Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 10) (2 page)

“I still love you, you know,” he told her. As little as two months ago he would never have said it aloud because it made him feel too vulnerable, but over the past few weeks he’d realized that if he wanted her back, he had to lay it all out there and risk it all. If it all blew up in his face, well, at least he’d given it his best shot and gone down fighting.

At his words the uncertainty in her eyes disappeared and a tremulous smile curved her mouth. “I still love you too.”

But sometimes love isn’t enough.

The thought echoed in his head and he immediately banished it. He was done with the whole sullen, nursing his wounded pride routine. The only thing that mattered was
them
. She was his and he was hers, period. He took his marriage vows seriously and he’d be damned if he was going to walk away from what they’d built together over the last decade. He wouldn’t let her leave here without another reminder.

Adam rubbed his thumb across her chin. “We’re gonna make it, Summer. If we keep fighting for each other, then we’ll make it.”

She opened her mouth to respond but her boss suddenly called out from the SUV. “Summer! We’ve gotta go.”

“Be right there,” she called back, then looked up at Adam once more, her expression apologetic. “More meetings across town.” She hitched the strap of her laptop bag up higher on her shoulder. “So I’ll see you tonight at six?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

He expected her to walk away then. With her boss looking on and knowing how career-minded she was, he thought she’d just nod and head to the vehicle.

Instead she reached up and cradled the side of his face in her palm, mirroring what he’d done a minute ago. “I’m really looking forward to spending time together tonight. I’ve missed you.”

Her words hit him deep but the mix of longing, hunger and need on her face had him biting back a groan. Lust and triumph surged through him, went to his head like a shot of hundred-proof whiskey. He loved knowing she’d missed him, as well as the physical part of their marriage. It had been months since they’d last had sex and he was fucking starved for it.

Starved for the taste and feel of her, even if he knew it was too soon for that. Sex had been an integral—and mutually enjoyable—part of their relationship before, but it wasn’t going to solve their problems.

“Missed you too.” He turned his head to press his lips to the inside of her palm. Her fingers contracted slightly against his skin and her pupils expanded.

God, just that subtle reaction from her and he was already getting hard. Feeling completely possessive and territorial, there was no way he could let her go without staking some kind of claim.

Sliding his hand down to cup her jaw, he bent and covered her mouth with his. A long, firm press of lips that told everyone watching who she belonged to. She was his and he wasn’t letting her go.

When he pulled back a moment later and let his hand drop she blinked up at him as though coming out of a daze, her eyes heavy-lidded with desire. Her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. “See you tonight.”

Adam watched her walk away, let his gaze slide down to admire the way her ass moved with each confident stride. The moment she shut the door behind her the vehicles began to roll forward.

“Blackwell, you ready to roll?” Tuck’s voice came through his earpiece.

He reached up to tap it. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute.” It felt like he was walking on air as he strode across to the other side of the underground garage where three more black SUVs were all lined up and ready to go.

His six teammates and commander waited beside the vehicles, all dressed in khaki pants and button down shirts. They might be dressed as civilians, except they were anything but. Each of them had two weapons tucked away in custom-fitted holsters beneath their shirts, and their rifles and other gear were stowed in the vehicles.

Tuck, the team leader, looked over at him and raised his dark blond eyebrows. “You look happy,” he commented, his Alabama drawl mirroring his laid-back personality.

He shrugged. “I am happy.” Though he didn’t say much to the guys and he kind of kept to himself mostly, they were still like his brothers. He’d told Cruzie a little bit about the situation, and of course both DeLuca and Tuck were aware of what was going on, but none of them knew the details. He was just really private about his personal life, always had been.

Schroder, the team medic, grinned at him and scratched at his reddish beard. “So from the look on your face, I’m guessing it went well?”

He couldn’t help but grin. And he couldn’t help it if it looked a little smug. He was damn pleased with himself. “Yep. Taking her out on a date tonight.”

“A date?” Cruzie piped up, his light brown eyes gleaming with interest as he pushed his way around Vance’s big frame to get closer to Adam. “That’s huge, man. Awesome.”

