Ryan pulled his cell phone from his pocket, his blood boiling. Everyone was down on the beach waiting for them—their families, the Alpha and Delta SEAL teams, officers from base and other friends. And somehow Sarah had disappeared right before their eyes.
He punched in the speed dial for Hunter’s number and held his phone to his ear.
“What’s wrong?” Hunter immediately asked. Ryan could hear people talking in the background and waves crashing in the distance, and he felt his chest tightening. In a matter of minutes, his entire world had been upended.
“Sarah is missing. We think she was drugged, and apparently she befriended someone named Juan that we need to look into. I need everyone to search the hotel. I’m calling the police right now.”
“Holy shit,” Hunter muttered. “I’ll let everyone know. We’ll divide up and search everywhere. If someone took her, they won’t leave the building.”
Ryan hung up and called 911 as Patrick began asking Morgan and Bree more questions.
“Tell me more about the man that’s friends with the hairdresser. What does he look like? What’s he do? Tell me everything you know, and start at the very beginning.”
Ryan watched as Morgan and Bree began to hurriedly fill Patrick in, feeling as if he were watching a movie or something playing right before his eyes. Patrick was scribbling notes on the hotel notepad, and Ryan’s chest clenched. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real life.
Sarah couldn’t have been taken practically right before his eyes on their wedding day.
The phone rang twice before the dispatcher answered. “911, what’s your emergency?”
“My fiancée has been kidnapped.”
Chapter 19
SARAH GROGGILY BEGAN to come to, groaning as her stomach lurched. She felt dizzy and nauseated, confused, and she had the uneasy sense that she was moving.
It felt like she’d been asleep for hours, yet she was so tired, she wanted to surrender to slumber once more. Her body felt stiff and ached, and with growing alarm, she realized she seemed to be lying in the backseat of a moving car.
What the...?
Her heart began to race, her muscles hurting from the strange position she was in.
What the hell was going on?
It was pitch black—no, she was blindfolded, she realized, blinking. Soft cotton was tied tightly around her eyes. And she was gagged, she noticed with increasing panic. A shiver raced down her spine, and she broke out in a cold sweat.
Her hands were tied tightly behind her back, which was why her muscles hurt, and her legs were more loosely restrained by something.
This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. She had to be having some sort of nightmare.
She couldn’t be tied up in the back of a car, unable to move, and helpless.
Suddenly, memories came flooding back—getting ready for her wedding. The hotel. Ryan. She was supposed to be getting married!
Did she ever walk down the aisle?
Why couldn’t she remember what happened?
The car went over a bump in the road, and she squirmed uncomfortably. She’d been in the hotel suite in her wedding gown; she’d been ready to go downstairs to the lobby.
Had she dreamed that?
No, Morgan and Bree had been there with her. They’d gotten their hair and makeup done; they’d put on their dresses.... They’d gone downstairs first while she’d waited. The hairstylist had brought over a tray of food.
She’d sipped that weird tea....
Gasping, yet unable to suck in any air because of the gag in her mouth, her eyes began to water as she let out a choked sound.
What had happened to her?
The car lurched, and she realized in a panic that she wasn’t alone. Of course she wasn’t alone. The car was moving, which meant someone was driving. Her actual kidnappers were here with her in the vehicle. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even try to get away.
Hot tears filled her eyes, dampening the blindfold.
Was she about to be raped or killed?
Had they taken her for money or something far worse?
Low voices spoke in muffled tones. Why couldn’t she clearly hear what they were saying?
“...airport.”
“Si. The plane is waiting.”
Plane? Who had taken her and why? And why the hell were they talking about an airplane?
“Ah, I think she’s waking up,” one of the voices said, and she froze. There was a dark chuckle. The voices grew louder, and she realized there must’ve been a partition or something separating her from them. Not that she could’ve attacked them or escaped even if she wanted to in this position.
Not daring to move a single muscle, she realized with growing alarm that she wasn’t in fact fully dressed. She still had on her fancy bra, thong, and the slip for under her wedding dress, but it felt like she had on a thin robe or something over them. Had they taken her wedding dress off of her?
What else had they done?
She nearly gagged as she choked on a sob.
They’d taken her from her hotel room. Stripped off her wedding gown. Kidnapped her.
“Such a shame I didn’t get to try her myself first before the flight,” one of the men said. “I gotta make sure she’ll be good for the buyer.”
“Quiet!” the other man snapped.
The first man laughed harder. “Maybe on the plane ride, no? I’d like to see those pretty tits and pink pussy myself before our buyer arrives.”
Sarah’s blood ran cold.
“Mmmm. Look at that sexy lingerie she has on. Maybe we should get more women on their wedding day. She was going to fuck her husband tonight, no? Might as well be me instead. I’d love to try her out before our buyer gets her.”
She recognized that voice, that accent.
Juan.
Sarah mumbled, wanting to vomit, and shifted uselessly on the backseat. Her neck was beginning to hurt, and her wrists and shoulders ached from the way her arms were pinned behind her. She shifted slightly, and Juan made an appreciative sound.
