Reclaimed (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 10) (4 page)

Her heart rate kicked up as the truck’s door slammed. Someone yanked the tarp and blanket off her, but she was still blind because of the dark hood. She could hear another vehicle coming nearer, wondered if she would be put into that one and driven across the border, but her captor hauled her out and threw her over his shoulder.

“Put her in here,” a man ordered. “Hurry.”

Whoever was carrying her grunted as he slid her off him and dropped her to the ground. Her butt hit the hard dirt with enough force to jar her entire spine and make her teeth clack together but she didn’t dare make a sound.

Metal squealed to her right, the sound raking over her raw senses like sharp fingernails. A lock clanged into place.

Trapped. She was trapped inside something, had no idea where she was or what would happen to her.

Though she could guess, and her imagination kept calling up numerous atrocities that she’d reported about in her files. Every last one of them sent a shiver down her spine.

Muffled male voices reached her and she strained to hear what they were saying. Another door close by squeaked open, somewhere across from her.

One voice became crystal clear, a man speaking English. “Put me down, asshole! Put me—” The angry words ended with a low
oomph
, as though the wind had been knocked out of him. But she recognized that voice.

She scrambled to her knees, faced the direction of the voice and called out, “Jim?”

“Summer?”

“Yes!” She swallowed back the urge to cry. Crying wasn’t going to help and she refused to let these assholes know how afraid she was. “Are you all right?” It was probably awful of her but she was so relieved to know she wasn’t in this alone.

“I’m…okay. I—” Another grunt, this one filled with pain. Inside the hood, she winced in sympathy. Then his voice came again, growing frantic. “No, leave her alone! Don’t you touch her!”

Ice slid through her veins as his meaning sank in. Someone was coming for her, probably to punish her for talking.

Shit, shit, shit…

She scuttled back against the rear of whatever room or cell she was in, until her spine pressed hard against what felt like a rock wall. Hard footsteps stalked toward her, making her pulse spike. They stopped directly in front of her, then something hard and heavy pelted her square in the chest, making her gasp and suck back a cry.

A rock, she realized. It felt like someone had just kicked her in the ribs.

“
Quiet
,” a stern voice snapped.

Summer didn’t dare move, didn’t dare make a sound as she waited for something else to strike her.

But the man walked away.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she pulled in deep, shaky breaths through her nose and fought to get hold of herself. Her body was trembling. She had to stay calm, couldn’t let the fear take hold. Even though that seemed impossible right now.

Alone in the prison she couldn’t see, she curled into herself and leaned her head against the rough rock wall. Jim was silent and she didn’t dare call out to him again. Mentally and emotionally exhausted, she searched for an escape from this hell…

And thought of Adam.

He would likely already know she was missing. He’d be frantic, probably searching for her right now, along with the other IC people gathered for the summit. She knew he would do everything in his power to find her and get her out of here, that the FBI and other agencies represented here would assist.

They’d find her and Jim, it was only a matter of time. And considering they both worked for the DIA and had been abducted in an attack during the middle of an international security summit, that made them high profile. The brazen daylight attack would hit the mainstream media within hours, if it hadn’t already. There’d be a major effort made to rescue them in the coming days.

Summer drew on her inner strength and tried not to think about what her captors had planned for them. She had to hold onto the knowledge that powerful people were searching for her, had to remember there was still hope and not give up throughout whatever happened from now on.

She might be a civilian but she was smart, and she wasn’t helpless. Adam had taught her so many things over the years. Things she’d never dreamed she might need to put into practice. Now she was thankful for each one of them.

Right now, the unknown was her adversary. The disorientation. Isolation. Anticipation of pain and torture.

Fear.

Fear was by far her worst enemy. Her captors would use it against her, use it to break her if she allowed it. She could not afford that. She had to be strong, no matter how scared she was.

