Page 9 of Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team)

A rock, she realized. It felt like someone had just kicked her in the ribs.

“Quiet,” a stern voice snapped.

Summer didn’t dare move, didn’t dare make a sound as she waited for something else to strike her.

But the man walked away.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she pulled in deep, shaky breaths through her nose and fought to get hold of herself. Her body was trembling. She had to stay calm, couldn’t let the fear take hold. Even though that seemed impossible right now.

Alone in the prison she couldn’t see, she curled into herself and leaned her head against the rough rock wall. Jim was silent and she didn’t dare call out to him again. Mentally and emotionally exhausted, she searched for an escape from this hell…

And thought of Adam.

He would likely already know she was missing. He’d be frantic, probably searching for her right now, along with the other IC people gathered for the summit. She knew he would do everything in his power to find her and get her out of here, that the FBI and other agencies represented here would assist.

They’d find her and Jim, it was only a matter of time. And considering they both worked for the DIA and had been abducted in an attack during the middle of an international security summit, that made them high profile. The brazen daylight attack would hit the mainstream media within hours, if it hadn’t already. There’d be a major effort made to rescue them in the coming days.

Summer drew on her inner strength and tried not to think about what her captors had planned for them. She had to hold onto the knowledge that powerful people were searching for her, had to remember there was still hope and not give up throughout whatever happened from now on.

She might be a civilian but she was smart, and she wasn’t helpless. Adam had taught her so many things over the years. Things she’d never dreamed she might need to put into practice. Now she was thankful for each one of them.

Right now, the unknown was her adversary. The disorientation. Isolation. Anticipation of pain and torture.

Fear.

Fear was by far her worst enemy. Her captors would use it against her, use it to break her if she allowed it. She could not afford that. She had to be strong, no matter how scared she was.

Reminding herself of that, she took several more calming breaths until the worst of the rigidity bled out of her muscles. Again she thought of Adam, called an image of him to mind and held it like a lifeline. She could see him so clearly, on that one particular morning that seemed so far away now, when he’d been sleeping in bed beside her.

She’d woken before him and stared in awe at the man revealed to her gaze by the glow of the sunray peeking through their master bedroom window. He’d been stretched out on his stomach, one arm tucked beneath his head, the sheets draped around his lower back, revealing each dip and swell of muscle, the planes of his face, the dark sweep of his eyelashes against his cheekbones.

Then, as though he felt her stare, he woke.

The moment his pale blue eyes opened, he focused on her and smiled. A slow, sleepy smile so full of male satisfaction that her heart had stuttered, then rolled over in her chest. He’d looked so happy, so content to be lying next to her. And she hadn’t appreciated that as much as she should have at the time.

Because a few weeks after that, everything had changed in an instant.

Forcing that dark thought away, she focused on the image of that smile he’d given her, a moment before he’d turned over and rolled her beneath his big body, careful to keep his weight off her belly.

Summer bit her lip. She knew better than most people how short and fragile life was, but her current situation brought that into sharp and sudden focus.

Of all the regrets she had, her biggest was that she hadn’t been able to let go of the past sooner. She’d let that hold her back for far too long, had allowed it to nearly destroy her and her marriage.

She leaned against the wall and curled into herself as the cold began to seep into her, exhausted but too afraid to sleep. Adam was a good man and deserved to be happy. She was glad she’d told him she loved him today. At least he’d be certain of her feelings for him if they never got to see each other again.

The thought made her want to cry. She bit her lip, fought to hold her emotions back. No matter what happened, she would always love him.

****

Tarek stalked away from the female prisoner’s cell, filled with a heady combination of adrenaline and triumph. It seemed too good to be true. The plan had worked even better than he’d hoped and he now had three important Defense Intelligence Agency captives to use. He still couldn’t believe how easily they’d done it, and with far fewer casualties than he’d anticipated.

He motioned to Akram, his most trusted soldier, standing over by the first male captive just as two more of his men brought in the other male prisoner and put him in another makeshift cell. “Bring me their things.”

Moving fast, he hurried across the narrow alley and through the door of the small house they’d commandeered from a villager, went straight to the table holding all his maps and other papers. Radio in hand, he checked in with more of his men, who were keeping watch from the top of the hill above the village. “Report.”

“We’re still clear,” came the response. “No traffic or movement at all on the road up here.”

Good. That meant they still had some time yet to play with.

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