Page 75 of Strike Fast

“Okay.” For good measure Autumn wrapped her legs around Tess’s waist.

The SWAT agent nearest her helped Tess to her feet, then followed her up the stairs. She squinted at the brightness when they emerged into the main floor hallway, and paused a second to let Autumn’s eyes adjust. The little girl was peering over Tess’s shoulder, her face apprehensive.

“Everyone out there is here to help you,” Tess reminded her.

“And you’ll stay with me.”

Just let someone try to take you from me.“I’ll stay with you.”

The next hour passed in a blur as Tess helped Autumn through all the questions and physical examination. To Tess’s relief she seemed to be unharmed, but the EMTs insisted Autumn be taken to the hospital so a doctor could do a more thorough exam. Thankfully the doctor was kind and quick, and Tess expelled a breath of thanks when he confirmed that she was fine other than a few bumps and bruises, and hadn’t been sexually assaulted.

“Can we leave now?” Autumn asked, reaching for Tess’s hand.

Tess squeezed gently. “You bet.” She cleaned Autumn up with a quick sponge bath and changed her into a pair of pajamas one of the FBI agents had brought her.

Autumn held tight to her hand on their way to the main doors. Outside, an agency vehicle was waiting to take them to FAST headquarters. Tess was halfway to it when a familiar male voice called out to her left.

“Autumn!”

They both looked up in time to see Reid sprinting toward them, his face a mask of naked emotion as he ran from an SUV that had just pulled up.

“Daddy!” Autumn tore free of Tess’s grip and raced toward her father as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Chapter Twenty

Reid’s heart was about to explode as he raced toward his daughter. When Autumn was a step or two away, she launched herself at him. He caught her and crushed her to his chest, burying his face in her neck.

At the feel of those little arms clinging to his neck, he crumpled. His knees gave out and he dropped to the ground, barely even feeling the impact.

Autumn was here. She was safe.

He knelt there on the ground holding his daughter, and something inside him shattered. All the fear and anguish he’d bottled up came bursting forth in a rush of tears. Hard, wrenching sobs ripped out of his chest, raw and agonizing.

“Don’t cry, Daddy,” Autumn said, her voice stricken.

He couldn’t stop, couldn’t do anything but hold her and cry, his entire body shaking.

He was dimly aware of another vehicle pulling up close by and a door popping open a minute later.

“Autumn! Oh, my God, Autumn!”

Autumn and Reid both looked up as Sarah ran toward them, tears streaming down her face. Reid dragged in a shaky breath and lifted one arm out to her.

Sarah dropped to her knees beside them, reaching for their daughter as Reid wrapped his arm around her and dragged her close. Locking the three of them together again, united in this joyous moment when their daughter was returned to them.

“Oh, baby,” Sarah whispered, still crying, squeezing Autumn and peppering her head and face with kisses. “Oh, baby, I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, Mom.”

Reid didn’t know how long they stayed like that. Minutes. Hours. But even after his tears dried and all three of them had calmed, he still couldn’t let go. He couldn’t bear that he was the reason Autumn had been taken. Couldn’t stand that he’d posed this kind of risk to his family—a broken one, but still a family.

Finally, he was able to relax his hold on both of them and cup Autumn’s precious little face in his hands. He’d ached to see it so badly, and the sight of her now with her puffy, bloodshot eyes would forever be burned into his heart and mind. “You okay, baby girl?”

She nodded. “I’m not hurt. The bad man who took me tied me up and gave me to another man, and he brought me to a big house. He put me in a closet downstairs and left me there. I don’t know why.”

Reid’s entire body stiffened at his daughter’s words. He knew exactly why. Javier, the bastard who had kidnapped her, was one of Ruiz’s most ruthlesssicarios. News of her abduction had rapidly spread through theVenenograpevine, all the way up toEl Escorpion.

Maybe because of her young age, maybe because he was rumored to have children, the head of the cartel had intervened on Autumn’s behalf, and sent another enforcer to step in. That enforcer had taken Autumn to what had turned out to be a kind of safe house, where she’d been placed for the impending rescue before the details had been passed on to the DEA.

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