Page 29 of Kidnapped By a SEAL

She frowned, setting her phone back down. Well wishes were nice, she supposed, but it’s not like he’d offered to help her out if she needed anything.

“What’s wrong?” Ryker asked as he walked into the kitchen and caught the expression on her face.

“Nothing. It was just a text from a colleague of mine.”

“You look beat,” he said, setting his empty plate on the counter. “You should get some rest.”

“And what are you going to do?” she asked. She had a man staying with her for the entire weekend. She couldn’t just go to bed and let him hang out here alone…could she? Would she really just leave him to handle cleaning up while she called it a night?

“I’m doing exactly what I came to do—watching the place and looking into the few leads we have. I’ll be fine out here. This is your first night back at your place—you should get some rest. Don’t worry about me.”

She yawned despite herself, seemingly proving his point. “All right,” she said, grabbing her cell phone off the counter. “But come wake me up if you find out anything important.”

“Will do,” he assured her.

“Okay. Well, goodnight Ryker.”

“’Night Emily,” he said in a low voice, watching her with that dark gaze again. She turned, trying to ignore whatever attraction was beginning to brew between them. It was silly, really. He was here because he thought of her as a job, nothing more.

She padded down the hallway to her bedroom, briefly wondering what he would sleep in and if she should’ve grabbed him a pillow. The low hum of the TV drifted down the hallway, and she turned off her light, too tired to even brush her teeth before bed. She left her door cracked open so that she could hear him and then drifted off into an uneasy slumber.

Chapter 13

Ryker frowned at the text on his cell phone later that night, scanning over it a second time. Despite Hunter’s insistence earlier that Ryker was worried about nothing, this didn’t bode well. This just proved he’d been right all along. Damn it.

I think someone’s after her.

He quickly thumbed a response, asking for more information. His phone buzzed immediately with Hunter’s reply.

Two men traveling under aliases flew out of London on Wednesday.

We think they work for Izallah.

They landed at Dulles.

Ryker muttered a curse, standing up and crossing Emily’s living room. Dulles Airport was just forty-five minutes outside of Washington, DC. And these guys had been here for a couple of days? Jesus Christ.

Emily had been sound asleep for several hours, and he’d been culling through information, hoping to glean something new that had been missed. But it sounded like they finally had solid intel and his hunch had been right all along. Emily was in danger, and if he hadn’t come up here, who knows what the hell would’ve happened. Who knows if she would’ve been taken once more.

He quickly thumbed a response to Hunter.

Who are they? I need names.

Ryker waited a beat and then cursed when Hunter didn’t respond right away. He didn’t like the idea of sitting around here just waiting for someone to show up. For something to happen. If they landed at Dulles several days ago, they could easily have been hanging around DC since then, scoping out her condo. How’d they discover her name so quickly though? The media had barely gotten wind of the story.

They must’ve tracked her down from whatever government ID they’d taken from her. But why?

His phone buzzed, and he answered the call in a low voice.

“I hate to admit it, but you were right,” Hunter said. “Emily is in danger.”

“God damn it,” Ryker said. “How do you know? Who are these guys?”

“Contacts of Izallah’s. One of them used to live in the U.S.—he’s American. He moved his entire family to Afghanistan. He’s probably the guy with the teenage daughter that Emily told me about. Apparently, he’s developed a strong dislike of westerners—especially western women. Although we still don’t know if someone sold them out when they were on patrol that night, leading to Emily’s capture, we do know they’re after her now.”

“He doesn’t like that we rescued her?” Ryker asked.

“Fuck no. He wants to bring her back there. They held her for an entire month to get her to Izallah. She’s worth a lot of money to them. They’re not willing to just let her go now.”

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