The men began arguing again, and Kim thought she heard one of them utter the general’s name. That was impossible though. They couldn’t know the names of the U.S. officers stationed at Bagram.
“You! Come over here!” one of the men demanded.
Kim warily moved toward them.
Crooked Nose grabbed her arm, yanking her back toward the cave she’d slept in. The men who’d been eating were gone, and uneasiness washed over her again. She’d been used to a large group, to lots of activity every day. The men usually hunkered together, discussing things in low voices. Not that she’d understand if they yelled it from the mountaintops.
Were they plotting another attack? Planning to kidnap others?
Kim assumed someone had snuck onto base to plant explosives at her building. There’d been a suicide bomber at the front gate preceding the attack. That’s when she’d seen her friend Hailey being escorted back to their housing by a tall, buff soldier. Or sailor. She wasn’t sure. When deployed, some of the Special Forces guys wore the same uniform as the others to blend in. She wasn’t certain that guy had been Special Forces, of course. But when Hailey said he’d tackled her to the ground after the first explosion, she’d gotten that impression. He’d seemed the protective sort. He’d insisted on walking Hailey back to their building, and her friend had said she’d just met the guy. Kim had even joked she needed her own superhero.
What she wouldn’t give for someone to storm in and rescue her now.
Maybe if the video footage was aired, the U.S. would come looking for her. She had no idea if she’d been presumed dead. But if her kidnappers had demanded a ransom, that gave her a sliver of hope.
Although she hated that her friends and family would see her looking scared and awful on the video her kidnappers had taken, at least it proved she was alive. Or did it? She hadn’t mentioned a date or how long she’d been in captivity. They could see it and assume it was months old.
Tears smarting her eyes, she let Crooked Nose shove her back into the cave. He hovered near the front, talking to one of the men. Kim sank down onto her blanket, frustrated. She hated being trapped here. She hated being at their complete and utter mercy. And she hated the feeling of helplessness that she carried with her daily, knowing this was her life now.
Chapter 2
Ethan “Everglades” Flannigan frowned as he shoved some of his clothing into his oversized duffle bag. There was still a little sand at the bottom from his last op to the African desert, but he’d only be trekking through more when they landed in Afghanistan.
His gaze flicked around his sparse, masculine bedroom. He wasn’t exactly sad to leave since it wasn’t like he had a girlfriend waiting at home for him. Half his buddies were now in relationships. Hell, his SEAL team leader was engaged. Ethan dated occasionally and had fun going out with his buddies to the bars, but damn. He felt restless lately. Like he was missing out on something. His friends seemed content, so he didn’t know what had crawled up his ass. The other single guys on his team were happy.
He scrubbed a hand across the stubble on his jaw and looked at the remaining clothes stacked in neat piles on his bed. Socks. Boxers. Extra tee-shirts. He grabbed his sunscreen and toothbrush, shoving them into a Ziploc bag with a couple of other toiletries.
Hell.
How many missions had he deployed on over the years? He and his SEAL team had rescued countless civilians, but this mission was personal. He was itching to go and wished they could get on the damn C-17 tonight. To rescue the two American women who’d been kidnapped. Ethan’s teammate Grayson “Ghost” Douglass had met his girlfriend Hailey when the team was on an op at Bagram Airfield. She’d nearly been killed when an explosion had rocked her building, and her friend had vanished. It was only after a few days and complete search of the damaged building that the U.S. military realized with certainty that she’d been kidnapped. Along with another innocent woman.
Had they been raped or tortured? Starved? Beaten?
His gut churned. He didn’t even know the women, but his protective side made him want to rush in, guns blazing, and get them the hell out of harm’s way. The same terrorist cell had killed multiple U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan. They’d blown up a damn building. He wanted to make sure they paid for the lives they’d taken and hurt they’d caused.
His phone buzzed on his nightstand, and he saw Ghost’s name flash on the screen.
“What’s up?” Ethan asked, moving around his bedroom as he spoke.