For him it was. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat and looked at DeLuca, uncomfortable with the attention placed squarely on him. “So, where to? Still back to the hotel?”

His commander nodded, his eyes shaded by the brim of his Chargers cap. “Lunch meeting, afternoon meeting, then a team briefing. They’ll be down in two minutes,” he said, looking toward the elevators.

Adam waited with Schroder while the others piled into the vehicles. DeLuca and Tuck with Bauer in the lead SUV, Vance and Cruzie in the third. Evers was already behind the wheel of the second.

Right on cue the elevator doors opened and the director stepped out with two of his staff. After the men climbed into the back of the SUV, Adam shut the door and hurried around to ride shotgun beside Evers, or “Farmboy” as they sometimes called him.

DeLuca’s voice came through their earpieces. “Let’s go.”

The convoy pulled out of the garage under heavy security at the building’s perimeters and picked up speed as they headed for the nearest freeway onramp. Adam remained silent in the front passenger seat while the director and his aides talked business in the back. He kept watch out the window and used the mirrors, on alert for any sign of a threat.

The ride itself was uneventful, and when their hotel came into view fifteen minutes later, he let himself relax slightly. Security had the place locked down tighter than Fort Knox.

But as they neared the entrance, the radio on his hip chirped. Static rippled across the frequency, then came the distorted sound of shouting, followed by the unmistakable pop-pop-pop of automatic gunfire.

Summer’s convoy.

Adam’s heart rate jacked up. He grabbed for the radio as all conversation in the vehicle ceased.

“What the hell’s that?” the director demanded.

Adam keyed the radio, his whole body rigid. “This is voodoo six. Do you read me?” Evers shot him a sideways glance as he pulled into the underground parking, heading toward the elevators where more security waited.

Tense seconds passed when nothing came back but the sounds of more panic and chaos on the other end. Then a man’s voice, urgent, filled with tension. “…ambush. Too many of them, we need immediate backup—”

The roar of an explosion cut off whatever else he was going to say. Then there was nothing but silence. Adam’s chest felt like it was full of concrete. He couldn’t breathe.

Summer. Summer was under attack and he wasn’t there to defend her. It was all he could think about.

“Blackwell, get the director inside, now,” DeLuca commanded. “We’re heading there as backup immediately.
Move
.”

Ahead of them, Tuck jerked his SUV to a stop in front of the elevators. Adam was out of the vehicle in an instant, ripping open the rear door and bodily hauling the director out. Ahead of him Tuck and the others were climbing out of the SUV.

He locked gazes with DeLuca, who nodded at him, face grim. “I know. We’re going.”

But not fast enough. It would never be fast enough.

Oh, God, please
, he begged silently, fighting to hold it together. She had to be okay.

Adam didn’t say anything, his heart in his throat. Feeling numb, he hustled the director inside and handed him over to another security team, then ran back out and jumped into his SUV. Tuck shot away with a squeal of tires and Evers followed suit, with Schroder driving the vehicle behind them.

“How long?” he demanded of Evers.

“Ten minutes, tops.”

They didn’t have that long.

He could already hear DeLuca on the radio, trying to reach someone from the other security team. Adam put his phone to his ear, the ringing overly loud in his head as he waited for Summer to answer.

Pick up, Summer. Come on, please pick up.

There was no answer. “God dammit,
no
,” he moaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

“I can’t get through,” DeLuca reported to everyone. “Keep trying different channels on the radios, find out what the hell’s going on.”

Summer was being attacked and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to save her. It killed him.

Adam sucked in a shaky breath and dragged both hands through his hair, unable to fight the terror streaking through him. She couldn’t be gone. She just couldn’t.

“We’re gonna get her, man,” Evers said beside him, expression deadly serious as he sped to keep up with Tuck’s vehicle.

Adam didn’t answer. He wasn’t aware of anything going on around them, his thoughts trapped in what had just happened to Summer’s convoy. It took eight agonizing minutes to reach the site of the attack. The moment they crested a rise on the highway, they saw the smoke rising off to the right.