Reminding herself of that, she took several more calming breaths until the worst of the rigidity bled out of her muscles. Again she thought of Adam, called an image of him to mind and held it like a lifeline. She could see him so clearly, on that one particular morning that seemed so far away now, when he’d been sleeping in bed beside her.

She’d woken before him and stared in awe at the man revealed to her gaze by the glow of the sunray peeking through their master bedroom window. He’d been stretched out on his stomach, one arm tucked beneath his head, the sheets draped around his lower back, revealing each dip and swell of muscle, the planes of his face, the dark sweep of his eyelashes against his cheekbones.

Then, as though he felt her stare, he woke.

The moment his pale blue eyes opened, he focused on her and smiled. A slow, sleepy smile so full of male satisfaction that her heart had stuttered, then rolled over in her chest. He’d looked so happy, so content to be lying next to her. And she hadn’t appreciated that as much as she should have at the time.

Because a few weeks after that, everything had changed in an instant.

Forcing that dark thought away, she focused on the image of that smile he’d given her, a moment before he’d turned over and rolled her beneath his big body, careful to keep his weight off her belly.

Summer bit her lip. She knew better than most people how short and fragile life was, but her current situation brought that into sharp and sudden focus.

Of all the regrets she had, her biggest was that she hadn’t been able to let go of the past sooner. She’d let that hold her back for far too long, had allowed it to nearly destroy her and her marriage.

She leaned against the wall and curled into herself as the cold began to seep into her, exhausted but too afraid to sleep. Adam was a good man and deserved to be happy. She was glad she’d told him she loved him today. At least he’d be certain of her feelings for him if they never got to see each other again.

The thought made her want to cry. She bit her lip, fought to hold her emotions back. No matter what happened, she would always love him.

****

Tarek stalked away from the female prisoner’s cell, filled with a heady combination of adrenaline and triumph. It seemed too good to be true. The plan had worked even better than he’d hoped and he now had three important Defense Intelligence Agency captives to use. He still couldn’t believe how easily they’d done it, and with far fewer casualties than he’d anticipated.

He motioned to Akram, his most trusted soldier, standing over by the first male captive just as two more of his men brought in the other male prisoner and put him in another makeshift cell. “Bring me their things.”

Moving fast, he hurried across the narrow alley and through the door of the small house they’d commandeered from a villager, went straight to the table holding all his maps and other papers. Radio in hand, he checked in with more of his men, who were keeping watch from the top of the hill above the village. “Report.”

“We’re still clear,” came the response. “No traffic or movement at all on the road up here.”

Good. That meant they still had some time yet to play with.

He turned as Akram hustled inside carrying a briefcase and some ID tags and set them on the table before him. His beard had begun to fill in during the last few months, another sign that he was maturing. At only twenty-two, Akram had lived a hard life and seen so many of his friends and family suffer or be killed. As they all had. It only galvanized them in their righteous fight.

Tarek eyed the first badge, eager to learn more about his prisoners and what he stood to gain from them. Jim Barnes, the name read. He was middle-aged, had to be around fifty. Probably the one in charge of the other two, and the way the woman had called out to him seemed to confirm that. Tarek would use that to his advantage.

The second man was Mark Grimes. Early thirties maybe. Glasses. He looked like a computer guy, but Tarek could be wrong.

He turned his attention to the woman’s badge last, and his heart began to beat faster as he stared at her picture. Summer Blackwell. Pretty name for an attractive woman in her late twenties or early thirties, but he couldn’t get past the fact that she was an American infidel.

And oh, did he have special plans for her. A rush of excitement flooded him at the thought.

“It belongs to her,” Akram said excitedly as he opened the briefcase. “There’s a laptop. It’s still working.”

“Perfect.” He took it and eyed the home screen. Of course it was password protected. He wasn’t good with computers and such and to his knowledge none of his men were either, but no matter. He’d get it out of her easily enough. “What’s in the paperwork?”

