Page 28 of Inevitable
My first instinct would be to throw myself into the arms of my friends, but that reunion was going to have to wait until we were safely out of here.
You can do this, Emma. You can keep a cool head until everyone is safe.
Honestly, sometimes this whole thing felt surreal to me.
It was still hard for me to believe that two of my best friends were part of a very covert operation that rescued hostages.
I’d never even imagined that the two men who had been like brothers to me had this side of their life that I didn’t know about.
To me, Brock was a friendly, best-selling novelist.
Nate was a creative, surreal landscape artist.
Gage owned the most popular beachfront restaurant in town.
And Seth…
Seth was different. He wasn’t the friendly, outgoing guy his friends were because he was self-conscious about the scars he’d gotten on a mission gone wrong while he was in Delta.
He was quiet and a little more reclusive than the rest of the guys, but he had an amazing heart that not many people could see.
Still, it was hard for me to come to terms with the fact that they’d all been part of this secret life.
I wasn’t upset that none of them had told me about Last Hope.
I understood their need for secrecy.
But it still seemed…unreal.
Gage was a Michigander, born and raised in Cherry Cove. He’d come back home after he left Delta, and his friends had followed soon after to settle down with Gage in Michigan.
The guys were like brothers, so it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t want to end that bond simply because they were out of the military.
I heard a bird call softly again, and I forced myself not to react.
“They’re coming in,” Colin said in a quiet, harsh voice.
“How do you know that?” I whispered.
“That wasn’t a bird. That’s Nate,” he answered as he stood and pulled me gently to my feet.
My heart started to pound so hard that I was afraid the kidnappers could hear that rapid beat.
Colin put the pack he’d brought on his back and took my hand. “Everything will be fine, Emma. Don’t let go of my hand.”
I nodded and swallowed hard even though I knew that Colin probably couldn’t see that nod.
The guys would all be using night vision glasses, so I was going to have to keep close to Colin so he could lead me out of here.
Not that I planned on leaving his side anyway.
Right now, he was my lifeline, and I trusted him completely.
I heard the very faint sound at the door which was probably the guys picking the lock.
The moments seemed to stretch on forever until that door, which usually opened with a ton of noise, was almost silently pushed open enough for two men to enter the room.
Once the door was open, there was enough light from the moon and stars to see that both of them were dressed completely in black.
