Page 14 of Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team)

The door closed quietly behind him and Bauer and Tuck came to stand in front of him, both of them looking hesitant. They were probably afraid to leave him alone right now. “Do you need anything?” Tuck asked softly.

Yeah, I need to find and rescue my wife from those motherfuckers.

The Army of True Believers. That’s who had taken her, although the actual person or persons behind it were still a mystery. The group had claimed responsibility for the attack and kidnappings in an official statement released a few hours ago.

Adam knew all about them—Summer was an expert on their organization, it was why she was here in the first place—and had dreaded the possibility. Now that it had been confirmed, he was even more frantic about her safety.

The ATB were murderous radicals taking over Syria and Iraq, spreading like a cancer across the region, terrorizing civilians and launching terror attacks around the globe. They were ruthless, without mercy, known for torturing and killing their captives in spectacular fashion, and for selling women and girls into a life of sexual slavery.

Just thinking of Summer in their hands made his blood run cold.

He shook his head, blew out an unsteady breath as he answered Tuck. “No.”

Bauer shot their team leader a worried look before focusing back on Adam, his bright blue gaze intense, his huge frame practically vibrating with unease. “You’re probably not hungry now but I’m gonna go grab you something anyway, in case you feel like eating later.”

Adam shook his head sharply. “No, don’t bother.” If he tried to force anything down his throat right now he’d just puke it up, and he didn’t see that improving no matter how hungry he got.

Thankfully neither of them bothered arguing or trying to reason with him. He didn’t want to talk, didn’t want company right now, not even if the guys had good intentions. He just wanted the right to lose his shit in private. But maybe DeLuca had ordered them to watch him.

Tuck lowered himself into the armchair nearby and leaned forward, forearms resting on his knees. His dark brown eyes held Adam’s, unwavering. “We’ve got the best in the business looking for her. The director’s personally overseeing it. They’re all working on it right now, checking satellites and whatever HUMINT they can gather. They’ll be working on it 24/7 until they get a location. Then we’ll go get her back. Every one of us is ready to go out there and do whatever it takes to rescue her.”

Adam made himself nod, but he wasn’t really listening. He was too caught up in his own emotional chaos, trying to figure out where she might be.

As a high value captive, there had to be some higher purpose for the ATB taking her. They’d want to use her for leverage, exploit the situation to their advantage. Money, prisoner exchanges, media attention.

Surely if they’d wanted her dead they just would have killed her during the ambush. And they’d taken two others as well.

Except he didn’t feel reassured by that logic at all. He knew what those barbaric assholes were capable of.

“We’re here for you, okay?” Tuck said, his Alabama drawl soft in the quiet room. “Just want you to know that. If you need something, you name it and we’ll make sure it happens.”

“Thanks,” he forced out, not wanting to be a dick. He appreciated his teammates’ concern, but the fact was, nothing they or anyone else could do would make him feel better until Summer was back safe and sound.

When neither Bauer nor Tuck said anything else, just sat there watching him with identical worried expressions, Adam sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. He hadn’t planned on talking to anyone, and he knew they’d leave if he told them to but if they were staying, so be it.

“We were supposed to go out on a date earlier,” he said, his voice rough. “I told her I’d pick her up at six at her hotel.” Instead she was now a hostage, somewhere he couldn’t find her, afraid, maybe hurt. It sliced at his heart like a razor blade.

A heavy silence spread in the wake of his words, Bauer shifting uncomfortably in his seat. As the grimmest member of the team, this was likely way out of his comfort zone. It said a lot about his character that he was staying. “Yeah, you mentioned that earlier.”

Nobody said anything for a long, awkward minute and Adam’s thoughts turned to the past. “Things were getting better between us over the past couple months,” he said finally. “And then today she…told me she still loved me.” He choked up at that, pressed a fist against his lips to hold back the sob trapped in his throat. He couldn’t decide if he even wanted to tell them all this, or if he wanted them gone.

“Glad to hear that, man,” Tuck murmured.

Adam nodded, staring at the beige carpet at his feet. He swallowed. “All this time, that’s what I’d been dying to hear. I knew if she still loved me, we could get through anything. And a few minutes after she told me, she was gone.”

Fuck.He jammed his fingertips against his closed eyelids, fought back the tears burning the backs of his eyes.

“We’re gonna get her back,” Tuck said quietly, his voice full of steel. “There’s no way we’re not getting her back.”

He looked up, met Tuck’s deep brown stare as anger ignited.And what if we don’t?

He bit the words back, along with the urge to shout them. Snapping at his team leader wasn’t going to improve the situation and Tuck was just trying to help. It was clear they were both worried about him.

Adam looked back down at the floor. He wasn’t really that close with any of them, yet they all had his back.

That was the part he’d missed most about being with the team—that unshakable bond and camaraderie that came with knowing every last guy on the team would take a bullet for any of them. And they’d all been through their own private hells too, when the women they loved were in peril.

Tuck and Celida hadn’t been officially together when she’d been attacked, but everyone had known he’d had strong feelings for her. And Bauer, hell, Zoe had gone through it twice.

---