Page 8 of Kidnapped By a SEAL

“I’m not sure, why?”

“If they’re light enough, we might be able to carry one and use it to climb over. Or roll it across the ground and then stand it up to climb on. Of course, then they’ll notice that the barrels are out of place and will know right where to come looking for us.”

“We’ll have to try to get out on our own first,” the girl said. “They would notice if we moved the barrels. There should be places to hide without them seeing us. There has to be another spot to climb over.”

“Shhh,” Emily whispered. “I hear voices.”

The voices seemed to be getting louder, and Emily froze.

Had they heard the two women whispering?

Her heart pounded in her chest, and her palms began to sweat. This was it, her one chance to get out of here. If they locked her back up, she feared she’d never get free. They’d have eyes on her constantly, and she’d be raped and possibly killed by the bastard running this place.

She fumbled in the darkness, looking for a weapon. Even if there was one, she couldn’t see a damn thing. She felt helpless. All that separated them from the outside was an unlocked door. One wrong move, and they could burst inside.

A voice shouted in Arabic, and then suddenly there was the sound of footsteps running in their direction. She glanced around frantically in the dark as the men came closer, but there was nowhere to hide in this small building. Nowhere to go.

The door suddenly burst open, and she screamed before everything went black.

Chapter 4

Ryker strode into the main building at Little Creek in his desert camo and combat boots, his duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He dropped off his gear, his biceps bulging from the heavy load, and headed straight into the bull pen for a briefing from their CO.

Hunter was already standing at the front of the room, eyes narrowed as maps and satellite imagery popped up on the large flat screen TV mounted on the wall.

“They found her,” Ryker said, eyeing his team leader. It wasn’t a question. He knew in his gut the reason their team had been called up for an op was because they’d found the missing American woman.

The woman whose necklace he’d been inadvertently carrying around with him all this time, hidden and forgotten about in his damn pocket.

“Affirmative,” Hunter said. “She’s being held at a terrorist compound an hour outside of Kabul. We believe she was moved around quite a bit over the past month before they brought her there two days ago.”

“Shit.” Ryker’s gut churned, and he scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw. Was she being passed around among the men? Hidden for the past month until it was safe to bring her to her final destination? A single American woman being held captive in the Middle East was worrisome for a whole shitload of reasons. The fact that she’d been in enemy hands for an entire month made his blood boil.

He didn’t even know the woman, but he sure the hell knew what terror cells were capable of. What men who were monsters would do to an innocent woman.

“Do we have any word on her condition?” Ryker asked. “Any sat imagery?” he said, referring to the vast array of satellite images the military had access to.

Hunter nodded. “We have photos of the compound where she’s being held and images of a woman we believe to be her arriving. She walked in on her own, which is a good sign.”

Ryker nodded, clenching his fists.

The other men filed into the room, grabbing chairs around the table, and their CO headed to the front and spoke quietly with Hunter for a moment. It was a hell of a change from their joking mood at brunch earlier, but such was the life of a SEAL. They were on call 24/7, ready to leave at a moment’s notice. While the other guys had girlfriends they worried about and left behind, Ryker only had himself.

And damn near preferred it that way.

His gaze slid to Colton, who was pulling out an empty chair to sit down.

“I bet it’s the missing State Department official,” Colton said. “It’s been bugging me all month that we didn’t get her—I mean, just thinking about how Camila could’ve been in a similar situation if we hadn’t rescued her down in Colombia….” He shook his head, clenching his jaw.

“It’s her,” Ryker confirmed. “The official with State. And this time we’re not coming home without her.”

“None of us like that we just missed rescuing her,” Mason said with a frown. “But she wasn’t at the camp we targeted. Hell, all of us know what you feel like, C-4,” he said, calling Colton by his nickname. “We’ve all got a woman now, well, save for Ryker.”

“Fucking hell,” Ryker spat out, sinking down into a chair. “That’s by choice, and it sure as shit doesn’t matter now.”

“He’s right,” Noah agreed, adjusting the aviators perched atop his head. “We focus on the mission. The missing woman.”

Their CO connected a secure video conference on the massive TV screen at the front of the bull pen, and the commander of the SEAL team based in Coronado popped up on the screen. Ryker raised his eyebrows, realizing those guys out in California would likely somehow be involved in this mission. He’d assumed the secure conference would be with State.

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