Page 19 of Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team)

A hand grabbed the hood, ripped it off her. She flinched at the sudden brightness and squinted while her eyes adjusted.

When she managed to pry her eyelids apart the pearly quality of the light told her it was early morning. They’d left her in her cell for the entire night without even so much as a blanket.

She focused on the two men before her, both dressed in black tunics and pants, with black kerchiefs tied around their heads, each of them holding a pistol. One was slightly built and appeared to be in his early twenties, his beard scraggly and thin.

The other was older, harder, and much bigger, his mouth a thin slash in the midst of his heavy, dark beard. And his eyes—

She sucked in a breath as recognition crashed through her, bringing with it a wave of terror.

Tarek Hadad. Known member of the ATB who had risen to considerable power in recent weeks. She’d done a report on him just two weeks ago. He had a reputation for being ruthless, someone you didn’t want to cross.

And she was his prisoner.

There was no hatred in his black eyes as he stared down at her. Just a cold, calculating gleam that turned her blood to ice. “Summer Blackwell,” he said in heavily accented English. “What do you do for your agency?”

As much as she hated looking at him, hated that he stood towering over her while she sat cuffed and helpless, she refused to break eye contact. She may be helpless but she was no coward. “I’m an analyst.”

“What does that mean?” he demanded in a hard voice. “What do you analyze?”

There was nothing wrong with answering that and she didn’t want to risk having him torture her merely because he suspected she was holding something back. If she fed him enough information, maybe he’d be satisfied without her actually having to give anything important away. “Information.”

“Information,” he repeated in an annoyed mutter. “About what?”

She swallowed, fought to stem the shivers rolling through her even though her muscles shuddered periodically. “Terror groups. Logistics. Capabilities. Funding.”

At that his gaze sharpened. A flare of pride and satisfaction lit them up, as if a fire had suddenly blazed to life deep inside him. A sneer distorted his mouth. “Terror groups. So you report about what American soldiers and their allies are doing, then?”

She didn’t answer that one.

“No, I thought not,” he murmured, folding his arms across his chest.

She’d seen pictures of him before but seeing him now up close, she had a whole new respect for his sheer physical power. He wasn’t as tall as Adam, but he was almost as broad through the shoulders and chest, his torso heavily muscled, and he had a commanding presence. She could see why his men wouldn’t dare cross him. They’d be too afraid to.

Regarding her with that eerie stare, he tilted his head. “You know who I am?”

There was no point in denying it. “Yes.”

He gave a satisfied nod. “Good. Then you know what I’m capable of.”

Her stomach knotted even tighter. Not wanting to answer that aloud, she simply looked at him.

Those black eyes continued to bore into her, glowing with that strange inner light that made her skin crawl. He was scary as hell. “I have your boss. And your coworker.”

Mark? He was here too? Oh no…

“And I have your laptop.”

She sucked in a breath at that, hid a wince. Most of what was on her hard drive was encrypted, but not all. If he accessed the data on it he’d see the intel they had on him and the ATB groups in the region. He’d be able to warn his fellow ATB members about upcoming U.S. counterterrorism operations near the Syrian-Jordanian border.

Another smirk. “If you don’t give me the password and reveal what I want to know, your friends will suffer for it.” He paused a moment. “And so will you.”

Oh God… If she gave him the password she’d be putting American and allied lives in danger. But if she didn’t…

Her guts churned at the impossible situation she faced.

A cold, cruel smile twisted Tarek’s mouth, telling her he saw her fear and was pleased by it. “You’re going to be very useful to me in the coming days, Summer.”

She hated that he used her name.

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