. Sarah’s face was red and splotchy, and her eyes were slightly swollen from crying.

  “Sarah?” Kole dropped his bag and rushed to her. With his hands on her shoulders, he asked, “Baby, what is it? What’s wrong?”

  Somehow, Nate knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

  “Gracie.” Sarah was barely able to say her sister’s name.

  “What about her?” Nate stepped in closer.

  Kole glanced over at him, but Nate didn’t give a shit. Right now, all he cared about was finding out what had happened to Gracie.

  “She’s…”

  Please don’t say she’s dead. Nate didn’t think he could take hearing that.

  “She’s what, Sarah?” Kole prompted, his hand cupping the emotional woman’s cheek. “Baby, talk to me.”

  “Gracie’s missing,” Jake answered for her.

  “Missing?” Nate and Kole both spoke in unison. Nate’s stomach fell to his feet.

  “What’s going on?” Gabe asked as he and the others made their way over to them.

  “What do you mean, she’s missing?” Nate directed his question to Jake.

  “Who’s missing?” Matt asked, trying to catch up on the conversation.

  “I took Gracie home the day your team left.” Sarah was speaking to Kole, but everyone around her listened closely. Especially Nate.

  “I stayed with her for a while, to make sure she was okay. After a few hours, she convinced me she was fine and just needed some time to process everything. So, I left and…” Sarah’s face crumbled, and Kole took her into his arms.

  “Shhh. It’s okay, baby.” He rubbed her back. “We’ll find her. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Hating the look on Jake’s face, Nate asked, “What do we know?”

  “Like Sarah said, she took Gracie home Monday after she learned about Craig Wyatt’s death. Security cameras in the parking lot at Gracie’s apartment complex show her leaving again about fifteen minutes after Sarah left. We followed her using traffic cam footage, which led us back to our office.”

  “She went back to work?”

  Sarah lifted her head from Kole’s chest to answer Nate’s question. “She went back to R.I.S.C., but I didn’t see her. I was in my office from the time I got back to the firm until I left at six. If I’d just seen her.” Her eyes lifted to Kole’s “If I’d known she was there, then maybe—”

  “No, Sarah.” Kole shook his head. “Don’t do that to yourself.”

  “Office security shows her entering at two thirty-three,” Jake continued. “She stayed for almost two hours while the guy from the phone company fixed our intercom system, then drove back home. That’s the last time anyone saw her.”

  “That explains why she went back to work,” Gabe mused. “She must have forgotten to call and cancel the appointment.”

  “Did you check out the guy the phone company sent?” Nate asked desperately. “Maybe he…did something to her.” Christ, he hated to even go there. The idea that Gracie had been hurt in any way gutted him.

  “He’s clean,” Jake broke through Nate’s thoughts. “Cameras show him leaving alone. His boss, along with traffic cams and computer records, confirm he went straight from our office to another job on the other side of the city. That company backed up his claim, as well. He’s not involved.”

  Still holding his fiancée close, Kole asked Jake, “When did you first realize she was missing?”

  “When she didn’t show up for work on Tuesday. I called her, but there was no answer. I went down and talked to Sarah, but she hadn’t heard from Gracie since leaving her apartment the day before.”

  “I went over to her place to check on her,” Sarah spoke up.

  “And?” Nate prompted, feeling like he was going to implode.

  “Her apartment had been broken into.” Sarah swiped at a new tear. “The whole place was trashed.”

  Sonofabitch.

  The others cursed under their breaths, but Nate forced himself to remain focused. He needed to find out all he could.

  “What did you do then?”

  “I called Jake. He told me to get back into my car and wait for him there.”

  “You did good, baby.” Kole kissed the top of Sarah’s head. “That was the exact right thing to do.”

  Nate looked at Jake. “What did you find at her apartment?”

  “Nothing. There was no trace of her. Her purse and keys were there. Credit cards were all still in her wallet.”

  “So, it wasn’t a robbery,” Zade surmised.

  “Doesn’t appear to be, no.”

  If there’d been a way to find Gracie, Jake would have figured it out by now. Still
, Nate had to ask. “What about her cell?”

  “It was also in her apartment, but it’s broken. Looks like whoever was there either threw it against the living room wall or stomped on it.”

  “Pissed because they didn’t find what they were looking for?” Gabe speculated.

  “Maybe. I called DPD and they sent over a team to process the scene. The officers took pictures and dusted for prints. The usual. The unfortunate reality is we don’t know much of anything at this point. Just that someone trashed her place five days ago, and Gracie hasn’t been seen or heard from since.”

  Five days. Five fucking days since she’d gone missing.

  Nate’s mind swirled with numbers and percentages. He knew the odds of finding someone alive dropped drastically after the first twenty-four hours. Much longer than that, and the search for a missing person becomes a recovery operation.

  No. She can’t be dead.

  Nate pictured Gracie’s smiling face. He could still hear her laugh as they’d joked together in his apartment that night. It was the most beautiful sound in the world, and suddenly, Nate forgot all about Achim Akmar and all that other bullshit.

  In that very moment, the thing Nate wanted more than anything in the entire world was to hear Gracie laugh again.

  Chapter 5

  Gabe, Matt, and Zade followed Nate to his place to help grab some things. After, the entire team met back up at Kole’s.

  Less than an hour later, His and Sarah’s dining room looked more like control central with Nate’s monitors and other equipment spread out across the table.

  The three other men stayed a while, offering whatever support they could. Eventually, the guys left with the understanding that they were all on-call and needed to be ready, in case their assistance was needed.

  Nate had spent the rest of the day and most of that night doing everything he could think of to try and find Gracie. With the exception of the occasional trip to the bathroom, he kept his ass parked in his chair.

  Today had been more of the same. His fingers were cramping from all the typing and searching, but he couldn’t stop. He had to figure out what happened to her.

  Unfortunately, they hadn’t found out any more than what Jake had already told them. After hacking into Gracie’s apartment security, Nate was able to catch a glimpse of whoever broke into her place, but that was it.