“Just making sure you’re okay. You tore out of Jackson and Taryn’s place like it was on fire.” Ethan frowned. They’d all been at a barbecue earlier that night when word from the CO had come in that they were going wheel’s up tomorrow morning. It had dampened the mood, because every man there was ready to tear the hearts out of the bastards who’d kidnapped two American women. Hailey had been beside herself—both knowing that her friend might be found and knowing that her boyfriend was going into harm’s way. Although no one deserved to be kidnapped, it was rough seeing the effect it had on the victim’s friends or family.
“I’m surprised you aren’t busy comforting Hailey right now. She was pretty upset earlier.”
“She cried herself to sleep,” Grayson admitted in a low voice. “I got her calmed down, and she’s out cold on the sofa. I would move her to bed, but I’m trying to pack.”
“Hell. I hope this intel is solid,” Ethan muttered.
“It is. The CO has been on this for weeks. You know that as well as I do. We were just waiting on the final word to move in. They pinpointed her location after the first video came out.”
“We have no idea what condition she’s in or when that video was taken,” Ethan said.
“Shit,” Grayson said. “Turn on your TV.”
Frowning, Ethan crossed his bedroom and walked to the living room in the small house he rented in a few long strides. “Why? Are they showing Kimberly again?”
Kimberly Turner was one of the Americans who’d been kidnapped. Hailey’s friend. Although he’d never met her, Hailey had told Ethan about her on a couple of occasions. She’d been in Bagram on TDY as an Army Reservist. She had some military training but nothing like the regular troops. Nothing like his SEAL team. They drilled daily for missions and combat. She worked in an office at the Pentagon.
Hailey had been terrified after the explosion and fearful for Kimberly’s life. Ethan had helped watch over Hailey when she’d been in danger, and something about that made him feel even closer to the woman who’d been kidnapped. He didn’t know his friends’ women well, but he was definitely closer to Hailey than the others. He knew it meant everything to her that Kimberly made it home safely.
Grabbing the remote, Ethan turned on his TV and flipped to a news station. “Okay, just turned it on,” he said in a low voice. “It’s just the anchorman on this channel.”
“Holy fuck,” Grayson said.
Ethan stiffened. Footage of some rocky terrain likely at the base of a mountain rolled across the screen. A blonde woman’s body lay in the distance. She looked like a ragdoll tossed on the ground. The image cut to Kimberly. She looked scared out of her mind staring at the camera, and then she slowly began to speak.
Ethan froze in place, watching. Without even knowing her, he could see the fear in her blue eyes. Her dark hair was tangled and her face dirty, but she didn’t appear to be injured. Just frightened. Who had filmed her? The terrorists who’d kidnapped her? Some other asshole?
“I had to turn it off,” Grayson said abruptly. “What if Hailey woke up and saw that? Shit. She’ll probably see it tomorrow on the news, and we’ll be gone by then. Damn it! Why is the media broadcasting this shit?”
Ethan let out a breath. “We don’t even know when this footage was taken. I’m assuming it was after the first video where she didn’t speak, but who the hell knows? Both could be weeks old. Months.”
“The CO will update us tomorrow. They’ve got ways to authenticate and date the footage.”
“I sure the he
ll hope so,” Ethan said. He frowned, watching the footage of Kimberly continuing to play. The anchorman was talking over it, announcing that the terror cell was demanding a ransom from the U.S. government for her release. But it was her haunted blue eyes that slayed him.
He could see the fear etched across her face. She was trying to be stoic but was clearly terrified. What had she been through during these past few months?
The anchorman continued talking about the ransom, and Ethan’s blood boiled. Like hell. The entire world knew that the U.S. didn’t negotiate with terrorists. Ethan’s team would storm in and save her. Get her away from those terrorist assholes and back to the States. She just had to hold on a bit longer.
***
Ethan rolled into base at oh-four-hundred the following morning. He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and strode toward the building, ready to gather the weapons and gear they needed with his teammates. They’d get their supplies, brief with the CO, and then hop on the flight across the Atlantic.
