Page 54 of SEAL's Temptation

Panic rose within her.

There were more voices.

Orders given.

The door closed, and she breathed a sigh of relief as her eyes slid shut.She could sleep again.Maybe after she slept, everything would be okay.

The light tread of footsteps came closer, and she fought to wake up.To see what was happening.Someone was coming, and she couldn’t even open her eyes.In a panic, Avery finally gasped, fully awake once more.

“There, there,” a male voice said in heavily accented English, his hand landing on her over the covers.It was heavy and unwelcome.He left his hand there, his body leaning over her own.She couldn’t see him but felt the heat from his body.The breath from his lips as he leaned closer.The scent of alcohol and cigarette smoke.“So weak and helpless.So young.So pretty.”

She couldn’t see his face, which somehow terrorized her even more.He tugged the blankets down, and Avery froze in fear as his hands ran over her.They touched her face.Lightly ran down her neck.Squeezed her breasts as his breathing grew heavier.

He pushed the blanket further down.

Something cold swabbed her arm, and she looked in shock as she saw the gleam of moonlight on a syringe.

“No,” she murmured, trying to move.To fight him.To resist.“No.Don’t drug me again.”

“You’ll do as I say,” he told her.“You’re so pretty lying there for me in bed.So ready and willing.”She winced as the needle pierced her upper arm and immediately grew groggy as the drug was once again running through her bloodstream.“You’ll do whatever I want,” he murmured, his voice hungry.“Anything I want.”

Rough hands grabbed her legs, and her head rolled to the side as she vomited uncontrollably.

***

RYAN HUSTLED DOWN THEramp of the C-17, blinking in the bright sunlight.It had taken ten long hours to fly from Oahu, and he’d hated every second knowing that Avery was in danger.His only hope was that she was unharmed.If they were moving her somewhere—selling her, he thought with sheer horror—she was possibly tied up or sedated but not in grave danger yet.Yet.That was key.That didn’t stop the anguish from churning through him, the knowledge that she’d potentially be used and abused if they didn’t get to her in time.

And if she was awake?She’d be completely terrified, and he hoped no harm had come to her yet because he’d kill the bastards who’d dared to touch her.

“Do we have the coordinates?”Ryan asked as the men assembled on the tarmac, gearing up.

“Affirmative.The CO sent them over mid-flight.Looks like they stopped somewhere for the night,” Wyatt confirmed.“Or at least, the box filled with sedatives and the doctor’s lost phone did.We’ll have to hope Avery is still with them.”

“Sedatives.Selling women.This guy’s a sick bastard,” Sawyer muttered.“What happens when the battery on the phone dies?”he asked.

“We’re fucked.”

Ryan wasn’t sure which of his teammates had said it and didn’t care.They were right.The reality was, they had little time.The phone could be discovered.They could move Avery again.And all he could do was hope that she’d be okay until they arrived.The alternative was unthinkable.

Ryan slid on his Kevlar vest and helmet, then adjusted his headset.They had live video and audio feed that would be relayed to their commander when the team moved in.

“I got a map,” Sawyer said, pulling up an image on a tablet.

“That’s not far from here,” Ryan said, pointing a gloved finger at the screen.“We’ve got to be less than an hour out.”

Wyatt nodded.“And its daylight now, so we have to move quickly.They’ll likely spot us on the approach, but the risk of waiting is that Avery will be moved to another location.We’ve got coordinates now and need to move in.The first few hours after a kidnapping are crucial, which we all damn well know.”

Ryan’s stomach dropped.Wyatt wasn’t wrong.Even if she was drugged or sleeping, they’d eventually deliver her to the buyer if they hadn’t yet.And he fucking hated even thinking about that possibility.

“Where do they find these buyers?”Hudson asked.“It takes a sick, twisted man to buy a person.”

“Online.Wealthy men fly here for the girls.Sometimes they’re shipped directly to them, but with a private jet, the men can usually transport their prize back home,” Wyatt said.He eyed Ryan.“Many of these women are never seen again.Fortunately, we had a lead on Avery.It’s messed up that her own colleague was involved with the cartel, but in a way, it’s making her easier to trace.”

Ryan huffed out a breath.Adrenaline was coursing through his blood, and he needed to keep a level head.Avery needed him, and it would do no good to rant and rage.He wanted to kill Walters with his bare hands, but that wouldn’t do a damn thing to get his girl back.

“The sex trade is a disgusting business,” Austin muttered.“All those assholes should be castrated and locked up.”

“We can only wish,” Ryan spat out.“I want five minutes alone in a room with Walters for involving Avery in any of this.We have to get to her ASAP,” he said, his voice hard.He scanned the area, finding it surreal that Avery had just flown into Panama City not much more than a month ago.He’d planned to see her in Hawaii in a few months’ time, not on a fucking rescue op.He’d never been so thankful for his career as a Navy SEAL as right now, because Ryan and his teammates had exactly the skills needed to save her.

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