Page 52 of Strike Fast

Tess shut up. And God, no wonder he’d been about to hit the bottle after that on top of everything else.

“How the hell did they get your personal information?” Kai demanded.

“No fucking idea. As of right now there are two-dozen agents in various agencies scrambling around trying to get answers. And you guys better beef up your personal security until we know how far the leak’s gone.”

“I’d say it’s gone way too fucking far already,” Zaid said from the easy chair, his expression dark.

Reid set the coffee mug on the table, ran his hands over his face. “I just want her back.”

“We all do,” Kai said. “And we’re all here for you. If we get a lead on where this asshole’s hiding, we all want a piece of him. But most of all, we want Autumn back safe and sound. We’ll all do whatever it takes to make that happen.”

Reid nodded and lowered his hands. “Yeah. Christ, yeah, I just want her to be safe.”

Oh, God, please let her still be alive, Tess prayed. The alternative was straight up horrific and unthinkable.

After a few minutes of silence, Reid finally began to open up to them. She stayed beside him as he outlined the sequence of events that had led them to now. An hour later he seemed to sort of shut down, and there was nothing more his teammates could do for him. He was restless and hurting and clearly not in the mood for company.

“Look, I appreciate you guys coming over, but you don’t need to keep vigil with me,” he said to his teammates. “Both of you go on home and get some sleep. If I hear anything else, I’ll let you know.”

Kai and Zaid exchanged a look, then Zaid focused on her. “You staying with him?”

“Yes.” She sought Reid’s gaze. “Unless you don’t want me to?”

“I want you to,” he said, his bloodshot eyes holding hers.

“Okay. You guys call us if you need anything, you hear?” Zaid said as he got to his feet.

Tess stayed on the couch while Reid saw his teammates out. When he locked up and turned back to her, he sighed and let his shoulders slump, exhaustion clear in every line of his face and body.

Aching for him, she got up and closed the distance between them, sliding her arms around his waist and leaning into his body as he embraced her. “You’ve got good friends, Reid. They love you and Autumn.”

“Yeah, I know.” He pressed his cheek to her hair. “I didn’t expect you to fly up here.”

“I couldn’t stay there while you were going through this.”

He was quiet for a long moment, then nuzzled the top of her head. “He sent me a picture of her.”

She stiffened. “What?”

“He took it in the car after he’d taken her. She was in her ball uniform. And her face…she was so damn scared, Tess. It just killed me to look into her eyes and not be able to help her.”

The level of cruelty necessary to not only target a federal agent’s family in revenge, but to attack an innocent child and then send taunting texts to her father was testimony of the depraved animals theVenenocartel had in its ranks. “I hope he doesn’t surrender when they find him,” she said, her voice cold. “I want him dead.”

“You and me both.”

Tess ran her hands up and down his tense back, hoping to soothe him, wishing there was something more she could do to help him bear this. “Are you hungry?”

“No, can’t eat right now.”

“Think you could get some sleep?”

“No.”

She understood.

“It’s Jason’s anniversary today.”

She lifted her head from his shoulder to look into his tortured face. “I know.” God, how much pain could a man bear before he broke?

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