He’d slept fitfully last night after watching that damn footage on the news. He’d stared at the ceiling of his bedroom for hours, the haunted look in Kimberly’s blue eyes the only thing he could see. Normally he could shut his mind off and sleep practically on command. They were used to grabbing some shuteye whenever they could on missions, and sleeping in his own bed would be a hell of a lot more comfortable than the tents they’d potentially have to pitch up in the mountains.
Damn.
He didn’t even know the woman, but how the hell wouldn’t she be frightened? Although he and his teammates trained for all possible scenarios, including what to do if they ever were captured, he’d never been kidnapped before. He’d never been held by armed men against his will for months.
And let’s face it. He was a man. He would be tortured if the enemy ever did capture him or his teammates, but Kimberly was an innocent woman. She could’ve been raped or abused. His gut churned even imagining it.
Ethan barely made a sound as he crossed the parking lot, his combat boots quiet on the pavement. Headlights pierced the early morning darkness, and he knew his teammates were pulling in as well. He wasn’t ready to see anyone yet. He was tired and in a piss-poor mood. Neither were a great way to start a mission.
A car door slammed shut, but he pulled open the door to the building and strode inside. Their CO, Commander Slate Hutchinson, stormed down the hallway, a frown on his face. “Did you catch the news footage last night?” he asked.
“Affirmative. I saw Kimberly Turner speaking and the body of the blonde woman before it was cut off.”
“The Pentagon isn’t happy. CENTCOM assured them both women were still alive. The latest footage was blasted across the Internet worldwide and then shown on the evening news.”
Ethan scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “CENTCOM had access to the latest intelligence. It must have been quite recent if they were unaware.”
The CO muttered a curse. “Tell the men we’ll be briefing first thing. I need to update the team on the latest SITREP. After that, we’ll gear up and get ready to move.”
“Roger that,” Ethan said. He turned and headed toward the locker area as his commander headed toward the bullpen. The other guys would be here momentarily, and they wouldn’t be happy either. Hopefully no harm came to Kimberly in the time it took to cross the Atlantic and eventually land in Afghanistan.
His team had been there twice several months ago—both when Ghost met Hailey and again when they were taking out a terror cell leader. Kimberly had been held there all along. They’d been so close, yet with no actionable intelligence to rescue her.
Shaking his head, he stashed his gear as his SEAL team leader Blake “Raptor” Reynolds strode in. He grunted, dropping his own bag to the ground.
“The CO wants to brief with us now,” Ethan said.
Blake nodded. “I figured. That news footage last night was a huge misstep. The media never should’ve broadcast anything showing the body of an American woman.”
“Fuck,” Ethan spat out. “They were so quick to air the new footage they didn’t even sanitize it first. They could’ve shown Kimberly without the blonde woman’s body on the ground. Never mind that it was already blasted across the Internet.”
The door slammed open as Grayson hustled in. He said hello to his teammates and dropped his gear off. “Hailey headed into her office early this morning. She’s trying to get in touch with some of her old colleagues in Bagram.”
“I doubt they know any more than we do,” Blake said dryly.
“Yep. I tried to tell her that. Do me a favor and have Clarissa check up on her while we’re gone. I know she’s upset about Kim. I’m glad we’re the ones being sent in to rescue her, but it kills me that I can’t be here for Hailey.”
“I already did,” Blake assured him. “Clarissa and Taryn will be there for her while we’re gone.”
“I don’t like this,” Grayson said, pacing. “I’ve headed out on a few ops since we’ve gotten together, but hell.”
Ethan crossed his arms and leaned against the wall as some of their other teammates walked in. “She held herself together last night at the barbeque.”
Grayson nodded. “She did. I think she was in shock though, because the moment we got back to our apartment, she burst into tears.”
“She’s been worried for months,” Ethan observed. “When I stayed with Hailey when she was in danger, she told me about Kim. Kimberly. Usually, Army reservists put in a couple of weeks and then get back to their regular jobs. She’s not used to harsh conditions for extended periods of time.”