“Maybe I should just keep her for myself after all that hard work.”
The other man muttered a string of curses in Spanish. “We’re getting a lot of money for this. I can’t believe you didn’t put any clothes back on her. How the hell are we supposed to get her on a plane like that?”
Juan chuckled. “It’s a private airport, and I know everyone who works there. It’s not like we’re marching through TSA with a woman tied up.”
Sarah began to tremble.
Ryan had said everyone needed to be on alert because the team’s names had been leaked on a recent mission. She’d assumed the men themselves could be in danger, not her, the girlfriend of the commander.
Had they been stalking her this entire time?
Juan had been outside of her office all those weeks ago. Was he one of men Ryan had been worried about?
Juan had been watching her. Following her.
What would Ryan think when she didn’t come downstairs for their wedding ceremony? Would he think she’d just—left? Pulled a runaway bride and left him waiting at the altar?
Her family and friends were all there. Both SEAL teams from base. Everyone would be waiting for the ceremony to start, sitting down on the beach, and she’d just—vanished.
Her body shook with sobs as she was unable to hold in her emotions any longer.
“Quiet!” the man yelled.
She heard a low chuckle. “You’re mine now, senorita. Your Navy SEAL husband—well, you never got married, did you?” Juan laughed again. “He crossed the wrong men down in Mexico. Do you know how long they were in jail? Hours. They were coming after all of you from the moment they were set free.”
The car slowed down, turning a corner, and then the window unrolled. She heard the driver talking to someone, and then they pulled forward again.
The first man began talking rapidly in Spanish again, and the car seemed to circ
le around before coming to a stop. The doors opened and then slammed shut, and a moment later, she was being yanked from the car, the bindings on her legs pulled off.
The rough asphalt bit into her bare feet as she stumbled to regain her footing, but it was better than the alternative of being trapped inside the car.
One of the men had a firm grip on her upper arm, and she blinked, astounded by the bright light as her blindfold was ripped off. How long had she been out? She’d been getting married in the evening, but it wasn’t nighttime like she expected.
Had an entire day passed? Longer?
Juan’s gaze raked over her, and she fought against her wrist bindings, his gaze lowering to her chest with the movement. He took a step closer to her, and she shook her head, backing away. “Let me take the gag off of you. But you have to promise not to scream.”
She nodded, desperate for it to be gone.
Rough fingers untied the knot at the back of her head, and then it was pulled free. She took a deep breath, gasping for air. A third man began walking over, carrying a sweatshirt and sweatpants. They looked several sizes too big for her, but if that was the only clothing she had, she’d put it on, willingly.
“This is how things are going to work here,” Juan said. “You’ll do exactly as I say, every step of the way, or harm will come to your fiancé. We know his name, we know where he lives, where he works, and we know he’ll do anything to get you back. Not a word!” he said as Sarah opened her mouth.
“Good,” he nodded. “You’ll change into these clothes and come with me onto the plane. When we arrive in Mexico, on the off chance we are stopped by anyone, you are my girlfriend. You are traveling with me on vacation. Not a word to anyone, or we’ll end the commander.”
“But how—why?”
“I said not a word!” Juan snapped.
The man holding the clothes stepping closer, smirking. Sarah began to tremble—they couldn’t expect her to change out here in front of them, could they?
She heard voices in the distance as whoever worked at the small airport was readying the plane. Tears smarted her eyes as she glanced around. How the hell was she supposed to escape? She didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t overpower multiple men.
If she screamed, would anyone even hear her or care? Or would that just egg them on to hurt her?
She needed to bide her time, she decided. Put on the clothes, because that made more sense than running around in practically nothing. Stall so she could look around and see if there were any feasible exits. Ryan had to be searching frantically for her at this point.
Maybe he’d show up at any moment if she just bided her time.
“Turn around,” Juan ordered.
She froze before realizing he intended to free her wrists.
Sarah turned around as the three men watched, and Juan quickly untied the ropes binding her wrists. She winced in both relief and pain as her arms were freed. Her shoulders ached, and the blood rushing back to her hands from her wrists being freed was sending pinpricks of pain through them.
Although she longed to stretch her arms and shake her hands, she turned back around, trying to remain strong.
Juan stepped closer to her as she gasped, tugging the tie of her silken robe free. She shook as his rough hands pulled it off of her. The three men leered at her, and she trembled, holding her arms up to cover her chest. Thank God she at least was still wearing the slip she’d had on beneath her wedding dress—otherwise she’d be standing here in nothing but her bra and thong panties.
Reaching out for the clothing with shaking hands, she heard the men chuckle.
They began rapidly talking to one another in Spanish, and she had no idea what they were saying.
What would happen when they got on the airplane? Would they take turns raping her? Drug her again? Save her for whatever buyer they’d mentioned?
Quickly pulling the sweatshirt over her head, she wanted to vomit. Selling her off could only mean for sex. Were they part of some twisted sex trafficking ring?
At this point, her best hope was that the men didn’t touch her. They’d “save” her for whatever sicko was purchasing women, and Ryan would find her and come to her rescue.
He had to.
