Page 39 of Tempted by a SEAL

Chapter 7

Hunter unlocked the door to their room, quietly shutting it behind him. He pulled his phone out from a pocket of his cargo pants and called Mason. His eyes fell on Emma’s backpack, sitting beside his on the bed. Hell. The woman had been through the wringer in the past twelve hours—the past week. And the text he’d just gotten from Mason made his blood run cold.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice low. “I was in the middle of breakfast and didn’t want to scare Emma.”

“They went to her parents’ house. Late last night. Busted down the door and demanded to know where she was.”

“Damn it,” Hunter said, pounding his fist against the door frame. “What happened? Are they okay?”

“Shaken up but unharmed, fortunately. The men after them were either affiliated with or part of the terror cell we were after ourselves. It seems that Emma’s parents weren’t even certain if she was back in the U.K. She’d called and left a brief message, but they had no idea she was back in London or that her apartment had been ransacked. As far as they understood, she was supposed to be on a six-month trip to Kabul. Seems that they have an alarm system on their house, so the men that broke in were gone fairly quickly.”

“God damn it,” Hunter said. “What if Emma had gone there? If they go anywhere near her, I swear—”

“Did she tell you she has family just outside of London?”

“Yeah, she mentioned it yesterday,” he said, pacing the room. “She didn’t want to go to her family or friends and get them involved in any of this though. And thank God for that. If she’d been there, they’d have taken her.”

He briefly closed his eyes.

“How’d you find out about it?” he asked.

“The police contacted me this morning. They couldn’t get a hold of Emma—guessing you had something to do with why her phone is off.”

“Destroyed the SIM card,” Hunter said. “She wasn’t too happy about it either. She’d turned her phone off earlier in the day, but I saw her text a friend last night. I pulled it out right then and there. I’m taking her with me when I leave. They’re going to be searching everywhere for her.”

“I take it you passed on whatever info she’d found?”

“Yep, but it doesn’t matter. She’s seen it, so they want her.”

“Now that the U.S. and British governments have hold of it, they’ll probably change their targets anyway,” Mason pointed out. “The shouldn’t still be chasing after her.”

“Unless they don’t realize she’s turned over the information,” Hunter said. “I can’t imagine they’d keep tracking her like this if they knew she’d already shared it with the authorities. It doesn’t add up.”

“I suppose not. They don’t know who you are or why you’re together.”

Hunter ground his teeth. “Maybe not. But it doesn’t feel right leaving her behind. The CO wants me to stay with her for the next two days, but that’s not going to be long enough for this to blow over.”

“You just met her yesterday. You can’t expect her to just agree to fly across an ocean with you.”

“I dunno. Can’t exactly leave her here either, can I?”

“Nope. I’m at Heathrow now—catching the flight you were originally supposed to be on. I have to board in a few minutes.”

“Roger that. Have a safe trip back. I should be there in a few days.”

“You’ll protect her. And if you bring her here, the entire team will, Hook,” he said, calling Hunter by his nickname.

“I know. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

He disconnected the call, quickly following up with one to his CO. A few minutes later, he heard a soft knock at the door.

“It’s me,” Emma said quietly.

Hunter opened the door, and she turned white as she saw his stricken face. “What happened?” she demanded. “Did they find out we were here?”

“No, we’re safe. But you know the men after you?” he asked as he closed the door. “Some of them went to your parents’ house last night. They were looking for you.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered, her hands rising to her face. Tears coming to her eyes. “Oh my God. What happened? Were they hurt?”

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