Akram handed him several files. “Maps, files on different people.” He frowned as he read them. “Mostly members in the Army of True Believers, looks like from Jordan and Syria. One from Algeria.”

“Let me see.” He took the file Akram was holding, perused it. His English wasn’t perfect but he could read and speak it well enough to get by.

The file contained information on the fighter’s vital statistics and service record in the Syrian Army. Tarek didn’t recognize him, but a lot of his fellow Syrian brothers-in-arms had deserted at the start of this war to fight with the side that should rightfully rule the country.

Theirs.

There were maps as well, and information on suspected movements, unit strengths and positions. He didn’t understand enough of it to get the whole picture, but it was clear anyway. “I’ll read it later.” He pushed it aside along with the laptop, already planning what he would do with the information the woman named Summer would give him.

Torture, either of her or a fellow prisoner if that’s what it took, was an extremely strong motivator, he’d learned.

“What do we do now?” Akram asked.

“We wait.”

“Wait?” he asked, looking troubled by the prospect. Everyone knew they were on a tight timeline. With three American intelligence employees in their grasp, they were now hunted men.

Tarek knew he had to be more careful than ever. “The prisoners need time for the full effect to set in. The longer they’re isolated and afraid, the easier it will be to get what we want from them.”

Akram nodded, his expression brightening at the words. “You want me to get the trucks prepared then, so we’re ready to move?”

“Yes.” When he gave the word they’d head to the final stop close to the border. The Jordanians would be out hunting them in force after this. He had to time their crossing carefully, after he’d disposed of the captives.

The captives’ final stop.

“All right.” Appearing relieved at having something to do, Akram left to do his bidding.

Alone, Tarek perused the contents of more files from the briefcase, his resolve hardening with each fact he read. These captives were the enemy.

They’d come here to Jordan, a traitorous so-called Islamic nation that instead supported America in this conflict, to eradicate him and all others like him. To kill anyone who dared to follow the true path of Islam in the fight for the birth of their fledgling nation.

One that would eventually take over the world and crush America, God willing.

As for him, he now finally had the chance to get even. To make a name for himself.

Soon he would leave his mark in a spectacular way and become a rising star within the ATB, a marked man who his enemy loathed and feared in equal measure.

He set the documents aside and gripped the edge of the table. He’d waited for this opportunity for so long. All the risks, all the worry of exposure or betrayal by someone he trusted was worth it now.

The three captives currently locked in their cells didn’t know it yet, but they represented his chance to avenge his dead family.

A life for a life
, he thought with savage satisfaction, staring at the three badges in front of him. And he would make their deaths as excruciating as possible.

Nine years ago

Summer couldn’t believe how nervous she was as she waited for Adam to come pick her up. She’d been on plenty of first dates and none of them had given her butterflies like this one.

Something about the man drew her to him, made her want to learn all about him. He’d called her bright and early that morning to confirm, something she found adorable, and said he’d pick her up at six.

Going on the assumption that a military man would be punctual, she was on the couch by the front door ready to go at quarter to. When her buzzer rang at five minutes to, she jumped up to answer it.

“Hey, it’s Adam,” he said in that deliciously deep voice of his.

Yep, punctual. A good sign that he was dependable. She liked that in a man. “Hey, I’ll be right down.”

On her way out she paused in front of the mirror in the entryway to check her appearance. She’d left her hair down today, using a curling iron to make the ends into soft waves that fell around her shoulders.

The bright green gingham, sleeveless dress was one of her favorites, a 50s style number she’d picked up at a favorite retro boutique in Alexandria. The circle skirt flared out around her hips, the crinoline beneath it making it swish with every step. It was pretty and feminine and made her want to twirl around like a little girl, just to see it move.

She adjusted the wrap around her shoulders as she stepped outside. Adam was waiting for her by the building’s front door. His ice-blue eyes widened when he saw her, an appreciative gleam in them as he took her in from head to toe. And everywhere his gaze touched, it left a trail of heat in its wake.