“Fuck,” he snapped out, gaze riveted to the carnage in front of them. It looked bad. At least one of the vehicles was on fire. He picked his rifle up off the floorboard, fingers squeezing tight.
Hang on, Summer, I’m coming.

First responders were already converging on the scene, police holding back the crowds of curious onlookers that were coming out onto the sidewalks to watch the spectacle. At the perimeter Tuck’s vehicle slowed only enough for him to flash his ID, then sped for the wrecked convoy.

All three of its vehicles sat abandoned in the middle of the residential street, one of them nothing more than a pile of melted, twisted metal.

Adam swallowed, forced himself to keep breathing. Scanning the scene, he couldn’t see anyone moving.
She has to be there.

Evers plunged to a stop behind Tuck’s vehicle. The entire team burst out of their vehicles, automatically converging on the scene. Adam raced up to the lead vehicle, weapon to his shoulder.

Two charred bodies lay smoldering on the asphalt next to the SUV, as if they’d been trying to flee when whatever explosive round had been fired hit the vehicle. RPG? Whatever had exploded, it solidified that this had been a well-planned, coordinated attack.

His stomach rolled as he stared at the bodies, his brain unable to process that one of them might be Summer.

No, she was in the second vehicle. Hurry.

He rushed for it, his heart slamming against his ribcage. Evers was already there, checking inside the vehicle. He backed out of the rear seat, looked over his shoulder at Adam and shook his head. “Empty.”

Adam spun around, searching the area. Four more people lay either wounded or dead beside the last vehicle. All men. No sign of Summer.

“God
damn
it,” he snapped, the frustration eating at him like acid.

He was vaguely aware of Schroder kneeling down beside someone at the third vehicle, couldn’t bring himself to care about the suffering going on around him. Where the hell was she?

“Blackwell.”

He whirled around at the sound of Bauer’s urgent voice. The huge former SEAL was crouched down next to one of the victims at the third SUV while Schroder worked on him, trying to stem the bleeding from multiple gunshots in his torso. A security team member.

Adam rushed over, got to one knee. Without thinking he gripped the back of the man’s neck and stared into his eyes, desperate for information. “Summer. Where is she? Did you see her?”

The guy grimaced, both hands covered in blood as he pressed them to his belly. He managed a shaky nod. “T-took her.”

Panic roared through him. He squeezed harder, gave him a shake. “
Who
took her?
Where
?”

“D-dunno,” the man managed, face contorting in pain. “It…happened t-too fast.”

Fuck!
Adam released him and surged to his feet, refusing to accept that she’d been taken.

Tuck and DeLuca jogged over, faces grim. “She’s not here?”

Adam shook his head, his jaw so tight he could barely speak. “Attackers took her,” he managed to choke out, feeling sick. Panic gripped him, constricting the muscles in his throat.

Gone. She’s gone and I have to find her, have to get her back.
He turned in a circle, desperately searching around for a clue, something that might show him where she’d gone.

“Two others from the second vehicle are missing as well,” DeLuca said, his green gaze locked with Adam’s. “Her boss and coworker. They took all three of them.”

Adam’s heart plummeted to his boots at the news. Three DIA employees in one attack. Whoever had done this had pulled it off in broad daylight in the middle of a residential area. Fucking ballsy.

He swallowed back the bile rushing up his throat, wanting to scream in denial.

But this was unfortunately all too fucking real.

The stench of burning metal and flesh invading his nostrils as he stood there, ice spreading through his veins and a crushing sense of helplessness squeezing around his chest.

Whoever they were, the attackers were long gone, taking Summer and their other high value targets with them.

Nine years ago

The National Museum of American History was as busy as Adam had expected on a Saturday morning.

He wandered slowly through the military collection, pausing at a display case housing an exhibit of uniforms from the Vietnam era, including one from a POW held at the Hanoi Hilton. This entire section was dedicated to preserving what American men and women in uniform had fought for since the country’s inception.