Page 30 of Loved by a SEAL

Chapter 8

The next morning, Ryan narrowed his eyes at the satellite images of the camp in Afghanistan. The massive screen in front of him showed multiple views of where the American woman was believed to be held. Nestled between the foothills of a mountain range and the open desert, it was heavily guarded around the outskirts, with multiple huts scattered throughout. Looked like a couple of large artillery vehicles. Possibly a weapons cache. And one area in particular that was always heavily guarded.

A hut with a man standing guard 24/7.

“What’s the word, Captain Mitchell?” Patrick asked, walking over to the table. His cool blue eyes swept over the images as Christopher joined them.

“CENTCOM believes they’ve located the kidnapped American,” Ryan said.

Patrick nodded, clenching his jaw.

“About damn time,” Christopher muttered.

Ryan’s gaze flicked toward him. Lexi had been kidnapped months ago. Although she’d been held locally, none of the men on the team took the idea of a woman being held against her will lightly. None of them would rest until she’d been safely brought home.

“Looks like a permanent set-up,” Patrick noted.

“Affirmative. And not too far from those mountain ranges should they quickly need to go into hiding.”

“Almost makes our job too damn easy,” Christopher said. “The perfect in and out.”

“We need sat imagery of this area from two weeks ago,” Ryan said. “The images from the past twenty-four hours show someone guarding this hut at all times.” He pointed to a hut near the side of the camp.

“Good idea to compare,” Patrick agreed. “Alyssa was taken a week ago. Factor in a day or two of travel time, and we should have a good sense of whether this is definitely her. Unless they have some other hostage we’re unaware of.”

“Always a possibility,” Christopher said.

“We’ve got feed from drones in the area as well. It looks like whoever is in the tent is being constantly guarded, but no one goes in or out.” Ryan said. “This is a top priority for the Pentagon. It turns out that we were given misinformation before. The young woman who’s in captivity is actually Alyssa Stone.”

“As in Senator Stone?” Christopher asked in disbelief. “Sonofabitch.”

“Apparently the Senator thought they could keep it under wraps by saying it was the daughter of an aide,” Ryan said, shaking his head. “Nothing like keeping the men who’ll be sent in to save his daughter out of the goddamn loop.”

“Damn it,” Patrick muttered. “Think they know who they’ve got?”

“Not yet,” Ryan said. “Although any captive American woman is valuable to them. Throw in the fact that she’s a Senator’s daughter? If they figure that out, it’s fucking gold.”

“No wonder the Senator was so tight-lipped,” Patrick said coolly.

The other men on the team, Matthew, Evan, Brent, and Mike “Patch” Hunter came into the bullpen, dressed in their PT gear.

“Patrick said we were briefing here today first,” Brent said, crossing his arms as he stopped beside the table. “Does this mean they found her?”

“Grab a seat, men,” Ryan said, nodding at Evan to get the lights.

Additional images of the compound appeared on the giant screen in front of them. “First things first,” Ryan said, his voice steel, “this isn’t the daughter of an aide who’s been kidnapped. We were intentionally misled with that piece of bad intel. It’s Senator Stone’s daughter.”

“Holy shit,” Matthew muttered.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Brent asked angrily. “Why the hell didn’t they tell us that in the first place?”

Ryan’s gaze swept across his team. “It was the Senator’s idea to keep it under wraps,” he said coolly. “He didn’t want it leaked to the press. Although he seemed unaware that that lack of knowledge would make our job that much harder.”

“No shit,” Brent said.

“What the hell?” Matthew asked, standing up and pacing the room. “I’d say shit like that is need to know—as we need to know it.”

Patrick smirked. “You know how Washington works—they’re always covering something up.”

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