Jackson “K-Bar” Clinefield walked over to his teammates. “She’s strong,” he commented. “Last night Hailey told us that Kimberly passed through basic training with flying colors. She even bested some of the men.”
Ethan eyed his friend. Jackson had recently moved in with his girlfriend and lived next door to Blake and Clarissa. He was protective of Taryn. She’d been on the run from her abusive ex-husband, and when the team was deployed on their most recent op, Taryn’s ex had found and harmed her. It couldn’t be easy for any of his teammates to leave their loved ones behind.
“You don’t look too worried about deploying,” Ethan commented.
Jackson lifted a shoulder. “Taryn’s ex is dead. Last time I felt guilty as hell for leaving. I’ll never forgive myself for not being there when Austin showed up. It’s done and over with now.”
“And Clarissa is right next door if anything comes up,” Blake said.
“I’m relieved knowing her ex can’t stalk her anymore. It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And you guys saw Taryn. She’s a totally different person now without worrying about that jackass.”
“Taryn’s lucky to have you,” Blake said.
“I’m lucky to have her,” Jackson said with a smirk.
“Touché.”
Logan “Hurricane” Hudson and Troy “T-Rex” Harrison walked in together, talking in low voices. “The gang’s all here,” Troy quipped.
“We’re meeting with the CO first,” Blake told them. “Drop your gear, and we’ll head down to the bullpen. It sounds like he’s got some updates.”
“He’s pissed,” Ethan said.
“Everyone’s pissed,” Grayson said. “One of the hostages is dead.”
The mood in the locker room sobered. The mission had already gone wrong before it had even begun. For months they’d planned on moving in and rescuing two women, not one. If anything, the op was even more urgent now. Rather than waiting for a ransom to be paid, the terrorists had killed a hostage. If they didn’t move in quickly enough, the same thing could happen to Kimberly.
Ethan moved away from the wall, punching his hand with his fist. Adrenaline surged through him, overtaking the exhaustion he’d felt when walking in. “Enough shooting the shit. Let’s roll.”
Chapter 3
Kimberly looked up from her spot on the ground as the man who usually guarded her walked in the cave entran
ce. “Come! We’re moving. Take the blanket.”
Her heart pounding, she rose from the ground and grabbed the dirty blanket she’d been sitting on. After they’d taken the video, they’d done nothing for the entire morning. No one had brought her food or water. No one had spoken to her. She’d barely even heard the sound of their low voices outside the cave.
Crossing toward him, she squinted as she moved into the bright sunlight. It had to be afternoon by now. “Water?” she asked.
“We go to river.”
The men she’d seen eating this morning were grabbing the gear they’d packed up, but she didn’t see Crooked Nose or the two men who’d been there filming the video. Had they moved ahead to the new location? Taken the blonde woman with them?
She followed behind her captor, listening to the other men murmuring behind her. Something had happened. They were all too quiet. Too secretive. Normally they spoke freely in front of her when moving to a new location, knowing she couldn’t understand most of what they said in Farsi. And even if she could, who would she tell?
She was their prisoner. They seemed to think the U.S. government would pay her ransom, but she knew they didn’t negotiate with terrorists. Unless her own family came up with the funds, the money would never materialize. And she knew her parents would follow the guidance of the military and State Department. Even if they magically raised whatever amount had been demanded, they’d follow the direction of the government and refuse to pay.
Which meant her only hope was for the military to go in and get her. The Army’s Delta Force soldiers. A Navy SEAL team. If anyone tracked her to the mountains, it would be the Special Forces.
Would her kidnappers upload the video online? Would they send it to some Middle Eastern television network like Al Jazeera? Had the entire world seen it now? Her only hope was that her picture and video were broadcast everywhere.
They walked for ten minutes, Kim growing thirstier as her stomach rumbled. The sun beat down on her face, and she wanted to rinse off her dusty and dirty uniform in the river. Wash the grime from her skin. Normally, they at least fed her some flatbread or rice for breakfast. Drinking the river water wasn’t smart without purification tablets, but she’d survived on the water they’d given her so far.
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