The alternative wasn’t even something she wanted to consider.
Thanking God that the sweatshirt was so big it fell beneath her bottom, covering her, she pulled the slip she had on down her legs. The men stopped their conversation as one of them whistled at her, and she froze.
“Hurry up.” Juan snapped.
She quickly pulled the sweatpants on, realizing she’d have to hold them up because they were so large.
At least she had some clothing on though. They certainly weren’t going to rape her right here in the parking lot—not if they’d told her to get dressed.
“On the plane,” Juan commanded.
Sarah paused, her gaze darting around the area.
“There’s nowhere to run. The only people here work for me. And I promised to escort you to Mexico myself. You’re quite a prize,” he added with a chuckle.
When she didn’t move, then man who’d been carrying the clothes roughly grabbed her arm. His firm grip on her bicep caused her to flinch, but she quickly hustled along beside him toward the waiting plane.
Juan followed behind them. As the rough asphalt bit into her bare feet, she wondered what had happened to her shoes. To her wedding gown. To her entire life.
Hot tears filled her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. Could it really have been only yesterday that she was planning to get married to the man of her dreams?
She could pull away and try to fight the men, but they’d hurt her. Knock her out or drug her again.
And she had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run.
The man holding her arm shoved her ahead of him up the steps of the plane. The metal was hot from the sun, and it burned her bare feet, causing her to hurry. Taking once last quick look around, trying to remember any detail as if that would somehow help her escape, she gulped in some air.
She’d be alone with these men in an enclosed airplane, flying out of the country.
Flying away from Ryan, her family, and her entire life.
When she paused a beat too long, Juan grabbed her other arm and shoved her forward, pushing her into the waiting airplane. As the men boarded after her, the door shut behind them, sealing her fate right along with it.
Chapter 20
RYAN PACED BACK AND forth in the bullpen at Little Creek on Sunday evening, muttering under his breath. Men from both SEAL teams were seated around the table, poring over information. Nearly twenty-four hours had passed since Sarah had been kidnapped. Twenty. Four. Hours.
Ryan knew the odds—the first day someone went missing was critical. Crucial to their discovery and rescue.
Sarah could be anywhere in the world by now. Anywhere.
Bile rose in the back of his throat as he thought of someone touching her—harming her. He didn’t even want to imagine the worst of what those monsters had done to her.
After contacting the police yesterday, they’d thoroughly searched the hotel suite that Ryan and Sarah were supposed to spend their wedding night in, detectives taking fingerprints and interviewing Morgan and Bree. Seeing the room he was supposed to come back to with his wife cordoned off by police tape was a sight he’d never forget.
Instead of walking down the aisle, she’d simply vanished without a trace.
Instead of spending the night making love to his wife, he’d been up for hours working with the police and out of his mind with worry.
Investigators had searched the hotel room of the hairstylist shortly afterward, but she’d been nowhere to be found either.
Ryan and the other men had swarmed the lobby and hotel perimeter, unwilling to let anyone get away with Sarah. The Virginia Beach boardwalk and strand were packed though. While they’d been in the initial phases of the search, she could’ve been hustled out the back door amidst the crowds, never to
be seen again.
The police were currently running background checks on the hairdresser and Juan, but given that he was using an alias and they didn’t have another name to go off of yet, they had zero leads.
Damn it all to hell.
He paused for a beat, his gaze sweeping the room.
Christopher and Lexi each sat at a laptop, culling through surveillance footage surrounding the hotel. The police had their investigators reviewing it as well, but Ryan wanted as many eyes on the footage as possible to see if they could get a license plate, a picture of other people that were involved, anything. Lexi had even hacked into some nearby security systems to obtain additional footage more quickly. There was no need to wait for the police to legally obtain it when time was of the essence.
Matthew and Evan were reading through the latest SITREPs from Mexico on the off-chance any information on the men who’d escaped or their sex-trafficking ring was mentioned.
Jacob and Noah were researching the background of the hairdresser and everyone else associated with the salon. Although Ryan was certain that Juan had ties to the criminals down in Mexico, everyone at the salon seemed to be clean. And until they had an actual name to go off of, it was impossible to search Juan’s background and contacts.
Several other men were gathered around, having conversations in hushed tones as Ryan paced the room.
Brent was down at the hotel with one of the detectives, trying to catch any witnesses who might’ve seen something yesterday. Ryker was down on the boardwalk with Mason, helping to hand out missing person flyers.
Missing person flyers. For the woman who should’ve been his wife.
He groaned in frustration, feeling like none of this was moving fast enough. He wanted to rush down to Mexico himself, but what the hell could he do?
They didn’t know who Juan’s contacts were. They didn’t know where he’d taken Sarah. And the men who’d bribed their way out of jail a month ago had been lying low ever since.
The door to the bullpen burst open, and Ryan met Hunter’s gaze as he walked in.
“I just spoke with Patrick,” Hunter said hurriedly. “He brought Sarah’s and his parents back to the house. They’ll be there waiting with Rebecca and the kids so Patrick can come into base and assist in the search.”
SEAL Ever After Page 11